- Email: [email protected]
Keeping ahead of the curve: Meeting student needs in graduate business education in the 21st century
Business Horizons (2013) 56, 27—37
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor
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Keeping ahead of the curve: Meeting student needs in graduate business education in the 21st century Marc J. Dollinger Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, 1309 E. Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701, U.S.A.
The following two interviews highlight the reflection and innovation process that is necessary to keep business education fresh and relevant in a constantly evolving global business environment. It’s a tough job, but at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, the administration and faculty are sensitive to the requests and needs of the next generation of business leaders. Via both the Kelley FullTime MBA Program and the Kelley Direct Program, students are offered unique learning choices catered to the desires and success of each program’s students. The Kelley Full-Time MBA Program is consistently ranked among the best in the world. Under this model, students move to Bloomington, where they tailor a 2-year program of studies by first selecting major and minor concentrations in traditional business areas such as Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship & Corporate Innovation, Finance, Management, Marketing, Strategic Analysis of Accounting Information, and Supply Chain & Operations. Then, these students complement that framework with participation in a Kelley Academy, which serves as a pragmatic, career-focused, and experientially-driven application of those business skills. Choices include the Business Marketing Academy, Capital Markets Academy, Consulting Academy, Consumer Marketing
E-mail address: [email protected]
Academy, Entrepreneurial Innovation Academy, Strategic Finance Academy, Supply Chain Academy, and Academy PLUS Life Sciences. Kelley Direct is the online offering of the Kelley School of Business. Unlike many traditional distance learning programs, however, Kelley Direct students augment their flexible coursework with two trips to the Kelley Bloomington campus to participate in a week-long Kelley Connect experience. During each of these weeks, Kelley Direct students meet faculty face-to-face and work collaboratively with their colleagues in the Kelley Direct program. To begin, let me introduce the panelists:
Pam Roberts, Executive Director of the Full-Time MBA Program and Graduate Career Services.
Terrill Cosgray, Executive Director of the Kelley Direct MBA Program.
Phil Powell, former Faculty Chair of the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program (when this interview was conducted) and current Faculty Chair of Kelley Direct.
Eric Richards, former Faculty Chair of the Kelley Direct MBA Program (when this interview was conducted) and current Chair, East Asian Initiatives for the Kelley School of Business.
0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2012 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2012.09.006
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1. Discussing development of the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program and the Kelley Direct Program, with Pam Roberts and Terrill Cosgray Marc Dollinger: I’m here with Terrill Cosgray and Pam Roberts to talk about the Kelley School of Business MBA programs. Pam and Terrill, could you both tell me a bit about yourselves? Pam Roberts: I’m Executive Director of the Kelley MBA Program and of Graduate Career Services. I’ve been with Kelley now for 7 years. Prior to that, I worked for Cummins in a variety of financial roles; my last was as the lead for international shared service operations with locations in India, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico. Terrill Cosgray: I’m Executive Director of the Kelley Direct MBA Program. I’ve worked at the Kelley School of Business for 15 years, the last 4 of which I’ve been with Kelley Direct. Prior to that, I spent 11 years as part of what is Pam’s team as Director of the FullTime Residential MBA Program. Before coming to Kelley, I spent 18 years with Indiana University in a variety of administrative roles, including admissions, financial aid, and international student services. I also spent time in the private sector, working for a large medical supply company as its advertising director. You both have great experience, which I’m sure helps in running the Kelley MBA programs. Could you tell me a little bit about your typical student? A sort of profile of who is looking for what you have to offer? PR: Most of our students are seeking career change or career advancement. The MBA gives them the skill set to make that transition or the ability to move up the corporate ladder. I would approximate that twothirds of the class is generally looking to switch careers. For example, an incoming student with an engineering background may seek to move into a marketing role, or even investment banking. It really depends on each person’s goals. This type of student is seeking a real functional switch. Statistically, the average class profile lines up as: 225 students, 670 GMAT score, 5 years of work experience, 3.3 undergrad grade point average. Typically, one-third of the class is female; one-third is international, with undergrad degrees represented equally among engineering, business, and social sciences/humanities. TC: The Kelley Direct student profile is not that dissimilar from what Pam just described, but unique in a couple of ways. First, the average age of our students is in the low 30s, which tends to be a good bit
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29 older. We are looking for students who are very established in their profession, which is another key differentiator between Kelley Direct and FullTime MBA. Our students tend to want to stay with their employer, working while they complete their online classes. Actually, 82% of our students stay with the same company. We have a few students who would like to switch careers, but for the most part, our students are looking to either enhance their expertise in a functional area within their existing company or they would like to use their functional expertise in order to move into a management position. Do you see that as the typical differentiator between residential programs? TC: It is, actually, a typical differentiator. Full-time or residential programs generally cater to job/career switchers. Part-time or online programs tend to serve those who want to stay within their company and move up the management chain. Based on the answers you’ve given, we know what a ‘typical’ student is like and we understand the class profile. But, how are your programs not typical and what do you do that surprises the students once they get here? PR: The Kelley Full-Time Program is centered on the Academy experience; choices include the Business Marketing Academy, Capital Markets Academy, Consulting Academy, Consumer Marketing Academy, Entrepreneurial Innovation Academy, Strategic Finance Academy, Supply Chain Academy, and Academy PLUS Life Sciences. These are meant to give students realworld experience in some of the fields that they are attempting to enter. They also provide students with great networks of people in those fields. To describe the experience, let me use the Consumer Marketing Academy as an example. A student in this Academy is given a true sense of what it means to be a brand manager. They are first provided with the vocabulary to understand the field, and are introduced to a wide variety of firms in this area. Then, with other CMA students, they are assigned a group project that focuses on a problem within a firm. They work on the problem and then present their findings and solutions to the firm. This gives real-world experience to the student and sets them apart when they start their summer internship. They have done the actual work as part of the experiential learning component. Who runs the Academies, and which corporations participate? PR: Faculty actually run them, and Kelley’s Graduate Career Services office aligns firms with the appropriate/relevant Academy.
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Do the contacts for these connections typically come from alumni?
Can you give me some examples of companies that have participated?
PR: Yes, alumni play a key role in providing connections to the firms. Kelley forms partnerships with the companies through Graduate Career Services and the Academies. The Academy directors foster and make use of those alumni and corporate contacts. This provides our students a rich network of alumni and firms with which to connect.
TC: Locally, for the first-year experience, we’ve worked with Scholar’s Inn, The Bakehouse, and Half Bay. The second-year experience focuses on a Fortune 500 company problem involving an international issue; here, we’ve worked with firms such as Cummins and SPX. Kelley Direct students have also worked on not-for-profit agency projects and military projects. There is a wide range of opportunities available to them. One great thing about these exercises is that students get to work with senior people in these organizations. It’s very exciting for our students to get that type of experience.
And as a Top 20 program, don’t many companies come through? PR: Absolutely. Our students are introduced to a variety of firms in the very first week of classes as part of roundtables. Students see firms during networking events, presentations, and through their Academy experience. Terrill, when most people think of e-learning, I believe they picture logging on and off the computer and completing coursework. What are some of your program’s surprises? TC: As compared to other online programs, one big differentiator for Kelley Direct is that the same faculty members teach for our program as teach for the Full-Time MBA Program or Undergraduate Program. That is very unusual. Most other online programs utilize contract faculty or adjunct faculty to do their teaching. Many KD students are amazed to discover that not only do the same faculty members teach them, but some of the world’s leading scholars. For example, Dan Smith–—our current Dean–—is one of the top Marketing faculty in the world. He teaches our Kelley Direct students when they come on campus for the residential component of their experience. He’s one of the best teachers. TC: Absolutely. He’s incredible. Also, Idie Kesner teaches our students when they are on campus. Actually, all of our associates at the Kelley School teach undergraduates, and one of the online courses, and the residential programs. These are all top faculty in their chosen fields. Another thing that is very unique about Kelley Direct is something I would term ‘learning experiences.’ Most distance learning programs focus solely on submitting work online, but we are adding extra, short residential exercises to mirror–—as closely as possible–—full immersion. For example, Kelley Direct students are able to get involved in courses that take them to a study abroad experience. We have students participating in the IU in Washington (DC) campus program. We have capstone courses via which students work on actual company projects and help them with problem solving.
And for the Full-Time MBAs, for the Academies, what fills that role? PR: There are two versions of these international experiences: GLOBASE and KIPS. GLOBASE takes students and has them consult with small firms in countries like Ghana or Guatemala, or deal with bottom-of-the-pyramid issues in India. Regarding the GLOBASE trip to India, we take roughly 20 students to the country, and there, they facilitate women’s business skills and try to help improve women’s socioeconomic status in rural villages. They do consulting projects for them. GLOBASE is more project-oriented and a social entrepreneurship experience. KIPS trips, on the other hand, are studentdesigned and student-led; they actually formulate the curriculum and the itinerary. These trips focus on understanding industries and firms within a country. The students contact the companies they want to visit and explore the industries there. I led a KIPS trip to Japan. I remember that the students did a great job. One of the students spoke fantastic Japanese, and he was able to share a lot of his contacts in Japan. Of course, the most memorable moment for me was the time that we had 26 people’s worth of luggage and 2 minutes to get it off of the train, and get it across the platform to the next train. They did it! It was a great example of Kelley teamwork. Let’s switch gears and take a look at the big picture. What’s the market for business education these days? What niches do you see? Who are the main competitors to Kelley? What changes have you seen in the last 4 years due to the recession? PR: There has been a huge proliferation of products in the business education market. There are many new offerings for students to choose from; 1-year programs including variations in degrees in business, to online offerings, part-time offerings, mixed degrees, et cetera. It used to be just an MBA, which is
EXECUTIVE FOCUS what you got if you wanted a Masters in business. Now we have variations. You can get a Masters in Finance, which is typically a 1-year degree. Students are being given a greater set of options and are looking at tailoring a graduate-level experience to their needs. In addition, some schools have opted to remove the requirement for work experience. Lots of alternatives are out there, and all of the programs have responded to this in different ways. Kelley Direct has done a great job with some additional offerings. We actually offer an MBAA, an MSIS degree, and an MSA degree designed for our accounting students and our IT students; those are all Masters degrees, too. Terrill, what do you see? Is there also product proliferation in the online space? TC: Definitely. When Kelley Direct entered the online business education marketplace, we were the only non-profit educational institution offering an online graduate business degree. Now, well over 100 online MBAs are offered by AACSB accredited schools, and literally thousands are being offered by for-profit schools that are not AACSB accredited. Obviously, this is becoming a very crowded marketplace. Because Kelley Direct is an old player, we tend to always shake out at the top when people are considering online options. The interesting change that has occurred in the last couple of years is that students who were once looking only at online options are now also eyeing part-time programs. So, for example, in this respect, the NYU part-time program is a huge competitor for Kelley Direct. So the part-time programs compete for a geographic base of students. TC: What might draw a Kelley Direct student to us instead of to a top ranked part-time program in their region is the fact that we offer greater flexibility than that part-time program. The student doesn’t have to be some place at a specific time. That’s the asynchronous nature of the online. TC: That’s exactly right. Currently, I’m dealing with a student who is trying to decide between Kelley Direct and Haas-Berkeley. Another is attempting to choose between Kelley Direct and NYU. And yet another is trying to decide between Kelley Direct and UCLA, the University of Chicago, or Northwestern. It always comes down to wanting a top-ranked program, but the student has to decide what he or she can realistically do given existing personal and professional obligations. PR: Regarding the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program, our biggest competitors include Michigan, UNC, UTAustin, and Kellogg.
31 All top programs. PR: Absolutely. They’re incredible programs. How many students can you accept every year? TC: We usually have about 140 students entering the Fall MBA class. We bring in about 85 or 90 with the Spring MBA class. If you add in all of our students, MS and MBA, we’re bringing in about 400 each year. In terms of our population size, we have over 1600 active students. And you are still able to maintain selectivity and consistency. I suspect the recession has taken its toll. How do you see the future of the residential and the online MBA programs going forward? PR: Students make decisions based on the value they perceive as coming from a program. This value is often tied to their ability, with our degree in hand, to attain the job they seek. For example, regarding the class that just graduated, 93% of the students had offers and 100% had internships last summer. We are actually tracking about 5 points ahead of where we were last year at this time. Almost 60% of our students have a full-time offer by the beginning of January and they do not graduate until May. If employment continues to climb and companies add employees to meet business needs, that should increase the robustness of the MBA market. If prospective students are nervous about the economy, they are loathe to leave their current jobs. TC: The recession has impacted Kelley Direct in a couple of obvious ways. First, it has driven some students to consider online education, because they don’t want to give up their jobs. We’ve seen an increase in applications during the recession; not as large as one might expect, but still quite significant. Another factor, which has been a dampener for us, is a decrease in the number of companies that are willing to provide sponsorship for employees’ graduate business education. Right now, about 60% of Kelley Direct students receive some sort of corporate sponsorship from their employers; it used to be closer to 80%. That means more and more individuals who want to complete our degree have to selffund their education. This can be daunting. Our research shows that almost 60% of Kelley Direct graduates get a promotion within 3 months of receiving their degree. And, of course, this also represents a salary increase. It’s a definite return on investment. Do you think students run the numbers and justify the expense in this way? TC: We help them run the numbers and see the big picture. Over a lifetime, a student who completes
32 our degree is likely to earn $1 million more than someone who does not. We’re publicizing data like this, so that people can recognize long-term value. I’m very interested in MBA innovation. So, let me ask you this: Does each program have a process for introducing innovations? And do these innovations tend to address a need that students have expressed, that faculty members have expressed, or that the administration has driven? PR: Let me give you an example. The Me, Inc. program was introduced 2 years ago and has now been integrated fully into our orientation program, to great accolades. We found that students lacked the ability to tell a story, insight regarding their own being, and perception as to how they were seen by others. They were also reluctant to network. As a result of that, the Graduate Career Services group analyzed how epiphany moments and self-discovery might occur earlier in the process, such that a company isn’t the first point when a student is told, ‘‘You did not make the preference list.’’ Me, Inc. was the result of this insight. Our students go through a 2-week process that is integrated with orientation. They begin by telling their life story, which they do in front of small groups of 16. Then, they move on to company research and present this information to the group as a team. This is work they will be doing when they look for positions. They then do another presentation on themselves. Finally, the group as a whole asks the question: Would this person have made the preference list? One-third, yes; the rest, no. Each student also has to self-identify whether he or she would have made the preference list. This proves to be eye-opening for many. We also teach After Action Review (AAR), which is a military practice. After each major program or item, a group of students completes an AAR. The students ask themselves the following questions: What did we set out to do? What actually happened? Why did it happen? What did we learn from it? What will we do differently next time? TC: Change and improvement in Kelley Direct is driven primarily by two different factors: student requests for change, or a perceived need for change or faculty requests for change. For example, we decided to restructure the residential experience for Kelley Direct students because previously, a single faculty member delivered all of the content for both the first-year and second-year Kelley Connect weeks. We felt they needed greater exposure to more faculty members, to see them and build relationships with while here. Of course, our students have strong relationships with their online faculty. However, their time on campus is particularly golden, so we designed
EXECUTIVE FOCUS a program for our first-year students where they are taught by 10 top-level faculty members from each of the major business disciplines. In this way, relationships are being built between faculty and students. An example of student-driven change is that of experiential learning. We roll out experiential learning through our capstones, international travel, and Washington Campus program. Also, we provide graduate career services. All of these aspects were driven by student demand. PR: Terrill was very good at laying out the difference between student-, faculty-, and administrative-driven change. In the Full-Time MBA Program, we have a group called the Curriculum Advisory Council. It’s a group of students who are elected and who have direct contact with the faculty. They use this access to discuss changes they believe need to be made to the curriculum, and then we try to work in some of these changes, coming directly from the students. TC: Kelley Direct has a similar group. We actually have combined our student leadership groups, presidents and alumni and so forth, and we have combined our clubs with our advisory groups. We have something called the Student Advisory Board. It looks at all sorts of issues, curricular and extracurricular, and brings ideas to us once every 2 weeks. It’s made up of student leaders, presidents of clubs, the student body president, and some ad hoc members that are brought in or who come in when that student has a particular interest he or she wants to explore with the Student Advisory Board. Wow. These programs never stand still, do they? PR: No, they simply can’t. Competition is too fierce. It’s a saturated market with product proliferation. You really have to be improving yourself, all the time. Taking on the role of a prospective MBA student, what considerations would you have? PR: The first thing a person should ask is: ‘‘Why do I want an MBA?’’ What are you seeking with this degree? How will you use it in the future? If the individual understands this, it should help them decide which program best fits their needs. Prospective students should definitely pay a visit to the campus and see the program in action. One of the things we hear from prospects is how collaborative Kelley is. It’s not only the faculty and the way they work with students, but how the staff works with students and how the students work with each other. Some programs are pretty Darwinian and cutthroat; Kelley is much more collaborative. We foster great teamwork. If you see yourself going into corporations where teamwork is valued, where you’re going
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to need analytical strengths, and you see yourself moving to senior levels, then Kelley is a great fit.
Pam, what kind of feedback do you get from corporate recruiters?
TC: I agree with Pam in that each student needs to know what he or she wants to achieve by earning an MBA degree. I think they should also carefully explore what is realistic for them in terms of program style. For example, think about the differences between a full-time residential experience versus a part-time experience versus an online program. Thorough research is necessary. This would include looking closely at websites and doing a comparative study of information about the programs and their differentiators. Talking to alumni can also be helpful. Over 90% of Kelley Direct graduates indicate they would recommend the program to a colleague, so we feel very comfortable exposing prospective students to our alumni. It’s a great way for interested parties to get an honest feel for what the program is like. I would encourage anyone considering an online program to ask questions. Who is teaching these online courses? Is it faculty members who are also teaching in a residential program? Or are they adjunct or contractual faculty members? Who is teaching can really change the quality of the program offered.
PR: They mention that Kelley MBAs are great team players and have a great analytical skill set. Our students roll up their sleeves and often help teach others during their internships. I would attribute that to the experiences our students have in classes–— especially K507, K508, and K509. These courses teach students how to take a lot of data and use statistical tools to analyze problems. Along with the Academy experience, it sets Kelley apart. Those skills allow our students to become corporate leaders, and that’s what recruiters are looking for.
Does Kelley offer preadmission visits? PR: Yes. Individuals can come for a visit, have a classroom experience, and meet with current students. They also get to see Bloomington. Many people from big cities come here and are impressed with the restaurants, the atmosphere, the culture, and how beautiful everything is. In addition to singular visits, we host something called the Kelley Experience weekend. During this weekend, students get to actually participate in a case, see what’s offered in the school and through Graduate Career Services, and gain additional understanding of the different Academy experiences. It’s a wonderful way to get acquainted with the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program. TC: Much like Pam described, Kelley Direct holds its own Experience weekend twice per year, once for Fall entry and once for Spring entry. Individuals can come and meet current students, alumni, sit in on a class, talk to faculty members, and learn first-hand what it’s like to experience Bloomington. I know that many residential MBA students are either married or engaged. What kind of support does Kelley MBA offer in this regard? PR: We’ll help them as they look for employment. There are opportunities within Bloomington and surrounding cities, and even some jobs within the Kelley School of Business.
And Terrill, what do you hear from corporate sponsors? TC: Obviously, the key driver for a company initially looking at Kelley Direct is that we’re an online program offered by a Top 20 business school. What grows the relationship between corporations and Kelley Direct is what our students bring back to the company. Almost 100% of our students report that within the first term of their Kelley Direct degree, they’ve already started to apply business knowledge. Supervisors and upper level managers, who know how employees function, easily recognize the immediate return on investment in terms of work output. We see companies coming back to us because of that, and wishing to expand their relationship with us. It’s very gratifying, especially because Kelley Direct began as a company-only program. Individual students couldn’t apply; they had to be an employee member of a group. Now, more frequently, companies approach us and want to build a relationship. It’s not that we’re not reaching out, but companies are coming to us. If a student or company is interested in the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program or in the Kelley Direct Program, who should they contact, and how? PR: I can be reached at [email protected] TC: My email address is [email protected] Thanks so much to you both for your time.
2. An interview with the faculty chairs of the Full-Time MBA Program and the Kelley Direct Program: Phil Powell and Eric Richards Marc Dollinger: Welcome, Phil and Eric. Could you both tell me a bit about yourselves and how you came to serve as faculty chairs of your respective programs?
34 Phil Powell: I came to the Kelley School in 1996. After I was promoted in 2002, I became an Academy director and served in that role until 2005. I was faculty chair of the Kelley Evening MBA Program from 2006 until 2009, and then I became the FullTime MBA faculty chair starting in 2009 and have been serving ever since. My daily job is to interact with students and make sure they are having good experiences. I also liaise with the Dean’s office and faculty when they have issues, especially when one of the faculty members is an Academy director. It’s a lot of work, yes, but it’s a pleasure. Eric Richards: I’ve been a Kelley faculty member for 32 years now, as a Professor of Business Law. I became the faculty chair of Kelley Direct simply by teaching in the program itself; then, I became the associate chair, and was ultimately promoted to faculty chair. Eric, can you tell me about the faculty who teach in the Kelley Direct Program? What special skills and talents does it take to excel as a teacher of online programs? ER: Before delving into specific characteristics, I feel it’s important to highlight the fact that Kelley Direct courses are taught by regular Kelley faculty. The same professors in the undergraduate, doctoral, and MBA classrooms are instructing our online students. Many people misunderstand and think we utilize adjuncts or professionals from anywhere, and allow them to teach. While we do have some executive content in our courses, this is dispatched via guest speakers who are invited by faculty. Pedagogically speaking, there are things that distance learning faculty must do differently than what might work in a face-to-face residential course. For instance, in the online environment, it is especially imperative that the faculty member be highly organized. Kelley Direct students are business executives who have to balance jobs, families, and other obligations. They need to see, from the outset, how the course is set up and when deliverables are due. Efaculty must, by necessity, be great motivators, too. It’s much easier to motivate in a face-to-face setting than in the virtual environment. Kelley Direct instructors have to incent their students to regularly log in to the class site and participate on a regular basis. Finally, these faculty need to be adept at team building. It’s absolutely vital to be a catalyst for effective team management.
EXECUTIVE FOCUS have 20 to 30 years’ work experience, though for most it’s closer to 9 or 10. They’ll be very demanding of us. We must exhibit the same skills that they already know are essential on the job. Phil, what about special skills and talents for the Full-Time MBA Program? So many business people think that it must be easy to lead a classroom, but it’s really difficult. PP: When you consider what is important in the classroom, what I see with star faculty, first of all, is that they have a great classroom presence. Unlike the undergraduate experience, where most of the learning occurs outside of the classroom, a very effective MBA class has learning inside of the classroom. MBA instructors have to catalyze that with a dynamic classroom presence. Our Kelley MBAs tend to gravitate toward professors that push them hard and demand highly of them. If I get complaints about bad teaching quality, 70% to 80% of the time it’s because the professor is not challenging the students. In addition to a very dynamic classroom presence and a challenging academic experience, there has to be relevance. So, I find a high correlation between professors who use the case method and professors who are admired for making the material relevant. Over the 2 years, the program has 400+ students. The people teaching it must have an enormous amount of energy, to engage in this intensive personal way with each and every student. That’s a very demanding assignment.
Organizer, motivator, team builder: those are three skills that are highly valued in business executives, too.
PP: Absolutely. And it’s a huge commitment. You really have to love it. You can’t be half in. This is exemplified by our Academy directors. Within the Full-Time MBA Program we have eight Academies, which are action-based components of our curriculum, and each Academy has a faculty director. The Academy director actually has to have one foot on the academic side and one foot in practice, and they get their hands dirty coaching students on how to deliver value on the ground with projects. They work hand-in-hand with Graduate Career Services to help these students get jobs. Their immediate mission is to deliver academic content that’s very practical–—even more practical than what students are receiving in the traditional classroom. An Academy director must have a lot of patience, a lot of dedication, and be innovative in the way they approach things. These faculty members are a special part of Kelley and a huge component of our competitive advantage.
ER: Definitely. Kelley Direct students are business executives; they are on the job right now. Some
Eric, would you like to add to that? For readers who may be curious as to what the difference is between
EXECUTIVE FOCUS their undergraduate business education and what it means to get an MBA, could you give us your thoughts? ER: For real, long-term learning, our brains must encode all new information. This encoding process is more likely to occur when the information connects to the student’s personal life. Faculty can try to make these connections by creating ‘real-life’ examples. However, students can do this more efficiently and effectively. Kelley Direct students are on the job right now; thus, they can bring in the examples that most effectively promote real learning. Similarly, you can’t encode new information until you’ve encoded previous information. The brain employs a first-in/first-out process. If new information is fed into the brain before old information is properly encoded, the older information is forgotten. Some lag time is needed–—some time to reflect–—before the processing is complete. The best reflection is not only about the academic material, but reflection with peers in your personal life who are sharing the same kind of knowledge or information. Online classes can build in more of these necessary pauses where people can think, reflect, and process. Kelley Direct utilizes pre-recorded asynchronous lectures, as well as live synchronous lectures. Both are available so students can access them at any time, at their convenience. This is one of the main reasons that the Department of Education recently announced learning outcomes in the online environment actually exceed outcomes in traditional, residential learning environments. PP: I’ve taught in all of our MBA programs, and I’ve taught the same material across three of our MBA programs, and I can testify to the fact that Kelley Direct is highly innovative. I’ve seen, first-hand, Kelley Direct participants absorb as much knowledge as Full-Time MBA Program and Evening MBA Program students, in terms of that kernel of knowledge. A lot of people view online education as exalted correspondence, but I think it’s important that people know we’ve been doing this for almost 13 years now. The same innovation of teaching that drives the competitive advantage of the Full-Time MBA Program has been projected into the Kelley Direct experience. When you consider the Kelley MBA portfolio, we’re really serving two very different market segments. But, we’re able to pivot and have economies of scope on how we deliver that and fully capture the innovative spirit of the Kelley faculty. I know innovation is a large part of both programs. But most people don’t realize that the governance of Kelley programs lies in a faculty policy committee. Can you explain how that affects MBA?
35 ER: It’s much like a board of directors. Seldom does the policy committee formally come to me, as representative of Kelley Direct, with mandates regarding what we should or should not do in terms of technology or curriculum innovation. It’s far more likely that faculty or departments will come to me. Or, in many instances, the deans and I have formulated a strategy, which has been vetted by the various departments. We then go to the policy committee, as kind of an advisory board for their input and, ultimately, approval. And the people on the committee all teach in the program? ER: Yes. That’s vital to us. One added advantage that we have in terms of curricular development is input from our corporate partners. Many of our MBAs’ corporate employers talk to us about their corporate needs, so it’s a give-and-take relationship. We’ll frequently go with sales people to a corporation and suggest, ‘‘This is what you might need in terms of curricular revision.’’ But, just as often, they’ll initiate a conversation about what they perceive as a shortcoming. Can you think of a specific example of a prominent corporate partner? ER: Ingersoll Rand told us they had more and more people working in India and China, and requested that we tailor more of what we were doing to operating in those settings. In particular, they wanted to ensure that their employees understood how to manage across those cultures in a virtual environment. We responded to that request directly and, ultimately, enhanced the quality of the entire MBA program. Phil, what about on your end? Sometimes departments are very concerned about their representation in the programs. Too often, innovation stops in order to maintain a balance of power. Is that true regarding MBA? PP: It’s important for Business Horizons readers to understand that Kelley has a very unique model of faculty involvement at the leadership level. I’ve been at other schools, and the concept of a faculty program chair is a foreign misnomer. Sure, there are department chairs. There’s a dean that oversees programs. There is a program director who is a staff member. This creates a dysfunctional situation in which departments don’t feel they have any ownership stake in the programs. The fact that we have faculty chairs gives legitimacy to our programs, and the role of faculty chairs is to work hand-in-hand with our department chairs, our core faculty, and with the Academy directors: Where do we need to
36 go next? How do I mobilize the resources? How can I reduce bureaucratic interference to get the type of academic innovation that makes Kelley what it is? Can you give me an example of innovation concerning faculty chairs, departments, and students coming together? PP: Regarding the Full-Time MBA Program space, one thing we pride ourselves on is that we’re the fastest from idea to implementation. As you know, Kelley has had a lot of success with its business analytics certificate program. In late March of 2011, just after spring break, I spoke with our deans about the possibility of an MBA Business Analytics major and minor. We had the conversation and put together a proposal. It’s our first major that isn’t embedded in a department; it’s interdepartmental. The faculty chair owns it, but the faculty chair works with the different department chairs in case there is anything related to the major or minor. From its inception in late March, we passed the proposal through the policy committee in early April, and it came before the faculty in late April. When our second-year students returned in August, they had a new major and minor option. We were able to implement a new major and minor, that crosses departments, in just 2 months. It’s an amazing testament to the collaborative spirit of the Kelley faculty and our high level of political functionality within the organization. Very impressive. Tell me, Eric, where do you think the curriculum is going in the future? What sorts of things would you like to see come to fruition? ER: Clearly, the centerpiece of the Kelley Direct Program is teaching managers how to lead a virtual global enterprise. As such, this has to permeate all we do. To reinforce this, we’re working hard to truly globalize the entire curriculum. Currently, as soon as an applicant is admitted to Kelley Direct, he or she completes an online diagnostic tool called an ‘intercultural primer.’ It measures the time and energy that individual commits to skills essential to managing in the global environment. Then, before they take their first class, we mentor them on this, so they can create development plans regarding how they will take advantage of the curriculum and better prepare themselves for their professional careers. That mentoring is a great first step. Still, we need to do an increasingly better job. To truly globalize a program, the curriculum should require a special course that teaches the language of globalization and a deeper understanding of cross-cultural values and practices. While our intercultural primer partially serves that, we plan on instituting a separate global course. Simultaneously, we’re working
EXECUTIVE FOCUS to infuse global content into each course in the MBA core. One of the most essential skills in managing across cultures is the ability to develop and maintain trust. It’s even more difficult to do so virtually. This skill is important not only for managers, but also for students studying in an online environment. Accordingly, we are working on developing and offering more foundational training and then reinforcing those skills in the overall curriculum. Finally, we are developing additional opportunities for Kelley Direct students to take advantage of more face-to-face sessions. Currently, they attend two week-long experiences, called Kelly Connect. At the beginning of their first year with us, and then again during their second year, students visit the Bloomington campus for a residential experience. The first visit focuses on what it means to be a part of Kelley and what it means to work together. It introduces the curriculum, the faculty and leadership, and other students in the cohort. The second visit is much more of a capstone case competition that demonstrates to the students and faculty how much was gained from the core courses. During both experiences, students work in teams on ‘live’ cases where they develop business strategies for real companies. We are now reinforcing these Connect weeks with other optional opportunities for students to work together in other countries. For example, we have visited India, China, and South Africa. We hope to be in Brazil very soon. These courses begin online for 6 weeks and then culminate with country visits, where students reinforce their education with faculty members from the host country and sessions with global managers. They serve three important functions: (1) they provide students with global perspectives; (2) they give our faculty access to global contacts that can help us globalize our individual courses; and (3) they provide a meaningful opportunity for our students to meet and work face-to-face with their peers. We are also developing in-country ‘connect’ sessions. We will kick off courses in a convenient location: Chicago, New York, Atlanta, or Los Angeles. Faculty can provide a 3-day executive session focusing on cutting-edge ideas or practices. Students and alumni may attend. For students, the seminar will be the introduction to an online course that will take place immediately after the session. What we’re really trying to develop is more face-to-face time, because it truly enhances the trust that you need to learn and to manage virtually. The sessions also will provide alumni with ongoing learning opportunities and, ultimately, permit students and alumni to network with one another.
EXECUTIVE FOCUS What about you, Phil? Where do you think the curriculum is going? And what kinds of things would you like to see in the program? PP: To pivot off what Eric has said, we have the global part. Traditional residential programs are a bifurcation of global business education and leadership. Typically, cases are taught and there may be brief visiting trips. What we’re doing to distinguish the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program in our market is interweaving global and leadership. We have a program called Global Business and Social Enterprise, or GLOBASE, whereby students travel during spring break to emerging markets and consult for local businesses, serving local markets. They’re doing real projects, on the ground. Very quickly, the students have to attune themselves to a language and a culture they may not understand. They’ve got to problem solve; for these clients, many of them family businesses and non-profits, the stakes are very high. While these students may not ultimately spend their careers in Guatemala, Ghana, or India, they are learning to think on their feet and outside the box. It will drive forward the innovative spirit for which our Kelley students are known. Part of the new mantra of the program is to define your horizon. We want our Kelley students not to be looking at the horizon, but to be looking beyond the horizon, and to be able to operate and make decisions in an environment that is much more volatile coming out of the great recession. When I look at the curriculum, not only is there this issue of globalization, but there is a data inversion. We used to have plenty of analytical techniques but not enough data; now, we have more data and not enough techniques. This is business analytics. So, we’re trying to put business analytics with globalization, as well as with this idea of a free agent economy. More and more, we’re becoming our own free agents in the labor markets, so we have a new
37 innovation called Me, Inc. This is part of our orientation program and teaches students to develop their own brands, even before they step foot in the classroom. Together, these are preparing us for new paradigm shifts that clients are bringing to our attention. What would you tell potential students about the faculty of your programs? ER: The rankings consistently indicate that Kelley students have a high degree of satisfaction with the Kelley faculty. Overall, I believe it’s clear we have an extremely intelligent, insightful, committed faculty here. PP: This isn’t just about instructors. At Kelley, across the board, we have an army of scholar teachers who love to innovate in the classroom. It’s very common for the Kelley School to hire a teaching star from another university, and here, their performance is just fine, but not stellar–—just average. They say: ‘‘Oh, my goodness, it’s really hard to win a teaching award at Kelley.’’ Let me return to my use of the word ‘scholar.’ If you look at the number of textbooks that the faculty here have written, we have top-selling textbooks in eight different functional areas, not to mention cases. Often, our students will walk into the classroom, and the person teaching is the person who wrote the textbook. This speaks to the value of our research areas. So, as we say, if the students go to another school, they’ll still be learning from Kelley faculty, because they are going to be using the textbook that Kelley faculty wrote. To be Number 3 in research productivity, according to the University of Texas rankings, and then also have this quality of teaching–—this is a unique place and a reason, across the board, that we are in the Top 20 of what we do. Gentlemen, thank you very much.
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor
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Keeping ahead of the curve: Meeting student needs in graduate business education in the 21st century Marc J. Dollinger Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, 1309 E. Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701, U.S.A.
The following two interviews highlight the reflection and innovation process that is necessary to keep business education fresh and relevant in a constantly evolving global business environment. It’s a tough job, but at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, the administration and faculty are sensitive to the requests and needs of the next generation of business leaders. Via both the Kelley FullTime MBA Program and the Kelley Direct Program, students are offered unique learning choices catered to the desires and success of each program’s students. The Kelley Full-Time MBA Program is consistently ranked among the best in the world. Under this model, students move to Bloomington, where they tailor a 2-year program of studies by first selecting major and minor concentrations in traditional business areas such as Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship & Corporate Innovation, Finance, Management, Marketing, Strategic Analysis of Accounting Information, and Supply Chain & Operations. Then, these students complement that framework with participation in a Kelley Academy, which serves as a pragmatic, career-focused, and experientially-driven application of those business skills. Choices include the Business Marketing Academy, Capital Markets Academy, Consulting Academy, Consumer Marketing
E-mail address: [email protected]
Academy, Entrepreneurial Innovation Academy, Strategic Finance Academy, Supply Chain Academy, and Academy PLUS Life Sciences. Kelley Direct is the online offering of the Kelley School of Business. Unlike many traditional distance learning programs, however, Kelley Direct students augment their flexible coursework with two trips to the Kelley Bloomington campus to participate in a week-long Kelley Connect experience. During each of these weeks, Kelley Direct students meet faculty face-to-face and work collaboratively with their colleagues in the Kelley Direct program. To begin, let me introduce the panelists:
Pam Roberts, Executive Director of the Full-Time MBA Program and Graduate Career Services.
Terrill Cosgray, Executive Director of the Kelley Direct MBA Program.
Phil Powell, former Faculty Chair of the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program (when this interview was conducted) and current Faculty Chair of Kelley Direct.
Eric Richards, former Faculty Chair of the Kelley Direct MBA Program (when this interview was conducted) and current Chair, East Asian Initiatives for the Kelley School of Business.
0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2012 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2012.09.006
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1. Discussing development of the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program and the Kelley Direct Program, with Pam Roberts and Terrill Cosgray Marc Dollinger: I’m here with Terrill Cosgray and Pam Roberts to talk about the Kelley School of Business MBA programs. Pam and Terrill, could you both tell me a bit about yourselves? Pam Roberts: I’m Executive Director of the Kelley MBA Program and of Graduate Career Services. I’ve been with Kelley now for 7 years. Prior to that, I worked for Cummins in a variety of financial roles; my last was as the lead for international shared service operations with locations in India, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico. Terrill Cosgray: I’m Executive Director of the Kelley Direct MBA Program. I’ve worked at the Kelley School of Business for 15 years, the last 4 of which I’ve been with Kelley Direct. Prior to that, I spent 11 years as part of what is Pam’s team as Director of the FullTime Residential MBA Program. Before coming to Kelley, I spent 18 years with Indiana University in a variety of administrative roles, including admissions, financial aid, and international student services. I also spent time in the private sector, working for a large medical supply company as its advertising director. You both have great experience, which I’m sure helps in running the Kelley MBA programs. Could you tell me a little bit about your typical student? A sort of profile of who is looking for what you have to offer? PR: Most of our students are seeking career change or career advancement. The MBA gives them the skill set to make that transition or the ability to move up the corporate ladder. I would approximate that twothirds of the class is generally looking to switch careers. For example, an incoming student with an engineering background may seek to move into a marketing role, or even investment banking. It really depends on each person’s goals. This type of student is seeking a real functional switch. Statistically, the average class profile lines up as: 225 students, 670 GMAT score, 5 years of work experience, 3.3 undergrad grade point average. Typically, one-third of the class is female; one-third is international, with undergrad degrees represented equally among engineering, business, and social sciences/humanities. TC: The Kelley Direct student profile is not that dissimilar from what Pam just described, but unique in a couple of ways. First, the average age of our students is in the low 30s, which tends to be a good bit
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29 older. We are looking for students who are very established in their profession, which is another key differentiator between Kelley Direct and FullTime MBA. Our students tend to want to stay with their employer, working while they complete their online classes. Actually, 82% of our students stay with the same company. We have a few students who would like to switch careers, but for the most part, our students are looking to either enhance their expertise in a functional area within their existing company or they would like to use their functional expertise in order to move into a management position. Do you see that as the typical differentiator between residential programs? TC: It is, actually, a typical differentiator. Full-time or residential programs generally cater to job/career switchers. Part-time or online programs tend to serve those who want to stay within their company and move up the management chain. Based on the answers you’ve given, we know what a ‘typical’ student is like and we understand the class profile. But, how are your programs not typical and what do you do that surprises the students once they get here? PR: The Kelley Full-Time Program is centered on the Academy experience; choices include the Business Marketing Academy, Capital Markets Academy, Consulting Academy, Consumer Marketing Academy, Entrepreneurial Innovation Academy, Strategic Finance Academy, Supply Chain Academy, and Academy PLUS Life Sciences. These are meant to give students realworld experience in some of the fields that they are attempting to enter. They also provide students with great networks of people in those fields. To describe the experience, let me use the Consumer Marketing Academy as an example. A student in this Academy is given a true sense of what it means to be a brand manager. They are first provided with the vocabulary to understand the field, and are introduced to a wide variety of firms in this area. Then, with other CMA students, they are assigned a group project that focuses on a problem within a firm. They work on the problem and then present their findings and solutions to the firm. This gives real-world experience to the student and sets them apart when they start their summer internship. They have done the actual work as part of the experiential learning component. Who runs the Academies, and which corporations participate? PR: Faculty actually run them, and Kelley’s Graduate Career Services office aligns firms with the appropriate/relevant Academy.
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Do the contacts for these connections typically come from alumni?
Can you give me some examples of companies that have participated?
PR: Yes, alumni play a key role in providing connections to the firms. Kelley forms partnerships with the companies through Graduate Career Services and the Academies. The Academy directors foster and make use of those alumni and corporate contacts. This provides our students a rich network of alumni and firms with which to connect.
TC: Locally, for the first-year experience, we’ve worked with Scholar’s Inn, The Bakehouse, and Half Bay. The second-year experience focuses on a Fortune 500 company problem involving an international issue; here, we’ve worked with firms such as Cummins and SPX. Kelley Direct students have also worked on not-for-profit agency projects and military projects. There is a wide range of opportunities available to them. One great thing about these exercises is that students get to work with senior people in these organizations. It’s very exciting for our students to get that type of experience.
And as a Top 20 program, don’t many companies come through? PR: Absolutely. Our students are introduced to a variety of firms in the very first week of classes as part of roundtables. Students see firms during networking events, presentations, and through their Academy experience. Terrill, when most people think of e-learning, I believe they picture logging on and off the computer and completing coursework. What are some of your program’s surprises? TC: As compared to other online programs, one big differentiator for Kelley Direct is that the same faculty members teach for our program as teach for the Full-Time MBA Program or Undergraduate Program. That is very unusual. Most other online programs utilize contract faculty or adjunct faculty to do their teaching. Many KD students are amazed to discover that not only do the same faculty members teach them, but some of the world’s leading scholars. For example, Dan Smith–—our current Dean–—is one of the top Marketing faculty in the world. He teaches our Kelley Direct students when they come on campus for the residential component of their experience. He’s one of the best teachers. TC: Absolutely. He’s incredible. Also, Idie Kesner teaches our students when they are on campus. Actually, all of our associates at the Kelley School teach undergraduates, and one of the online courses, and the residential programs. These are all top faculty in their chosen fields. Another thing that is very unique about Kelley Direct is something I would term ‘learning experiences.’ Most distance learning programs focus solely on submitting work online, but we are adding extra, short residential exercises to mirror–—as closely as possible–—full immersion. For example, Kelley Direct students are able to get involved in courses that take them to a study abroad experience. We have students participating in the IU in Washington (DC) campus program. We have capstone courses via which students work on actual company projects and help them with problem solving.
And for the Full-Time MBAs, for the Academies, what fills that role? PR: There are two versions of these international experiences: GLOBASE and KIPS. GLOBASE takes students and has them consult with small firms in countries like Ghana or Guatemala, or deal with bottom-of-the-pyramid issues in India. Regarding the GLOBASE trip to India, we take roughly 20 students to the country, and there, they facilitate women’s business skills and try to help improve women’s socioeconomic status in rural villages. They do consulting projects for them. GLOBASE is more project-oriented and a social entrepreneurship experience. KIPS trips, on the other hand, are studentdesigned and student-led; they actually formulate the curriculum and the itinerary. These trips focus on understanding industries and firms within a country. The students contact the companies they want to visit and explore the industries there. I led a KIPS trip to Japan. I remember that the students did a great job. One of the students spoke fantastic Japanese, and he was able to share a lot of his contacts in Japan. Of course, the most memorable moment for me was the time that we had 26 people’s worth of luggage and 2 minutes to get it off of the train, and get it across the platform to the next train. They did it! It was a great example of Kelley teamwork. Let’s switch gears and take a look at the big picture. What’s the market for business education these days? What niches do you see? Who are the main competitors to Kelley? What changes have you seen in the last 4 years due to the recession? PR: There has been a huge proliferation of products in the business education market. There are many new offerings for students to choose from; 1-year programs including variations in degrees in business, to online offerings, part-time offerings, mixed degrees, et cetera. It used to be just an MBA, which is
EXECUTIVE FOCUS what you got if you wanted a Masters in business. Now we have variations. You can get a Masters in Finance, which is typically a 1-year degree. Students are being given a greater set of options and are looking at tailoring a graduate-level experience to their needs. In addition, some schools have opted to remove the requirement for work experience. Lots of alternatives are out there, and all of the programs have responded to this in different ways. Kelley Direct has done a great job with some additional offerings. We actually offer an MBAA, an MSIS degree, and an MSA degree designed for our accounting students and our IT students; those are all Masters degrees, too. Terrill, what do you see? Is there also product proliferation in the online space? TC: Definitely. When Kelley Direct entered the online business education marketplace, we were the only non-profit educational institution offering an online graduate business degree. Now, well over 100 online MBAs are offered by AACSB accredited schools, and literally thousands are being offered by for-profit schools that are not AACSB accredited. Obviously, this is becoming a very crowded marketplace. Because Kelley Direct is an old player, we tend to always shake out at the top when people are considering online options. The interesting change that has occurred in the last couple of years is that students who were once looking only at online options are now also eyeing part-time programs. So, for example, in this respect, the NYU part-time program is a huge competitor for Kelley Direct. So the part-time programs compete for a geographic base of students. TC: What might draw a Kelley Direct student to us instead of to a top ranked part-time program in their region is the fact that we offer greater flexibility than that part-time program. The student doesn’t have to be some place at a specific time. That’s the asynchronous nature of the online. TC: That’s exactly right. Currently, I’m dealing with a student who is trying to decide between Kelley Direct and Haas-Berkeley. Another is attempting to choose between Kelley Direct and NYU. And yet another is trying to decide between Kelley Direct and UCLA, the University of Chicago, or Northwestern. It always comes down to wanting a top-ranked program, but the student has to decide what he or she can realistically do given existing personal and professional obligations. PR: Regarding the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program, our biggest competitors include Michigan, UNC, UTAustin, and Kellogg.
31 All top programs. PR: Absolutely. They’re incredible programs. How many students can you accept every year? TC: We usually have about 140 students entering the Fall MBA class. We bring in about 85 or 90 with the Spring MBA class. If you add in all of our students, MS and MBA, we’re bringing in about 400 each year. In terms of our population size, we have over 1600 active students. And you are still able to maintain selectivity and consistency. I suspect the recession has taken its toll. How do you see the future of the residential and the online MBA programs going forward? PR: Students make decisions based on the value they perceive as coming from a program. This value is often tied to their ability, with our degree in hand, to attain the job they seek. For example, regarding the class that just graduated, 93% of the students had offers and 100% had internships last summer. We are actually tracking about 5 points ahead of where we were last year at this time. Almost 60% of our students have a full-time offer by the beginning of January and they do not graduate until May. If employment continues to climb and companies add employees to meet business needs, that should increase the robustness of the MBA market. If prospective students are nervous about the economy, they are loathe to leave their current jobs. TC: The recession has impacted Kelley Direct in a couple of obvious ways. First, it has driven some students to consider online education, because they don’t want to give up their jobs. We’ve seen an increase in applications during the recession; not as large as one might expect, but still quite significant. Another factor, which has been a dampener for us, is a decrease in the number of companies that are willing to provide sponsorship for employees’ graduate business education. Right now, about 60% of Kelley Direct students receive some sort of corporate sponsorship from their employers; it used to be closer to 80%. That means more and more individuals who want to complete our degree have to selffund their education. This can be daunting. Our research shows that almost 60% of Kelley Direct graduates get a promotion within 3 months of receiving their degree. And, of course, this also represents a salary increase. It’s a definite return on investment. Do you think students run the numbers and justify the expense in this way? TC: We help them run the numbers and see the big picture. Over a lifetime, a student who completes
32 our degree is likely to earn $1 million more than someone who does not. We’re publicizing data like this, so that people can recognize long-term value. I’m very interested in MBA innovation. So, let me ask you this: Does each program have a process for introducing innovations? And do these innovations tend to address a need that students have expressed, that faculty members have expressed, or that the administration has driven? PR: Let me give you an example. The Me, Inc. program was introduced 2 years ago and has now been integrated fully into our orientation program, to great accolades. We found that students lacked the ability to tell a story, insight regarding their own being, and perception as to how they were seen by others. They were also reluctant to network. As a result of that, the Graduate Career Services group analyzed how epiphany moments and self-discovery might occur earlier in the process, such that a company isn’t the first point when a student is told, ‘‘You did not make the preference list.’’ Me, Inc. was the result of this insight. Our students go through a 2-week process that is integrated with orientation. They begin by telling their life story, which they do in front of small groups of 16. Then, they move on to company research and present this information to the group as a team. This is work they will be doing when they look for positions. They then do another presentation on themselves. Finally, the group as a whole asks the question: Would this person have made the preference list? One-third, yes; the rest, no. Each student also has to self-identify whether he or she would have made the preference list. This proves to be eye-opening for many. We also teach After Action Review (AAR), which is a military practice. After each major program or item, a group of students completes an AAR. The students ask themselves the following questions: What did we set out to do? What actually happened? Why did it happen? What did we learn from it? What will we do differently next time? TC: Change and improvement in Kelley Direct is driven primarily by two different factors: student requests for change, or a perceived need for change or faculty requests for change. For example, we decided to restructure the residential experience for Kelley Direct students because previously, a single faculty member delivered all of the content for both the first-year and second-year Kelley Connect weeks. We felt they needed greater exposure to more faculty members, to see them and build relationships with while here. Of course, our students have strong relationships with their online faculty. However, their time on campus is particularly golden, so we designed
EXECUTIVE FOCUS a program for our first-year students where they are taught by 10 top-level faculty members from each of the major business disciplines. In this way, relationships are being built between faculty and students. An example of student-driven change is that of experiential learning. We roll out experiential learning through our capstones, international travel, and Washington Campus program. Also, we provide graduate career services. All of these aspects were driven by student demand. PR: Terrill was very good at laying out the difference between student-, faculty-, and administrative-driven change. In the Full-Time MBA Program, we have a group called the Curriculum Advisory Council. It’s a group of students who are elected and who have direct contact with the faculty. They use this access to discuss changes they believe need to be made to the curriculum, and then we try to work in some of these changes, coming directly from the students. TC: Kelley Direct has a similar group. We actually have combined our student leadership groups, presidents and alumni and so forth, and we have combined our clubs with our advisory groups. We have something called the Student Advisory Board. It looks at all sorts of issues, curricular and extracurricular, and brings ideas to us once every 2 weeks. It’s made up of student leaders, presidents of clubs, the student body president, and some ad hoc members that are brought in or who come in when that student has a particular interest he or she wants to explore with the Student Advisory Board. Wow. These programs never stand still, do they? PR: No, they simply can’t. Competition is too fierce. It’s a saturated market with product proliferation. You really have to be improving yourself, all the time. Taking on the role of a prospective MBA student, what considerations would you have? PR: The first thing a person should ask is: ‘‘Why do I want an MBA?’’ What are you seeking with this degree? How will you use it in the future? If the individual understands this, it should help them decide which program best fits their needs. Prospective students should definitely pay a visit to the campus and see the program in action. One of the things we hear from prospects is how collaborative Kelley is. It’s not only the faculty and the way they work with students, but how the staff works with students and how the students work with each other. Some programs are pretty Darwinian and cutthroat; Kelley is much more collaborative. We foster great teamwork. If you see yourself going into corporations where teamwork is valued, where you’re going
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to need analytical strengths, and you see yourself moving to senior levels, then Kelley is a great fit.
Pam, what kind of feedback do you get from corporate recruiters?
TC: I agree with Pam in that each student needs to know what he or she wants to achieve by earning an MBA degree. I think they should also carefully explore what is realistic for them in terms of program style. For example, think about the differences between a full-time residential experience versus a part-time experience versus an online program. Thorough research is necessary. This would include looking closely at websites and doing a comparative study of information about the programs and their differentiators. Talking to alumni can also be helpful. Over 90% of Kelley Direct graduates indicate they would recommend the program to a colleague, so we feel very comfortable exposing prospective students to our alumni. It’s a great way for interested parties to get an honest feel for what the program is like. I would encourage anyone considering an online program to ask questions. Who is teaching these online courses? Is it faculty members who are also teaching in a residential program? Or are they adjunct or contractual faculty members? Who is teaching can really change the quality of the program offered.
PR: They mention that Kelley MBAs are great team players and have a great analytical skill set. Our students roll up their sleeves and often help teach others during their internships. I would attribute that to the experiences our students have in classes–— especially K507, K508, and K509. These courses teach students how to take a lot of data and use statistical tools to analyze problems. Along with the Academy experience, it sets Kelley apart. Those skills allow our students to become corporate leaders, and that’s what recruiters are looking for.
Does Kelley offer preadmission visits? PR: Yes. Individuals can come for a visit, have a classroom experience, and meet with current students. They also get to see Bloomington. Many people from big cities come here and are impressed with the restaurants, the atmosphere, the culture, and how beautiful everything is. In addition to singular visits, we host something called the Kelley Experience weekend. During this weekend, students get to actually participate in a case, see what’s offered in the school and through Graduate Career Services, and gain additional understanding of the different Academy experiences. It’s a wonderful way to get acquainted with the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program. TC: Much like Pam described, Kelley Direct holds its own Experience weekend twice per year, once for Fall entry and once for Spring entry. Individuals can come and meet current students, alumni, sit in on a class, talk to faculty members, and learn first-hand what it’s like to experience Bloomington. I know that many residential MBA students are either married or engaged. What kind of support does Kelley MBA offer in this regard? PR: We’ll help them as they look for employment. There are opportunities within Bloomington and surrounding cities, and even some jobs within the Kelley School of Business.
And Terrill, what do you hear from corporate sponsors? TC: Obviously, the key driver for a company initially looking at Kelley Direct is that we’re an online program offered by a Top 20 business school. What grows the relationship between corporations and Kelley Direct is what our students bring back to the company. Almost 100% of our students report that within the first term of their Kelley Direct degree, they’ve already started to apply business knowledge. Supervisors and upper level managers, who know how employees function, easily recognize the immediate return on investment in terms of work output. We see companies coming back to us because of that, and wishing to expand their relationship with us. It’s very gratifying, especially because Kelley Direct began as a company-only program. Individual students couldn’t apply; they had to be an employee member of a group. Now, more frequently, companies approach us and want to build a relationship. It’s not that we’re not reaching out, but companies are coming to us. If a student or company is interested in the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program or in the Kelley Direct Program, who should they contact, and how? PR: I can be reached at [email protected] TC: My email address is [email protected] Thanks so much to you both for your time.
2. An interview with the faculty chairs of the Full-Time MBA Program and the Kelley Direct Program: Phil Powell and Eric Richards Marc Dollinger: Welcome, Phil and Eric. Could you both tell me a bit about yourselves and how you came to serve as faculty chairs of your respective programs?
34 Phil Powell: I came to the Kelley School in 1996. After I was promoted in 2002, I became an Academy director and served in that role until 2005. I was faculty chair of the Kelley Evening MBA Program from 2006 until 2009, and then I became the FullTime MBA faculty chair starting in 2009 and have been serving ever since. My daily job is to interact with students and make sure they are having good experiences. I also liaise with the Dean’s office and faculty when they have issues, especially when one of the faculty members is an Academy director. It’s a lot of work, yes, but it’s a pleasure. Eric Richards: I’ve been a Kelley faculty member for 32 years now, as a Professor of Business Law. I became the faculty chair of Kelley Direct simply by teaching in the program itself; then, I became the associate chair, and was ultimately promoted to faculty chair. Eric, can you tell me about the faculty who teach in the Kelley Direct Program? What special skills and talents does it take to excel as a teacher of online programs? ER: Before delving into specific characteristics, I feel it’s important to highlight the fact that Kelley Direct courses are taught by regular Kelley faculty. The same professors in the undergraduate, doctoral, and MBA classrooms are instructing our online students. Many people misunderstand and think we utilize adjuncts or professionals from anywhere, and allow them to teach. While we do have some executive content in our courses, this is dispatched via guest speakers who are invited by faculty. Pedagogically speaking, there are things that distance learning faculty must do differently than what might work in a face-to-face residential course. For instance, in the online environment, it is especially imperative that the faculty member be highly organized. Kelley Direct students are business executives who have to balance jobs, families, and other obligations. They need to see, from the outset, how the course is set up and when deliverables are due. Efaculty must, by necessity, be great motivators, too. It’s much easier to motivate in a face-to-face setting than in the virtual environment. Kelley Direct instructors have to incent their students to regularly log in to the class site and participate on a regular basis. Finally, these faculty need to be adept at team building. It’s absolutely vital to be a catalyst for effective team management.
EXECUTIVE FOCUS have 20 to 30 years’ work experience, though for most it’s closer to 9 or 10. They’ll be very demanding of us. We must exhibit the same skills that they already know are essential on the job. Phil, what about special skills and talents for the Full-Time MBA Program? So many business people think that it must be easy to lead a classroom, but it’s really difficult. PP: When you consider what is important in the classroom, what I see with star faculty, first of all, is that they have a great classroom presence. Unlike the undergraduate experience, where most of the learning occurs outside of the classroom, a very effective MBA class has learning inside of the classroom. MBA instructors have to catalyze that with a dynamic classroom presence. Our Kelley MBAs tend to gravitate toward professors that push them hard and demand highly of them. If I get complaints about bad teaching quality, 70% to 80% of the time it’s because the professor is not challenging the students. In addition to a very dynamic classroom presence and a challenging academic experience, there has to be relevance. So, I find a high correlation between professors who use the case method and professors who are admired for making the material relevant. Over the 2 years, the program has 400+ students. The people teaching it must have an enormous amount of energy, to engage in this intensive personal way with each and every student. That’s a very demanding assignment.
Organizer, motivator, team builder: those are three skills that are highly valued in business executives, too.
PP: Absolutely. And it’s a huge commitment. You really have to love it. You can’t be half in. This is exemplified by our Academy directors. Within the Full-Time MBA Program we have eight Academies, which are action-based components of our curriculum, and each Academy has a faculty director. The Academy director actually has to have one foot on the academic side and one foot in practice, and they get their hands dirty coaching students on how to deliver value on the ground with projects. They work hand-in-hand with Graduate Career Services to help these students get jobs. Their immediate mission is to deliver academic content that’s very practical–—even more practical than what students are receiving in the traditional classroom. An Academy director must have a lot of patience, a lot of dedication, and be innovative in the way they approach things. These faculty members are a special part of Kelley and a huge component of our competitive advantage.
ER: Definitely. Kelley Direct students are business executives; they are on the job right now. Some
Eric, would you like to add to that? For readers who may be curious as to what the difference is between
EXECUTIVE FOCUS their undergraduate business education and what it means to get an MBA, could you give us your thoughts? ER: For real, long-term learning, our brains must encode all new information. This encoding process is more likely to occur when the information connects to the student’s personal life. Faculty can try to make these connections by creating ‘real-life’ examples. However, students can do this more efficiently and effectively. Kelley Direct students are on the job right now; thus, they can bring in the examples that most effectively promote real learning. Similarly, you can’t encode new information until you’ve encoded previous information. The brain employs a first-in/first-out process. If new information is fed into the brain before old information is properly encoded, the older information is forgotten. Some lag time is needed–—some time to reflect–—before the processing is complete. The best reflection is not only about the academic material, but reflection with peers in your personal life who are sharing the same kind of knowledge or information. Online classes can build in more of these necessary pauses where people can think, reflect, and process. Kelley Direct utilizes pre-recorded asynchronous lectures, as well as live synchronous lectures. Both are available so students can access them at any time, at their convenience. This is one of the main reasons that the Department of Education recently announced learning outcomes in the online environment actually exceed outcomes in traditional, residential learning environments. PP: I’ve taught in all of our MBA programs, and I’ve taught the same material across three of our MBA programs, and I can testify to the fact that Kelley Direct is highly innovative. I’ve seen, first-hand, Kelley Direct participants absorb as much knowledge as Full-Time MBA Program and Evening MBA Program students, in terms of that kernel of knowledge. A lot of people view online education as exalted correspondence, but I think it’s important that people know we’ve been doing this for almost 13 years now. The same innovation of teaching that drives the competitive advantage of the Full-Time MBA Program has been projected into the Kelley Direct experience. When you consider the Kelley MBA portfolio, we’re really serving two very different market segments. But, we’re able to pivot and have economies of scope on how we deliver that and fully capture the innovative spirit of the Kelley faculty. I know innovation is a large part of both programs. But most people don’t realize that the governance of Kelley programs lies in a faculty policy committee. Can you explain how that affects MBA?
35 ER: It’s much like a board of directors. Seldom does the policy committee formally come to me, as representative of Kelley Direct, with mandates regarding what we should or should not do in terms of technology or curriculum innovation. It’s far more likely that faculty or departments will come to me. Or, in many instances, the deans and I have formulated a strategy, which has been vetted by the various departments. We then go to the policy committee, as kind of an advisory board for their input and, ultimately, approval. And the people on the committee all teach in the program? ER: Yes. That’s vital to us. One added advantage that we have in terms of curricular development is input from our corporate partners. Many of our MBAs’ corporate employers talk to us about their corporate needs, so it’s a give-and-take relationship. We’ll frequently go with sales people to a corporation and suggest, ‘‘This is what you might need in terms of curricular revision.’’ But, just as often, they’ll initiate a conversation about what they perceive as a shortcoming. Can you think of a specific example of a prominent corporate partner? ER: Ingersoll Rand told us they had more and more people working in India and China, and requested that we tailor more of what we were doing to operating in those settings. In particular, they wanted to ensure that their employees understood how to manage across those cultures in a virtual environment. We responded to that request directly and, ultimately, enhanced the quality of the entire MBA program. Phil, what about on your end? Sometimes departments are very concerned about their representation in the programs. Too often, innovation stops in order to maintain a balance of power. Is that true regarding MBA? PP: It’s important for Business Horizons readers to understand that Kelley has a very unique model of faculty involvement at the leadership level. I’ve been at other schools, and the concept of a faculty program chair is a foreign misnomer. Sure, there are department chairs. There’s a dean that oversees programs. There is a program director who is a staff member. This creates a dysfunctional situation in which departments don’t feel they have any ownership stake in the programs. The fact that we have faculty chairs gives legitimacy to our programs, and the role of faculty chairs is to work hand-in-hand with our department chairs, our core faculty, and with the Academy directors: Where do we need to
36 go next? How do I mobilize the resources? How can I reduce bureaucratic interference to get the type of academic innovation that makes Kelley what it is? Can you give me an example of innovation concerning faculty chairs, departments, and students coming together? PP: Regarding the Full-Time MBA Program space, one thing we pride ourselves on is that we’re the fastest from idea to implementation. As you know, Kelley has had a lot of success with its business analytics certificate program. In late March of 2011, just after spring break, I spoke with our deans about the possibility of an MBA Business Analytics major and minor. We had the conversation and put together a proposal. It’s our first major that isn’t embedded in a department; it’s interdepartmental. The faculty chair owns it, but the faculty chair works with the different department chairs in case there is anything related to the major or minor. From its inception in late March, we passed the proposal through the policy committee in early April, and it came before the faculty in late April. When our second-year students returned in August, they had a new major and minor option. We were able to implement a new major and minor, that crosses departments, in just 2 months. It’s an amazing testament to the collaborative spirit of the Kelley faculty and our high level of political functionality within the organization. Very impressive. Tell me, Eric, where do you think the curriculum is going in the future? What sorts of things would you like to see come to fruition? ER: Clearly, the centerpiece of the Kelley Direct Program is teaching managers how to lead a virtual global enterprise. As such, this has to permeate all we do. To reinforce this, we’re working hard to truly globalize the entire curriculum. Currently, as soon as an applicant is admitted to Kelley Direct, he or she completes an online diagnostic tool called an ‘intercultural primer.’ It measures the time and energy that individual commits to skills essential to managing in the global environment. Then, before they take their first class, we mentor them on this, so they can create development plans regarding how they will take advantage of the curriculum and better prepare themselves for their professional careers. That mentoring is a great first step. Still, we need to do an increasingly better job. To truly globalize a program, the curriculum should require a special course that teaches the language of globalization and a deeper understanding of cross-cultural values and practices. While our intercultural primer partially serves that, we plan on instituting a separate global course. Simultaneously, we’re working
EXECUTIVE FOCUS to infuse global content into each course in the MBA core. One of the most essential skills in managing across cultures is the ability to develop and maintain trust. It’s even more difficult to do so virtually. This skill is important not only for managers, but also for students studying in an online environment. Accordingly, we are working on developing and offering more foundational training and then reinforcing those skills in the overall curriculum. Finally, we are developing additional opportunities for Kelley Direct students to take advantage of more face-to-face sessions. Currently, they attend two week-long experiences, called Kelly Connect. At the beginning of their first year with us, and then again during their second year, students visit the Bloomington campus for a residential experience. The first visit focuses on what it means to be a part of Kelley and what it means to work together. It introduces the curriculum, the faculty and leadership, and other students in the cohort. The second visit is much more of a capstone case competition that demonstrates to the students and faculty how much was gained from the core courses. During both experiences, students work in teams on ‘live’ cases where they develop business strategies for real companies. We are now reinforcing these Connect weeks with other optional opportunities for students to work together in other countries. For example, we have visited India, China, and South Africa. We hope to be in Brazil very soon. These courses begin online for 6 weeks and then culminate with country visits, where students reinforce their education with faculty members from the host country and sessions with global managers. They serve three important functions: (1) they provide students with global perspectives; (2) they give our faculty access to global contacts that can help us globalize our individual courses; and (3) they provide a meaningful opportunity for our students to meet and work face-to-face with their peers. We are also developing in-country ‘connect’ sessions. We will kick off courses in a convenient location: Chicago, New York, Atlanta, or Los Angeles. Faculty can provide a 3-day executive session focusing on cutting-edge ideas or practices. Students and alumni may attend. For students, the seminar will be the introduction to an online course that will take place immediately after the session. What we’re really trying to develop is more face-to-face time, because it truly enhances the trust that you need to learn and to manage virtually. The sessions also will provide alumni with ongoing learning opportunities and, ultimately, permit students and alumni to network with one another.
EXECUTIVE FOCUS What about you, Phil? Where do you think the curriculum is going? And what kinds of things would you like to see in the program? PP: To pivot off what Eric has said, we have the global part. Traditional residential programs are a bifurcation of global business education and leadership. Typically, cases are taught and there may be brief visiting trips. What we’re doing to distinguish the Kelley Full-Time MBA Program in our market is interweaving global and leadership. We have a program called Global Business and Social Enterprise, or GLOBASE, whereby students travel during spring break to emerging markets and consult for local businesses, serving local markets. They’re doing real projects, on the ground. Very quickly, the students have to attune themselves to a language and a culture they may not understand. They’ve got to problem solve; for these clients, many of them family businesses and non-profits, the stakes are very high. While these students may not ultimately spend their careers in Guatemala, Ghana, or India, they are learning to think on their feet and outside the box. It will drive forward the innovative spirit for which our Kelley students are known. Part of the new mantra of the program is to define your horizon. We want our Kelley students not to be looking at the horizon, but to be looking beyond the horizon, and to be able to operate and make decisions in an environment that is much more volatile coming out of the great recession. When I look at the curriculum, not only is there this issue of globalization, but there is a data inversion. We used to have plenty of analytical techniques but not enough data; now, we have more data and not enough techniques. This is business analytics. So, we’re trying to put business analytics with globalization, as well as with this idea of a free agent economy. More and more, we’re becoming our own free agents in the labor markets, so we have a new
37 innovation called Me, Inc. This is part of our orientation program and teaches students to develop their own brands, even before they step foot in the classroom. Together, these are preparing us for new paradigm shifts that clients are bringing to our attention. What would you tell potential students about the faculty of your programs? ER: The rankings consistently indicate that Kelley students have a high degree of satisfaction with the Kelley faculty. Overall, I believe it’s clear we have an extremely intelligent, insightful, committed faculty here. PP: This isn’t just about instructors. At Kelley, across the board, we have an army of scholar teachers who love to innovate in the classroom. It’s very common for the Kelley School to hire a teaching star from another university, and here, their performance is just fine, but not stellar–—just average. They say: ‘‘Oh, my goodness, it’s really hard to win a teaching award at Kelley.’’ Let me return to my use of the word ‘scholar.’ If you look at the number of textbooks that the faculty here have written, we have top-selling textbooks in eight different functional areas, not to mention cases. Often, our students will walk into the classroom, and the person teaching is the person who wrote the textbook. This speaks to the value of our research areas. So, as we say, if the students go to another school, they’ll still be learning from Kelley faculty, because they are going to be using the textbook that Kelley faculty wrote. To be Number 3 in research productivity, according to the University of Texas rankings, and then also have this quality of teaching–—this is a unique place and a reason, across the board, that we are in the Top 20 of what we do. Gentlemen, thank you very much.