Business Impact covers the big challenges facing global management education as the world asks more of its future business leaders.
THE MAGAZINE OF THE BUSINESS GRADUATES ASSOCIATION (BGA) | LEADERS NEVER STOP LEARNING | AUGUST-OCTOBER 2021
PLUS: • TEACHING TRUST AND HOW LEADERS BUILD AND RETAIN IT • IBS-MOSCOW ON THE VALUE OF A GLOBAL OUTLOOK • CLIMATE CHANGE:
AMBA & BGA ROUNDTABLE
ACCEPTANCE OVER ASSIMILATION ARE INTERNATIONAL PEERS EXPECTED TO CONFORM OVER TIME? POTENTIAL TENSIONS FOR BUSINESS SCHOOLS TO ADDRESS
AMBA & BGA ACCREDITATION FORUM 2021 VIRTUAL 15-18 November 2021 AMBA & BGA‘s Accreditation Forum 2021 is specifically designed to help accreditation professionals at Business Schools prepare for AMBA and/or BGA accreditation or re-accreditation. AMBA & BGA is committed to ensuring that our content is still available to all our audiences, in spite of social distancing, so this year’s event will be hosted completely online. All the sessions will be livestreamed in interactive webinars, and recordings of all event components will be shared with all delegates. The content will be led by a team of expert accreditors and guest speakers. They will share their knowledge and insights over the course of the forum, and will cover the following: The structure of the accreditation process What it takes to make an accreditation submission Successful best practices of successful Schools
Typical challenges Business Schools face Proposed solutions for marketing and communicating your accreditation to key audiences
A draft programme of the session topics, timings and descriptions, as well as details about our complimentary pre-conference workshop, will be available shortly, but for now please save the date. www.businessgraduatesassociation.com/bga_events/ amba-and-bga-accreditation-forum-2021
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Encouraging acceptance Business Schools should be ready to anticipate and address tensions that may arise from expectations that newcomers assimilate to presiding norms over time
Teaching trust at Business School Why students of management should be made aware of how trust relates to power and how leaders must govern themselves to retain it
The value of a global outlook IBS-Moscow's Ashot Seferyan on the ‘difficult but very powerful’ decision to offer students an in-person international module once more
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CONTENTS August-October 2021
30 0 Social media
04 Editor's letter 07 From the CEO 08 Leading with trust
14 Cover story: addressing potential obstacles to diversity and inclusion goals The unique perspectives of international students and workers may be tolerated in the first instance, but there are often expectations that newcomers assimilate to presiding norms over time. Research from UCL School of Management's Felix Danbold, with recommended actions for organisations and Business Schools
20 Interview: IBS-Moscow Associate Dean, Ashot Seferyan, discusses the value of
Can your School still afford to overlook the personal side of social media engagement? 36 0 Lifelong development Mannheim Business School's President presents a fresh take on the alumni club 42 0 Guest column Daydreaming as a practice
international experiences and the RANEPA School's approach to forming international partnerships 24 Climate change
‘Business students need to be keenly aware that part of retaining trust as a leader is governing yourself to resist the heady side-effects power can create’ say the authors of The Power of Trust
AMBA & BGA Business Schools discuss challenges associated with tackling climate change in business education
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EDITORIAL
opinion that travelling abroad is the only way, ‘to truly gain insights into the economic and cultural peculiarities of a country or region’. But it is not just the individual that benefits. International students bring their unique backgrounds, experience and perspectives to a host country. The value of global mindsets are now widely recognised, but this doesn't mean that resistance to diversity has been eradicated. Drawing on research which suggests that ‘many would prefer it if all minority groups assimilated to the majority’s way of doing things,’ UCL School of Management’s Felix Danbold looks at what Business Schools can do to ensure that international students and workers don’t feel that, ultimately, they must assimilate if they want to avoid bias, in our cover story (page 14). In spite of the potential tensions, Danbold also remains convinced of the value of the international experience, saying that, ‘choosing to study or work in another country… offers unrivalled opportunities to grow knowledge, capabilities and cultural awareness.’ Business Schools may soon have to balance the benefits of offering in-person and virtual international experiences, opting for different formats in different programmes and settings, perhaps. But providers should be aware of the implications every step of the way. Tim Banerjee Dhoul,
Content Editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@businessgraduates association.com Art Editor Laura Tallon Insight and Communications Executive Ellen Buchan e.buchan@ businessgraduates association.com Director of Marketing and Communications David Woods-Hale d.woods@businessgraduates association.com
C orporate
How best to build international awareness and understanding?
Business Development Manager Victor Hedenberg v.hedenberg@ businessgraduatesassociation.com Senior Marketing Executive, BGA Shareen Pennington s.pennington@ businessgraduatesassociation.com BGA Membership Manager Rachael Frear r.frear@ businessgraduatesassociation.com Head of Commercial Relations Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@ businessgraduatesassociation.com Commercial Partnerships Manager Emily Wall e.wall@ businessgraduatesassociation.com Finance and Commercial Director Catherine Walker Director of Accreditation and Director of BGA Services Mark Stoddard Chief Executive Officer Andrew Main Wilson Executive Assistant to the CEO Amy Youngs a.youngs@ businessgraduatesassociation.com General Enquiries info@businessgraduates association.com
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International student experiences may be forever changed by Covid-19. Enforced experimentation with formats has led to some eye-opening uses of technology in which students prevented from travelling overseas have collaborated with their international peers and immersed themselves in other cultures without leaving their homes, let alone their home countries. The promise shown by these learning models hints at new ways of supporting equality of access to leading Business Schools’ degree programmes. After all, international trips can be an expensive component within these degrees. Such
models could also further the original aims of the MOOC – widening the reach of faculty expertise and boosting an institution’s global impact and reputation. They might even help answer the growing calls for Business Schools to pay greater attention to the carbon footprints their staff, faculty and students accumulate in an average academic year. Yet, this is not to undervalue the importance of on-the- ground experiences overseas. IBS-Moscow Associate Dean, Ashot Seferyan, reminds us that because business remains global, business leaders must develop a global vision, in this edition of Business Impact (page 20). Seferyan is of the
Content Editor, Business Impact
Copyright 2021 by The Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association. All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is independent, accurate, objective and relevant for our readers, BGA accepts no responsibility for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed and advice given are the views of individual commentators and do not necessarily represent the views of BGA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. BGA makes every opportunity to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor.
Take advantage of AMBA & BGA’s free webinar series for Business
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For more information visit www.businessgraduatesassociation.com/events/events-webinars/ Make the most of your coffee breaks, and keep up to speed with the trends in the business education arena.
21 JANUARY 2022 LONDON
Tackling the issues that matter to Business Schools: DIVERSITY SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT INNOVATION COLLABORATION LIFELONG LEARNING
FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE
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L ast year, we were humbled and inspired by There are seven categories in the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022 that are open to BGA member, validated and accredited Business Schools, and for which Schools can nominate themselves or their students and alumni. These include a new dedicated category for institutions in the BGA network – BGA Student of the Year. Building on the success of the annual MBA Student of the Year award, this new award invites you to share the successes of your students and alumni from non-MBA programmes – this includes those at the undergraduate and pre-experience master’s levels. As many of you will remember, the AMBA & BGA the entries we received across all categories of the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2021. This year, we know that the quality and calibre of your submissions will be even more powerful. Excellence Awards 2021 was held online in its entirety. While we worked hard to emulate the excitement of a live awards ceremony using virtual conferencing technology, I’m sure you’ll agree with me in saying that nothing beats the ‘magic’ of a physical event when it comes to an awards ceremony. For that reason, my team and I are already working on delivering the most exciting hybrid event we can for 2022's awards. On the evening of 21 January 2022, AMBA & BGA plans to host the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2021 in London with a sumptuous Gala Dinner for those attending in person, and a TV-quality livestream of the awards for virtual attendees. Our aim is to provide you with the most immersive and engaging experience, no matter where you are in the world. The awards ceremony will follow on from AMBA & BGA’s first Business School Leaders Summit – an event at which panel sessions will discuss key themes, trends and issues that matter to business educators: diversity, innovation, impact, sustainability, lifelong learning, partnerships and collaboration. Following on from the success of AMBA & BGA’s fully online Festival of Excellence early in 2021, these panels will comprise a selection of decision makers from Business Schools, as well as industry experts, international employers, and business leaders, to create an authentic and discursive environment in which to put forward and debate ideas. The key difference from the Festival of Excellence is that this event will use a new hybrid dimension – planned as a physical event but bringing studio-standard quality livestreaming for all those who are unable to make it to London in person. The event will also be supplemented by both online and offline networking opportunities. We hope to see many of you face to face in the new year, and to receiving and reading your submissions for the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022 in the meantime. The closing date for entries to the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022 is Friday 24 September 2021. For more information, please visit: www.businessgraduatesassociation.com/bga_events/amba- bga-excellence-awards-2022
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Celebrating excellence and sharing knowledge With the ‘Oscar’s’ of business education now open for entries, AMBA & BGA CEO, Andrew Main Wilson , presents plans to stage a hybrid awards ceremony in January 2022, in conjunction with its first Business School Leaders Summit
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LEADING WITH TRUST
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Business isn’t capitalising on the benefits trust can bring, say HBS Professor, Sandra Sucher , and HBS Research Associate, Shalene Gupta . But students of management must be made aware of how trust relates to power and how leaders must govern themselves to retain it
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L eaders have powers other people don’t. They get to decide (or lead a process of deciding) what products or services a company will offer, how many people to employ and what kinds of jobs they will have, which suppliers to partner with, and even how to interpret laws and regulations. On the flip side, this also means leaders have to make difficult decisions that may mean causing harm in order to preserve the greater good. One senior executive told us that, ‘the fair decisions are easy. My job is to make the difficult decisions.’ Leaders have the responsibility of making decisions which also means in order to keep this responsibility they must be trusted. ‘Trust’ refers to our ability to be vulnerable to an organisation or person that may have power over us. For example, customers are vulnerable to an organisation because they have no window into how a product or service is created, they must trust that the product or service will work as it is supposed to and that it is ethically created. Similarly, when employees agree to work for an organisation, they are trusting that they will not be abused and that they will have a reasonable amount of job security. The benefits of trust Research shows that teams that trust their leaders perform better. In a study of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball teams in the US, researchers found that trust in a leader was more important to winning than trust in one’s teammates. Teams that trusted their coaches won 7% more of their games than teams that didn’t. And the team with the highest trust in its coach won the national championship, while the team with the lowest trust in their coach only won 10% of their games. As one player commented: ‘Once we developed trust in Coach___, the progress we made increased tremendously because we were no longer asking questions or were apprehensive. Instead, we were buying in and believing that if we worked our hardest, we were going to get there.’ The importance of trust translates to a company’s bottom line as well. In a 2002 study of Holiday Inns, 6,500 employees rated their trust in their managers on a scale from 1-5. An increase in trust of 1/8th of a point was correlated with a 2.5% increase in revenues. And at a macro level, this all scales up: a 1997 study of 29 market economies showed that a 10% increase in trust in the population was correlated with a 0.8% increase in GDP. But as a community, business isn’t capitalising on the benefits trust can bring. According to the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer , CEO credibility is at an all-time low in several countries, including Japan at 18% and France at 23% (in terms of the proportion of people who rate a CEO as a very or extremely credible source of information about a company) making the challenge for CEOs even more critical as they try to manage today’s issues.
Earning trust Because leaders have the responsibility of making decisions, leaders earn trust differently than organisations. Followers want first to know that a leader has earned her power legitimately, and second that she will use it well because she has the power to make decisions that will impact their careers and even the ways that they live their lives. They rely on their leader to make these difficult decisions with compassion and fairness. A leader who is not trusted will not hold on to their position for long as we can see in the case of companies, such as Boeing, that have suffered a major scandal where the CEO is later dismissed, or in the case of Harvey Weinstein, who was ousted after his multiple abuses were uncovered. The American philosopher, John Rawls, calls that first act of earning trust by acquiring power legitimately at the beginning of a leader’s tenure (or the first exposure that you might have with her in her role) ‘originating consent’. There is then what he calls ‘joining consent’ – the fact that people continuously assess whether they want to keep trusting a leader with power. Even if you come to your role through the right process, fairly carried out, people still want to know how it originated – on what basis you were selected. In other words, how, exactly, did you come into your role and get the power that comes with it? In democratic societies, we recognise the result of an election by consenting to allow the winning candidate to assume the job of mayor, governor, or president as our leader. In corporations, the
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process is less visible: boards of directors appoint CEOs, who we in turn, consent to allow to lead our organisations. The process of earning trust, however, does not end with originating consent. Earning trust does not just happen when a leader first acquires power. It’s a status that is always being reassessed through joining consent, that is, trust needs to be earned over and over, throughout time. However, leaders face an uphill battle when it comes to
joining consent because it turns out that the very qualities that cause you to earn people’s trust in the first place are easily destroyed by acquiring power. Business students need to be keenly aware that part of retaining trust as a leader is governing yourself to resist the heady side-effects power can create, which paradoxically cause leaders to lose trust. The lexicon of business history is filled with stories of CEOs like Travis Kalanick, who created large companies and then got ousted due to losing touch with the public. But why does this happen?
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‘Trust is a skill and therefore when teaching it, it’s important to use examples instead of lectures’
DESCRIBE, ANALYSE AND JUDGE: NOTES ON TEACHING TRUST AND LEADERSHIP
I’ve taught at Harvard Business School for 23 years, including courses on moral leadership, and leadership and corporate accountability. Trust is a skill and therefore when teaching it, it’s important to use examples instead of lectures. In the classroom, I draw on a mixture of cases (I recommend Dave Cote at Honeywell to illustrate a trusted leader balancing different stakeholder needs: ‘Honeywell and the Great Recession (A)’ and ‘Honeywell and the Great Recession: The Economic Recovery (B)’) and examples from real life and great literature to stimulate discussions (William Langewiesche’s American Ground (2002) is a fabulous example of how a group earned originating consent, for example). Then using a line of rigorous questioning, I get students to put themselves in a leader’s position. First, we start with observation; I call that step, ‘Describe’. What is the incident that’s happened? What are the leadership challenges? Then we take it deeper; I call that step, ‘Analyse’. Why did it happen? What factors contributed to the present? What do we know and what don’t we know? And finally, I have the students assess and debate the right course of action; I call that step, ‘Judge’. The reality is that in the midst of a crisis or a scandal it’s difficult to know what to do and sometimes there are no clear answers, just tough choices. Students often come into class hoping for right answers – what I hope to give them is a process for thinking through difficult dilemmas.
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‘If you want to get power, you need to be someone who values others, who cares about the greater good, and who can help a group succeed’
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The paradox of power Dacher Keltner, a Professor of Psychology who heads up the University of California, Berkeley Social Interaction Lab has, for decades, studied power, which he defines as ‘one’s capacity to alter another person’s condition or state of mind by providing or withholding resources… or administering punishments.’ In his book, The Power Paradox (2016) Keltner describes his research and that of other leading scholars of power. Power is a paradox in the following sense: the very behaviours that lead others to trust you with a position of power are (or can be) horribly transformed (think Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) into behaviours that are the opposite of what people esteemed in you before. For instance, leaders often gain their power because of their willingness to listen to others, but once attaining it, they frequently downplay or even refuse to listen to dissenting voices. That is because being in a position of power affects both the way you see yourself and how others perceive you and the way you act. Now, the second half of this paradox is not exactly new news. There’s a reason why you have probably heard some version of the quote: ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ – the famous opinion of the British historian, Lord Acton. Let’s start with the first half of the paradox and Keltner’s description of the behaviours that lead others to trust you with a position of power. In this view, the road to earning and maintaining power and, ultimately, trust is paved by actions that show a caring focus on others. Groups create leaders. They ‘give power to those who advance the greater good, construct reputations that determine the capacity to influence, reward those who advance the greater good with status and esteem, and punish those who undermine the greater good with gossip.’ Keltner’s leaders demonstrate empathy, they give to others, and they show gratitude. Characteristics of those who rise to power Keltner conducted the research that first introduced him to these ideas 20 years ago. He wanted to understand why some people rise to power in a group, while others don’t. To get at this question, he designed a natural state experiment, which means an experiment that would
allow him to interact with participants as they were living their lives and at home, as it were, in their own spaces. He got permission to study the students who lived together in one hall within a first-year dormitory at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a public university with a heterogeneous student body. At the beginning of the year, he met students and asked them to rate the amount of influence of each person on the hall. Students also completed a questionnaire that asked them to assess the extent to which their own personalities were defined by five social tendencies – a group that psychologists refer to as the ‘Big Five’: kindness, enthusiasm (reaching out to others) focus on shared goals, calmness, and openness to others’ ideas and feelings. He came back at the middle of the academic year, and then at the end, asking students to rate the power held by each of their dorm-mates each time. He tallied the power ratings given to each student. He found that as early as two weeks into the year, some students already had more perceived power than others. He also found that each student’s power fluctuated throughout the year. He found that those who rose to power had the most enthusiasm, and that the other Big Five traits mattered as well for retaining power. Researchers replicated these results across 70 other studies, finding that all the people who rose to power had all of the Big Five personality traits. The studies were in settings as varied as hospitals, financial firms, manufacturing facilities, schools, and the military. This is overwhelming evidence that if you want to get power, you need to be someone who values others, who cares about the greater good, and who can help a group succeed. The reason why Keltner’s book is called The Power Paradox , however, is that he goes on to describe how the actions that might lead one to be chosen to have power can disappear under the neurological and psychological effects that being in a position of power can have on individuals. Keltner calls power a ‘dopamine high’. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is released in our brains when we expect a reward. Keltner found that when people feel more powerful, they get dopamine highs. However, this makes them less aware of the risks associated with an action.
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Perspective-taking and priming This transformation from a focus on others to a focus on yourself is also a concern of Adam Galinsky, Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School, who is a renowned social psychologist. He and some colleagues conducted a deceptively easy-looking experiment to illustrate one of the worst effects of power on individuals, which is how it interferes with a person’s ability to take the perspective of others. A key component of empathy, perspective-taking, is the proverbial ability to walk in another person’s shoes, which means to be able to see, feel, and imagine how someone else experiences the world. But if you literally can’t put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you can’t take their perspective into account. In Galinsky’s study of 57 undergraduates, he divided the students into ‘high-power’ and ‘low-power’ groups. Students in the high-power group were asked to write about a personal incident when they had power. In the low-power group, students wrote about a personal situation in which another person had power over them. The students were then taken into a separate room and given a series of tasks: high-power participants were asked to allocate seven lottery tickets to themselves and another participant; low-power participants were asked to guess how many of the seven lottery tickets they would receive from another participant. Students were then given the following instructions: Task 1: with your dominant hand, as quickly as you can, snap your fingers five times. Task 2: with your dominant hand, as quickly as you can, draw a capital ‘E’ on your forehead with the marker provided. Here is the amazing thing that happened. The participants in the high-power position wrote the letter E on their foreheads as if they were reading it themselves, which meant that the E would be backwards from the perspective of someone
The experimental process used by Galinsky is called ‘priming’. It refers to the common and well-validated research technique that finds that giving individuals tasks, like writing about a personal experience, will put them in a frame of mind to think of themselves in a particular way, in this case, as either a person of high power or someone with low power. So, just by being primed to think of yourself as high-power, you look at the world from your own perspective. Preparing leaders for an internal battle CEOs like Travis Kalanick from Uber (he of the toxic culture, never-ending scandals, and bad-boy fame) and Tony Hayward from BP after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Mr ‘I’d like my life back’) are first-rate examples of what leadership looks like under conditions of power-laced self-focus, an inability to empathise, and indifference to harm imposed on others. What this comes down to is that leaders at any level in an organisation, or even in their personal life, must be prepared for the internal battle that awaits. On one side is the focus on others and the good of the group – the actions and beliefs that enable people to gain power and the respect and admiration of others. On the other side is the well-documented finding that being in a leadership role will pull you towards a focus on yourself and replace attention to others with an inability to care, understand or even be curious about the conditions of other people or groups, except those who serve your interests.
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looking at them and trying to read it. And the participants in the low-power position wrote the letter so that a person looking
Sandra J Sucher (above, left) is a Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, where she has taught for the last 20 years. At Harvard, Sucher has studied how organisations can change and improve while retaining stakeholder trust and the vital role that leaders can play in the process. She is also an advisor to the Edelman Trust Barometer . Shalene Gupta (above, right) is a Research Associate at Harvard Business School. She is a former Fortune reporter, writing about diversity in Silicon Valley, big data, and smart cities, before which she worked at the US Department of Treasury and had a Fulbright grant in Malaysia. Sandra J Sucher and Shalene Gupta are the authors of The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It (PublicAffairs, 2021).
at them would be able to read it easily. In other words, they wrote it considering the perspective of the other person, whereas the high-power group
wrote it from their own perspective.
ENCOURAGING ACCEPTANCE OVER ASSIMILATION
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The unique perspectives brought to organisations by international students and workers may be tolerated in the first instance, but there are often expectations that newcomers assimilate to presiding norms over time. UCL School of Management’s Felix Danbold outlines why Business Schools should be ready to anticipate and address tensions that may emerge
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M oving to a new country for one’s studies or work can be an exhilarating, enriching and often daunting experience. The typical international student has a lot on their plate. On top of their coursework, they might have to become increasingly fluent in another language while also forging new connections in a country with new norms and expectations. International students studying on management or MBA programmes are often also faced with the stresses associated with gaining valuable, but demanding, international business experience and securing highly competitive jobs in their chosen country. When you couple moving to a new country with finding a new job, expats might wonder how they can navigate these changes successfully. When starting at a new university or job, international students may feel pressure to conform to the expectations of new colleagues and employers. A real worry may emerge that if they don’t assimilate, they may experience bias and ostracism. This pressure to conform may be especially challenging for international students who strongly identify with their country of origin, and who are reluctant to sacrifice their norms and values for the sake of fitting in. The tension that international workers feel these days echoes a common challenge for contemporary organisations and universities. These institutions, now recognising the value of diversity and inclusion, often want to embrace difference among employees. Tolerance of difference allows each employee
to bring unique and valuable perspectives to the workplace, enhancing innovation and progress. However, we know tolerance isn’t always guaranteed, and that many would prefer it if all minority groups assimilated to the majority’s way of doing things. Some degree of assimilation will always be necessary just so organisations can function, as a common language and way of doing things is essential for coordination and efficiency. How then, can we collectively ensure that students and workers from international backgrounds are all able to succeed and contribute, while also sparing them the pressure to give up their valuable perspectives and sense of self? Understanding where majority group intolerance comes from Understanding how we can help alleviate the pressures on immigrants to assimilate requires an understanding of who is generating these pressures – i.e. the native-born majority group. Throughout history, there is an abundance of examples of majority groups treating minorities poorly and, despite some progress in recent years, this is not a phenomenon that we’ve escaped. The majority group’s desire for minority groups to conform to the majority’s norms is rooted in the fundamental dynamics of social groups. In diverse settings, the majority group typically enjoys the privileged position of representing the broader category in which they reside. For example, when people think of what it means to be a citizen of a given country, they typically think of members of the native-born majority group. This means that the majority group sets the norms to which other groups
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are expected to conform. Being the group that is most strongly associated with their broader context affords members of majority groups a reliable sense of inclusion and comfort. In academic terminology, we would say that majority groups are ‘prototypical’ of their broader contexts. There are many examples of prototypicality in action. For example, in historically male-dominated professions like firefighting, men are prototypical, whereas women are not. That is, when asked to think of a firefighter, most people will think of a man. Within firefighting, stereotypically masculine traits (such as strength, stamina and decisiveness) are often privileged over stereotypically feminine one (such as compassion and patience). All of this means that women have a harder time being recognised as fitting the mould of a ‘true firefighter’. This doesn’t mean that individual men can’t also struggle to fit in, only that their gender is unlikely to be the source of these challenges in the same way that it is for women. International students and immigrants often face similar barriers as a result of their non-prototypicality. People who are native to their country of residence don’t have to worry whether their nationality will put them at a disadvantage in the same way that immigrants often do. Expectations of assimilation shape bias Compounding the disadvantage that immigrants may face given their non-prototypicality, my research highlights how the senses of group prototypicality can actually drive increases in bias against minority groups, such as international students. The sense of security and comfort that prototypicality affords can quickly dissipate when change is felt to be imminent. If established majority groups notice an increase in the representation of minority groups, they may feel that their prototypicality, their very sense of belonging and the sense of comfort connected to it, is threatened. The majority group may feel like they will soon be the ones who will have to worry about fitting in. My research shows that this sense of ‘prototypicality threat’ – the fear of losing prototypicality – is a powerful driver of dominant groups’ resistance to diversity. My own research has also shown that feelings of threat are deeply influenced by prospective beliefs about whether intergroup difference will grow or shrink over time. Members of majority groups are most susceptible to prototypicality threat when they believe that minority groups are unwilling or unable to assimilate over time. In contrast, however, members of majority groups who believe that minority groups will assimilate do not experience ‘Members of dominant groups are willing to tolerate some difference in the present, but only if they believe it will diminish over time’
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEADERS IN BUSINESS SCHOOLS AND BEYOND Here are three things that leaders in organisations can do to increase appreciation for international students and workers: 1) Prepare for some discomfort from the majority group All people naturally get comfortable doing things in certain ways over time. This is especially true when they feel like their own way of doing things is the way that the majority of people have always done them. Introducing different and new perspectives can sometimes lead to disagreement and tension from those who would prefer that others assimilate to them, rather than the other way around. Business leaders and managers should be prepared for the possibility of complaints from members of majority groups and take steps to ensure that these unsettled individuals don’t take out their discomfort directly on the newcomers. 2) Carefully define what you value The traits we collectively value in our institutions and organisations often inadvertently reflect the traits already associated with the majority group. If organisations reinforce this in one way or another, they may unwittingly legitimise the idea that the majority group is valued more than newcomers. Highlighting the value of the traits associated with international students and workers can both increase tolerance and dispel the notion that the majority group’s way of doing things will always be the best. Emphasising the importance of diversity and inclusion, and making a public commitment to these goals, can also help remind hesitant individuals that their organisation wants them to embrace difference. 3) Give international students and workers a way to speak up Belonging to a minority group can be an isolating experience, so organisations should proactively provide opportunities and spaces for international students and workers to gather together and talk about their shared experiences. Direct communication with leadership can help ensure that challenges are being identified and addressed. ‘Remind hesitant individuals that their organisation wants them to embrace difference’
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‘Total assimilation may come at great psychological cost to immigrants’
this threat. That is, members of dominant groups are willing to tolerate some difference in the present, but only if they believe it will diminish over time. Increasing tolerance In light of this research, one might think it would be best for international students and immigrants to always assimilate as the best way to avoid conflict when interacting with members of their new country. Although my research shows that this would, indeed, reduce the discomfort felt by the native-born majority, we strongly recommend that individuals and organisations avoid this approach. As noted, some degree of assimilation will be necessary, but total assimilation will undermine diversity and inclusion goals and may come at great psychological cost to immigrants who feel attached to their identities. Furthermore, members of the majority group may still feel threatened by immigrants in other ways, like perceptions of increased competition over jobs and resources. Rather than sacrificing diversity to placate an anxious and privileged majority, efforts should be directed at increasing tolerance. Reminding members of the majority group that their ‘prototypicality’ is incidental, and that institutions are perpetually redefining themselves to better fit in a changing global market may be one way to reduce majority group resistance to change. Emphasising the value of diversity and inclusion for everyone may be another way to encourage members of majority groups to overcome their discomfort in welcoming international peers who retain, rather than shed, their unique backgrounds. Efforts to encourage inclusion will also need to be embraced and enacted by leadership. For immigrants, this may mean drawing attention to the often-subtle peer pressure that makes someone feel like their sense of belonging is conditional on assimilating. Employee resource groups where members of minority groups can talk about their experiences with those in a similar position can be beneficial as well. Mentorship programmes and town-hall meetings can ensure that communication is maintained and that any latent tensions are addressed before they lead to serious conflict. To ensure that the burden of responsibility does not fall entirely on new
starters, leadership should act quickly to create these structures if they do not exist already. None of the difficulties I’ve mentioned should dissuade anyone from choosing to study or work in another country. I genuinely believe that the experience offers unrivalled opportunities to grow knowledge, capabilities and cultural awareness. I also don’t want to suggest that intergroup conflict is inevitable, as many people will have wholly positive experiences studying or working abroad. However, given how commonplace intolerance still is, institutions should be ready to anticipate and address tensions that may emerge. I hope that international students moving on from their management programmes also remember the uniquely different perspective that they bring to organisations and the inherent added value that provides. It should not be forgotten, because it cannot be replaced.
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Felix Danbold is Assistant Professor in Organisations and Innovation at UCL School of Management. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar and Visiting Assistant Professor at NYU Stern School of Business. Danbold holds a PhD from UCLA, where he taught and conducted research in the Psychology Department and Anderson School of Management. For more information on this topic, please refer to the paper, ‘Welcome to Be Like Us: Expectations of Outgroup Assimilation Shape Dominant Group Resistance to Diversity’ by Felix Danbold and Yuen Huo [a Professor of psychology at UCLA], published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin .
BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
REAFFIRMING THE VALUE OF A GLOBAL OUTLOOK
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IBS-Moscow was quick to return to offering an in-person international module as part of its EMBA programme earlier this year. Programme Director and Associate Dean, Ashot Seferyan , explains why. Interview by Tim Banerjee Dhoul
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BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
‘Life is global and the economy is global too. The pandemic did not heavily change this situation’
mid continuing uncertainty over international travel, the Institute of Business Study Moscow (IBS-Moscow) was able to run an in-person international module for its executive MBA (EMBA) students in April. The decision was a ‘difficult but very powerful’ one for the message
it sent the business community, according to the School’s Associate Dean and Programme Director, Ashot Seferyan. As an established provider of business education in Russia, the decision taken by IBS-Moscow seems significant in showcasing the importance the country places in the value both of international and in-person experiences at this level of study. IBS-Moscow is, after all, Russia’s oldest Business School and forms a principal part of Russia’s largest educational institution – the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Its EMBA, of which Seferyan is the Founder, was launched almost 20 years ago. In this exclusive interview, Seferyan tells Business Impact why the Covid-19 pandemic
hasn’t removed the need for a global vision in business and outlines IBS- Moscow’s approach to forming international partnerships with other Business Schools. This includes factoring in how a country’s particular strengths and expertise suit the skills that are currently most in demand from managers in Russia.
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The EMBA programme at IBS-Moscow RANEPA includes a compulsory international module. Why do you feel it is important to offer your students an international dimension to their studies in this way? In a global world, you must have a global vision. There is only one way to truly gain insights into the economic and cultural peculiarities of a country or region – you must travel and learn from the citizens of that country or region. And we always choose the best Schools as partners. This philosophy was taken as a core ideology from the beginning of the EMBA programme at IBS-Moscow. In April, you were able to offer an on-campus international module in Dubai, in spite of continuing restrictions in many parts of the world. How did the School go about this and what lessons did you learn for offering this type of module, as the problems associated with Covid-19 continue? The decision to have an international module this April was a difficult but very powerful one. At that point, ours was the only programme in the world to take a risk in providing an overseas education and to take on the responsibility that this involves. On one hand, this decision sent a message to the business community that strong leaders can overcome even the difficulties of the
BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
A pandemic. On the other hand, sharing the experience of how to behave in the ‘new normal’ has been essential for all our students and has given them some new ideas of how to reshape their businesses. Global experiences are often said to improve a person’s understanding of the world around them and their appreciation of cultural differences. Can these experiences also help Business Schools to develop more responsible and socially conscious leaders in your opinion? If so, how? The social responsibilities of a leader are based mostly on cultural heritage. Good examples from outside a country could inject a much broader understanding inside a society but it is also a responsibility of a Business School to bring these ideas into its educational programmes and promote them among alumni and the wider community. London Business School is the latest School with which you are partnering on the international module, but in past years this module has been held at leading Business Schools in Switzerland, China and Spain, among others. Why has the School chosen to vary the international School host rather than to keep one established partner? People differ and countries differ too – their culture, history and vision create a unique experience. This is why we have to change venues from time to time. Another reason is much more economic and managerial. In different countries, you can learn a different approach. For example, Italy is famous for its entrepreneurial spirit, the Netherlands for having strong SMEs, China for its tremendous transformation from socialism, and the UK for its global vision on strategy along with its heritage. Taking our students to different countries gives them an option to get the best experience. But when you change venues because the economic situation in your country demands specific knowledge, then you can benefit even more. Aside from international exchange, do you think Business Schools will need to focus more inwardly (and therefore less ‘globally’) than they have been in their teaching in order to address domestic industry needs, post-Covid-19? Life is global and the economy is global too. The pandemic did not heavily change this situation. Local economies have probably gained some advantages because of lockdowns and specific logistics. But, on the whole, businesses are competing on a global level. So, Business Schools must attract professors and business experts who are knowledgeable of both local and global issues. The global financial crisis of 2008 has been linked to an increase in applications to Business School, as people decided the time was right to reassess their career goals and pursue personal and professional development. Have you observed any similar impact from the Covid-19 pandemic? At IBS-Moscow, we have definitely noticed an increase in demand for our programmes. But I would not link this upward curve just with a financial crisis or Covid-19. Taking our EMBA programme as an example, I can say that the increase in enrolment started in 2017.
One of the reasons was the big infrastructural projects taking place inside Russia at that time because of the forthcoming FIFA World Cup [held in summer 2018]. Later, global economic changes supported the demand for managers to retrain and upskill. Covid-19 has most probably added to this demand. Previously, we enrolled about 60 EMBA students a year but, since 2018, we have enrolled about 100. Business Schools are often encouraged to play a greater role in their local and regional communities. Has Covid-19 inspired any new events, activities or initiatives with this in mind? I do not think that Covid-19 has had such a big influence. Having lockdown and other barriers in our usual life, we had to transform our behaviour inside our networking communities. In many cases, Business Schools have used the fact that people are working from home – and therefore, have got additional free time while not travelling to and from their offices – to offer a number of short educational products. This is giving them a means of offering continued education and could also be an opportunity for our Business School. What’s next for the EMBA programme at IBS-Moscow? A return to fully in-person classes as soon as possible or a hybrid format of in-person and online learning? As the Director of an EMBA programme, I am aware that education at this level is very much based on networking and the sharing of an experience among students. This is why we returned to in-person classes in June 2020. Of course, we could use online formats for masterclasses and other forms of additional short meetings with businesspersons or interesting speakers. But our core programme is, and will be, delivered only in person. How has the School been working to boost the global profile of management education in Russia and what remains to be done in your opinion? As a leader inside the country and an active member of international education networks, IBS-Moscow is trying to bridge these two sides. While bringing best practices from the west, we are at the same time promoting our local experience to the world.
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Ashot Seferyan is an Associate Dean at IBS-Moscow and the Founder and Director of its Executive MBA programme. Seferyan is also a member of the Board at RABE (the Russian Association for Business Education). He holds a PhD in managerial sociology.
BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
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BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
AMBA & BGA IN CONVERSATION: CLIMATE CHANGE
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Business School representatives from across AMBA’s global network discuss challenges associated with tackling climate change in business education, reaching student audiences, and how institutions can use their position in society effectively. By David Woods-Hale and Ellen Buchan
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