Tag Archives: business practice

News

Durham University Business School Welcomes Sally Guyer as Professor in Practice

Durham University Business School has announced the appointment of Sally Guyer, Global CEO of World Commerce & Contracting, to its faculty as Professor in Practice in Strategy and Innovation.

 

Created to bring public distinction and practical insights to the classroom and applied research, Durham’s Professors in Practice initiative recognises the skills, perspectives and experiences of senior business professionals and enables students to directly benefit from them. Such individuals are invited to lead classes and workshops, support education in their individual areas of expertise, and engage with research that addresses real world challenges.

 

Starting on May 3rd 2021, Sally will join the Business School’s faculty in delivering modern, immersive education programmes that reflect and address the key issues facing industry today, and in fostering greater connection between Durham University and members of World Commerce and Contracting.

 

Speaking on her appointment and what she hopes to bring to the role, Sally said;

 

“I am truly excited to accept this appointment as Professor in Practice and to all that this collaboration between Durham University and World Commerce & Contracting will bring. We live in a time of such tremendous change that the connection between industry and academia has never been more important. Academia brings essential rigour and research in support of the fact-based decision making required in the world of practice. Equally students today need to be educated in a way that enables them to effectively apply their learning in our rapidly changing world. I look forward to contributing fully to this wide-ranging role, to supporting the development of a regional innovation and commercial ecosystem, and of course to inspiring the many students of Durham.”

 

With over 70,000 members and over 20,000 organisations from both the private and public sector, World Commerce & Contracting (WorldCC) is the world’s leading professional association in commercial management, contracting and negotiations. Its mission is to improve the quality and integrity of trading relationships. In her role as Global CEO, Sally sets the direction for the Association, including its research and advocacy initiatives and extensive portfolio of learning and development programs.

 

With qualifications in law and an accomplished background in consultancy (supporting the SME sector) and entrepreneurship, Sally has led a prestigious career. During this she has gained extensive practical experience in commercial and contract management, and developed a keen interest in the role and impact of technology on business and government commercial relationships. Her perspectives and expertise are regularly sought for influential industry and governmental events and bodies such as the EU Commission.

 

The Professor in Practice initiative also provides the opportunity for Durham University’s faculty to directly connect with business practice and public policy, enabling their research to have an actionable, positive impact on society. In this role, Sally will be assisting the Business School in the development of an innovation and commercial ecosystem, and supporting B2B and B2C activity in small and medium sized companies in the North East.

 

Sally’s other duties will include;

 

  • Hosting guest lectures for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes,
  • Participating in masterclasses – both individually and in collaboration with other Professors in Practice and honorary appointed staff,
  • Contributing expertise to alumni events
  • Collaborating with the School and its faculty on cutting edge research projects,
  • Assisting the Centre for Innovation and Technology Management and the Wilson Institute to work with Durham City in developing the entrepreneurial capabilities of local start-ups focused on technological innovation, and commercial management and contracting,

 

Tyrone Pitsis, Professor of Strategy and Technology at Durham University Business School has supported Sally’s appointment, highlighting the value her expertise will bring to the School’s teaching, research, and student engagement.

 

Professor Pitsis said;

 

“Sally epitomises the idea of the ‘curious practitioner’.  She is the leader one of the world’s most successful and prestigious associations, has been a successful entrepreneur and also actively engages with the scholarly world.  She represents exactly the sort of person business schools should engage with to ensure they design and offer education and conduct research that can have a real, sustainable and discernible impact on our beneficiaries”.

 

In her first official duty, Sally will be a panellist at the upcoming Virtual Global Debate, hosted by the Business School in collaboration with the Management Centre Innsbruck (MCI), on Monday 3rd May.  Entitled “Entrepreneurship meets Digitalization: Academia & Business jointly shaping the future , Sally will be joined by industry professionals and Business School faculty for a debate on the subject of value networks and digital technologies.

 

Those interested in attending the event can sign up via the School’s website.

News

Good at playing video games? You might also make a good leader

Video games can be used to assess the capabilities of aspiring managers by recruiters, according to a new study from the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University (RSM) and the University of Liechtenstein.

 

Conducted by Dr Markus Weinmann along with colleagues; Dr Alexander Simons and Dr Isabell Wohlgenannt from the University of Liechtenstein and Dr Stefan Fleischer of the University of Münster, the study built upon pre-existing research into the benefits of using specifically-designed recruitment games and tasks (a tactic called “gamification”) to judge applicants’ capabilities.

 

Their study analyses whether off-the-shelf video games can also indicate essential management skills possessed by applicants to senior-level roles.

 

Using the popular strategy game Civilization, which may be considered a modern-day equivalent to chess, the researchers enlisted 40 business students to learn the rules of the game – giving them a month to do so, before playing a series of timed games against each other under test conditions.

 

Participants were also required to complete a series of typical assessment centre exercises, designed to measure the managerial skills most commonly desired by employers when selecting candidates for senior-level positions. These include; consideration and awareness of others, communication, ability to influence others, organising and planning, and problem-solving.

 

The study found that those students who achieved high scores within Civilization were also revealed to possess significantly better problem-solving, and organizing and planning skills.

 

Dr Weinmann says:

 

“IT has already disrupted traditional forms of personnel section – conducting reference checks via business-oriented sites likes LinkedIn for example. Whilst gamification is nothing new the potential of commercial video games in assessing talent has long been ignored by HR experts. Our research shows the competences revealed by job applicants by playing such games can offer many benefits to employers, particularly for management level roles. The high levels of complexity that players are confronted with require them to plan their actions carefully, develop sophisticated strategies, employ critical thinking and negotiate with other players – all critical skills for managerial roles.”

 

Whilst the researchers acknowledge that video games are unlikely to replace the traditional assessment centre recruitment methods, they state that their use provides a significant advantage. Video games allow recruiters to see and measure skills that may not be as visible, or measured as accurately through other methods.

 

For example, in analysing the in-game data such as the chat function, the researchers suggest that strategy games such as Civilization could be effective in enabling recruiters to conduct “stealth assessments” – which can reduce test anxiety because applicants can fully immersive themselves in the game  – providing a more holistic insight into not just their communication and negotiation skills but their personalities. Furthermore, analysing gameplay performance data could also provide a key indicator to potential managerial performance and capabilities.

 

An additional benefit suggested by the researchers is that using such games as part of the skills assessment process could also provide an opportunity for recruiters to save both time and money.

 

In terms of personnel development, the researchers also suggest that deliberately designed strategy games may not only be used to measure performance but may also be used by organisations in-house to improve certain skills, enabling employees to train and test their abilities before putting themselves forward for promotion.

 

The study, “Good gamers, good managers? A proof-of-concept study with Sid Meyer’s Civilization” is published and available via the Review of Managerial Science.

Employee Engagement, HR News, News

Psychotic, Incompetent, Greedy or Heroic? – Which Boss are You?

An exploration into how popular fiction has shaped modern business management styles has been published this week, by Dr Martyn Griffin of Durham University Business School.

From, Psychotic, Incompetent or Greedy, to Good or even Heroic, “Fiction and the Identity of the Boss” profiles 100 bosses from film and TV, and categorises them under one of 10 different management types, in an attempt to understand how managers construct their identities.

The categories include;
• The Psychopathic Boss
• The Mean Boss
• The Incompetent Boss
• The Rule-driven Boss
• The Greedy Boss
• The Renegade Boss
• The Burdened Boss
• The Heroic Boss
• The Predatory Boss
• The Good Boss

Dr Griffin says, “The influence of TV and film on the identity of the modern manager is undeniable. Whilst writers, directors and actors often draw upon their own experiences to represent how bosses act in organizational life, these portrayals also feed back in to how managers themselves construct their identities in the workplace, by consciously or unconsciously embracing their behaviours.”

The categorisation serves to help understand the values we appreciate in a boss, and also identify which traits are needed – and which should be abandoned – to create successful leadership in the future.

According to Dr Griffin’s list, the Psychotic Boss – portrayed by Gordon Gekko in Wall Street and Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians – highlights the narcissistic, amoral and single-minded pursuit of success found in some leaders, who place personal success over the wellbeing of their staff, and ultimately get their comeuppance.

Greedy Bosses – a persona synonymous with the CEOs who contributed to the 2008 financial crisis – are depicted by Mr Potter of It’s a Wonderful Life. Whilst the Incompetent Boss – stylised most notably by David Brent in the UK version The Office, and his American counterpart Michael Scott in the US remake of the series, represents the significant lack of self-awareness prevalent in some bosses, who fail to realise that the way they view themselves is wildly different to the perception held by their staff.

No management identity is without fault. Though the Heroic Bosses – most notably portrayed by Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) epitomise the idea that the boss is the solution to all of an organisation’s woes, possessing superhuman qualities to not just get the job done, but to make it better, they notably each have their own form of Kryptonite that brings them down.

Prof Griffin acknowledges that there is no one box for any boss, as it is not just their actions but their intentions that characterise their style. For example, the Good Boss category is not reserved solely for those that turn profits whilst simultaneously investing in their employees. It includes conflicted characters, such as Ted Hastings from BBC police drama Line of Duty, and Judi Dench’s portrayal of “M” in the Bond film Skyfall, whose decisions may not always be popular, but their intentions are always for the greater good.

Though a light-hearted approach to analysing the mindset of the modern boss, the list points to a more serious consideration for the future of successful business leadership.

Dr Griffin says, “The purpose is to understand what kinds of implicit messages are going out to people about expectations around being a manager and being managed. This list captures the way that fictional portrayals of bosses are drawn from the real world and how, indeed, people watching depictions of managers on screen will flow back out in to society and culture, continually shaping our perceptions about what it is to be a manager.”

It serves as an extension of a wider, ongoing research project Dr Griffin has been conducting with fellow Durham University Business School Professor, Mark Learmonth. Their latest work “Fiction and the Identity of the Manager” has been included in “The Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organisations” – published by Oxford University Press earlier this year.

The full list can be found on Dr Griffin’s blog