Kiel Stone

A Better World is Everyone’s Business

Marianne Klinker — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 19:02:42 +0000

A Better World is Everyone’s Business Marianne Klinker Fri, 12/03/2021 - 14:02

In This Story

It wasn’t until 1972, during a United Nations conference in Stockholm, that the nations of the world formally announced what was already self-evident to most—human activity was detrimentally impacting the environment, and in turn, threatening our future prosperity. Nearly 50 years on, it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Perhaps the earth’s most essential forest, the Amazon is under tremendous threat from international economic and agricultural forces that are exchanging trees for pasture and cropland. Compounding matters are the pressures generated Local beekeepers Pilar Muravari and her husband Gabriel Caritimari, with Honey Bee Initiative Master Beekeeper German Perilla, sustainably extract honey from a nest of native stingless Melipona eburnea in Peru. by residents. Many local and indigenous communities, lacking better options, have turned to unsustainable, and environmentally damaging, income-generating activities such as logging, hunting, and fishing.

The combined effect is that the Amazon’s ability to shelter universally significant levels of biodiversity, regulate local and global hydrological cycles, and serve as a critically important sink for carbon dioxide are all imperiled. So too are the lives and livelihoods of those who depend on it for their survival.

In this challenge, the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW), through its Honey Bee Initiative (HBI), sees an opportunity to act with people, planet, and prosperity in mind to help change the fate of both an environment and its inhabitants.

Led by Germán Perilla, MAIS ’12, HBI is, of course, well known here on campus. Its expansion into the Amazon (Colombia and Perú specifically) highlights the initiative’s and the center’s fundamental ambition: making an impact globally, and at scale. By empowering communities through entrepreneurial beekeeping programs, B4BW has created sustainable economic opportunities for rural and indigenous communities. Importantly, the beehives are more lucrative endeavors than the extractive practices they are seeking to replace.

The effort has been well-received, and many program participants share the pride of Exiles Guerra, a local government leader in Perú, who observed that “The program is very important for the community...it is a new opportunity for all.” The work in Colombia has been so successful that it recently was selected as the 15th best overall social and environmental project in Latin America and the Caribbean by the Latinoamérica Verde, the largest social environmental festival in Latin America. Moving forward, HBI seeks to expand its impact by establishing a meliponiculture (study of stingless bees) school in Perú, taking the Colombia project nationwide, and using the HBI model in countries around the globe.

The success and global footprint of the Honey Bee Initiative serves as a template B4BW seeks to replicate. With a belief that a better world is everyone’s business, center leadership realize that as educators, we play a role in preparing the next generation to help reorient the business environment.

“Our goals are lofty,” says Lisa Gring-Pemble, co-executive director for B4BW. “We seek to lead a movement that will reshape business education so that it inspires students to act not just in the best interest of shareholders, but for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Here in Virginia, the center sees its Impact Fellows program as one piece of that puzzle. Launched in Fall 2020, this signature two-year, cohort-based undergraduate program responds to the needs of first-generation students, and those from lower-income groups and who are underrepresented in business, by providing an immersive learning environment based on the United Nations Global Goals, with elements such as local and/or global field study and personalized mentoring. Additionally, the center is engaged in an audit of all School of Business courses, focused on what and how students are taught about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We then intend to develop an undergraduate concentration and a minor on the topic of responsible business.

In spring 2021, B4BW hosted the Ashoka U Exchange’s international conference bringing thought leaders, students, faculty, and foundation representatives to Mason’s campus for discussions around social innovation and responsible business. The center, its board members, and international partners share a focus on embedding the SDGs throughout business education, and creating educational programs and experiences to help students see, and visualize, how business can act as a force for good in the world.

Topics

Costello College of Business News

Business for a Better World Center

Business for a Better World Center News

Honey Bee Initiative

Business for a Better World Impact Fellows Program

Foundations Faculty Research

School of Business Faculty Victoria Grady and and Mason Student Tyece Wilkins Working to Improve the Efficacy of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts in Workplace

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 20:22:20 +0000

School of Business Faculty Victoria Grady and and Mason Student Tyece Wilkins Working to Improve the Efficacy of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts in Workplace Marianne Klinker Tue, 08/24/2021 - 16:22

In This Story

Victoria Grady

“Currently, many diversity and inclusion initiatives are ineffective at best and detrimental at worst in terms of addressing the much-needed behavioral change of employees’ who continue to resist the need to embrace new values and perspectives.”

Victoria Grady

So say Victoria Grady, director of the MS in Management program and an affiliate faculty member with the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW), and Tyece Wilkins, Mason School of Business MBA candidate, in their recently released research paper that examines the role of psychological contracts and the way they can hinder organizational change. The paper and the research it is based on takes a specific look at how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts can lead to effective change management practices and ultimately, permanent organizational advancement of racial equity.

When she is not in the classroom or moving our understanding of equity and inclusion initiatives forward, Wilkins is a DEI manager at BAE Systems, where she oversees strategy and development for the company’s eight Employee Resource Groups.

Grady, an associate professor of Organizational Behavior at the ��AV School of Business, has an impressive research portfolio that focuses on the behavioral implications of organizational change. Her unique emphasis is the role of Attachment Behavior and Transitional Objects within the change process. Recent research publications can be found in Harvard Business Review, Washington Business Journal, Bloomberg News, GovExec.com, the Journal of Change Management, and The Public Manager. In addition, she serves as the professor in residence for their People and Change Practice-Healthcare at Dixon Hughes Goodman (DHG) based out of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tyece Wilkins

Recently, both Wilkins and Grady discussed with us how they came together to work on this new research.

What motivated each of you to start working in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) space?

Wilkins: One of the things I wrote in the cover letter for my first DEI job was that the human experience moves me, and the way human experience influences and enhances the workplace energizes me. DEI work demands a lot of your head and heart, which means there is never a dull moment. As the world evolves, there is always a new challenge to tackle, person to inspire, and cultural hurdle to overcome.

Grady: Tyece was a student of mine in MBA 728 during spring 2020. About a month after class ended, she wrote and asked if we could talk—she had an idea. Her idea came from her feelings on George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement that was really garnering some much-needed attention at that time. In class, we had discussed the psychological contract, and Tyece wanted to explore the hypothesis that we needed change that began with the most basic behavior related to the DEI in the workplace. She wanted to know what we could learn if we explored the possibility of intentionally breaking psychological contracts in the workplace to then build them back with an explicit focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. My response was WOW! From that conversation we developed an independent study and ultimately, together, we authored a paper sharing our results.

What can you tell us about what you learned from your work on DEI?

Grady: To be perfectly transparent, I did not have substantive experience directly related to DEI research when Tyece initially approached me. I was intrigued by her thoughts, captivated by the simplicity of the connection, and perplexed at how this connection was not already present in the literature we reviewed.

There is a clear relationship to the theoretical development of both Workplace Attachment Behavior and the psychological contract. The most significant realization came during a conversation with Tyece early in the research where we discussed the urgent need to completely break down bias, perception, and mental models related to DEI in the workplace. Our thoughts are that organizations may need to intentionally breach the psychological contract, disrupting organizational attachments, in order to permanently build it back as a critical component of the organization’s DEI commitment. Psychological contracts—especially those of senior leaders and managers—are changing as the expectations for allyship competency, open dialogue about race, and preemptive organizational activism take their place on center stage.

Beyond this paper what else are you working on, can you describe some of your other activities?

Wilkins: Outside of my MBA work, my full-time role is as DEI manager at BAE Systems. This role entails leading the strategy and development of our eight Employee Resource Groups, with a membership network of more than 4,000 employees.

Grady: I have spent the last 15 plus years researching and studying the role of Attachment Behavior on Organizational Behavior and Change. Over the course of the last two-plus years we have added the role of the workplace psychological contract as an important factor in understanding Attachment Behavior in the context of organizational change. In addition to this very exciting DEI work, we are also working on several other projects to include fantastic research related to Attachment Styles and Burnout. In addition to my research pursuits, I am the Academic Director for the Master of Science in Management (MSM) Program.

Tyece and Victoria, thank you so much for your work in this field and your commitment to B4BW. What could we be doing to support you and your colleagues’ research and other efforts?

B4BW is uniquely positioned to influence the minds and perspectives of emerging business leaders—and that’s exactly what would support our efforts!

It is critically important that the next cohort of business leaders understand the incredible value of not only hard skills, but soft skills too. We need to be more purposeful about having DEI conversations in our business classrooms, and B4BW can help make that happen.

Topics

Costello College of Business News

Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

Business for a Better World Center News

SBUS Management Department

Management Faculty Research

Costello College of Business Faculty Research

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Nirup Menon is Motivated to Uncover Disparities in our Health Care System

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 19:32:20 +0000

Nirup Menon is Motivated to Uncover Disparities in our Health Care System Marianne Klinker Tue, 08/24/2021 - 15:32

In This Story

Nirup Menon

Using statistics, econometrics, and data mining techniques Nirup Menon is hard at work trying to understand how unequal access to health care technology might be linked to unequal outcomes in health care.

Nirup Menon

Menon, a professor in the information systems and operations management area, has published more than 25 peer-reviewed journal articles in domains such as health technology, information security, privacy, enterprise systems, and online platforms. His current work, examining and trying to understand the unequal outcomes in our health care system, is of particular interest to the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW). Additionally, Menon is actively working on a Smart City Initiative, focused on data privacy, after winning a grant from Arlington County and Virginia Commonwealth Cybersecurity Initiative.

Recently, Menon generously gave us some time to discuss what sparked his interest in health care disparities, his current research efforts, and a great idea he has for B4BW to connect businesses and researchers.

What motivated you to start working in the racial equity and health care disparity space?

Much of my prior research was on the hospital as an organization and how hospitals manage technologies. I spent several years studying health care improvements after the adoption of various information technologies. For all practical purposes, I thought of each patient as an “average” patient. I did not pay attention to the fact that not all patients have the same access to health care, or the same hospitals and its technology. Then I learned about Cara Frankenfeld’s work on racial disparities during the Provost’s Multidisciplinary Research event. It struck me then, that in order to seriously address technology management in hospitals, I must study whether hospitals are able to equitably dispense health care to all – to study if all patients are equally enjoying the benefits of the technological progress that we are making.

What can you tell us about your ongoing research?

I am continuing my research on health care disparity. Through our research on racial disparities in colon cancer outcomes, we found evidence of outcome disparities that could be linked to unequal access of health care technologies for groups of people. I am now working on analyzing over 6 million patient records, of which more than two million records are COVID-19 positive patients, to see if racial disparities played a role in how patients received treatment during the pandemic last year.

In my other research streams, I am working on the business of online platforms, including crowdsourcing platforms. We are looking at how a company posting an online contest should frame their challenge to attract more qualified contestants to participate and provide innovative solutions. Cybersecurity is another research stream that I am focusing on, specifically security governance in organizations. I am also working on a project on digital resilience when an organization is faced with an upheaval such as a pandemic.

But you’re doing more than just research, can you describe some of your other activities?

Sure. I am also a teacher. I teach data mining. I contribute to my profession. I am an associate editor for a peer-reviewed journal. I am also an administrator at the School of Business. I just stepped down as the area chair for information systems and operations management. I am now serving as the associate Dean for Arlington Ventures and Strategy.

Nirup, thank you so much for your work in this field and your commitment to B4BW. What could we be doing to support you and your colleagues’ research and other efforts?

B4BW has been successful in inviting great speakers from the business community to present during its seminars. This is helping me understand what is important to businesses from an equity and responsibility point of view. It would be great if B4BW reached out to businesses to learn the problems that they want solved to become a responsible business, and then ask researchers such as myself to work with those companies on those problems.

Topics

SBUS Information Systems and Operations Management Department

Costello College of Business News

Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

Business for a Better World Center News

Costello College of Business Faculty Research

ISOM Faculty Research

Doing More with Less: Talking Sustainability with School of Business Faculty Member Yannis Bellos

Marianne Klinker — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 19:28:09 +0000

Doing More with Less: Talking Sustainability with School of Business Faculty Member Yannis Bellos Marianne Klinker Tue, 08/24/2021 - 15:28

In This Story

Ioannis Bellos

His training as a mechanical engineer taught him to eliminate waste and squeeze inefficiencies out of manufacturing methods. When he realized he could take those same skills and use them to improve business processes and reduce negative environmental impacts, Yannis Bellos found his way into the field of sustainability.

Ioannis (Yannis) Bellos

Bellos, associate professor for Information Systems and Operations Management, has been with ��AV School of Business since 2012. His research interests sit at the intersection of sustainability and service operations—making him a perfect member of the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) affiliate faculty team. Bellos’ work places a particular emphasis on innovative business models shaping what is known as the sharing and access economy and has appeared in book chapters and leading academic journals alike.

Recently, we had the opportunity to catch-up with Bellos to learn more about his journey to the business for good space, and how his research contributes to the cause.

What motivated you to start working in the sustainability space?

I don’t think there was a single defining moment. As an undergraduate student, I studied Mechanical Engineering, which involved improving production processes and their efficiencies—essentially, identifying ways to do more with less, thereby increasing the economic bottom line. It wasn’t until I started my PhD studies at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business when things started to click.

This is when I began to realize that my previous training could apply to organizations as well as machines. I could take the ‘do more with less’ mindset and improve not only economic but also environmental performance. My subsequent training in business and, specifically, in operations management complemented my engineering background very well. It provided me with a more holistic view of organizations and the broader impact of their value creation activities.

What can you tell us about your ongoing research?

In 2015, the United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a means of catalyzing actions that can ensure a sustainable future. My ongoing research fits under SDG 11, which is about building sustainable cities and communities.

Recently, I have been focused on the adoption of innovative technologies and business models in the transportation sector. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the transportation sector accounts for the largest share, roughly 28 percent, of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity in the United States. One of my current projects—a joint effort with Mason colleague Hang Ren and Vishal Agrawal of Georgetown University—examines the adoption of electric vehicles.

The conversation regarding the electrification of the automotive industry has primarily only considered auto manufacturers’ willingness to invest in this technology and customers’ willingness to buy it. However, the role of car dealers, the main points of contact between auto manufacturers and customers, is not well understood. We know that many car dealers are hesitant to promote or even sell electric vehicles. Our research identifies the conditions under which car dealerships have an incentive to facilitate electric vehicle adoption. In other research projects, I focus on the economic and environmental aspects of ridesharing business models, and whether these models might result in higher vehicle production and usage.

But you’re doing more than just research, can you describe some of your other activities?

Over the past several years, I have organized mini-conferences, workshops, conference tracks, and student paper competitions under the broader umbrella of Sustainable Operations.

A year ago, right before the onset of the pandemic, I helped plan the 2020 Early Career Workshop on Sustainable Operations—a workshop co-sponsored by B4BW, the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, and Georgia Tech’s Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business. Held at Georgetown University, the event brought together more than 60 faculty members, PhD students, and post-doctoral researchers from 35 different business schools. It was really exciting. Each talk presented a fascinating learning opportunity on topics ranging from agricultural supply chains to social responsibility, energy, and other emerging issues in the domain of sustainability and how business can help alleviate them.

It really brought home the point that business schools have important roles to play in educating responsible leaders and continuing to push the envelope by conducting research of consequence. I believe that our School of Business and B4BW is well-positioned to take on that challenge. A significant number of our faculty members, many of whom also attended the workshop, already do research in this domain.

Yannis, thank you so much for your work in this field and your commitment to B4BW. What could we be doing to support your and your colleagues’ research and other efforts?

Just keep doing what you are already doing!

That is, keep bringing together people with similar interests, no matter what the parent discipline, in the same room and exposing faculty members and the broader Mason community to practitioners and thought leaders from outside our school and university. Doing so allows researchers to keep an ear to the ground for emerging challenges, schools of thought, and state-of-the-art approaches for any issue at the intersection of business, society, and the environment.

Topics

SBUS Information Systems and Operations Management Department

Costello College of Business News

Business for a Better World Affiliate Faculty in the News

Business for a Better World Center News

ISOM Faculty Research

Costello College of Business Faculty Research