Business Commons^™

Brief 14: Risk Management, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The development office accepts a gift of a house from a prestigious donor. The faculty has developed and approved a new core curriculum. The institution recently constructed a new campus center. While these circumstances sound no alarms, all involve elements of risk. The welcome gift of the house, later discovered to be contaminated with mold, will involve a costly clean up. A revised curriculum cannot guarantee that the changes will yield the expected results. The construction of a new building has significant implications for maintenance of the physical plant. In a recent meeting NERCHE’s Chief Financial Officers Think Tank discussed …

Team Leadership Approaches For Corporate Project Managers, Christopher Gralton

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The study of Critical and Creative Thinking (C&CT) methods introduced me to a number of new approaches and tools that have vital and practical applications for today’s corporate team leaders. The primary purpose of my paper and the Genuity Inc. case example, is to demonstrate how these C&CT approaches and tools can be used by corporate team leaders to motivate, direct and lead their teams. Towards this end I have organized my paper into two major sections: 1) In the first, I lay the groundwork by defining the challenges facing today’s project managers and the cross-functional teams they lead. 2) …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Spotlight On Kentucky, Allison Cohen Hall, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Sheila Fesko

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) requires major organizational change for employment and training agencies. The initiative emphasizes coordination, collaboration and communication among organizations for better service delivery. At this time, states are developing systems that will enable them to address the needs of all customers seeking employment. The Institute for Community Inclusaion (ICI) has conducted state case studies for two purposes: (1) to identify how states have begun the process of collaboration under the new mandates of WIA; and (2) to understand the impact on customers with disabilities. This is the first in a series of publications …

Case Studies On The Implementation Of The Workforce Investment Act: Spotlight On Minnesota, Sheila Fesko, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Allison Cohen Hall

Case Studies Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) requires major organizational change for employment and training agencies. The initiative emphasizes coordination, collaboration and communication among organizations for better service delivery. At this time, states are developing systems that will enable them to address the needs of all customers seeking employment. The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) has conducted state case studies for two purposes: (1) to identify how states have begun the process of collaboration under the new mandates of WIA; and (2) to understand the impact on customers with disabilities. This is the second in a series of publications …

Global Perceptions Of Journals Publishing E-Commerce Research, Pratyush Bharati, Peter Tarasewich

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Brief 11: Partnering For Accountability: The Role Of The Chief Financial Officer At An Academic Institution, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

There is rarely a perception in colleges and universities that everyone owns the financial plan. Deans, department chairs, and division heads are most concerned with their own budgets, rather than the aggregate. Mythologies about how the academic and financial sides of the house operate create artificial divisions and compromise the development of shared responsibility. Driven by myth, each side tends to view the other as a threat to its values and priorities. These views often stereotype the other in ways that become self-fulfilling prophesies. For example, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) believe that academics are inefficient and that CFOs, with their …

Brief 2: Benchmarking From The Perspective Of Chief Financial Officers, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Benchmarking is a widespread practice in all industries today. Higher education is no exception. One need only look at annual rankings in U.S. News and World Report to appreciate power of benchmarking in a market-driven society that is seeking the best value in education. To the public, and even to leaders in higher education, measures such as these amount to an externally imposed evaluation. The impact of benchmarking on an institution can be significant. But is it worth it? Chief Financial Officers from the New England area offer their views.

Academic Libraries And Librarianship In Transition: Where Is Information Technology Taking Us?, Daniel A. Ortiz

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

Academic libraries and librarians are now struggling to find a place amidst tradition and change while dealing with increasing operational costs, unstable students enrollment, library customers' growing and changing needs, as well as with changes in information access, storage, and retrieval. All of these seem to be effecting change in the role of academic libraries and librarians' responsibilities. New information technology is another leading force driving libraries and librarians into what seems to be a hard-to-figure-out role in the new millennium. These changes are taking place at the same time that universities in the United States are trying to bolster …

Combining Multi-Attribute Utility And Geographic Information For Boundary Decisions: An Application To Park Planning, Jeffrey Keisler, Ronald Sundell

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

The quality and value of an area depend primarily on what is found within its designated boundaries. To determine the value of such areas in terms of boundaries, we have developed a methodology for integrating multi-attribute utility functions with spatial analysis so that desirable, or appropriate, boundaries can be determined on the basis of the goals and objectives for the park. The key to successful evaluation is the development of measures for what decision makers value, rather than merely using what is easily measured. In a detailed example for planning of national parks, the fundamental objectives are conservation and societal …

A Structured Approach To Training And Development Programs For Business And Organizational Leaders, Thomas M. Burns

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper addresses and integrates two issues. Its first premise is that training and development programs in most organizations are often poorly planned or randomly implemented, a condition which undermines much of the potential benefit these programs may offer. Secondly, the paper argues that the development and application of critical and creative thinking skills, traditionally applied only in educational settings, can also serve businesses in very important ways. Towards the integration of these two issues, a six-stage model is presented that can serve to coordinate the process of personnel development in organizations. It is highlighted by the identification and application …

Using Critical And Creative Thinking Skills To Enhance Integrity In Business Organizations, Madeline B. Conley

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In this thesis I explore some of the ways in which critical thinking skills can be used to facilitate the development of integrity in business organizations. The vehicle I have developed to bring these thinking skills to organizations is a one-day intensive workshop with a follow-up half-day evaluation session. In chapter one, I define integrity and compare it to Stephen Carter's definition. I also analyze five specific critical thinking skills and relate them to two actual cases: Dow Corning and fictitiously named, First National Bank. In the Dow Corning case, I argue that management might have produced a less destructive …

Facilitating Creativity In Corporate Culture, James A. Figler

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This work was developed with the premise that a creative corporate culture can be a competitive weapon in the world market today. It postulates that unique corporate cultures do exist and explores their development and characteristics from an anthropological point of view. This work investigates tools and methods created to help facilitate creativity in corporate cultures. Multiple examples of creativity within corporate cultures are presented against the background of twelve key causal factors. These creative episodes are all recognized by outside sources as unique and innovative, it'd fulfill the heuristic characteristics of creativity as defined by Amabile (1983). This work …

Library Resources On The Internet: Blc Gateway And Infosource In A Nutchell, Daniel Ortiz

Joseph P. Healey Library Publications

The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) recently developed a gateway. This makes all consortium catalogs accessible through one internet address, or one dial-up. The Gateway also provides access to the BLC Infosource.

Tqm In Higher Education: A Preliminary Look At Ten Boston Area Institutions, David H. Entin

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an important movement that has gained increasing interest and application in higher education over the past two years. Most literature on the subject has focused on initial successful implementation in a few model institutions. This study examines ten varied colleges and universities in the greater Boston area.

The key TQM advocates at the schools are primarily senior business affairs administrators and faculty leaders in the business administration/management departments. Consequently these are the primary units implementing total quality management. Primary skepticism and opposition is typically found on the academic side of the enterprise. Interest and training …

Future Issues Facing Boston: The Assessing Department, Janet L. Hunkel

John M. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies Publications

Taxpayers' opinions of municipal government often focus on the property tax. Taxpayers are stingy, and they are critical as to whether their money is purchasing competent services. For citizens to have faith that government is democratic, taxes must be equitable — everyone must pay their fair share. For government to function efficiently, tax administration must be efficient in order to support city services.

The property tax is a complex, difficult tax to administer; it is vulnerable to misuse. However, there have been recent, dramatic changes to the tax laws. Municipal government in Massachusetts now has the political and legal wherewithall …

Future Issues Facing Boston: Financing Of The City's Operating And Capital Construction Program, J. Chester Johnson

John M. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies Publications

This paper reviews the important factors affecting the current status of debt finance and debt management by the City of Boston, including the City's significant credit problems and the financing implications. While significant challenges to Boston's finance and debt management have recently been met in part through a combination of fiscal austerity measures and altered operating and financing approaches, there are important new debt financing challenges facing Boston in 1984 and beyond.

Boston's Fiscal Future: Prognosis And Policy Options For 1984 To 1986, Joseph S. Slavet, Raymond G. Torto

John M. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies Publications

The finances of the City of Boston have been variously affected throughout its long history by regional and national economic cycles, by legal constraints and changes in the state-local tax system and by inter-municipal resource and expenditure disparities.

In more recent years, however, a series of tremors converged to propel Boston's seemingly chronic fiscal problem to the crisis stage. As inflation climbed to unprecedented double-digit levels, an overwhelming majority of the state's populace supported specific limits on property taxes, the primary source of municipal revenue. As a result, Boston was forced to reduce property tax levies by $144 million during …