Dean's Report (2019 - 2020)

DEAN’S REPORT 2019 – 2020

It is with great pride that I present to you the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business Dean’s Report for 2019 - 2020.

This last year has been extraordinary in so many ways. It started out ‘business as usual’ in many regards, but ended as anything but. In March, we were confronted by a global pandemic that put into motion an emergency response that has fundamentally changed the ways we teach, learn, and work. Our graduates, for the first time ever, received their diplomas virtually.

Scheller College community members directed their knowledge and efforts to finding solutions in the pandemic, including transforming technological innovations into useful products and services in the areas of public health and economic recovery, generating thought leadership on building resilience in virtual environments, and even creating an online platform to deliver letters of support and encouragement to frontline healthcare workers.

This year not only brought Covid-19, but also a global reckoning over racial inequality and injustice. Scheller College took action to further enhance its efforts in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, including providing antiracism resources to educate our community, hosting conversations about racism and social justice, organizing the Scheller College Diversity & Inclusion Council, and gaining representation in the Institute Diversity & Inclusion Fellows program. This is only the start of our commitment to transformative action and progress.

And through global disruptions and upheavals, Scheller College has continued to be recognized for its ability to educate inclusive, principled business leaders that thrive in a changing, techdriven world.

It is an honor to serve Scheller College, Georgia Tech, and our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. With each hurdle that has been presented this year, my deep and abiding sense of awe at the resiliency of our community grows. I have no doubt that with each new challenge and opportunity that presents itself, Scheller will triumph.

Dean Maryam Alavi Stephen P. Zelnak, Jr., Dean’s Chair and Professor of IT Management

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STRATEGIC PROGRESS COVID-19 RESPONSE

In the face of unprecedented challenges posed by the global pandemic, Scheller College students, faculty, staff, alumni, and corporate partners banded together to produce real-world solutions including transforming tech into products and services for use in public health and economic recovery, launching a public domain website tracking the effects of Covid-19 on Georgia’s economy, sharing leadership best practices in the face of crises, and more.

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Scheller College has renewed its efforts in making meaningful advancements in diversity and inclusion. Notable progress includes the formation of the Scheller College Diversity & Inclusion Council, Dean Maryam Alavi receiving the prestigious Diversity Champion Faculty Award from Georgia Tech, and representation in the form of three Scheller community members in the Institute Diversity & Inclusion Fellows program.

INNOVATIVE & EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Even in remote environments, Scheller College continues to leverage its strategic position at the intersection of business and technology, providing more unique, impact-driven learning opportunities than ever before for students, faculty, and corporate partners.

RANKINGS & RECOGNITIONS

Scheller College has been recognized for its ability to educate inclusive, forward-thinking leaders that thrive in a changing, tech-driven world. U.S. News & World Report ranked Scheller top five among public universities for business analytics, information systems, and production and operations management specializations. In addition, Bloomberg Businessweek’s annual international recruiters survey named Scheller graduates No. 3 for innovation, No. 4 for entrepreneurship, and No. 9 for diversity globally.

RESEARCH & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

The quality of intellectual contributions at the Scheller College of Business remains high, even in the face of global disruptions to academic research. Scheller College faculty published 98 articles in leading business journals over the last five years. Faculty members also hold 19 editorial positions at leading journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Operations Management, Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research, and more.

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COVID-19 RESPONSE Creating Tech Solutions to Fight Covid-19: The Real-World Impact of CDL-Atlanta and TI:GER Global Technology Innovation Practicum The Scheller College of Business is demonstrating how a small cohort of students can make an impact of global scale in the midst of a pandemic. The TI:GER (Technology Innovation: Generating Economic Results) program offered the only practicum to date giving students the opportunity to work directly with tech companies offering public health and economic recovery solutions in immediate response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Global Technology Innovation Practicum partnered with the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), an objectivesbased global program that helps seed-stage science and technology-based companies transition from science projects to scalable and financeable startups. CDL-Atlanta is strategically situated within Scheller College, bringing together venture capitalists, entrepreneurs in the public health sector, and graduate students to work on Covid-19 solutions.

Tracking the Effects of Covid-19 on Georgia’s Economy: New Public Access Data Portal Created

by Georgia Tech Scheller Students and Faculty Students and faculty from the Scheller College of Business and across Georgia Tech have partnered to create a website tracking the effects of Covid-19 on Georgia’s economy. The website is designed to document the far-ranging effects of the virus on the health and well-being of the statewide economy and provides data on multiple sectors including employment, health care, real estate, sales tax, transportation, public companies, and more.

Data on this website is updated regularly, daily in some cases, to provide state residents and other interested parties with the knowledge to facilitate understanding and decision making in the current and post-Covid environment. Beyond the web page, students also host the Covid Conversations podcast and keep a running 3

timeline of virus-related events in Georgia and the effects of the virus on Georgia public schools.

The project will continue under the supervision of Scheller College faculty member Sudheer Chava and the Financial Services Innovation Lab, with sponsorship from the Speedwell Foundation. “One thing I like is drawing Georgia Tech students into a meaningful exercise that helps society. It’s not just about data analysis but doing something purposeful and meaningful that will have an impact on society,” said Chava.

Leading During Covid-19: Scheller Executive MBA Alumni Provide Leadership Advice Scheller College of Business Executive MBA (EMBA) alumni offered their advice to community members about leading effectively during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For Adam Scharf (EMBA, ’12), Business Process Group Manager at The Clorox Company, extending their culture of engagement and ownership in a virtual way has made all the difference. “Rather than in-person happy hours, we switched to virtual ones.

Our employee resource groups host things like game nights and yoga, exercise, and meditation sessions.

Town halls went fully virtual and we even hosted a two-day department summit over video with breakouts, discussions, and activities with great success. It’s all about connection and relationships and I’m proud to say we’ve continued prioritizing it,” Scharf said.

Prioritizing communication is what guides Brooke Carter (EMBA ’16), President of Enterprise Sales at UPS. “I make sure that anything I know, I am sharing it with my team,” Carter said. “If I get a different nugget on what the competitors are doing or get something from our marketing department or our operations department, I’m going to share that with my team.

It goes along the lines of just being authentic and consistent, and I’ve dared to be very vulnerable with my team.”

GACOVID19.ORG Georgia Tech Covid-19 Economic Research website created by Scheller College students and faculty to document the effects of the virus on Georgia’s economy and its residents.

Dr. Kofi Smith (EMBA ’09), President and CEO of the Atlanta Airlines Terminal Cooperation, advises leading from a place of empathy.

“First and most importantly, you must lead from a centered position of compassion,” Smith explained. “This crisis is when our character and our leadership ideology will be exposed. We need to make sure that in all decisions, the people we lead are our first and most important concern. The people placed under our leadership should be able to clearly see that as leaders, we have a continuous focus on their physical health and financial health.”

third-year business administration major at the Scheller College of Business. “All they have to do is go online and type some words of encouragement.”

Anyone can write a note for Letters of Love. Writers can also specify if they want their letter delivered to healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, mail workers, or other essential employees. Onley, her family, and her friends will then either transfer the message to a physical letter and deliver it or send it virtually if needed.

Scheller Undergraduate Student Initiates Encouragement Efforts for Frontline Workers “Letters of Love is based on the idea that people do not have to leave their homes to serve their community,” says Claudia Onley, a 4

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Scheller College Forms Diversity & Inclusion Council

both the Scheller College of Business and Georgia Tech.

Based on applications and nominations from program offices, Scheller College has created a Diversity & Inclusion Council to identify and take meaningful action on diversity and inclusion issues of importance. The Council will act in an advisory capacity to the Dean and set its agenda in consultation and coordination with program offices, faculty leadership, and the College’s administration. Through its work, the Council seeks to help the College achieve its strategic goal of fostering a diverse, inclusive, vibrant, and innovative community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Under Alavi’s leadership, Scheller College launched a highly successful implicit bias workshop as part of its new student orientation for incoming MBA students.

Dedicated to developing principled business leaders, the workshop is part of Alavi’s commitment to increasing diversity and fostering inclusion in the College’s curriculum, culture, and community.

Georgia Tech Scheller’s MBA Programs Make Tremendous Strides in Diversity of Fall 2020 Cohorts The Scheller College of Business was proud to welcome a dynamic and innovative group of students during 2020. These students bring expertise spanning a variety of professional and educational backgrounds, creating a diverse learning experience both inside and outside of the classroom across the Full-time, part-time Evening, and weekend Executive MBA programs.

Of note, the Evening MBA incoming class is made up of 41 percent women, making it the highest proportion of women enrolled in the history of the program. 42 percent of the students in the incoming Executive MBA are under-represented minorities.

Dean Alavi Honored with Georgia Tech’s 2019 Diversity Champion Faculty Award Georgia Tech awarded Dean Maryam Alavi the prestigious 2019 Diversity Champion Faculty Award at its 11th Annual Diversity Symposium. The Institute recognized Dean Alavi for her continual efforts in creating diverse, inclusive, and equitable communities at

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Three Scheller Community Members Chosen as Institute Diversity & Inclusion Fellows Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI) and the ADVANCE program at Georgia Tech announced the selection of the Institute’s 2020 - 21 Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Fellows. Three members of the Scheller College of Business community have been chosen out of 150 applicants: Dr. Tiffany Johnson, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior; Joshua Burr, MBA student; and Hannah Sherrill, undergraduate student.

The goal of the D&I Fellows program is to create and sustain a community within Georgia Tech that is dedicated to advancing a culture of inclusivity and providing an environment where people are empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion. The program is open to faculty, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and graduate or undergraduate students.

Undergraduate student Hannah Sherill is turning research into applicable tools that could be used in women’s organizations as well as heterogeneous groups across Tech to facilitate team building, leadership skills, and collaboration. MBA student Joshua Burr is on a mission to support women in business. He wants to create a way for people, in particular men, to understand and recognize issues facing women in the workplace by creating a roadmap for education and dialogue through role-playing and discussions. Scheller College faculty member Tiffany Johnson will undertake a project

Scheller College community members Joshua Burr, Tiffany Johnson, and Hannah Sherrill have been chosen as Institute Diversity & Inclusion Fellows. Their projects address increasing participation in allyship activities, equity and wellness curriculum, and research into highly effective female teams.

exploring inclusivity, equity, and wellness. Her project will support a course she will be teaching in Summer 2021 titled “Work, Equity, and Wellness,” which will be offered to Scheller MBA students.

Scheller College Celebrates International Women’s Day with “When Women Lead” Panel Discussion In celebration of International Women’s Day, Scheller College hosted a discussion on “When Women Lead: Insights and Experience” with an esteemed panel of women leaders who have made remarkable impacts in business. Moderated by Dean Maryam Alavi, the discussion addressed a series of topics ranging from the panelists’ definition of leadership to the biggest challenges they have faced in their illustrious careers.

Panel members included Beth Cabrera, Founder of Cabrera Insights; Carolyn Gibbs, Head of Global Investments Engagement, Invesco Ltd.; and Shally Pannikode, Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer, WellStar Health Systems. When asked the definition of a good leader, all three agreed being a servant leader is key to a successful workplace environment. “The essence of leadership is to help others succeed,” said Cabrera. Echoing her remarks, Pannikode added, “It’s about lifting people up and doing what’s right.”

Scheller College Hosts Diversity and Inclusion Panel on Creating Impact and Driving Growth Scheller College hosted its annual Diversity and Inclusion symposium on creating impact and driving growth in business through diversity and inclusion. Moderated by Dean Maryam Alavi, a discussion panel of industry experts discussed how companies are intensifying efforts to ensure leaders embody and embrace the power of differences in order to increase performance and drive growth.

Panel experts included Emma Hind, Director of Global Revenue Strategy Enablement at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG); Nicole Jones, Global Innovation Leader for Delta Air Lines; and Dr. Nicole Cabrera Salazar, Founder & CEO of Movement Consulting. A variety of issues were addressed during the panel discussion, including how to define success in the area of diversity and inclusion and the impact communication skills have on the success of these initiatives.

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INNOVATIVE & EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Georgia Tech Approves Certificate in Sustainable Business Georgia Tech undergraduates from any major have the opportunity to pursue a Certificate in Sustainable Business. Students pursuing the certificate will learn about the importance of sustainability for business and develop a sustainability lens through which to evaluate critical issues that businesses are facing.

“We’re excited to offer students this option for gaining breadth and depth in the field. The certificate will help students demonstrate to future employers that they have the skills necessary to contribute innovative sustainability practices across a wide spectrum of business roles,” said Michael Oxman, Managing Director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business at the Scheller College of Business.

Scheller Hosts Digital Disruption Series V on Frictionless Healthcare In an event hosted by the Scheller College of Business and moderated by Dean Maryam Alavi, panelists and keynote speakers from Accenture, Anthem, and Georgia Tech convened to discuss Frictionless Healthcare and what it means to patients, providers, and the healthcare industry.

Healthcare is no longer a one-size-fits-all model, but a personalized one that allows digital technology to enhance every aspect of a person’s life. In defining the benefits and challenges of Frictionless Healthcare, Katie Baker of Anthem said, “It’s how we can digitally deliver and monitor people. It’s also being able to have access to healthcare that we’d normally not have.”

Scheller Students Team Up with Home Depot for Virtual Spring Business Analytics Showcase Four teams of graduate students presented their analytic insights at the Business Analytics Spring Showcase. Home Depot, a member of the Business 7

Analytic Center’s Executive Council, sponsored the entire semester-long practicum and provided the realworld data challenge for the students to analyze.

The students were given a wide repository of store demographic and performance data to analyze, with the ultimate goal of developing a more advanced, precise, and scalable clustering approach. Each team was given a different set of metrics and challenges for their analysis. Due to the COVID-19 shutdown, the teams worked virtually, communicating from their homes in various states, countries, and time zones.

Annual Ideas to Serve Competition Moves to Virtual Format For over a decade, the Ideas to Serve (I2S) competition has been a platform to support, educate, and celebrate Georgia Tech student ideas around social innovation.

Teams have tackled problems as diverse and vital as sanitation in developing nations, improving access to clean water, and mitigating food deserts.

With the help of so many Georgia Tech colleagues, community collaborators, and the wider Atlanta social innovation network, I2S 2020 came together as a fully virtual competition. “This entire effort is an extraordinary demonstration of the adaptability, resilience, and commitment of the entire Georgia Tech and Scheller community,” says Dori Pap, I2S Lead and Managing Director of the Institute for Leadership and Social Impact.

Scheller MarTech Conference Focuses on Using Technology to Understand Customers and Drive Marketing Decisions The 2020 MarTech Conference brought together industry professionals, Scheller faculty, and MBA students to discuss incorporating the latest technology, trends, and advancements to better understand customer motivation, improve user experience, and influence marketing initiatives. Leading decision-

Dean Maryam Alavi hosted panelists and keynote speakers from Accenture, Anthem, and Georgia Tech in a dynamic event about Frictionless Healthcare

makers from Google, Nielsen, and Turner Sports presented at the conference and special guest Mali Hunter of Tree Sound Studios spoke on the impact of today’s technology within the music industry.

“Our goal in creating the MarTech Conference was to promote our unique position at the intersection of marketing and technology,” Senior Lecturer and MBA Marketing Club Advisor Tim Halloran said.

“The Conference serves to highlight Scheller’s focus on marketing innovation by bringing in companies to share their stories on how they have leveraged technology to achieve better understanding of their customers, communicate with them through a myriad of channels, and ultimately influence consumer buying decisions.”

Analytics Ingenuity on Display During Georgia Tech Hackathon The Scheller College Business Analytics Center teamed up with Georgia Tech Athletics to sponsor the second-annual Georgia Tech Sports Innovation Challenge, a 24-hour hackathon focused on leveraging data and analytics to improve sports performance.

Hackathon participants were invited to design and build new products to address specific challenges presented by Georgia Tech teams and other sports-related organizations.

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RANKINGS & RECOGNITIONS Scheller Receives Top Honors in U.S. News & World Report and Economist Rankings

Corporate Knights Names Scheller No. 2 in Better World MBA Ranking

U.S. News & World Report and The Economist have released their MBA rankings reports, and the Scheller College of Business received top recognition for the quality of its students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Corporate Knights ranked Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 6 in the world for its Better World MBA ranking.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Scheller College top 10 among public universities for its Full-time MBA and Evening MBA programs. Scheller’s MBA for Business Analytics ranked No. 1 among public universities and No. 3 overall, and its MBA for Information Systems and MBA for Production and Operations Management ranked top five among public institutions. The Economist ranked Scheller College’s Full-time MBA program No. 6 among public universities.

Scheller Graduates Rank High in Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2020 International Recruiters Survey

Since its inception in 2002, the Better World MBA ranking has evaluated curriculum, research, and centers related to sustainability, as well as faculty diversity. Scheller College’s commitment to sustainability is led by the College’s Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business Faculty Director Beril Toktay, and Managing Director Michael Oxman.

Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business scored top honors in Bloomberg Businessweek’s annual international recruiters survey, which evaluates which business school’s full-time MBA graduates are most in-demand by top employers around the world. This year, employers were asked to score how each business school’s graduates ranked in innovation and creativity, diversity, and entrepreneurship.

Poets&Quants Ranks Scheller Undergraduate Program Among Top in the Nation

Scheller College graduates ranked No. 3 in the world for innovation and creativity, No. 4 in the world in entrepreneurship, and No. 9 in the world for diversity.

Poets&Quants named an exceptional number of Scheller College of Business community members to its nationally awarded superlatives lists. Scheller College ranked No. 1 in Best Undergraduate Career Advising and No. 1 in Best Academic Advising public universities in the U.S. and No. 6 in Best Undergraduate Program Worth its Cost in Tuition in the U.S. overall. The new rankings advance Scheller College’s Undergraduate program four spots from last year’s rankings.

Commenting on Scheller College’s stellar global placement, Dean Alavi stated, “Our MBA graduates are highly valued and sought-after by employers because they are tech-savvy and business smart and know how to leverage technology to innovate and create business and social value.”

The survey calculated the responses of 2,863 recruiters from 985 employers, who reviewed and ranked 131 business schools from around the world.

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Corporate Knights is recognized as the only major ranking organization that evaluates accredited MBA programs for their commitment to equipping graduates with the skills necessary to solve business and social challenges in a rapidly evolving global business climate.

The Scheller College of Business Undergraduate program has been named No. 14 Best Undergraduate Business Program in the U.S. and No. 5 Best Undergraduate Business Program among public universities among public universities by Poets&Quants.

“Our program’s academic rigor and experiential learning opportunities meet the demand of both students and employers for graduates who have

Dean Maryam Alavi leads the Scheller College of Business in its first ever virtual commencement.

both an in-depth knowledge of business and an excellent understanding of technology’s continual impact in the global marketplace,” explained Craig Womack, Associate Dean of Scheller College’s Undergraduate program.

Scheller Receives 2019 “Best of the Best” Accolades in Diversity Publications The Scheller College of Business has been named in the following 2019 “Best of the Best” lists:

Poets&Quants Recognizes Scheller College Excellence

Best and Brightest Executive MBAs

Poets&Quants named an exceptional number of Scheller students and programs to their nationally awarded superlatives list.

• Cornelius Cook

Highlights include:

• Nona Black

Best & Brightest Business Majors

• Blais Hickey

• Jesse Breidinger

MBAs to Watch

• Darby Foster • Jason Quill

Favorite Professors of Business Majors

• Black Employment and Entrepreneur (EOE) Journal

Best & Brightest MBAs

• Michael Lowe, Assistant Professor of Marketing

• HISPANIC Network Magazine

• Jasmine Howard

• Professional Woman’s Magazine

• Diana Nichols

• U.S. Veteran Magazine 10

RESEARCH & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Four Scheller College Faculty Receive Award for Excellence in Teaching The 2020 Georgia Institute of Technology awards for excellence in teaching, known as the Class of 1940 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Awards, were chosen by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and bestowed to 40 faculty across the Institute, including four Scheller College of Business instructors.

The recipients were recognized for their distinguished achievements in teaching from spring to fall 2019.

• Karie Davis-Nozemack, Associate Professor, Law and Ethics • Peter Swire, Elizabeth and Thomas Holder Chair, Professor, Law and Ethics • William (Bill) Todd, Professor of the Practice, Strategy and Innovation

other universities on a comprehensive set of 20 highimpact carbon reduction solutions for Georgia that are economically and socially sustainable.

How are Equity Valuations Affected by the COVID-19 Crisis Alex Hsu, Assistant Professor of Finance, has published a working paper titled “The Supply Channel of Uncertainty Shocks and the Cross-Section of Returns: Evidence From the Covid-19 Crisis.” The paper examines the impact of Covid-19 on equity valuations.

From their research, Hsu and colleagues found that companies in counties where the first case of the virus occurs show an average of 27 bps (basis points) decline in equity return over the subsequent 10 days.

In counties where the virus has a higher infection rate, the decline doubles to 50 bps.

• Laurina Zhang, Assistant Professor, Strategy and Innovation “One of the learning objectives in my courses is to expose my students to rich and rewarding careers in healthcare that they likely do not know about. It warms my heart when I read comments that students are now pursuing healthcare using their knowledge in IT, operations and supply chain, or finance because they have been inspired by our guest speakers or the principal players in cases that we have analyzed,” said Professor of the Practice, Bill Todd.

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How Do Social Liberalization Policies Impact Innovation?

The study from Laurina Zhang, and co-author explores the impact of two social liberalization policies (legalization of same-sex civil unions and medical marijuana) and one anti-liberalization policy (passage of abortion restrictions) on innovation in the U.S. The results of the study show that liberalization policies increase state-level patenting, while the antiliberalization policies reduces patenting.

Michael Oxman and Beril Toktay Contribute to Georgia’s First-Ever Framework for Carbon Reduction

WSB-TV Interviews Professor Timothy Halloran on Impact of Facebook Ad Pulls by Large Companies

The Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business at the Scheller College of Business participated in a collaborative effort to find solutions to reduce Georgia’s carbon emissions by 2030. Center Faculty Director Beril Toktay and Managing Director Michael Oxman are among members of the core team for Drawdown Georgia. The faculty are working with researchers and scholars from Georgia Tech and

The Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company became one of many large companies that have pulled their ads from Facebook in a stand against hate speech, misinformation, and discrimination on the social media site. In an interview with WSB-TV, Dr. Timothy Halloran, Senior Lecturer of Marketing at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, discussed the effect this is having on companies, consumers, and the social media giant.

Earlier this year, Soumen Ghosh, Nancy J. and Lawrence P. Huang Professor, was appointed the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Research.

Right-to-Work Laws Establish Lower Wages and Union Bargaining Power Sudheer Chava, Andras Danis, and Alex Hsu have determined that the wages of union employees and the bargaining power of unions are lower in states with Right-to-Work (RTW) laws in their paper “The Economic Impact of Right-to-Work Laws: Evidence from Collective Bargaining Agreements and Corporate Policies.” The study concluded that RTW laws provide labor-intensive corporations with an increase in investment, employment growth, profitability, and laborto-asset ratio, while decreasing the number of collective bargaining agreements (CBA) as well as wage growth of unionized workers.

How Does the Power Dynamic Between Referrers and Hiring Managers Affect Employees’ Support for New Hires?

Bradford Baker, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, and co-authors conducted a study shedding light on the

unintended consequences of referral-based hiring practices. Ultimately, a hiring decision based on a referral from a person in a position of power can be viewed negatively by current employees and cause them to be less likely to support the decision. Therefore, referrals from people in positions of power should be used cautiously and sparingly.

Proving the Impact of Language in Financial Earnings Calls Finance Professor Sudheer Chava, Alton M. Costley Chair and Director, Quantitative and Computational Finance Program, studied the impact of language used by financial institution leaders in conference calls to investors and found that the more dramatic the language used on calls, the more trading activity and price reactions occurred. The paper “Hyperbole or Reality? Investor Response to Extreme Language in Earnings Conference Calls” found that linguistics really do make a difference in market earnings and share prices. What matters is the

intensity of the language which, they found, results in a rise in investor returns.

How Can Top Management Encourage Middle Management Buy-In for Corporate Social Responsibility?

Xi (Jason) Kuang, Professor of Accounting, and colleagues studied the “measurement basis” of decision-making. In the case of corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments, local (“middle”) managers may be asked to make decisions based on dollar amounts or non-financial units, such as the number of trees planted or meals served to those in need. Managers who personally support CSR will invest more in their organizations’ CSR initiatives when they are framed in non-financial units rather than as financial investments. By comparison, managers who do not personally support CSR will not change their level of investment—regardless of whether the investment is framed in a financial or non-financial way.

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BUILD YOUR TEAM’S RESILIENCE — FROM HOME

BY DAVID SLUSS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

To make it through the current crisis and return to a new normal, you and your team will need to be resilient. The good news is that leaders can help create the conditions that make this possible. We’ve done multiple studies with U.S. Navy recruits that show how this can best be done—and, recently, in studying how leaders are responding to the crisis, we’ve come across valuable stories of how they can achieve this even when team members are working remotely. The key is to focus on two things: people and perspective.

People: Know your team’s resilience factors Three “protective or facilitative factors” (as psychologists call them) predict whether people will have resilience: high levels of confidence in their abilities, disciplined routines for their work, and social and family support. Ideally, you’ll already have a good sense of how your team members stack up on these—especially the first two. But some factors may be weakened during this crisis. One of the first things you can do is establish a “resilience inventory dashboard,” by checking in individually with your reports and asking directly how comfortable they feel telecommuting, how they plan to schedule their work days, and how you might support them with any life or family commitments. To address such commitments, the managing partner at one law firm recently went to all the lawyers at the firm one-by-one to ask about their situations and asked particularly if they needed to take care of any elderly or at-risk people. Then he redistributed caseloads and paralegal support to help out those who were in danger of being overwhelmed.

The many new challenges your reports are facing may shake their confidence, but you can boost it by actively conveying your faith in them. One mechanical engineer who was doubting her ability to telework told us how much it helped her confidence to have her manager simply tell her that he respected the decisions she made and the work she produced, and that any mistakes she made would just be tools for improvement.

Doing their jobs from home will probably require new routines and test your people’s ability to focus. Think 13

about how you can help your team adjust. One loanprocessing manager called for more frequent quality checks while his reports were getting used to working remotely, for instance. Though that may seem like micromanaging, an underwriter on the team told us it reassured him and helped his group “slow down and not rush” despite being under extreme pressure.

Leaders might also suggest time-blocking and other personal productivity strategies to encourage disciplined work habits.

Leaders can also strengthen their teams by displaying compassion. We’ve seen thoughtful managers do this by giving their reports their time, showing concern, helping them get the office equipment and supplies they need to do their jobs at home, and by making special accommodations for individuals who are at high risk because they have underlying health conditions like diabetes. It’s especially important to demonstrate that you genuinely care about your team as not just employees but people. Before broader organizational work-at-home mandates were implemented during the COVID-19 outbreak, a manager at a large oil and gas company proactively got permission from upper management to have her team telework and discussed the transition plan with each team member. One of her reports, highlighting the manager’s personal concern for each individual, said that her actions helped him feel “like a vital, contributing member of our company.”

If your people rate high on the resilience factors, that’s great, but you can’t assume they’re out of danger. Very resilient people are geared toward action and what they can control, and as result they may “panic-work” and burn out during times of crisis. You will need to take measures to maintain their resilience, too. Try to focus their energy on strategic initiatives.

People: Foster resilience-oriented conversations A large body of research shows that the most effective way to increase resilience at work is through customized individual coaching. The results from a field experiment we did with approximately 400 U.S. Navy recruits in 2015 also point to its power. In it we asked recruits

to rate their resilience at the beginning of boot camp and then (midway through the boot camp) had half of them take part in a one-on-one peer coaching session—what we called a “guided conversation”—while the other half were left to their own devices. In the guided conversations, recruits were asked to share positive experiences, compare challenges and how they were dealing with them, and imagine their future as navy sailors. The recruits who had these conversations saw a highly significant 20% increase in resilience, while the control group saw a change of less than 1%.

As a manager, you might have guided conversations with each direct report yourself, but these can be time-consuming, and the power differential between you and your reports may make these discussions lopsided. So we recommend encouraging your team members to have guided conversations among themselves on a regular basis. You might go as far as assigning pairs and requiring scheduled video chats. Similar to the recruits in our study, your team members can discuss successful experiences, problems and how they’re tackling them, and what they’ve learned during the crisis that they can still apply when things get back to normal. This last step, we believe, is essential. People need to be reminded that things will stabilize—and envision who they will be after the adversity has passed.

is power in reminding them they’re not alone, and in building a network of support during adversity. (The colleagues lending a hand will benefit as well, because helping others is one of the things that increases people’s resilience, psychologists believe.)

Perspective: Find learning opportunities In a different longitudinal study, involving about 200 U.S. Navy recruits during training in 2015, we found that when the recruits viewed their unsuccessful experiences as learning opportunities—rather than a string of failures—it also built their resilience. In his book Crucibles of Leadership, Robert J. Thomas described an approach he called “reframing the tension”: focusing the learning opportunities lying within the adversity rather than despite the adversity.

That’s what college professors are doing today.

Denied the ability to teach in the classroom, they’re quickly becoming experts at online instruction and learning. Is it possible that after this crisis universities will be more ready and able to take entire degree programs online while still maintaining high quality?

Another thing you can do is help your direct reports recognize special talents or skills that might be especially useful during the crisis. For example, as your team moves to telecommuting, do you have a particular member who is superb

at dealing with distraction? You could have that person provide virtual training to the others. As each member sees how his or her special skills contribute to the good of the team, the group’s confidence and social support will grow.

Resilient teams will learn how to improvise in these new modes of working together. Since that will require constant adjustments, we recommend that you borrow from agile processes and have a daily virtual “standup” meeting. However, we suggest you focus not only on tasks but also on relationships: Use the meeting to increase the team’s sense of connection. For instance, you might share ideas about team hand-offs and how to ensure that they don’t become drop-offs.

You can lead discussions on how well things are working, what processes can be improved, and the like. Highlighting what the team is learning during the adversity will collectively strengthen it in all three critical protective factors: confidence, disciplined routines, and support.

Any crisis is also an opportunity to build resilience among your reports. If you successfully implement the tactics we offer here, you just may find that they not only bounce back from these difficult times but emerge much stronger as people and as a team.

“Build your team’s resilience – From home,”

by Sluss, D.M., & Powley, E.H., 2020, Harvard Business Review

Perspective: Ask questions Neuroscience suggests that the fear and anxiety we experience because of Covid-19 will naturally narrow our ability to see our future and envision creative solutions to our problems. But there are questions leaders can ask to counter this effect.

First, you can help your team members face down reality. Accepting things as they are is key to building resilience. As Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was held captive during the Vietnam war, famously noted, the optimists among his fellow prisoners (those who expected to be rescued quickly) didn’t survive: “I think they all died of broken hearts.” So ask your direct reports what plans they have in place for working remotely longer than anticipated. While they might not feel comfortable thinking about such things, they will weather the crisis better if you help them plan constructively.

You can also remind people that they can rely on and collaborate with others. Ask them, Who on your team or within your organization or within your network might be able to help you? There 14

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Mark K. Alexander, MGT 1987 Kelly H. Barrett, IMGT 1986 Richard L. Bergmark, IMGT 1975 R. Allan Bradley, Jr., MSCI 1973 Mack P. Brothers IV, MSM 1992 Paul J. Brown, MGT 1989 Rafael Cohen, MGT 1990 Madison F. Cole, Jr. Stephen M. Deedy, IMGT 1981 Lalit K. Dhingra Elizabeth E. Downey, ChE 1995 Joseph W. Evans, IM 1971 Valentine Fontama Robert M. Gilson, Jr., IMGT 1973 Marion B. Glover, Jr. IM 1965 Terry A. Graham, IM 1969 Kimberly B. Keever, MGT 1987 Joel S. Langsfeld, IMGT 1980 Tommy Lester, III, MBA 2011

Margaret E. Lovatt, MBA 2016 Michelle P. Bulgar Mabery, MBA 2014 William J. Magee, IMGT 1985 Daniel P. McCarthy, ME 1998, MSM 2000 Michael A. McCarthy, MS MGT 1986 Lauren W. McDow, MGT 2003 Cooper N. Mills, Jr., IM 1968 Hala G. Moddelmog Darlene J. Nicosia, MSM 1994 Beth H. Nowers, IMGT 1979 Gregory J. Owens, IMGT 1982 Juan R. Perez Peter E. Quinones, MBA 2008 Jennifer R. Rewis, MGT 1992 Jean Marie Richardson, MGT 2002 David P. Rowland, IMGT 1983 Jacquelyn R. Schneider, BC 2006, MBA 2018 Jean-Pierre Serani, MBA 2005 John H. Sherman III, IMGT 1982

Teresa M. Smith, IMGT 1983 Richard N. Speer, Jr., IM 1971 Leland L. Strange, IM 1965 William VanCuren Kathy H. Waller Tomoyuki Watanabe, MBA 2006 John R. Wells, IMGT 1984 Susan K. Williams, IMGT 1983 Henry E. Windhorst, MGT 2010 Liang Zeng, MS ENVE 1998, MS MGT 1999 Emeritus Members Robert A. Anclien, IM 1969, MS IM 1970 Charles W. Brady, IM 1957 Lawrence P. Huang, BMGT 1973 Gary T. Jones, GMGT 1971 A.J. Land, IM 1960 Ernest Scheller, Jr., IM 1952, Hon. PhD 2013

In August 2019, Roberta and Ernest Scheller Jr. made a generous philanthropic commitment to support the next phase of Georgia Tech’s Technology Square, Midtown’s 10-block innovation ecosystem that’s home to a wealth of big-name corporations and thriving startups. Scheller Tower will be the new home for the MBA and Executive Education programs.

Tech Square Phase III will be a 400,000-square-foot multibuilding complex located on the northwest corner of West Peachtree and Fifth streets.

Georgia Tech opened Tech Square in 2003, with one of the guiding principles being to foster a better connection between the Institute and the business community.

Scheller College of Business 800 West Peachtree Street NW, Suite 400 Atlanta, Georgia 30308 404.385.2254 scheller.gatech.edu Copyright 2020 | Georgia Institute of Technology | An equal education and employment opportunity institution.

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