53% NEW 6? 5:1,}; 1:; 7 1: $5? PWPMTS was FER ‘E‘E-iE mm a? m a. {mamam STATE _ * RAMON mm MERE m4 ’ ‘l ,1 .‘.LV This is to certify that the thesis entitled An Evaluation of Selected Characteristics of Participants in the Advanced Management Program presented by Ramon J. Aldag has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph.D. degree in MANAGEMENT /l / / MW professor L/‘ Date May 16, 1974 0-169 ABSTRACT AN EVALUATION OF SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE ADVANCED MANAGEMENT PROGRAMI By Ramon J. Aldag The study considered four general sets of issues: 1. What has been the impact of the Michigan State University Advanced Management Program as measured by attitudes and suggestions of graduates, career activity of graduates, and changes in degree of participation of sponsoring firms? What are some personal and situational correlates of favorability of attitudes toward the program, of feelings that the program was rigorous, and of feelings that administration and grading were fair? ‘What are the relationships between those attitudes and success in the program, as measured by grade- point average? How are those attitudes related to' career activity (salary increase, promotions, and interorganizational mobility) subsequent to program entry? How are success in the program and career activity subsequent to program entry related? How similar are correlates of success in the program.and of career activity? 2 Ramon J. Aldag ls. What is the impact of the environmental volatility facing firms and industries of respondents on attitudes toward the program? Is there a "fit“ between personality traits of respondents and ' environmental volatility as evidenced by trait- volatility correlations and by different trait- career activity and trait-attitude toward program relationships in stable and dynamic environments? Questionnaires were sent to all past graduates of the 11.3.13. Advanced Management Program. Questionnaires gauged attitudes toward the program and toward specific courses and instructors, a variety of personality traits and situa- tional characteristics, grade-point in the program, career activity subsequent to program entry, and other variables. 176 managers, representing over 40 industries, responded in time to allow data analysis. High overall levels of satisfaction with the program were evident, as was satisfaction with specific courses and . instructors. Few instances of termination of sponsor participation for reasons other than lack of qualified can- didates were evident. Greater computer and statistical emphasis, more reliance on case studies, and more practical orientation seem to be perceived by respondents as desirable directions of program change. Reported salary increases of m graduates were found to exceed the white collar average. Favorable reaction to the program was found to be 3 Ramon J. Aldag positively related to achievement motivation and supervisory ability and negatively related to need for security. Con- sistent with prior research, positive orientation toward the program.was positively related to satisfaction with work. Further, markedly similar sets of correlates were found for satisfaction with the AMP and for satisfaction with work. Grade-point in the program appeared to bear little relationship to subsequent career progress or to favor- ability of attitudes toward the program. GPA was found to have no significant relationship to number of promotions, salary increase, satisfaction with work, or general positive orientation toward the program.but to be negatively related to interorganizational mobility. Contrary to expectations, such personality traits as initiative, self-assurance, decisiveness, and achievement ‘motivation were found to be more positively related, and need for high financial rewards to be more negatively related, to satisfaction with work in stable than in dynamic environments. In general, however, the relationships of personality characteristics to general positive orientation toward the program were not found to be moderated by envi- ronmental volatility. Refinement of volatility indices, longitudinal analyses, interviews with selection decision makers, use of a control group, and interviews with program dropouts were among suggestions for future research. AN EVALUATION OF SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE ADVANCED MANAGEMENT PROGRAMC BY Ramon John Aldag A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Management 1974 Copyright by RAMON JOHN.ALDAG 1974 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Numerous individuals have directly aided in the comple- tion of this work. The author would especially like to thank his committee chairman, Dr. Henry Tosi, for the time and effort he has sacrificed and for his valuable sugges- tions. The generous assistance of the author's other comp mittee members, Dr. Clay Hamner and Dr. Douglas T. Hall, is deeply appreciated. The author would also like to express his gratitude to ZMr.‘William.F. Randolph, the Director of the Advanced Management Program, and to the Board of Directors of the .Advanced.Management Club. Their help in the initial stages of this project was most valuable. ‘Without the many years of support and assistance of the author's parents, Melvin and Joyce Aldag, it is highly unlikely that this work would have been even attempted. Their contributions are lovingly appreciated. Certainly the greatest influence on completion of this thesis has been the author's wife, Karen. Her warmth, effort, encouragement and advice have made this and other projects possible and are the stimulus for further efforts. For her are reserved the author's deepest and sincerest love and gratitude. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. 'MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Growth of Management Development . . . . . . l The Need for Systematic Study. . . . . . . . 2 Studies Reporting Negative Consequences of Management Development . . . . . . . . . 3 Studies Relating to Correlates of Attitudes Toward Management Development. . . . . . 6 Some Questions Left Unanswered in the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Correlates Isolated. . . . 10 The Need to Further Examine Underlying Mechanisms . . . . 10 The Need to Consider Further Personal Factors. . . . . 11 The Need to Consider Further Situa- tional Factors . . . . . . . . 11 The Need to Consider Additional Criteria . . . . 13 The Need to Consider Impact of Success in the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Current Study. . . 16 Studies Relating to G. P.A and to Criteria of Career Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Grade-Point.Average. . Interorganizational Mobility Career Success . . . . . . . smry O O O O O O O O 0 O O O 0 II. METHODOLmYo O 0 O O O O O O O O O O The.Advanced Management Program unique Aspects of the AMP. The Research Design. . . . . Statistical Methods. . . . . Measuring Instruments. . . . Volatility Indices . . . Attitudes Toward Program Cosmopolitanism, . . . Ghiselli Self-Description Inventory. Basis for Selection. . . . . . . . . Satisfaction with WOrk . . . . . . . Other Measures . . . . . . . . . . . The Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii . . . . . 21 O 0 WM OO.‘ O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O . k w Chapter Page 111. OVERALL PROGRAM IMPACT . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Attitudes Toward Program . . . . . 65 variation in Satisfaction With Courses Between Graduating Classes . . . . . . . . 65 Changes in Basis for Selection . . . . . 74 Changes in Instructors . . . . . . 76 Perceived Changes in Participation of. Sponsoring Firms . . . . 81 Salary Increases of AMP Graduates Relative to That of Other Managers. . . . . . . . . 84 Suggestions for Program Improvement. . . . . 87 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 1V. CORRELATES OF ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ADVANCED IMANAGEMENT PROGRAMI. . . . . . . . 91 Correlates of Attitudes Toward Program . . . 91 General Positive Orientation Toward Program. . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Perceived Program Rigor. . . . . . . . . 94 Perceived Objective Structure. . . . . 96 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 V. CORRELATES OF SUCCESS IN AMP AND OF CAREER ACTIVITY 0 O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O 100 Grade-Point Average. . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Annual Percent Salary Increase . . . . . . . 104 Annual Number of Promotions. . . . . . . . . 110 Interorganizational Job Mobility . . . . . . 112 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 VI. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Personality-Volatility Fit . . . . . . . . . 118 Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 VII. SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS, AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . 126 Summary and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Overall Program Impact . . . . . . 127‘ Significant Correlates of Criteria . . . 128 Other Relationships Considered . . . . . 136 Implications for Management. . . . . . . . 137 Suggestions for Future Research. . . . . . . 142 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 APPENDIX A. COVER LETTER.AND QUESTIONNAIRE . . . . . . . . 150 B. VOLATILITY INDICES . . . . . . . 159 C. RESULTS OF FACTOR.ANALYSIS OF SATISEACTION wrm PROGRAM ITEMS . . . . . . . . 161 D. SUGGESTIONS FOR PROGRAMIIMPROVEMENT. . . . . . 162 E. TABLES OF MULTIPLE REGRESSION RESULTS. . . . . 167 F. QUESTIONS FOR SELECTION DECISION MAKERS. . . . 171 BIBLIOGMPHY O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 17 2 iv Table 1-1 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-6 2-7 2-8 2-10 2-11 3-1 LIST OF TABLES Hypothesized Relationships Between Traits and Volatility . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trait Importance for Managerial Success. Correlations Between Criterion Measures. . . Coefficients of Correlation Between the Scores of Managers, Supervisors, and Workers on the SDI Scales and their Job Success . . . . . . Comparison of Scores of AMP Respondents with Ghiselli Norms on SDI Traits . . . . . . Response Rate by Year of Graduation. . . Hierarchical Level of Respondents. . . . . . . . Current Salary of Respondents. . . . . . . . . . Interorganizational Mobility of Respondents. . . Upward Mobility of Respondents . . . . . . . . . Academic Background of Respondents . . . . . . . Present Work Assignment of Respondents . . . Comparison of Respondents with all AMP Graduates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scores on Satisfaction with Program Indices for Each Graduating Class. . . . . . . . . . Satisfaction With Specific First Year Courses for Each Graduating Class. . . . . . . . . . . Satisfaction with Specific Second Year Courses for Each Graduating Class. . . . . . . . . . . Satisfaction With Specific First Year Instructors for Each Graduating Class. . . . . V Page 20 29 42 52 53 57 58 58 59 6O 61 62‘ 63 66 67 68 69 Table 3-5 3-9 3-10 3-11 3-12 3-13 4-1 4-2 4-3 4-4 4-5 4-6 4-7 Satisfaction With Specific Second Year Instructors for Each Graduating Class. Respondents' Perceptions of Changes in Bases of Selection of their Sponsoring Firms . . . Reported Basis for Selection . . . . . . . . . Respondents' Perceptions of Changes of Participation of Sponsoring Firms. . . . . . Reasons for Termination of Participation . . . Comparison of Reported Salary Increases of AMP Graduates With "White Collar" Norms. . . Comparison of Reported Salary Increases of AMP Graduates With "White Collar" Norms - 2. Suggestions for Program.Improvement. . . Suggestions for Revision of Program Content. . Personal Correlates of General Positive Orientation Toward AMP . . . . . . . . . Situational Correlates of General Positive Orientation Toward AMP . . . . . . . . . . Correlations of General Positive Orientation Toward AMP With Other Dependent Variables. . Personal Correlates of Perceived Program.Rigor Situational Correlates of Perceived Program Rigor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Correlations of Perceived Program Rigor With Other Dependent Variables. . . . . . . . . . Personal Correlates of Perceived Objective Struc ture O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O Situational Correlates of Perceived Objective 8 t rue ture O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Correlations of Perceived Objective Structure With Other Dependent Variables . . . . . . . Personal Correlates of Grade-Point.Average . vi Page 70 75 77 82 82 85 86 88 88 92 93 93 95 95' 96 97 98 98 101 Table Page 5-2 Situational Correlates of Grade-Point Average. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 5-3 Correlations of Grade-Point Average With Other Dependent Variables. . . . . . . . . . . 103 5-4 Personal Correlates of Annual Percent Salary Increase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 5-5 Situational Correlates of Annual Percent Salary Increase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 5-6 Correlations of Annual Percent Salary Increase With Other Dependent Variables . . . . . . . . 108 5-7 Personal Correlates of Annual Number of Promotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 5-8 Situational Correlates of Annual Number of . Promotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 5-9 Correlations of Annual Number of Promotions With Other Dependent Variables . . . . . . . . 112 5-10 Personal Correlates of Annual Interorganiza- tional Mobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 5-11 Situational Correlates of Annual Interorgan- izational MDbility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 5-12 Correlations of Interorganizational Mobility With Other Dependent Variables . . . . . . . . 115 6-1 Relationships of Volatility Indices to Ghiselli Traits O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 119 . 6-2 Precision of Prediction of Signs of Trait - Volatility Correlations. . . . . . . . . . . . 120 6-3 Correlations Between Ghiselli Traits and Selected Criteria for Respondents in Volatile Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 6-4 Correlations Between Ghiselli Traits and Selected Criteria for Respondents in Stable Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 7-1 Relationships of Volatility Indices to Selected Criteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 B-l Firm Volatility Indices. . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 vii Table — Page B-2 Industry Volatility Indices. . . . . . . . . . . 160 C-1 Results of Factor Analysis of Satisfaction With Program Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 E-l Multiple Regression With Grade Point Average as Dependent Variable. . . . . . . . . . . . 167 E-2 Multiple Regression With Annual Percent Salary Increase as Dependent Variable. . . . . 168 E-3 ‘Multiple Regression With Annual Number of Promotions as Dependent Variable . . . . . . . 169 E-4 Multiple Regression With Annual Interorgani- zational Mobility as Dependent Variable. . . . 170 viii Figure 3-2 3-3 3-5 LIST OF FIGURES Page Satisfaction With Specific Courses for Each Graduating Class . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Satisfaction With Specific Courses for Each Graduating Class (Continued) . . . . . . 72 Satisfaction With Specific Courses for Each Graduating Class (Continued) . . . . . . 73 Relationship of Average Level of Satisfaction With Courses to Number of Instructors for Course. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Relationship of Range of Satisfaction With Course to Number of Instructors for Course. . 80 ix CHAPTER I MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT Introduction Management development appears to be a topic of much discussion and interest but little systematic study. ‘While its importance has been widely accepted, the basis of that acceptance has often been simple faith rather than rigorous evaluation. The present study focuses on a management development program administered by the Graduate School of Business Administration at Michigan State university. Along 'with assessment of the overall impact of the program.and of changes in impact over time, situational and personal correlates of selected criteria are considered. Growth of Management Development House (1967) has defined management development as "any planned effort to improve current or future manager performance by imparting information, conditioning attitudes, or increasing skill." He further has noted that "the essential difference between management develOpment and other methods of inducing change is that development requires primarily a change of attitude and understanding; ‘whereas these elements are usually not fundamental to other 1 types of change." (House, 1967) The number of programs aimed at management development has grown tremendously in the past decade, more than doubling, for instance, in the period from 1961 to 1966. Filley and House (1969) view this growth as a function of depression and World war II induced managerial shortages. They state that, "because few executives were hired during the depression and because managers were unavailable during the war, by 1947 most experienced.managers were approaching retirement (Reigel, 1952). Indeed, it was not unusual for 801 of a management team.to retire within a five-year period. All this brought about considerable enthusiasm for the systematic development of managerial talent." (Filley & House, 1969, p. 421) ' Andrews (1966) has traced the growth of management development from its roots in Harvard Business School ses- sions for executives in 1928. His 1958 survey of 136 schools yielded 124 responses, revealing six categories of programs ranging from.workshops and seminars to lengthy residential programs. The Need For Systematic Study_ Despite this growth in emphasis upon and use of manage- ment development, there has been relatively little system- atic study of the impact of such programs. Tosi & Dunnock (1967, p. 30) have argued that "very few organizations imaking substantial investments in deve10pment programs sub- ject these expenditures to the planning, analysis and con- sideration that would be given a comparable expenditure for equipment." Levy has said of the lack of systematic evalua- tion that, "to the extent this continues, management development will continue to be an art rather than a science or an applied technology." Steel (1972) in trying to explain this dearth of rele- vant research cites four alternative explanations. 1. acceptance of the program based on face validity, 2. failure to realize the value of deeper evaluation, 3. lack of understanding of methods of evaluation, 4. fear of the results of evaluation If the face validity of such programs were so great as to be unquestioned, evaluation might be deemed an unneces- sary expense. In fact, however, those programs which have been evaluated have often been shown to be somewhat disap- pointing. Studies Reporting,Negative Consequences of“Management DeveIopment Sykes (1962) found that after foremen participated in a supervisory training program, their expectations were altered in such a way that current corporate practices and communications clashed with revised role expectations. Subsequent high turnover of participating foremen was attributed largely to the program. 4 Similarly, Form and Form (1953) found heightened job aspirations of trainees to result in dissatisfaction with company placement and with supervisors. Considerable antagonism on the part of non-participants was also apparent. Hariton (1951), using experimental and control groups of foremen to examine how human relations training would affect perceptions of subordinates of those foremen, found attitudes and practices of higher levels of supervision to be a key determinant of changes in employee satisfaction ‘with supervision. He saw expectations of subordinates as crucial, concluding that, "Even if the foremen handle their men in the same way as before, their men may become less satisfied with supervision because their expectations of better treatment from the foremen were not realized." Fleishman (1953) found changes in leader attitudes and behaviors subsequent to a leadership training course to be temporary. In fact, while short run increases in consider- ation and decreases in initiating structure were evident, long run shifts were in the opposite directions. Fleishman attributed this inversion to back home "leadership climate." The lesson of these studies appears to be that programf success is a function of such factors as means of implemen- htation, "back home" climate and realism.of expectations fostered in participants, and hence cannot be automatically assumed. Partially because of such findings, critics of 'management development are becoming increasingly vocal. Livingston (1971, p. 79) argued, for instance, that "Managers are not taught in formal educational programs what they most need to know to build successful careers in ‘management." He adds, referring to cutbacks by some firms on expenditures for management training, that "what is taking place is not an irrational exercise in cost reduction; rather, it is belated recognition by top management that formal training is not paying off in improved performance." He goes on to argue that such programs often prescribe a ' given set of practices regardless of individual participant differences with the result that, "The effectiveness of managers whose personalities do not fit these styles often is impaired and their development arrested." There is also reason to expect situational moderators of development effectiveness. Certain of the previously cited studies (Sykes (1962), Form and Form (1953), Hariton (1951), Fleishman (1953)) support this contention. Sims (1970, p. 26) notes that the lessons of contingency theory would suggest that training "should be evaluated in relation to its potential to direct an organization toward (or away from) a specific mode of organizational style." Conse- quently, it appears that develOpment efforts ignoring cli- mate and environment of the organization to which the manager will return will be less than totally successful, except in the case of a fortuitous match. Similarly, developmental efforts aimed at individuals differing signif- icantly on situational criteria might have differentially successful impact as a function of those criteria. This need to consider not just program.auccess but also the correlates of that success is stressed by Carroll and Nash (1970, p. 188). They reason that, ”Management development programs may fail because of conflicts between what is taught in the program and situational and personal characteristics of the participant. As House points out, the par- ticipant may lack the ability, flexibility, or motivation to learn, accept, and put into practice the material presented in the training program. In addition particular situational characteristics may hinder the participant in applying the content of the training course to his job....It would be useful to know in advance how various types of individuals are likely to react to a management training program, Such information would enable training personnel to designate for training only those individuals who are likely to react posi- tively to it and benefit from.it. Only a very few studies, however, have correlated differences in participant characteristics and situations to differences in reactions to management develop- ment." As noted by Sims (1970), the need to consider correlates of effectiveness or of other criteria is a general lesson of. the work of the "contingency" theorists, researchers engaging in what Thompson (1967) has called a search for patterned variations. Studies Relating to Correlates of Attitudes Thward”Management’DeveIopment Shetty (1971) studied 40 firms in India belonging to a wide variety of industries and found saphistication of training programs to increase as a function of complexity and.turbulence of the market and technological environments facing the firms. Such a finding suggests that a given program may have differential applicability to managers from varying industrial backgrounds. Of course, alternate explanations of Shetty's findings are feasible. For exam- ple, until the past few years, at least in the U.S., those firms in volatile industries have been generally viewed as 'glamorous' and have been blessed with easy, inexpensive access to capital markets. Consequently, turbulence of environment may be related to availability of financial resources, allowing the use of costly, sophisticated pro- grams. Among the few studies relating personal and/or situa- tional characteristics of management training program participants to their reactions to the program was that by House and Tosi (1963). House and Tosi examined a training program.in which "climate conditioning" was utilized. That. is, top levels of management were trained prior to training of subordinate groups. Their study of 253 engineering managers at five levels of management employed a before- after design with a control group. No significant differ- ence in the measures used were found between trained and untrained groups, leading to the conclusion that a compat- ible climate is perhaps a necessary but non-sufficient con- dition for program success. It was, however, found that those in the trained group who showed the greatest increase in satisfaction with various aspects of the job after training were those who before training were more satisfied with their positions, felt more secure in their jobs, perceived themselves as having higher degrees of authority, and had longer time on the job and in the company. Carroll and Nash (1970) conducted a training program for 45 first-line supervisors in a manufacturing plant. An instrument was deve10ped to measure participant reactions to the program and to obtain information about participant characteristics as well as their perceptions of aspects of their jobs, subordinates, bosses, organization, training and development climate, and reward-punishment system. Reaction to training was gauged by a satisfaction item and by measures of perceived instrumentality of training for successful task performance. Carroll and Nash concluded that satisfaction with the job is an important determinant of reaction to training, that liking and training effective- ness may not necessarily be related, and that the perception that training is helpful and applicable is not enough to stimulate many individuals to actually use the training. Hariton (1951), in a study discussed previously, examined changes in satisfaction levels of subordinates ‘whose foremen had undergone training. He found in contrast- ing those foremen whose subordinates showed an increase in satisfaction with those whose subordinates showed a decrease that the former group were more satisfied with their jobs and superiors, felt more secure in their positions, per- ceived the course content to be beneficial, and received more support from their superiors. Kohn (1968) found satisfaction with a training program to be correlated with perception that the course content had practical value, Opportunity to participate in the program, and sufficient similarity among program.participants so that good communications could take place. .Andrews (1966) argued that management deve10pment impact is likely to depend upon basis of selection of participants. In particular, individuals volunteering for such a program, as Opposed to those selected by their firms to participate, would be more receptive to program offerings, ‘more secure, more able and willing to leave their families and jobs, better informed of program content and conse- quences, and less concerned that the program would be of a remedial nature. His own data revealed little difference in satisfaction as a function of basis of selection, with those individuals requesting their own entry only slightly more favorably disposed toward the program after its comple- tion (8.0 on his scale) than others (7.7). 10 Some Questions Left unanswered in the Literature Correlates Isolated Review of the management development literature reveals some consistent findings but also suggests areas of research need. Among correlates of attitudes toward management devel- opment isolated in the reviewed studies are: Satisfaction with work (Hariton (1951), House and Tosi (1963), Carroll and Nash (1970)) Time on the job and in the company (House and Tosi (1963), Carroll and Nash (1970)) Perceived degree of authority House and Tosi (1963)) Perceived jgb security (Hariton (1951), House and Tosi 1963 Basis for selection (Andrews (1966)) Instrumentality of training for successful task per- formance (Hariton (1951), Kohn (1968), Carroll and Nash (1970)) Top management support and climate (Hariton (1951), Fleishman (1953), Carroll and Nash (1970)) Homogeneity of program participants (Kohn (1968)) The Need to Further Examine DEaEfIyifigfflfiEfiafiI§fi§_'———' Mechanisms hypothesized as explanatory of certain of the above relationships require further examination. For instance, the consistent job satisfaction - satisfaction 'with program finding has been regularly explained in terms of the rationale that feelings of the manager concerning his firm are likely to carry over to actions initiated by the finm, such as entry of the manager into the program, While this hypothesis appears reasonable, it is feasible that supplementary factors are at work. This issue could be 11 examined in various ways. For one, if such an explanation is valid, basis for selection might be expected to moderate the job satisfaction - satisfaction with program relation- ship. Another approach would be to consider correlates of both satisfaction with work and of attitudes toward the program. The finding of similar patterns of correlates of these variables would suggest the possibility of a different causal mechanism.than would the finding of job satisfaction - satisfaction with program relationships in the absence of such a pattern. In particular, such a pattern might lend support to the parsimonious explanation that individuals possessing certain personality characteristics and/or in certain situations are simply generally satisfied. The Need to Consider Further Personal Factors It is further apparent that while various situational factors have been examined in the management development' literature, personal characteristics have received less attention. While age, educational level and time on the job have been considered, measures directly focusing on indi- vidual need structure deserve exploration. The Need to Consider Further Situational Factors .Attempted replication of certain of the findings relating to situational correlates should be useful. Further, several situational factors having received little 12 emphasis could be considered. These would include hierar- chical level, income level, and firm size. It might be expected that the impact of these variables would be some- what program.3pecific. That is, the nature and focus of program.content would be likely to result in differential applicability as a function both of managers' level in the firm and of firm size. The finding of significant relation- ships would thus be useful both in providing clues concern- ing determinants of development impact and in considering the apparent focus of the program.under consideration. One situational factor which has been suggested as a moderator of program.impact but has not been specifically examined is environmental uncertainty. While not exten- sively reviewed here, numerous recent "contingency" studies have considered the degree to which efficacy of alternate organization structures and/or administrative practices is moderated by such environmental characteristics as uncer- tainty or volatility. Relatively little consideration has been given, however, to either the direct impact of environ- mental volatility or uncertainty on managerial attitudes and activities or to the extent to which such characteristics moderate personality - attitude or personality - behavior relationships. Research issues amenable to analysis would include: 1. To what extent is there evidence of self-selection of certain personality types into "compatible" environments? . 13 2. How is environmental volatility related to manage- rial career activity? 3. How is environmental volatility related to manage- rial attitudes toward work and toward management development? 4. How is the relationship between personality char- acteristics and the above criteria moderated by volatility? While these questions are generally interesting, the reviewed writings of Shetty and Sims suggest that they are directly relevant to the issue of management development. For instance, findings of volatility - attitude toward ‘management development relationships would imply, consistent ‘with the arguments of Sims, that development content may have differential applicability as a function of environ- ment. The Need to Consider Additional Criteria The discussion to this point has focused on potential correlates of attitudes toward management development which could be profitably examined. It is further apparent that criteria of program.impact could be usefully expanded. The studies reviewed have used as their criteria either attitudes toward the program.cr measures immediately depend- ent upon those attitudes, such as short-term turnover. Though certainly relevant, these measures could be supplemented. Carroll and Nash have argued on the basis of their perceptual measures that effectiveness and satisfac- tion with program need not be strongly related. Livingston 14 has warned that continued corporate participation in such programs may hinge on the evidencing of concrete results. Consequently, other useful impact criteria might include: 1. gganges in degree of participation of sponsoring rms. 2. Reasons for termination of participation of sponsoring firms. 3. Suggestions of graduates for program improvement. 4. Career activity of graduates. 5. Correlates of career activity of graduates. While the relevance of consideration of the first three of these criteria is self-evident, reasons for examination of career activity and of correlates of career activity should perhaps be noted. Certainly, simple examination of absolute level of career progress of graduates should be of interest to actual or potential entering managers and sponsoring firms. Comp parison of that activity with that of nonentrants would be especially revealing, though the danger that program compleq tion.may be used as an independent promotion criterion cannot be discounted. Further, it is widely recognized that attainment of rewards may lead to enhanced satisfaction. Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that favorable career progress may, to the extent that it is to some degree viewed as the result of program completion, lead to satisfaction with program. Consequently, it would be useful to examine the relationships 15 of career activity indices to attitudes toward programs The finding of such relationships would only, of course, demonstrate association between the variables con- sidered. It would be of further interest to attempt some understanding of causal mechanisms through examination of similarity of correlates of attitudes toward program and of career activity indices. The finding of patterns of similar independent correlates may provide clues to the degree to which the career activity - attitude toward program.rela- tionships are spurious. The Need to Consider Impact Of Success in the Program Yet another issue given little consideration in the literature is that of the impact of managerial mastery of program material. Grade-point average in the program serves as a relatively objective gauge of that mastery. A rela- tionship between success in the program and response to the program might be expected for any of several reasons, including: 1. Different types of people, in terms of personality characteristics and/or situations, may perform differently in the program.and also respond differ- ently to the program. For instance, as valence to a manager of success in the program increases, motivation to perform well in the program.should increase. Consequently, ceteris paribus, performs ance in program should be related to valence of success in the programs Various mechanisms could be hypothesized by which valence of success in the program could be expected to relate to attitudes toward program» Consequently, GPO - attitudes toward program relationships could be revealing, as could comparison of correlates of those variab es. 16 Since valence of success in the program would be expected to vary as a function of personality char- acteristics, examination of GPA - trait relation- ships should also be useful. Managers disliking program content or format may lose interest in the program, subsequently per- forming poorly in the program, and would be likely to rate the program harshly. Managers receiving low GPA's may feel that they were evaluated negatively and respond in kind. To the extent that GPA is an adequate gauge of knowledge gained in the program, and to the extent that such knowledge is career-relevant, GEA - career activity relationships might be expected. If the manager recognizes such relationships, GR: - attitude toward program relationships seem li ely. The Current Study The current study will focus on attitudes and career progress of graduates of the M;S.U. Advanced Management Program.(AMP). Along with assessment of overall impact of the program, correlates of impact will be considered as will potential moderators of that impact. Specifically, the study will consider four general sets. of issues: 1.. What has been the nature of overall impact of the Michigan State University Advanced Management Program? In particular: 0) (b) What are the attitudes of graduates concerning program value, rigor and fairness? How satisfied are graduates with specific courses and instructors? How does that satisfaction vary 17 between graduating classes? What are the sources of that variation? (c) How has participation of sponsoring firms changed over time? What have been the causes of those changes? (d) What have been the overall levels of salary increase and of promotions of subjects subsequent to program.entry? How does salary increase of AMP graduates compare with national norms? (e) What types of suggestions for program improvement are offered by graduates? What are some personal and situational correlates of favorable attitudes toward the program? Of feelings that the program was difficult? 0f feelings that administration and grading were fair? How are these attitudes related to grade-point average? How are they related to career activity (salary increase, promotions, and interorganizational mobility) subsequent to program . entry? What is the relationship between success in the program, as measured by grade-point average, and subsequent career activity? How do personal and situational corre- lates of success in the program relate to correlates of career activity? To what extent is the environmental volatility facing firms and industries of respondents related to attitudes 18 toward the program? How is it related to attitudes toward the program? How is it related to subsequent career activity and to satisfaction with work? Are personality traits of respondents related to environ- mental volatility facing their respective firms and industries? Is there a "fit" between personality traits of respondents and environmental volatility as evidenced by different trait-career activity and trait-attitude toward program relationships in stable and dynamic environments? It is the feeling of the writer that presentation of specific hypotheses in relation to the first three sets of issues would add little to the analysis and is essentially precluded by the sheer number of relationships to be examined. The issue of personality-environment interaction does, however, require further explication. It seems feasible that such interaction may be an important determinant of the efficacy of management develop; ‘ment techniques, of satisfaction with work, and of career activity. For example, Porter and Lawler (1965) have sug-, gested that differences in personal characteristics of individuals being surveyed may account for certain apparent relationships between organization structure and job atti- tudes or behavior. Morse (1970) has hypothesized a three- way personality-structure-environment "fit" as a determinant of "sense of competence motivation." Lawrence and Lorsch 19 (1967) note that while consideration of individual attri- butes is a potentially important facet of their "contingency approach," they were able to treat it only as a minor theme. The current study, gauging individual, structural, and environmental characteristics and focusing on such criteria as attitudes toward a management development program, atti- tudes toward work, and career activity, can consider the issue of personality-environment fit in two ways. First, if given personality traits are more suitable to given environments than are the opposites of those traits, individuals with a particular constellation of traits might be expected to gravitate toward nurturing environments. Ghiselli (1971) has developed an instrument, discussed sub- sequently, to gauge the 13 traits presented in Table 1-1. It seems likely that those traits generally associated.with drive, risk assumption, and self-confidence would be most 'widely evidenced in volatile settings, while those associ- ated with stability, desire for security, and generally greater emphasis on "lower order" needs would be most prev- alent in stable settings. Traits such as working class affinity, supervisory ability and intelligence appear to defy intuitively comfortable classification as best fitting stable or dynamic settings. Based on these arguments, the signs indicated in Table 1-1 are hypothesized for the correlations between each of 13 traits and volatility. Trait measures and volatility 20 indices will be operationalized in Chapter II. TABLE l-l HYPOTHESIZED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND ENVIRONMENTAL VOLATILITY Hypothesized Sign of Correlation With Volatility Not Trait Positive Negative Hypothesized Supervisory Ability Intelligence Initiative Self-Assurance Decisiveness X Masculinity-Femininity Maturity WOrking Class Affinity X Achievement Metivation Need for Self Actualizatiod X Need for Power X Need for High Financial Rewards Need for Security Examination of a second set of relationships should also be useful. That is, if the sort of hypothesized "fit" of traits to environment does exist, the impact of traits on 21 criterion variables might be expected to vary as a function of environmental volatility. Satisfaction with work and ‘with program would thus be expected to correlate differently ‘with given traits in stable and dynamic environments, as ‘would career activity indices. Those traits which are predicted in Table 1-1 to correlate positively with vola- tility would, in particular, be expected to be more impor- tant determinants of success in dynamic than in stable environments. Those traits, such as need for security, ‘which would seem to be most suitable to stable environments, and which would seem to be generally detrimental to career success, should have a lesser negative impact in stable than in dynamic settings. Since certain of the research questions focus in part on correlates of GPA or of career activity indices, a brief review of the literature relating to these variables follows. Studies Relating to G.P.A. and to Criteria of career Activity Grade-Point Average (GPA)_ various researchers have considered graduate school grade-point average as either a dependent or independent variable. The following findings are relevant to the cur- rent study. Predictors of GPA. ward (1958) obtained a multiple correlation of .60 with first year grades in graduate school from a combination of test scores and undergraduate grades, 22 adjusted for standards of the schools. Vatter (1958b) found that low scores on Verbal or Quantitative segments of the ATGSB were associated with low grades at the Harvard Business School. A multiple correlation of .47 was found between verbal ATGSB score, quantitative ATGSB score, and college grades on the one hand and first year graduate school grades on the other. Pietrowski (1958) found some- what similar relationships at Stanford. Yoder (1959) found scores on the Miller's Analogies test to correlate .63 with grades of 40 students in the master's program in industrial relations at the university of Minnesota. GPA as a predictor of success in career. Husband (1957) found a strong positive relationship between grades of members of the Dartmouth class of 1926 and subsequent earnings. As an example, those with grades of 3.3 and above had median earnings at the time of the study in excess of $20000 while those with grades of 1.50 to 1.69 had median incomes of $10625. Harrell (1961) concludes on the basis of his studies that career success subsequent to attainment of an under- graduate degree appears to be significantly related to scholastic achievement. However, a much weaker relationship is evident for MBA's. He attributes this finding largely to the possibility that MBA's had been sufficiently selected so that scholastic aptitude of the selected group was no longer 23 a key factor. Interorganizational Mbbility_ March and Simon (1958) in discussing the inducements- contributions balance associated with the decision to par- ticipate argue that it is a function of two key components, the perceived desirability of leaving the firm.and the per- ceived ease of movement from the organization. They propose that perceived desirability of movement is a function of satisfaction with job and of perceived possibility of intra- organizational transfer. Satisfaction with job is in turn viewed as a function of conformity of job to self image, predictability of job relationships and compatibility of job and other roles, while possibility of intraorganizational transfer is seen as dependent upon firm size. Perceived ease of movement is seen as a function of number of extra- organizational alternatives perceived, in turn a function of level of business activity, number of organizations visible, and such personal characteristics of participants as age, . sex and social status. Number of organizations visible is seen as a function of visibility of the individual and of his propensity to search. Studies which directly relate interorganizational mobility to firm size are lacking. A study by Grusky (1961) examined how a surrogate for interorganizational mobility, turnover in given positions, was related to firm size. Grusky selected from Fortune's 500 two groups of 24 organizations differing in total size. More rapid turnover in uppermost management positions was evidenced in larger companies. While a study by Kriesberg (1962) seems to con- firm these findings, a reanalysis of Grusky's data by Gordon and Becker (1964) showed little relationship between size and rate of succession. Further, it should be stressed that turnover in given positions need not coincide with movement out of the firm. March and Simon (1958) in fact, imply that larger firms will experience lower turnover since individ- uals moving from a given position will have a greater number of options available within the firm. Literature reviews by Brayfield and Crockett (1955), Herzberg, Mausner, Peterson, and Capwell (1957), Schuh (1967) and Vroom (1964) have consistently concluded that turnover is inversely related to satisfaction with job. Weitz and Nuckols (1950) found a negative correlation between direct satisfaction measures and turnover among a sample of insurance agents. Giese and Ruter (1949) found a - similar negative correlation between morale and turnover rates of 25 departments in a small mail-order company. Other negative relationships between morale and turnover 'were reported by Fleishman, Harris, and Burtt (1955) and by Kerr, Kopplemeir, and Sullivan (1951). There is little empirical research relating turnover to hierarchical level. On the basis of indirect evidence, how- ever, a negative correlation might be expected. For 25 instance, Fetyko (1972) found highest turnover in public accounting firms to occur in the first three years of serv- ice. Since years with firm and hierarchical level are generally related, an inverse relationship between turnover and hierarchical level appears probable. Further, job satisfaction has been shown to be inversely related to turnover, as discussed above, and directly related to hier- archical level (Herzberg g£_§l, (1957), Porter and Lawler (1965), vroom (1964)). Consequently, a negative relation- ship of turnover to hierarchical level would again seem likely. March and Simon (1958) view propensity to search as largely a function of degree of satisfaction with job, dis- cussed above, and of habituation to a particular job or organization. As habituation increases, the choice of organization is increasingly treated as a constant rather than as a variable. As length of service, and presumably habituation, increases, March and Simon further argue that specialization increases and the range of extraorganiza- .tional alternatives is narrowed. March and Simon argue that perceived ease of inter- organizational movement is negatively related to age. That is, higher age is an undesirable attribute of a job seeker, ceteris paribus. Further, job satisfaction and consequently perceived desirability of movement appear to be related to age. Studies show that morale decreases during initial 26 years of work, reaches a nadir when workers are in their twenties, and then rises steadily with age (Herzberg, IMausner, Peterson, and Capwell, 1957). The same trend is evident when length of service in present job is compared 'with satisfaction (Harrell, 1960, p. 261). Taken together, these evidences of decreased perceived ease of movement and desirability of movement as a function of age would suggest that interorganizational mobility would decrease as a func- tion of age. In fact, studies show that turnover is higher among younger persons than among older persons, with skill and other attributes held constant (Myers and MaCLaurin, 1943; Reynolds, 1951; Bakke g£_§l,, 1954). Career Success DePasquale and Lange (1971) collected data from over 5,000 MBA alumni representing 12 graduate programs. Among their results was the finding that, while many MBA's believe job hopping will lead to high financial rewards, "This belief has no basis in fact. 'While a temporary advantage may be gained through a job change, our findings point out that, after a period of up to five years in business, the earnings of those who had frequently changed jobs were equal to the earnings of those who remained with their first employers." (1971, p. 12) Gutteridge (1973), using salary level as his upward mobility criterion, found that for a sample of 465 alumni from the 1957-1968 graduating classes of the Krannert 27 Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Purdue university: 1. Individuals in consulting and general management received higher salaries than others, with those in the engineering-production functional area receiv- ing the lowest salaries. 2. Salary of line individuals was higher across all graduating classes than was salary of staff indi- viduals. 3. A negative relationship existed between company size and salary. A positive relationship existed between company earnings-per-share growth rate and salary. 4. Geographic wage differentials existed, with sal- aries in the Northeast being highest and those in the North Central and Southern states being lowest. 5. Alumni who changed employers were earning signif- icantly higher salaries than were those who remained with their original employers. Gutteridge notes that the latter finding, while con- trary to findings of DePasquale and Lange (1971) and McKersie and Ullman (1966), is consistent with the logic of Jennings (1961) who claims there is a strong positive rela- tionship between mobility and competency. Hilton and Dill (1962), using percentage salary growth as a success criterion, examined a sample of 143 engineering graduates employed in industry. Among their results was the finding of significantly different salary growth rates as a function of undergraduate major (with electrical engineering highest and civil engineering lowest), an insignificant correlation between salary growth rate and grade-point aver- age, and a significantly negative correlation between 28 first-year salary and salary growth rate. Success in the Bell Telephone System was found to be related to college GPA (College Achievement and Progress in Management, 1962). A study of 17,000 graduates of accred- ited colleges found a distinct relationship between rank in one's graduating class and salary. The criterion was annual salary in comparison to salaries of those who had the same length of service in the company. The same study also found the salary criterion to be correlated with ranking of the quality of the college from.which the individual graduated as well as with leadership in college extracurricular activ- ities. In terms of the relationship of traits to managerial career success, Huttner g£_§1, (1959) found more effective executives, in terms of salary increase over a fixed period, to be higher in intelligence, drive, enthusiasm.and optimism and lower in anxiety than less effective executives. In a similar vein, Ghiselli (1971) argues that certain - personality traits are important determinants of managerial success. His rating of importance of the various traits, based on his studies, is presented in Table 1-2. Thus, Ghiselli sees traits such as supervisory ability and need for achievement to be quite important for managerial suc- cess, others such as need for security and need for high financial rewards to be negatively related to success, and still others as essentially unimportant. He says, for 29 instance, that, "...on the basis of the evidence it must therefore be concluded that the trait of masculinity- femininity plays no part whatsoever in managerial talent." (1971, p. 67). Discussing the relationship of need for . power over others to managerial success, he states that, “At best, it would have to be concluded that the relation- ship is very, very slight, and probably is nonexistent." (1971, p. 87). ' TABLE ' 1-2 TRAIT IMPORTANCE FOR MANAGERIAL succsss Trait Rating Supervisory Ability 100 Need for Occ. Achievement 76 Intelligence 64 Need for Self-Actualization 63 Self Assurance 62 ' Decisiveness 61 Lack of Need for Security 54 Working Class Affinity 47 Initiative 34 Lack of Need for High Financial Reward ' 20 Need for Power Over Others 10 Maturity 5 Masculinity-Femininity 0 30 Some evidence exists, however, to indicate that the importance of certain personality traits may be moderated by environmental characteristics. Morse (1970), for one, has argued for the importance of such 'fit' of personality and environment. Summary This chapter has presented a review of literature relating to management deveIOpment and has introduced the current study. Management development was defined, the growth in numr bers of development programs was traced, and reasons for that growth were considered. The lack of adequate evalua- tion of such programs was noted and reasons for that lack were outlined and evaluated. Following a review of studies citing dysfunctional consequences of management develOpment 'programs and noting critics of developmental efforts, argu- ments were presented for the need to consider not just over- all impact of management development programs but also the personal and situational correlates of that impact. The current study was outlined. Research questions, including criteria to be considered and expected correlates of those criteria, were presented. Studies focusing on those criteria and correlates were reviewed. CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY This chapter will outline characteristics of the ..Advanced Management Program and of the research design. Statistical methods used in the current study will be noted, measuring instruments explained and subjects profiled. The Advanced Management Program The current study examines reactions of graduates of the M.S.U. Advanced Management Program. Founded in 1964, the AMP is a two year program given two evenings a week at Mercy College in Detroit and leading to the MBA degree. Courses are taught by the faculty of the College of Business of Michigan State. Class members are enrolled as on-campus students. . Students in the program include middle and upper level managers in a wide variety of firms and industries in South- eastern Michigan. Dubbed the "Million Dollar Classroom" because the collective salary of the annual entering class regularly exceeds that figure, classes typically include a sprinkling of company presidents and vice presidents. To be considered for admission to the program, an indi- vidual must be nominated by his respective company, though 31 32 the individual may personally request such nomination. After nomination, each application is reviewed by three faculty members. Significant emphasis is placed on grade- point averages and A.T.G.S.B. scores. Program literature reports that standards of selection are the same as for admission of a student on campus. In addition, it is desired that a program entrant have ten years business experience. As a consequence, average student age is 36, with few under 30 years of age being considered for admis- sion. While a wide variety of undergraduate majors are represented, 60% of students are reported to come from engineering backgrounds. .Among managers who had graduated from the AMP by 1972, 228 possessed the bachelor's degree, 24 had earned a previ- ous master's, one held the doctorate, and 66 had no previous college degree. Of the latter 66, 10 had graduated from technical schools, 50 had earned some college credit, and 6 had no previous college or technical training. A manager entering the program proceeds to take twelve courses in fixed order. No choice in course selection or sequencing is allowed. Courses in the program, in the order in which they are taken, are: FIRST YEAR: BALL TERM Managerial Accounting Personnel and Human Relations in Industry 33 WINTER.TERM Management Organization and Theory Financial Management SPRING TERM Marketing Management Decision Making Models (formerly Management Planning and Control) SECOND YEAR: EALL TERM Industrial Relations The American Economy (formerly Managerial Economics) WINTER TERM Managerial Economics and Public Policy (formerly Business and Society) International Business SPRING TERM Administrative Policy Problem.Analysis Material in the program is generally presented in a lecture format, though certain courses utilize role playing and sensitivity training. Further, the "Problem Analysis" course requires that students complete a thesis project. . For this project, the student selects what he feels to be a significant problem which he is currently facing and, with faculty assistance, writes a paper presenting his solution. 34 Cost of the program is generally paid by the student's company. That cost covers instruction expenses, books, two evening meals per week, and administrative and personnel"x costs. Approximately 65% of program graduates pay dues to the Advanced Management Club, a club which publishes an alumni newsletter and sponsors speeches and other events for pro- gram members and graduates. Unique Aspects of the AMP Unlike many management development programs, the AMP 18' not administered by the individual's firm. While corporate sponsorship of the individual is required, this extraorgani- zational training would be expected to differ in emphasis and atmosphere from company-administered efforts. For exams ple, the kind of knowledge stressed would not necessarily be specifically related to company needs and may be more trans- ferrable. . . The AMP differs in significant ways from.most other university-administered management development programs. First, duration of the AMP far exceeds that of most univer- sity programs. Of those examined in detail by Andrews _ (1966), for instance, none extended beyond 13 weeks, while the AMP requires two years of continuous study. While other programs of extended duration do exist, they are much rarer than shorter programs. Second, and perhaps most important, the AMP is unusual 35 inasmuch as it leads to the MBA degree. Consequently, career impact of the program.may be a function of conse- quences of the MBA. For one thing, holding of the MBA may be an independent criterion for promotion. Further, the MBA is a uniquely portable and prestigious certificate of pro- gram completion and may influence interorganizational mobility. ‘ Finally, the program brings together individuals from firms in scattered industries and selected on the basis of several criteria. It seems reasonable that program conse- quences should differ among these participants. Isolation of situational determinants of impact may therefore be feasible. A recent study by Nemec (1973) considered general advantages and disadvantages of the night school MBA, as well as feelings of employers about such a degree. However, little summary data is presented by Nemec. Further, it would probably be tenuous to automatically equate "night school" with "management development." Certainly, the man-‘ agers typically enrolled in the M.S.U. Advanced Management Program.wou1d be likely to differ in significant ways, such as hierarchical level, salary, and business experience, from the majority of night school‘M.BrA. students. The Research Design, Evaluation of the program will be somewhat restricted by the types of data that could be feasibly gathered. For IIIIIIDIIII-____________________________ 36 example, a fully adequate design for purposes of evaluation of management development efforts would have the following characteristics: 1. Use of a control group similar in relevant aspects to the experimental group. 2. ‘Measures taken before and after training. 3. Precautions so that the control group does not incur resentment and antagonism.due to the fact that they are not being trained. In a study such as that being discussed here, the meet- ing of all such criteria is unfortunately impossible. Selection of individuals to enter the program was clearly outside the hands of the researcher. Since individuals were in general selected for the program on non-random.bases, including promotion potential, isolation of an adequate con- trol group was infeasible. Means of resentment prevention are similarly lacking. For instance, while McGehee and Gardner (1955) suggest that the control group be informed that they will participate later, such a design is impos- sible here. Similarly, criteria selection was constrained by the inability to meet the above criteria. For instance, among possible criteria of program.affectiveness, as given by Rizzo (1967) are: 1. Changes in knowledge 2. Changes in attitude 3. Changes in ability 4 . Changes in job performance of the participant 37 5. Changes in job performance of subordinates of the participant 6. Changes in end-operational results Derivation of these change scores by consideration of before and after measures was clearly precluded by restrictions on the design. In some cases in the current study, as proxies for true before measures, respondents were asked their recollection either of the level of a variable at the time of their entry into the AMP or of the percent change in the level of a variable since that time. Desirable characteristics of selected criteria would include, according to Rizzo (1967): 1. Relevance to goals and intentions of development . Absence of bias ' . Reliability . Practicality . Acceptability to top management and participants . Objectivity O‘UI-l-‘LDN The limits placed upon the current study by demands of practicality have already been alluded to. Acceptability of. criteria was quite important since several parties were to review and hold possible veto power over the questionnaire. What remained, then, was the decision of how to choose relevant criteria, subject to the constraints discussed. Variables chosen as criteria of program impact include: 1. Grade-point average. To the extent that grade- point average is an adequate measure of knowledge and abilities acquired in the program, it provides a rough proxy for those variables. While not an absolute measure of knowledge and ability enhance- ment, it should serve as a useful relative measure. 38 Consequently, the relationship of GPA to other criteria should provide some clues to the relevance of program content to job success. Attitudes toward the program. Program.impact and perceived program impact should be reflected in attitudes of graduates concerning the program. Since the measures are taken at a point in time which is increasingly close to graduation date for successive classes, it is recognized that determi- nants of satisfaction with program.may vary in emphasis between classes. Thus, while recent graduates may have program characteristics fresh in their minds and judge the program on that basis, earlier graduates may place greater emphasis on happenings subsequent to graduation that may be attributable to the program. Satisfaction with Specific courses and instructors. It would be useful to learn reactions to specific segments of the program and to specific teachers. Since the program allows no flexibility in course selection or sequence, knowledge of graduation date of a student completely specifies all courses and instructors encountered during the program. Number of promotions subsequent to program entry. One goal of the AMP which is evident in program literature is upward mobility enhancement. The program is designed to "speed the advance” of talented managers. To allow comparison of upward mobility of managers graduating at different times, reported number of promotions will be converted to an annual basis. Differing perceptions of what constitutes a promotion may cause some distortion of this measure. Annual percent salary increase subsequent to pro- 'gram entry. This measure will also be converted to an annual basis. Salary increase should provide a secondary measure of upward mobility, and one which may be less subject to perceptual distortion than is number of promotions. Annual interorganizational mobility subsequent to program.cntry. The number of changes in employing firm, converted to an annual basis, is used as the measure of interorganizational mobility. Since high turnover has been reported for some develop- 'ment programs, knowledge of the level of inter- organizational mobility for AMP graduates and of correlates of that mobility should be useful. 39 The question of objectivity and lack of bias should perhaps be explored in relation to the criteria selected. Bellows (1941) notes three sources for contamination of criteria. They are: l. Contamination by illicit use of predictor informa- tion. 2. Contamination by artificial limitation of produc- tivity. 3. 'Contamination by differential influence of experi- ence. These problems of contamination are largely inapplicable to criteria such as the satisfaction gauges, GPA, and inter- organizational mobility. Their impact on promotions and salary increase should, though, he considered. It is possible that receipt of the MBA may cause some distortion. That is, if some firms make "illicit use of predictor information," perhaps using the MBA as an inde- pendent criterion for advancement, while others do not, comparisons between firms could be distorted. Similarly, if MBA's are given eSpecially desirable subordinates or jobs in one firm while those in another are not, the "artificial limitation of productivity" caveat might hinder such compar- isons. Later studies should attempt to examine the degree to which such potential contaminants exist. Criteria such as salary increase and promotions are of course plagued by many other difficulties, reflecting any weaknesses that may be inherent in the organization's performance appraisal techniques and reward system in 40 general. Further, since such criteria are gauges of an individual's success in an organization, respondent bias might lead to over reporting of level attained. Most of the perceptual measures used in the current study are potentially subject not only to conscious or sub- conscious bias but also to simple problems of recall. In general, though, it seems likely that such concrete measures as GPA, salary level, and number of firms since original will be accurately reported. Keating g£_§1, (1950) found correlations of from +.9O to +.98 between reported and actual scores for such details of work history, reported by unemployed workers in a guidance setting, as wages, duration of jobs, and job duties. Dunnette (1952) in a study of 203 seniors in the Institute of Technology at the university of ‘Minnesota found a correlation of .94 between reported and actual grade point averages, though those with averages below C tended to suppress the fact. On the other hand, where rewards are seen as contingent. in some way upon responses, evidences of bias in reporting are in some cases evident. Krueger (1947), for instance, found that 10% of students whose papers were graded too high reported the discrepancy, whereas 99% of students graded too low reported the errors. Hopefully, anonymity of responses in the current study, coupled with the personally non-evaluative tone of the questionnaire and cover letter, will reduce the danger of such distortion. 41 Correlations between the selected criteria are pre- sented in Table 2-1. It is recognized that these criteria gauge in fact only one aspect of program impact; that is, impact on program graduates. Clearly, other parties are influenced by the AMP. One relevant participant in the program is the participating MSU faculty. Yet another group impacted by the program is composed of program dropouts. The dropout rate from the program is about 16%. Thus, about 50 individ- uals have had what might have been an unsuccessful relation- ship with the AMP. Examination of attitudes of these individuals toward the AMP, of their perceptions concerning the career impact of failure to complete the program, and of the circumstances surrounding their withdrawal could be revealing. Statistical Methods Statistical methods used in the current study include simple correlation analysis, partial correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, estimation of internal reli- ability, and factor analysis (see Nunnally, 1967). Pearson product moment correlation coefficients, "r," were computed between each pair of variables under consider- ation as a measure of their degree of relationship. Where a spurious correlation between a pair of variables may have resulted from the correlations of each of those variables to 42 eoaaau-osu .Hu>oa so. an “aquamaawam + sumauu-ozu .Hu>ua me. as uasoamaemam o : mmumsnmi manusoo onaoHuH puma-H6304 wsowusaouuoo mfimuaoo sawsmaua unwguuome: "ouoz Amomv ousuosuum . com com ems «SH see awe u>auoomno sapwoum po>auouom “ammo +Hsm. - mom one NSH mom was homes amumoum eo>auouum Aomuv mz< as seen +mNm. +Hmm. - one was mom was -wuaoauo o>auamom Hmumaao Hem. moc.- oeo. - ems eme «mm Aamov mmwuu>< ounce mango A2H3,01 ,_ -——— ~-—---- a— — .7 - -~~~ 3.00 : --- Managerial A . Economics t‘-‘~—-~ 2.50 --- , ~2.50 P ----s Average of _ All Courses { - '66 '67 '68 '69 '70 '71 '72 .?- _' Year of Graduation 1.... ~ -- 4,5' — — « - ------ 4.5» i E 'r- ‘.o ‘ ‘eO‘ i i 3.5‘ 3.5., . Satisfaction Satisfaction Level Level. 3.0 . Administrative 3.0 . Policy : ---'--- Average of ' All Courses 1' v— r 2.5 2.5" i ! . '66 '67 '68 '69 '70 '71 '72 _, Year of Graduation '" ' nouns 3-3 .----a. . ..-.. -. .. '736 957 '68 '69 '70 '71 '72 Year of Graduation . .- —.-_- .——a Problem Analysis ----- Average of All Courses SATISFACTION VITI! SPECIFIC CMSSES FOR EACH GRADUATINC CLASS (CONT.) '66 ‘67 '68 '69 ‘70 '71 '72 Year of Graduation 74 Changes in Basis for Selection Two measures of changes in bases of selection were considered. First, an attempt was made to determine whether specific firms participating in the AMP were making systemr atic changes in their selection bases. Second, the data ‘were examined to determine whether bases of selection actually reported by program entrants changed over time. Such a result would be possible, because of changes in the composition of participating firms, even though particular firms had continued prior selection policies. Of 102 respondents reporting continued participation by their organizational sponsors, only 16 cited changes in bases for selection. Most of those 16 changes were in degree of emphasis on alternate criteria rather than com- plete substitution of criteria. Changes in bases of selec- tion can be classified as shown in Table 3-6. Of these 16 respondents, three were from a single finm. Two of these three noted more emphasis on promotion poten- tial while thethird cited the supplemental compensation roll requirement. Thus, nine firms were perceived to upgrade their criteria while five made perceived changes which could be termed downgrading. Little systematic difference in perceived bases for selection by particular firms is thus evident. 75 TABLE 3-6 RESPONDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF CHANGES IN BASES OF SELECTION OF THEIR SPONSORING FIRMS Nature of Change Number Upgrading More emphasis on promotion potential 7 Tighter control, more consideration 3 of organizational needs Upgrading total 10 Downgrading More emphasis on personal request 2 Moving down the organization 2 More emphasis on need for improvement 1 Downgrading total 5 Other All have to be on supplemental l compensation roll 16 Total 76 Examination of the pattern of changes in reported basis of selection of program entrants over time, shown in Table 3-7 presents a somewhat different picture. In particular, it appears that following tight corporate control over selection of program entrants in the year of inception of the program, an increasingly greater percentage of entrants over the next few years had requested entry, peaking at 60% in 1969. Since that time, the trend appears to have reversed, with each year. showing reductions in entry by personal request and corres- ponding increases in entry based on promotion potential. Changes in Instructors To examine the impact of instructors on course satis- faction, several relationships were examined. They include: 1. The correlation of average satisfaction with course to number of instructors for the course. 2. The correlation of range of satisfaction with course to number of instructors for the course. 3. The correlation of satisfaction with course instructor to satisfaction with course. 4. The correlation of change in satisfaction with the course from one year to the next with whether or not a change in instructor occurred over that period. 5. The correlation of absolute value of change in satisfaction with the course from.one year to the next with whether or not a change in instructor occurred over that period. ’77 .nomnomauu oamauana on our nunovnommou mo unease vouoxu mun aeuoa % o.ooa e o.ooa mm o.ooa mm o.ooa on o.ooa an o.ooa NN o.coa ma o.ooa an «annoy o.n~ a m.~ a o.c o o.o o o.o . o o.o o o.o o o.o o nonsense uoz 0.0 o ~.m N a.m N n.m H a.n N n.e a o.o o 0.0a N guano o.n~ a m.qn Na o.ws Na a.om an o.oo AN o.om an c.os c o.a~ e oneness aoaomuom o.on N N.An om n.ms on o.os Na m.¢m «a n.ms on o.oo a «.ms ma amaucouom coauoaoum a a s a a a a a s a a a s a s a vmuuommm Nnma Hhma Ohma momH QQ¢H homH coma doauoaawm uoz Mom mflmmm H :oaumsnouu mo “new ZOHHUmAmm Mom mamdm amHmommm sun NAM¢H 78 The correlation of average level of satisfaction with course to number of instructors for the course is -.265 (ns). This relationship is plotted in Figure 3-4. It should be noted that the consistently low satisfaction with one course, "Decision-Making Mbdels," having four instruc- tors over the period, accounts for this negative correlation. With that course deleted, the sign of the correlation is reversed (r = .178, ns). Range of satisfaction with course was computed by sub- tracting the lowest annual level of satisfaction with course from the highest level. The correlation of range of satis- faction with course to number of instructors for the course is -.l72. This relationship is plotted in Figure 3-5. While no common instructor exists for the "Problem Analysis" course, the average correlation between satisfac- tion with course instructor and satisfaction with course for the other eleven courses is .650. This correlation is sig- nificant at the .05 level. Thus, 42.25% of variance in satisfaction with course is associated with variance in satisfaction with course instructor. Of course, no infer- ence concerning direction of causality can be safely drawn on the basis of this correlation. The correlation of change in average satisfaction with course to whether a change in instructor occurred is -.318. However, when the absolute value of change in satisfaction with course is correlated with change in instructor, a Average Level of Satisfaction With Course 4.5v 4.4 0 4e3" 4o0" 3e9 ‘ 3.84 3.7" 3.60 3.50 3.4.. 3e3" 3.2” 3.1“ 3.0 79 A Y 2 I‘d-1r .M.....—.- ...--. . , ..___._,....-.,.__. A U 3 Number of Instructors FIGURE 3-4 RELATIONSHIP OF AVERAGE LEVEL OF SATISFACTION WITH COURSE-TO NUMBER OF INSTRUCTORS FOR COURSE a~o "....L . . ' .31 1 . r ; . f 'v .-J ...i...‘ .._.'-_.._..'_.. ... . . l ... ... I. ... .._...._......_....... 8O g:_' ‘ “‘h*‘"“ “" -—-~~~- "*‘j~"” ....--,_.0._P.,. -.1-.r--.___,___,,, : __; ________ 108 4» 7 _ I p .. . m . ... . 0 ‘ ‘ 1.7 .1... 1'6. , _ ...- _ 105 " Range of 1'4 I " ‘ ' ,. --. , , fl -. _____ Satisfaction - , With Course 1.3 0 1.2 ° 1.1 <' 1.0 4 o9 Y = .999-.058x 8 > a 7 .. o o 6 .. ° 0 5 O l 2 3 4 5 Number of Instructors FIGURE 3-5 , . ...-.. ..- _. RELATIONSHIP OF RANGE OF SATISFACTION WITH COURSE TO NUMBER OF INSTRUCTORS FOR COURSE 81 correlation of .314 is attained. Thus, a change in instruc- tor is accompanied by substantial variation in satisfaction ‘with course, usually in the downward direction. Examination of the raw data seems to indicate that repeated teaching of a course by the same instructor leads, in general, to enhanced satisfaction with course. A change in instructors then returns satisfaction to a lower level. Consequently, a rachet effect is evident. It should be noted, however, that a large portion of the observed varia- tion in satisfaction with course can be attributed to large drops in satisfaction with two specific courses, both of which experienced a change of instructors, in the last year under examination. The cause of those drops would have to be more thoroughly explored before conclusions concerning the change of instructor - change in course satisfaction relationship could be firmly stated. Perceived Chan es in Partici ation of Sponsoring Firms Table 3-8 presents respondents' perceptions of changes in degree of participation of their sponsoring firms. Reasons for perceived termination of participation are presented in Table 3-9. The great majority of terminations in participation appear to be by small firms in which suitable candidates are unavailable. 0f 54 respondents reporting no current partic- ipation in the AM? by their sponsors, 32 (59.26%) gave as 82 TABLE 3-8 RESPONDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF CHANGES OF PARTICIPATION OF SPONSORING FIRMS Change in Participation Number Percentage Decreased 13 7.39 Unchanged 78 44.32 Increased 13 7.39 Terminated 54 30.68 Not Reported 18 10.22 Total 176 100.00 TABLE 3-9 REASONS FOR TERMINATION OF PARTICIPATION Percentage of Number of Citations Cause of Termination Times Cited (n a 54) Lack of qualified, interested 32 59.26 candidates Turnover of past graduates 3 5.56 Dissatisfaction 11 20.37 Geographic distance 5 9.26 Mbre specialized knowledge 2 3.70 desired In-house program started 1 1.85 Total 54 100.00 83 the reason small size of firm or lack of qualified or inter- ested candidates, or indicated that their entry was on a one-time-only, personal request basis. Five (9.26%) cited inconvenient geographic location as the reason for termination of participation. In eleven instances (20.3%), dissatisfaction with program value on the part of relevant decision makers in the firm were cited as the cause of termination. In four of these eleven cases, the respondent noted that he disagreed with the termination decision. Three of the eleven instances of dissatisfaction are by individuals in a single firm. Of the remaining reasons for termination, two related to the fact that knowledge of a type not presented in the AMP was required in the industry (in both instances, bank- ing). Finally, it was reported that one sponsor has started an in-house program. Of thirteen graduates reporting participation increases, five are from a single firm. While the majority of respondents of another firm per- ceive no change in participation and one perceives an increase, four perceived decreases. One respondent of that firm, further, reports that his firm no longer participates, stating that, "Work load is excessive - I recommend they send lower level employees who have more time." It should perhaps again be stressed that evidences of displeasure appear to be concentrated in respondents of just 84 a few firms. For example, in another single firm four respondents reported decreased participation and three reported that participation has been terminated. Reasons given for termination of participation included, "Return on investment of $3000 tuition did not justify this expendi- ture," "insufficient candidates in Detroit area: new presi- dent questions payoff of such a course" and "poor reports by some participants." Salary Increase of AMP Graduates Relative to that of W To allow a rough check on salary increases of AMP grad- uates relative to those of other managers, data on national averages of annual salary increases of managers over time was sought. While data aggregated over a number of years was avail- able for the "Managers, Officials, and Proprietors, except Farm" category, comparable data on a year-by-year basis could not be isolated. It was therefore necessary to utilize for purposes of this comparison annual data on "White Collar Occupations - Professional, Administrative, and Technical Support" (Keller, 1972). Unfortunately, this data includes nonmanagerial personnel and therefore must be considered a rather crude yardstick. To permit comparison of reported salary increases of AMP graduates with these "white collar" norms, annual per- cent salary increases of the "white collar" group were 85 compounded to the present. For each annual interval, Table 3-10 presents reported annual percent salary increases of the "white collar" group, the percent salary increase for that group compounded from the given year to the present, and average percent salary increase reported by the AMT group entering at the beginning of the given period. TABLE 3-10 COMPARISON OF REPORTED SALARY INCREASES OF AMP GRADUATES WITH "WHITE COLLAR" NORMS Percent Salary Percent Salary Average Percent Increase of Increase of Salary Increase "White Collar" "White Collar" Reported by AMP Period Group for the Group Class Entering Specified Compounded at Beginning Period to March '73 of Period 1964-65 3.4 54.75 37.35 1965-66 3.4 49.66 44.29 1966-67 4.2 44.74 37.38 1967-68 5.5 38.91 38.70 1968-69 5.8 31.67 38.08 1969-70 6.2 24.45 34.68 1970-71 6.7 17.18 29.19 1971-72 5.5 10.98 ‘ *** 1972-Mar. 73 4.1 4.10 *** *** Group has not graduated and was not included in study 86 Further, the percent salary increase reported by each AMP respondent was compared with the compounded growth in salary of the "white collar" group over the period since the time of program entry of the given manager. The magnitude and direction of difference was determined. Since the scale of salary increases which was used had "over 50%" as its top level, and since compounded growth in average earnings of the “white collar" group from 1964 to the present exceeds 50%, comparison was not feasible for those individuals grad- uating in 1966 and reporting salary increases exceeding 50%. Results of the salary comparison are given in Table 3-11. TABLE 3-11 COMPARISON OF REPORTED SALARY INCREASES OF AMP GRADUATES WITH "WHITE COLLAR'I NORMS - 2 Excess of Reported Salary Increases of Number AMP Graduates Over "White Collar" Norm 45.00% 0 30.00 to 45.00% 14 15 00 to 29.99% 38 0 to 14.99% 42 -15 00 to - 0.01% 36 -30 00 to -15.01% 16 -45 00 to -30.01% 9 -45.00% 4 No Comparison Possible 8 Total Responding to Items* 167 * To allow comparison, it was necessary that the respondent report both his salary increase and his graduation date 87 Of the 167 individuals for whom both salary increase and graduation date were reported, 94 reported salary increases exceeding the compounded average increase for the "white collar" group, while 65 reported increases below the corresponding average. The average salary increase for responding AMP graduates exceeded the average for the specified group by 1.28% annually. For eight individuals, graduating in 1964 and reporting salary increases in excess of 50%, comparison was not possible. This comparison would seem to suggest that AMP managers have received above average salary increases subsequent to graduation. A more thorough analysis would, however, require the comparison of salary increases of each reSpond- ent with the average of those of managers at similar levels in similar industries. Further, the possibility of upward bias in reported salary increase of AMP graduates cannot be entirely discounted. Suggestions for Program Improvement Thirty-nine managers, or about 22% of respondents, made suggestions for program improvement. Suggestions could be classified into five categories: content revision, contin- uing education, entrance requirements, instructor efficiency, and instructor attitudes. The number of suggestions by category are shown in Table 3-12. 88 TABLE 3-12 SUGGESTIONS FOR PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT Category Number of Comments Content Revision 23 Continuing Education 4 Entrance Requirements 6 Instructor Efficiency 3 Instructor Attitude 9 Total* 45 * Suggestions do not total 39 due to multiple responses Those suggestions relating to content revision could be further subclassified as shown in Table 3-13. TABLE 3-13 SUGGESTIONS FOR REVISION OF PROGRAM CONTENT Suggestion Number More practical orientation 6 More intensive & practical statistical 7 and computer emphasis More case analysis More opportunity for group discussion More emphasis on small business problems ho F‘ P' u: More material relevant to lower hierarchical levels Elimination of busy work (Thesis, 4 long readings) Total* 25 * Suggestions do not total 23 due to comments contain- ing multiple suggestions 89 Of those respondents desiring continuation of the pro- gram beyond the MBA, two suggested that Saturday seminars or other activities be conducted on the East Lansing campus, one suggested an annual dinner with a major speaker, and one simply suggested that a continued program for advanced studies be instituted. Some concern was evident relating to possible decline in quality of incoming students. Comments included, “Level of student qualifications could be higher," "keep new stu- dents on the basis of the original concept - 10 years or more in business or industry after the undergraduate," "continuing concentration on entry requirements to maintain quality of 'student input.'" Three individuals suggested that instructors should make better use of visual aids and better organize course material. Much dissatisfaction appeared to stem from perceptions of respondents that instructors tended to "treat the stu- dents like they were 18 year olds on campus" and to gener- ally ignore their qualifications and experience. In several instances, respondents appeared to feel that ego needs of professors caused the professors to become defensive and to discourage student feedback, thereby engendering student resentment. A complete listing of suggestions for program improve- ment, by categories, is presented in Appendix D. 90 Summary Overall attitudinal response both to specific courses and to the program in general was seen to be high for all graduating classes. Variation in satisfaction with specific courses between graduating classes was examined and was related both to changes in bases of selection and to changes in instructors. Little change in bases of selection over time was evident. Changes in instructors were usually associated with declines in satisfaction with course. Few terminations of firm participation for reasons other than firm size and resultant lack of qualified candi- dates were evident. Salary increases of AMP graduates were found to compare favorably with those of "white collar" employees in general. Suggestions for program improvement were examined and classified. Only 22% of respondents made suggestions for program improvement. The majority of suggestions for improvement focused on revision of content, though entrance requirements, instructor efficiency, instructor attitude, and continuing education were also mentioned. While several types of content revision were suggested, those cited most frequently were desire for more practical orientation, more case analyses, and more computer and statistical emphasis. CHAPTER IV CORRELATES OF ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ADVANCED MANAGEMENT PROGRAM This chapter considers correlates of attitudes toward the Advanced Management Program. Correlations with other dependent variables, situational correlates, and personal correlates of general positive orientation toward the AMP, of perceived program rigor, and of perceived objective structure are examined. Correlates of Attitudes Toward Progrgm General Positive Orientation owar ro gram Personal Correlates. Personal correlates of positive orientation toward the program are presented in Table 4-1. Positive orientation is significantly correlated with the measure of satisfaction with company (r = .249, p < .01) as well as with each of the components of that scale, liking of work (r = .276, p < .01), opportunity to use valued skills (r = .211, p < .01) and leader's ability to deal with people (r = .164, p < .05). These figures are thus consistent with the bulk of previous research. 91 92 TABLE 4-1 PERSONAL CORRELATES OF GENERAL POSITIVE ORIENTATION TOWARDW Variable n Correlation Year of Graduation 163 -.333** Cosmopolitanism 165 .205** Supervisory Ability 159 .206** Initiative 158 .148 Achievement Motivation 157 .185* Need for Security 158 -.186* Satisfaction with Work 164 .249** * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed General positive orientation toward the AMP is related positively to supervisory ability (r = .206, p < .01) and achievement motivation (r = .185, p < .05) and is negatively related to need for security (r = -.186, p < .05). General positive orientation toward the program and cosmopolitanism are positively related (r = .205, p < .05). Situational Correlatgg. Table 4-2 gives situational correlates of positive orientation toward program. Current hierarchical level of respondents is positively related to general positive orientation toward the program (r = .181, p < .05). 93 TABLE 4-2 SITUATIONAL CORRELATES OF GENERAL POSITIVE ORIENTATION TOWARD AMP Variable n Correlation Current Hierarchical Level 162 .181* Present Income 164 .115 Firm Income Volatility 99 .220* Firm Technological Volatility 99 -.091 * Significant at .05 level, two tailed The only other significant situational correlate of general positive orientation toward the program is firm income volatility (r = .220, p < .05). Correlations with other dependent variables. These correlations are shown in Table 4-3. TABLE 4-3 CORRELATIONS OF GENERAL POSITIVE ORIENTATION TOWARD AMP WITH OTHER DEPENDENT VARIABLES Variable n Correlation Perceived Increase in Participation 97 .240* by Sponsoring Firm Annual Interorganization Mobility 162 .059 Annual Promotions 158 .113 Annual Percent Salary Increase 163 -.057 * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed 94 Both percent salary increase (r = .193, p < .05) and raw number of promotions (r = .232, p < .01) are positively related to positive orientation. However, positive orienta- tion toward program is negatively related to year of gradua- tion (r = -.333, p < .01). With the influence of graduating date removed, the partial correlations of positive orienta- tion to annual percent salary increase (r = .181, p < .05) and to annual number of promotions (r = .178, p < .05) remain significant. While there is no relationship between positive orien- tation and annual interorganizational mobility (r - .059, us), the data nevertheless do suggest that satisfaction with the program is related to feelings of ability to success- fully change jobs. This is evidenced by the significant correlations of positive orientation with the two cosmopol- itanism items dealing directly with the issue of ability to seek or obtain employment elsewhere (r = .231, p < .01 and r = .205, p < .05). A Positive orientation is positively related to the respondent's perception that the firm in which he was employed at the time of his entry into the.AMP has increased participation in the program (r = .240, p < .05). Perceived Program.Rig9r Personal Correlates. Table 4-4 shows personal corre- lates of perceived rigor. Perceived rigor is negatively related to the intelligence measure (r - -.195, p < .05). 95 TABLE 4-4 PERSONAL CORRELATES OF PERCEIVED PROGRAM RIGOR Variable n Correlation Satisfaction With Work 164 .090 Year of Graduation 163 -.152 Intelligence 157 -.l95* Need for Self Actualization 158 -.l46 * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed Situational Correlates. Situational correlates of per- ceived program.rigor are presented in Table 4-5. TABLE 4-5 SITUATIONAL CORRELATES OF PERCEIVED PROGRAMlRIGOR Variable ‘n Correlation Present Income 164 .179* Firm Income Volatility 100 .180 Firm Technological Volatility 100 -.133 * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed Perceived rigor is significantly related to present income level (r - .179, p < .05). Since date of graduation is related to present income level (r = -.227, p < .01) and is negatively correlated with perceived rigor (r = -.152, ns), 96 a partial correlation of perceived rigor to present income was run with effects of graduation date partialled out and revealed an insignificant relationship (r = .150, ns). The highest correlation, that with firm income volatil- ity, was not significant (r = .180, ns). Correlations with other dependent variables. These correlations are presented in Table 4-6. TABLE 4-6 CORRELATIONS OF PERCEIVED PROGRAM RIGOR WITH OTHER DEPENDENT VARIABLES Variable n Correlation Annual Interorganizational Mobility 162 .074 Annual Number of Promotions 158 .081 Annual Percent Salary Increase 163 .010 Increase in Participation by Sponsor 98 .108 No relationships are evident between perceived rigor and any of the other dependent variables. Perceived Objective Structure Personal Correlates. Table 4-7 gives personal corre- lates of perceived Objective structure. 97 TABLE 4-7 PERSONAL CORRELATES OF PERCEIVED OBJECTIVE STRUCTURE Variable n Correlation Satisfaction with Work 165 .195* Year of Graduation 164 -.128 Cosmopolitanism 166 .164* Supervisory Ability 160 .239** Decisiveness 160 .141 Masculinity-Femininity 158 -.150 Maturity 158 -.174* Achievement Motivation 158 .155 * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed Perceived objective structure is positively related to cosmopolitanism (r = .164, p < .05), supervisory ability (r = .239, p < .01) and satisfaction with work (r = .195, p < .05) and negatively related to maturity (r = -.l74, p < .05). Situational Correlates. Situational correlates of per- ceived objective structure are shown in Table 4-8. 98 TABLE 4-8 SITUATIONAL CORRELATES OF PERCEIVED OBJECTIVE STRUCTURE Variable n Correlation Current Hierarchical Level 163 .141 Present Income 165 .138 Firm Income Volatility 100 .113 Firm Technological Volatility 100 -.226* * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed Firm technological volatility is the only significant situa- tional correlate of perceived objective structure (r = -.226, p < .05). Correlations with other dependent variables. These correlations are presented in Table 4-9. TABLE 4-9 CORRELATIONS OF PERCEIVED OBJECTIVE STRUCTURE WITH OTHER DEPENDENT VARIABLES Variable n Correlation Annual Interorganizational Mobility 163 .134 Annual Number of Promotions 159 .077 Annual Percent Salary Increase 164 .076 Increase in Participation by Sponsor 98 .243* * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed 99 Perceived objective structure is positively related to perceived increase in participation in the AMP on the part of the respondent's sponsoring firm (r = .243, p < .05). Summary Correlates of "General Positive Orientation Toward Program" (GPO), "Perceived Program Rigor," and "Perceived Objective Structure" were considered. ‘ ' Significant positive correlates of GPO included cosmo- politanism, supervisory ability, achievement motivation, and satisfaction with work, while the relationship of GPO to need for security was significantly negative. GPO was also found to be positively related to current hierarchical level, firm income volatility and perceived increase in participa- tion of sponsoring firm. Perceived program rigor was found to be significantly negatively related to intelligence and positively related to present income level. Significant positive correlates of perceived objective structure were found to include satisfaction with work, cosmopolitanism, supervisory ability, and perceived increase in participation of Sponsoring firm. Negative correlates were maturity and firm technological volatility. CHAPTER V CORRELATES OF SUCCESS IN AMP AND OF CAREER ACTIVITY This chapter considers correlates of success in the program, as measured by grade-point average, and of career activity subsequent to program entry, as measured by annual percentage salary increase, annual number of promotions, and annual interorganizational mobility. ' These correlates should be interesting in themselves and will be useful in subsequent considerations of two other issues: 1. How do correlates of success in the program compare with those of the gauges of career activity? 2. How do correlates of success in the program and of the career activity measures compare with those of. positive orientation toward the Advanced Management Program? The size of the correlation matrix precludes presenta- tion of all correlations. Consequently, only those which are statistically significant or are of particular interest will be discussed. .A caveat is in order in examining any of the following correlation matrices. Since a total of about 30 variables 100 101 (including the 13 Ghiselli traits and six volatility indices) were considered as potential correlates, a finding of 1.5 correlations significant at the .05 level would be expected by simple chance occurrence. Consequently, it will be necessary to temper enthusiasm in response to the regular finding of significant correlates with such a realization. Grade-Point Average Personal Correlates Personal correlates of GPA are presented in Table 5-1. TABLE 5-1 PERSONAL CORRELATES OF GRADE-POINT.AVERAGE Variable n Correlation Self Assurance 152 .134 Decisiveness 154 -.l47 Initiative 153 -.087 Need for High Financial Reward 154 .157 Satisfaction With Work 157 -.028 Entry Into Program by Personal 159 -.143 Request No significant personal correlates were found. Highest correlations are with decisiveness (r = -.l47, ns) and need for high financial reward (r = .157, ns). 102 Situational Correlates Table 5-2 presents situational correlates of GPA. TABLE 5-2 SITUATIONAL CORRELATES OF GRADE-POINT AVERAGE Variable n Correlation Income Level 159 .156* Year of Graduation 157 .110 Firm Size 158 .150 Original Hierarchical Level 158 -.063 Current Hierarchical Level 156 -.136 Industry Income Volatility 124 -.059 Industry Market Volatility 124 -.145 Industry Technological Volatility 124 -.156 Firm Income Volatility 97 -.160 Firm.Market Volatility 97 -.l97 Firm Technological Volatility 97 -.128 * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed Current income level is the only significant situational correlate of GPA (r = .156, p < .05). The correlation of grade-point to firm size is positive but insignificant (r = .150, ns). Current hierarchical level, hierarchical level at time of entry into the AMP, and all volatility indices show negative but insignificant correlations with GPA. 103 Correlations with Other Dependent variables Correlations of CPA with other dependent variables are shown in Table 5-3. TABLE 5-3 CORRELATIONS OF GRADE-POINT AVERAGE WITH OTHER DEPENDENT VARIABLES Variable n Correlation Continuance of Entry by Sponsor 156 -.254* Annual Interorganizational Mobility 156 -.220* Annual Number of Promotions 152 -.012 Annual Percent Salary Increase 157 .100 General Positive Orientation Toward 156 .046 Advanced Management Program Perceived Objective Structure of AMP 156 .141 Perceived Fairness of Grading of AMP 158 .212* * Significant at .05 level, two—tailed Grade-point is not related to salary increase (r = .100, ns), annual promotions (r = -.012, us), or general positive orientation toward the AMP (r = .046, ns). Interorganiza- tional mobility and grade-point average are negatively related (r = -.220, p < .05), as are GPA and perceived con- tinuation of participation in the AMP of the sponsoring firm of the respondent (r = -.254, p < .05). While the overall "objective structure" scale is not related to GPA (r = .141, 104 us), the "perceived fairness in grading" item is positively related to grade-point average (r = .212, p < .05). This relative dearth of significant relationships of GPA to other variables could be due to any of several fac- tors. One possibility which cannot be ignored is restric- tion of range. None of the managers successfully completing the program achieved grade-points below 3.0. The mean reported GPA was 3.52 with a standard deviation of .29. To examine the degree and nature of the relationship between GPA and selected variables, multiple regression was used. GPA was treated as the dependent variable, with age, initiative, supervisory ability, self-assurance, and firm size as independent variables. Results of the analysis are presented in Table E-l. An insignificant multiple correla- tion coefficient of .235 was attained, indicating that only 5.5% of the variance in reported GPA is associated with variance in the independent variables considered. Findings relating to individual variables are similar to those revealed by the single correlations. Annual Percent Salary Increase It may be recalled that percent salary increase was converted to an annual basis since earlier graduates would be expected to experience greater cumulative salary increase. Such a relationship between graduation date and cumulative percent salary increase is in fact evident in the data 105 (r = -.183, p < .05). To consider correlates of raw salary increases would consequently have the effect of introducing potentially spurious correlations. Conversion of percent salary increase to an annual basis does not appear, however, to adequately resolve this difficulty. That is, annual per- cent salary increase is positively related to year of grad- uation (r = .578, p <:.Ol). Consequently, major discrep- ancies between correlations of annual percent salary increase and of overall percent salary increase with vari- ables under consideration will be noted and correlations of those variables with graduation date will be partialled out. Personal Correlates Personal correlates of annual percent salary increase are presented in Table 5-4. Annual percent salary increase is negatively related to age of respondent (r = -.396, p < .01), years with finm (r = -.203, p < .05) and years in position (r = -.172, p < .05). Similarly, though on average deflated, correla- tions are evidenced between total percent salary increase and each of these variables. Consistent with expectations, annual percent salary increase is positively related to self-assurance (r = .172, p < .05) and to need for power (r = .198, p < .05). Correla- tions with supervisory ability (r .081, ns), decisiveness (r = .100, ns), and achievement motivation (r = .133, us) were positive but not significant. When total, rather than 106 annual, percent salary increase is considered, the relation- ShipS‘With each of these variables-~except need for power-- are significant. With graduation date partialled out, annual percent salary increase is positively related to self-assurance (r = .170, p < .05), decisiveness (r = .159, p < .05), and achievement motivation (r = .223, p < .01), while correlations with need for power (r = .156, ns) and supervisory ability (r = .153, ns) are not significant. As expected, satisfaction with work and annual percent salary increase are positively related (r = .226, p < .01). A TABLE 5-4 PERSONAL CORRELATES OF ANNUAL PERCENT SALARY INCREASE Variable n Correlation Year of Graduation 168 .578** Age 161 -.396** Years in Firm 161 -.203* Years in Position 161 -.l72* Supervisory Ability 160 .081 Self Assurance 158 .172* Decisiveness 160 .100 Achievement Motivation 158 .133 Need for Power 160 .198* Satisfaction with WOrk 166 .226** * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed 107 Situational Correlates Table 5-5 presents situational correlates of annual percent salary increase. TABLE 5-5 SITUATIONAL CORRELATES OF ANNUAL PERCENT SALARY INCREASE Variable n Correlation Income Level 167 .024 Original Hierarchical Level 167 -.l44 Current Hierarchical Level 165 .106 Industry Income Volatility 131 .135 Firm.Income Volatility 100 .191 Annual percent salary increase is not significantly related to any of the situational correlates considered. The highest correlation is to firm income volatility (r = .191, ns). Correlations With Other Dependent variables Correlations of annual percent salary increase with other dependent variables are shown in Table 5-6. 108 TABLE 5-6 CORRELATIONS OF ANNUAL PERCENT SALARY INCREASE ,WITH OTHER DEPENDENT VARIABLES Variable n Correlation Perceived Value of AMP Club 160 -.171* Annual Promotions 167 .444** Annual Interorganizational Mobility 163 .072 General Positive Orientation Toward 163 -.057 Advanced Management Program Perceived Program Rigor 163 .010 Perceived Program Objective Structure 164 .076 * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed Not surprisingly, annual number of promotions and annual percent salary increase are positively related (r = .226, p < .01). It would seem reasonable that those individuals experi-‘ encing high salary increases subsequent to entry into the AMP would harbor favorable attitudes toward the program, perhaps attributing a portion of their economic success to the AMP. Correlations of annual percent salary increase to general positive orientation toward the AMP (r = -.057, ns), perceived program rigor (r = -.010, ns), and perceived pro- gram objective structure (r = .076, ns) are, however, all insignificant. It appears, though, that the decrease in satisfaction with program between successive graduating 109 classes and the overweighting of recent classes due to the coversion of percent salary increase to an annual basis may be deflating the above correlations. Correlations of total salary increase to positive orientation (r = .193, p < .05), perceived rigor (r = .146, ns), and perceived objective structure (r = .233, p < .01) are all higher. Partialling out the effects of date of graduation results in significant relationships between annual percent salary increase and both positive orientation toward the program (r = .181, p < .05), and perceived objective structure (r = .188, p < .05), but not with perceived rigor (r = .098, ns). Annual percent salary increase is negatively related to satisfaction with the Advanced Management Club (r = -.l71, p < .05). This relationship is not evident when total per- cent salary increase is considered (r = -.061, ns). Annual percent salary increase is not related to annual interorganizational mobility (r = .072, ns). Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between annual percent salary increase as the dependent variable and achievement motivation, need for power, grade-point average, firm size and original hierar- chical level as independent variables. Results of that analysis are presented in Table E-2. A multiple correlation of .305 (p < .05) was attained, indicating that 9.30% of variance in annual percent salary increase is associated with variance in the independent variables. Coefficients of 110 independent variables are consistent with those revealed by the simple correlations. Annual Number of Promotions Since, as noted previously, annual percent salary increase and annual number of promotions are highly corre- lated and yield a similar pattern of relationships with almost all variables under consideration, extended discus- sion of those relationships would be essentially redundant. As with percent salary increase, it is apparent that conver- sion of number of promotions to an annual basis leads to a positive correlation between this annual figure and year of graduation, though in this case it is insignificant (r = .148, ns). Personal correlates of annual number of promotions, situational correlates of annual number of promotions, and correlations of annual number of promotions with other dependent variables are presented in Tables 5-7, 5-8, and 5-9, reSpectively. While considerable invitation to perceptual bias may exist in the decision of whether a job change was in fact a promotion, the markedly similar relationships of annual per- cent salary increase and of annual number of promotions to other measures suggest that such perceptual distortion, if it exists, is not overwhelming. 111 TABLE 5-7 PERSONAL CORRELATES OF ANNUAL NUMBER OF PROMOTIONS Variable n Correlation Year of Graduation 163 .148 A86 156 -.284** Years in Firm 156 -.206** Years in Position 156 -.308** Initiative 154 .172* Self Assurance 153 .200* Decisiveness 155 .259** Achievement Motivation 153 .134 Need for Self Actualization 154 .191* Need for Security 154 -.181* Satisfaction With Work 161 .262** * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed TABLE 5-8 SITUATIONAL CORRELATES OF.ANNUAL NUMBER OF PROMOTIONS Variable n Correlation Original Hierarchical Level 162 -.260** Current Hierarchical Level 160 .129 Firm Market Volatility 100 .168 ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed 112 TABLE 5-9 CORRELATIONS OF ANNUAL NUMBER OF PROMOTIONS WITH OTHER DEPENDENT VARIABLES Variable n Correlation Annual Interorganizational 162 .181* Mobility Annual Salary Increase 163 .444** * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed Multiple regression analysis was used to treat annual number of promotions as the dependent variable and need for self-actualization, supervisory ability, GPA, firm size, and original hierarchical level as independent variables. Results are presented in Table E-3. A multiple correlation coefficient of .340 (p < .01) was attained, indicating that ' 11.56% of variance in annual number of promotions is asso- ciated with variance in the independent variables. Individ- ual coefficients were similar to those of the simple correla- tions. Interorganizational Job Mobility Personal Correlates Personal correlates of interorganizational mobility are presented in Table 5-10. 113 TABLE 5-10 PERSONAL CORRELATES OF ANNUAL INTERORGANIZATIONAL MOBILITY Variable n Correlation Cosmopolitanism 169 .192** Supervisory Ability 161 .154* Decisiveness 161 .188* Masculinity-Femininity 159 -.244** Need for Security 160 -.057 Selection by Personal 169 .252** Request * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed Annual interorganizational mobility is positively related to cosmopolitanism (r = .192, p <<.01). The mobility index is not related to satisfaction with work (r = .141, ns). It is positively related to supervisory ability (r = .134, p < .05) and decisiveness (r = .188, p < .05) and negatively related both to masculinity (r = -.244, p < .01) and to program entry by personal request (r = -.245, p < .01). Situational Correlates Situational correlates of interorganizational mobility are shown in Table 5-11. 114 TABLE 5-11 SITUATIONAL CORRELATES OF ANNUAL INTERORGANIZATIONAL MOBILITY Variable n Correlation Present Income 166 -.336** Firm Size 166 -.324** Current Hierarchical Level 165 .161* Industry Income Volatility 131 .364** Industry Market Volatility 131 .495** Industry Technological Volatility 131 -.033 Firm Income Volatility 100 .195 Firm Market Volatility 100 .346** Firm Technological Volatility 100 .022 * Significant at .05 level, two-tailed ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed Annual interorganizational mobility is negatively related to firm size (r = -.324, p < .01) and positively related to industry income volatility (r = .365, p < .01), firm market volatility (r = .346, p < .01), and industry market volatil- ity (r = .495, p < .01). Each of these correlations between interorganizational mobility and the specified volatility indices remains significant at the .01 level after the effects of firm size are partialled out. Correlations with other volatility indices were not significant. Interorganizational mobility is negatively related to 115 current income (r = -.336, p <<.01) and positively related to current hierarchical level (r = .161, p <:.05). Correlations With Other Dependent variables Table 5-12 presents correlations of interorganizational mobility with other dependent variables. TABLE 5-12 CORRELATIONS OF INTERORGANIZATIONAL MOBILITY WITH OTHER DEPENDENT VARIABLES Variable n Correlation Continuation of Entry by Sponsor 162 .412** Annual Number of Promotions 162 .l8l** Annual Salary Increase 167 .072 Grade-Point Average 156 -.220** General Positive Orientation Toward 162 .059 Advanced Management Program ** Significant at .01 level, two-tailed While the mobility index is positively related to reported annual number of promotions (r = .181, p < .05), it is not related to annual percent salary increase (r = .072, ns). Surprisingly, the mobility index is strongly positively related to perceived continuation of participation in the program by the firm which sponsored the respondent (r = .412, p < .01). The relationship of GPA’to interorganizational mobility is negative (r = -.220, p < .01). 116 By use of multiple regression, interorganizational mobility was treated as the dependent variable with need for security, initiative, achievement motivation, GPA, cosmopol- itanism, hierarchical level at time of program entry, and satisfaction with work as independent variables. Results of the analysis are presented in Table E-4. A multiple corre- lation coefficient of .316 (p < .05) was found, accounting for 9.99% of the variance in interorganizational mobility. Coefficients are consistent with those revealed by the simple correlations. Summary Correlates of success in the AMP, as measured by grade- point average, and of career activity were examined. Grade-point average was found to be significantly positively related to current income level and to perceived fairness of grading in the AMP and negatively related both to perceived continuation of participation in the program.by. the sponsoring firm and to annual interorganizational mobility. Significant correlates of the indices of upward mobil- ity, annual percent salary increase and annual number of promotions were generally as would be predicted. Annual number of promotions was significantly positively related to initiative, decisiveness and need for self-actualization and negatively related to need for security, original 117 hierarchical level, age, and years in firm. Two variables which might be expected to vary as a function of career success, self-assurance and satisfaction with work, were significantly positively related to both annual percent salary increase and annual number of promotions. While annual number of promotions was significantly positively related to annual interorganizational mobility, annual per- cent salary increase was not. Annual interorganizational mobility was positively related to cosmopolitanism, supervisory ability, decisive- ness, selection by personal request, industry market volatil- ity, and firm income volatility, and negatively related to masculinity-femininity, present income, firm size, and grade-point average. CHAPTER VI ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT This chapter considers the role of the environmental volatility facing the firms and industries of respondents. Two issues are Specifically considered: 1. How are personality traits of respondents asso- ciated with the environmental volatility facing their respective firms and industries? It was pre- viously hypothesized that those traits associated with drive, risk assumption, and self-confidence would be most widely evidenced in volatile settings while those associated with stability, desire for security, and generally greater emphasis on "lower order" needs would be most prevalent in stable set- tings. How are the relationships between traits and atti- tudes toward the program and between traits and career activity moderated by environmental volatil- ity? Personality-Volatility Fit Actual correlations of the volatility indices with scores on Ghiselli traits are presented in Table 6-1. 118 119 vuaaau-osu .Ho>oH no. as scooausawam a am mac. am oHH.- am eaH.- ANH see. man oHH.- ANH “so.- Augusoom you coma as «no.. mo Hmo.- mm mmH.- GNH HNH.- GNH who.- GNH ema.- menazum Hmaoamaam swam you umoz mm oHH.- ma -o.- as mac. 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Asaaan< anoma>umism G H G .H C H G H G H C .H .SUOH. umthz QBOUSH .SUOH. uwxuwz QEOOCH sauna Spam zuumsufin xoecH auHHHumHo> manna HammHmu OH mmoanH SHAHHSQV mo mammznVHfifimm .70 3mg 120 While few correlations are seen to be significant, the great preponderance are in the predicted direction. Of the 60 correlations between the 10 traits for which correlations were predicted and the six volatility indices, 47 are in the predicted direction. As an extreme example, of the ten correlations of traits with industry market volatility, all are in the predicted direction. The number of correlations agreeing and disagreeing in sign with those predicted for each volatility index are given in Table 6-2 as is the probability according to the binomial test that such a pat- tern of signs could occur by chance. TABLE 6-2 PRECISION OF PREDICTION OF SIGNS OF TRAIT-VOLATILITY CORRELATIONS Volatility Index Industry Firm Income Market Tech. Income Market Tech. Number of Signs in Predicted 9 10 6 7 9 6 Direction Number of Signs Opposite Pre- l 0 4 3 l 4 dicted Direc- tion Probability of Chance .011 .001 .377 .172 .011 .377 Occurrence 121 According to the binomial test, the probability of a chance occurrence of a finding of 47 correlations out of 60 in the predicted direction is p < .00003. Some evidence of self selection is thus apparent. It must be noted, however, that for prOper use of this test in the case under consider- ation, personality traits would have to be independent, as would volatility indices. In fact, such is not the case. Consequently, the level of significance is probably over- stated. To examine the extent to which the impact of Ghiselli traits on selected criteria was moderated by volatility, the data were split into two groups on the basis of whether the industry market volatility corresponding to the industry of the respondent was high or low. Industry market volatility was split at the median industry value. Since the preponder- ance of reapondents were in industries with market volatility indices falling below that median, the number of managers falling into the high volatility group was far fewer than the number falling into the low volatility group (29 versus 104). Splitting at the median respOndent level was deemed infeasible since the large number of representatives of the auto industry would severely distort that median. 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Courses are arranged below by the term in which they are currently offered. For each course, we would like you to rate both the course in general and the instructor (but do not name the instructor). Indicate your degree of satisfaction with the course in general by circling the appropriate number in the column titled "course rating". Indicate your degree of satisfaction with the professor by circling the appro- priate number in the column titled "teacher evaluation". The code is: extremely dissatisfied fie 1 - 2 = dissatis 3 - neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 4 - satis ed 5 - extremely satisfied COURSE TEACHER RAT INC EVALUAT I OH FIRST YEAR: extremely extremely extremely extremely dissatisfied satisfied dissatisfied satisfied FALL TERM Managerial Accounting 1 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 Personnel and Human Relations in Industry 1 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 WINTER TERM Management Organization and Theory 1 2 3 4 S l 2 3 4 5 Financial Management 1 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 SPRING TERM Marketing runagement 1 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 Decision Making Models (formerly bbnagement l 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 Planning and Control) SECOND YEAR: FALL TERM Industrial Relations The American Economy (formerly Managerial Economics) WINTER TERM Managerial Economics and Public Policy (formerly Business and Society) International Business SPRING TERM Administrative Policy Problem Analysis 158 COURSE RATING extremely extremely dissatisfied satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 TEACHER w extremely extremely dissatisfied satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 l 2 3 4 5 APPENDIX B VOLATILITY INDICES TABLE B-l FIRM VOLATILITY INDICES Firm Income Market Technological Volatility Volatility Volatility Allied Chemical .138 .190 .134 Altec .979 1.110 .000 American Motors 1.994 .160 .095 AT&T .213 .223 .121 Bendix .354 .295 .049 Borg Warner .236 .218 .108 Burroughs .637 .264 .174 Budd Company .450 .284 .058 Chrysler .427 .371 .063 Control Data Corp. .805 .924 .150 Cutler-Hammer .200 .272 .041 Ford .321 .259 .068 General Electric .192 .244 .079 General Motors .229 .235 .074 Gulf & Western 1.034 1.137 .050 IBM .432 .430 .268 Kelsey-Hayes .314 .280 .124 Lear Siegler .738 .603 .036 Libbey-Owens-Ford .102 .283 .065 Litton .594 .638 .079 Martin Marietta Alum. .438 .399 .070 Monroe .649 .349 .041 P.P.G. .168 .206 .127 S.S. Kresge .593 .611 .036 Teleflex .336 .401 .204 Uniroyal .244 .186 .067 Viewlex 1.690 .880 .037 Winkleman's .390 .260 .039 Xerox .887 .906 .287 159 160 TABLE B-2 INDUSTRY VOLATILITY INDICES Industry Income Market Technological Volatility Volatility Volatility Construction-Special .5769 .4588 .0397 Bread & Cake Bakers .4476 .2921 .0894 Beverage-Brewers .4592 .3953 .0948 Vegetable Oil Mills .4460 .1921 .0536 Publishing .5423 .3678 .0556 Chemicals-Major .2059 .2640 .1296 Drugs-Ethical .4154 .4180 .1205 Drugs-Med. & Hos. Supply .5124 .4263 .0909 Chem. & Chem. Prep. .4829 .4672 .0758 Oil-Integ. Domestic .3517 .3583 .1269 Tire & Rubber Goods .2535 .2225 .0820 Plastic Products-Misc. .9429 .6353 .0543 Flat Glass .1674 .2063 .1272 Steel-Minor .3664 .3101 .0732 Aluminum .2786 .2700 .0734 Metal Work-Misc. .6261 .4869 .0730 Machine Tools .6098 .4869 .0623 Machinery-Specialty .4790 .3193 .0645 Machinery-Gen. Ind. .6301 .5773 .0623 Office & Bus. Equip. .5080 .4752 .2218 Elec. & Elec. Leaders .3148 .2547 .1043 Elec. Ind. Controls .4211 .3462 .0457 Electronics .6952 .4356 .1203 Electronic Components .6765 .5531 .0627 Motor Vehicles .3427 .2607 .0713 Auto Parts & Access. .1675 .3354 .0708 Aerospace .5991 .3122 .0737 Trailer Coaches 1.0381 .9206 .0829 Photographic .6015 .4041 .1255 Telephone Companies .2402 .2446 .1241 Retail-Dept. Stores .4039 .3369 .0644 Retail-Variety Stores .9249 .4044 .0404 Retail-Women's R.T.W. .7007 .5000 .0500 Eating Places .5749 .4766 .1159 Real Est. Land Devel. .9713 .6519 .0139 Conglomerate 1 1.0340 1.1370 .0504 Conglomerate 2 .5941 .6384 .0787 APPENDIX C RESULTS OF FACTOR ANALYSIS OF SATISFACTION WITH PROGRAM ITEMS TABLE C-1 RESULTS OF FACTOR ANALYSIS OF SATISFACTION WITH PROGRAM ITEMS Factor 1 2 3 £2233: Rig°r°usness 3332:1352 Orientation Toward Item Program Program Valuable .6381 .1451 .0258 Program Interesting .6477 I .1555 .0634 Program Satisfactory .7316 -.0837 .1895 Program Stimulating .7800 .1140 “.0396 Program Enjoyable .7290 -.0718 .0695 Program Practical .4003 .3989 -.1145 Grading Fair .4063 .1883 .4881 Program Organized .3032 I -.0948 .5947 Grading Precise .2935 .4100 .5349 Program Difficult .1004 .6889 -.0279 Grading Hard .2608 .6484 .2101 161 APPENDIX D SUGGESTIONS FOR PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTIONS FOR PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT Suggestions relating to course revision: A course on computer technology should be added to the program. Careful evaluation of the professors and content of the offered courses. The course by Professor Bryan in the last term is the best course I have taken. It was interesting, hard, but fun. Eliminate the thesis as it is busy work with little learning for the amount of work. Operations research portion of the curriculum should be expanded. More detailed practice in problem analysis and use of decision-making tools. Excellent human relations orientation --this should be emphasized in all subjects; i.e., who and why. Foster continuing knowledge of contemporary society and some of its roots. The management planning and control course was too theoretical and not practical enough (I received a 4.5 in the course so I'm not saying this because I am bitter about a grade). Also, in the international business course we spent too much time on the transportation aspect. Minimize class (team) presentation of cases, no more than one per case, maximize instructors' discussion on cases. Have instructor distribute "classic" on each case, i.e. best student discussion of each case (there must be hundreds to choose from on each case) would permit student to examine all key factors which should be considered, as demonstrated by the "classic" discussion. Recommend more case problems in all classes. A more practical study of a growing company's growth and success or failure. Do not get carried away with too much social content at the expense of basics of finance, marketing, human relations, business planning. 162 163 First-year program lacked good organization which I assume has been corrected. Courses should allow maximum discussion of participants to take advantage of business experience of group related to subject matter. "Decision Making Models" in '65-'66 program was not good--I hope it has been improved. I would suggest a further review of some of the class offerings--most were of interest and held some practical value while a few were virtually a waste of time. Greater attention could be paid to the class (topic) selection-- generally the program was extremely beneficial. The instruction should be more towards a practical application of the real world. Consider a course on statistics and EDP. In general the course content seemed very applicable to requirements of today's business world. Perhaps 1/3 of courses and instructors (not necessarily related in comment) were too theoretical. By now I would imagine the course content and instructors in that 30% have improved. Excellent program. Thorough, complete, challenging, innovative. Could improve course in computer-statistics-- was too theoretical and impractical. Suggest intensive periodic review of subjects in rela- tion to the outside world "field" applications. Man assignments were not given to provide a learning experience but were given to fulfill specific "busy work" or toward the goal that all MBA's should do a certain amount of written work or research even if it doesn't help the student. Problem analysis for example is "busy work". Get rid of the busy work. The men in this rogram are too busy in their jobs for all the busy work. T e same things could be taught with a lot less homework. Less of the long test book readings and more practical problems, case studies, etc. So much time was spent on reading material that is not useful even if I could remember it all. This time should be spent on more useful problems. Need more time on financial analysis, etc. The final course, which dealt with the investigation of the current and past organizations of existing corporations, was extremely eye opening to me. I would like to see more 164 current and relevant case studies interspersed during the full two years. These studies are much easier to apply and recall if they can be readily related to. Suggest a little more emphasis on small business prob- lems and more recruitment of small business executives. For the majority of the students, the course is aimed too high. It prepares them for jobs which most hope to achieve in 15 years. More emphasis should be given to middle and lower management needs. I also think the operations research portion of the curriculum should be expanded. Su estions relatin to continuin education or additional activities: "" Occasionally schedule a once-a-year dinner with a major speaker (Cole-Ford) to give the program status. I would like a continued program for advanced studies-- not just to stop at the MBA--to audit a class is not enough-- but to stimulate and increase our background, we should try for increased knowledge. Possibly more activities could be conducted at the East Lansing campus. I would encourage some all-day Saturday seminars on campus at MSU. Suggestions relating to entrance requirements: The advanced management program is great. Standards should be maintained or raised even if that results in some classes not being completely subscribed. Keep new students on basis of original concept--10 years or more in business or industry after undergraduate degree. I have seen numbers of younger men accepted who do not meet this test. This dilutes the quality of class profile in my opinion. Reduce class size. Level of student qualifications could be higher. Keep the standards up. The program must remain tough to remain worthwhile. 165 Continued concentration on entry requirements to main- tain quality of "student input". Suggestions relatinggto instructor efficiengy: Efficiency and effectiveness of class time could be improved immensely. Through better preparation and extensive use of pre-prepared tranSparencies the professors could have covered more material in a more effective manner. Industry could provide some pointers in more effective communication. Better organization of material in courses. Improve teaching effectiveness by better presentation of lectures, use of visual aids and better lecture preparation. Suggestions relating_to instructor attitudes and qualifica- tions: Many of the instructors were there to demonstrate how much they knew about the subject, not to see how much they could teach us. Questions were not encouraged in some classes. In one marketing class_ any question was considered a challenge to the instructor. Instructors should be selected for their maturity. (l) Professors' attitude that they knew it all, in the face of experienced individuals in the class who probably knew more than they did on any articular facet of a subject, turned many students off. It quickly turned from a learning experience to a matter of being able to parrot back the "party line". Too bad about half the teachers can 't realize that they too can learn from the experiences of others. This needs to be changed in order for to partici- pate actively again. (2) Also, some pro essors' reluctance to take a position on a "sticky wicket" subject where they might be outsmarted by students rapidly lost student respect. The level of instruction should be upgraded. Have instructors that know the students better; more is gained from fellow students in most classes. Some instructors treat the students like they were lB-year-olds on campus. I feel the instructors should have less freedom in selection of materials they cover because they have a tend- ency to: (a) spend too much time on their own experience and (b) have you do research for their benefit even if it is unrelated to the course. 166 Attention to qualifications of course instructor to qualifications and experience of "students". Retire Dr. . A few class members were over-sensitive about grades and some professors had a tendency to "retaliate" and the word was, or at least appeared to have been, passed through the professor ranks that our class was grade conscious. All suf- fered to a certain extent for the immature actions of a few students and professors. If there was some way you could reduce the ego need of a few professors or eliminate them from the program you would automatically improve the whole situation 75%. Get some instructors that can teach and have some prac- tical experience. APPENDIX E TABLES OF MULTIPLE REGRESSION RESULTS 323-23. £33 no. on unmodaamam a Hm. ooo. moo. NNH.I mH.HN mm.om mozHHmQ z mommm .QHm ZOHmmmmomm Qm Hzmozmmmn m< Him mqm¢ HZHom MQHHOZ 45¢ 1. Nm.Hu mmo. omo.u H¢H.n NH.H mw.N Am>mq .MMHS .OHMO mo.H dma. wHN. wNH. mm. mm.m HZHOm mmMQ zmmz mAmmHM¢> mommm .QHm onmmmmomM Qmom Ho. um noncommawmo mm oommmu-osu .Ho>mm mo. um noncommcmmm « «oo.m moo. omo. oom. oo.~ oo.mm .mmoao< mamm .z mo.- moo. 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