a!!! .. fin... 4.!- u l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\W\H\\\\\\\J\\\\\\\\\| Lm .- .7 1293 104823 . . Michxgsll .State University This is to certify that the thesis entitled AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFI‘IlTIVENESS OF EXEEUTIVE DEVELOPMENT HROGRAMS AS PERCEIVED BY PARTICIPATING MARKETING AND SALES EXEUTIVES presented by Wilson L. Trickett has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph.D. degree in Business Administration U Major paressor/ Date July 22. 1%? 0-169 ABSTRACT AN EMPIRICAL INVETIGATION (F THE 3'1“me 6‘ mm DEVELOHIENT PROGRAMS AS PI‘RCEIVE BY PARTICIPATING MARKETING AND SALES MUTIVE by Wilson L. Trickett In recognition of the fact that the United States is changing from a production to a marketing-oriented economy and that improved executive talent is urgently needed, a study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of executive developnent programs for marketing and sales executives. The hypotheses tested in this study are: 1. Participation in an executive developnent program results in identifiable benefits as perceived by the parti- cipating executives. II. Academically-oriented executive developnent programs have differentiable advantages over company-oriented executive developnent programs as perceived by the executive participants. III. Benefits of executive development programs as per- ceived by participating executives are enduring. The first of three phases of the study was an evaluation of The Graduate School of Sales Management and Marketing (GSSMM) . sponsored by Sales and Marketing Executives International with headquarters in New York. In 1962 the researcher attended the entire two and one-half week session at Syracuse, New York. as an observer during which time he met with faculty. attended classes. and had numerous personal interviews with faculty associates and Wilson Trickett 2 executive registrants. He also collected voluntary questionnaire reSponses from seventy-four participating executives. Phase two. initiated in 196“, broadened the basis of the 1962 evaluation. The researcher mailed a refined questionnaire to marketing and sales executives randomly selected from companies widely dispersed throughout the United States. There was no overlap of the executive samples from phases one and two. The eighty-four executives included in phase two were classified as company or academically-oriented to provide an opportunity to test the second hypothesis. Company and academic programs are differentiated for purposes of this study as follows: a company program is conducted for the executives of one company and staffed by company personnel. Even ‘when the program staff is imported. the curriculum is company- dominated and designed to meet specific company problems and needs. An.academic program is conducted for the executives of more than one company and staffed by professional educators. The curriculum. though university-oriented. is designed to meet both specific and general problems and needs common to the business experience of executives regard- less of company affiliation. The geographic location and the physical facilities are important, but only to the extent that they provide a comfortable learning environment in which the executives are free of routine responsibilities. The type of programs participated in was the basis of classifying the executives as company-oriented or academically- oriented. Wilson Trickett 3 Based on the number and kind of benefits perceived by the partici- pating executives in both the 1962 and the 1964 phase, the academic programs were clearly the choice of the majority. Phase three of the study, conducted in 1965, was an evaluation of the continuing effectiveness of development programs for executives. Data collected from the fifty-nine executives included in this phase are particularly valuable because these same executives were respondents in the initial phase conducted in 1962. Thus executive reactions could be assessed three years after the executives' participation in the GSSMM. Phase two provided an opportunity to compare the information ob- tained in phases one and three with data on.a more general sample. The longitudinal data from phase three of the three-year study furnished a meaningful assessment of the enduring effectiveness of the programs. since they supported the findings of the two previous phases both of which favored the academically-oriented programs. Benefits reported by the executive participants include in? provement in marketing and management techniques, decision making ability, human relations skills, and increased self-confidence. .An unexpected but highly significant benefit was the discovery that the individual executive's goal of career advancement was compatible with the company's goal of stability of employment. Evidence was found in phases one and two and confirmed in phase three of the study indicating that the majority of the executives 'were achieving upward career mobility within their own companies. A significant majority of the executives indicated that credit for their present positions was due in some degree to their participation in the programs, varying from "Little Credit" to .M__L fl__ _ Ill. II Nils on Trickett 1+ All three hypotheses were found to be substantiated and tenable; however. relatively little enthusiasm was found for the empty programs when they were compared with the academically- oriented programs. The research pointed up certain characteristics apparent in all of the more successful executive development programs. Three of these are especially noteworthy: l. The participating executives had not only the desire to develop but also the capacity for developnent. 2. The best-qualified instructors were university faculty who communicated their knowledge from a background of business or business-consulting experience. 3. The curriculum was tailored to the executive's daily employment needs. utilized the best learning techniques, and involved the executives in an interchange of ideas with both faculty and participating fellow executives. Individual executives, sponsoring companies, and program directors my benefit from an application of the knowledge detailed in this study. AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AS PERCEIVED BY PhRTICIPATING’MRRKETING.AND SALES EXECUTIVES by Wilson LC“ Trickett A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of PHILOSOPHY Department of Management 1967 7_/-'-’/ (/0qu /2//2,lr7 © Copyright by WILSON L. TRICKETT 1968 ACKNCHLEDGMENTS The idea for this study began.as a gleam in the eye of Dr. W. J. E. Crissy. Associate Dean and Professor of Marketing at .Michigan State University. The research'was done by the author as a doctoral thesis under the guidance of Dr. Crissy as Chairman of the Dissertation Committee. Although the author chose management as his mjor field of concentration for the doctoral requirements, he has maintained an avid interest in the field of marketing. To study the effectiveness of executive development programs for marketing executives was to bridge the author's interest in both management and marketing. Valuable suggestions and help were given by Dr. Dalton E. McFarland. Chairmantand Professor of the Department of Management. and Dr. Eugene E.‘Jennings. Professor of Management. of Michigan State University. as members of the Dissertation Committee. Significant financial help was made possible by Dr. Joseph Thompson. then head of the School of Hotel and.Restaurant Administration of Michigan State University, by the release of an unrestricted money grant for research in executive development which had been given to the University by the Joseph P. Schlitz Brewing Company. ii The Graduate School of Sales Management and Marketing was a generous host to the author in 1962 and the administrative staff of the school also provided valuable assistance in many ways. Mr. hrle R. Conant. Assistant General Manager of the Kasco Dog Food Department of the Best Foods Division of Corn Products Comparw. New York. New York. gave much valuable counsel. help. and encouragement. Grateful recognition is accorded the executives who were respondents in the studies but who must remain enema. Marv other people in any places assisted in saw ways. and to all a sincere thank you. 111 TABLE (F CONTMS cmrrm I. APPROACH TO THE STUDY (F mm nsmonmrr PROGIAMS m MARKETING MUTIVE IN THE UNITE STATE. . . . . Background of hecutive Development Programs intheUnitedStates............... StatementcftheProblem. . . . . . . . . . . . Statementofiiypctheses .............. Description of Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . II. A THREE-PHASE WRICAL STUDY (F WIVE DEVELOPMEIT moams m: MARKETING MOTIVE IN THE UNITED STATE IN THE 1960's ma 3mm. ammo»: 'ro Gssm. . . . . Need for Qualified Marketing Executives . . . . . . Selection of Participate for an hecutive DevelopnentProgram ............... Implementation of an Executive Development Program ..................... Methodology in the hecutive Developsent Program atGSSMM..................... III. ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION (1" TI DATA FROM rm THRE- PHASESTUDY...................... The 683!!! 1962-1965 Pluses Assessed by the 1964 Phase....................... Benefits of Ececutive Participation in MQIOMthOWMeeeeeeeeeeeeeee iv PAGE 15 15 23 23 29 33 61 TABLE (1" CONTMS (Continued) CHAPTR PAGE IV.SUMMARYANDCOMLUSIONS.................85 BIBLIOGIAPEY..........................9O APPMDIX............................95 TABLE I. II. III. VII. VIII. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. BASIS OF SELECTION FOR EXECUTIVE DEvmomENT mOCRIAMAcTIVITIEs CREDIT FOR PRESENT POSITION ATIRIBUTAELE TO Emm- TIVE DEVELOPMENT mOGRAMS IN 1964 STUDY IROJEDTRFDUIREMENT........... FACULTY CONTRIBUTION TO PROBLEM ANALYSIS . TABLES PROBLEMMANALYSIS AS AN AID TO INDIVIDUAL OR COMPANY FACULTY INFLUENCE ON EXECUTIVES . POSITION AT TIME OP FIRST mom PHASE............. PRESENT POSITION - 1961+ PHASE POSITION RELATED TO COMPANY SALES 1964PHASE”............. ANALYSIS OF CAREER PROGRESS 1962. VOLmME PARTICIPANT'S YEARS wITH COMPANY - 1965 PH‘SEe O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 NUMBER OF YEARS FOR PRESENT POSITION 1%5 MSE. O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O BIRTICIPANT'S YEARS'WITH COMPANY - 1% MSE. O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 NUMBER OF YEARS FOR PRESENT POSITION - 1%“ ”SE. 0 O O O O O O O O O O 0 0 vi PAGE 3181 48 5O 52 6O 62 66 67 69 72 73 75 76 CHAPTER I .APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS FOR MARKETING EXECUTIVES IN THE UNITED STATES Background Of Executive Development Programs in the United States Introduction o§:business to academic world The first person to suggest that a university include formal education for the task Of conducting a business was General Robert E. Lee in 1865 when he became president Of what is now Washington and Lee University. Begun in,a humble way in 1868 and called "Students' Business School". its curriculum was taught outside the regular college. The first business school of true university standing was established in 1881 at the University of Pennsylvania and was called the Wharton School Of Finance and Commerce after its founder Joseph Wharton. In 1898 the University Of California founded its college of commerce, and the University Of Chicago announced plans for a college of commerce and politics. In 1950 the Office of Education of the Federal Security Agency listed six hundred seventeen schools granting degrees in business and commerce. Of the one hundred fifty-seven business schools established between 1898 and 1950, sixty-six were started in the depression decade of the thirties.1 1Lt. Colonel Dyndall Urwick. Management Education.in.American Business (New York: American.Management Association. 195h5. pp. Lh-l7. _A_t_=’_c_i_.:t_ude of business toward; education American business took little professional recognition of this unprecedented upsurge in business education except to note that the educational institutions were the independent suppliers of a product which businessmenchose to criticize freely. Preoccupied with their own problems. colleges and universities offering business curricula acquiesced to this indifferent attitude on the part of business which appeared to be founded on the whim of businessmen that skill in business could be learned only by experience-employing apprenticeship methods. Education was re- garded as an ornament Of little practical value. What really counted was man's entrepreneurial ability to size up an opportunity and exploit it to its fullest potential.2 Man in management The recognition of individual initiative is a healthy factor which has been repeatedly reaffirmed in American business life. Although the advent Of the corporation has made possible large aggregations of capital and machines. one point remins clear: management is still composed of individuals. The first syllable Of "mmgement" is "man." but man must be trained to function amid the complexities of industrial society. Without the developnent Of quality leadership the greatest conceivable con- centration of material resources would be in danger of Oblivion. 2Ibid. Twentieth century search for executive talent Recognition that business is people was not enough. There was need for a change in thinking. Executive developnent at best is a costly process in which society cannot afford to indulge without reasonable hope of success. Capable executives needed to be developed but.American businessmen hesitated to depart from the traditional pattern. Even today a few believe that for every generation of leaders another will rise to take its place. Recruitment o§_scientific_personnel through demands g§_technolggz .Another approach, not without merit, was to buy executive talent when it was needed. .A willingness to pay the price worked fairly well until the plan was hampered by'a reduction in the relative relationship between the number of available executives and the number of openings requiring executive talent. Finally, business did take the initial important step of recruiting a supply of potential executives. Technological development led some businessmen unconsciously into this step as they saw the need to acquire the technical and scientific personnel essential to progress. Some corporations prObably realized that they were not only recruiting scientific personnel but a pool of potential leaders. .Actual recruitment, however, continued to be on technical or scientific qualifications. and. to say the least, the process was a bit precarious since many technically trained men were given executive responsibilities without any regard for their preparation for these responsibilities. Those who had a natural gift for leadership acquired a working knowledge of management by experience, and those who did not frequently regarded themselves as failures. This unsatisfactory state of affairs prolonged the time before the day of reckoning by providing makeshift, and sometimes unwilling, managers. These tactics unconsciously adopted as policies largely concealed the fact that potential leadership personnel who did not possess technical or scientific training were effectively barred from executive opportunities. Scientific personnel. perhaps unintentially, became a preferred group. figluctance of business to recognize need for executive development These circumstances. together with an unwillingness to recog- nize that management could be taught and a clinging to the exist- ing practice of trusting managers to develOp themselves. found business with little enthusiasm for executive deve10pment programs. .A notable exception to this general description*washthe‘werk of the scientific management movement pioneered by Frederick Winslow Taylor, Frank‘and Lillian Gilbreth, Henry Laurence Gantt, and Harrington Emerson. Their efforts were not entirely unr noticed by business. Here and there a company studied and placed in Operation executive development programs. but interest was far from widespread. While the theoretical immortality of the corporation and the evident brief life span of man are both widely understood. executives in power seldom.relish the con- templation of these points of view at the same time. If the executive himself chooses not to plan for his successor, it *would be certain career suicide for a subordinate to endeavor to do so! Lack of business efficiency evident in_d9pression.years Something more than the leadership of a few enlightened corporations or the leadership of scientific management was needed to break through the crust of traditional attitudes. The required "something" materialized in.a series of events, the first being the "Great Depression" which began in 1929 with the stock market crash. Secondly} increased interest in two other aspects of business became apparent at this time: (a) separation of ownership and management of the corporation. (b) recognition that management is a profession requiring both practical and theo- retical training. Thirdly, government action to restore order in the economy and its attitude toward organized labor subsequent to 1933 placed the‘American‘businessmen.under some degree of governmental intervention in their business affairs. Although this evoked bitter criticism from mam, far-sighted businessmen decided to try to demonstrate that private business could better meet society's needs without additional regulation. Finally. the events of world war II. while placing an extra burden of social responsibility and complexity on business, served not only to restore business' confidence in itself but also some of its lost prestige. Depression necessity had forced business to become more efficient. The pressure of the war years caused industry to achieve what is probably the most extraordinary increase in productivity for am five-year period in history. Yet when war restrictions were lifted. all previous productivity records were again broken. The all-out effort to produce goods for the war effort and the induction of young executives into the military sharply reduced the supply of executive potential. Ebcalation of business education by war demands It was then the Harvard Business School was asked by the government to start a series of three-month courses to help production by training sales persons and others, unneeded in their usual jobs, to supplement the supply of executives. The school anticipated that these courses would be dropped at the end of the war; however, demand increased and they were retained in the curriculum. Other universities followed suit. Even earlier A. P. Sloan Jr.. Chairman of the Board of General Motors Cor- poration, had arranged with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take small numbers of young executives with eight to ten years of experience for a year of training at the Institute. This is significant because it markes the first practical attempt by business in collaboration with an educational institution to take promising young executives away from routine work for a period of advanced theoretical study. It is even.more significant because the candidates who had demonstrated their promise on the Job were still under thirtwaive years of age. Management development became almost a "sacred" phrase with the more progressive companies in the late forties and early fifties. In 1952 the American Management Association published a five hundred and seventybsix page report entitled The Develop- mt if. Etecutive M. This work gathered together much of the early experience and includes a review of the programs of twenty- two corporations. In the same year John.Riegel. Director of the Bureau of Industrial Relations at the University of Michigan, published a study covering fifty anonymous corporations. Some of the larger corporations which already had established development programs reaexamined'what they were doing. Many companies installed programs for the first time. some with the help of consultants and some by detaching their own personnel to study the subject. The most encouraging feature of the early fifties was that enthusiasm.had developed, interest was alive. and many corporations were willing to seek and apply practical measures to meet their social responsibilities in the field of executive development. This was part of the fruition of the social conscience of.American business awakened in the thirties. A stillapicture assessment of managanent development in the early fifties is enlightening. Although there was considerable interest. yet it is estimated by Colonel Urwick "that not more than fifteen percent of corporations employing more than two hundred fifty persons had an executive development program and that probably less than ten percent of those employing less than two hundred fifty persons had a program."3 Tendencies and attitudes indicated that for those who had a program there was pressure for quick results. Heakgesses of first development pgggrams Closely associated with the desire for quick results was the adaption of methodologies and "packaged" programs and the 3Ibid.. Po 29. delusion that management development can be bought. In the fifties marry firms, to their sorrow. discerned this delusion. Any consultant who tries to sell a set of forms and procedures that worked well for Compary I should immediately be suspect as a qualified consultant. He may qualify as a vendor of patent medicine but not as a consultant. There are at least two valid reasons to be advanced in support of this opinion. First, a business is comp- licated as many times as there are individuals in it. No two companies are alike. mch must have its own individual program. Secondly, no program will work unless it is inspired and led by the executive having the greatest responsibility in the area in which it is applied. It is what the senior officer "is" and "does" that counts. One of the dangers is to mistake the systems and techniques for the thing itself. No firm will have a developnent program unless all individuals on the payroll feel that they are expected. helped, and encouraged to grow on the present job and into any future job for which they might qualify. "If and when an organization has that dynamic spirit, it can forget the mechanics: they will be unimportant. Till it has that spirit. all the mechanics in the world will not give it mnagement development. "it Q_l_.der executives versus youngel 11.1 develggnent Jr gggms Another observation of the fifties is the tendency to con- centrate on older men. This was almost unavoidable because it is useless to train younger men in ways that are different from older “Ibid. superiors who still have their ideas rooted in the past. The age level of those attending the Harvard Business School was observed to be rising. Because attendance became somewhat of a status symbol. the older men wanted to go first. The tendency was not confined to Harvard but was observed generally in the United States and also in Great Britain. Although industry should do something for its older men. it should not retard provision for the younger men who have more years of service left to give after training. The idea of taking a man from college. virtually neglecting his intellectual life for twenty years, and than sending him away for three months of intense intellectual activity is ridiculous. It is both "too little and too late." The conclusion of scholarly investigation in the early fifties was that the advanced management courses were better than nothing. but that they should be considered only as temporary measures. Both older men and young men should be planned for in the short and long run developnent programs of each individual compary. Awakem of business to its own shortcomings In summary of management development in the United States from its inception until the fifties. it can be concluded that management developnent itself is not new but that a planned. thoughtful application of it throughout much of American business was a new phenomenon which was still not extensively used by the mid-twentieth century. What was new was a realization by manage- ment people themselves of their own shortcomings and imdequacies. This was a healthy mental attitude which laid the foundation for 10 a willingness of executives to develop themselves and to develop their subordinates. This attitude appeared to be genuine, and as subsequent events have revealed management developnent as a whole is no fad. Financial phase of developnent programs Coexisting with the recognition of the need for a program and a willingness for participation in it is the inevitable question of finance. Although the concept is not entirely new. it is only in recent years that educational expense has been recognized as an investment rather than an operating cost. This has led to the recognition by business that an investment in human talent may be expected to yield services over time in much the same manner as an investment in a machine. Marv authorities believe that a substantial proportion of the in- crease in the Gross National Product of our nation is due to improved knowledge and is brought about by continuing education on the job. According to DeCarlo and Robinson If. as appearances indicate. one third to one half of the increase in national productivity is the result of advances in science and technology and their knowledgeable application to the productive process. then it behooves the large corporations - which have the largest stake in the future of the national econom - to make a critical assessment of the potential contri- bution of educational investment to corporate growth.5 SCharles R. DeCarlo and Ormsbee W. Robinson. Education in Business 592 Industry. (New York: The Center for Applied Re- search in Education. Inc. 1966). p. 144. DeCarlo and Robinson hit the crucial point when they state Few companies today are naking mximum use of formal and informal educational and training programs as an approach to the problem of corporate growth. Education and training can increase the rate of growth of the corporation. jusg as it has the economic growth of the nation. As the body of business grows so must the head also grow. The body of business through the tangible output of products has established the value of improved technological skill for the labor force. Because the output of management is less tangible. it is difficult to measure its effectiveness. This difficulty should not for a moment be used to discredit efforts to improve manage- ment skills. Unfortunately on the one hand the lack of evaluative ability has allowed ineffective development programs to masquerade under the banner of faith in education and on the other hand it has left wide open the door to censure of all programs including those which are successful. Statement of the Problem In the early sixties. the researcher became aware of this need to evaluate the effectiveness of executive developaent pro- grams. At’least three groups have a stake in arm effort to im- prove mtecutive talent: namely. the individual executives. the employing companies. and the directors of the programs whatever they may be. Of the three groups. the individual executives are the most important and it may be that a major cause of failure 5mm. 12 of executive development programs is the lack of understanding of the needs of the individual. Business literature does little to recognize the executive as more than a pawn of business who is sent to an executive developnent program because it is fashionable. Two authors have investigated this problem and a third has analyzed it and suggested a solution. Edwards writes of his concern for capable executives who were in danger of "regressing in their jobs - deepite their enthusiastic and conscientious adherence to a development'program." Such a man is the victim of the misbelief that good executives can be mass produced by a magic formulae. He further emphasizes No program can do magic. People - only people - can do magic. And that is the point. There is no push button system. You're interested not in executive developnent - not ina program: you're interested in developing executives - in people - your people. those who have already worked well and hard for you. Although all may not agree that people. important as they are. can do magic. it is easy to agree that the individual should be the focal point of executive developnent. Daffern in his concern over this problem stated that Management development as a recognized and organized activity has gone astray in attempting to educate people to become leaders.8 What is needed is an improvement in leadership per se. 7Joseph Dean Edwards. Executives: m them Click (New York: University Books, 1955) P- lb. 8George N. llffern. Mgemgmt Developnent 2 g 933% World (New York. Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. 1 O) p. VIIIe 13 Thus expressed. a first impression would be that he is emphasizing the importance not of the individual but of the job. Later in his book. however. he cites both Elton Mayo and Henry Laurence Gantt in support of the importance of recognition of the dignity of the individual. Obviously concerned with the well being of all who work. Daffern says Such a democratic way of working needs leaders. both to bring it about and to sustain it. And the first step must be to develop such leaders: leaders whogbelieve in industrial democracy and who practice it. Robert House clearly analyzes the same problem and suggests a possible solution: Examining the results of four hundred experimental studies concerned with mnagement developnent. he found mary programs which "have had little or no demonstrable or measurable effect on business performance or manager be- havior.":|'o House continues Disturbing? Perhaps. Disappointing? Most certainly. Inevitable? Not necessarily! Only a few rigorous evaluations of management developnent have been reported in the business literature. Very little business money has been invested in explaining such basic considerations as what and who should go into a management developnent program. But a good deal of rigorous. experimental evidence can be found in the psychological. sociological. and educational literature.11 91bid.. p. xv. 10Robert J. House. "A Commitment Approach to Management Developnent". a reprint from California Mana ement Review (The Regents of the University of California. 1 5 p. . nmm. 11+ House presents the results of his own analysis to suggest answers as to why some programs actually develop managers and improve management performance and others do not. He states In brief. management developnent may be viewed as a process of social influence. )hnagement develop- ment is explained as a process of change resulting from imparting information plus selected re-enforce- ments which are unique to the managerial environment.12 DeCarlo and Robinson point out that The problem of leadership developnent is con- founded by the fact that the members of the "comnity" are not bound together by a comon allegiance to a particular flag. church. or race. The loyalty of the members of a business organization is measured by the depth of their commitment to the work they arelgoing and by the inherent value they perceive in it. This point is aptly stated from another angle by Grant Venn as quoted by DeCarlo and Robinson. "A man's occupation in American society is now his single most significant status - conferring role. "11” lzIbidee Pe 16e 13Charles R. DeCarlo and Ormsbee W. Robinson. pp. 42.43. ”mm. 15 Statement of Hypotheses Three hypotheses were developed to guide the research as follows: 1. Participation in an executive development program results in identifiable benefits as perceived by the parti- cipating executives. II. Academically-oriented executive developnent programs have differentiable advantages over company-oriented executive developnent programs as perceived by the executive participants . III. Benefits of executive development programs as per- ceived by participating executives are enduring. Description of Research Design Interest in the importance of the individual to business was first spawned in the mind of the researcher in 1961 when as a beginning doctoral candidate he was chairman of a project in one of Dr. David Moore's classes which investigated executive problems in managing the "hired brains" of industry. A practical application of this interest was conceptualized in collaboration with Dr. w. J. E. Crissy. Professor of Ihrketing at Michigan State University, who suggested an evaluation of the Graduate School of Sales Management and Marketing (GSSMM) on whose faculty he had served since its inception in 1953. This interest was further fostered by the researcher's reading and study in the area of industrial psychology both before and during the three year period that the study on executive development programs was in progress. As the writing of the thesis. neared the final stages of completion. the researcher heard a lecture in Chicago by Dr. Reed M. Powell. who along with Dr. Kenneth R. Andrews of Harvard had l6 done research and empirical investigation in the area of executive development. Since evaluation literature in this field is meager it was encouraging to the researcher to learn from the writings of both Powell and Andrews and from Powell's lecture that authorities in the field agreed on the benefits that accrue both to business and the individual from the recognition and formal development of human potential on the executive level. The three year empirical study of executive development programs was conducted in three phases. Phase one was an evaluation of a specific development program for marketing executives and was initiated in 1962. Phase two. begun in 1964. was an evaluation of develoment programs participated in by a totally different group using a randomly selected sample of marketing and sales executives from companies widely dispersed throughout the United States. Phase three. conducted in 196 5. as a conclusion to the three-year study. was a re-evaluation of the specific developnent program evaluated in 1962 as phase one. Restricting the sample to only those executives who had partici- pated in the study in 1962 insured that phase three was germinely longitudinal and avoided contamination of the data. Phase one began when the researcher first visited the Graduate School of Sales Management and Marketing (GSSMM) while it was in session at Syracuse. New York. in June of 1962. arriving before the first executive participants and remaining at the school until both executive registrants and the faculty had departed. The visit provided a full two and one-half weeks for personal 17 interviews with the faculty members, faculty associates who were GSSMM alumni. currently holding top-marketing positions in their companies. and participating registrants. Since the researcher shared common living accommodations with the executives throughp out the session. many opportunities were provided for an ine formal exchange of ideas and opinions. He visited classes and secured written curriculum evaluations from the executive participants. 0n the afternoon.before the school formally opened a special two-hour meeting with the faculty was held to provide the researcher opportunity to present his plans for evaluation of the school and to secure counsel. The researcher was also a guest participant at the annual alumni meeting which was held on the campus while the school was in session. This occasion provided another excellent opportunity to present evaluation plans and to receive suggestions and help. The alumni were interested and cooperative in the research and were able to provide significant data for the evaluation be- cause they are knowledgeable and experienced concerning both the school and the business world. Since the fivedweek course is divided equally between two years. both first and secondqyear registrants were in.attendance each.year and are represented in the study. A research instrument in the form of a questionnaire was voluntarily cempleted by seventy-four executive participants while in.attendance at the school in June of 1962. These executives represented sixty-one companies in nineteen states, 18 Canada, and three foreign countries. Since their home states were widely dispersed throughout the United States. most economic regions were included. A unique feature of the school was an inVitation to the graduating executives' wives to come to the campus for a special two-day wives' session. culminated by attendance at their husband's graduation exercises. The researcher observed these sessions and secured an excellent response to a specially prepared questionnaire for an evaluation from a viewpoint frequently overlooked. In the second phase of the study the researcher broadened the basis of evaluation of development programs for marketing executives by choosing a widely dispersed sample of marketing acecutives in upper . middle . and top-echelons of authority in their companies. Access toward the accomplishment of this objective was gained by mailing questionnaires in the sumer of 196+ to executives whose names and addresses were randomly selected from the following three sources: 1. Dcecutives holding office or board appointments in Sales and Marketing Executives' Clubs as listed in "Annual Report and Directory Issue. Sales/Marketing Today," October. 1963. 2. Alunmi Directory, The Graduate School of Sales Management arxl Marketing. prepared by the Alumni Association. revised January. 1962. 3. Lists of sales and mrketing executives. maintained by the Graduate School of Business of Michigan State University of those who had attended executive development programs conducted by the University within the last several years prior to 1964. l9 Perusal of both the 1962 and the 196+ questionnaires will reveal that they elicit careful thought on the part of the respondents and require a quality of expression not found in the usual checkuoff type of questionnaire. For this reason.a high percentage of returns was not anticipated nor sought but each response was considered to be very valuable because it represented a reply to the initial request executed without urgent followbup of any kind. Eighty—four usable responses, representing not less than seventyetwo different companies located in widely dispersed areas of the United States, were retained in phase two of the study. There was no overlap of the executive samples between the 1962 and 1961+ phases of the study. The executives included in phase two reported having participated in.a total of three hundred and fifty development programs of which one hundred and two different programs were identified. It is apparent that the executives came from diverse geographic areas. represented a wide range of companies. and had attended a large number of different development programs. Regardless of the title accorded the executive. nearly all ‘were responsible for the marketing efforts of their companies. Phase two development programs were classified by the researcher as either company or academic. based on the nature of the program. the company or school conducting it, and the group for which it was implemented. The company program is one conducted for the executives of a company and usually staffed by company personnel. Eren'when the program.staff is imported the curriculum is usually company- 20 dominated and is designed to meet specific comparw problems and needs. The academic program is one usually conducted for the executives of more than one company and staffed by professional educators. The curriculum. though university-oriented, is de- signed to meet both specific and general problems and needs comon to the business experience of executives regardless of company affiliation. The geographic location and the physical facilities are important. but only to provide a comfortable learning environment in which the executives are free of routine responsibilities. The type of program participated in was the basis for classifying the executives as compamr-oriented or academically-oriented. This classification of the eighty-four respondents revealed twenty-one as comparw and sixty-three as academic: or a percentage relationship to the total group of twenty-five percent comparw executives and seventy-five percent academic executives. Much of the data was analyzed in great detail. and wherever feasible. comparisons between comparve-oriented and academically- oriented executives were made. In all of the analysis great care was exercised to guard the data against the introduction of am bias because of the proportionately larger number of academic executives . or for arw other reason. Phase three. conducted in 1965. was a follow-up of phase one conducted in 1962. The research instrument was a questionnaire identical to that used in phase two in 196% Only executives who had participated in phase one in 1962 were included in phase three. 1965. to insure a genuine longitudinal evaluation and to 21 avoid contamination of data. The purpose of phase three was to check the perceptions. attitudes. and opinions of the executives regarding executive development programs to determine whether they remained substantially the same after an interval of three years. The questionnaire responses of fifty-nine executives which represented eighty percent of the original sample used in phase one were analyzed. The fiftyunine executives representing fifty different companies widely dispersed throughout the United States were found to have participated in two hundred thirty-six developnent programs from 1953 through 19614. Their classification as comparer or academically- oriented executives was based on their program participation: how- ever. the inclusion of GSSMM left only five who could be classified as comparw-oriented. The use of the 1961+ questionnaire in phase three provided several different ways of checking the data with that of other phases of the study. Since the questions were identical. the responses of the 1965 phase could readily be compared with the responses of the broad general sample of the 196+ phase. The questionnaire used in phase two (1964) and phase three (1965). though not identical to that used in phase one (1962). was a refinement of the earlier questionnaire; therefore. it was possible to rake meaninng comparisons of the responses in several important subject areas. This greatly facilitated checking the validity of results and added a considerable measure of confidence to the conclusions drawn from the study. Phases one and three also provided an opportunity to compare the accomplishments of a sample group of marketing executives in 1962 with their accomplishments in 1965. Executives who had been classified as first or secondayear men at the GSSMM in 1962 were still identifiable within this classification. This made feasible a number of objective comparisons and measures regarding positions. employment stability. and career progress. as well as criteria for changes in attitudes and perceptions regarding the programs. One unique measure of career progress was made possible by a question in the 1962 questionnaire asking the executive to assume that he could attain the position of his choice by merely naming it. This question provided a basis for an interesting matching of career dreams with position reality approximately three years later. The data from all of the questionnaires were carefully analyzed and studied. A profusion of data and tables was assembled and carefully sifted for information essential to the study. Many items of information. though perhaps interesting. 'were not considered germane to the hypotheses. In writing the thesis, the researcher has endeavored to draw the pertinent information from the analysis which would be of interest to scholars and others seeking to enlarge their store of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of executive development programs. CHAPTEI II A THREEFPHASE EMPIRICAL STUDY OF EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS FOR MARKETING EXECUTIVES IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE 1960's WITH SPEIAL ATTENTION T0 GSSMM Need for Qualified Marketing Executives As the need arose for the econonw of our country to become marketingworiented rather than productioneoriented. another one became apparent. This was the need for marketing executives. men fully acquainted with and trained for .the use of the marketing concept; men who could strategically plan for both the present and future marketing efforts of their companies; men who could deal with sophisticated problems in.a sophisticated manner. simultaneously realizing that marketing. though important. is also a part of a total business system which must operate as an integrated whole toward the objectives of the firm. Executives with these qualifications were not being produced in significant numbers by the universities and scarcely at all by the business world. A recognition of this very real need by both business and the universities led to the establishment of a Graduate School of Sales and Mhrketing Management in 1953. specifically for marketing executives and open only to men who were responsible for the marketing efforts of their companies. Some have suggested that executives could train themselves through reading. There is no quarrel with this suggestion and occasionally a self-nude man has been produced by this method. Companies are only interested in spending money which will provide more return than the cost of the oring investment. For this reason executives chosen to participate in these programs are carefully handpicked by their companies.. Selection of Participants for an Executive Developnent Program The basis of selection most frequently cited An effort was made to determine how the executives were selected for participation in the programs by posing the question directly to the executives: "Please describe how you were selected. . ." The analysis is based on the number of reasons given and the 1965 phase. which. the reader will recall. is a longitudinal view of the 1962 GSSMM participants. This will be examined first. Then. the 196+ phase. which provided a broad base of programs. will be examined. The basis of the analysis is the percentage of responses in each category based on the total number of responses for each of the three phases of the study. A comparative table is also presented as a means of ready reference for the reader. The most frequent basis cited was "compamr's or superior's choice." "Position and Job responsibility" ranked next followed by "personal request - company approval." Although "achievement and per- formance" did not rank high. the seven to eight percent responding was approximately the same in both studies. Considerable difference was noted in the "personal choice" basis of selection. Only two and 25 a half percent of the 196 5 participants thought they had exercised complete personal prerogative. while twenty-two percent or nearly one fourth of the 1964 participants were satisfied that they had exercised personal choice in attending an executive development program. The basis most infrequently cited The basis of selection most infrequently cited was "achievement and performance." Evidently the respondents did not think that their achievement and performance had am significant bearing on their being chosen to participate in an executive developnent pro- gram. Actually it would seem reasonable to assume that the executiveas achievement and performance in his position was satisfactory or he would not have been chosen at all. The results of this analysis are tabulated in Table I. Potential for promotion In nary cases the men selected either bad Just been promoted or were being seriously considered for a promotion. Since the compnies wanted seasoned executives to have an opportunity to update their thinking and at the same time wanted to accelerate the development of younger men both for replacement and for filling newly-created executive positions. the ago-bracket was somewhat flexible. glevel and educational status Not only the 1965 but also the 196“ phase provides informtion on the age level and educational status of the executives that companies sponsored. 1. 2. 3. 1+. 5. TABLE I BASIS (F SELETION PCB MUTIVE DEVELOPEDIT moans Achievement and performance Position and job responsibility Comparv's or superior's choice Personal request 8: company approval Personal choice 196 5 PHASE IN Pmcm'r 7.5 25 45 20 2.5 100 1964 PHASE IN PERCDIT 8.3 25 33.3 11.1 22.2 100 27 0f the 1965 participants fifty-three percent were college graduates; sixteen percent,reported postgraduate training making a total of sixty-nine in possession of a college degree or better: an additional twenty-two reported partial college training while only seven percent reported highschool as their educational level. Although the request for this information.was entirely optional. all but two percent responded to the question. lgportance of educational status The 196“ approach. representing a broader base as far as program.participation.was concerned. disclosed that fifty-eight percent of the executives possessed a college degree or better; fourteen percent reported some college training and eleven percent ‘wore high school graduates. The fact that seventeen percent chose not to answer the question allows us to draw our own conclusions concerning this group. Classification of executives by prggram.orientation The 1964 phase also provided an opportunity to classifly the participating executives as either academically-oriented or company-oriented. based on the predominance of the programs in which they had participated. One fourth of the executives were classified as company participants and three fourths as academic participants. Little difference was noted in the educational background of the executives based on this classification except that nineteen percent of the company executives indicated post- graduate study compared with thirteen percent for the academic. Though fourteen percent of the academic executives reported a 28 highschool level of education. none of the company executives reported any highschool background. Since nearly a fourth of the company men chose not to reveal their educational background. it is probable that some compary executives had less than a high- school education. Apparently companies placed a premium on educational accomplishment when selecting men to participate in development programs . particularly in the academic programs. The largest companies studied employed only executives with a college education or more. Wide distribution in go brackets of registrants The researcher has already pointed out that there is quite a wide span in the age brackets in this study. Fortunately all participants in the 196 5 research were willing to reveal their ages. Sixty-two percent were concentrated in the forty to forty- nine bracket with nineteen percent under thirty-nine years and nineteen percent over fifty years of age. In contrast. one fourth of the executives in the 1964 group chose not to give their ages. Eighteen percent of the remainder were under thirty—nine years of age and twenty-three percent were over fifty. As in the 1965 phase the largest concentration here was in the forty to forty-nine year group with a percentage of f ifty-five. QM versus academic participants Again an opportunity for comparison between company and academic program-participants is possible. Beginning with the under-thirty- nine-years-of-age men. we find twenty-one percent were all-academic 29 participants while only ten percent in this bracket were all-compamr participants. Little difference in program registrants is noted in the forty to forty-nine age bracket which showed seventeen percent academic. and nineteen percent company. The over-fifty age group claimed twenty-four percent of the academic executives and nineteen percent of the company. Of those who chose not to reveal their age. twenty-two percent were classified as academic and thirty-three percent as compam'. Predominence of under 39 and over 50 ag_e__groups among academic mam executives Two points should be of special interest to individuals and their companies. Measured in relative terms. more than twice the number of younger executives had attended an academic program than had attended a compamr program. Likewise a significantly larger number of executives over fifty years of age were enrolled in the academic program than were registered in a compary program. Apparently the academically-oriented executives held their own in competition with compamr registrants at the middle age-level and exceeded them at both under-forty and over-fifty levels. The acadanic program evidently offers something that meets the needs not only of the manager in his prime but also of the seasoned executive who wants to update his approach and the young executive who wants strong rounds on the business ladder he is climbing. Implementation of an Executive Developnent Program Following the recognition of need for further development of on-the-job executives came the question of implementation. Obviously 30 operating executives could not be spared from their companies to enter the universities as students. What appeared to be needed was a reasonably concentrated educational effort. The thought leaders of the emerging marketing-concept were either associated with the universities or were engaged in consulting work as catalysts between the university and business. Meme of two types of executive programs Out of this merger of ideas grew the plans for the Executive Developnent Program which divided into two types: the comparw program and the academic program. The first. tailored to specific company requirements. was initiated and implemented under personnel leadership or camping-imported instructors. The academic program. of much broader scope. usually conducted off comparw premises and open to executives from more than one comparw. was taught by university personnel in intensive units of one or more weeks. gtplusive school for marketing executives Those concerned with the needs of a marketing-oriented economy founded a school for marketing executives. This effort known as the Graduate School of Sales wnagement and Marketing held its first session in 1953. The founders of GSSMM selected a suitable location where the executive registrants could meet and then proceeded to gather together a faculty chosen mainly from the leading universities of the land. Quality faculty The executives who attended soon recognized that they received something of value in a reasonably short period of time. The 31 accelerated course was made possible both by the quality of the executive student and by the quality of the faculty who taught them. It should be recognized. however. that a quality executive development program of this kind brings together a collection of I faculty specialists who have devoted a lifetime of effort to reading. study. writing. and speaking within the area of their specialty. Coming from various parts of the country. these specialists contribute a background of diversified business practices and represent a wide scope of sectional cultures. all of which is immediately available to the executive participant through teacher-student consultation. discussions. lectures. and demonstrations. Social contacts among the executives themselves broaden their business parapective. Moved registrants It is important to both an individual and his compazv that the proper program be chosen and then. of course. it is important that the executive be approved for participation in the program.. It is also of concern to those who direct an executive developnent program that only qualified participants be admitted. For example. the 688)!!! requires that the participant be an executive with responsibility for the marketing efforts of the company. No salesman regardless of other qualifications would be accepted unless he had been promoted to executive responsibility. By thus limiting the clientele. GSSMM lays the basis for a homo- genous high-quality student body which is one of the primary in- puts of a successful developnent program. 32 Total involvement of progam registrants The individual executive is asked to leave his regular work for his compary in the full knowledge that the major portion of it will remain undone until his return. Nearly all of the academic programs ask the executive to absent himself from his family and his normal social contacts for the purpose of becoming identified with a group of like participants in a particular executive developnent program. Most companyaoriented programs require participants to meet on a one-day-peruweek schedule -- an arrangement which does not require the executive to absent himself from his normal social pattern. Under both plans. assignments given are studied outside the regular meeting time. Although the executive ordinarially is not asked to pay his own expenses in the development program. he is expected to give his time for attendance. for study. and for total in- volvement as an individual. In the case of the compary programs where groups meet intermittently. the degree of involvement is spread out by allocation of blocks of time devoted to executive developnent. In most academic programs the involvement is ex- pected to consume all of the executive's time while the program is in progress. For example. GSSMM expects the executive to come to the campus and remain there for the two and one half weeks that the school is in session. FinanciaLpolicy Companies usually expect to pay the expenses of an executive enrolled in a development program including transportation. and his normal full-time salary. In compary programs practices vary 33 with reference to payment for the executive's time. Since the executive is expected to donate some of his personal time to his own developnent. the time required for attendance at company program activities outside the executive's normal working time is not recognized with additional pay. This schedule is really no different from that of the acadanic program which takes an executive's full time because of evening classes or required study periods. Obviously. these last two items include some of what would ordinarily be considered his own personal time. Methodology in the Executive Development Program at 688104 Now that we have learned how the developnent programs are initiated and implemented and how executives are selected for participation in them. it would be well to examine what a program of this type has to offer and what means are used in the task of developing executives. Since the researcher spent a full session of personal observation and interviews at GSSMM in 1962 and later elongated the study by questionnaires in 1961} and again in 1965 when he contacted fifty-nine of the 1962 respondents. GSSMM will serve as a sample of program methodology. ghzsical facilities Both students and faculty were found to be highly mobile: therefore the geographic location of the school was relatively unimportant as long as the physical facilities provided a suitable educational environment. In 1953 the school was held on the campus of Rutgers University and convened there for several subsequent years until it was transferred to the campus of Syracuse University where it was held in 1962 when the writer visited the school. The plan was that the executive participants. without their wives or family. stay on campus for the full two and one half weeks of the course. Residence Hall facilities were available. and the school paired two executives to a room; dining facilities were in comon. Breakfast was on the cafeteria plan. but lunch and dinner were served at the tables. This plan provided time for further fellowship and gave the administrative staff of the school an opportunity to communicate announcements to the entire student body. A daily newsletter filled with school news and helpful information was prepared and distributed by the administrative staff. Curriculum materials and schedules hch executive registrant was presented with a large indexed workbook that gave much valuable information concerning each scheduled event and also provided space for the insertion of personal notes taken by the registrant. Since the curriculum was entirely different for first-year and second-year men. each was provided with a work- book in harmorw with his classification. The graduate then had two large looseleaf workbooks filled with valuable materials at the end of the course. The daily schedule provided for morning and afternoon classes for both first and secondayear men with approximately one hour set aside for recreation each day. Evening lectures and study periods filled the balance of the time except that no regular activities were scheduled for Sundays. Detailed information as given above was not gathered for the programs included in the 19614 phase of the study; 35 however. analysis of other questions such as learning activities engaged in by the respondents indicate that there was some similarity. Course content In both the 1964 and 1965 phases the executives were asked to indicate the extent of their participation in certain learning activities: The Management Game. Case Analysis. Problem Analysis. Computer Problem. and others. A comparative analysis of both studies is presented in Table II. Sophisticated techniques It is interesting to note that participation in the first four learning activities was quite evenly distributed for the executives in the 196 5 portion of the study. This could suggest a highly sophisticated program. Probably the two most sophisticated learning activities. namely. Management Game and Computer Problem. were not as well represented in the broad base 1961+ research. It can clearly be seen from the table that curriculum adjustments were made in the programs included in the 19614 phase. Since it is known that the Management Game and. particularly. the Computer Problem are two of the latest techniques requiring computer equipnent. the GSSMM program apparently was more advanced than the general sample included in 1964. _Ia§oratorLsolution of a current problem in employw It should come as no surprise that the Case Analysis method. largely originated at Harvard. accounted for a full third of the curriculum in the 196% phase. The researcher suspects that the Problem Management Game Case.Ana1ysis ProblemHAnalysis Computer Problems Other Activities TABLE II PROGRAMLACTIVITIES 1965 PHASE IN PERCENT 25 22 36 1964 PHASE IN PERCENT 18 33 29 37 Analysis had a different meaning in each of the two studies. The GSSMH participants were expected to choose a problem from their own comparw and satisfactorily solve the problem between their first and second year of attendance at the school. Although this approach may have been used by some of the participants in 1961+. it is probable that the more conventional interpretation of Problem Analysis. which is very similar to Case Analysis. was the one engaged in by these participants. The GSSMM approach to the Problem Analysis not only provided a highly sophisticated approach to the problem because of the faculty guidance and orientation but also provided a practical one in that the required problem had to be current in their comparw. Individual eacecutives and their companies should be particularly interested in this point which is reported in detail in the chapter on Evaluation. cmm III ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION (F THE UTA ERG! THE THREE-PHASE STUDY The GSSMM 1962-1965' Phases Assessed by the 1964 Phase Several different approaches to the task of evaluation were used. Most scholars will agree that judging a program is a difficult task; however. the researcher believes that a reasonably correct evaluation can be achieved by using several different approaches and comparing the results. Although an attempt was made to be as objective as possible. certain subjective character- istics necessarily were included in the analysis from time to time. One of the plans for measurement was to inquire whether or not the executives planned to participate in an executive training program in the near future. If the responses were negative. at least two conclusions could be drawn: one would be that the program was satisfactory and sufficient. and the other. that further in- volvement in the program would be unsatisfactory and uninteresting to the executives. On the other hand. if the responses were affirmative. it could be assumed that the present programs were rewarding and that the executives believed that further participation would be beneficial. Or it could be that despite the program's being un- satisfactory. the axecutive thought participation in another was 39 worth a try. Although no conclusive answers were found in the responses to this Specific inquiry. those given were compared with like responses of other phases within the study to measure the degree of affirmation. Responses to one question in the 1965 phase of the study definitely pin-point the individual participant's estimate of the developnent program. The question assumes the participant has the authority to send another executive to school. He is asked whether he would recommend the program. which program he would select and why he selected it. Recommendation of academicgprogram.by_51 registrants l962-l9é5 Since the fifty-nine executives reaponding to the 1965 questionnaire had previously responded to the 1962 questionnaire their answers were of some significance. Seven did not answer but the fifty-two who did indicated that they would send their executives to development programs and all but one indicated that they would send their executives to academically-oriented programs. The research established that all five of the respondents who had par- ticipated in company-oriented programs sufficiently to be classified as company-developed executives were included among the fifty-one recommending the academically-centered programs. Bias cancelled by time lapgg It is of outstanding significance that no disenchantment with development programs had entered the minds of the executives in the threefiyear period from 1962 to 1965. Because the 1962 sample was based entirely on GSSMM participants. the thought may occur to the llvO reader that there is a possible bias toward the academic programs. Although all of the executives participated in GSSMM in 1962 me some in subsequent years. none were participants in 1965. Ample time had passed to allow the executives to give an unbiased evaluation in the 1965 research. Of even further enlightenment are a few comments selected in support of the academic programs and given here: "Superior management course. " "Broad picture with minimum time wasted." "Real down-to-earth program. " "High caliber of teaching talent. association and exchange of ideas with topnotch executives. basic needs of the executive are fulfilled." "Is an all-around program which allows theory. discussion. exchange of company ideas and policies. gives a good basic course in general sales and management theories." "Professors intensely professional. believe what they teach. communicate beautifully." "A chance to get a better perspective of management as a whole. To pick up new ideas - to note how similar problems are. regardless of the differences in industry." 1 "return" res nse ua divided Although five percent of the executives did not respond and three percent indicated— "perhaps" to the question of "program participation in the near future." the 196 5 research showed that those who responded were quite evenly balanced in their decision with forty-eight percent not planning to participate and forty-four per- cent assenting. #1 Some comments in connection with this question of future participation give insight into some of the executives' thinking and also definite guidelines for subjects of interest to the executives. Sample comments are quoted below. Sample Affirmatiye Comean "I need to learn more about management and finance." "Training at all levels must be continued." "Keep abreast." "Comparw sponsored business simulation course. To further the understanding of business problems and solutions." "AMA - Marketing Seminars." Synge Negative Comments "We are only going to participate in our own program." "Possible but nothing definite." "Just changed positions and at present cannot plan to go to another training program." "I've had it. thank God!" 1 "return" res onse ual divided The same question was propounded to the participants in 1964 with the following results: Completely affirmative answers were given by thirty-six percent of the respondents and seven percent indicated the possibility of participating in a program making a total of forty-three percent who were considering the possibility of participating in an executive training program in the near future. Forty-nine percent indicated that they did not plan to participate in a program in the near future and eight percent did not respond to the question. 142 Of those who were classified as academic participants forty percent reSponded affirmatively. Fifty-two percent of those executives who were classified as company participants gave an unqualified affirmative response. Many of the executives provided unsolicited comments with their answers which established a depth of insight into the executives' thinking as to what they regarded as important. Some typical comments accompamring the affirmative answers are quoted below. "Connmnications and Human Behavior - these two areas to me are all important to successful executive development and better under- standing of people whom I consider the most important single asset in am business." "University sponsored activities." "So as to enable me to broaden m scope of executive training and development." "I need it for further developnent as a Manager." "Sales Management and Marketing - to help in present position and enhance nw opportunities for advancement and greater earnings." "Hopeful that the company will allow me to get a refresher period." "I personally feel that am businessman must devote time to a continual educational process; otherwise he will not be able to develop and keep up with our changing environment. " "It will be some form of executive development as this is my only means of getting charged with newideas." Typical coments associated with the forty-nine percent negative responses are quoted below: 43 "No we would love to. but have started two businesses in last four years and 13m too busy. When I can afford it. I'll send some of my men. about two - three years away." "No ~- time will not presently permit." "No -~ prefer to send others. May return to in.a few years again." "No -- would like to but haven't got the time and company believes other men presently need the opportunity." Another approach was to measure the practicality of the program by asking the executives to indicate how much credit was attributable to executive development programs for their present position. The choices were: IMuch Credit. Some Credit. Little Credit. and No Credit. Executive promotion credited togprogram.by seventy-one percent The 1965 phase showed that seventy-one percent of the executives attributed credit in some degree to the programs for their present position. Twentyufour percent attributed "No Credit" to the programs for their present position and five percent of the executives did not respond. Very simular results were found in the 196% research with the exception that more than twice the number of executives gave "Much Credit" to the programs. Analysis of academic versus company promotion The 1964 phase provided an opportunity to compare academic and company programs within the study. Table III reports this information in detail. Of those who participated in the academic programs sixty-eight percent believed that credit in some degree was due to the programs for their present position. twenty-seven percent CREDIT FOR PRESENT POSITION‘ATTRIBUTABLE T0 EXECUTIVE DENELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN TABLE III 196# STUDY Executive Development Program Much Some Little No Credit Credit Credit Credit Answer Total Academic 8 26 9 17 63 Percent of Credit 13 41 1h 27 100 Company 6 10 l 2 21 Percent of Credit 29 48 5 9 100 Total 14 36 10 19 81+ Percent of Credit 17 43 12 22 100 "5 believed that "No Credit" was due to the programs and five percent chose not to answer. Of the company participants eighty-two percent believed that credit in some degree was due to participation in the company programs for their present position. nine percent believed that "No Credit" was due the programs and nine percent chose not to answer. These findings are not to be wondered at since Company programs are by their very nature often closely allied to the executive's job or position. It is gratifying to note that the executive who recognizes this connection is very much in the majority. It seems even.more significant that academic programs which are more general in nature and not specifically slanted toward any one companyiare also recognized by a significant majority of the executive participants to have contributed toward the accomplishment and maintenance of the executive's present position. Use offlprogram.materials by executive majority .Another method of evaluation.was-to inquire if the executive still used any of the materials which they had received in connection with the executive development programs they had participated in. In the 1965 inquiry all of the executives responded to the question; eightybeight percent. affirmatively. twelve percent. negatively. In the 196“ phase seventy=one percent of the executives responded affirmatively: twenty-four percent responded negatively and five percent chose not to answer. The 1964 research revealed that an astounding ninety percent of the company program.participants still used the materials and sixty-five percent of the participants ins dicated that they still used the academic program materials. It appears to be of more than ordinary significance that academic programs which are not closely identified with arw particular comparw provided sixtyafive percent of the participants with materials which they used in their regular employment. Still another measure of the practical usefulness of the programs was to inquire of the participants in 1962. 1964. and 196 5 whether the results of any of their learning activities were used directly by their companies. Since all three phases of the study provided ample data for a significant analysis they will be discussed in chronological order. Assessment of_learnigiactivities In the 1962 phase a Problem Analysis was to be accomplished between the first and second year of attendance in consultation with a faculty member. Only the seconddyear participants. of whom there were twenty-two. could be included in this analysis. It should be noted by executives. their companies. and directors of developnent programs that the twenty-two executives cited twenty-one different problem topics. Because of the wide range in practicality of the problems analyzed they are listed below: Problem Analysis Tgpics l. Predictive evaluation of salesmen (2 companies). 2. Build a factory or buy a business to acquire a product. 3. Improved credit policy. 4. Compensation of salesmen. 5. Selection of salesmen. 6. How to distribute atomic fuel. 7. Famed new industrial division in a consumer products comma. 47 8. Improved sales training. 9. Formulate sales and price policies. 10. Created position of vicewpresident of marketing. 11. Measure industry marketwpotential. 12. Develop a private label brand. 13. Better use of time. 14. Reorganized companies direct mail program. 15. Study effect of discounters on retail hardware trade. 16. Developed sales training program. 17. Market analysis. 18. Management developnent program. 19. Profitability analysis of different production rates. 20. Improved packaging of a specific product. 21. Selective selling for greater possibility in market segments. These same executives were asked if they would have done the Problem Analysis if it had not been required by GSSMM. In considering the results of this analysis the reader should keep in mind that each of these topics represented a current compary problem in need of a solution. The results of this ana Lysis are tabulated in Table IV. Motivational benefit of prgggam About one fourth of the executives indicated they would have done the Problem Analysis arvway and another fourth indicated they would have studied the problem but not in as great depth as was required by the assignment. Still another fourth reported that they Eobably would not have analyzed the problem and the last fourth designated 48 TABLE IV PROJECT REQUIREMENT DO PROJECT IF NOT REQUIRED EXECUTIVEIRESPONSE "Yes" 7 "Yes. but not as thoroughly." 6 "Probably Not." h "No" 5 TOTAL EXECUTIVES 22 "9 they would not have analyzed the problem at all. It seems incredible that only slightly over half of the executives would have endeavored to analyze a current comparer problem. A moment's reflection. however. may remind us that acceptance of the "status quo" situation is all too common in the world and that business is no exception. Perhaps an unexpected benefit of a develepnent program is to help executives to acquire the motivational "know- how" to tackle and analyze a problem. Faculty involvement in problem analysis The executives were invited to seek help from faculty members on their Problem Analysis. Table V indicates that half of the executives received help from the faculty. A few of the executives' cements will give an idea of how the faculty members helped the executives. Cements on Faculty Help with Problem Analysis "Yes. __ pointed out that improvements must be in the field rather than finding fault at the top level." "Yes. by trying to point out some areas of thinking to explore." "Yes. _____"s suggestions on the direction the investi- gation should take were very useful." "Indirectly. Their lectures helped me on an overall basis on how to tackle the problem and present a solution generally." "Personal conferences with __ cleared several areas of personal doubt." TABLE V FACULTY CONTRIBUTION TO mow ANALYSIS "Yes" 7 "Yes . indirectly." ll- "No. n 11 TOTAL 22 50 51 "Yes. cements on the problem returned to me were constructive. appropriate. and helpful; broadened 1w views; suggested further alterations . " The executives were then asked "Do you believe that your problem analysis has helped you or your compary?" All but one answered affirmatively as shown in Table VI. Investigation reveals that the executive who stated that his problem analysis had not been helpful had not received aw help from faculty members. Sample cements from the executives given below are also en- lightening as to the value and the usefulness of heblem Analysis. Cements Regarding Help From Problem Analysis "Yes. the plan was accepted with minor revision and is indeed more equitable to both." "Yes. it has been of tremendous value to us and properly developed and communicated could (as a general technique) be a fundamental contribution to sales management. I believe." "Yes. we are on the track of something which could save our company considerable cost in financing new men." "Yes. it helped me jell my thinking on this problem. " "Yes. used it as a motivating force to enlist presidential interest and assistance." "Yes. we now have a sales training program under a permanent director." "Yes. provides a specific plan for development of needed area of management. Company is in a definite growth pattern." TABLE VI PROBLEM.ANALYSIS AS AN AID TO INDIVIDUAL CRLCCMTINY "Yes e 1' "Possibly. but too soon to know." "NO. I! TOTAL 17 52 53 "Yes. Of course. I would have pursued certain aspects anyway. However. if nothing else. having to organize the report for GSSMM was helpful and stimulated a more formal written record." "Yes. higher performance personnel." "Yes - adopted." Analysis of application of progpam learnipg activities In the 196# research the executives were asked if their companies had used the results of their learning activities and forty percent indicated that they had. Of the executives classified as academic- ally-oriented. thirty-five percent reported that their activities were used by their companies and fifty-seven percent of the executives attending company-oriented programs reported that the results of their activities were used. To find that well over half of the company executives' learning activities and over one third of the academic executives' learning activities were actually used by the companies is significant. especially in view of the fact that for some executives a considerable length of time had expired since participation in the programs. This finding may be regarded as an indication of the practical usefulness of the programs included in this study and the degree of understanding of the "inservice" environment by those responsible for the learning situation. With this background in mind it is interesting to turn our attention to the 1965 phase which is an evaluation of the GSSMM participants. .Approximately three years later seventeen of the twenty-two executives discussed in connection with the 1962 study were included in this study. Since all fifty-nine of the executives had now completed. 5" a Problem Analysis they could be queried about the usefulness of their learning activities. Forty-two percent of the executives indicated that their companies had used the results of the learning activities they had participated in. Now that we have evaluated the way in which the learning activities contributed to the good of the companies employing the executives and to the individua193 advancement to his present position. we can examine a unique method of evaluation used in connection with the 1962 phase. Here we have a longitudinal view. EXperiential competence basis for maximum.executive benefit from 0 am The executive participants were asked to choose an outstanding business experience from their own background which they believed had contributed significantly to their marketing knowledge and to compare it with the knowledge they had acquired in.a management or executive program. Sixtwaour experiences were reported. many of which are quite captivating; however. space will not permit them to be retold here. It is significant that eighty-six percent of the respondents not only remembered an outstanding business experience but“ ‘were willing to write a paragraph describing it. For purposes of comparison between the business experience and an executive program they were asked to recall any part of a management or executive pregramnwhich had helped them in this experience. The small number of responses. nine of which were affirmative and four of which‘were negative. suggest the conclusion that the respondents had not participated in many executive development programs prior to the business experience they had related. Also the quality of the 55 respondents“ comments was definitely inferior compared to the quality of the comments elicited by the next question. which.asked the executives if they believed any part of a management or executive program.cou1d have helped them in the business experience. Forty-seven responses were made to this question of which forty=two were affirmative and five were negative. Because the accompanying comments contained cone siderable enlightening information. sample negative and affirmative comments are quoted below. Four of the five negative comments are of interest. figgative Comments "Might have helped in a small way but many of these details in our business have to be experienced. to be learned." "No. I needed practical experience and training on the jdb first." "No. I was not ready for this type of training or experience earlier. Besides the position above was in,a highly specialized sales training area not related to management other than personal management." "I doubt it. This was an experiential learning experience." The majority of the fortymtwo affirmative comments to question lluB'were interesting and helpful. however. Space will permit only a few. Affirmative Comments "Mainly recruitment. selection. training. and evaluation 'would have been useful." "Having had GSSMM would doubtless have saved me several months of lost effort through trial and error in getting organized." 56 g‘I‘would probably have accomplished same task with less trial and error and so in less time." "Yes. training and management pregrams could have helped me accomplish the objectives of my division sooner." "Yes. because it would have been formalized and concentrated." "If I had had GSSMM I would have developed a more effective program. More important. I would have had more confidence in 11w convictions. consequently would have implemented the program more effectively. Probably would have been one year ahead in development." "Yes. would have understood basic fundamentals of the job much faster. would have had something to build on." "Yes = by giving me Specific guide lines to follow in connection with various facets of my job - financial analysis. territorial assignments. sales quotas. budgets. etc." "It would have eliminated many mistakes in judgment. computation. and quickened the process of learning." "I‘wish I had had the opportunity to take the GSSMM course when I became zone manager in 1949." "Yes.definitely. I would have a better concept of organizing and weighting our distributional and sales effort to effect a quicker positive result." "Greatly. I knewnothing of corporate or maragement procedures or techniques. Any formal training in these areas would have re- duced the jillion.mistakes I made." "Yes = a course of this type would have given me insight and direction." 5'? Clearly the majority of the executives believed that the training they could have received in a developnent program would have helped them in their business experience. Even the negative cements are helpful because they serve to emphasize the findings reported earlier in this study. namely that executives must achieve a carts in level of experiential competence before they are prepared to receive maxm‘n benefits from enrollment in an executive development pr ogrem. The affirmative comments point out beyond the shadow of a doubt. that the executives believe the training would have been useful. would have saved them and their comparor much time and expense. would have established eocecutive confidence. would have reduced and e1 im‘irated costly mistakes in judgment and would have quickened the process of learning. Evaluation of this kind is good news to the individual who naturally desires these things for himself. to the company who is interested in securing such benefits both directly and indirectly through the executives they employ. and to those who staff and teach in the executive development programs because they want to impart this type of helpful information. Assessment of some concomitants of executive programs There are always worthy bymproducts in any learning experience. a sort of residue after some of the more measurable material has drained off - such are impressions of ideas. procedures. and people. To see whether the executive development program had any of these cencomitants. the author used a method of inquiry common to the educa tionel world -- that of recall. It was used in the 1964 and 1965 inquir lee in two ways. First. the eocecutives were asked if there was any one subject. idea. or area of instruction which stood out in their memory more than any other. If so. they were to indicate both what and why if possible. Educators conducting these or similar programs should take courage since seventy percent of the total responses were "yes" and only twenty percent "no" with ten percent no response. an indication that a lasting impression 1nd been made in the minds of many of the respondents. An identical result was found in 196 5 except that the "no" response was nineteen percent and the "no answer" was eleven percent. Nearly every respondent explained what subject or idea made a lasting impression on his memory. Some listed more than one. Six of the most frequently mentioned learning methods or subjects from the 1964 research are listed below: 1. "Case Studies." 2. "Psychology or Selling." 3. "Problem Solving Techniques." 14». "Roll Playing Techniques." 5. "Financial Analysis." 6. "Management Game." Seven of the most frequently mentioned learning methods or subjects from the 1965 research are quoted below. 1. "Computer Game." 2. "New Product Development." 3. "Cost Analysis." 4. "Cost-Volume-Marketing Mix." 5. "Management Game." 6. "Marketing Concept vs. Sales Only. " 7. "Human Problems and Administration." 59 The reader will note that of all the subjects listed the Management Game is the only one appearing in both lists. The second question concerned recall of am faculty members or training personnel who had made a lasting impression on the memory of the participant. In the 1964 approach ninety percent of the executives indicated that they remembered certain teaching personnel. Of the one hundred and twentwaive times that faculty members were mentioned all but one was favorable. Impression of academig_prog:ram faculty: worthwhile, lasting 0f the fiftywnine individuals“ names mentioned in response to the question, nine were cited by executives who had been classified by the researcher as having participated in company programs. The remining fifty individuals were named by executives who were classified as having participated in academic programs. Careful examination of the data revealed that five of the nine mentioned by comparw executives were actually remembered in connection with an academic development program. It is not only obvious that many worthwhile lasting im- pressions were made but that they were made by developnent personnel associated with the academic programs. In 196 5 eightwaive percent of the participants responded that they remembered a certain faculty member. The number of times the names were mentioned is indicated in Table VII which follows. It would appear to be highly significant that these names were remanbered and mentioned since no hints were given anywhere in the questionnaire. Another significant factor is that several years had elapsed since some of the reSpondents had participated in the program 60 TABLE VII FACULTY INFLUENCE 0N EXFBUTIVES Faculty Member Times Mentioned A 33 B 16 C 10 D E '11 \noxooxo 61 with which the faculty member had been associated, yet they still remembered the faculty member by name. Although some of those remembered were associated with company development programs, the majority were faculty members connected with well-known American universities . Benefits of Executive Participation in Development Programs This part of the chapter will endeavor to identify possible developnent program advantages as perceived by the individual and his employing company. Analysis and evaluation of career progress In the 1962 phase the executives were asked to judge the rate of their own career progress. A casual examination of this data. reported in Table VIII might lead the reader to conclude that these mrketing executives were quite optimistic about their career progress. By citing specific promotional experiences they gave credence and support to their evaluations of career progress. The degree of personal commitment to GSSMM noted earlier in the study would sub- stantiate the expectation that these men would be promoted rapidly. It is reasonable to expect that the combination of personal commitment and training should provide a formula for accelerated promotions and business success. Analysis and evaluation of employment sum Since the GSSMM course was equally divided between two years, the reader's attention is directed to some specific considerations regarding the twenty-two second-year men included in the 1962 study. An effort TABLEVIII 62 ANALYSIS a" CAREER HIm'rRESS 1962 CAREEI PROGRESS Very Fast Fast Faster than average Average Little slower than average Slow Very slow Not moving TOTAL NUMBm OF REPONDFNTS 7 11+ 36 12 7a 63 was made first to determine the employment stability of these executives. The first question posed was whether they thought it was best to advance within a comparw or to change companies for advancement. Fifteen of the twenty-two executives thought it was best to advance "within the comparw". one did not answer. one said "change company" and the remining five executives were undecided. Next the actual employment experience of these executives was investigated by inquiring if they had changed companies. Since the previous year's program, twenty-one of the twenty-two executives indicated that they had not changed companies. The one executive who had changed companies indicated that he thought "a smll number of changes is probably help " Then the executives were asked if they anticipated changing companies after completing the 1962 GSSMM or in the near future. The executive who had changed companies and nineteen of the other executives indicated that they did not anticipate a change of comparw. One executive indicated "maybe" and another stated that he was "undecided." Elment stability within the same compamv Seventeen of the twenty-two executives studied in 1962 were identified in the 196 5 questionnaire which provided an opportunity for a longitudinal evaluation. An analysis of their 1965 employment revealed that fifteen were still in the anploy of their same comparw and only two had changed. One of the executives who had changed companies had been with his previous employer for a period of twenty years; the change was made just three months prior to completing the 196 5 questionnaire. The other executive who had changed companies had resigned his presidency (1960-64) to become sales manager of a much larger company. There was an increasing tendency for employment stability beginning about 1961, the time in their business careers when the executives attended GSSMM - recognized as a quality academic executive development program. This information should be of particular interest to companies who invest the large sums of money and time necessary to support executive participation in a developnent program. This evidence should help allay fears of any business administrators who believe that they might be developing executives for the benefit of their competitors. Individual executives are interested not only in stability of employment. but also in advancement; therefore, a further analysis was attempted. Evidence of upward career mobilitLin academic prmjgam executives The 196 5 study asked the executives to identify their supervisory position when they first participated in an executive developnent program and also their present position. Nearly all of the executives were responsible for the marketing efforts of their companies re- gardless of the title accorded to them by their companies. Forty-eight percent of the academic executives indicated that their positions at the time of their first program were those of sales manager. twenty- eight percent were division managers, and five percent were vice- presidents. An analysis of their 1965 positions indicates a thirty- nine percent reduction in the category of sales manager. a significant increase in the position of division manager to thirty-four percent, and an increase to sixteen percent for the position of vice-president. This is indicative of a strong upward career movement. Although it is normal to expect an upward career movement of talented people it 65 is interesting to note that the five executives who were classified as company-oriented in their executive development made no apparent career progress during the same time period. The sample of company executives included in the 1965 research is not large enough to draw a conclusion; however, the 196k phase which did contain.a larger sample of company executives revealed the same lack of career advancement for company executives. The executives included in 1964 were asked questions identical to those asked the 196 5 executives about their positions at the time of their first development program and their position.at the time of the study. .All but four 1964 respondents answered the first question and all but one answered the second question. Although it is evident that there was an upward career movement it would be more interesting to learn who was promoted. To help answer this question data are presented in total and by company and academic programs in Table IX and Table X. Promotion to upper echelon within same company An upward career movement is clearly discernible by increases in the positions of president, viceupresident, and sales manager and a decrease in "other position" and "no answenn' Company participants showed an upward career movement by an increase in the position of president and the elimination of the "no answefig' .A lack of upward movement is shown also by’a decrease in the position of division manager and an increase in "other positions" with no change in the positions of vice-president or sales manager. Upward career movement for academic participants was evidenced by increases in every position except "other positions" and "no answer." TABLE IX POSITION AT TIME OF FIRST mmMM - 1964 PHASE (See Key Below) Executive Development Program 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Academic 7 7 10 18 18 3 6 3' Percent of Positions ll 11 15 29 29 5 100 Company 2 3 2 7 6 1 21 Percent of Positions )0 11+ 10 33 28 5 100 Total 9 10 12 2 5 24 a 84 Percent of Positions 11 12 14 30 28 5 100 £21 1. President or equivalent 2. Vice-president or equivalent 3. Division manager or equivalent 4. Sales manager or equivalent 5. Other position 6. No answer 67 TABLEIX REESENT POSITION - 196“ PHASE (See Key Below) Executive Development Program. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Academic 10 10 ll. 20 11 1 63 Percent of Positions 16 l6 l? 32 17 2 100 Campus 3 3 1 7 7 21 Percent of Positions 1h lb 5 33 3“ 100 Total 13 13 12 27 18 1 8“ Percent of Positions 15 15 1h 33 21 2 100 £91 1. President or equivalent 2. Vice-president or equivalent 3. Division manager or equivalent a. Sales manager or equivalent 5. Other position 6. No answer 68 The 4963+ phase revealed by Table XI shows the relationship of the position of the executives at the time of the study to the size of their company measured by sales for the preceding year. Since nearly all of the executives were responsible for the marketing activities of their companies regardless of their title, the data indicate that the marketing executive assumes a different title according to the size of the comparw by whom he is employed. The trend seems to be that the smaller the company the higher the title. The larger companies employ titles which appear to describe more correctly the actual reaponsibiliti‘es of their acecutives. The analysis set forth in the table provides encouraging in- formation for the executive who wants to advance within his compamr and for the company which desires to retain its executive talent. There is further affirmative evidence available within the studies reported in this dissertation. Fulfillment of career ambitions of both comma and acadanic executives A unique question was posed to the executives in the 1962 study as follows: If you could secure the position of your choice by merely naming it, what would it be? Please give the name of the comparw, the position, salary, and describe the job briefly. The question was purposely stated in a manner to encourage an uninhibited expression of maximum career ambition. The responses, as expected, covered a broad range of executive positions. One of the questions in the 196 5 study, which the reader will recall was asked of the 1962 executives. stated: Please state your present position and title. 69 TABLE XI POSITION RFIATEIDTO COMPANY SALES VOLUME l96h PHASE Annual Sales for 1963 ganglia»)..- Present Position of Participant Under 1- 10- 100- 500- Over None (Ranked 1-5) 1 10 100 500 1000 1000 Given Total 1. President or 6 5 1 1 13 Equivalent Percent of Total #6 38 8 8 16 2. Vice-president 1 8 l 2 l 13 or Equivalent Percent of Total 8 61 8 l5 8 l6 3. Division Manager 2 3 4 3 12 or Ebuivalent Percent of Total 17 25 33 25 1h u. Sales Manager 5 5 8 b h l 27 or Equivalent Percent of Total 18.5 18.5 29 l5 15 h 32 5. Other Designation 4 h 3 6 l 18 Percent of Total 22 22 17 3h 5 21 No,Answer 1 1 Percent of Total 1 Total 7 2# 10 14 11 1h' 4 8“ Percent of Total 8 29 12 16.5 13 16.5 5 100 70 The responses to these two questions were analyzed and compared on the basis of position and company. Each 1965 response was in- dividually matched with the corresponding 1962 response to ascertain if the 1965 position matched the position-goal stated in 1962. Thirty-one percent of the executives were found to have achieved their stated career objectives. Tuelve percent of the executives had indicated in 1962 that they already held the position of their choice. when the responses of these executives were matched with their responses in 1965. all executives still held the position of their choice. A combination of these two groups would then indicate that forty-three percent of the executives responding to the 196 5 questionnaire had either achieved or maintained the position of their choice during the time period from 1962 to 1965. Some of the executive responses to the 1962 questionnaire stated unusually high objectives. For example, one executive gave as his goal the position of Chairmn of the Board of American Telephone and Telegraph. an achievement which appeared unlikely since he was not in the employ of that company. No effort was made to evaluate the feasibility of the executives” objectives as stated in 1962; however, it is reasonable to assume that an even larger percentage of the executives would have achieved their desired positions if some had not stated unrealistic objectives. Achievement of position _goals within own company Of the executives who achieved their stated position-objective ninety percent did so within their own companies. The high degree of employment stability of these executives my be stated still another way. mly two of the executives who achieved their stated position 71 objectives did so outside their own companies and of these two one changed to another company and the other started his own company. It is worth noting that executives who did not achieve or maintain their stated position objective were not demoted and some were promoted but not to their stated position objective. Better employment stabilitygof academic group The two identical questions were asked in the 1965 research. Table XII indicates that thirtwaive percent of the academic program executives had been with their companies from.fifteen to nineteen years while none of the company executives had been with their companies more than nineteen years. Seventy percent of the academic executives had been with their companies ten.years or more indicating considerable employment stability for the academic participants. ‘Qifference in career mobility for both_group§ insignificant Upward mobility of careers is readily apparent in an examination of the data in Table XIII. .A large number of the executives had held their present positions for only a short period of time. Forty- seven percent of the academic executives in the study had held their position less than two years and thirty percent had held their positions 2~3.9 years. These two classifications alone included over three-fourths of the academic executives and indicated that they had held their present positions less than four years. Little difference that could be con- sidered significant was observed between the academic and company participants because of the small size of the company sample. It is worth noting that there is agreement between the findings of the 1965 phase and those of the 1964 phase. TABLE XII PARTICIPANT"S YEARS WITH COMPANY = 1965 PHASE 72 Ececutive Und er 59 10:14 15-19 Over No Total Developnent Program 5 20 Answer Academic 10 4 11 19 8 2 54 Percent of Years 19 7 20 35 15 4 100 Company '1 1 1 2 5 Percent of Years 20 20 20 40 100 Total 11 5 12 21 8 2 59 Percent of Years 19 8 20 36 13 4 100 73 TABLE XIII NUMBER OF YEARS FOR PRESENT POSITION 1965 PHASE Executive Under 2e3.9 4~5.9 6&7.9 8~10 Over No Total Development Program. 2 10 Answer Academic 25 16 2 3 3 2 3 54 Percent of Years 47 3O 4 5 5 4 5 100 Company 2 2 l 5 Percent of Years 40 40 20 100 Total 27 18 3 3 3 2 3 59 Percent of Years 46 30 5 5 5 4 5 100 74 A comparison of the 1965 data for these two questions reveals clearly that the majority of the executives exhibited employment stability in their companies and a high degree of career mobility within their companies. .An evaluation of executive positions on an individual basis showed that position mobility was not horizontal but upward. This finding was also apparent in the 1964 phase and should be of con- siderable interest not only to the executives themselves but to company officers who underwrite the authorization of time and money to support the development programs. A comparison of employment stability and career mobility was made in both the 1964 and 1965 phases. The basis of the comparison was an.analysis of the executive responses to two questions asked in both studies. The questions were these: How long have you worked for your present company? How long have you held.your present position? Employment longevity linked with vertical career movement within same company Table XIV of the 1964 phase reporting that the highest number of responses for all programs was twenty=seven percent in the highest categony of "twenty and over" years with the company. With this fact in mind, it is of interest to note that Table XV gives the highest number of responses for all programs in the "Under two" year category as thirty-nine percent. This comparison.appears to be of more than ordinany significance to an.analysis of executive career progress and stability of company employment. Could it be that the executives are remaining with their companies and at the same time are able to achieve relatively frequent promotional opportunities? Although this TABLE XIV PARTICIPANT'S YEARS WITH COMPANY w 1964 PHASE 75 Executive Under 5=9 10ml4 15-19 20 No Total Development Program. 5 .And Over .Answer .Academic 6 9 10 16 21 1 63 Percent of Years 10 14 16 25 33 2 100 Company 3 3 10 3 2 21 Percent of Years l4 14 48 14 10 100 Total 9 12 20 19 23 l 84 Percent of Years 11 14 24 22 27 2 100 76 TABLE XV NUMBER OF YEARS FOR HRESENT POSITION — 1964 PHASE Executive Under 10 No Development Program. 2 2-3.9 4-5.9 617,9 8-10 .And Over Answer Total Academic 25 15 9 5 2 5 2 63 Percent of Years 40 24 14 8 3 8 3 100 Company 8 3 6 2 1 1 21 Percent of Years 40 14 29 9 4 4 100 Total 33 18 15 7 3 6 2 84 Percent of Years 39 21 18 8 4 7 3 100 77 evidence alone may not be conclusive, it is certainly worth care- ful consideration. Longevity with a company combined with a relatively short length of time for the present position would indicate that the executives are being promoted. An analysis of the data for individual executives eliminated the possibility of horizontal career movement. That career mobility was upward was evident in meat instances. No demotionS'were noted and the research indicates that it is appropriate to assume that those who are staying with their companies are advancing to higher positions. Increasing degree of employment stability for academically- oriented executives The question arises as to whether there is any differences in employment stability between executives who have participated in company development programs compared with those who have participated in academic development programs. A casual examination of the time of service reported in Table XIV shows clearly that a larger proportion of company participants had been with their companies relatively shorter lengths of time than had their academic counterparts. In fact the academic executives show a percentage increase in every categony from the briefest to the longest period of service; a third had been with their companies twenty years or more. While the data do not suggest employment instability for company-developed executives since nearly half of the executives had remained with their companies four- teen to nineteen years, it is apparent that only ten percent had been ‘with their companies twenty years or more. The analysis indicates a steadily increasing degree of employment stability for executives 'who have participated in academic~centered programs. 78 Provision for unbiased appraisal in academically-oriented pm Is it possible that the company program which is by its very nature restricted to the compamr and its problems does not satisfy the executive's desire for a broader business experience, and that he changes companies in an effort to satisfy this desire? An academic developnent program by its very nature provides an educational experience to meet the executive's desire for a wider vision of his work and eliminates his need to change companies for this purpose. The executives repeatedly mphasized that exchange of ideas with executives from other companies was one of the outstanding values of an academic developuent program. Perhaps an academically-oriented program provides an unbiased look over the company fence which reveals the fact that the grass is essentially the same color on both sides. Evidence of marked upward mobility within same comparw_by_academic mam executives “ A similar analysis of the second question on length of time in present position reported in Table XV points up some other interesting facts. Of the total number of executives included in the study. thirty-nine percent had held their present position less than two years. The longer the employment period. the smaller the number of executives found in the category. It seems significant that there appears to be an inverse relationship between the number of executives in each category and the length of time the executives had held their present positions. Since we know from the analysis of the first question on length of service that the executives were remaining in the employ of their companies, we my conclude that these executives had recently been promoted within their companies. Evaluation of 79 individual executive positions reveals that the career movement was upward and not horizontal. This finding provides further support for the idea of career mobility‘within the company already alluded to in the analysis of the first question. The trend is very apparent for the academicallyeoriented executives. Upward career mobility achieved by changg of companylifor company- oriented executives A thoughtful comparison of the data for length of service and time in present position leads to the conclusion that more of the company executives achieved their career progress by changing companies than did the academic executives who apparently achieved their career progress within their own companies. It is logical to assume that the career movements of both classifications of executives was upward since the usual rationale behind a change of companies is that of a promotion or a better job. and changes within a company are usually in the nature of a promotion or job improvement. These findings should be of considerable import both to executives who are interested in achieving career progress while broadening their business experience and to company officers who are interested in developing and retaining high caliber operating executives in the employ of their companies. Company and academic program differences slight in dggree of aid to individual and to company Another evaluation of comparw versus academic programs was also attempted by asking the executives to indicate how they believed the academically oriented program compared with the company oriented program in benefiting their sponsoring companies and in helping them personally. Considerable frustration seemed to develop over these questions as in- 80 dicated by a large number of "no reaponses," however, the responses which were elicited are worthy of our analysis and study. In regard to helping the individual, thirty percent indicated that they thought the academic program was "much better," twelve percent thought it was "better" making a total of forty-atwo percent who assigned some degree of superiority to the quality of the academic program compared with that of the comparw program. A request for the same type of comparison, relating it this time to their employing companies, produced nearly identical results. Although there is considerable similarity between the responses to these questions, there are some slight differences apparent in the analysis which are worth noting. For example, no one of academic orien- tation thought that the academic programs were "not as good" in helping the individual; however. five percent of the academic executives thought that the,\academic programs were "not as good" as compam programs in helping their compam'. This is understandable because the studies have indicated that both academic and company programs if properly conducted can make a valuable contribution to the development of the executives who participate. Comments in both categories -- which helped the individual most and which helped the 352m most - are quoted for both types of programs Company Programs Helped the Individual the Most "More closely related to job." "Training in home office for regional vice-presidency. This program helped me to understand the overall operation of a life insurance company which is not obtainable in the field alone." "More knowledge. " 81 "Helping to develop broad management and perspective: some insight into specifics which I would ordinarily not get without specialized study." "Broadened background and ability." "None. Personally do not feel that these programs in them- selves are capable of doing more than giving insight into other businesses." Academic Programs Helped the Individual the Most "Much more diversified. Enables one to exchange ideas with counterpart from other industries." "More complete, better instructors, overall business outlook, the association with other men from other fields." "Depth penetration of many areas of responsibility in a marketing organization. Helped formalize ideas and concepts." "More subjects covered - a broader program." "I suddenly realized how much I had been flying by 'the seat of my pants' and I realized that I could fly better by instruments and that I couldn“t properly develop other people unless I taught them.instrument flying." "To get a better overall look at business instead of just the sales end." 'L____.was in the process of changing to a marketing concept of business and it gave me the chance to move with this plan." "Developing a long range marketing programs gave better in- sight, broadened view points, and improved my management skills." "Knowledge that our methods were adequate - equal to the others." 82 ”Frankly gave me confidence that my training, insights. and ability were adequate and equal to that of the average executive attending course a and thus helped relieve my nagging anxiety in this area." "Exposure and participation in modern (current) methods and techniques. Association with other men who are active in business." .ngpany Programs Helped the Company the Most "By opening new horizons." "All of our field management is required to have a comprehensive exposure to all aspects of company operations which may affect their Academic Programs Helped the Company the Most "Because the thesis was oriented to the mechanics of the expansion of the sales force and used as presented by the company in subsequent years." "was able to use some of the basic principles of product management in my companyus marketing program." "Better overall exposure to all types of business problems." "I was able to apply directly to my duties what I had learned." "The programs that help me help the company in direct proportion." "It was used as a basis of setting our company into a marketing organization." "Broader coverage of overall business management problems." "Updating of previously used methods - exposed older member of management to the realistic approach used by other successful businesses." 83 All of the executives stated that the programs contained materials applicable to their jobs. Another approach to evaluation is implicit in the 1964 phase whose base is the broadest of the three phases. The question on whether a registrant in a development program would recommend the program to another executive has already been explored, but no examination was made of the responses to which type of program.he would select. .An analyses of his choice and comments stating the reason for it follow. 0f the seventywsix percent of the executives included in the 1964 phase who indicated that they would recommend that other executives participate in an executive developnent program, eight percent selected the company programs and sixtyweight percent chose the academic programs. A number of the executives stated why they would recommend that other executives participate in executive development programs. A few of these comments are quoted below: Reasons for Recommending Company Programs 1. "Deals with problems which still directly relate to the management." 2. "Permits the individual to see the day to day programs and observe successful executives in action." 3. "Practical demonstrations of computer applications." 4. "Company first, followed by academically oriented." Reasons for Recommending Academic Prpgrams l. "we are becoming too specialized - men need a broader outlook." 2. "Academic because one advantage is sharing other views out- side the home organization." 3. "They need the insight and perSpective derived from other courses." 4. "It does more for the individual." 5. "Because they are separated from every day work and can de- vote their time and interests to the subjects." 6. "Better organized, no bias. Value of exchange of ex- periences of participants." 7. "Our emphasis is now on solving customer's problems and needs. Too many varied types of customers for anything but academic group study." In the 1962 phase a little dissatisfaction was noted with reference to company programs but nearly all comments on academic programs were favorable. In the 1964 phase one executive indicated that their trade association took care of company-oriented training but "for executive development we must look elsewhere." Other comments indicated that companies felt quite capable in technical matters but recognized the need of outside help in the development of executives. .A careful perusal of the material presented in this thesis should leave the reader with the impression that both company and academic programs, if properly conducted. can make helpful contributions to the development of executive talent, but, of the two, the weightier contribution must be credited to the academically—oriented development program. CHAPTER IV SUMMARY.AND CONCLUSIONS This study has endeavored to point out the benefits of executive development programs for marketing executives. Throughout the study the viewpoints of the individual executive, the sponsoring company, and the program directors were kept in mind. though the study itself was oriented largely from the executives' viewpoint. Based on personal interviews, observations, close personal contacts. and voluntary responses to an unusual type questionnaire this study is composed of three phases conducted in 1962, 1964, and 1965. The first phase was accomplished by the researcher's fullasession visit of two and one half weeks at the Graduate School of Sales Management and Marketing (GSSMM) in Syracuse, New'York of June 1962. Questionnaires handed out during the session and questionnaires by mail in l96h and 1965 supplied the data along with the personal work at GSSMM and the research reading for background material. Because respondents in phase one and three were the same individuals, the data were uncon- taminated, and because there was at least a threeeyear time lapse providing a genuine longitudinal study. the data can be considered fairly valid and unbiased. The second phase conducted in 1964 was based on a number of respondents from companies scattered throughout the United States. This study, set up to analyze and evaluate the benefits of development programs, to determine whether the benefits were lasting. and to decide which of the two types, companyworiented or academically- oriented programs, was more effective. resulted in substantiating the three hypotheses to be tested. The most outstanding evidences of the benefits were the following: 1. 3. 5. .Approximately half the executives affirmed willingness for a "repeat" attendance at the programs in the near future. The respondents were not only willing to recommend the programs to subordinates but three—fourths of them in- dicated, if they owned a company, that they would send their own marketing executives. Over threeafourths of the executives in the last two phases of the study reported that materials secured at the programs were used in their work and continued to be used after an interval of several.years. ‘A number, through unsolicited comments, gave the programs credit for saving the executive years of trial and error in decision making and in turn saving their companies thousands of dollars. Over forty percent of the executives cited instances of their company's direct use of specific materials from their learning activities. Because the researcher observed that marketing executives take credit more willingly than they give it, the following item is really significant: nearly three-fourths of the executives attributed their present positions and success in those positions at least in part to what they had learned by attendance at the programs. 7. 87 The longitudinal view of the study, particularly in the academic programs, showed that participating executives had exhibited employment stability by remaining with the same companies. The same data revealed that a majority of the executives. in varying degrees from little to much, credited their upward career mobility within the same company to their participation in the programs. Within the area of the programs themselves two types vie for recognition, the company-oriented program and the academically-oriented pr ogram. The balance of favor was tilted definitely toward the academic type although company programs had a slight advantage in the responses to the question concerning which program helped the comparnr most. This was to be expected in a program tailored to a specific comparw and its needs. The academic program was favored by the individual executives because a 1. 2. Its wider instructional basis broadened their own outlook in seeing the executive's role in business in general as well as in particular. It provided a better opportunity for exchange of ideas in an environment conducive to thinking where registrants and faculty with diverse business education and backgrounds engaged in seminars and intermingled freely on a social level. The third hypothesis which maintains that the benefits of the executive development programs are enduring ones naturally overlaps 88 the first which identifies them. Briefly, the enduring qualities are evident in the use of program.materials over a period of time, in the use of the learning activities in their companies and finally in the upward career mobility and employment stability within the same company. The most outstanding discoveries in the data are the two items last named. While the research reading yielded much historical material and some on current trends in developing executive programs, almost nothing on evaluation of the programs was found. Nowhere did the researcher find any mention of either upward career mobility or employment stability for executives within their companies. This discovery is valuable because it establishes the confidence of both company and registrants in the benefits of executive development programs. Likewise it facilitates planning because it promotes the knowledge that individuals and their companies can compatibly share the common objectives - company progress and career advancement - without fear of loss either to executive or to company. This thesis through a three phase empirical study has supported the hypotheses that executive development programs have significantly benefited the participating marketing executives and their companies, and it is therefore reasonable to conclude that the required time and expense involved are justified. Executive development programs were first inaugurated to meet the need for more and better trained executives. This thesis was initiated to evaluate the effectiveness of executive development programs for marketing executives in particular. Although the programs are making 89 a valuable contribution to the quantity and quality of executive talent neither business men nor organizations may relax for even a moment. According to Patton, “A recent study by McKinsey and Company of the organization of the one hundred largest United States companies showed that between 1955 and 1965 the average number of corporate officers rose by twentyoeight percent."15 The author quoted above warns that the competition for executive talent by 1975 may be the severest of all. It has always been said that there is room for a good man at the top. Now it may be said that there is a demand for good men at the top. Individuals and companies who plan to be a part of the successful business world of tommorrow will continue to utilize the talents of university-oriented instructors, who offer executive development programs to the business community. In their book just off the press Huneryager and Heckman state "The success of any type of working organization, especially a business firm, is entirely dependent upon its ability to obtain, nurture and develop managerial talent."16 ljlrch Patton, "The Coming Scramble for Executive Talent," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 45, No. 3. (May-June, 1967). (Boston, Massachusetts: Graduate School of Business, Harvard University). p. 159. 16S. C. Hungeryager and I. L. Heckmann, Human Relations in Management. Second Edition. (Chicago: South-western Publishing Comparv. 1967). p- 101- 9O BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Andrews, Kenneth R... The Effectiveness of University Management Develgpnent Programs. Boston: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1966. Baritz. Loren, The Servants of Power. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1960. Curcuru. Edmond Harvey, Critical Issues in the Development and Administration of Advanced Management Education Courses Sponsored by Selected United States Business Corporations. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, Inc., Columbia University, Ph.D., 1963. Crissy, W. J. E.. Harold C. Cash, The Salesman as a Self-Manager. Psychology of Selling Series, Vol. VT. Flushing, N. Y.: Personnel Development Associates,l 1962. , Selling In Depth. Psycholog of Selling Series, Vol. XI, Flushing, N.Y.: Personnel Developnent Associates, 1965. Daffern. George N., Management Development in a Changing World. New York: Boardman Publishing Corporation, 1960. DeCarlo, Charles R... Ormsbee W. Robinson. Education in Business and Industgz. New York: The Center for Applied Research in Education. Inc., 1966. DePhillips, Frank A., William M. Berliner, James J. Cribbin, Management of Training Programs. Homewood, Illinois: Richard Do Minn 196—0 Edwards, Joseph Dean, Executives: Making Them Click. New York: University Books, 1956. Huneryager, S. G... I. L. Heclonan, _H1_1man Relations In Management. Second Edition. Cincinnati, Ohio: Southwestern Publishing Company, 1967. Lerner, Daniel and Harold D. Lasswell, The Policy Sciences. Stanford, California: The Stanford Press, 1951. 91 Meier, Norman R. F., Allan R. Solem, Ayesha A. Maier, Supervisory Iar.d_ Exes t ive Development. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 195/0 McFarland, Dalton E. , Management Principles and Practices. Second Edition. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1961-T. Miner, John B.. Studies in Management Education. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 1965. Mitchell, William Norman, The Business Executive in a ChangEngorld. “ti-rm:- New York: American Management Assocation, 1965. J ennings, Eugene E., The Executive, Autocrat, Bureaucrat, Democrat. New York: Harper and Row, 1962. ,An Anatonw of Leadership: Princes, Heroes, and Superman. New York: Harper and Bro hers, 1960. ___, The Exemtive in Crisis; East Lansing: Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Michigan State University, 1965. Trickett, Joseph M. A Survey of Management Develognent. New York: American Management Association. Urwick, Lyndall F. Management Education in American Business. American Management Association. 1954. PUBLICATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT, LHRNED SOCIETIES, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS Comany Programs of Executive Development: Studies in Personnel Policies, No. 107, National Industrial Conference Board, New Crissy, W. J. E.. Anfiaalgtion of the Effectiveness of a Naval Officer Correspondence Course, Educational Research Corporation: Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dec., 1956. Ebcecutive Development Courses in Universities: Studies in Personnel Policy, No. 142, National Industrial Conference Board, New York, 1950. Fbcecutive Development in Action, Pamphlet 9, Society for Personnel Administration, Washington 12, D.C., 1955. Developirg Managers for Decentralized Operations, XXII, N0. 1+, National Industrial Conference Board, Management Record, New York, 1960. Ferguson, Lawrence L., "Better Management of Managers' Careers," Harvard Business Review, XLIV, No. 2, March-April, 1966, p. 11:1. 92 "Field Sales Mamgement," Ebcperiences in Marketing Management, No. 1, The Conference Board, New York. 1962. The Fr2:.njggigrsngMWar-keting Though; and Science. Papers presented at The Dec-ember 1957 Teachers Conference of AMA held in Phila- delphia. Published by Modern Art Co. , Columbus, Ohio, 1957. Goetz, Billy, E. Goetz, "Management Education in Ehropean Countries," Academy of Management Journal. III, No. 1, (April, 1960), 51. Hodapp, Victor W. , An Objective Evaluation of a Mamjement Developnent Program, Business Research Center, John Carroll University; Cleveland, Ohio, April, 1966. House, Robert J., Henry Tosi, "An Experimental EValuation of a Management Training Program,“Acaderqy of Management Journal, VI, No. 4 (December, 1963) . 303. "A Commitment Approach to Management Development." A California Management Review, (Reprint Spring - 1965) Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles, p. 15. The Job of General Management, A case Story of Executive Developnent, AMA, Series No. 138, New York, 1946. Mace, Myles, L.. "Developing the Executive of Tomorrow," &, General Management Series, No. 186, 19~2#. 1957. Managgment Developmenth TeneYear Case Study, No. 11+0, National In- duStrial Conference Board, New York, 1953. McFarland. D. E.,"Education For Management," Acadenw of Management , ”The Energing Revolution in Management Education," Academ of Management Journal, III, No. 1 (April, 1960). 7. Mitchell, Walter Jr., "Use of uLive Cases' in Management Developnent," Agadem of Management Journal, V, No. 1, (April, 1962), 86. O'Donavan, Thomas R. . "Differential Extent of Opportunity Among Executives and Managers," Academy of Management Journal, V. No. 2, (August, 1962), 139. Organization FlamingngecentraliLgation Considered, XXII, No. 1+, National Industrial Conference Board, Management Record, New York, 1960. Patton, Arch, "The Coming Scramble for mecutive Talent," Harvard Business Review, XLV, No. 3, May-June, 1967. Powel, Reed M.. "Growth Plans for Executives," Reprint, Business Horizons (Sumner, 1961), 141-50. 93 “ ,mo "Busiress Looks at University Executive Development Programs," Ba..§»~~ T p_c: X, N-. h, (Aatumn, 1962) 157. , 90The Role and Impact of the Partwtime University Pragram in Executive Education," Graduate School of Business Administration, University of California, Los Angeles, 1962. ,"Management Development ea The Plus Factor in the Survival of the FirmJ'Reprint No. 19m1963, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of California, Los.Ange1es. , "Two Approaches to University Management Education," Reprint No. 23, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of , "Elements of Executive Promotion," Reprint,Ca1ifornia Manag ment Review (Winter, 1963) 83 90. , ”How Men Get.Ahead" Reprint, Nations Business, LII, N0. 3. (March, 1964). pp. 3503354" , "Managers8 Needs and University Development," Reprint No. 47, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of California, Los Angeles, 1964. Riegel, John W},Ekecutive Development,.A Survey of Experience in Fifty American Corporations. Ann Arbor: Bureau of Industrial Re- lations, University of Michigan, 1952. Scott, William.G., "Executive Development, as an Instrument of Higher Control," Academy of Management Journal, VI, No. 3. (September, 1963) 191. Selecting Compagy Executives, Studies in Personnel Policy, No. 161, National Industrial Conference Board, New York, 1957. Simpson, Robert G.,Case Studies_in Management Development. New York: American.Management Association. Wikstrom, walter S..(ed.) Developing Better Managers,.An Eight-Nation Study, The Conference Board, New York, 1961. , Development Managerial Competengg: Changing Concepts, Emerging Practices, National Industrial Conference Board, New York, 1964. ‘Williams, Douglas and Peterfreund, Stanley, The Education of Employees: A Status Report. American Management Association. UNPUBLISHED'MATIRJALS Oberg, Winston, The Universityls Role in Ekecutiveggducation. East Lansing, Michigan: Unpublished report to the participating companies by Director of Executive Management Seminars, Graduate School of Business Administration, Michigan State University, 1962. 9L], Skyard, LaVerne F., Alumni Survey Report of Past Participants in Michigan State Universityfls Management Seminars. East Lansing, Michigan: Unpublished student project for Course MTA-899. 1961+. Stanke, G. W., Problem Analysis on Continuing Education — Is it for Ethyl? East Lansing, Michigan: The Advanced Management Program, Michigan State University, April, 1967. APPENDIX 96 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY mummc 196a GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT 0! MANAGEMENT .You have been chosen to participate in a research study because of your successful participation in one or more executive development programs. The purpose of the research is to evaluate objectively the extent to which these programs meet the educational and develop- ment needs of management and marketing executives. Neither your identity nor the.identity of your company will be published. All data gathered will be considered absolutely confidential and.will be used only for scholarly purposes. I will be glad to send a summary copy of my findings to all who participate. Your help is urgently needed to provide the information necessary for a study of this kind. The format of the research study has been designed to save your time. Complete honesty and frankness is desired. Your prompt reply in the enclosed self-addressed postage free envelope will be_a great help to the study. Thank you kindly. Cordially youryx/ Mam/W Wilson Trickett Doctoral Candidate. Michigan State University 97 LIIClilChAbJ STVVTE IJbflFVElLSPTY’smnIANSNG 196+ GRADUATE SCHOOL 0? BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION OMCI O! m DEAN Executives like yourself are understandably concerned with educational programs designed to enhance the management talents of the firm. As you are aware, company training is increasingly complemented within by university and association sponsored executive education. Our own business school has as one of its-key missions the conducting and research evaluation of programs in this area. So that not only our efforts but kindred efforts by others will become increasingly effective, please cooperate with us by complet- ing the enclosed questionnaire. Mr. Trickett's doctoral research shows promise of making a significant contribution to improved executive education. Your help in his study will be most appreciated. Sincerely! ; W. J. E. Crissy, Associate Dean Professor of Marketing WJEC/mag 98 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY usrmnsmo 196 5 GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT Your part in evaluating the work of the Graduate School of Sales and Marketing Management at Syracuse. New York. in the summer of 1962 has become a valuable part of my research project. Since that time the study base has been broadened to include several other programs. The purpose of the research is to evaluate objectively the extent to which these programs meet the educational and developnent needs of management and marketing executives. You are in a strategic position to provide an evaluation of the work of GSSMM, which should prove to be extremely valuable. I am interested in comparing your present evaluation with your initial evaluation to learn some of the cumulative effects of the program. Enclosed is a questionnaire which I am currently using in my research. It has been designed to save your time. Your help in supplying the information requested with complete honesty and frank- ness will be appreciated. Neither your identity nor the identity of your company will be published. All data gathered will be considered absolutely confi- dential and will be used only for scholarly purposes. I will be glad to send a summary copy of my findings to all who participate. Your prompt reply in the enclosed self-addressed postage free envelope will be a great help to the study. Thank you kindly. Cordially yours, Wilson Trickett Doctoral Candidate Michigan State University “833 99 PARTIAL COPY CF 1962 QUESTIONNAIRE INCLUDING ALL PERTINENT QUE‘I‘IONS III DIPLOIMENT INFCRMA‘I‘ION Name of your present employer Address of your present employer What is your official title? Give name of your immediate superior Give official title of your immediate superior Mark with a g your present annual salary (or total compensation); mark with a a your beginning salary on your first supervisory assignment with this company or any other company. __ Less than $5,000 __ $1o,ooo.=$12,499 __ $2o,ooo-$2u.999 __ $5.000-$7.l+99 ___$12.500-$1u.999 _ Over $25,000 __ ”soc-$9.999 __ $15.000-$19.999 How long have you worked for your present company? How long have you held your present position? List other positions held with all companies, and approximte dates. Start with first position and end with present position. POSITION CCMPANY E First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth; Seventh Eighth 100 IV Gm INFWMATION ALL GSSMM REGISTRANTS PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOJING QUESTIONS: 1. 3. 5. 6. 7. When did you first hear of GSSMM? How did you first hear of GSSMM? Who suggested that you attend GSSMM? Give name, company. position or title if other than self? Did you have to convince amone to let you come? Did you want to attend GSSMM? Please explain. Would you send your mrketing executives to GSSMM if you owned your own company? Would you attend GSSW at your own personal expense? Would you try to influence your management to send your subordimtes? Have you ever participated in the other SHE-International programs; 1.9. - The Field Sales Management Institute or the Salesmen's Work- shop? If so, please give the approximate dates and places. DATE PLACE FSMI SALESMEN 'S WCRKSHOP A Please list amt other management or executive training programs of any kind in which you have participated from the earliest to the present. Name of Prom Approximate Date Duration of Program Offered Dy B Please rank the programs you have listed by their value to you by placing a number by each. (Use #1 to indicate the program you be- lieve was the most valuable, #2 for the next most valuable, etc.) 9. 10. 101 C Please write GSSMM in the list on page 5 (in BA) with reference to its relative importance as you see it. Do you believe that the work of GSSMM is well known in marketing circles? Yes No Discuss: No doubt you have had a munber of outstanding business experiences (or periods of employment) that have contributed significantly to your marketing knowledge. Please choose one of these experiences, and tell what it was, and how it helped you. “five the approximate date and duration.) If you had participated in a management or executive training pro- gram prior to the business experience described by you in IV 10 please answer question A below. If not. please answer question B. below. A. Do you recall any part of a management or executive program which helped you in this business experience? If so, please describe it and explain how it helped you. B. Do you believe am part of a management or executive program could have helped you in this business experience described by you in IV 10? If so, please describe it and how it would have helped. 102 12. What did you learn from this business experience which you would not ordinarily expect from a management or executive training program? 13. Please compare the business experience described by you in IV 10 with any management or executive training program you have ex- perienced by placing an "X" by the best answer in the following statement. I consider the business experience to be Much more helpful More helpful About the same amount of help Less helpful Much less helpful than the training program. 11+. If you could secure the position of your choice by merely naming it. what would it be? Please give the name of the company, the position. salary, and describe the job briefly. 15. Please describe the imge of 688)!!! as you see it. 103 1+. A. What is your judgment concerning the rate of your career progress? Please check one answer. Very Fast Fast Average Little slower than average Slow Very slow Not moving B. Please cement on your answer. 101+ VI SEMD YEAR PARTICIPANTS CNLY Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability. 1. 3. 5. Please indicate how much you have used your executive workbook in your work since your first year course by underlining the most appropriate answer. Continuously A little Frequently Very little Some None Do you believe that your participation in last year's GSSMM has helped you in your work? Please explain with specific illustrations if possible. Have you been advanced or are you being considered for ad- vancement in your company since your participation in last year's GSSMM? Yes No Please explain. Do you believe personally that it is best to advance within a company or to change companies for advancement? mm Have you changed companies since last year's program? Yes No Please explain. 6. 7. 9. 10. 105 Do you anticipate changing companies after completing this year's GSSMM or in the near future? Yes No Please explain Describe your problan analysis topic briefly. Would you have done the problem analysis project had it not been required by 658101? Did a of the GSSMM faculty members contribute either directly or ingrectly in the solution of your problem analysis? Please explain Do you believe that your problem analysis has helped you or your company? Please explain 106 INFORMATION REQUESTED 1961}, 196 5 INSTRUCTIONS: Please endeavor to answer each question to the best of your ability. If a question doesn't fit your situation, do not hesitate to ex- press your views as you think best. When you have completed your response, please place it in the enclosed self-addressed, postage-free envelope bearing the name WILSON TRICKE'IT and mail it. You need not identify yourself on the questionnaire; however, your name and return address on the envelope will enable me to send you a summary of my research results as well as to check your name off my list. 1. Please list the company-oriented executive developnent programs in which you have participated since 1953 until now: Name of Program Conducted By Duration Year ssew> (Please continue on the back of this page if more space is needed) 2 . Please list the academically-oriented executive developnent programs in which you have participated since 1953 until now: ,‘F. J. (Please continue on the back of this page if more space is needed) 3. Please describe how you were selected to participate in these programs. 107 -2- Please indicate which five programs helped you the most personally (refer to A-E, question 1: and F-J, question 2). Please explain how. Please indicate which five programs helped your company the most (refer to A-E, question 1,: and F-J, question 2). Please explain how. Please check any of the following in which you have participated in any executive developnent program: ( ) Management Game ( ) Computer Problem ( ) Case Analysis ( ) Other ( ) Problem Analysis ( ) Other Remarks: Were the results of any of your activities referred to in question 6 used by your company? ( ) yes ( ) no If yes, please explain what and'how. Do you still use any of the materials you secured from any of your executive developnent programs? ( ) yes ( ) no If yes, please explain what you use. 10. ll. 13. 11+. 108 -3- Is there am one subject, idea, or area of instruction which stands out in your memory more than any other? ( ) yes ( ) no If yes, please state what and why if possible. Are there any faculty members or training personnel who made a lasting t impression on your memory? ( ) yes ( ) no If yes, please state who and why if possible. Please compare the programs which you believe helped you the most as follows: The academically-oriented program was ( ) much better, ( ) better, ( ) about the same, ( ) not as good, as the company-oriented program. Please compare the programs which you believe helped your company the most as follows: The academically-oriented program was ( ) much better, ( ) better, ( ) about the same, ( ) not as good, as the comm-oriented program. If you are in a position to recommend that other executives participate in an executive developnent program, which program would you send them to now? Please be specific and explain why. Do you plan to participate in an executive training program in the near future? ( ) yes ( ) no If yes, please explain what, how, and why. 15. 16. 170 18. 19. -h- 109 Please state your position, title,and the date of your first supervisory position in the business world. Please state your position, title, and the date of your supervisory position when you first participated in an executive development program. Please state your present position and title. Please indicate how much credit is attributable to executive development programs for your present position: ( ) much credit, ( ) some credit, ( ) little credit, ( ) no credit. Please indicate the approximate annual sales volume of the firm with which you were connected in each of the fOIlowing years. Year Annual Sales Volume 1953 l9Sh 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 l96h 20. 21. 22. 23. Zn“ 110 -5- Please indicate your approximate annual remuneration by years as indicated: 132; Annual Remuneration 1953 1951!L 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 . ,l‘ .‘7 1963 l96h How long have you worked for your present company? How long have you held your present position? If you were free to establish an executive development program, what would you do or include that is not currently offered in today's programs? Please be as specific as possible. If you could relive your business career, what changes would you.make? lll -5- OPTIONAL INFORMATION Name Age Last First Middle Home Address Company Name Compamr Address Please circle the highest grade level of formal education you have achieved: Grade8-9-lO-ll-12-l3-lh-15-l6 Please list any degrees you hold Would you be willing to correspond regarding this study? ( ) yes ( ) no Would you be willing to be interviewed personally? ( ) yes ( ) no ”I17111111111111171“