Mays Impacts

Connecting academia with the corporate world is a primary goal for the college’s Center for Human Resource Management. To shed light on the latest in human resource management research, the center sponsored Breakfast Briefing events in Dallas and Houston this summer.

According to Director Bethany Champ, these briefings gave faculty members in the Department of Management the chance to present their latest research on different aspects of salary negotiations. Management faculty taking part in the series were:

Dr. Christopher Porter discussed the effects of salary negotiations on recruitment — specifically that fairness in the negotiation process is important to organizational entry.

Dr. Michael Wesson, who researches organizational behavior, presented his findings on the impact of the salary negotiation process on new employees.

Dr. Wendy Boswell addressed how the negotiation process affects organizational alignment. Specifically, she discussed employees who were using job searches in order to gain leverage with their current employers to renegotiate salary.

“We want to share faculty research with companies,” Champ says. “We also try to work with companies to find out what they would like to know more about.”

No matter how much equity executives own in their organization, company performance isn’t affected, says a new paper co-authored by assistant management professor, Trevis Certo.

The paper was the subject of a recent New York Times article (“Options Do Not Raise Performance, Study Finds”) and notes that the paper combines more than 200 studies from the past 30 years.

Certo authored the paper with colleagues Dan R. Dalton, dean of Indiana University School of Business and Cathryn M. Daily and Rungpen Roengpitya, who are both professors at Indiana.

Certo recently presented the paper at the Academy of Management’s annual meeting. In addition, a version of it will appear in an upcoming issue of the Academy of Management Journal.

Accounting professor L. Murphy Smith recently received the Outstanding Educator Award given by the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Section of the American Accounting Association.

The award recognizes his many contributions to the accounting field. Smith has authored more than 40 technology-related journal articles and eight technology-oriented books. In addition, he has written two educational novels that introduce students to current issues such as e-commerce, global trade, expert systems and computer crime.

“I want my students to be informed of the latest developments in technology,” he says, “and to be able to use technology to make superior contributions in the firms where they go to work after graduation.”

Former doctoral student, Kathy Seiders, was recently interviewed on “60 Minutes” about retailer Malden Mills. Seiders is an associate professor of marketing at Babson College, where she focuses on retailing strategy, consumer shopping behavior, food marketing and service quality.

While at the Mays College, Seiders was affiliated with the Center for Retailing Studies. Her research has appeared in numerous academic journals and has been featured in such publications as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Inc. Magazine and USA Today.

A team of researchers from the Department of Marketing was recently honored at the 2002 American Marketing Association Summer Educator’s Conference. The team members included marketing professor David Szymanski, doctoral student Michael Kroff and former doctoral student Lisa Troy.

Their paper, “Does Product Innovativeness Really Enhance Performance?” was selected as the Best Overall Paper at the annual event. The paper was chosen by a panel comprised of the executive director of the Marketing Science Institute, a former editor of the Journal of Consumer Research and the current editor of the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management from among 12 winning papers presented at the conference.

In the wake of corporate scandals and a struggling market, European businesses’ love-hate relationship with America continues. At least that’s the analysis of finance professor Julian Gaspar, who serves as the director of the college’s Center for International Business Studies.

While teaching in France this summer, Gaspar observed that even though Europeans continue to hold fast to international accounting standards, they would like to implement corporate governance structures more like those found in America.

“Although current events may exert some negative influence on Europe’s opinions of U.S. business, Europeans’ basic business approach has been the same for some time,” Gaspar says. “European businessmen and politicians are edging closer to the American approach, trying to adapt the good things we do, but not accepting our system lock, stock and barrel.”

In the aftermath of U.S. business failures, Gaspar says the focus is now directed to the differences in accounting systems, disclosure and transparency.

“As globalization increases, the United States will most likely move toward international accounting principles, a step that would facilitate international comparisons,” he says.

Executive Associate Dean Ricky Griffin has recently been named a Distinguished Professor of Management by Texas A&M University. Griffin becomes only the third faculty member in the college to garner the honor.

Since joining the Mays College in 1981, Griffin has written several highly successful management textbooks and served as the editor for the Journal of Management.

Former Dean Benton Cocanougher has recently been named special assistant to Texas A&M’s new president, Robert M. Gates.

Cocanougher, dean emeritus of the college and Wiley Professor, will help build and maintain communications with external constituencies of the university. He will also provide advice on priority issues and undertake special projects and studies as requested by President Gates.