UNICON-sponsored research covers a wide range of topics, with the goal of expanding knowledge in the field and keeping members informed of the latest developments in the executive education sector. If you, or a faculty member at your university, has an idea for a research project, please contact the Research Committee. Research Spotlight: The 2019 report, “Implications of Artificial Intelligence on Business Schools and Lifelong Learning”, examines how institutions approaching the AI challenge, including experimenting with curricular changes and new process technologies, exploring cross-disciplinary collaborations, or even creating new schools or academic unitsSee the full report below. UNICON Research Report – “The Changing Nature of Leadership: An exploratory investigation into how the evolution of social media is changing what it means to be an effective leader” By: Dr. Patricia Hind and Viki Holton, Senior Research Fellow, Ashridge Executive Education at Hult International Business School, in Partnership with UNICON Organizations, particularly commercial ones, have been quick to see the customer-focused communicative value of social media but, the potential for social channels to improve leadership effectiveness in organizations, through interaction, content-sharing, and collaboration, has been less well understood or harnessed. This article shares a few highlights from a study, sponsored by UNICON and published by Hult Ashridge, concerning the way business schools must rethink leadership development in the light of this socio/technical phenomenon. ___ AACSB, EMBAC, and UNICON Sponsored Research “Implications of Artificial Intelligence on Business Schools and Lifelong Learning“ Conducted by the Academic Leadership Group Authors: Jennifer Stine, Anne Trumbore, Toby Woll, and Heber Sambucetti If the goal of business education is to equip workforce leaders to master AI’s opportunities and challenges, new linguistics, skills, technologies, strategies, ethics, and world views will have to be understood and embraced by existing management and cadres newly entering the workforce. However, the state-of-the-art AI that needs to be taught is itself just beginning to emerge …. What can be said from our investigation is that almost every business school we spoke with is responding to the AI challenge in some fashion, including experimenting with curricular changes and new process technologies, exploring cross-disciplinary collaborations, or even creating new schools or academic units. Final Report, November 4, 2019 Webinar on this research now posted on the UNICON YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsdf1mNkMvHDqFxx5l9NKA Direct link to the webinar: https://youtu.be/NPi8r9G4O0Y ___ UNICON-Sponsored Research – “ROI on Executive Education – Revisiting the Past and Looking to the Future” By: Pat Cataldo, Bob Stilliard, and Peter Topping This research provides extensive, updated research on the topic of evaluation and Return on Investment (ROI) for executive education investments. It provides new members to the industry a good background on the ROI of executive education investments topic. For more experienced sponsors, clients, and university providers, it enhances their information and understanding of recent developments. ___ UNICON-Sponsored Research – “Make Or Buy To Scale” By: Jennifer Stine and Toby Woll Should executive education organizations make or buy to scale their offerings? The answer is surprisingly complex. For this research report, we interviewed executive education leaders from ten different schools in the US, Mexico and Singapore to understand their approaches to scaling. We also spoke with leaders from two companies who provided a “voice of the customer.” We learned that scaled, technology-enabled learning is currently driving executive education growth, and that this is expected to continue. Some of the dimensions of scale being explored include geographic and time zone reach, the number of participants in a program, different learner levels and needs, new generations, and interdisciplinary course content. UNICON White Paper Exec Ed Framing and Making Strategic Choices Executive education is a competitive business. There is no one way for a school to be successful, so deans and their leadership teams need to develop viable strategies by framing and making strategic choices, while retaining the agility to adapt to new information and changing circumstances. This requires a process that engages relevant stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue that is framed around the key choices and based in facts while using a common language. This paper outlines an approach to doing this. ___________________ UNICON, along with AACSB and EMBAC, co-sponsored a multi-year, multi-phase study regarding the implications of the “Digital Generations” on business education. Phase one, “Serving the Future Needs of Business in Management Development and Retention”, was conducted by Dr. Jim Pulcrano and a report issued in October 2013. Phase two, “Future Trends in Business Education, A Market Trends Survey Project Conducted and Reported by Executive Core, LLC.”, was published in January, 2016. Phase three, “Understanding the Implications of the Digital Generation on Business Education” was recently completed and a joint press release made available to the general public on March 6, 2018. Results from a new research study identifies how business schools can align their education models to meet the needs and expectations of millennials and the newest generation of learners, Generation Z. Prepared by: Giuseppe Auricchio, Kati Clement-Frazer, JoEllyn Prouty McLaren Blended programs are now common among business schools, yet studies on the effectiveness of leadership development programs that follow a blended model have been limited. The lack of a deep understanding of the opinions of learners who take part in blended programs is a potential blind spot for executive education program designers. A recent UNICON study has helped fill this void of customer insight. Full Report Link: Blended_Learning_Report-The_Voice_of_the_Learner-Auricchio_Clement-Frazer_Prouty-McLaren The hypothesis of this research is that there is inherent tension between the current demands of the market and the organizational capability and structure of the university-based business school. Full Report Link: https://www.uniconexed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Changing-Models-Final-Copy-with-PS-as-distributed.pdf UNICON, along with AACSB and EMBAC, co-sponsored a multi-year, multi-phase study regarding the implications of the “Digital Generations” on business education. This paper was Phase one, “Serving the Future Needs of Business in Management Development and Retention”, conducted by Dr. Jim Pulcrano and a report issued in October 2013. Phase two, “Future Trends in Executive Education, A Market Trends Survey Project Conducted and Reported by Executive Core, LLC.“, was published in January, 2016. Phase three, “Understanding the Implications of the Digital Generation on Business Education” was recently completed and a joint press release made available to the general public on March 6, 2018. Best Practices in Marketing Executive Education – SUMMARY UNICON Research Committee, Pat Cataldo, November, 2012 Best Practices in Marketing Executive Education – FULL REPORT UNICON Research Committee, Pat Cataldo, November, 2012 (note: large pdf file) “Developing Successful Faculty”, Elizabeth Weldon, Jan., 2012 “Helping Faculty Build Executive Education Skills”, Elizabeth Weldon, Jan., 2012 “What Makes You Successful”, Elizabeth Weldon, Jan., 2012 “Breaking the Mold on Blended Learning”, Marie Eiter and Toby Woll Principal Investigators, Nov., 2011 “Going Mobile In Executive Education”, Dr. Carina Paine Schofield, Emily Taylor and Trudi West, Ashridge Business School, Nov., 2011 Emerging-Practices-Program-Evaluation – Final-Report-Sept-2010, Eiter, Halperin, 2010 “Investigating Our Custom Clients’ Evolving Needs”, Marie Eiter, Principal Investigator, 2009 “Ashridge, Innovation in Executive Development”, Voller and Honore, 2008 “Trends in Executive Development”, Spearly, Baker, 2005 “Measuring ROI”, Topping, 2005 ROI_Report_Final_May_2005 (pdf) “Executive Education: Evaluating the Return on Investment. Bringing the Client Voice into the Debate”. Ashridge UNICON_USA_Report_22-06-06 (pdf) – Findings from the US: An Appendix to the May 2005 Report UNICON ROI White Paper Final April 2005 (pdf) Dr. Peter Topping, Emory University A Model for the Strategy and Tactical Steps that Create Enterprise Capability William T. Scheurer, University of Minnesota “Capability Strategy: the six-factor model”, Scheurer, 2004 “Best Practices in Executive Education”, December, 2001 – January, 2002 “Benchmarking Report: The Year That Was”, Centini, McGurrin, 2001-2002 “Influence of eLearning in Executive Education”, Presented at the Fall Conference, December, 2001 “Influence of eLearning in Executive Education”, MagmaLearningGroup, November, 2001 UNICON E-Learning Study – Survey Respondents’ Comments, MagmaLearningGroup, October, 2001 Note: Some earlier files were converted from paper documents. It may be necessary to rotate a page using Adobe Acrobat Reader tools.Full Report:
Final Report:
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Guy Saunders, Tom Ryan 2018
POSITIONING YOUR EXECUTIVE EDUCATION ACTIVITIES FOR THE FUTURE
Marie Eiter, Jenny Stine, Toby Woll
UNICON, along with AACSB and EMBAC, co-sponsored a multi-year, multi-phase study regarding the implications of the “Digital Generations” on business education. Ten major themes reflecting the predominant and relevant perceptions and expectations of the study participants were identified. Additionally, a number of possible future implications and actions by business schools were identified. The overarching theme and associated recommendation across the different specific needs and opportunities is: business schools have a growth opportunity to develop greater ongoing client intimacy with corporate talent management professionals and develop greater value as a designer and deliverer of client-specific, customized learning solutions.
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