From the Dean's Desk

Guest column: Ken Kelley

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 29 June 2020
Greetings! 
I hope this Exchange finds you and your family well.
In place of Martijn’s usual note, I will end our fiscal year 2019-2020 with a new beginning, one in which Martijn invites a guest to contribute a note to the Mendoza Exchange. This first guest column will be a two-parter, with the second part coming next week. 
To begin, during the past four months, I have witnessed firsthand significant pivots across all of our internal operations. We have all heard about the dedicated faculty who shifted to online teaching with very little preparation. By many accounts, teaching online was a resounding success. This is a testament to our dedicated and creative faculty. I echo Fr. John and Tom Burish in thanking you for all that you did to serve the students during the second half of Spring/Module 4. 
I also want to highlight the significant roles that staff members have played advancing our mission throughout this pandemic. I personally have seen many “behind the scenes” activities the staff has performed in order to advance the College and I hear about many other important activities from those I work most closely with. 
Prior to serving in administration – when I was teaching and working on research full time – I did not fully appreciate the essential roles that our various staff members and staff departments play in the operations of the College. I offer my sincere appreciation for the hard work that allowed us to effectively accomplish our core mission of teaching and research despite the drastic change in day-to-day operations due to the pandemic.
Regarding research, I would like to note the critical role that it plays in establishing our reputation as thought leaders in the various disciplines represented in the College. Each year, we have faculty openings and compete in the market with the best universities in the world for top research talent. This includes recruiting senior researchers who may not have shown any prior interest in moving from their current positions, yet we try to recruit them due to what we perceive as an exceptional fit with our mission. 
Although we have five academic departments, we have many research areas. Sometimes a faculty opening in a department is general, where we try to find the “best athlete” across the areas covered by the department. At other times, we may have an opening within a department’s particular sub-discipline (e.g., digital marketing, operations research, strategy, organizational behavior). In general, many aspects of business research are motivated by practical issues while leveraging more abstract or foundational fields.
In addition to publishing in top business journals, areas where our faculty may also contribute are publication in fields such as economics, mathematics, statistics, psychology, computer science, philosophy, and others, often with the inspiration based on a business application that may be of broader interest. The span of our faculty research is indeed broad. Clearly, we could not exist without the students, but we are able to serve the students best by having thought leadership in the field. 
All of our departments invest considerable time in recruiting candidates who will make us a better institution by elevating our research and teaching. I would like to thank the faculty of each of our departments that were so heavily engaged in recruiting last year and the administrative assistants who helped plan the many campus visits. The effort was a success: we have hired 18 new regular faculty, two visiting faculty members and one postdoctoral teaching scholar to join us in the coming academic year! 
Supporting an expansive research portfolio is a goal of the College and essential to our mission. In the next Mendoza Exchange, I’ll introduce the Mendoza Research Team and the critical role they play in supporting our research.
In messages to the faculty, I often offer to help them in any way that I can. I am always open to getting together – virtually or otherwise. Let me make the same offer to the staff as well: if there is anything that I can do for you or if you want to talk about anything, such as when you think something is not as it should be or if you have ideas for improvement, please contact me. 
Best wishes for a restful and safe summer,
Ken Kelley
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research
Edward F. Sorin Society Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations

New research

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 22 June 2020
Our faculty members continue to publish new research at a robust pace across all disciplines, a key contribution to our academic excellence. I’m pleased to recognize the following Mendoza faculty members for their recently published or forthcoming research:
Sandra Vera-Muñoz
Deloitte Foundation Department Chair of Accountancy and Associate Professor of Accountancy
"Communicating Assurance Using Practitioner-Customized Procedures: An Experiment and Emerging Research Opportunities;" forthcoming in Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory
We use a policy-testing experiment based on actual assurance reports on greenhouse gas emissions to elicit report users’ confidence judgments from combinations of assurance report attributes deemed important by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) in revising the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000R for nonfinancial assurance services. Our results indicate that practitioner-customized procedures as the basis for communicating assurance may induce an information credibility communication gap because users of assurance reports prepared under ISAE 3000R do not appreciate the incremental assurance provided by assurance procedures identified as important by the practitioner.
Rafael Zambrana
Assistant Professor of Finance
"Competition and cooperation in mutual fund families;" published in the Journal of Financial Economics
This research gives insight into how the contractual incentives of portfolio managers and the overall structure of incentives at the investment advisor those managers work for, affect the performance, risk, and strategy of the investment vehicles they manage. We find evidence consistent with a separating equilibrium, where some management companies encourage cooperation among their managers and are more likely to engage in coordinated behavior (e.g., cross-trading), while others encourage competition and generate higher-performing funds, but greater performance dispersion across funds.
Corey Angst
Professor of ITAO
"Too Good to Be True: Firm Social Performance and the Risk of Data Breach;” forthcoming in Information Systems Research
Data breaches are now a daily occurrence. What corporate leaders may not realize is that certain actions they are taking in the social responsibility space may in fact be placing a proverbial target on their backs. Indeed, there is evidence that the hacking community is not homogenous and at least some hackers from both internal and external sources appear to be motivated by what they dislike, as opposed to solely financial gain. In this paper, we find support for the idea that espoused positive social performance in areas that are peripheral to core business operations (e.g., philanthropy, recycling programs) can be a detriment to information security, particularly when firms have simultaneous high levels of social concerns.
John Busenbark
Assistant Professor of Management & Organization
"Divided We Fall: How Ratios Undermine Research in Strategic Management;" published in Organizational Research Methods
Since firms vary dramatically in their characteristics, empirical business researchers tend to standardize focal variables by transforming them into ratios (e.g., ROA, market-to-book, R&D intensity, etc.). In our research, we find and illustrate that the types of analytic models business scholars incorporate in their research are unable to detect accurate relationships between variables when either of them is a ratio. We argue this is problematic, particularly considering that nearly 80% of published empirical research in top management journals employed ratios, often times to make recommendations about variables that influence firm performance.
Vamsi Kanuri
Assistant Professor of Marketing
"When Consumption Regulations Backfire: The Role of Political Ideology;" published in the Journal of Marketing Research
Significant safety and health issues related to product consumption plague the United States and other countries around the world. To curb these issues, public policymakers frequently enforce consumption regulations. This research investigates why such regulations may backfire and how public policymakers can increase the effectiveness of the consumption regulations.
I’m thankful to all of our faculty for their many efforts in support of the University’s core mission of teaching and research, and congratulate them on their success with these publications.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Construction updates

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 15 June 2020
Although the campus currently is relatively quiet, we have lots of ongoing construction activity in Mendoza and Stayer as we get ready to welcome new faculty members and begin a new academic year. Here are recent updates:
Mendoza IT Offices: The IT team’s new location in Mendoza’s lower level — L054 as the main office and L048 housing academic support — is near completion. The goal is to have the team moved in by August 10.
Mendoza Suite 321: We are very fortunate to have 18 new faculty members joining us this year. To help fill our critical need for more offices, we are converting the former Mendoza IT suite to seven individual faculty offices. Construction is well underway and should be completed in early July.
Mendoza L062: Starting Spring 2021, all Mendoza undergraduates will be required to take a coding course. To provide the necessary classroom resources, L061 and L062 will be permanently separated with L062 being rebuilt as a business analytics lab. Particulars of the classroom are yet to be determined, but work should begin after Thanksgiving, so that both L061 and L062 are fully available for the full fall semester.
Stayer B003 (Commons C): We added a second MSBA cohort to accommodate the increased interest in this program. The B003 classroom in the Stayer basement will feature eight five-seat student tables with dual displays similar to those in the Mendoza L068 classroom. The tables will provide a collaborative learning experience for students, while also allowing them to swivel their seats to a smaller table placed behind them so all students can face forward for lecture presentations.
In this past, this would have been a computer classroom. However, this classroom is designed as a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) space where students can plug their laptops in to share a screen at their table. Access to specialized software for teaching and learning will either be installed on the student's own laptop or be provided using a virtual cloud-based computer lab. In addition, we’re adding comfortable seating and tables inside and outside the room to provide students with an attractive space to study and socialize. I want to thank Rob Easley and the ITAO faculty members including Fred Nwanganga and Sharif Nijim who were integral in providing feedback to optimize the design. We plan to complete this project by August 17.
We also continue to make small improvements to the Mendoza and Stayer buildings, including installing new hallway lighting and replacing ceiling tiles. We plan to install three new “phone booths,” made possible by the MBA Class of 2020 gift, which will provide students with privacy to make phone calls and conduct video interviews. The larger “H to A” north addition will proceed when we gain primary benefaction.
There are many people who contributed to the design and execution of these projects. My particular thanks to Chris Maziar in the Provost’s Office; Doug Marsh, Jeff Day and Natalie Troyer in the ND Facilities Design and Operations Office; Deb Butler of Business Furnishings; Doug Franson and his team; Chris Fruehwirth and the Mendoza IT Ed/Tech team; the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning for reviewing and advising on classroom plans; and again, to the ITAO department, for their support and input.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn

Statement on racial injustice

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 8 June 2020

Like many of you, I watched the news stories following the killing of George Floyd in police custody with horror, sadness and outrage over the brutality shown to this man, and grief and frustration over the racism that continues to infect our society.

We mourn together as a community and raise prayers for the Floyd family and friends. We also must acknowledge the pain of colleagues, friends and other members of the black community, who bear the burden of racism in ways that are personal, deep and persistent. I join Father John in saying that I am sorry for the pain and the hardship of that burden in your lives and the lives of those you love.

As a community and as individuals, we must do better in addressing issues of racial justice, diversity and inclusion, based on the universal and inviolable human principle of the inherent dignity of every person.

Professor Viva Bartkus recently wrote a Mendoza Business magazine essay about finding solutions to seemingly intractable society problems in the context of how she teaches Business on the Frontlines students:

“First and foremost, we must acknowledge at a very fundamental level that our society’s most pressing problems cannot be solved only by business or government or charities or even just by those who agree with us. The solution to difficult problems lies in the common ground we imagine and then create together.

Second, we must recognize the value of dialogue in society. We must be willing to engage in conversation with those whose perspectives, life experiences, opinions are different from our own. From those discussions, sprout the early ideas that, after much work, become potential solutions.

Third, through the process of reflection, we must be willing to reevaluate honestly and comprehensively our own perspectives as we gain new information. Future progress depends on such ongoing reassessments of what we actually think.

Therefore, perhaps the most important thing that I or any one of us can do at this time is listen with open hearts and minds to those who suffer. We must also commit to educating ourselves and engaging with those who are different from us, with different experiences and world views, precisely in order to seek understanding and find common ground."

This idea is reinforced in Notre Dame Law School Dean Marcus Cole’s profoundly moving essay, “I Am George Floyd.” Dean Cole writes:

“One thing that each and every one of us can do is to end the cycle of hate by ending the separation that leads to it. This racial separation and violence will not end until we stop waiting for African-Americans to enter our circles. Each of us needs to get to know people who differ from us. We must all make a conscious decision and effort to expand our circles.”

Dean Cole ends his essay with a challenge for each of us to do three things to change the world for the better. I will be discussing this challenge with our associate deans, department chairs and directors. I also ask you for your direct input and ideas for how we can better address issues of racial justice, diversity and inclusion in the College, to which I am very much committed. Please email me directly.

As I think that God’s help is necessary above all, I will end with a prayer to overcome racism that I thought was quite beautiful and invokes the intercession of Mary, Notre Dame:

Mary, friend and mother to all, through your Son, God has found a way to unite himself to every human being, called to be one people, sisters and brothers to each other.

We ask for your help in calling on your Son, seeking forgiveness for the times when we have failed to love and respect one another.

We ask for your help in obtaining from your Son the grace we need to overcome the evil of racism and to build a just society.

We ask for your help in following your Son, so that prejudice and animosity will no longer infect our minds or hearts but will be replaced with a love that respects the dignity of each person.

Mother of the Church, the Spirit of your Son Jesus warms our hearts: pray for us. Amen.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

New org structure rollout

Martijn Cremers

Martijn Cremers

Monday, 1 June 2020

I am pleased to announce the rollout of the comprehensive restructuring of our graduate programs organizational structure, which involves about 80 staff members in the College who serve in our graduate programs. You can view the new organizational chart here. Transition has already begun with the expectation of being fully integrated as of July 1.

The guiding principles for this integrated “matrix” model are threefold:

  • To elevate all of our graduate programs through increased strategic clarity and focus on the full student journey particular to each program.
  • To increase the intersection of functions (such as admissions, student services and operations, and career services) and academic programs, in order to enhance connectedness and cooperation among staff – across programs by function and across functions by program – and increase interaction between faculty and staff serving the same program.
  • To support academic and functional excellence through developing specialization by program and providing opportunities for staff development.

Since last fall, Kara Palmer and associate deans Mike Mannor, Walt Clements and Kristen Collett-Schmitt have devoted considerable time and effort to meet with graduate program staff as well as academic and program leadership. They also conducted focus groups and one-on-one conversations to gather valuable input that helped to shape the resulting organizational structure.

I encourage you to review the chart to become familiar with your colleagues’ new positions and roles. We found a spot for all staff members, where some are taking on new roles and responsibilities. There also are a number of open positions, which we cannot fill at the present due to the University freeze on staff hiring. When the freeze is lifted, these positions will be opened first to internal candidates to provide career advancement opportunities for Mendoza staff members. 

There are a number of important details still to be arranged, including space considerations, budget allocations/R&Es (Revenues and Expenses) by academic program, and the creation of new position descriptions. Kara, the associate deans and program directors will continue to work through these remaining steps. 

The scope of this restructure is significant across the College. As we have seen especially in these past months, being flexible, innovative and responsive to change is absolutely critical to Mendoza’s future as a business school committed to developing servant leaders who contribute to human flourishing. 
I’m thankful to the many of you who provided candid feedback and asked hard questions during the planning process. I especially want to thank Kara and the associate deans for their diligence and commitment to the well-being of our staff and the excellence of our programs.

While we do not anticipate having to undertake further changes of this scale, we most likely will need to make adjustments as priorities change and new opportunities arise. Engaging in an ongoing dialogue with staff and academic leadership is of paramount importance to understanding where these adjustments need to be made and to working together to adjust along the way. Please contact me, Kara, the associate deans, the academic directors or program directors with any concerns, suggestions or feedback.

In Notre Dame,

Martijn

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