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The Globe's biweekly business-school news roundup.
As she walked through the corridors of the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan, dean Daphne Taras decided recently she had heard enough.
"Everywhere I go, I hear 'like she said," or "like, you know," says Dr. Taras, repeating the overheard conversations of students. "It made me insane…and I decided I can't take it anymore."
That's when she fired off an e-mail to faculty, staff and donors, pledging $3,000 of her own money to match contributions from others to fund a campaign to eradicate "filler words."
"Within minutes I had $500 from one donor, $1000 from another and money was pouring in," chortles the dean, delighted at the strong response that led to the school's inaugural Golden Tongue Award.
Earlier this month, 80 of 350 first-year students signed up for the competition that required teams to make a six-minute oral presentation and answer questions from the audience – all without cue cards or the use of "like," "hey," "you guys" to make their point.
Behind the light-hearted contest is a serious message that students need strong presentation and persuasion skills to succeed, without relying on cringe-worthy verbal crutches. For the competition, the school recruited 10 judges from the local business community.
An impressive 20 students made filler-free presentations, worth prizes of $50 for individuals and $200 for a team.
"We decided we are going to tackle this with a carrot rather than a stick," says the dean.
But her own generation may be in for a surprise.
Dr. Taras publicly shared a tongue-in-check, e-mail riposte from her son, Matthew, a student at Edwards.
"You should know that you use an incredible number of filler words yourself, but ones that mark you as much older than you are," he wrote, chiding her propensity for saying, "well, look, I mean, and basically." He concluded: "Once you start listening for it in the older generation, it's all you can hear. So as the college kids say, check your, like, privilege, you know."
Shocked! Shocked, at the lack of respect for a dean, Dr. Taras is laughing all the way to the bank with increased donor support and a raised public profile for her school.
Business students put a premium on environmental leadership Just in time for the wrap-up of climate change negotiations in Paris comes a new global survey of students from top business schools with a sobering message for prospective employers.
Of 3,700 students at 29 top business schools surveyed by Yale University, 44 per cent said they would accept a lower salary to work with a company with a better environmental reputation while one in five of respondents declared that, regardless of salary, they would not work for a company with bad environmental practices.
All else being equal, 84 per cent of students would join a company with good environmental practices, according to the survey, which notes that respondents view environmental action as a contributor, not a detriment, to economic growth.
"The ethos among MBA students in many of the world's leading business schools is changing," says Murali Chandrashekaran, senior associate dean for strategic partnerships and global initiatives at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. "The profound problems facing humanity require people from business and civil society and government to work together and not in isolated pockets."
His school is the only Canadian member of the 29-member Global Network for Advanced Management, which participated in the Yale survey with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Noting the Paris talks, Dr. Chandrashekaran says "something like climate change cannot be solved without the active participation of the business community and therefore those things need to be in the classroom in business schools."
Evidence of the sustainability focus of current business students strikes close to home, says Dr. Chandrashekaran. Compared to four years ago, he says a majority of Sauder's full-time MBA students in the school's mandatory international work-experience program now want to work with social enterprises.
Bank donates to business school expansion A $500,000 gift over five years from the Bank of Montreal brings Brock University's Goodman School of Business closer to wrapping up a $22-million expansion slated for 2016.
BMO's donation, its first to the school (but not the university), is slated for a revamped lecture hall and classroom renovations, adding an additional 25,000 square feet of space at Goodman.
"As we rejuvenate Taro Hall and make it the Goodman complex, it will make sure we can bring all our classrooms well into the 21st Century with technology and furnishings to make up-to-date learning spaces," says interim dean Barry Wright.
He said the school so far has raised $19-million – $10-million from the provincial government and the balance from private donors – with "conversations" continuing with potential donors to complete the fundraising effort in the next few months.
Nada Ristich, director of corporate donations for BMO Financial Group, said the gift fits with her bank's long-time commitment to education. "It is what gives young people an opportunity to move ahead in the world," she says.
Dr. Wright will serve as interim dean until June, 2017, pending a search for a permanent dean to replace Don Cyr, who has returned to the business faculty.
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