Enhancing Relationships between Business Schools and Language Departments

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Enhancing Relationships between Business Schools
and Language Departments

• Orlando R. Kelm
• University of Texas at Austin
• http//www.laits.utexas.edu/orkelm/kelm.htm
• orkelm_at_mail.utexas.edu

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Why We Address This Topic

• Business Schools and Liberal Arts programs have
  traditionally looked at educational objectives
  differently.
• Business School preparation for employment
• Liberal Arts emphasis on global citizenship

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Liberal Arts Mission Statements

• The mission of the College of Liberal Arts is to
  make a free people wise, by educating its
  students in the ways of freedom, and by providing
  a model for education at other universities. The
  heart of a democracy is that the people must
  judge. Through education in the humanities and
  social sciences, the College of Liberal Arts will
  give its students the power and confidence to
  judge well... The College's central mission is to
  provide a good foundation in the humanities and
  social sciences to all its students, whether or
  not they are working towards pre-professional
  degrees. All students should know how to read
  critically, write cogently, and speak
  persuasively. All students should understand the
  basic methods of the sciences, and all should be
  conversant with mathematics.

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Business School Mission Statement

• The mission of the McCombs School of Business is
  to educate the business leaders of tomorrow while
  creating knowledge that has a critical
  significance for industry and society. Through
  innovative curriculum, excellent teaching,
  cutting-edge research, and involvement with
  industry, the school will bring together the
  highest quality faculty and students to provide
  the best educational programs and graduates of
  any public business school. We believe that to
  prepare students to become leaders in our very
  diverse, multicultural society, it is essential
  that they have the opportunity to become involved
  with students whose backgrounds differ from their
  own. To facilitate such an involvement the school
  wants to have a culturally and racially diverse
  student body.

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Spanish Department Mission Statement

• The main goal of our department is to guarantee
  that every student receives the highest quality
  education. Our general program is an integral
  part of the education provided by UTs College of
  Liberal Arts and seeks to assist students to
  develop an informed appreciation for
  Luso-Hispanic languages, literatures and cultures
  as well as to acquire basic skills in critical
  thinking, effective writing, and oral
  communication in Spanish and Portuguese.

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Accounting Department Mission Statement

• The mission of the Department of Accounting of
  the University of Texas at Austin is to further
  excellence in the accounting discipline within
  the mission of the University and the College and
  Graduate School of Business. In the context of
  the Department this means
• To expand and create knowledge through
  scholarship of theoretical and practical impact,
  and
• To communicate knowledge of the accounting
  discipline through teaching undergraduate and
  graduate students, training accounting scholars
  and educators, and interacting with the external
  business and policy-making community.

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as a result

• Business Schools
• Primary focus is domain specific skills
  (accounting, finance, marketing, etc.)
• Secondary focus is generic cognitive skills
  (problem solving, critical thinking, cultural
  competence)

• Liberal Arts
• Primary focus is generic cognitive skills
  (problem solving, critical thinking, cultural
  competence)
• Secondary focus is domain specific skills
  (morphology, phonology, etc.)

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as a further result

• Business Schools
• Continually modifying and adjusting program
  structure to respond to marketability of students.

• Liberal Arts
• Maintains program structure and resists
  modifications.

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Example of Business School flexibility

• WSJ Guide to Business Schools Recruiters' Top
  Picks (2004, September 22). The Wall Street
  Journal, pp. R1-R10.
• If a business school wants to be a leader in the
  next decade, it will have to redesign its
  curriculum and make it more career-oriented by
  incorporating a lot more specialized courses.
• Knowing Spanish and English should be a
  requirement for every graduate in the world.
• Getting hired requires writing skills, oral
  presentation skills, communication, teambuilding.

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Example of Liberal Arts tradition

• The Department of Foreign Languages and
  Literatures at XXX University invites
  applications for a generalist tenure-track
  assistant professor position in Spanish effective
  August 22, 2005. Candidates must have Ph.D. in
  Spanish in hand by time of appointment. Native or
  near-native fluency in Spanish and English
  required. Only candidates with specialization
  and/or teaching experience in one or more of the
  following areas will be considered
  Trans-Atlantic Cultural Studies, Spanish for the
  Professions (medical, business or translation),
  Spanish American Colonial Literature, Golden Age
  Peninsular, and Spanish for Heritage speakers.
  The teaching load is

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Communication Misunderstandings Business

• Language Departments will jump at the chance to
  teach business language.
• If you can teach language, you can teach business
  language.
• One semester of language should solve the
  problem.
• Role of English in business.

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Communication Misunderstandings Lib. Arts

• We have a more noble mission.
• Business schools have all the money so they
  should pay for it.
• Business language means business vocabulary.
• Spanish speakers go to Latin America.

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What can we really learn from one another?
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From Liberal Arts

• What sets the really good business professionals
  apart from the others are the generic cognitive
  skills, precisely the strength of liberal arts.
  Consequently business language should focus on
  the development of generic cognitive skills. The
  whole proficiency emphasis of the 5 C's
  (communication, connections, culture,
  comparisons, communities) fits right in with the
  need to focus on cognitive skills. If we follow
  the standards of foreign language learning, we
  are teaching language for special purposes. It is
  impossible to truly incorporate the 5C's without
  also identifying the role of foreign language
  within the context of a specific purpose.

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From Business Schools

• Techniques that are used to teach business in
  general can be modified to teach business
  language too. For example
• Case Study Method
• Mental Maps
• Laddering Technique

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Case Study Method Executive Summary

• Introduction A brief, one paragraph, description
  of the major issues presented in the case. This
  should include any economic, political, social or
  competitive issues. It may include organization
  issues, technical issues, financial issues,
  ethical issues, policy considerations, etc.
• Problem Statement A specific statement of the
  problem or issue, usually not to exceed two
  sentences. Remember this is not a question, but a
  statement of the situation.
• Analysis This is the most critical component of
  the summary. Readings, frameworks, class
  presentations, etc. must be used to analyze (not
  merely describe) the critical issues in the case.
  The analysis should serve as the foundation for
  alternatives and recommendations.
• Alternative strategies Possible alternative
  solutions to solve the problem should be given.
  These should be based upon the analysis and
  should be distinct from one another. Briefly
  note the advantages and disadvantages of each
  alternative.
• Recommendations Based upon the analysis, a
  specific recommendation must be made. Explain
  your recommended strategy, why you selected that
  particular one and how it solves the problem. Be
  sure that your recommendation can be supported by
  the analysis.

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Mental Maps

• By mental map we mean a brief one-page diagram or
  flowchart that shows the relationship among the
  words, phrases and concepts that are presented in
  the body of the text. In this way one may
  systematically show the relationship among the
  subordinate and main ideas. The first step of the
  mental map is to carefully read and analyze the
  text, focusing on the various elements, concepts,
  and theories, etc. Second, synthesize these
  elements into diagrams, drawings, or flowcharts.
  The mental map becomes a powerful tool in being
  able to organize information and in outlining the
  concepts and content from the readings. The
  mental map should be created on a single slide of
  a presentation program. (Carlos Romero Uscanga,
  ITESM)

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INICIATIVA CON FIRMAS EN MEXICO
MEXICO

CULTURA DE AYUDA EN LAS EMPRESAS

EMPRESAS
DANONE-PIONERA

• Resultados de la encuesta a 360 empresas
• No demuestran un compromiso 100.
• Van avanzando en responsabilidad social.
• Poca ética profesional en sus empleados.

Para tener éxito necesita convivir en
una sociedad saludable. Mejorar la calidad vida
PROYECTOS RECONOCIDOS

• 1966 "Construyamos sus Sueños "
• DANONE - OBJETIVOS
• Crearon un vínculo emocional entre
• comunidades y productos
• Aumentó la fidelidad de comunidad
• Cumplieron responsabilidad social
• Mejoraron la imagen por 6 años
• Socialbeneficiaron a la niñez.
• Económico lograron reunir más de
• 50 millones pesos, niños con cancer

FILANTROPIA EMPRESARIAL
Evaluadas por
INFORMACION
RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL
CEMEFI,USEM,DESEM,COPARMEX

Ellos son
EMPRESAS SOCIALMENTE RESPONSABLES
-Filantropía Estratégica Involucra alianzas entre
la empresa y la causa que vamás alla de una
donación de dinero o en especie. -Mercadeo
Relacionado con Causa Social Empresas y
organizaciones crean una alian- za mutua
comunicación, recursos humanos, mercadeo y
relaciones públicas

• 2001-2002, 45 empresas en total
• ALFA Corporativo, Andersen México
• Nestlé México, Grupo Apasco
• Coca-Cola de México, Grupo Bimbo,etc
• Incremento de más del 50.

CONCLUSIONES
10 MAS ADMIRADAS EN MEXICO
Ellos son

• Boom de ayuda comunitaria
• fundaciones,organizaciones y
• personajes para ayudar a la causa
• Ejemplos para otras empresas
• destacado por el presidente de la
• fundación televisa, E.Azcárraga.
• Es más facil ayudar a cualquier causa, personas y
  empresas.
• Responsabilidad social se tradu-
• ce en publicidad, reconocimiento del mercado y
  reputación
• Beneficio para la sociedad.

CEMEFI-CTRO.DE FILANTROPIA

2001 Cemex, Bimbo, Telmex, Grupo Modelo, Grupo
Carso, Fomento Económico,Nestlé, Banamex, Procter
Gamble.2002Bimbo, Cemex, Telmex, Infored, Grupo
Modelo, TV Azteca, FEMSA, Grupo Reforma, DHL,
Wal-Mart
Responsabilidad Social está determinada
por compromisos que buscan el éxito del negocio
POPULARIDAD DEL MARKETING
Siguieron el ejemplo de
BENEFICIOS
ALIANZAS.



Relación entre las empresas y ONGs 1. Fortalece
la imágen de la empresa 2. Refuerza el
reconocimiento de marca 3. Aumenta moral y
motivación personal 4. Establece credibilidad
ante la sociedad

• Unión entre empresas y sociedad
• han demostrado generar mayor
• sustentabilidad que la filantropía
• tradicional y de beneficencia

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Laddering Technique (Wansink, 2000)

• The laddering interview will be like playing
  psychologist with your interviewee acting as the
  "patient." You will be analyzing the consumer's
  purchase through a series of questions in an
  attempt to reveal the personal reasons for which
  the consumer made his purchase.
• The first step in effective laddering is to
  choose a brand champion The purpose of initially
  interviewing brand champions is that they are
  uniquely capable of articulating the key aspects
  of the product they most like. Knowing this can
  show how to turn moderate consumers into
  champions.
• Good questions to start out with are ones that
  get the customer talking about the product. You
  may or may not gain any insights other than what
  you can see by the physical properties of the
  product, but it will help put your brand champion
  at ease and get them accustomed to answering your
  questions about the product in question.

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Laddering Technique, cont.

• The whole purpose of this first round of
  questions is to find what properties of the
  product caused the interviewee to purchase and
  champion that brand. Once you have identified
  several attributes of the product and answers
  begin to become repetitive, it is time to move
  on.
• Your questions should always link to the previous
  response given by the interviewee. In this
  manner, you begin to construct a ladder
  establishing links between the attributes,
  consequences, and values. The second round of
  questions is a good time to begin asking why
  certain attributes are important. When a
  consequence is found, sometimes it is good to
  keep delving deeper into that consequence toward
  finding the underlying value--the real reason the
  purchased is made. This requires the interviewee
  to reflect upon the purchase and, therefore, it's
  important to keep rolling with the idea. Stopping
  and returning to a consequence at a later time
  will often result in the interviewee losing their
  train of thought about a given consequence. This
  can make it difficult for both you and the
  interviewee.
• The ultimate goal of laddering is to develop an
  insightful and extraordinarily effective
  marketing campaign. Laddering is an excellent
  tool for discovering why customers really buy and
  also for developing a list of key insights that
  will be the platform from which a marketing
  campaign can be built.

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Recommendations

• Take on the role of consultant. Find out the
  needs of the business school and work from there.
• Provide realistic expectations about language
  learning.
• Observe techniques in business training and adapt
  for language purposes.
• Take advantage of experience in teaching generic
  cognitive skills (problem solving, critical
  thinking, cultural competence).

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Unresolved Issues

• Who should teach business language courses?
• What kind of course structure works for
  less-commonly taught languages?
• How do we resolve the time necessary to develop
  proficiency versus the limited time students have
  to work on language?

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References

• Wansink, B. (2000, Summer). New techniques to
  generate key marketing insights. Marketing
  Research, 12(2), 28-37.
• WSJ Guide to Business Schools Recruiters' Top
  Picks (2004, September 22). The Wall Street
  Journal, pp. R1-R10.