Pushing Boundaries
Research Projects and Facilities
Advancing the Practice of Management
St. Thomas Opus College of Business faculty are breaking ground with cutting edge research in such diverse fields as business ethics, organizational effectiveness, leadership, marketing, and financial markets. Their innovative research at our Behavioral Research Center sheds light on human thought and behavior in consumerism, management and other settings.Research Spotlight
Managing Up Project
Everyone expects a boss to manage their subordinates, but this unidirectional paradigm of management is changing, as evidenced by significant popular interest in managing your boss (MYB). Using a qualitative methodology with 129 reports of boss-subordinate experiences from the subordinate’s perspective and 65 from the boss’s, the “Managing Up” study developed a process model and theory of managing your boss that includes subordinates using numerous, interrelated, positive and equivocal behaviors, and a variety of learning strategies when managing a boss. The paper was accepted by the Journal of Managerial Issues.
Marketing/Sales Interface Project
Most organizations have a marketing and a sales department, and these departments are supposed to work together as a team. But, the two areas often don’t work well together. Because of this, companies lose out as they pour money into marketing budgets without effective ROI. Avinash Malshe has been investigating a number of questions related to the relationship between marketing and sales for over 10 years. Explore some of his findings in the book he co-wrote with Wim Biemans: Improving Sales and Marketing Collaboration: A Step-by-Step Guide
Relational Theory and Collaboration in Family Business
The Family Business Center researched the factors that may contribute to the longevity or closure of a family business. The study took a longitudinal look at survival outcomes in 147 family firms using content analysis of qualitative data. The study identified characteristics and factors that appear to differentiate companies that are still in business from those that have closed.
Professionals of Color in MSP Project
In collaboration with Make it. MSP.—a collaborative organization that focuses on talent retention for the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul region—this study surveyed professionals of color to determine what reasons they leave the region. The research found that our region does a good job at attracting professionals and retaining white professionals. However, professionals of color leave the Twin Cities at a much higher rate. We created a comprehensive survey and gathered data from over 1,200 professionals of color to find out why. Read a summary of the study’s key findings on the Make It. MSP. website.
Small Banks Research
Examining the intersection of organizational theory, strategy and entrepreneurship within the banking industry, this study focuses on the implications of various forms of experience (individual, group and organizational) and strategic choices (organizational form, consulting assistance, ownership structure and regulatory regime) for new firm outcomes.
Shared and Shared Alike? Founders’ Prior Shared Experience and Performance of Newly Founded Banks
Behavioral Research Center (BRC)
Featuring flexible and accessible laboratory resources to meet a wide variety of methodological needs, the BRC is a dedicated research facility located in Terrence Murphy Hall on the Minneapolis campus of the University of St. Thomas. Faculty and students examine consumer and managerial behaviors in this on-campus research lab.