Stephan Liozu: DM Blog

In 2008, I decided to pursue a doctoral degree and started investigating the educational programs that would allow me to stay employed fulltime while attending a top-notch academic program. I discovered a variety of traditional, online and hybrid doctoral programs aimed at busy professionals. I evaluated all of them and quickly narrowed my options to three. Out of the five programs that made the cut, I decided to apply to three of them and got accepted in two. Then I had to make the final choice. And that is a choice that I will never regret now that I have graduated and successfully transformed my life. I selected the Doctor of Management program at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) because of its strong and unmatched value proposition. Let me discuss that further:

1. Busy professionals represent a very attractive target for educational institutions. Programs are popping up every year offering new EDBA’s and EDB’s for example. The DM program at CWRU have existed for over 18 years and hundreds of graduates have successfully completed the programs, have published papers and books, and are still very active in conducting academic research. The longevity of the DM program meant for me that I could contact alumni to get support and guidance as well as to build on some of the work they published. It provided a sense of comfort to know that over 150 people graduated from this prestigious institution! Going to alumni reunion is a real pleasure. We are a family and I truly enjoy reconnecting with all of them.
2. The DM program is a management program with a focus on design and sustainable systems. As such, the program is not aimed at studying or solving business problems. The program exists to conduct human- and organization-centered research solidly anchored in the practice of engaged scholarship. After 20 years in business, the last thing I wanted to do is to study business. I wanted to learn more about management and design theories so that I could continue my personal transformational journey. And so I did! I finally was able to learn a lot about how human beings and organizations operate. I could connect the dots between my strong business experience and management theories. It suddenly made sense!
3. The DM program creates practitioner-scholars in their respective field of research. The program is set-up to embrace the reality of managerial practices with the robustness of academic research. I never knew I could write. The program taught me to write for both practitioners and scholarly outlets. Over the past 5 years, I am privileged to have published over 30 papers and am working on my third book. Who would have thought? I was the king of bullet points! Now I cannot stop writing.
4. The DM program offers a blend of content classes (leadership, design, culture & politics for example) and research classes aimed at raising the participants’ intellectual capital as well as developing best-in-class researchers. I was personally enriched by learning the foundation of design theory going back to great philosophers. I was able to interact with some of the best thinkers in the field of value, design, organization behaviors, and management. I also learned by the peers in my cohort. The variety of research topics and the class interactions allowed me to learn from various fields of research.
5. Lastly, having graduated from the program, I can tell now that this was a personal and humantransformational process. The DM program changed my life. First, I made lifetime friendships with my cohort peers as well as with staff and faculty. Second, I am not the same person in 2014 that I was in 2009 when I joined the program. I am more curious, more interested in building good arguments, more fascinated by the power of good research. Third, I have decided to leave the corporate world to pursue a career in writing, teaching and researching. This is what I love and the program equiped me to be able to do it and make a living while doing it. Finally, learning about mindfulness, design, love, and human interactions made me a better person. I aim to make a difference in the world by educating others. I am also a better father to my son, Lorenzo, who now sees more of me.

If you are in the market for a doctoral program, I strongly encourage you to consider the Doctorate of Management program at CWRU. Talk to students, to alumni and visit the school. You will quickly discover the strength of its value proposition. There is no other program like it. Contact me atsliozu@case.edu if you wish to learn more about my experience and how it changed my life.

Stephan Liozu, PhD
PhD in Management: Designing Sustainable Systems Class of 2013
Weatherhead School of Management
Case Western Reserve University

Robert Watt: DM Blog

I was very excited when I got accepted into the DM program. I didn’t know what to expect when I first came to the DM program, my emotions went back and forth from angst to anticipation. Based on my conversations with previous students I only got positive feedback about the DM program which is true based on my experience over the last three years.

First I was amazed at the amount of intellectual capital and power the program provided me, in terms of the instructors and classroom content. I really enjoyed learning under such wonderful professors who are thought leaders in their respective field. In addition, I was pleased that every professor was able to disseminate the course content in a very academic and intellectual, yet practical way; that I was able to understand and apply on daily basis within my field of work.  Last every class was thought provoking and challenged the way I viewed issues pertaining to the course.

Second I really enjoy the time with my cohorts, each one brought a wealth of life experiences and intellect that has broaden my perspective from a world view. We have grown into a quasi family.  I always looked forward to the residencies to catch up with my classmates and discussing the trials and tribulations of the homework assignments.

Lastly, after three years I have come to realize that the DM experience does not end, but continues after long graduation considering the wealth of knowledge and relationships I’ve gain from the DM program.

Robert Watt
DM Class of 2014

Montressa L. Washington: Blog on DM Experience

Humility, perseverance, and resilience…

My DM journey has been long and not without a few starts and stops.  My story is not one of seamless successes within a story book timeline.  I hope my words come across as authentic and heartfelt because they truly come from the heart. 

Let’s see…where shall I start??

I believe the professors and DM program management staff are world class and that they are sincerely devoted to ensuring DM students have a worthwhile experience in the program.  I enjoyed the coursework and apply the theories and techniques that I’ve learned not only to my research but also in my day job.  For example, Design Thinking and Sustainability have become very important inside /outside of IBM and I’ve been able to use the skills learned in DM program to help my clients solve “wicked” problems.   The CWRU DM program was definitely forward thinking by focuses on these two very important topics.

Along the way I have been exposed to and participated in wonderful organizations and conferences that enhanced by doctoral experience.  For example, Sisters of the Academy (SOTA) (http://www.sistersoftheacademy.org/), an organization committed to facilitating the success of Black women in the Academy.  Through my membership in SOTA, I have attended research boot camps, writing retreats and grants workshops.  The networking, relationship and skills that I have developed through my participation in these activities have made me a strong researcher and gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to be successful in the Academy.   Another example is membership in The PhD Project Management Doctoral Students Association (MDSA) (http://www.phdproject.org/); the PhD Project’s expansive network helps African-American, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans attain their business PhD, become business professors and mentor the next generation.   Through my participation with MDSA, I’ve attended helpful pre-workshops at the AOM conference and met fellow academics to partner and collaborate with on research projects.  

Last year I had the wonderful good fortune to attend Southern Management Association (SMA) Doctoral Student Consortium (https://southernmanagement.org/) and co-present a research paper at the SMA conference.  I also co-presented a paper at the International Association for Computer Systems (http://www.iacis.org/) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  This year, I’m looking forward to presenting at the International Association for Management of Technology conference (http://www.iamot.com/) and the Technology Transfer Conference (http://carey.jhu.edu/more_info/technology-transfer/). 

Four “unintended benefits” of being in the DM program that I want highlight are as follows:  (1) I completed the “Weatherhead Executive Coaching Certificate” program.  It was relatively easy to complete as much of my DM coursework was applicable to the curriculum, (2) I got to tag along and assist Dr. David Cooperrider, with an Appreciative Inquiry Summit in Boston, MA, (3) I now teach SPSS courses to non-profit organizations through my job at IBM; and (4) being introduced to the Pomodoro Technique (http://pomodorotechnique.com/) which has helped me focus better during writing spurts. 

Now for the OMG, WTH was I thinking part of the DM journey….

The loneliness and isolation that I have created in my life during this DM journey is frightening and I truly do not know how I am going to recover from this decision.  For the past 3 ½ years my life was been work and school – school and work.  I work 7 days a week.  I have sacrificed many relationships and personal experiences.  I hope people will be able to forgive me and still hold a place in their life for me once I complete the program.  I work 55+ hours in my “day” job and travel weekly out of state to meet with clients.   On top of that I still have to maintain some semblance of a normal life; I still have to buy food, cook food, clean house, maintain my car, take out trash, schedule house repairs, keep doctor’s appointments; oh did I mention work over 55+ hours a week. Nothing stops!

Going through the DM program has made me painfully aware of how I basically have no support system.  My family does not understand why I am getting a doctorate and clearly feel I should have focused my time (and youth) on getting married and having children.  My work colleagues think I’m crazy for enduring this much “torture and punishment” and well my friends, they don’t know quite what to think; I think the overwhelming emotion is “pity”. 

I’m always struggling with meeting assignment deadlines.  This pains me because I  want to complete and submit everything on time; there is such a great demand on my time from everywhere.  I’m constantly balancing the extreme demands of working for a Fortune 15 company; family obligations and some type of personal life (well not really because that is non-existent).

The questions that run through my mind daily, “Who will I disappoint the least today?”; “How am I going to keep it together today?”;  “How am I going to put myself back together after I complete the program?”; “Will there ever be someone who will help me?”

Each morning I wake up and pray for strength to get through the day, which I take one day at a time.  Despite the struggle, I’m truly grateful for this experience.  I know there are women around the world who would give (and have given) their life to obtain a quality education.  And for this “I give thanks”.

Montressa L Washington is a Senior Managing Consultant and Service Area Manager with IBM’s Global Business Services (GBS) based in the Washington, DC area.  Montressa is an IBM certified business transformation consultant and specializes in guiding clients through large change and transformation initiatives. She is a Doctor of Management Design Fellow and PhD student at Case Western Reserve University in the Weatherhead School of Management and can be reached at mlw41@case.edu.

Christina Barss: Grow. Change. Flourish.

What is the Doctor of Management program like? For me it is a string of wonderful positive memories, linked by educational pursuit and kept alive by lifelong friendships. The academic journey has been an emotional one; highs and lows, doubts countered with assurance, failures become the biggest teaching moments and ultimately lead to my greatest success. The curriculum is unique with a rigor that may seem impossible. Students are supported with didactic lectures, virtual residences, technology and a dynamic administrative team in Sue, Marilyn and Alexis. What attracted me to Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management was the reputation of the faculty and organizational development programs.  In this program I have conversations with academic giants- a cache of passionate thought leaders who charted and continue to chart new waters: Kolb, Boyatzis, Buchanan, Lyyntinen, Cooperrider and Lingham.  As CRWU is world class so are the DM students: accomplished talented individuals from top world organizations. For me it was humbling to meet my fellow students on our first day. As the courses passed so did the intimidation. Soon our classroom breaks filled with enthusiastic chatter; a cacophony of English, French, Chinese and Spanish.  My classmates become allies, counselors and family. Learning, laughter and love: for me the Doctor of Management program is life changing.

What does life changing mean?  For me, it meant waking up in the middle of the night, groping for my mobile phone so I may text myself a message because finally my theories became crystal clear. It meant due to the academic rigor from qualitative to quantitative actual study experience my critical analysis lens is so much keener when reading academic journals resulting in a deeper and richer experience. Most of all when present my academic work at a conference or submit to a peer reviewed journal- I am confident that it is of stellar quality because my faculty and advisors have coached me to success. My diploma represents the paradigm shift from professional to true practioner scholar. In summary, this program enabled me to grow my academic acumen, build personal resilience and foster a healthy global perspective – in essence I am flourishing.

Christina Barss, M.S., M.Ed. is the Associate Director of Cleveland Clinic Academy (http://www.samsonexecedconnect.org).  Hosting premier learning and development solutions for healthcare executives, Cleveland Clinic Executive Education portfolio includes Samson Global Leadership Academy and Executive Visitors’ Program. Christina’s research specializes in organizational effectiveness, interprofessional teams and social learning in a healthcare setting. She is also a PhD candidate at Case Western Reserve University in the Weatherhead School of Management and can be reached at barssc@ccf.org

Donna Haeger: We Relied on Each Other: Journey through the Doctor of Management Program at Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management

Year 1

Looking back to year one of my doctoral studies, I have changed in more ways than anticipated.  My goal was to earn a terminal degree in order to realize my dream of teaching in higher education and at the corporate level. My understanding of the changes I would go through was based on knowledge I would gain in my field.  I began the program with some angst relative to the level of rigor and my insecurities around “fear of the unknown” and perhaps a shaky confidence in my abilities. From that first day I boarded the van from the Intercontinental Hotel with two very different gentlemen who would become great friends until today, the transformation, fulfillment and emotion continues to fill me with awe.

The first semester was one of learning and transformation as we embarked on an introspection rooted in Intentional Change Theory, broader perspectives relative to Culture and World Politics and a preliminary design of a Qualitative research framework. At this point, many changes were already taking place within me as a person, scholar, and educator, but I could not yet see it.  It was all very foreign. My mind was full of uncertainties and I wondered why I seemed to have more questions than answers when my goal was to learn.  I later realized that my great surge of questions was the opening of new perspectives in my mind and a new born curiosity, almost childlike, about the world.

I was invited to attend Non-Profit meetings by an immediately close cohort member.  We shared similarities in family and career and yet had very different backgrounds.  She had spent her life in the Military; I had spent mine a Civilian.  Several of us attended and decided to submit to ARNOVA.  We only had preliminary findings, but those farther along in the program encouraged and mentored us.  I was accepted and attended with another member of my class who would become my friend and Orthopedic medical consultant helping me navigate a personal injury to my hand as well as a spinal injury and a patella injury in my children.  ARNOVA proved an excellent networking experience and precursor to attending the Academy of Management the following year.

I finished the year tightening up my research agenda and exploring Collective Action, Global Business Issues and Qualitative Research Methods.  This was a pivotal semester in my mind because Qualitative Research is where I met my Mentor and Advisor.  His methods allowed each of us to explore the many approaches to research so that rather than assimilate to one methodology we might understand ourselves and the best fit for our journey.  His class helped me to hone in on the type of researcher I would become.  I did not know at this time that he would become my Ph.D. Committee Chair, confidant, and friend for life. My experience with education thus far showed only a positional relationship between student and teacher.  This was something quite different.  I realize now that lifelong relationships were forming. I was fascinated with the people in my cohort and did not realize until later that I was meeting and cultivating relationships with people I would know and love for the rest of my days.  The year concluded and the most important thing I had learned about myself and others was how interconnected we all were. Ironically, this proved a foreshadowing to our future coursework.

Year 2

The second year of the DM program found me wrapping up my qualitative adventure travelling the country to interview leaders and subordinates in many different companies to capture the lived experiences of young mangers with older direct reports. My first experience as a true engaged scholar and grounded theorist was both rewarding and enlightening.  Returning to Weatherhead, I rejoined my cohorts, all of them eager to share listen and provide input.  At this point, I was regularly traveling with one cohort member back and forth to school. Our drives served as an extension of each residency both gearing up on the way and distilling on the return. We solved problems, devised plans, laughed, cried, and sang songs.  We became sisters and clearly could defend the others research if the need ever arose.  We moved into quantitative analysis this year and began to construct models and a deeper investigation of our qualitative findings.  We learned to conceptualize, construct, and analyze in a way quite foreign and frankly intimidating to me.  I was pleasantly surprised at the support we received and by the fact that I became happily preoccupied with model building and running scenarios.  For years I had avoided of this type of analysis and now I found I was proficient at it. We learned we could share computer screens and help each other with our models.  Our cohort had formed such a tight knit group that we were all taking turns working on each others models.  The beauty here was not just interdependence and support, but the additional learning that was taking place outside of our own chosen discipline as we shared knowledge from our industries. The second year concluded with excitement as many of us were accepted to the Academy of Management.  We would meet one additional time in Boston as student researchers making a contribution to our fields.

At the close of this year we each took the Capstone to demonstrate our aptitude for quantitative analysis.  Many of us chose to apply for the Ph.D. track in Management: Designing Sustainable Systems. It was the first inkling that we would soon cease to be a cohort and return to our lives, this time as practitioner scholars.

Year 3

The year began with the realization of just how top notch our program is.  By now, many of us had attended and presented at AOM and ARNOVA.  Watching others and being able to compare style, depth of analysis and rigor in presentation left us feeling very confident and satisfied with the quality of our program and our future potential.  Our cohort remained as one in the last year, but some had chosen to write an integrative paper and graduate with the DM degree and others had chosen to begin work on a Ph.D. proposal.  We continued to work together and support each other.  Entering the Ph.D. Track is an independent journey and we each designed different timelines with which to achieve our goals. We worked diligently to conclude our quantitative analysis, writing our research papers and submitting to AOM a second time.  The prior year had set the foundation for exploration into Sustainability and this year was no exception. We explored Business as Dynamic Systems and Designing Sustainable Systems which opened doors in our minds to the interconnectedness of all things and the implications for business and the world. The conclusion of the program brought the icing on the cake as we learned about Research Disseminate and embarked on a study of Complex Systems. Our personal experiences during the program were now colliding with our coursework. We knew we were interconnected and interdependent in this program, but what did this mean in a much larger scheme of things? I cannot give you these answers. One can only experience this program to understand.

I have not taken the space to mention everyone I had the honor to meet and become family with during this journey, but I can say I met a miracle, an accountant, a statistician, and I met my polar opposite. I met and know people who care so very much for the environment, people who add spiritual perspective to the world, people who added humor, people who are willing to tell me what I evoke in them and one special person who refused to rest until I could share my opinion without apology.  I have been down the most difficult and yet rewarding road I have ever travelled sometimes sure I could not stretch enough to survive. On the bad days, someone in my cohort picked me up and carried me.  On the days I was strong I carried others.  Not one of them was heavy. The most important aspect of this journey is that we relied on each other and I know we will do so forever.

Donna Haeger is a Ph.D. in Management candidate at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. By day she is the Managing Director for Prolific Technology, Inc. an organization striving to blend both human and technological systems.  She is also a professor of Management Education in Rochester, NY and an Advanced Subject Matter Expert for McGraw Hill Publishing. 

Joe Thornton: Creating a Positive Mood

Many managers believe that emotions have no place in business. As a practicing manager, and a scientist, I was always taught that emotions are bad and that they play havoc with our decisions. That is, we should be making logical decisions based on facts and facts alone. The reality of the workplace makes this something that is impossible to achieve. Since ignoring our emotions does not work, the problem needs to be considered as how do we make our emotions and the emotions of others work for us in business. We have all heard that people do better when they are happy, so then we should be striving to create happy work places. But how do we do that.

A recent commercial from Values.com shows a young boy with a bat and a bucket of baseballs, he states that he is the best hitter in the world, he tosses a ball into the air, swings and misses, he repeats his mantra a second and third time, yet he misses each time. He then looks down at the ground for a second, looks back up and says that he is the greatest pitcher in the world.  This illustrates what we typically call optimism or one of the positive emotions. In this commercial, we see a person who has taken what many would consider to be a failure and made it a victory. It is about striving to reach a goal and persevering in the face of adversity. In my research, I looked at how self-efficacy affects social responsibility and the effect of positive and negative emotions on that effect. When I measured self-efficacy, the questions that strongly contributed to my measurement were about being confident in our ability to succeed even when faced with something we had not done before. While this had an effect on social responsibility in companies, the effect was relatively small and was limited to economic and legal responsibilities. When I added positive emotions to the equation, the effect size climbed indicated that positive emotions created a much larger impact on social responsibility than did self-efficacy alone.

My measurements for positive (and negative) emotions looked at three shared items, compassion, overall mood, and vision. Vision statements are very commonplace in most companies and are often communicated or shared throughout the company, but what about the other two items, what is shared overall mood and shared compassion. Let’s take a look at shared overall positive mood (OPM).

When we measure positive mood, our questions are related to whether someone enjoys working at the company or not in terms of the company and the people, we also ask if they would prefer to work elsewhere. When we walk into a company for an interview or to meet people, we often perceive a very different culture than if it is a place where we work. Most of us, in the US at least are at work 8 hours or more per day, five days per week, 50 weeks per year, nearly a third of time is spent at work and we create relationships with the people we work with.  These relationships may be positive or negative depending on the people involved and how we deal with them. When we have positive work relationships, we look forward to going to work, we know the people, we feel with them when they are hurt or happy. This sense of positivity is what we call the overall mood of the organization. It can change quickly from positive to negative because emotions are contagious and we pick up the cues at a subconscious level.

Creating a positive emotional atmosphere means that we need to allow people to have relationships and we need to build these relationships into our organization. We should foster a sense that people share not just the burden of work, but the joys of work. Recognizing when people have a positive experience, passing out compliments and learning to listen are good starting points and they are easy to do. We just need to remember that we are human, and just as we have hopes, dreams, and fears, so do the people we work with. Foster an open and communicative atmosphere being willing to stop and listen, be willing to take time to build relationships on a foundation of respect for others. These are a few steps but gradually, the positive days will begin to outnumber the negative and soon your employees will care and want to be there.

Joe Thornton is an instructor of Management at Bellarmine University, where he focuses on small business ethics and social responsibility. He has over 29 years of industry experience at various management levels in the environmental industry as a consultant, regulator, and internal resource manager. He is a registered professional geologist in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee and is a certified professional geologist through the American Institute of Professional Geologists. He is currently finishing his doctor of management degree at Case Western Reserve University and can be reached at jthornton@bellarmine.edu.