Promoting Diversity in the Workplace and other MBA News Snippets

Diversity in the workplace recognized

The contributions made by executives and emerging leaders towards diversity in the workplace have been recognized in two lists released this week by the magazine and organization, Diversity MBA.

The inclusion of individuals in two top 100s, one for executives and the other for emerging leaders, is part of Diversity MBA’s mission to promote the value and understanding of diversity in the workplace. It follows on from the organization’s listing of the top 50 companies making positive progress in this regard last month.

Inclusion in the ‘2014 Top 100 under 50 Executive & Emerging Leaders’ of individuals stemmed from company nominations across all industries, with winners selected for their  “position within their company; time in position, contributions to the community and the advanced degree held”, according to a press release. Many of those featured are MBA degree holders.

The breakdown of the backgrounds of the 200 individuals is as follows: 35% African American, 20% Hispanic, 16% Asian, 11% White, 7% Veteran, 4% LGBT, 3% Indian and 4% other.

All those featured are to be honored at Diversity MBA’s annual gala and conference, heralded as a key event on the theme of diversity in the workplace.  

Manchester Business School expands its presence in Singapore

Rising student enrollment to programs offered by Manchester Business School in Singapore has led to the UK school shifting its base of operations to a new location in the city-state’s central business district.

“Singapore as a major global business center is an ideal location for our students to fully immerse themselves in the corporate culture of southeast Asia,” said Manchester Business School’s chief global officer, Nigel Banister, in a press release.

The school’s Singapore Centre was set up at the turn of the century and currently offers a part-time Global MBA alongside executive education options.

Its move to expand operations in Singapore stands opposed to the recent decision taken by Chicago Booth to move its Asia campus away from Singapore and into Hong Kong. However, Manchester Business School already has a presence, in the form of its ‘Hong Kong Centre’, in the city – in addition to a similar center in Shanghai, both of which offer the Global MBA program.

“Our global centers allow our students to experience a diverse range of business and commercial environments and our international outlook is reflected in the diversity of our student body,” said Fiona Devine, head of Manchester Business School.

Chicago Booth warns of spoiler alerts

Speaking of Chicago Booth, new research from a professor of organizational behavior with the school argues that good news isn’t always that good if it’s delivered at the wrong time.

Ayelet Fishbach’s study entitled ‘Feeling Good at the Right Time: Why People Value Predictability in Goal Attainment’ found that people don’t want to learn that a goal will be achieved before it happens because it lessened their enjoyment – not only upon hearing the news, but also when that goal is later actualized.

Instead of hearing ahead of time that they will receive a job offer or secure admittance to their dream university, the Chicago Booth study shows that people are far happier when their goals follow a predictable timeline where the result isn’t revealed until it is finalized.

 "When people learn that a goal will be achieved before it actually is, they often try to suppress the positive emotion in order to feel it at the 'right time.’ The result is that people don’t feel as happy when they get the news — because it's not the right time — as well as when the goal is officially achieved — because by then it's no longer 'news',” Fishbach explains in a press release for Chicago Booth.