Harvard Gender Diversity Research Reveals What Makes Firms More Productive
Gender parity in business has been a hot topic for years. Some researchers have argued that it leads to more innovative thinking while others claim it can harm performance. But what’s the truth? New Harvard gender diversity research may have found the answers.
In the past, most research studies have limited their looks at gender diversity to a specific industry or region. But when you take a wider view, the results are clear. Gender diversity in the workplace is a good thing according to Harvard Business School researchers.
According to a research study by Professor Zhang, which looked at 1,069 firms across 35 countries and 24 industries, gender diversity relates to more productive companies as measured by market value and revenue. The key is that gender diversity has to be viewed as “normatively” accepted to get these results. In other words, gender diversity has to be considered important.
In countries and industries where gender diversity isn’t looked upon highly, the results are vastly different. For example, in telecommunication companies in Western Europe, gender diversity resulted in a 7 percent increase in market value. However, in the Middle East, that was not the case.
Data from the HBS study found that the market value for many Western European telecommunication companies increased by 7 percent when gender diversity became a more common element of hiring practices.
There were also differences when culture was considered. For example, though Japan offers some of the most generous parental and homecare leave policies in the world, it also has a very patriarchal work culture. This meant that gender diversity in Japan was not as beneficial as it was in places like Western Europe.
As for why this is the case, there are three main reasons that the image of gender diversity is so important to the value it brings.
- A diverse workforce is attractive. In regions and industries where gender diversity is considered important, workers are attracted to companies that make it a priority. This means that get more top candidates. The reverse is true for areas that are not pro-diversity.
- When you value diversity, you encourage diverse ideas. In areas of pro-diversity, people feel more comfortable contributing their unique ideas. This results in more innovative ideas and greater creativity. When countries don’t value women, they’re less likely to share, and everyone loses.
- Gender diversity signals a well-run firm. An investor in an area where gender diversity is accepted is more likely to value diverse companies highly. But those that do not value diversity won’t associate the same strong value.
Read the full report on the Harvard Business Review.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from its original source, Clear Admit.
MBA Job Profile: Senior Analytics Consultant
If you’re interested in big data, including developing and implementing analytics solutions at an organization, a job as a Senior Analytics Consultant could be ideal for you. You’ll be responsible for creating data mining projects and using that information to increase consumer brand awareness and revenue.
Currently, it’s still a somewhat developing field. However, many top companies regularly hire Senior Analytics Consultants, including Wells Fargo, Deloitte, Humana, Accenture, and KPMG. And, by 2020, the big data and business analytics market may reach $203 billion.
What is a Senior Analytics Consultant?
Senior Analytics Consultant are responsible for examining systems and recommending methodologies for improving data and usage. This includes executing data quality and data auditing plans as well as evaluating and presenting on your findings. In fact, one of your major job duties will be creating reports and suggesting business process changes for business users based on your analysis of large amounts of information and data. You’ll also be responsible for interviewing users to identify data needs and delivery mechanisms while also documenting process flows to fulfill business needs.
The role of a Senior Analytics Consultant is similar to most other consulting positions. You’ll be expected to demonstrate leadership qualities will also working well with a team. Regularly, you’ll work closely with other business departments on time-sensitive projects that you’ll have to prioritize in order of importance. In particular, you’ll be expected to demonstrate specific skills including:
- Data Analysis
- Web Analytics
- Data Modeling
- Project Management
- SAS
- SQL
- Statistical Analysis
In fact, according to PayScale, knowledge of web analytics, data modeling, and project management correlate to a pay increase of 23 percent, 17 percent, and 13 percent, respectively.
How Much Does It Pay?
As for what you can expect to earn as a Senior Analytics Consultant, on average base pay starts at $133,343 and generally ranges from $116,885 to $147,822. Top earners may expect salary around $164,298.
However, salary can vary greatly depending on experience. About 38 percent of Senior Analytics Consultants have between just zero and two years of experience, while another 38 percent have between five to ten years of experience. The remaining 25 percent have between two and five years of experience.
Pay also depends on where you’re willing to live. Boston pays the best with average salaries 28 percent above the national average while Minneapolis is one of the worst paying with salaries 7 percent below the national average. Other cities that pay well include:
- Seattle (5 percent above avg)
- Atlanta (5 percent above avg)
- New York (4 percent above avg)
- San Francisco (4 percent above avg)
- Chicago (2 percent above avg)
Getting Started
The minimum requirement to be a Senior Analytics Consultant is a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, statistics, accounting, or a related field. Typically, industry experience in analytics reporting and industry-standard analytics software is also preferred. There are also potential industry certifications that can improve your chances such as the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certified Big Data – Specialty. Other potential certifications can be found here.
Another great place to start in this career is with an MBA from a top-notch program. Here are a few of our favorite programs to help you on your career path.
Harvard Business School
In March 2018, Harvard Business School welcomed its first cohort of students to its online certificate program in business analytics. This certificate goes into the latest research on how data analytics plays a role in business and brings together HBS with the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. MBA graduates are welcome to expand their analytics skills with this immersive experience.
The Wharton School
The Wharton School knows what it takes for a career in data and analytics—significant research and networking. That’s why for MBAs at Wharton there are many opportunities to expand your skill and background in this area. There’s the MBA Data and Analytics Club (WDAC) and the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI), both of which stress the field of analytics. Wharton MBA students also have access to workshops where they can learn coding languages including R (Open Source Software), SQL, and Tableau.
Tepper School of Business
At Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, students can earn an MBA in Business Analytics. This specialized MBA program offers advanced courses in data analytics to improve business outcomes including theoretical and broad application knowledge. The program looks for business-minded students who want to develop their skills to make better data-driven business decisions. When students graduate, they walk away with hands-on experience in analytical tools and methodologies that will be valuable for their future careers.
MIT’s New Free Online Sloan Course, and More – Boston News
Let’s explore the most interesting stories to emerge from Boston business schools this week.
Free Online MIT Sloan Course Explores the Future of Work – MIT Sloan Ideas That Matter
Automation, globalization, and new technologies can drastically change the future of the working world. In response to the growing sense of uncertainty about work’s future, a free online course created by a group of MIT Sloan experts explores how we can exert influence over the shape and form our future work will take.
Entitled “Shaping Work of the Future,” the course will focus on how technology is disrupting work and how we can adapt technology to augment rather than replace human work.
Professor of Work and Organization Studies at Sloan, Thomas Kochan asserts, “There’s no iron law of technology and no iron law of globalization. We can influence how these things play out and manage them better. But we’ve got to understand what the choices are, and we’ve got to get people really energized and taking actions to shape these forces.”
The course is open to the public and was designed to accommodate the global scope of the topic. Kochan adds:
“We need to get a message out to people around the world, young workers, but even more to experienced workers and leaders of business and government, that we can influence the future of work. We don’t see enough people understanding that they really can have an influence over these issues and have an impact.”
You can read more from the recent article here.
HBS Research Addresses Innovation Problem in Frontier Markets – Harvard Business Review
New Harvard Business School research on emerging markets reveals how market-creating innovation not only generates growth for companies but also galvanizes infrastructure, cultivates institutions, and mitigates corruption.
Contrary to popular opinion hat a society must “fix” its structures and institutions in order to foster innovation, authors Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon present the argument that innovation is the process by which a society develops. Thus when a country encounters roadblocks to prosperity despite activity within its borders, the country may not have a development problem—they might have an innovation problem.
“Market-creating innovations don’t wait for such obstacles to be removed by resources that are pushed in. They essentially pull in the necessary resources—creating workarounds or funding the infrastructure and institutions needed to deliver their products—even if those efforts are not initially supported by the local government.”
MicroEnsure’s Richard Leftley remarks on the power of innovation, “It’s difficult to run a ruler over things you can’t see. But when you strip away the layers of conventional thinking about what’s not possible and start to re-imagine what is, you can begin to create something really powerful. And that, in turn, has the potential to change the world.”
Check out the rest of the HBR article here.
BC Alum Takes Home Cox Conserves Heroes Award – Carroll School of Management News
BC Carroll alum Shavel’le Olivier, ’14, is the new co-chair of the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition’s Vigorous Youth program. In her role, Olivier coordinates volunteers, research, writing grants, planning events, and handles administration. This past fall, Olivier was awarded the Cox Conserves Heroes Award, presented by Boston 25 News in partnership with Cox Enterprises and the Trust for Public Land. The award recognizes a local environmental volunteer for work improving outdoor spaces. Along with the honor, Olivier received $10,000 to donate to MFFC.
Olivier credits her Boston College experience with boosting her leadership skills in unexpected ways.
“Those classes gave me a foundation that helped me explore how I am a leader—and that leaders are not [shaped by] cookie cutters, with shared characteristics, like being outgoing or able to talk a lot. You can be a leader by focusing on your strengths.”
Olivier also credits mentors such as Vivien Morris, the founder and co-chair of MFFC and community engagement manager for the Carroll School’s Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action. “These women in different leadership positions were inspirational to me. They encouraged me and made me more comfortable taking on more leadership roles.”
You can find out more about Olivier’s work here.
UVA, Oxford, CEIBS Rise in All-New Financial Times 2019 Ranking
The latest Financial Times MBA ranking is officially out, with several international schools rising closer and closer to the top in 2019.
HBS Examines the Allure of White-Collar Crime, and More – Boston News
Welcome back and a happy 2019!
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Boston business schools this week.
Interviewing White-Collar Criminals: 6 Tips from Harvard Business School’s Eugene Soltes – Journalist’s Resource
Denise-Marie Ordway from Journalist’s Resource recently profiled HBS professor Eugene Soltes, who’s 2016 book Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal surveys what “drove dozens of wealthy, successful businessmen to become white-collar criminals.”
Soltes offered six tips for journalists on how to build trust and develop rapports with potential sources behind bars.
- “Don’t lead with personal questions and questions that probe into the meatiest details of a convict’s crimes.”
- “Have a plan for whether and how you’ll use sensitive information that sources might divulge once they trust you.”
- “If you want prisoners to talk to you, write them a letter.”
- “When interviewing individuals who are incarcerated, choose phone calls over in-person meetings. You can develop a rapport more quickly through four 15-minute phone calls than one hour-long, in-person conversation.”
- “Establish a system of checking your biases to limit the impact your relationships with sources could have on your work.”
- “If you’re describing someone’s feelings, opinions or mindset, consider letting that person review what you have written to make sure it represents them accurately.”
You can read more from the Soltes profile on white collar criminals like Bernie Madoff in Journalist’s Resource.
Stocks & Bonds, Eggs & Bacon – Sawyer Business School
In early December, 2018, the first Summa Breakfast at the Sawyer Business School featured Amundi Pioneer Asset Management CIO Ken Taubes, MBA ’84, who offered his insights into “where the global economy has been and where he thinks it is going.”
A look inside the Summa Breakfast, held last month at Sawyer Business School / Photo via suffolk.edu
Taubes was surprisingly optimistic: “The dollar’s been strong, and the economy’s fine. In the macro sense for consumers, it hasn’t been this good in a long time.”
He also advises attendees to “turn off the noise and look for opportunities.”
You can read more about the recent Sawyer event here.
The Billionaire Next Door – Carroll School News
Boston College’s Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action recently hosted billionaire philanthropist Bill Cummings, a “model real estate developer with a strong conscience,” who spoke to roughly 70 BC community members.
After an overview of Cummings’ inspiring rags-to-riches story, along with a remarkable career ascent, he urged attendees to “do the things you want to do, and do them reasonably well.”
“An entrepreneur won’t find success by getting into a putatively lucrative industry that he’s not passionate about,” Cummings said at a recent BC event. / Photo via bc.edu
Cummings was recently honored as one of the Top 50 Givers by Forbes. The Cummings Foundation, according to the article, has “awarded more than $200 million to nonprofits in the Boston area.”
“The grants have made an impact near and far, from soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Essex, Middlesex, and Suffolk counties, all the way to Rwanda, where the foundation has established medical centers in collaboration with Boston-based nonprofit Partners in Health.”
Cummings closed with a paraphrased quote from dancer and actress Eleanor Powell:
“What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become, and what we do with our lives, is our gift to God.”
You can read more about Cummings here.
The Big Picture: The 5 Most Important MBA Numbers of 2018
Each year there’s a ton of new information that comes out about MBA programs. From new rankings to the latest GMAC news, there are a thousand little tidbits that can overwhelm applicants, students, and alumni. We’ve collected the most important MBA numbers of 2018.
To pare down the news into the information you need to know, we’ve taken a look at the big picture of the MBA for 2018 and outlined the five most important pieces of data you need to know. We’re talking about everything from the decline and U.S. MBA applications to the increase in female enrollment, the higher salaries and GMAT scores, as well as the increase in interest in technology. Continue reading…
