Handling the Customer Employee Relationship, According to Northwestern – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Customers Can Be Jerks. Here’s Why Some Employees Retaliate – Kellogg Insight
Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations Cynthia Wang co-authored new research that seeks to understand the broader implications of employee reactions to unpleasant customers. Do they respond in turn with hostility and try to sabotage the customer or do they turn the other cheek?
Among the extensive psychological research in this area, Wang and her co-authors were drawn to a model known as the social intuitionist model, which argues that moral-decision making is the result of snap judgement and heightened emotion.
“In that heightened emotional state,” Wang explains, “we begin to view problem customers as not worthy of fair treatment—a phenomenon psychologists call ‘devaluation of targets’—which leads employees to see those customers as subhuman.” The reverse, where customers also treat employees poorly, also rang true.
Wang adds:
“These decisions are very quick and implicit. We don’t necessarily notice them going on.”
You can read more about the research here.
Brexit Clouded by Uncertainty, Says Gies Professor – Gies School of Business News
United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May canceled the House of Commons Brexit vote that was scheduled for December 11, putting a Brexit solution on hold for now, leaving the future of UK’s relationship with the European Union up in the air.
The UK is still scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, 2019 and parliament needs to strike a deal to make the departure as smooth as possible. Major challenges include finding a solution for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, along with dealing with the consequences of leaving the European Union for businesses and jobs in both the United States and the UK.
Candace Martinez, University of Illinois Gies College of Business Clinical Assistant Professor of Business Administration, remarks, “If the UK cannot arrive at a solution to the Irish border quandary, a ‘backstop’ approach is a last resort,” noting that Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU on the June 2016 referendum.
Martinez adds, “Uncertainties are everywhere. This is uncharted waters, to be sure.”
You can read more from the interview with Martinez here.
Sales Class Challenges Students to Provide Creative Solutions for Nonprofits – DePaul Business News & Events
As part of the Marketing 386: Social Impact Sales course at the DePaul University Driehaus College of Business Center for Sales Leadership, students are partnered with a local nonprofit, providing marketing and sales advice. “After working in teams, students present their business plans to the nonprofit toward the end of the quarter. A winning team is then selected by Drehmer and the non-profit to present their creative solutions in front of executives at 3M in St. Paul, Minn.,” according to DePaul University’s Jaclyn Lansbery.
(Left to right) Center for Sales Leadership Executive-in-Residence Charlie Drehmer; Isaly Varela; Mark McLellan, national channel operations manager at 3M; Dominique DiVito; Gavin Hultgren; Ava Kilborn and Mike Nowak / Photo via business.depaul.edu
Charles Drehmer (BS `03, MBA `04, MA `16, Ph.D. `17), who teaches the course, says: “The Social Impact Sales class is extremely rewarding for both me and the students in that we truly make difference in people’s lives. The class is as real as it gets, where students meet with the client to discover their needs and wants, design and execute a market research study and then present their recommendations to the client. Not only does the project provide students a hands-on real-world experience, they also get to make a positive impact on underserved communities.”
Last fall, students worked with Chicago Community ToolBank, providing a marketing and sales strategy. “The project focused on a new program, Corporate Days of Service, which offers private companies a unique team-bonding experience where they use the ToolBank’s tools and facilities to build furniture that is donated to a nonprofit organization of their choice. Students also worked together to build bookshelves that were donated so they better understood what new service would entail,” Lansbery writes.
Isaly Varela, an undergraduate business student in the program, adds, “The class has given us the skills to think critically about marketing and sales along with being comfortable with ourselves.
To read more about the program, head on over to the official DePaul Univesity website.
Loyola Quinlan Professor Offers Holiday Gift Buying Advice to Shoppers
News Flash: We’re less than one week away from Christmas! Have you finished your holiday shopping yet? Of course you haven’t! For those procrastinators who have not, Professor Mary Ann McGrath of the Loyola University Quinlan School of Business has some tips for you.
McGrath recently published a guide on the Quinlan website that outlines four shortcuts for gift giving. The list offers consumers a few different ideas on how to best spend money on others this holiday season. A survey by the National Retail Federation shows that shoppers are expected to spend about $967 this year, up 3.4 percent from 2016; and that number only increases for those in the 18-24 year-old demographic.
McGrath’s first piece of advice is to focus on one or two special people. Don’t get hung up on finding special gifts to everyone in your life, you’ll only be wearing yourself, your time, and your money thin. Instead, she advises that consumers “choose one or two special people in your life—perhaps your significant other, a very special friend, or a parent—and find that special gift for him or her.”
Next, McGrath encourages giving non-traditional gifts, such as services or nonprofit contributions. Think of who you are buying for an purchase a service that best suits them. Know someone with kids? Buy them credit toward a babysitting service. Got a foodie in your life? You can’t go wrong with a restaurant gift card.
For those who have everything, consider making a contribution to a charity in their name. “If you are not sure which groups your recipient favors, a charity that benefits children is always a good choice,” she says.
Ultimately, McGrath says that the most successful gifts are small do not necessarily come from a store. In fact, she has found that “the perfect gift” is oftentime the handmade gift of a child. “In just that spirit, give generously and freely, try not to burden yourself or your recipients, and enjoy the company of family and friends,” she says.
McGrath, a professor of marketing, is an expert on consumer rituals, gift exchanges, and shopping behavior. She recently expanded her research into the international marketplace, and publishing several papers related to shopping and consumer behavior in China, where she lived and taught for two years. You can learn more about McGrath by reading her bio page.
Haas Student Startups Snag Dean’s Seed Fund
UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business recently published an article about this spring’s round of Dean’s Seed Fund grants, which awarded 11 student startups instead of the usual ten.
MIT Sloan Alum Connects Hard Up Nonprofits With Deep-Pocketed Millennials
MIT Sloan’s blog recently published an article on 2013 MBA graduate Isa Watson’s giving company Envested, which connects local Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based nonprofits to philanthropic millennials.
Social Entrepreneurship and the MBA
It shouldn’t be a surprise that social entrepreneurship is changing the face of the MBA, and rightly so. There’s never been a better time to get involved in nonprofits, and there’s never been a generation that’s been as interested in making a difference. Continue reading…
