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Method, cont'd
Measures
Alumni Survey
A questionnaire was developed to assess seven core competencies: written communications, oral communications, computer skills, teamwork skills, cultural awareness, ethics, and functional-area competence. Respondents were asked to consider the importance of each competency with respect to their current jobs, to assess how effectively the business school prepared them to meet the challenges required with regard to each competency, and to give some details of the tasks they typically perform in each area. As an example, with regard to written communications, the following questions were asked and the following anchors were provided:
- In your job, how important are written communications skills?
Respondents were asked to give a rating on a 5-point scale with the following anchors: 5 (very important), 3 (moderately important) and 1 (not at all important).
- How effectively did the Business School prepare you to meet the challenges you face in communicating in writing in your profession?
Rating was done on a 5-point scale with these anchors: 5 (very effectively), 3 (moderately effectively), 1 (not at all effectively).
- Please list some of the specific tasks involving written communications which you are required to perform in your present job.
A copy of the
questionnaire mailed to alumni may be viewed online.
Employer Survey
The employer questionnaire aimed to assess the importance of the core competencies listed above from an employer's perspective and, more specifically, to assess the importance of specific tasks falling within each category. These tasks were identified during the program review conducted by the author and the individual who was associate dean of the school at the time of the design of this study. A number of tasks were identified within each of the seven categories except functional-area competence. Eight concentrations are offered at the school: accounting, business economics, entertainment and tourism management, finance, information systems, management, management science, and marketing. The wide variation in the tasks involved in each of these areas made it impossible to summarize this functional-area competency in terms of a few tasks. Therefore, functional-area competence was assessed by asking subjects whether they had found it necessary to provide training to their recent business school hires and (if yes) to identify those areas in which training was given.
Table 1
shows the tasks listed for each of the six competencies.
Employers were asked to rate the importance of each skill to an employee's success in their company, and to rate their perception of importance on a 5-point scale from 5 (very important) to 1 (not at all important) with the mid-point being 3 (moderately important). A copy of the
questionnaire mailed to employers may be viewed online.
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