NewsBites

Below is a summary of some of the school's citations in prominent national and regional media. These media placements enhance the school's national reputation and help to brand it as one of the nation's top business schools.

Paul Tesluk, professor and dean of the School of Management, was quoted by The New York Times in an article about team chemistry in the NFL. “Our natural instinct is to look at the raw talent of the individuals,” said Tesluk, who has studied how chemistry affects on-field success. “If you don’t have things like stability and leadership, or you don’t take into account how you build a team culture, you can only go so far on raw talent. That’s a really valuable lesson for the workplace as well.”

Kate Bezrukova, associate professor of organization and human resources, was quoted in stories by PBS NewsHour and Forbes about Starbucks closing stores nationwide last spring for company-wide bias training. The articles cited Bezrukova’s research showing that for diversity training to be effective, it can’t be a one-shot deal. “It’s about the training being complemented by other initiatives,” she said. “We call it training that’s embedded in organizational structure and the way organizations run the business.”

Bezrukova also shared her expertise in Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, a best-selling book that outlines how the Houston Astros used data and instinct to transform from the worst MLB team to World Series champs in a few seasons. “Intriguingly, the teams that performed the best in Bezrukova and [co-researcher Chester] Spell’s fault-line analysis were not those who were the most demographically similar,” an excerpt in Sports Illustrated explained. “They were instead those who had players who could cross-cut between a mix of subgroups, who could facilitate a complementarity, as opposed to a rivalry, based on their differences.”

MarketWatch reported on research by Arun Lakshmanan, associate professor of marketing, that found narcissists are more likely to donate to charity if the request focuses on them, instead of the recipient. “Charitable giving is about having empathy,” Lakshmanan said. “Narcissists have difficulty with that, so asking them to imagine themselves as the person in need can help elicit genuine concern and thus donations.”

Articles in Scientific American and Salon discussed research by School of Management PhD student Katie Badura and Emily Grijalva, assistant professor of organization and human resources. Their study found men are still more likely than women to be chosen or rated as leaders, in part because they tend to be more assertive. “That’s a ton of human capital that organizations are ignoring,” said Badura, who advised companies to train employees to rely less on stereotypes.

Charles Lindsey, associate professor of marketing, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal about consumer reactions to price hikes on everything from paint to tissues. “Companies realize there may be more inflationary pressure in the next few years, and maybe consumers will react favorably right now,” Lindsey said. However, he continued, “customers are always on a budget and will always feel pressure.”

Veljko Fotak, assistant professor of finance, was interviewed by Forbes on how naked short-selling can impact financial markets. Contrary to prior reports, Fotak’s research showed that unsettled short sales did not trigger the collapse of several financial firms during the 2008 economic crisis. “Blaming short sellers is always easier than admitting that betting the farm on subprime mortgages was a mistake,” he said.

Jim Lemoine, assistant professor of organization and human resources, was quoted in a Yahoo! story about the rise of businesses and corporate leaders making decisions based on morality. “Cynics may say companies are just doing it so that they can get good press ... but it also makes good business sense,” he said. “Paradoxically, the companies that focus less on profit and more on stakeholders make more profit in the long term.”

Inc. also reported on research by Lemoine, showing that when leaders prioritize morality, their organizations perform better and their employees are more satisfied, engaged, creative and proactive. “As Lemoine points out, what’s ‘right’ can be subjective,” the article stated. “Even as you abide by a particular approach, you should recognize that others might have a way of looking at a situation or the world that’s different than you.” (Read more in Insights.)

In a Buffalo News op-ed, Larry Zielinski, executive in residence for health care administration, argued that while single-payer plans, like “Medicare for all,” could virtually eliminate the number of uninsured nationwide, they fail to address the reason for rising health care costs: fee-for-service medicine that emphasizes “sick care” over preventative services. “It doesn’t matter who is writing the check for those services, a government agency or a commercial insurance company; if the underlying system stays intact, the problem continues,” Zielinski wrote.

Tom Ulbrich, assistant dean of entrepreneurship and social innovation initiatives, was quoted in a Buffalo News story about the number of local jobs 43North and other startup competitions have created. These events, including UB’s Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition, “help create a culture of entrepreneurship,” Ulbrich said. “We have moved from, ‘Woe is me, there is little to be hopeful for new business,’ to, ‘We can do this, and Buffalo is a place to move to, not to move away from, for budding entrepreneurs.’”