Collegiate Adventure Program: creating a business personality.

Santella, Anthony P. ; Emery, Charles R.

ABSTRACT

More than ever, today's new hires are expected to hit the ground running. As such, there has been a resurgence of selection research over the last several years. In general, the findings of this research indicate that an occupationally-relevant personality has the greatest predictive validity (Taylor, et al., 2002). It is higher education's duty to provide the experience necessary to create successful business personalities. Further, successful business personalities cannot be created through lectures but must be grown through experiences that create the proper skills, attitudes and values. This paper provides an overview and detailed example of a university's attempt to create successful business personalities by growing traits in an 'outside-the-classroom', co-curricular program.

INTRODUCTION

Today's businesses are facing a new type of hiring crisis--a crisis of hiring the right person for the job and the organization at the most economical cost. The first year cost of a bad hire typically runs 2.5 times the person's salary, not counting the intangible costs and damage to organizational productivity and morale (Kruger, 2004). An overlapping problem is that most organizations can no longer afford the time and costs of training new hires. Most large to middle-sized organizations have cut back on-the-job training and eliminated the middle managers who were previously responsible for coaching new hires. Due to downsizing and cost cutting, today's new hires are expected to hit the ground running from the first day of employment.

Consequently, there has been a resurgence of selection research over the last several years. The most recent findings of selection research indicate that an occupationally-relevant personality has the greatest predictive validity (Taylor, et al., 2002). Donald Trump on the hit television program "The Apprentice" seems to validate these findings by indicating that the winning candidate has the right personality traits to succeed. Stephan Covey's The 8th Habit (2004) suggests the most critical key to success in the business world is to find one's voice and to inspire others to find theirs. In business, these traits make up what we call the "business personality," and these characteristics have become the "holy grail" of business recruiters.

A person's personality is often defined as a complex interaction between heredity, attitude, experience, and values (Digman, 1990). Therefore, a person's business personality is a combination of the heredity, attitude, experience and values, he or she brings to the job. Although the appropriate business personality is job specific and depends on the job analysis and supervisor expectations, there are several overarching traits that are sought after by all organizations (Emery & Tolbert, 2004). It is the duty of higher education to provide the experience necessary to create successful business personalities. Further, successful business personalities cannot be created through lectures but must be grown through experiences that lead students to adopt the proper business attitudes and values. Additionally, a successful business personality cannot be developed in every student. The student must have a readiness or willingness to learn. As such, the growth process is provided through a series of coached experiences as suggested by the Hersey-Blanchard (1969) model of situational leadership. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a university's attempt to create successful business personalities by growing desired traits in an outside-the-classroom, co-curricular program. Hopefully, our experience will foster a sharing of philosophies, delivery methods and results in co-curricular education.

THE BUSINESS ADVENTURE PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The aim of the Adventure Program is to mold the students' business personality and to help them find their voice during the formative years of undergraduate education. The program is based on building behaviors and attitudes by putting students through experiences as well as by providing clearly defined expectations of business, character development training, and one-on-one mentorship. One of the most important behaviors to develop is leadership. It is important for students to understand that leadership is a choice. Most students think of leadership as a position and therefore don't think of themselves as leaders (Covey, 2004). Further, this program is for students and academic sponsors that are skeptical of the notion that leaders can be trained in the classroom or that there is nothing anyone can do to facilitate or accelerate the process.

Opportunities to achieve expectations and to gain "real world" experience are developed through a strong partnership between the faculty, student services and the business community. Every effort is made to build a sense of community and create an achievement culture within this cadre of self-motivated students. Student achievements are rewarded (based on a points system) and experiences are certified by the university thus providing job recruiters with a credible insight to the student's business personality. Achievement rewards are unique opportunities to add valuable experiences to one's resume. Further, the program's credibility is such that "high achievers" are often pre-qualified for job interviews. Lastly, the program's track record of improved student employability has created an ever-increasing group of student applicants and served as the impetus to make our regular business curriculum more hands-on and practitioner-oriented.

OPERATIONAL MODEL

Each semester the program consists of six components: (1) kick-off, (2) projects, (3) academic-related sessions, (4) mock job interviews (practice and scored rounds), (5) cabin stay and ropes course, and (6) awards presentation (Table 1). Each semester opens with an Adventure convocation to explain the program and to kick-off a week of enrolling new and past students to the program. During this period, starting achievement points are calculated for students based on their last semester's achievements (e.g., grade point and co-curricular activities). In addition to the explanatory nature of the convocation, motivational speakers are used to help influence students to become achievers and to create an achievement culture.

The "projects" or program management component of the program changes each semester and provides the students with opportunities to plan and implement a variety of projects ranging from SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) or Apprentice-like activities (e.g., develop radio and newspaper educational programs) to company action-learning projects (e.g., develop ethics or recruitment programs) and social activities (e.g., bowling, pool or "anything floats" competitions). This component provides the students with integrative experiential learning and confidence in their program management abilities that can't be created in the classroom.

The "academic-related" component of the program also changes each semester and consists of student run seminars (e.g., ethics, leadership, business topics), debates (e.g., stem-cell research, accounting, immigration and environmental legislation), and business simulations (internally and between colleges). While this component is similar to the previous one, it provides students with an opportunity to practice and to take their academic skills to the next level through teaching. Additionally, this component has a secondary benefit of cooperative learning and peer education.

The "mock interview" component of the program consists of two phases. The first phase is conducted during the third week of the semester and consists of the having the student participate in a practice job interview in front of fellow students and faculty members. Students are critiqued on their performance as well as their resume and asked to reflect on the experience. The second phase is conducted during the eighth week of the semester and consists of having the student participate in a practice job interview in front of real job recruiters. Students are scored and given feedback on their resume and performance. This component creates ownership in one's career while improving his or her resume writing and communication skills. Evidence indicates that students improve in each semester that they participate in this component.

The "cabin stay" component of the program is generally conducted midway through the semester and consists of an off-site weekend (a day and a half plus a night) experience in which students complete a low or high ropes course (depending on the location) and various leadership and team/interpersonal skills building activities. The activities are conducted by faculty, student, guest speakers and National Guard personnel. This experience creates a cohesive group of students who understand the importance of teamwork and achievement. Further, the off-site weekend creates a "buzz" that is invaluable to recruiting new students and to strengthening the relationship between students and faculty members.

Lastly, the "awards" component recognizes a student's program achievement for that particular semester. Achievement points are tallied and rewards are provided to a number of the highest achievers depending upon the funding and experience opportunities provided by sponsor companies. For example, past sponsor rewards have included taking students on business trips to Japan, China, England, Germany and Mexico as well as having them participate in executive problem-solving sessions and recruiting sessions.

As previously mentioned, these six components are repeated each semester with changes in the projects, academic sessions, interviewers, cabin stay activities and rewards. This repetitive cycle is intentionally designed to provide students with continuous opportunities to develop and apply key business personality traits through action learning (e.g., managing projects, teaching, debating, interviewing, questioning and participating on teams). In other words, students may elect to participate for only one semester or for several semesters. The hope is that by participating in repeated cycles, a student will continually build skills and reinforce needed traits. The evidence thus far indicates that the students, who have participated in the most semesters, score the highest on mock interviews and are the most employable. Several of the key program philosophies are expanded upon in the following sections.

EDUCATE THE WHOLE STUDENT

Most business schools only educate half the student--the in-class, academic half. Today's employers are looking for the complete recruit, one with both the job skills and a business personality. As such, business schools must begin to educate the whole student by providing structured opportunities outside the classroom that go beyond internships and systematically focus on building the business personality. Further, most business schools only provide potential employers with half the picture, half the story of student achievement. That half of the picture is the academic standing of the student represented by course grades and a cumulative GPA. What employers really want is a complete picture of student achievement and potential. The National Association of Colleges and Employers suggests in their Internet article "Resumes & Interviews: What Employers Want" (2004) that the picture should show evidence of the desirable intangibles, such as the ability to work in teams, to communicate effectively, to develop workable goals and strategies, to perform with honesty and integrity, to exhibit a strong work ethic, to demonstrate initiative, to relate well to others (interpersonal skills), and to plan and manage budgets (organizational skills).

DON'T JUST POLISH THE DIAMONDS

Most schools focus leadership program activities on the high academic achievers because they are the easiest to identify and the easiest to motivate using the traditional in-classroom methods. This program, however, focuses on both the well-rounded achievers and high achievers. The well-rounded achievers represent a larger group of self selecting and motivated individuals. It has often been said that "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear." As such, this program gives an opportunity for those students who see the importance of education later in their school careers than the "high achievers." In other words, this program provides the capability to reach a larger group of latent achievers who are usually forgotten by most traditional classroom extension programs. Particular efforts are made to reach this group through encouragement, coaching, and recognition to raise their performance. Further, the concept of a cadre training process, involvement of local businesses and faculty, rewards, and certification builds a sense of community among the participants.

LEVERAGE EXISTING VALUES

While most business school programs struggle with the overlap of other non-academic departments (e.g., career services, student development, international studies), this program has created internal and external partnerships to take advantage of extra curricular opportunities. Internal partnerships such as student affairs and career services that focus on the whole student help us leverage their skills and best practices to create a more holistic education. External partnerships were created with companies to define expectations and measurements of the Adventure cadre. Further, these external partnerships have created an atmosphere of ownership by the business community. They truly see the Adventure as a "classroom without walls."

The program creates one-on-one coaching moments to integrate business values/beliefs and character development with academic concepts such as leadership and organizational dynamics. This may be the largest single benefit of the program and the key to developing the student's business personality. Further the program coaches or advisors discuss expectations and experience opportunities with each student as well as reviewing past performance. Although students are required to take complete ownership of their planning and developmental progress, they view the coaches/advisors as someone who really cares about their development and eventual employment. Previously, this was the responsibility of the academic advisor. Today, however, most faculty members are faced with advisee overloads and can only function as talking catalogues and drop/add signatories.

CREATE CARROTS ... REWARDS THEY WANT, WHEN THEY WANT THEM

A key to student recruitment and program success are the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. The rewards are designed to be meaningful, achievable and timely in order to motivate students to perform program duties in addition to their normal academic load. Further, the students must perceive the rewards as more valuable than the money and experience earned in a part-time menial job. For example, students have found the following rewards to be particularly meaningful: (1) Camaraderie gained from weekend cabin stay and ropes course; (2) Experience gained for job retreats and workshops with corporate recruiters; (3) Inclusion in a resume book; (4) Certification of various experiences; (4) Instant small scholarships; (5) Free tickets to the department social and other usual college rewards like book store gift certificates and T-Shirts; and (6) Accompanying our business partners on overseas business trips (e.g., Mexico, England).

Another key to success is the way the program is marketed. Today's students are the MTV generation who have grown up being bombarded with slick, highly visual messages that describe how cool a product is. Accordingly, the program's marketing centers on slick mottos, generation heroes (e.g., Sponge Bob) and mediums that attract student attention. For example, mottos such as, "Achieve Now--Rewards Later" speak to the notion that success is based on ever increasing levels of achievement. Additionally, a video of students performing their Adventure activities is continuously projected on a wall in the business school's common area. Students enjoy seeing themselves achieving in academic and social situations. The key point here is to never underestimate the power of giving students their 15 minutes of fame. Students indicate that this satisfaction is very akin to the enjoyment one feels in watching a reality TV program that gives fame to ordinary individuals. Further, the videos convey a strong message and values of an achievement culture. Non-participants can clearly see that they are being left in the wake by the achievers.

CREATE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR YOUR JOB SEEKERS

Through its unique out-of-classroom training, experiences, and achievement certification, the Adventure Program adds a competitive advantage for job seekers. Recruiters can quickly see what desirable business qualities and skills have been acquired by reviewing a student's achievement profile or portfolio. This profile contains specific evidence of desirable business qualities, such as the ability to work well in teams (interpersonal skills), motivation, integrity, and communication and organization skills.

One recruiter for a national car rental company recently expressed enthusiasm for the program after interviewing several students who had just completed the program. This recruiter found that these student achievers not only had the desired academic knowledge, but also possessed the maturity and positive attitudes usually only found in experienced business employees. Similarly, Brett Allen (personal communication, May 19, 2004), a recruiter for HRFinder services in Columbia, SC noted that, "the Business Adventure Program fosters the dynamic business personality traits that our employers want in all their employees." Obtaining certification from the Business Adventure Program saves valuable recruitment time since it immediately identifies the kind of well-rounded, high achievers that are in demand in the workplace

PROVIDE ASSURANCE OF LEARNING

Seeking or maintaining accreditation is a key focus of most business schools. Central to AACSB accreditation is the requirement to demonstrate assurance of learning. The Business Adventure Program provides evidence of a school's efforts to provide voluntary learning opportunities outside the classroom. It has well-documented, systematic processes that assist in the development, monitoring and evaluation of student learning outside the classroom. By encouraging students to actively participate in business organizations and experiences, they are not only "graded" through the earning of points, but they actually begin to live the business concepts taught in the classroom. Students gain first-hand experience of working together as a business unit, and begin to appreciate and develop personal qualities that are valued by business professionals (e.g., self-motivated, outstanding work ethic, integrity, enthusiasm, maturity, dependability, high standards, good communication skills, perseverance, etc.) In addition to providing an assurance of learning, this unique program provides supplemental evidence of efforts toward satisfying the AACSB standards of student retention efforts, aggregate faculty and staff educational responsibility, and individual faculty educational responsibility.

DEFINE AND IMPROVE UPON PROGRAM SUCCESS

The program uses an advisory council of business managers and job recruiters to help define program success and key measurements (e.g., individual performance targets, performance evidence, etc.). Additionally, off-the-shelf instruments are used to measure pre- and post-character development and the students' knowledge of business expectations. These measures are compared to non-participants to demonstrate the program's value. Although the program is still in its infancy, preliminary results indicate striking differences in attitude and behaviors between the participants and non-participants. Further, the program has incorporated the continuous improvement mechanism of benchmarking. The advisory council focuses on changes in business recruiting practices and requirements while the students examine the best practices of other university co-curricular programs. This information is fed into the program's strategic planning cycle for possible implementation in the next academic year. Lastly, the program has an on-going product improvement or corrective action team (faculty, staff, participants, business managers, and job recruiters) that examines student feedback from each experience.

CONCLUSION

The Business Adventure Program is an extremely innovative framework intended on developing a student's "business personality" through the creation of leadership opportunities and student ownership of business and community projects. Additionally, the program creates an achievement culture which fosters deeper commitment and involvement of the students in the study of business and good business practices by actively involving students in the learning process. In turn, the achievement culture promotes higher levels of in-class learning, teamwork, confidence, grade point averages and a sense of community. Further, the program helps students to assimilate business concepts by allowing them to practice classroom learning (e.g., project management and leadership) in faculty-supervised activities outside the classroom.

The program is also designed to give feedback each semester in the form of points earned by students for their contributions and activities throughout the semester. This feedback mechanism is intended on providing motivation similar to that found in the business world. This feedback also has a unique feature in that student achievement in the program is provided in the form of a report to potential employers to be used as an additional assessment tool and an indicator of future business success.

The program outcome measures have been very positive. In its first year, the program helped the university's College of Business go from one student organization with five leadership opportunities, 50 student participants, and two self-serving events, to four organizations with 20 leadership opportunities, 160 student participants, four self-serving events, seven business projects, two sponsored professional speaking events, two community fundraising activities and four cross-campus support events. Additionally, the Adventure group had a 23 percent increase in grade point average versus a similar sample of non-Adventure participants.

Moreover, this program has had a profound effect on recruitment, retention, and, most importantly, the future employability of our students. The four-fold increase in employability (job offers prior to graduation) of Adventure graduates over non-Adventure graduates is the direct result of creating students with the business personality, creating a stronger internal partnership with career development/services and providing recruiters with evidence of "the right stuff." The following are typical recruiter comments:

"I really believe in this program, I love the fact that if I see a student is High Achievement Certified, I know I want to interview them."

--Regional Recruiter, Enterprise Rent a Car, Top Employer of Entry Level College Degree Students in the Country.

"That was the best group we've ever had visit, and we get a lot of groups."

--Regional Recruiter, Erwin Penland, Top Advertising Agency in South Carolina

"I wish they had a program like this when I was in college."

--Regional Recruiter, Elliotte Davis, Top Employer of Accountants in South Carolina

In short, the program provides the student with an opportunity to find their voice and to inspire others (Covey, 2004) while providing them a competitive advantage in the job market. Further, the program has strengthened our business curriculum through inclusion of several Adventure-type projects and "Get Real" initiatives. Graduates of the Adventure experience consistently offer program feedback that seems to parallel the musings of Robert Frost in his poem The Road Not Taken (1920).

 "......Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
 I took the one less traveled by,
 And that has made all the difference."

REFERENCES

Covey, S. R. (2004). The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. New York: Free Press.

Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 195-214.

Emery, C. R., & S. H. Tolbert (2004). Using the Kano model of customer satisfaction to define and communicate supervisor expectations. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications & Conflict, 9(2), 71-80.

Frost, R. (1920). The Road Not Taken. In E. Knowles (Ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (Fifth Edition, 1999). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hersey, P., & K. Blanchard (1969). Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kruger, J. B. (2004). Hire the right person the first time: HR expert Debra Thompson shares steps to finding the best employees. Mark Photo Marketing, 79(6), 41-43.

Resumes & Interviews: What Employers Want. (n.d.) Retrieved July 14, 2004, from http://www.jobweb/resumes_interviews/resume_guide/comp.htm.

Taylor; P., Y. Keelty; & B. McDonnell (2002). Evolving personnel selection practices in New Zealand organisations and recruitment firms. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 31(1), 8-19.

Anthony P. Santella, Erskine College Charles R. Emery, Erskine College

Table 1 Overview of Program Timing, Activities and Outcomes

Week Activities Student Outcomes Program Outcomes

 1 Opening Convo- Understands the Creates an achieve-
 cation; Program program and one's ment culture;
 enrollment; individual Increases student
 Student's achievement motivation,
 achievement points; Chooses to recruitment
 points be an achiever and retention
 calculated from
 last semester's
 grade point and
 co-curricular
 activities

1.2 Project Manage- Leadership, team Creates a cadre of
 ment (e.g., and project students to perform
 SIFE, Service management skills; campus and community
 learning and Application of projects
 action learning academic
 projects, social knowledge;
 activities) Improved
 student morale

2-12 Student Run Organization, Creates a cadre of
 Seminars (e.g., presentation, team students to teach
 ethics, leader- and project other students
 ship, business management skills; outside of
 topics), Debating and the classroom
 Debates, and problem-solving
 Simulations skills

 2 Mock Interview Creates ownership Creates a cadre of
 Practice of one's career self-assured
 Round and development; students who under-
 Improves resume stand the importance
 writing and of achievement and
 communication self-promotion
 skills; Provides
 competitive
 interviewing
 experience

 8 Cabin Stay and Improved team Creates a cohesive
 Ropes course building, leader- group of
 ship and inter- achievement-oriented
 personal skills; students within the
 Effective student business program
 teams

13 Mock Interview Experience of Creates a cadre
 Scoring Round interview competitive job
 practice, feedback applicants; Provides
 and coaching from important feedback
 real job to the program of
 recruiters; customer
 Understanding of requirements
 the competitive
 interviewing
 process and their
 strengths and
 weaknesses

14 Awards Validation of Underscores the
 Presentations performance; importance of an
 Opportunities to achievement culture
 participate in a to all university
 host of business business students;
 activities inside Increased program
 real companies enrollment