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Articles by Vicki Tenhaken

This paper examines whether a proactive personality instrument, designed to assess whether an ind... more This paper examines whether a proactive personality instrument, designed to assess whether an individual possesses personality traits often linked to entrepreneurship, is robust to international applications. We present the instrument to three cohorts of MBA students: a group in Michigan, another in Armenia, and a third in Poland. While internationally different, the student cohorts are similar otherwise. We find no meaningful differences on students' overall average scores; all groups appear equally suited to entrepreneurship. Therefore we find the instrument to be internationally robust. We also examine whether the form of each group's proactive personality varies internationally. We find evidence that cultural (whether social or economic) differences lead to different kinds of high scores – i.e., an international treatment effect. An important implication is that different kinds of 'entrepreneurial' students might want to consider working alongside others with proactive personalities, especially if a potential partner would bring a complementary set of attributes.

This essay examines whether servant leadership is an innate personality trait, a learned behavior... more This essay examines whether servant leadership is an innate personality trait, a learned behavior, or a combination of both. Authentic servant leadership is based on the premise of serving others and putting others' interests before personal interests (Greenleaf, 1977). If this premise is true, then many will be unable to practice servant leadership due to a lack of the prerequisite attributes of a servant leader. This study begins by discussing servant leadership as it relates to personality attributes. It next considers the possibility that servant leadership practices and attitudes may be formed and developed in those to whom servant leadership does not come naturally. If so, then servant leadership may potentially be utilized by those who are not natural servant leaders in one of two ways. First, it is possible that one may grow into an authentic servant leader through ongoing practice of the habits of servant leaders. If so, this is a powerful idea. Second, it seems possible that a skillful manager may potentially draw from the quiver of authentic servant leadership on a situational basis. The study concludes by evaluating each of these two possibilities. Many modern leadership theories have grown out of the traditional trait, behavioral/human relations, and contingency leadership theories. Among the current leadership theories such as adaptive, transformational, transactional, charismatic, and others, one that is (re)gaining much attention since first being introduced in the 1970s is that of servant leadership.

Papers by Vicki Tenhaken

International journal of social sciences, 2013

Journal of Business & Economics Research, Feb 7, 2011

This study of small and medium size retail and service companies over 100 years old looks for com... more This study of small and medium size retail and service companies over 100 years old looks for common strategies that enabled the organizations to prosper for an unusually long period of time. Four common behaviors are identified and compared to factors identified in previous studies of very large multinational companies of a similar age.

International Business & Economics Research Journal, Feb 15, 2011

This study compares small and medium-sized U.S. and Japanese companies that have been in business... more This study compares small and medium-sized U.S. and Japanese companies that have been in business for at least 100 years, looking for common characteristics that enabled them to overcome environmental changes and economic challenges in order to prosper for an unusually long period of time. Working with the premise that a fundamental objective of the corporation is to survive, this work is an attempt to identify common behaviors or strategies among the long-lived companies in different cultures that may be worth emulating.

Today's students must be prepared to interact with people and cultural situations that may differ... more Today's students must be prepared to interact with people and cultural situations that may differ significantly from their life experiences to date. A majority of employers indicate they look for candidates who have had a study abroad experience during their college years. Responses given to the 2011 QS Global Employer Survey by over 10,000 corporate recruiters worldwide show that employers actively seek and give preference to college graduates who had studied abroad. Six out of ten employers said they give "extra credit" for a student's international experience and more than 80 percent said they actively seek graduates who had studied abroad. The multi-cultural work environment within the United States reflects a microcosm of the global community, so intercultural competence not only prepares an individual for the global economy of the twenty-first century, it also provides skills for managing a more diverse workforce at home. Increasingly, students prefer shortterm study abroad programs over semester or year-long programs. Since the value employers place on a student's study abroad experience grows significantly as program length increases, participation in short-term programs may not achieve the development of intercultural skills and competencies employers want students to gain from international study. Therefore, faculty and international study administrators need to take care in designing short-term study abroad programs to ensure that the desired learning objectives are met. Students will need to make an extra effort to describe their experience in such a manner that convinces prospective employers their time abroad developed the intercultural competencies employers expect such experiences to provide. Particularly in the case of participation in short-term programs, the onus will be on the student to translate his or her study abroad experience into marketable competencies. Students must learn to express how the study abroad experience enhanced their knowledge and ability to work effectively in a global society. Intercultural sensitivity has long been recognized as a necessary skill for effective intercultural competence. To develop the intercultural sensitivity needed for global interactions, one must learn to understand, respect, and appreciate both surface-level and deep cultural differences and then also be able to adapt one's behavior as appropriate. Short-term programs, even those with advance academic work to learn about the culture(s) being visited, seldom go beyond the first step of developing intercultural sensitivity, that of increasing knowledge of other cultures. Because of the "island" or "bubble" syndrome of many short-term study abroad programs, students are often not faced with challenging interpersonal situations or the need to adapt their behavior. It is especially important, therefore, that faculty members leading short-term study abroad programs design them to be more than travel and tour experiences and by include exercises that encourage students to articulate how their study abroad experience has affected the areas of personal growth that leads to intercultural competence.

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2012

This paper examines whether a proactive personality instrument, designed to assess whether an ind... more This paper examines whether a proactive personality instrument, designed to assess whether an individual possesses personality traits often linked to entrepreneurship, is robust to international applications. We present the instrument to three cohorts of MBA students: a group in Michigan, another in Armenia, and a third in Poland. While internationally different, the student cohorts are similar otherwise. We find no meaningful differences on students' overall average scores; all groups appear equally suited to entrepreneurship. Therefore we find the instrument to be internationally robust. We also examine whether the form of each group's proactive personality varies internationally. We find evidence that cultural (whether social or economic) differences lead to different kinds of high scores-i.e., an international treatment effect. An important implication is that different kinds of 'entrepreneurial' students might want to consider working alongside others with proactive personalities, especially if a potential partner would bring a complementary set of attributes.

Some companies have managed to overcome economic challenges, massive changes in technology, globa... more Some companies have managed to overcome economic challenges, massive changes in technology, globalization and other socio-cultural transformations to not only survive, but thrive over an extended period of time. Are there certain industries to which these companies belong that are more conducive to long-term survival? Does private ownership or firm size make a difference in a business’s ability to survive over the long term? In this research a data base of U.S. companies over 100 years old is compiled and then compared to the profile of U.S. businesses overall in an attempt to answer these questions

If survival is the ultimate performance measure, as proposed by former McKinsey managing director... more If survival is the ultimate performance measure, as proposed by former McKinsey managing director Ian Davis, then corporations exhibit dismal results when evaluating years of existence versus potential lifespan. Previous research on corporate longevity has focused on small samples of large, public firms. However, most old companies, as well as the majority of all businesses, are small- to medium-sized and privately-owned. This paper present the results of research testing a theoretical longevity model on small- to medium-sized, privately-owned companies in Japan and the United States.

International journal of social sciences, 2013

The 2011 QS Global Employer Survey of over 10,000 recruiters worldwide indicates that employers a... more The 2011 QS Global Employer Survey of over 10,000 recruiters worldwide indicates that employers actively seek and give preference to college graduates who had studied abroad. Six out of ten employers said they give "extra credit" for a student's international experience and more than 80 percent said they actively seek graduates who had studied abroad. The value employers place on a student's study abroad experience grows significantly as program length increases. Though this study suggests there is a connection in employers' minds between overseas study and the development of certain interpersonal skills, students who participate in short-term programs need to make an extra effort to describe their experience in such a manner that convinces prospective employers their time abroad developed the intercultural competence employers expect. Today's students must be prepared to interact with people and cultural situations that may differ significantly from their ...

Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC), 2011

We teach management as a rational process: if you conscientiously apply the concepts learned, you... more We teach management as a rational process: if you conscientiously apply the concepts learned, you will succeed. However, for this equation to work certain underlying factors must be in place. No matter how well prepared managers may be, events unfold around them that profoundly affect their organizations. We may take the basic infrastructure of democratic capitalism for granted when we teach management education, but it doesn’t hurt to remind our students occasionally that these ‘givens’ aren’t always there. By teaching our students to appreciate how remarkable is the achievement of democratic capitalism, will we be more likely to protect it and perhaps even improve upon it.

International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 2011

For years business writers and speakers have focused on larger than life, charismatic Leaders, wi... more For years business writers and speakers have focused on larger than life, charismatic Leaders, with a capital "L". The implication is that the success of an organization is dependent on this one person and his or her ability to inspire everyone else to follow a unique vision. This focus on the Leader is at least a partial cause of the lack of trust we are witnessing in business organizations today. Leaders believe they must behave in some larger than life way. With the expectation that they must see things the rest of us do not, they make riskier and riskier decisions, desperate to prove they deserve the role. Perhaps now that we have seen the problems resulting from this Leader-focused approach to running our organizations, we can return to a more reasonable approach -one that is actually attainable by mere mortals -where many are called upon to be good, competent, everyday leaders. If educational institutions begin to focus on developing the skills and character of these...

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2012

International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 2011

For years business writers and speakers have focused on larger than life, charismatic Leaders, wi... more For years business writers and speakers have focused on larger than life, charismatic Leaders, with a capital L. The implication is that the success of an organization is dependent on this one person and his or her ability to inspire everyone else to follow a unique vision. This focus on the Leader is at least a partial cause of the lack of trust we are witnessing in business organizations today. Leaders believe they must behave in some larger than life way. With the expectation that they must see things the rest of us do not, they make riskier and riskier decisions, desperate to prove they deserve the role. Perhaps now that we have seen the problems resulting from this Leader-focused approach to running our organizations, we can return to a more reasonable approach - one that is actually attainable by mere mortals - where many are called upon to be good, competent, everyday leaders. If educational institutions begin to focus on developing the skills and character of these everyday ...

Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 2011

International journal of social sciences, 2013

Journal of Business & Economics Research, Feb 7, 2011

International Business & Economics Research Journal, Feb 15, 2011

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2012

This paper examines whether a proactive personality instrument, designed to assess whether an ind... more This paper examines whether a proactive personality instrument, designed to assess whether an individual possesses personality traits often linked to entrepreneurship, is robust to international applications. We present the instrument to three cohorts of MBA students: a group in Michigan, another in Armenia, and a third in Poland. While internationally different, the student cohorts are similar otherwise. We find no meaningful differences on students' overall average scores; all groups appear equally suited to entrepreneurship. Therefore we find the instrument to be internationally robust. We also examine whether the form of each group's proactive personality varies internationally. We find evidence that cultural (whether social or economic) differences lead to different kinds of high scores-i.e., an international treatment effect. An important implication is that different kinds of 'entrepreneurial' students might want to consider working alongside others with proactive personalities, especially if a potential partner would bring a complementary set of attributes.

International journal of social sciences, 2013

Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC), 2011

International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 2011

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2012

International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 2011

For years business writers and speakers have focused on larger than life, charismatic Leaders, wi... more For years business writers and speakers have focused on larger than life, charismatic Leaders, with a capital L. The implication is that the success of an organization is dependent on this one person and his or her ability to inspire everyone else to follow a unique vision. This focus on the Leader is at least a partial cause of the lack of trust we are witnessing in business organizations today. Leaders believe they must behave in some larger than life way. With the expectation that they must see things the rest of us do not, they make riskier and riskier decisions, desperate to prove they deserve the role. Perhaps now that we have seen the problems resulting from this Leader-focused approach to running our organizations, we can return to a more reasonable approach - one that is actually attainable by mere mortals - where many are called upon to be good, competent, everyday leaders. If educational institutions begin to focus on developing the skills and character of these everyday ...

Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 2011

International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 2011

This paper compares the entrepreneurial attributes of MBA students in Armenia to those in the Uni... more This paper compares the entrepreneurial attributes of MBA students in Armenia to those in the United States. If entrepreneurial attributes are more learned cultural behaviors and not only inherent personality factors, business students in a recently-privatized economy such as Armenia would not score as high on an entrepreneurial personality index as would business students in the U.S. where both models of entrepreneurship and expectations of certain proactive characteristics in individuals entering the business world are widespread.