Dear Alumni and Friends of the College of Business Administration:

Dean Nivi, front center, with CBA students

I am pleased to greet you as the new dean of the College of Business Administration and look forward to sharing our plans and successes as we move forward. My vision for the College is evolving as I continue to grow in understanding of the history, current state and future potential of the school.

I would like to share my evolving vision with you. As I do, I am mindful of the words of Lech Walesa, who told the U.S. Congress in 1989, "There is a declining market for words." Ethics and leadership require action. Just as St. James said that "faith without works is dead," so too, our ideas are important, but in vain without action. My commitment in my capacity as Dean, along with you, is to do all we can to see action result from these words.

Historically, visionary academics and industrial leaders created the concept of business administration to bring a scientific approach to business. This concept has been refined and has taken firm root in today's academic institutions. Today, business schools around the world apply the scientific method to business administration. Graduates of these schools have created tremendous value through start-ups and large global enterprises. Significant research in a variety of business disciplines has created specialized fields of study such as marketing, finance, entrepreneurship and human resource management. However, just as the effectiveness of a physician requires the integration of many scientific disciplines to provide holistic care and healing to the patient, so too, the needs of enterprises small or large, require the systemic integration of many business disciplines.

The vision and challenge is to take the "science" of business administration to the next level. We envision two cornerstones: Systems Thinking and Leadership.  Key processes to support these are Integrated Curriculum and Experiential Learning.

Cornerstones

• Systems Thinking

  "How can I understand the whole without understanding the parts and how can I understand the parts without understanding the whole?"  Blaise Pascal

  Our first cornerstone is "Systems Thinking" as a business methodology. This is critical to understanding the holistic aspect of disciplines within the larger context of business. We need to introduce practical tools that enable students to capture the complexity of larger systems and better understand the interactions of various elements that determine a system's performance.

• Leadership

  "Leadership can never stop at words. Leaders must act, and they do so only in the context of their beliefs. Without action or principles, no one can become a leader."  Max DePree

  The culmination of successful business is seen in the management of its most important resource, its people. To be a leader, one must have a clear understanding of one's own values and how they fit in the context of leadership. The absence of such understanding has been painfully evident in the scandals of corporate governance seen recently in the top levels of American businesses. Integration of intellectual, spiritual, ethical and social values must be a part of leadership development. The principles of value-centered leadership can be taught and be reinforced through leadership lectures and dialogues with senior leaders in industry, academia, and beyond.

Key Processes

• Integrated Curriculum

  "…good results in a complex system require integrating as many perspectives as possible."  Peter Senge

  The next step, which is far more challenging, is the integration of several courses into one. In it, students would learn to identify and explore interactions between disciplines and find the optimum conditions which result in business success. For example, labor relations, finance, ethics, and corporate strategy are not independent disciplines and must be viewed and studied in a larger systems context with long-term implications surfaced and addressed.

• Experiential Learning

  "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand…" Confucius

  Techniques based on experiential learning focus on students "learning by doing." An experiential learning lab, not a teaching podium, is a far more effective method of transferring knowledge than traditional methods. I have personal experience in developing and implementing a highly effective action learning lab, which can make a significant impact on our competitiveness.

The above outlines a long term strategy to make the College not only competitive with other leading institutions, but at the leading edge of business education for undergraduates and MBAs.

However, one needs to be mindful of potential dangers.

"There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order."  Machiavelli

Our vision for the College of Business Administration will be challenging to implement. Some will resist the change. However a vision which further strengthens our ability to reach out and serve the community speaks clearly and honestly to the roots and heart of the UDM mission.

I look forward to sharing details of the College's journey as we progress along this path, and welcome your insights and feedback as we move forward. Please send me an e-mail at hossein.nivi@udmercy.edu. Thank you.

Hossein Nivi
Dean of the College of Business Administration