Developing Leadership via a Corporate Leadership Program

Developing Leadership via a Corporate Leadership Program



Adrian Bertolini
Department of Aerospace Engineering, RMIT University

Richard Filley
College of Engineering and Applied Science, Arizona State University,
Tempe, Arizona


ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the Arizona State University "Corporate
Leaders Program" with regards to providing an experiential learning
environment to develop leadership as a graduate attribute. It examines the
process by which the attribute of leadership is developed and highlights
the benefits produced for the students, the companies and the university.

Keywords: generic skills / graduate attributes, leadership, industry
partnerships

INTRODUCTION


In an increasingly competitive global market, the employers of all
university graduates have become more demanding with regards to the quality
and flexibility of the people they employ. It is not sufficient in the
current information rich and globally competitive environment to be solely
churning out technically brilliant and specialised students. Technology is
expanding and improving with such rapidity that "knowing something" is no
longer sufficient. Graduates must be able to adapt and learn continually as
well as interact powerfully in an increasingly challenging environment.
Cheryl Matherly, Assistant Dean of Student Career Services at Rice
University has pointed out that many graduates will change careers 4-5
times in their lives [1]. There has also been a push by many of the
Engineering Accreditation Institutions (e.g. IEAUST, ABET) to have the
Engineering Schools deliver on certain graduate capabilities of which
technical knowledge is but one aspect [2,3]. RMIT's management have also
recognised this future in their strategic plans [4,5]. The whole trend is
towards developing approaches that will enable and empower students to gain
the capabilities that will serve them most in the new economic and
technological environment.

The paper discusses one such approach that has been in use in the College
of Engineering and Applied Science at Arizona State University for the past
16 years. The ASU Corporate Leaders Program integrates student work
experience / industry internships with experiential leadership activities
that both the students and industry find provides extraordinary value for
everyone involved. RMIT is currently implementing its own Corporate
Leadership Program.


HISTORY

Originally known as the "ASU Industrial Fellows Program," the Corporate
Leaders Program (CLP) was conceived in 1985 from a concept created by
Professor Richard Smith (Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering
at that time) and Bob Tanner, Director of Engineering at the Honeywell
Manufacturing Systems Division. Richard Filley was employed to found the
program in 1986. The idea was to do something positive that would attract
top American undergraduate degree holders back to school full-time. A
version of the program specifically designed for small businesses was
launched in 1991, and the program was opened to high tech MBA students the
same year. By 1995 the program was opened to high tech architecture
students, in 1997 it was opened to international students, and technology
students were added in 1999.

The vision of the program promoted by the Director, Richard Filley, has
been to produce graduates "who understand technology and are prepared to
step into leadership roles in this increasingly high tech world." Three
themes woven throughout CLP are: innovation, global awareness, and service
to others.

Since 1985 more than 50 companies have participated in sponsoring students
in the CLP including technological giants such as Honeywell, Intel,
Motorola, TRW, and Boeing, as well as a number of mid-size to small
businesses. The most remarkable aspect that reflects the success of the
program is the high percentage of companies who return to sponsor further
students in the program. For instance, Honeywell and Intel have sponsored
students in the ASU CLP continuously since 1987.

Approximately 165 students have graduated from the CLP in good standing.
Another 100 or so students participating did not meet the graduation
requirements, usually due to the fact that they did not remain in the
program long enough. Graduation requirements have evolved; for instance it
used to be required that a student would need to complete two years in good
standing in the program to be considered a graduate; this has been reduced
to one year. Students must also earn a minimum number of points in the
"Performance Plus" system (see later) to be considered a CLP graduate in
good standing. A grade point average of 3.2/4.0 or higher and satisfactory
work performance are also required of program graduates.

Over the years approximately 75% of the CLP students found themselves with
a job from the sponsoring company, a "retention rate" that is considered
high for such an elite group of students. CLP graduates tend to receive
salary offers upon graduation that are significantly above average. The
current salary offer highs for CLP graduates are as follows: $US70,000 BS
degree, $US90,000 master's degree, and $US106,000 for a PhD graduate.


CURRENT STRUCTURE

The Corporate Leaders Programs is broken into two components: the graduate
program (for master and doctoral students), and the undergraduate program
(open to students who have completed their second year of study). About
30% of the CLP students are undergraduates, with the balance of students
pursuing master's degrees or a doctorate.


Amongst the criteria for a student to be eligible for the ASU CLP, they
must have a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.2/4.0 (upper distinction
average), and not participate in any other employment on campus or
otherwise. Whilst the program is open to all students of the College of
Engineering and Applied Science, the trend has been for international
graduate students with an average GPA of 3.7 (High Distinction average) to
be utilising the CLP.

CLP students are full-time students who work part-time (20 hours per week)
during the academic semester, and full-time (40 hours per week) during the
summer break. In the USA, it is very common for full-time university
students to work and go to school at the same time. The average yearly
payment per student by a company to ASU is $US45,000, which includes
support for the autumn and spring semesters as well as the summer break.
Most of this money goes to the student as wages. However, ASU also uses the
money to cover any administrative overheads of having an employee and
workers' compensation as well as contributing to benefits such as a book
allowance, leadership development, and scholarships. The leadership
development money mainly goes towards funding a trip for the top 50% of CLP
students to New Zealand for an International Corporate Leaders Program
Symposium and a study tour in New Zealand and Australia. Thus the students
get international exposure and interaction with students in similar
programs at RMIT, Waikato University (NZ), and TU Delft (Netherlands).


ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE CLP

The activities within the CLP are based on the principle that leadership is
a quality that can be developed in interaction with people –
experientially. It requires the student to communicate his/her ideas as
well as appreciate the constraints and concerns of others. All the
activities within the CLP are designed to engage and immerse the student in
different aspects of leadership in an active sense rather than a purely
theoretical sense.

Participation in the leadership development aspects of CLP is measured by
the "Performance Plus" point system. The Performance Plus point system is
designed to identify and encourage outstanding performance, and do so
fairly and objectively for all CLP students. Its focus is to increase the
level and quality of the student's participation in the leadership
development component of the CLP. Students gain points for different
activities within the CLP and the total is used to rank the students for
awards, for the trip to New Zealand in the Spring Break (March), and also
to determine whether or not a student will receive a US$300 book allowance
each semester. A low total could mean exclusion from CLP for not taking
the leadership development aspect of the program seriously enough. Each
week students participate in the CLP activities and submit forms to gain
points.

The following is a summary of the activities that all CLP students
participate in.

SWAT Teams

The SWAT (Students with Advanced Technologies) Teams are teams of 4-5 CLP
students who work on community projects in partnership with the United Way
Valley of the Sun (a non-profit organisation) with the aim of assisting and
supporting the implementation of technological solutions for non-profit
community support agencies. The team may work with an agency to set up a
database for managing their staff payroll, or a database to manage their
clientele, or even assist in setting up software at the organization that
the staff can use to be more accountable and efficient and then train the
staff in its usage. Essentially their task is to go into the project,
discover what is needed, interact with the community staff, and solve the
problem in the most efficient way.


Some of the skills that the CLP students have reported gaining from this
activity include:

Learning teamwork and managing differing timetables and availability.

Being able to break tasks into pieces so that work goes on in parallel.

Being open to taking ideas from others. Approaching the team members in
such a way that allows them to share ideas and feel part of the group.

Being able to learn the skills to provide direction for a group and how
to have conversations to cause the aligning of a group on an idea.

Learning empathy and being exposed to people who are from a entirely
different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Some students
commented that it also engendered a sense of self-worth because they are
helping others.

Presentations skills when presenting to the community organisation (year-
end report to not-for-profit organisation)

Meeting deadlines, challenges and problems.

Whilst many of these skills can be developed with project based activities
within Engineering, what has been found is that the most significant aspect
of having the community outreach activity is that the students work on a
project that clearly makes a difference to a community in a short time
span. It is real and they can't be wishy-washy about the project because it
impacts real people's lives. This is a great incentive to get things done
and has the students be responsible for their actions (an aspect sometimes
missing from group projects within normal engineering programs).




Executive Leadership Forum Series


The leadership forums are seminars presented by various leaders in the
community. They could be leaders from industry, sport, the community or the
academic environment. The sessions would normally last about 90 minutes and
would mainly consist of the speaker's personal reflections on leadership in
their organisation.

Some of the outcomes for this activity are:

Students gain examples of the reality of leadership in the business
environment.

Students gain a perspective of some of the difficulties and benefits they
may face in being a leader in an organization.

Students also get the opportunity to discuss with the speaker what the
speaker has learnt from their experiences so they can synthesis their own
approaches to being a leader.

Students are engaged in the idea of leadership and what its qualities
are.

Students' horizons are broadened in allowing them to see how other people
began and proving them with new ideas so that they can think differently
about their future.

Some of the leaders who spoke during 2001 included: Alan Steinberg (CEO and
President of DevelopOnline), and Sandra Baldwin (President of the US
Olympic Committee).





National Issues Forums


This is a monthly student-led event that discusses important issues of
American society. Students get an issue booklet which presents three
different viewpoints on an issue. At the NIF session, which can last around
two-and-a-half hours, there is a student moderator. The moderator shows a
video which discusses some of the issues and presents interviews with
people who support one or some of the ideas in the booklet. The moderator
can then have the students form teams to present different points of view
as well as personal ones. The students then debate the issues and it can
lead to some quite fiery arguments. The moderator's job is to keep the
debate balanced such that everyone can present their viewpoint.

The benefits of the NIFs are that the students get to argue, think
critically and examine different viewpoints and cultural perspectives. They
get trained in listening to other people's views and defending a view that
perhaps that they don't agree with (because they are put into teams for a
particular viewpoint). They also get the opportunity to convince others of
their ideas and perspectives. The moderator gets a chance to train
himself/herself in having people present their ideas and discussing issues
in a useful manner whilst moderating differing opinions.

The NIFs come as ready-made, thought provoking information packets and
video presentations that can be ordered via the Internet. Some topics
include: Racial and Ethnic Tension– what should we do?, Mission Uncertain –
Assessing America's global role, and Money & Politics – who owns democracy?




FEEDBACK FROM COMPANIES

All of the companies who have participated in the CLP have been impressed
with the quality of the students who are involved. Part of the good
impression is made by the fact that the students are amongst the best
students within the Engineering College. However, not only are these
students extremely qualified academically, many of them have been involved
in leadership roles in other communities (e.g. church, sporting groups,
community groups). The leadership really shows in their performance in the
work environment. Many of the companies have repeatedly come back and
continued to fund students through the CLP because of this.

An example of this is Medtronic, who have been involved in the CLP for
around 5 years. Medtronic is a multi-billion dollar company that makes all
the equipment for pacemakers and internal drug delivery. They are, by far,
the world leader in this area. One of their main R&D facilities is quite
near to ASU. Chris Robinson, a Senior Product Manager, spoke of how every
time he brought a new CLP student into his section it wasn't long before
the other sections were head-hunting them. Chris had an enormous respect
for the program and it was always his first port of call when looking to
fill positions. High-tech companies such as Microchip Technologies, Aligo
Inc. and ST Microelectronics report similar experiences.

The companies were pleased to get well-rounded individuals who were quite
balanced and mature in their actions. Given that qualities such as
integrity, treating people respectfully, listening to and understanding
people are all qualities developed in the CLP leaders, then it is not
surprising that there is a large uptake of the participants from the
program by the companies. The program has built a strong and respectful tie
between ASU and the companies. It is not the only way of building ties, but
ASU effectively is providing a valuable service to industry and this has
impressed the companies.



BENEFITS OF THE CLP

The decrease in funding from the Australian Government has caused
universities to look more closely at involving themselves with industry
partners. There is certainly a push, via the creation of the Cooperative
Research Centres, Virtual Research Centres and other avenues, to link
university research and development more closely with what industry
requires now. However, in comparison to the collaboration between industry
and universities in the USA, Australia lags far behind.

But what is it that has companies in the USA interact and collaborate with
universities on such a large scale? How can Australian universities
encourage a closer tie with industry? It is not the intention of this
review to delve deeply into these questions. However, the authors can
suggest one area for examination that points to a quality that is perhaps
weak in the Australian culture - there is a strong sense of a need for
community service within the American culture.

Community service is inherent in the American way of life. Universities,
companies, religious groups, sporting groups, individuals, all are involved
at some level in performing community service for schools, non-profit
agencies, and community organisations. How this culture impacts the
relationship between universities and industry is that both clearly
understand that it is only by working together that they can move forward
powerfully. Thus, what you will find is that it is natural for people in
industry to consider working with universities to achieve mutual goals.
They may not be able to do so due to constraints such as finances or such,
however they are quite open to it. This contrasts greatly with the culture
in Australia.

Yet universities and industry in Australia have been moving much more
towards creating this environment. One example is that the Aerospace
Engineering Department at RMIT has been extraordinarily successful in
working in strong collaboration with the Aerospace industry and community
outreach programs (mainly with schools) and linking the two together at
times. Not only has there been a link between industry and universities,
there is the realisation of Australian industry and universities that they
have a common goal in having each other win and the community win as well.
The context of creating an environment where everyone wins (industry,
universities, community) is perhaps the key to Australia's economy moving
forward in an increasingly globalised and competitive environment. Inside
this context a program such as the Corporate Leaders Program is clearly
worthwhile.

Not only does the CLP provide experiential leadership and teamwork
activities for the students, and thus fulfil on the development of critical
graduate capabilities, it also provides the opportunity for companies and
universities to work closely together to achieve a common goal –
graduates/employees who will be well-balanced flexible leaders and team
players. The aspect of community service and the use of that as an
experiential learning tool and a societal contribution also cannot be
overlooked for the companies, universities and the students. It develops
the ability of students to think beyond the normally narrow confines of
achieving marks and grasping technical material to the impact that they can
have on society. It allows them to clearly make a difference and to
experience making that difference. This is perhaps the most important point
of all. It is in experiencing that they can make a difference, in real and
important circumstances, that the students will learn how to be valuable
contributors to companies and society. It is not surprising that the
highest university prizes are awarded to those students who are able to
show the qualities of community service, leadership and academic
brilliance.

Other benefits for companies include: they are able to assess the students
over an extended period of time while providing an experience of their
company culture; they get access to the top students not when they graduate
(where they have to compete with potentially better offering companies),
but much earlier on; and companies can also influence how the students are
educated.



INTEGRATING INTO AN AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERING CURRICULUM

The CLP in its current format may not work in an Australian university
format given the number of contact hours the students have during a
standard semester. However there are a number of ways that one could
overcome these:

The leadership components of the CLP can become credited courses within
their degree. This would then have the aspect of reducing their credit
point hours and freeing up time to participate in the program. This is
especially so if their final year thesis is linked in with the employment
as well.

The job/internship component run over the standard summer period and the
leadership activities within a normal semester period.

One could also create a final year thesis/ work experience program where
students work full-time doing their thesis work with the company over
summer and then return to the company for a few hours each week to
interact with the company to complete their thesis and do presentations
and such.

The authors feel that initiating the program at the postgraduate level is
more likely to be supported by Australian industry, based on contacts made
thus far. This parallels the American experience, whereby most of the
students participating in CLP do so as graduate students.

As previously noted, a large number of the participants in CLP at Arizona
State University are international students. This would likely parallel
the experience of RMIT or any other Australian university. At ASU, foreign
students have adapted very well to a culturally different approach to
leadership. They often display an eagerness to learn the American approach.
An effort is made, though, to expose the students to other leadership
cultures, both through speakers selected to speak on the topic at ASU, and
at the annual Global Tech Leaders Symposium.

From a teaching and learning perspective some additions would need to be
made to the CLP. One of the weaknesses of the ASU CLP, from the RMIT
perspective, is that the activities are run without reflecting on the
aspects of the graduate capabilities being developed. While it is certain
that the program is delivering these capabilities, what is learnt would be
more strongly grasped by having the students reflect on what they are
doing. It would be worthwhile to have the students develop a reflective
portfolio whilst in the program. It would also be worthwhile to have group
meetings once per week or fortnight to reflect and discuss aspects of
leadership and teamwork as they participate in the program and in the work
experience. There would also need to be some feedback mechanisms internal
to some of the activities. For example, in the National Issues Forums (or
its Australian equivalent) it would certainly be useful to have a mentor
assess the interaction and the quality of the interactions and to provide
feedback to the moderator and the students. This will than enhance their
experience and learning from the discussions. It would also be useful to
have feedback mechanisms in place between the universities, the companies,
and the community organisations so that continual improvements can be made
to running of the program.

One final aspect would be the promotion of this program via the media.
Given the nature of the community service within the CLP and how it is
provided, the CLP provides an excellent and natural way of promoting a
university, its students and its programs to the community at large. The
CLP has been mentioned multiple times nationally and internationally
through its community service activities. The community service activities
of the CLP clearly show how engineering can make a difference to the
community at large. This can have the benefit of raising the profile of the
Engineering School in the traditionally under-represented groups within
engineering such as women.



CONCLUSION

The Corporate Leaders Program displays many of the qualities that result in
an enhanced delivery of graduate attributes such as leadership and
teamwork. It highlights one approach that Australian Engineering Schools
could use to deliver graduate attributes in the future.


REFERENCES

1. Matherly, C. and Robinson, D., "Ready for the global workplace?", in
Managing your career section of The College Edition of the National
Business Employment Weekly, Wall Street Journal (1999)


2. IEAust, "Manual for the Accreditation of Professional Engineering
Programs", The Institution of Engineers, Australia, available on
www.ieaust.org.au , October (1999).


3. Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc., "Criteria for
Accrediting Engineering Programs", Nov (2000).


4. RMIT Strategic Plan 2000-2004, RMIT University (1999)


5. RMIT Teaching and Learning Strategy 2000 – 2002, RMIT University (2000)