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DCU Business School and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) are proud to announce the renewal of their scholarship partnership for 2018/2019. The scholarships are jointly funded between DCU Business School and the GPA and offer financial assistance to GPA members to undertake DCU’s Executive MBA and Masters programmes.

Past recipients of the Executive MBA Scholarships include Fermanagh’s Chris Breen, Leitrim’s Rob Lowe, Westmeath’s David O’Shaughnessy, Kilkenny hurling star Richie Hogan, Dublin’s Denis Bastick and James McCarthy and former All-Ireland winners Jason Sherlock (Dublin) and Justin McNulty (Armagh).

Mayo veteran Barry Moran and Down footballer Conor McGinn are the latest inter-county players to be awarded scholarships for the prestigious DCU Business School MBA, awarded scholarships in 2017/2018.

Dublin hurler Cian Boland (MSc Digital Marketing), Waterford dual player Donal Breathnach and Sligo footballer Cian Breheny, both MSc Business Management, were all awarded Masters scholarships in 2017/2018.

You can read about the experiences of current MBA student Bryan Murphy as a GPA scholar at DCU Business School, here: http://dcubsblog.dcu.ie/gpa-scholar-bryan-murphy-mba-experience/

DCU has a global reputation as Ireland’s University of Enterprise, known for its strong links between academic, research and industry partners. DCU Business School proactively contributes to the development of individuals, industry and society  and is recognised nationally and internationally for the first-class quality of its business education programmes.

The Executive MBA programme is gradireland’s Postgraduate Course of the Year for 2018 in the business and finance category. The MSc in Management is also ranked in the top 100 in Europe by the prestigious Financial Times.

GPA and DCU 2017 launch

The Dean of DCU Business School Professor Anne Sinnott commented “we are delighted to renew our partnership with the GPA. Many of our previous scholarship recipients have achieved great success in their programmes, their careers and on the playing field and we are very proud of them. The GPA/WPA scholars join our world-class programmes along with students from around the world and will no doubt contribute enormously to these programmes”


Information for GPA players considering applying for a scholarship:

Applications should be emailed to Caroline Enright, Senior Communications Officer at DCU Business School at caroline.enright@dcu.ie with the subject marked ‘GPA DCU Scholarship Application.’ This email should have a personal statement attached, which should be no more than one A4 page in length. It should outline why the applicant is interested in applying for this programme, what they believe they will gain from the programme and what skills and attributes they can bring to a masters classroom. Applicants should also enclose their CV. The deadline for this scholarship is June 28th 2018. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview.

See business.dcu.ie for more information on courses and https://www.gaelicplayers.com/ for further information on GPA scholarships.

If you need further information, please contact Noel Connors, GPA Player Engagement Officer – Education at noel@gaelicplayers.com

DCU Business School is delighted to announce that it has been ranked for the first time by the Financial Times.

The ranking, which places the MSc in Management among the top 90 in the world, makes  DCU the youngest university to feature. As the Financial Times is considered one of the leading ranking system for business programmes it is a very significant achievement and another international endorsement of DCU’s quality as a young, dynamic university.

The MSc in Management at DCU is a well established programme with a reputation for excellent career development and already has a large community of successful alumni. It is renowned for its innovation and its creative approach to the postgraduate learning experience as seen in its multi-project Next Generation Management and the Practicum industry project.

Professor Anne Sinnott, Executive Dean of DCU Business School puts the success down to DCU Business School’s innovative approach to teaching and extensive industry links, “The ranking indicates that we are placed among the top universities in the world which deliver an MSc in Management Programme and further confirms our position as an innovative and quality business school, which prepares our graduates to be work-ready.

This success also highlights the strong relationship between DCU Business School and its alumni as their endorsement was critical to this outcome.

DCU Business School is accredited by the AACSB which is the leading international accrediting body for Business Schools and the Financial Times MSc in Management ranking is another acknowledgement of the quality and success of its programmes and graduates.

For more information about the MSc in Management click here.

Congratulations to DCU Business School staff on successes at the 2016 Irish Academy of Management Annual Conference.

This year the conference explored the theme ‘Ireland 2016: Re-imagining business and the role of ethics‘,  examining ways in which business and the business community can make a contribution to building a sustainable and ethical economy and society. The awards were as follows:

Best Paper (Conference theme)

Brian Harney and Tony Dundon ‘Re-imagining student learning in the house of neo-liberalism: Amazon and the contemporary business school’

Teresa Brannick Memorial Award

Brian Harney and Tony Dundon

Runner Up Best Paper Award

Maura McAdam, Eric Clinton, Martina Brophy ‘An Exploration of the Entrepreneurial Learning Processes in a Transgenerational Entrepreneurial Family Firm’

About the Irish Academy of Management

The Irish Academy of Management is the leading professional association for management studies, research and education on the island of Ireland. The Academy promotes the advancement of research, knowledge and education in the field of organisation and management studies through providing opportunities for researchers to collaborate within and across the sub-area specialities of management and encouraging presentation and publication of scholarly research

I completed my Executive MBA in the summer of 2015  at DCU. It was a great experience and our class comprised a spectacular bunch of people. Before I start to explain what life has been like post the MBA, I would like to acknowledge what a great experience it was. It certainly tests you on all levels – it tests your time management, it tests your productivity, it tests your ability to be part of a team, it tests your leadership – but the end result is highly rewarding.

During my MBA studies I was a Director of Research in Dublin with 16 direct reports the majority of which are PhDs. A couple of months after completing the MBA I moved to New Jersey to take on new responsibilities at our research headquarters. At that time Bell Labs (and our mother company Alcatel-Lucent) was becoming part of a new parent company (Nokia) and in that time there was a lot of flux and changes in management and structure. I was promoted up one level in the organization and I am now responsible for 50 people across 3 different research departments spanning everything from audio visual research, to photonics integration & packaging, to efficient energy transfer research.

With respect to how the DCU MBA helped me personally and in my career progression – the MBA gave me a much better sense of my strengths and areas for growth. Because I am in research I don’t get to explicitly use many of the elements thought in the MBA (for example, marketing, finance, accounting etc) but the fact that I have the fundamental leanings from the MBA program means I now have the ability to engage those skills at any moment and in any context. More importantly, and in my particular case, going through 2 years of extracurricular activity while also holding my day job, was viewed by senior management as extremely positive. They saw that I am serious about my personal growth and career progression and that I am willing to go many extra miles to be as good as I can be and use those growth experiences to help the company. I commenced the DCU Executive MBA programme for personal growth and to try and bring in business best practice into a research environment.

Domhnaill Hernon DCU MBA

Since moving to the U.S I have been asked to lead many large projects and I have been given much broader responsibility beyond the 3 departments I am directly responsible for. I think there are a few reasons for this but for sure the things I learned during my MBA, especially in the team aspects, have stood me in good stead. I am now also responsible for driving new site initiatives at our research head quarters in New Jersey and part of this role is to help build the Bell Labs brand by collaborating with external partners. One example of this work is shown below where we engaged in activities called Experiments in Arts and Technology (E.A.T). This is a gathering where technologists interact and collaborate with artists to help develop more advanced technology by pushing the limits of how we view the world and how our technology can be used to help humanity.

This post was kindly written by Domhnaill Hernon, Director of Research & Site Lead for Research Interactions, Nokia Bell Labs, New Jersey, U.S.A. You can follow him on Linkedin and on Twitter

Final applications for the DCU Executive MBA are being accepted now. If you’re considering undertaking an MBA, get in touch with DCU Business School today. 

 

A team within the DCU Centre for Family Business was commissioned by Fingal County Council to complete this case study. The Family Business Report, Lessons in Resilience and Success: a Snapshot of Multi-generational Family Businesses in Fingal, Dublin was produced by Martina Brophy and Eric Clinton. Their study follows twelve family businesses which are all multi-generational, family-owned and head-quartered in Fingal. Through conducting interviews with these individuals they were able to distinguish needs, challenges and strengths that come with running a family business.

 

“Family businesses are a complex and highly resourceful business type. Knowledge, learnings, resources, values and traditions pass across generations of a family: often, what is found are strategic resources and capabilities that can make a family firm distinctive and competitively advantaged,” writes Dr. Eric Clinton in this study.

 

The report provides a snapshot of 12 multi-generational family businesses in Fingal with family involvement ranging from second to fourth generation. Between them they employ over 3,500 and have turnovers ranging from €1.5 million to in excess of €100m per annum.

Business & Finance, Ireland’s leading business magazine, have covered the topic in an article, Talent in Family Business. Dr. Eric Clinton, Director of the DCU Centre for Family Business, covers a variety of topics within the topic of family business from how much family should get involved to how important it is to become a cohesive team.

Families have an effect in the businesses day-to-day happenings whether it is positive or negative. Thus, through the Family Business study Clinton and Brophy come together and provide information and recommendations on how to run a successful family run business.

 

Check out what the DCU Centre for Family Business is all about:

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Doireann Sheelan, a DCU Executive MBA student, who received a Special Award for her individual contribution at the recent MBA Association of Ireland Strategy Challenge competition, held recently at Waterford Institute of Technology.

Doireann was part of team, with fellow Executive MBA Students Kalum King, Neil Curran and James Cannon, who presented on the case study “Turkish Airlines – Widen Your World”. While they did not win the competition (the prize went to WIT) they acquitted themselves admirably receiving great praise from the judges for the depth of their analysis.

DCU1

DCU Executive MBA Team (Kalum King, Neil Curran and James Cannon)

This annual competition, hosted by the MBA Association of Ireland (MBAAI), attracts entrants from all the universities and institutes of technology in Ireland that run MBA programmes. Peter McNamara, Professor of Management & Head of School at NUI Maynooth, and Chairperson of the competition, commented: “All four of the teams did a very good job of analysing the case and making recommendations, especially under considerable time pressure.”

The DCU Executive MBA is now recruiting ambitious participants for September 2016.

For more information, visit postgrad.dcu.ie/mba or  email mba@dcu.ie.

 

Pictured is the DCU MBA team with the MBA Association of Ireland President Alacoque McMenamin,

Brian Harney, Senior Lecturer in DCU Business School provides insight into managerial lessons learnt as Ireland advance in The European Championships.

Successful qualification for EURO 2016, including memorable results against the world champions are a cause for optimism amongst Irish soccer fans. Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane appear to have crafted a sense of purpose and the beginning of consistency while inspiring or re-invigorating individual performances.  Elevated results have served as a catalyst for Irish fans to (re)gain recognition as, in memorable media commentary, ‘the Aviva finally became Lansdowne Road‘. Overall,  the dynamic duo of O’Neill and Keane have shown they can manage efficiently whilst leading effectively. One can only hope this carries forward so that Euro 2016 proves more memorable and successful than the dreadful disappointment of 2012. If this feat is to be realised lessons must be continuously learnt to avoid succumbing to the type of managerial faux pas characteristic of the Trapattoni reign.

Utilise the full pool of talent available to the best of its ability

There was a growing sense that Trapattoni did not fully engage the talent that was available to him (this included the likes of Wes Hoolahan, Keiran Westwood, James McCarthy, and Darren Gibson who warmed the bench for the entire Euro 2012 tournament). Even where he did pick different players he did not exploit their strengths by deploying them in their best positions. This oversight becomes all the more severe in the context of a small football country like Ireland, where the initial talent pool is already severely limited

Pay attention to detail and keep close to the action

Trapattoni was apparently fond of saying “they are little details, but the little details are very important”. Despite this rhetoric his lack of enthusiasm for attending premiership games and visiting football grounds was frequently commented upon.  Understanding the ebb and flow of a player’s performance in the full context of a game cannot be done remotely via DVDs; there is simply no substitute for being close to the action. It is useful to recollect the story of Jack Charlton visiting Oxford United to see John Aldridge play and being introduced to a player previously not on the radar called Ray Houghton.

Foster inclusiveness accompanied by a unified sense of purpose

From the early guitar incident with Andy Reid, Trapattoni’s reign was characterized by a growing tension, distance and frequent falling out with his own players. Man management was not Trapattoni’s forte. With the legacy of Saipan as the media benchmark for football bust-ups Trapattoni’s failures in player relations might at first seem trivial. However, the list known to have run-ins with Trapattoni suggests otherwise (Kevin Doyle, Stephen Ireland, Stephen Kelly, Marc Wilson, Stephen Hunt Kevin Foley, Darron Gibson, and Shane Long). Rather than constructively engage players for the Irish cause, Trapattoni frequently pursued destructive vendettas which fragmented relations. Stephen Reid was an early regular in Trapattoni’s line-ups but on-going injury problems led to his career being dismissed off hand by the Italian. There also appeared to be limited reward for loyalty or recognition of player’s allegiance and pride in playing for Ireland. Present for over 7 years in every squad when he was fit to play, Kevin Doyle received news of his omission from the squad for the double-header with Sweden and Austria via text message.

Understand the significance of the top management team

It is perhaps no coincidence that the successful years of the Trapattoni reign were those where Liam Brady held the position of Assistant Manager. With expertise on the workings of the FAI and Irish football, vast insights and experience into the English Premier league, coupled with an extensive football network Brady’s value to Trapattoni cannot be underestimated. Indeed, one wonders if in picking Roy Keane as an assistant Martin O’Neill is also attempting to leverage something similar by way of Irish expertise and public association. The  months leading up to June 2016 should offer more insight on the longevity of this fledgling partnership.

Be open to change when required

Trapattoni remained committed to his cautious approach and tactics even when most commentators and fans called for, and ultimately the results mandated, change. He likewise remained loyal to players like Darren O’Dea, Glen Whelan and Paul McShane when their performances at international level were not always deserving of it. More often than not key tactical or player changes were the result of injury or retirements rather than a change in mindset. Notably, in those performances best remembered, including against Italy and France, it has been suggested that the players pursued their own desired approach rather than rigidly adhering to the Trapattoni prescription. Overall, Trapattoni cast a technical shadow over Ireland’s play which served to inhibit creativity and suggested a distrust of his players.

Of course there is an argument that the distance, or even arrogance, of Trapattoni may have been a reflection of a Keanite type quest for professionalism. There are cultural differences likely to be at play here also; Italian football is a patient, technical and slow burning candle, only intermittently lit with the type of gung-ho frenzied excitement or action that Irish fans might expect. Trapattoni also inherited one of the weaker teams of current times, while Thierry Henry had a huge hand in ensuring lady luck was not on his side. In years and in past success Trapattoni is clearly deserving of respect. Nonetheless his desired approach did not result in Irish glory and may have ultimately been self-defeating. Hopefully June 2016 will provide evidence of lessons learnt and progress made. COYBIG.

Posted on LinkedIn by Brian Harney, Senior Lecturer in DCU.

Original post: DCUBS Insight – Managerial Lessons from the Trapattoni Reign

DCU Business School invites applications for PhD scholarships. These scholarships will provide support for fulltime PhD study and are open to applicants who students register in Year 1 of the full time PhD programme in the Business School in DCU in September/October 2016. Our PhD programme combines scholarly theory-building with a strong applied focus. Research scholars work under the supervision of an academic expert and are an important part of DCU Business School’s vibrant research community.

The scholarships will allow to undertake research in one of the following specialist disciplines:

  • Accounting
  • Economics, Finance, Entrepreneurship
  • Human Resource Management and Organisational Psychology
  • Management, Operations, Information Systems
  • Marketing

For full details, please view the guidelines for applicants.

DCU Business School, home of the Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and the Leadership & Talent Institute, has further strengthened its position in the latest Eduniversal Best Masters rankings, with 4 specialist Master’s degrees ranked within the top 30 in the world.

The Eduniversal Best Masters rankings, which rates Master’s degrees on reputation, student satisfaction, and employment prospects, placed theMSc in E-Commerce in 18th position, the MSc in Emergency Management in 24th position, the MSc in Human Resource Management in 26th position, and the MSc in Accounting in 28th position, in their respective subject categories.

Dr Anne Sinnott, Executive Dean of DCU Business School puts the success down to DCU Business School’s research informed teaching and extensive industry links. “The latest rankings show that we are not only ranked among the top global universities but leaders in specialist areas like E-Commerce and Emergency Management. This ensures DCU Business School students are graduating with the most up-to-date knowledge and skills ready for the global marketplace”.

The DCU Executive MBA and MSc in Finance were also ranked within the top 100 in their categories. Eduniversal rates the academic excellence and quality of 4,000 programmes in 30 fields of study across 1,000 academic institutions in 154 countries, with final rankings determined through a survey of 5,000 international recruiters and 800,000 students.

To find out more and apply for our next intake in September visit our postgraduate listing

Picture the scene.  You’re sitting opposite your boss in the end- of-year performance review meeting.  It’s been a big year for you; you’ve worked really hard and you and your team have delivered great results, in some areas even exceeding targets despite a very difficult business climate.  Your boss looks up and smiles.  “You’ve done a great job this year Brian” she says “I am going to put you down as a 4”.  “A 4!” you cry indignantly “why not a 5? .  “Now you know that nobody really gets a five here…..”.   After further pointless argument you leave the room, determined to reduce the time and effort you put in next year.

The experience described above is not atypical; for many years an end of year appraisal — in which a numeric rating or descriptive equivalent on a scale is communicated from managers to their direct reports — has been the key event in the annual performance management calendar.  The ratings were perceived as a requirement for demonstrable compliance with employment legislation, especially if a problem arose with a particular employee.  Ratings were also perceived as providing “objective” inputs on which important remuneration and promotion decisions could be based and defended.

Once ratings were accepted as necessary, a substantial consulting industry arose to help organisations design and implement their own performance rating process.  Reports advised the adoption or change from five point scales to four and back again, and from numeric scales to descriptive equivalents – e.g., a 3 becomes “meets expectations”, a  4 “exceeds expectations” etc.   Significant resources were allocated to training and retraining managers to implement these processes.   While all of this was happening, academic research focused largely on studies of what rating systems and processes worked best, while too few studies looked at the bigger question of whether ratings should be used at all.

2015 has seen some really important changes in attitudes to performance ratings, in what may become an irresistible trend.  Most recently, HBR reports that “The move away from conventional, ratings-based performance management continues to gain momentum.  By November 2015, at least 52 large companies had shifted from the practice of once-yearly performance appraisals; estimates are that hundreds of other companies are considering following suit. A wide range of industries are represented.”

Ironically, the catalysts for this rethink have been Deloitte and Accenture, two consulting firms who would have been to the fore in the provision of advice on implementing ratings in the past.   Accenture have completely abandoned annual performance reviews for their 330,000 employees with immediate effect, confirming that “We’re going to get rid of probably 90 percent of what we did in the past”.   Deloitte announced in a HBR article in April 2015 that “we realize that our current process for evaluating the work of our people—and then training them, promoting them, and paying them accordingly—is increasingly out of step with our objectives”.  Both firms say they are adopting new processes that will involve more frequent feedback –“nimbler, real-time, and more individualized—something squarely focused on fueling performance in the future rather than assessing it in the past.”

There seems little doubt that few will shed a tear if the types of meetings described in the introduction become a thing of the past.  As researchers, we can’t but be excited about finding ways to make the performance management process more relevant to today’s business needs.  Of course, there is always a danger that those who embrace these trends without due consideration may be in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  It’s worth remembering  that there is substantial research evidence to support retaining key aspects of the performance management process such as goal setting, where research clearly shows that employees who are working to achieve specific, challenging but achievable goals will be on average 16% more productive than others doing the same work, in the same conditions but without such goals.

Watch this space.

Dr John McMackin is a lecturer in our Human Resource Management and Organisational Psychology group in DCU Business School. He holds an MBA from Columbia University, New York and a PhD from the University of Oregon. His area of research is around change management, leadership development and strategic innovation.

For more details about the DCU Executive MBA, currently accepting applications, please visit the DCU Executive MBA course page.

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If you’re someone with a real, demonstrable passion for food and you’d like a career in that industry where innovation and entrepreneurship are at the core of what you do – then we have a life changing opportunity with your name written on it.  As part of the Bord Bia Talent Academy, the DCU MSc Insights and Innovation offers a fully-funded Masters qualification and a unique, extensive placement in an innovative and dynamic food or beverage company.  You’ll also receive a monthly bursary and, once qualified, you’ll join an elite, in-demand, professional group of innovation specialists who are revolutionising the industry.

Founded to accelerate innovation in order to create and capture value in the exciting food and beverage industry, the Bord Bia DCU Msc Insights and Innovation has already been the launchpad for many successful careers and we are now once again open for applications for the next intake. This unique 18 month full time programme combines an immersive work placement, in a dynamic food or beverage company, alongside an exciting, professional and contemporary Masters qualification in Insight and Innovation delivered in person in DCU’s Business school.

The programme, which is endorsed and supported by the largest food and beverage companies in Ireland, is designed with three guiding principles: insight, sustainability and innovation. 

Jointly designed by Bord Bia and DCU, this programme’s vision is to forge the next generation of world-class innovators to join the food, horticultural and beverage sectors where they will use their creativity, talent and skill to drive sustainable, scalable, profitable and insight-led growth for their host companies and for their industry.

Run over 18 months, this programme combines study and work placement in a Bord Bia company. It begins with an intensive academic element, with modules taught by experienced thought-leaders in the field of innovation and sustainability in the food industry. Following this, the focus moves to experiential learning, as participants are given work placements at the headquarters of the world’s leading food companies where they work side-by-side with leading Insight and Innovation practitioners to discover, develop and deliver new products and services.

This combination of academic content and work placement enables participants to directly apply the insights gained from DCU Business School coursework to their placement company, with immediate and direct benefit to host companies.

Successful applicants will be fully funded and will receive a total €42,000 bursary over 18 months (paid in instalments) to cover living and some travel expenses.

For further information on Bord Bia please see https://www.bordbia.ie/careers/msc-insight-innovation

* Details of the next intake will be posted on this website as soon as they are confirmed.  Please keep watching.  Or, alternatively, register your interest by emailing: bordbia@dcu.ie – Thank You.


“Having collaborated with Bord Bia over the years we jumped at the opportunity to work with a student from the Bord Bia DCU MSc Insights and Innovation programme for over a year.  We gained access to a fresh pair of eyes focussed on the innovation process which is core to our fast-paced dynamic business, and we provided the student the freedom to take ownership of a wide number of projects important to our business growth.  It was a very positive experience, and we were especially delighted with the delivery of new packaging innovation and a new product launch.  

I recommend other Irish food and drink businesses to consider partnering with Bord Bia and DCU and gain access to fresh perspectives about building their innovation capacity.” 

Pat Rigney, Managing Director & Founder, The Shed Distillery