Faculty Development Plan
Public Management
May 2004
Part I - Self-Assessment
Strengths: I believe I have a natural gift for teaching and have found that I am able to engage students’ interest in topics about which they may have previously thought little. I have a great deal of enthusiasm for teaching organizational behavior and ethics concepts, and have developed curricula in these areas that appear to be effective. I have benefited from sound research training as well, and have been successful in publishing my work. Methodologically, my research strengths include theory-building, field studies, and qualitative analysis. Finally, one of my greatest strengths is that I have a deep commitment to the University and its unique mission. I am devoted to building the kingdom of God through my efforts here at BYU, and to serve my students in their preparation for ecclesiastical, business, and civic leadership.
Skills and competencies: In the classroom, I am skilled at using a variety of strategies to explain and illustrate concepts. Student feedback indicates that I am skilled at expressing enthusiasm and at relating with students so that they feel that I value them individually. In my research efforts, I am skilled in writing and enjoy polishing prose so that it is clear and impactful. I have also proven competent as a reviewer of others’ research. I believe that I am a talented interviewer, which predisposes me to field study and qualitative research. However, I have also developed basic competencies in several quantitative methodologies, including multiple regression, analysis of variance, structural equation modeling, and network analysis. Perhaps most importantly, I possess the skill of discipline, and am able to meet deadlines and bring projects to completion.
Research interests: My overarching and abiding research interest centers on how work can serve as an expression of an individual’s uniqueness and values. I am interested in the conditions under which this occurs and the potential outcomes, both positive and negative, of work as an expression of personal values, particularly in the non-profit sector. Within this rubric, I am pursuing two separate but related research streams. The first stream investigates the outcomes associated with people assigning ideological significance to their work (i.e., working for a cause). This work depicts some of the inherent complexities and problems associated with managing employees who are ideologically driven. The second stream investigates the impact of employee initiative-taking on the job. Specifically, it analyzes the conditions under which initiative-taking leads to enhanced performance, as well as the outcomes associated with stifled initiatives. Finally, a third active stream, for which I am the secondary researcher, relates less directly to my overarching interest, but is a compelling interest nonetheless. This stream investigates the process by which members of a group share expert knowledge in decision-making settings.
Opportunities: My department and school provide me ample financial resources to conduct my research. Moreover, alumni and the advisory board of the Romney Institute of Public Management provide a valuable source of connections and potential research settings for my work.
Areas I wish to develop: I am currently refocusing my strategy for research publications. I have published a fair number of articles in secondary journals, but only one in a top-tier journal. I have decided that I will no longer target my work for anything less than A-level journals. Moreover, I am experimenting with a new approach to my research and writing. Rather than attempting to spend entire days at a time hammering out a single article (a strategy that has proven fairly painful and less than effective in the past), I would like to regulate my writing time so that I devote a moderate amount of time to it every day, and also to add variety to my work days by working on at least a couple of different projects (in different stages) each day.
In the classroom, I need to develop a greater capacity to instill critical thinking in my students. Some of my student feedback has indicated that I am often too accepting of student input in class, and that I need to challenge students to explain their rationale and sharpen their critical reasoning capacities. Challenging others does not come naturally to me, but I believe I will be a more effective educator if I learn to insist on solid logic from my students.
Part II - Professional Goals and Plan
Teaching Goals: I plan to enhance the spiritual environment in my classrooms and strive to teach from a gospel perspective every day. At the same time, I want to improve my students’ competence in analytic thinking and professional writing. I would also like to improve my students’ ability to immediately apply the concepts and skills they learn in their real lives.
Teaching Plan: To enhance the gospel-focus of my courses, I plan to identify, for each class session, at least one underlying spiritual principle. One of my daily objectives will be to articulate the interface between faith and course principles with an eye to strengthening students’ testimonies.
To improve analytic thinking and writing skills, I plan to enhance the project that I require for my PMGT 643 course. I plan to spend more in-class time clarifying my expectations for this project (in which the students choose a “burning question” related to organizational behavior and research it to find an answer). Rather than requiring all students to design a research project to answer the question, I will provide an option for students to write an action plan that could be applied to their own lives/organizations if they prefer. I will spend more time directing students to appropriate sources and will discuss in class how to critically analyze those sources. I will also ask students to submit at least two drafts of their work as they proceed so that I can provide substantive feedback on the persuasiveness, clarity, and professionalism of their writing.
To augment the practical application of the course, I will revise an assignment that has not been working very well. I will ask students to develop two or three small papers that report on a “mini-experiment” that they pursued in attempting to apply course concepts in their day-to-day lives (e.g., conflict management techniques, communication strategies, meeting facilitation, etc.). I will instruct them that success on the activity is dependent on their trying strategies and approaches that are new to them.
In addition to these efforts, I will continue to elicit the assistance of the SCOT program through the faculty center to gain external feedback on my courses. I will continue the practice of asking for mid-term feedback from my students as well, and will address their concerns and suggestions on an ongoing basis.
Research Goals: I would like to develop a pattern of publishing at least two journal articles per year in either A or A- level journals. Moreover, I would like to establish continuity in the themes of my articles so that my name is associated with one or two key concepts.
Research Plan: My goal is to submit three new articles per year to quality journals. I also plan to remain active in the Academy of Management and the International Association of Business and Society. I will make a more concerted effort to bring my research to the attention of prominent scholars, and to form relationships with them so that I increase the pool of potential letter-writers for my continuing status decision. Specifically, I will strive to participate in at least one symposium per year at a national conference with others who have similar research interests.
Citizenship Goals: In the near term, I would like to contribute to one departmental committee in a way that strengthens my department and benefits the students we serve. In the longer term, I recognize the need for me to provide leadership for our students and among the faculty. I would like to help build our department to one of the premiere public administration programs in the country.
Citizenship Plan: I will actively participate in my committee assignments. I will spend time with students who seek my help and actively assist them in finding internships and employment. I will assist our Career Center representative with establishing a recruiting base in Boise, Idaho, my home town. I will accept assignments from the department and school for which I feel capable of contributing meaningfully.
Part III - Relationship Between Goals and University Aspirations, Needs
Teaching: I believe that my teaching goals are congruent with the needs of the university and my department. I strive to integrate gospel principles and perspectives into my curriculum, and emphasize character-building and leadership at every opportunity. My future goals are to strengthen this component of my teaching. I feel that students’ experience in my classroom reinforces the university’s aspirations for them.
Research: My research interests are particularly germane to my department as we are striving to build competence in the field of non-profit management. My focus on ideological motivation at work provides a useful lens for analyzing non-profit management. I also see my research as tightly linked to my desire to benefit the Church’s mission. My interest in ideology-driven motivation is related to my desire to be a more effective leader in an organization (the Church) that relies upon the committed belief of its members in a noble cause. I hope that my research helps answer important questions about administering value-laden organizations, and I hope to establish a reputation as a non-profit expert, and thus bring recognition to the university and department for this work.
Citizenship: My citizenship objectives are directly shaped by my devotion to this university and my desire to help it achieve excellence.
Resource Needs: I would like to have consistency in my teaching assignments so that I can develop excellence in a few core classes, and to protect my research time. I would also like to have funding for at least two research assistants/graders per semester. I need financial resources to conduct my research and to participate in conferences. I currently feel that these resource needs are being met, in some cases beyond my expectations.
Part IV - Activities and Accomplishments Thus Far
Teaching: In my first semester at BYU, my teaching evaluations were above average. The first-year MPA students named me Distinguished Professor of the Year for my work in that course. My evaluations for the second semester courses were about average. Considering the heavy load and difficult assignments I was given (i.e., prepping three new courses for three different student audiences), I felt some satisfaction to have achieved average scores, but also have a strong desire to improve upon them should I teach these courses again.
Research: To date, I have published seven articles (including one in the field’s top theoretical journal), made more than 20 conference presentations, and won several research awards (including the Newman Award for best dissertation in my field). I am currently working on a sole-authored empirical paper that has been invited for second review to Journal of Applied Psychology, widely viewed as the top empirical journal in the field of Industrial-Organization Psychology. I also have several ongoing working projects, for three of which I have data in hand.
Citizenship: I currently serve on the departmental curriculum committee, and am in the planning phases of a recruiting trip to Boise, ID to establish relations with potential employers of our students.
Part V - Measures to Assess Success
Teaching: Students evaluations will remain a key indicator of my effectiveness in the classroom. I will augment these measures, however, by seeking qualitative feedback both from the SCOT program and from faculty peers and mentors who visit my classes.
Research: I would like to assess my success on my research goals both in terms of number of actual publications, as well as the number of submissions (as evidence of an ongoing stream of work).
Citizenship: My success in this area will be measured by the qualitative evaluations of my department chair and those with whom I serve on committees.
Part VI - Summary of Goals
I want to be considered an outstanding teacher, an above-average researcher, and a reliable citizen. I want my students to develop enthusiasm about course concepts, and see ways to apply them to their lives. I also want them to become adept thinkers and writers. I want my research to contribute to people’s awareness of and appreciation for the need to make room for ideological convictions in the workplace. Finally, I want my career at BYU to have strengthened the institution’s reputation and ability to bless the lives of its students.