Getting Project Managers to Juggle Together: Unanticipated Drawbacks of Work Challenges and Ownership
Project management is distinct skill that requires the ability to juggle a variety of tasks, access and allocate resources—especially workers—and ensure the work is done efficiently and on time. As the U.S. economic crisis puts pressure on company budgets, project managers are being asked to adapt not only to the dynamic needs of their own projects, but also to the needs of projects that are managed by others in the organization, says Elliot Bendoly, an associate professor of information systems and operations management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. In a new paper, "The Perception of Difficulty in Project-Work Planning and Its Impact on Resource Sharing," Bendoly and Jill Perry-Smith, associate professor of organization and management at Goizueta, argue that project managers become less willing to share workers as the job of setting schedules for their various projects becomes more difficult. In the paper, which will soon be published in the Journal of Operations Management, the researchers suggest simulated training to beef up skills and confidence so that project managers feel more secure in sharing workers and completing their own projects.

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Equifax CEO Rick Smith on Leadership in Tough Times
“Difficult times either break you and expose your weaknesses or make you a better leader,” says Rick Smith, CEO of the $1.94 billion data reporting company Equifax. Speaking to a packed audience as part of the Dean’s Leadership Speaker Series at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, Smith shared his thoughts on what lies ahead for the U.S. economy, how Equifax plans to respond, and his rules of leadership.

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Three Healthcare Executives Discuss the Challenge of Managing Through Change
Since taking the helm as president and CEO of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Donna Hyland has overseen the acquisitions of both Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital and Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta; survived the bottoming out of the U.S. economy, and grappled with impending healthcare reform. “I thought I knew what I was getting into. Trust me. I didn’t,” says Hyland of her first year as CEO. Undaunted, she and other women executives came together to discuss “Managing Change, Managing Challenge” during the November conference of the Executive Women of Goizueta (EWG), an alumni group of Emory University's Goizueta Business School. “There have been amazing changes and amazing challenges," Hyland adds, noting that Children's was recently awarded a $30 million grant, $25 million of which will help fund a pediatric research building on the Emory University campus. "Change presents opportunity; it can either destroy you or motivate you.”

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Does the Pursuit of Information and Its Presentation in Financial Statements Bias Investors?
As the New Year begins, investors and analysts eagerly await the release of 2009 year-end corporate financial statements. But exactly how do investors interpret the data, especially when some accounting entries are not provided on a consistent basis? In a research paper, William B. Tayler, assistant professor of accounting at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, and a co-author note that information pursuit bias—specifically seeking out and needing to calculate results in a financial statement—can lead to weighting that information more heavily in the decision-making process.

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Looking Abroad for Solutions to the Healthcare Dilemma
In T.R. Reid’s book titled The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, the journalist compares the U.S. healthcare system to public and semi-public healthcare efforts in a number of Western nations. Reid and experts from Emory Healthcare and Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Department of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health discuss the alternatives abroad, as well as the pros and cons of overhauling the U.S. healthcare system.

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How to Leverage Opportunity in a Tough Economy
“Diversity isn’t just an HR program; it’s the right thing to do for business,” says Lora Villarreal, executive vice president and chief people officer of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a global business process and information technology services company. Speaking as part of the fifth annual Diverse Leadership Conference held in November at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, Villarreal and GLOBALT Investments president and CEO, William H. Roach, Jr., discussed the role of diversity in organizations and how to leverage opportunity to ensure career staying power in a tough economy.

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Reel Time: The Incredible Shrinking Window for Movie Releases
A decade ago, movie fans who wanted to forgo paying theater admission waited an average of five months before they could watch a film in their own living rooms. Today, the window between theatrical releases and distribution via other channels like DVDs and cable television has shrunk to four months or less -- and in some cases has even disappeared, with films making their debuts simultaneously in multiple channels. According to Wharton faculty, declining DVD sales and other pressures mean that studios are likely to continue experimenting aggressively with movie release timing. Still, the pleasure of watching a movie in a darkened theater is not likely to go away any time soon, they say.

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