The magazine for alumni and friends of the UB School of Management
Issue link: http://ubschoolofmanagement.uberflip.com/i/109681
Insights News about faculty and their research. New faculty join school Tan Fotak Lin Suchak Grossman The School of Management added five new faculty members to its distinguished roster in the fall. The first four joined the Department of Finance and Managerial Economics. Hongping Tan, associate professor, has a doctorate in finance from Queen���s University in Canada, a master���s in economics from Wuhan University in China and a bachelor���s from Hubei University in China. He teaches investments and he brings research expertise in the areas of corporate finance, corporate governance, international finance, financial analysts, media disclosure and accounting standards harmonization. Veljko Fotak, assistant professor, received his doctorate in business administration from the University of Oklahoma. At the Rochester Institute of Technology, he earned a master���s in applied statistics, an MBA and a bachelor���s in business administration. His research focus is in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, government ownership and sovereign wealth funds. He is teaching international finance and corporate finance. Jerchern Lin, assistant professor, earned a doctorate in finance from the University of Southern California, a master���s in mathematics in finance from 18 Buffalo Business Spring 2013 New York University and a bachelor���s in finance and math from Michigan State University. His research is in the areas of asset pricing, tail risk, investment funds, performance evaluation and insurance. His teaching interests include investments, derivatives, portfolio management, fixed income securities and corporate finance. Sudhir Suchak, adjunct assistant professor, has an MBA from Canisius College and a bachelor���s in business administration from the UB School of Management. Prior to joining the full-time faculty, he taught part time in the school for more than 25 years. A seasoned professional with more than 30 years��� experience in banking, he brings his teaching expertise to the areas of management of financial institutions, corporate finance and investments. Debora Grossman joined the Marketing Department as an adjunct assistant professor after six years of teaching part time. She has an MBA from Syracuse University and a bachelor���s in marketing from the State University of New York at Oswego. A recipient of the Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching award, she brings industry experience in advertising, market research, product development/management and brand management to the marketing courses she teaches. x Leadership can reduce employee cynicism, increase engagement Management efforts to reduce cynicism and enhance employee empowerment can have a large impact on employee engagement, according to a study from the School of Management. The study, recently published in Organization Science, investi- Tesluk gated officer attitudes and organizational climates at 14 state prisons and found that proactive leadership can reduce cynicism toward change for both individual employees and across an entire organization. ���In prisons, employees face an array of very real and challenging circumstances that can create commitment problems,��� explains study co-author Paul Tesluk, the Donald S. Carmichael Professor of Organizational Behavior in the School of Management. ���Past research has shown that there are extraordinarily high turnover rates of 50 percent in the first year of service and 38 percent overall.��� Tesluk said the study���s findings are useful to managers in a variety of organizational settings beyond prisons. ���Senior leaders should be aware of the potential development of a cynical culture in their organizations, which may amplify employees��� negative attitudes toward change,��� says Tesluk. ���By addressing the issue, management can foster employees who are more committed, leading to reduced turnover and disengagement.��� Leaders can limit the development of these negative cultures by making sure that their words are backed by specific actions, such as regularly asking for and acting on employee feedback, or providing ways for employees to participate in organizational change efforts, according to the study. ���Employees who feel empowered in their jobs will feel confident in attempting new ways of performing their jobs, especially during change efforts, and thus be less likely to experience cynicism towards change in for-profit and public organizations alike,��� Tesluk says. Tesluk collaborated on the study with Katherine DeCelles,