Patrick Tedjamulia and Dr. Tadd Brinkerhoff, Managing Director BYU Global Management Center
The BYU Management Society has the potential to change the world. It has over 6,000 members in over 40 U.S. cities and 18 countries. Its members include BYU grads and other professionals seeking continued education, career development, and professional advancement.
When this study began, all eighteen International Management Society Chapters had been provided with a template website, but only one chapter was using it. After further due-diligence by the BYU Global Management Center, the activity status of each chapter was determined. Diagram #1 below shows the activity ratings of the 18 chapters at the beginning of this research.
The purpose of this study was to develop a plan to increase the activity of the Management Society International Chapters. The first step consisted of an exploratory phase to determine how responsive the current leaders of each chapter would be to a request for current membership and potential membership information. The result of this exploratory research is summarized below in Diagram #2.
All the chapters not listed in Diagram#2 could not be reached, or for some reason did not respond with the requested membership database.
On the other hand, an interesting point to make here is the caliber of individuals belonging to these chapters. For example, in the Brazil International Management Society you will find members who work for Intel, GM, Ford, Cisco Systems, Telefonica, etc… In Hong Kong you will find members who work for Deloitte & Touche, Adidas, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, etc… In Paris you will find members who work for Accenture, KPMG, Tyco, local Universities, etc…These are not only BYU Marriott School Alumni wanting to maintain a connection with BYU; these are the leaders of industries in their respective countries.
The second step of this study was to analyze and recommend the projects that would help increase activity among the international chapters. The original hypothesis stated that the necessary projects for increasing activity should consist of an International Chapter Support Plan, an International Chapter Start-up Guide, and an International Management Society Chapter Newsletter.
After some significant research, it was made apparent that the hypothesis was focused too much on fixing the process instead of dealing with the core issue, defining the community and its role within the world.
In the book, “Net Gain: Expanding Markets through Virtual Communities”, Hagel and Armstrong evangelize the power of global communities. In summary, the success of any business in the future will not be based on simply building customer relations through the internet, but building communities through the internet. To expand even further on this concept, research was performed on the Six Degrees theory by Stanley Milgram. Milgram’s theory states that every person is connected by six people at most.
The role of the International Management Society Chapters should be one of community development for friends of BYU interested in continued education, career development, and professional advancement. I propose that instead of focusing on how to enhance the benefits for Marriott School Alumni who become Management Society members, the focus should be on how to enhance the benefits for friends of BYU throughout the world. Once the focus becomes one of providing continued service to the thousands of friends of BYU that cannot experience the services of BYU, the International Management Society Chapters will thrive. Once the Management Society members catch the vision of how they can change the world, they will work together so that everyone can share the results. Some of the results may include; free educational content to the friends of BYU, serving as mentors to the friends of BYU by teaching the patterns organizations look for when hiring employees, giving local speeches and seminars about leadership and business ethics to the friends of BYU, and encouraging their local communities to work together to improve the economic levels of their countries.
In conclusion, the activity rating for the International Management Society Chapters will increase once the focus is changed into developing an outwardly service-oriented community instead of an inward society of elite members