As an organizational psychologist and business school professor at Rice University, I’ve been studying resourcefulness for nearly 20 years, both in times of crisis and times of prosperity. The scientific evidence on resourcefulness shows that constraints activate the flexibility and creativity we need to overcome hard challenges.
Vikas Mittal, a marketing professor at Rice University, said repurposing operations during a crisis can help businesses in the long term in several ways, including boosting a brand’s reputation and recognition, and improving employee morale.Â
Bill Arnold, a former Shell executive who teaches energy management at Rice University, reckons Occidental and many of its peers face a fight for survival. Occidental's focus now will be on managing its remaining capital. But the oil crash is not without its silver linings, Arnold noted. As drilling slows, industry executives will have more time for strategic planning.
“When we lose control over any significant aspect of our lives, as is happening right now, it is natural to want to find opportunities to exert control over something else,” Utpal Dholakia, professor of marketing at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, told HuffPost. “Doing so makes us feel less helpless.”
Our own bad habits and the natural entropy of most systems has caused misery and burnout, and attendant self-help books. Marie Kondo collaborated on this one with Scott Sonenshein, an organizational psychologist, and they take turns explaining how to tidy desks, drawers, meetings (otherwise known as activity clutter), time, inboxes, behaviors and, ultimately, careers.
Recruiting for some industries generally starts early in an MBA’s second year. By February, about 60% of students will normally have offers, says Philip Heavilin, executive director of career development at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business in Houston. By graduation in May, 80% will have a job. The experience of the class of 2020 could show a sharp contrast between those who secured positions before the virus-triggered market crash, and those hunting for work afterward, he says.
Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business, said the annual festival has "a significant impact on the standing of the city and on the perception of Austin as a regional hub of technology and creativity," benefits that will be difficult to reproduce if the event can't continue. "Anytime you lose a brand, that's costly," Rodriguez said. "That would be a big loss for Austin and for Texas."
Lizette Melendez grew up in El Paso, one of the poorest cities in Texas, and was the first in her family to go to university. Now she is part of the first cohort in the MBA @ Rice, launched by Houston’s Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in 2018 on the 2U online learning platform.
The impact of accelerators remains open to debate, according to research co-authored by Yael Hochberg, Rice University’s Ralph S. O’Connor Professor in Entrepreneurship. Some researchers have found accelerators help startups grow, attract venture capital and add a spark to the innovation ecosystem. Other researchers, however, found the effects on a young company’s performance are muted or even negative.
Houstonians care disrupted because fewer hospital systems can bargain with more insurers. Vivian Ho is the Baker Institute Chair in Health Economics at Rice University and professor at Baylor College of Medicine
“Trade wars aren’t worth it and this one wasn’t worth it, either,” Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business told the editorial board. “It may have been faster, but we could have gotten here in much easier ways.”
Like dieting, though, self-deprivation from stuff is hard to sustain. Now Rice Business professor Utpal Dholakia and former Rice Business doctoral students Jihye Jung, now at the University of San Antonio, and Nivriti Chowdhry, now with Amazon, have devised an alternative. In four separate studies, the team found that it’s possible to redirect the urge to buy by reflecting on what we already have. Â
