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As a member of the University Park Partnership (UPP), Clark University has received national recognition for its efforts to improve the urban neighborhood of which it is a part. The UPP provides management professor Mary-Ellen Boyle and her students with a fertile laboratory for research on local business and management practices, as well as a chance to give back to the community. |
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Meet the researchers:
Town and gown
Interview with Professor Mary-Ellen Boyle
Do corporations-as well as non-profit organizations like Clark-have a responsibility to contribute to the local neighborhoods and greater society of which they are a part? If so, what should be the nature and scope of that involvement? In a recent conversation, summarized below, management professor Mary-Ellen Boyle discussed how she became interested in management, her research into the impact of corporate sponsorship of literacy programs, and her participation in the University Park Partnership.
How did you become interested in the subject of management?
I came to the study of management by a circuitous path. As an undergrad at Yale, I designed and completed an interdisciplinary major called literature and social problems. I've always been interested in the problems of society, and in education as well. After graduation I taught high school, but then was laid off due to budget cuts and decided to look for work in the business sector. Also, while I loved teaching, I hated the regimentation of the high school setting. After leaving teaching I worked for insurance companies and the state and federal governments.
In the course of this varied work experience, I became fascinated by organizations, especially by behavior that I saw around me. It just didn't make sense! Things as basic as my observation that people who work hard don't necessarily get ahead! I thought, what am I not understanding here?
Then a friend suggested that I study organizational sociology to explain what I was observing. So I did, and had my questions answered. Whether the organization was a university or a company or a government agency, there were commonalities among them. I became very interested in that. Plus, I always enjoyed running things! I also completed an M.B.A. Boston College at the same time I worked on a degree in organizational sociology. At that time I wasn't sure I would be a professor, but I knew that if I had the management background, educationally as well as practically, I would have an interesting career.
Throughout graduate school I also worked in planning and economic development. That's how I got interested in small neighborhoods like those around Clark, and what is and is not possible in terms of improving them and the local business climate. I'm often asked why I have my students provide free assistance to local businesses as part of their course work, the implication being that there are more serious social needs that could benefit from student assistance. But, as businesses become more stable and viable, the lives of people in the abutting neighborhoods is going to improve. Local businesses provide jobs and contribute to safe, vital neighborhoods. I'm not especially interested in helping businesses make money for the sake of making money. Rather, I want to help businesses continue to provide the resources (products, services, jobs) that improve people's lives.
What is your current research focus?
My own research focuses on companies that get involved in social issues. My doctoral dissertation examined companies that offered literacy education to their workers. Many people don't realize that an estimated 20% of companies do this. From that research I wrote a book called The New Schoolhouse: Literacy, Managers, and Belief,
in which I argue that, contrary to what one might expect, corporate literacy programs are not wholly beneficial.
In the book I examine the consequences for society when companies offer literacy education. What does a company-sponsored literacy program mean for people who are illiterate and who get to go to class at work? What does it mean for the managers who get involved? Those are the sorts of questions that originally interested me. Then, in a broader sense, what are the consequences of businesses getting involved in arenas (like education) that were formally the responsibility of government or social institutions?
You've also become interested in the relationship between Clark and the local business community.
Yes. Since coming to Clark I've gotten involved in research about the Clark neighborhood through the University Park Partnership. I started thinking about the interactions between universities--particularly business schools--and the communities in which they're situated. Should Clark's Graduate School of Management become directly involved in neighborhood economic development, or is it enough to educate students and do research about these issues? I've recently written an article examining the citizenship responsibilities of business schools, and also have a research project that critically examines university-community partnerships.
During summer 2000 I conducted a survey of all the businesses in the University Park Partnership area. One of the questions I had originally asked of local business owners concerned the sort of assistance they needed to grow and stay in the neighborhood. How can universities or existing agencies better assist, for example, the ethnic entrepreneurs or very small family businesses characteristic of the nearby community? There are really two questions here. First, how can we as a university be of assistance, and second, what are the limits of the university's responsibilities to the neighborhood? That's a philosophical question, but it's pretty interesting when you examine it in the light of all the other social dynamics taking place.
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Additional Resources
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Professor Mary Ellen Boyle
A philosophical question