Unfinished Business

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Troubles in the Jones School

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by George Hatoun and Vivek Rao

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In an eight-page analysis of the business school, the committee of business leaders and graduate school professors pronounced that the school has two alternatives: "Either Jones must embark on a course of becoming recognized for world-class distinctiveness and quality in management education, or it should close the doors."

The committee labeled Jones as "a good, but undistinguished school."

"Its greatest asset is the Rice name, but it does little to reciprocate by adding to Rice's reputation," the report said. "The school is now on a plateau, and even may be declining."

According to Provost David Auston, he and President Malcolm Gillis made the decision to conduct the external review. He said there was no specific reason for conducting the review at this time.

"It's part of a plan to review all academic divisons at Rice," Auston said.

Although Auston would not comment on the specifics of the report, he said the university is "taking it very seriously."

The report criticized the school's admissions pool, starting salaries for Jones School graduates, uncertainty among junior faculty and campus-wide dissatisfaction.

"Today, there is far too much ambivalence within and outside Jones over its place in the larger institution," it said.

Also, the report recommended that the Jones School seek international recognition but warned that a greater commitment from the Rice administration at the highest levels would be needed to achieve this: "If Jones' course is to become an internationally recognized school and a contributor to Rice, then it follows that Jones will need to be accepted as important, vital and a top priority within Rice. Only the president and provost can accomplish this clarification and understanding."

The report further faults the Jones School for not being able to critique itself: "Candid assessment of this kind is not ingrained in the Jones culture."

Further, the report cites a 100 percent or greater turnover rate in junior faculty over the past five years. For the 100 positions that exist, the Jones School has hired 110 professors.

"Junior faculty feel they get mixed signals about what is important for them to stress; in this regard they are critical of the school's lack of vision."

One former junior faculty member whose teaching contract was not renewed was displeased with the direction of the school. Graeme Rankine, now an associate professor of accounting at the Thunderbird graduate school, said that while he enjoyed most aspects of his time at Rice, he was displeased with the way the Jones School operated.

"The people there are not fit to run a business school," Rankine said. "It's a mess there now. ... I'm glad to be out of that mess."

The committee outlined the steps that would need to be taken in a 10-year effort to improve the school. These include increasing student enrollment, seeking accreditation by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, expanding the executive education program and drawing on Rice's strength as an undergraduate institution.

The committee sees undergraduate education as a possible proving ground for the Jones School: "Rice takes great pride in being primarily an undergraduate institution. Jones' participation in undergraduate teaching, however, is limited to Professor [Stephen] Zeff's extraordinary commitment to Managerial Studies, which unfortunately is not seen as part of Rice's undergraduate mainstream."

"Curiously, given the primacy of undergraduate education, Jones has not creatively asked what it distinctively might do to make undergraduate education a niche," the report said.

Jones School Professor David Ikenberry prefers to see the report's criticisms as challenges to overcome rather than problems.

"I think the Jones School has a lot to be proud of when one looks at the progress that we've made in the last 20 years," he said.

He warned not to take the largely negative external review report as an unbiased assessment of the school.

"This [report] is not a report card. These people were hired to give very specific critical advice," Ikenberry said.

"It served as a wake-up call -- we have made some accomplishments, we are a glittering opportunity ... but we need to make some changes around here," he said.

He cited practices and policies within the school that could be improved.

"In the past, the Jones School was too preoccupied with focusing on itself," Ikenberry said.

In response to many of the problems cited in the report, a new steering committee comprised of Jones School faculty, students, alumni, administrators, local business leaders and the consulting firm Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc. was created.

The committee was instructed to prepare a report that articulates a clear vision for the future of the Jones School and addresses strategic goals, including faculty size, student enrollment, curriculum, accreditation, executive education and partnerships with other entities within and outside of Rice.

Auston said that the committee has been "charged with planning for a greatly strengthened Jones School" by Gillis.

Ikenberry expressed optimism about the near future of the school: "I think the upshot of the [steering committee's] effort is wonderful."

Wilfred Uecker, Jones School associate dean for academic affairs, said the committee is searching for a vision for the school.

"What the steering committee is doing is that it's still gathering information ... to develop scenarios for the future of the school. These will be debated, analyzed and argued to develop a clear vision we can put forward to the president and the Board of Trustees," he said.

The committee hopes to develop a plan for the Jones School's future very soon.

"The president has indicated his desire to present a plan to the Board of Governors by the end of the fall term," Uecker said.

Auston said that it is too early to predict the timeline for implementing the steering committee's recommendations.

He declined to comment about the committee's findings to date; the work is "still underway."

"I think it's going very well," he said. "I'm very optimistic that an exciting plan will be developed" to make the Jones School one of the nation's leading business schools.

The committee has been studying other successful business schools as models for the Jones School, including Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University and Dartmouth College. Uecker is currently visiting Dartmouth.

The Jones School steering committee members are:

* Auston (chairman);

* Uecker;

* John Bennett, Electrical and Computer Engineering associate professor;

* Juli Bieser, Associate-Global Syndicated Finance Chase Securities Inc.;

* Kathy Collins, budget director;

* Carrie Chamberlin, Jones School graduate student;

* Steve Currall, Jones School assistant professor;

* Bala Dharan, Jones School professor;

* Robert Flatt, Cooper-Cameron Corporation vice president;

* Joseph Hafner Jr., Riviana Foods Inc. president and CEO;

* Barbara Ostdiek, Jones School assistant professor; and

* and Jerry Pyle, Gulf States Toyota Inc. president.

Current Jones School Dean Ben Bailar would not comment on the committee's work; a separate search committee is charged with finding a replacement for Bailar, whose term ends next July.

This item appeared in the News section of the September 13, 1996 issue.

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