Qualtrics Blog


More Business Owners Trade in Their Briefcases for Backpacks This Fall

August 18, 2010 By

For many of our Qualtrics users in academia, the summer is over and it’s time to head back to school. But, it’s not just back to school for our Q-munity students and faculty.  According to a recent Associated Press article, many business owners and entrepreneurs are also headed back to school to refresh some management basics and learn best practices using the latest technologies to improve their businesses.

In the article, “Business owners go back to school for new skills,” by Joyce M. Rosenberg, a few individuals from the corporate world gave their reasoning for their decision to exchange time in the office with time in the classroom this fall. You can read the full article here.

One public relations firm owner in New Jersey, Lynette Viviani, enrolled in classes at the City University of New York’s Business Development Institute this fall to learn more about social media marketing.

“You have to go out there and learn new things,” Viviani said. Even though she has been running her own business for 22 years, Viviani still believes, “continuing education is a must, especially in light of today’s evolving world of social media and content marketing.”

WHAT BACK TO SCHOOL OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE?

Fortunately, business owners like Viviani who want to continue their education have more options than ever before.

All different types of courses are offered through:

  • Colleges
  • Universities
  • Trade organizations
  • Chambers of Commerce
  • Government agencies

According to the article, even though some of the more prominent business schools tend to cater to MBA candidates, some may also accept students for individual classes. Certificates in specific areas of business such as accounting, marketing and management are another possibility.

For owners who wish to head back to school to get their MBA, many schools offer part-time programs, too.


WHAT TYPES OF COURSES ARE BUSINESS OWNERS INTERESTED IN?

Most schools list their course offerings online, so if you’re interested in seeing what kinds of courses would be helpful to you and your business you can start looking today. Here are some of the most popular courses and topics of interest to many business owners who have made their way back to the classrooms:

  • New technologies and software programs
  • Accounting
  • Speechwriting
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Business Management

More specific course studies include:

  • Using accounting softwares, such as Quickbooks
  • Business taxes
  • How to take advantage of the latest trends in technology
  • Employee handbooks
  • Customer service
  • Using Facebook as a business tool

In addition, because so many courses, webinars and certification programs are offered online,  location has become less of a hindrance for continuing education.

QUALTRICS ENCOURAGES LIFELONG LEARNING

So, even if you’re not headed back to a college or university this fall, looking into other learning opportunities to expand your knowledge of the business world might not be a bad idea. At Qualtrics, we encourage the concept of lifelong learning and believe that there is always room for growth.

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Qualtrics Helping Prepare Tomorrow’s Business Leaders

August 9, 2010 By

On several occasions, our users from both the corporate and academic worlds have said that learning about Qualtrics and using the tool to conduct their research studies was one of the most important skills they took with them in their careers.

We wanted to share with you some of the ways Qualtrics helps prepare undergraduate and graduate students enter the business world with professionalism and real-world experience.

Just recently, the Harvard Business Review began a six-week series of articles that focused on “Leadership.”

One of these articles by William Sullivan is entitled, “Preparing Undergraduates as Business Professionals.” Sullivan addresses what business schools need to incorporate into their programs to better equip students with the experience and professionalism requisite to succeed as leaders in the business world.

He recommends business schools should focus on:

  • inciting analytic thinking
  • promoting intellectual curiosity
  • emphasizing flexibility and creativity
  • helping students learn to see the logic from the outside of business as well as from within

Our clients report that Qualtrics helped them achieve “d. all of the above.” Qualtrics has been used as a valuable resource for conducting and analyzing research within the walls of some of the most prominent MBA programs and academic institutions.


Additionally, a second article we wanted to share with you from the “Leadership” series that pertains to this topic, “Fueling an Appetite for Leadership,” also provides a sort of “checklist” for business schools to ensure they are helping prepare their students to become the future professional business leaders they hope to.

The author, Gianpiero Petriglieri said that in order for institutions to help students address important leadership questions, business school programs must:

1. Reconsider the implications of the theories and leadership exemplars they offer.

2. Rethink the ways courses are structured.

3. Revisit what is required of educational leaders, and developing those leaders. Facilitating experiential learning is different than traditional teaching. It requires the skills and sensitivity to assist a process of personal and professional development, to encourage introspection and experimentation, and to link abstract principles with unique predicaments. Business schools will be short of such professional expertise unless doctoral programs that train their faculty pay more attention to the art and science of pedagogy.

4. Muster the courage to stir things up, and be stirred up, in the service of learning. Inspirational tales, theories, and tools alone don’t develop leaders. They protect them from the unsettling experience of leading. The reassuring illusion that leadership can be acquired and deployed, rather than having to be constantly negotiated, may be what we crave, but it is not what we need. Leadership development must offer more than that.

Click here to read the full article.

If you are interested in learning more about how business schools around the world have benefited from using Qualtrics, give us a call at 801.374.6682 or click here!

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