New institute to help business, industry meet challenges

 | 10/16/2003

Lipscomb University's College of Business has formed a new institute designed to help business and industry meet workplace challenges. The "Institute for Organizational Effectiveness" will utilize Lipscomb University faculty to offer customized training, solutions, management consulting and high-quality seminars for businesses, said Steven Yoho, academic director of Lipscomb's MBA program and one of three principals in the new institute. "It is a natural outgrowth of our Christian mission and identity as a premier academic university to offer our expertise to businesses which may be able to benefit from our experience. This is one way we can reach out and be a partner in the community," Yoho said. Yoho said that Lipscomb's institute would be distinctive in two ways - its reliance on university faculty, rather than student projects, and its emphasis on practical rather than academic solutions. "The three of us [leading the institute] possess terminal degrees, but we also have extensive practical, hands-on business experience," Yoho said. The initial institute workshop program will be designed to teach new leaders and managers effective supervisory skills, Yoho said, adding that other workshops will be designed as needs are identified by organizations within the market region. The institute will also help companies conduct needs assessments and provide solutions in such areas as structural change, performance management, reward systems, process and reporting changes, decision making and workflows, he said. "Offering customized solutions to a wide variety of workplace issues drove our decision to be under the Lipscomb University umbrella," Yoho said. "Our faculty provides a broad spectrum of resources. For example, if a business is having problems in communication, we can bring some of our communication faculty on board to help identify the solution." Yoho, an associate professor of business who holds a Ph.D. from Ohio University, has more than 15 years experience in business and management consulting. Most of his business experience has been with medium-sized, privately held companies, and he has served in the positions of president and CEO, vice president of operations, director of human resources and plant manager. Yoho is joined in the institute by Dr. Mike Kendrick, associate professor and chair of the Department of Management at Lipscomb, and Charla Long, an attorney who is an assistant professor of management. Together, the three have extensive experience in business, industry, and the service sector. Kendrick, who holds the Ed.D. from Vanderbilt University, is a former director of the Regional Human Resource Center and plant director of human resources for the General Motors Corp. He also served as senior human resource consultant and director of training for The Tennessean. Long holds the J.D. degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law, where her research focus was on hospitality industry law. She brings to the institute sales and managerial experience with the Walt Disney World Resort, Premier Parks, and Maritz Travel Management Co. The institute will charge for its services, Yoho said, to recover costs and because "free services are perceived as having limited value in the marketplace," he said. Yoho said the institute will work with companies at any location in the U.S. that may benefit from its services. Companies interested in exploring the Lipscomb institute may contact Yoho at 615.279.5951.