Building Resilience in MBA Students: Bouncing Back and Forward Through Challenges

Building Resilience in MBA Students: Bouncing Back and Forward Through Challenges

University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects Capstones 2017 Building Resilience in MBA Students: Bouncing Back and Forward through Challenges Denitsa Marinova University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Training and Development Commons, and the University Extension Commons Marinova, Denitsa, "Building Resilience in MBA Students: Bouncing Back and Forward through Challenges" (2017). Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects. 119. https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/119 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/119 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Building Resilience in MBA Students: Bouncing Back and Forward through Challenges Abstract The raison d'être for MBA programs is to prepare students to lead and manage effectively in the real world. An overview of the unique challenges awaiting MBAs, however, reveals a blind spot in business education: It doesn’t necessarily prepare MBA students to operate effectively in the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world of today. This paper suggests that resilience training can help fill the oidv by enhancing the capacity of MBAs to bounce back and forward through and despite adversity. The objective of the paper is to propose a conceptual design of an evidence-based, relevant, and applicable Resilience Training Program for MBA students, building on research and practice in positive psychology and positive organizational scholarship. The proposed program seeks to enhance MBAs’ individual resilience from a 3-dimensional perspective of protecting, promoting, and sustaining mental health and well-being. Topics covered in the program include emotion regulation, cognitive flexibility, optimism, hope, positive emotions, character strengths, positive relationships, meaning-making, high-quality connections, and job crafting. Each of these topics is examined through a review of relevant research, practical implications, and specific interventions for building and strengthening related skills. This paper will hopefully serve MBA students and their business schools in shaping resilient leaders of the future. Keywords resilience, well-being, education, adults, managers, positive psychology, optimism, meaning, positive relationships, hope, positive emotions Disciplines Adult and Continuing Education | Cognitive Psychology | Educational Psychology | Other Psychology | Training and Development | University Extension This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/mapp_capstone/119 Running Head: BUILDING RESILIENCE IN MBA STUDENTS 1 Building Resilience in MBA Students: Bouncing Back and Forward through Challenges Denitsa Marinova University of Pennsylvania A Capstone Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Positive Psychology Advisor: Meredith Myers, Ph.D. August 1, 2017 BUILDING RESILIENCE IN MBA STUDENTS 2 Building Resilience in MBA Students: Bouncing Back and Forward through Challenges Denitsa Marinova [email protected] Capstone Project Master of Applied Positive Psychology University of Pennsylvania Advisor: Meredith Myers, Ph.D. August 1, 2017 Abstract The raison d'être for MBA programs is to prepare students to lead and manage effectively in the real world. An overview of the unique challenges awaiting MBAs, however, reveals a blind spot in business education: It doesn’t necessarily prepare MBA students to operate effectively in the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world of today. This paper suggests that resilience training can help fill the void by enhancing the capacity of MBAs to bounce back and forward through and despite adversity. The objective of the paper is to propose a conceptual design of an evidence-based, relevant, and applicable Resilience Training Program for MBA students, building on research and practice in positive psychology and positive organizational scholarship. The proposed program seeks to enhance MBAs’ individual resilience from a 3-dimensional perspective of protecting, promoting, and sustaining mental health and well-being. Topics covered in the program include emotion regulation, cognitive flexibility, optimism, hope, positive emotions, character strengths, positive relationships, meaning-making, high-quality connections, and job crafting. Each of these topics is examined through a review of relevant research, practical implications, and specific interventions for building and strengthening related skills. This paper will hopefully serve MBA students and their business schools in shaping resilient leaders of the future. BUILDING RESILIENCE IN MBA STUDENTS 3 Acknowledgments Speaking the language of positive psychology, my top signature strength is Gratitude. This space is about expressing gratitude to the people who made this MAPP journey possible and whose relentless belief in me reminded me to believe in myself even when I thought I couldn’t or I didn’t know how. I am grateful to my advisor, Meredith Myers, who, throughout the program and the capstone work, inspired me with her insightful questions, vast capacity for meta-thinking, mastery in translating complexity into practical, grounded, and coherent ideas, humble approach of always recognizing the contribution of others, and, more than anything, a wholehearted quest for meaning. I am grateful to the whole MAPP community, professors, guest lecturers, teaching assistants, staff, and fellow classmates. They made me realize that if there is anything missing in MAPP, it is the letter “A” in front of MAPP: This program was, essentially, an Applied Master of Applied Positive Psychology. Because of the MAPP community, the program experience consisted as much of learning about well-being, as of cultivating well-being in class and during distance-learning periods. I am especially grateful to my cohort members Chad, Fernando, and Ken who inspired me and uplifted me in so many ways, and to Pacci and Jackie for the heartfelt connection and honest conversations which energized me and sustained me. I am deeply grateful to Luke and Sophia who were not only my support system throughout the year, but also made me feel like I belonged in MAPP since the very beginning of the program. If MAPP felt like home, it was hugely because of them. I am grateful to my colleagues and friends at Business School Lausanne. Without their generous support, enthusiastic encouragement, and patient understanding of my hectic travel and study schedule, I wouldn’t be standing here, in the final stretch of completing the MAPP program. Not only did they let me have the time and space to explore new horizons BUILDING RESILIENCE IN MBA STUDENTS 4 besides work, but they also expressed genuine curiosity in my studies and my new MAPP world. I am especially thankful to Katrin and Yasmina who encouraged me to apply for MAPP and pursue what makes my heart and mind alive. I am grateful to my family and friends who wholeheartedly supported me in my MAPP journey, even though it meant significantly less time spent together. In many ways, MAPP mattered to them too, because it mattered so much to me. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my partner in life and my love, Emil. His unconditional support, encouragement, and belief in me have redefined the meaning of love. If I embarked on this MAPP journey confidently, it was because Emil has always encouraged me to go boldly in the direction of my dreams, knowing that he will be right next to me every step of the way. So he has been. BUILDING RESILIENCE IN MBA STUDENTS 5 Table of Contents Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………….…3 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………...7 The Business Case of Resilience for MBA Students………………………….............7 The Relevance of MBA Education……………………………………………8 Global Business Challenges for MBAs………………………………………..9 Early Career Challenges for MBAs…………………………………………..10 In-the-Program Challenges for MBAs……………………………………….13 Implications for MBA Education…………………………………………….14 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW OF RESILIENCE……………………………16 The Broader Context of Resilience……………..……………………………………16 Positive Psychology………………………………………………………….16 PERMA………………………………………………………………………19 Other Well-Being Models……………………………………………………20 Positive Organizational Scholarship & Positive Organizational Behavior…..22 Theoretical and Scientific Underpinnings of Resilience……………………………..25 Definitions of Resilience……………………………………………………..25 Trait vs Process: Resilience is not Fixed……………………………………..28 Protective Factors: Resilience is “Ordinary Magic” ………………………...29 Practical Implications: Resilience is Contextual……………………………..31 Resilience Training Programs: Is Resilience Teachable?................................32 CHAPTER III: RESILIENCE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR MBA STUDENTS……36 Program Overview…………………………………………………………………...36 Module I: Building Cognitive & Emotional Resilience (Protecting)………………...38 Emotion Regulation & Cognitive Flexibility………………………………...39 Optimism……………………………………………………………………..47 Hope………………………………………………………………………….51 BUILDING RESILIENCE IN MBA STUDENTS 6 Module II: Building Strengths & Assets (Promoting) ………………………………54 Positive Emotions……………………………………………………………55

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