Sunny Day & Final Preparation

Posted on May 1, 2011 by alexk

It is a beautiful spring day!!  I have had a productive 4 hour stint in a sunny coffee shop and I am departing shortly.  I have been prepping for my presentation at next week’s colloquium.  I have refined the deck so that it is more succinct.  The presentation is also explicit about the areas where I am especially keen to receive feedback.  Best defence is offence!!  I will do a verbal run through to when I get home to ensure that I can deliver it in 20 minutes and make final tweaks as appropriate.  I am out of town for work next week, but will do a bit of reading in the evenings.  My focus will be to review my recent papers – Research Proposal and Pilot etc.- so that I am in the right “head space” with my research.  I feel a bit disconnected because I have been juggling lots between work and “life”!

Speaking of work life balance, it has become quite challenging of late.  I have been out of town 2-3 days/week for work for the last 4 month, and have another 3 weeks of this schedule. I am finding it difficult to make time for important relationships, domestic duties, exercise and general life “stuff”.  Thankfully I was able to submit my tax return documents this morning and I am now off to Home Dept to get some gardening stuff.  I am looking forward to spending some time outside and prepping the garden with my partner.  Hope that he is up for it!!  Also, I need to do some groceries and figure out some dinner menus, I haven’t cooked in ages!!  It feels a bit odd to be writing about this on my blog, but it highlights a core challenge of doing a DBA –finding and maintaining life balance!

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Colloquium Preparation

Posted on April 23, 2011 by alexk

Well it has definitely been the most relaxed Saturday I have had in ages!!  I have spent the past 3 hours at a new coffee shop working on a presentation for an upcoming May colloquium.  I have created a solid first draft so I am departing shortly.  The presentation is essentially a high level overview of my research proposal so it was fairly easy to pull together.  I will fine tune the look and feel over the next week or so. I also need to think about and prepare for possible questions that may be asked. 

Colloquium are a great opportunity to do three things.  First, they provide a forum to get valuable feedback on your research question and methodology.  Second, since you listen to other researchers’ presentations, it is a great way to build your understanding of research methodology.  Finally, it is a terrific way to build your academic network.  This last part is especially useful for me given I spend the majority of my time in industry.

A quick postscript on last weekend, I had requested a one week extension for my Research Proposal.  Turns out I was able to complete the paper on Sunday afternoon, so only needed two extra days.  It was a wonderful feeling submitting the paper and realizing that, pending any significant feedback, I have completed the MSc stage of my doctorate.  What a feeling!!  I still have a lot of file/paper clean up and organization to do before finalizing this chapter, but the heaviest lifting is now complete for this stage. 

Over the next three months I will present at 3 colloquia, two in Toronto and one in the UK.  I also need to start to ramp up for the DBA Phase.  In between, I plan to enjoy a bit of downtime, gardening, outdoor tennis and a bit of travel.  All good!!!

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1 Week Extension

Posted on April 16, 2011 by alexk

This post is going to be really short.  I met with my supervisor on Wednesday.  Based on her feedback I realized that revisions to my research methodology thinking and approach was required.  As a result, I did something that I haven’t done since my undergraduate degree.  I asked for a one week extension!!  Sounds trivial, but my tendency and preference would have been to rush in order to meet the deadline.  Instead, I decided to give myself the time to completed the revisions in a leisurely fashion. 

This was harder than it sounds because I really wanted to have today off and can be quite anal about deadlines.  Nonetheless, it was a great decision.  I have just finished a 6 hour stint at the library and my paper is in a very good place.  I will do final edits tomorrow and submit by early next week.  It is not ever yet, but I feel good about the process and the product.

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12 583

Posted on April 9, 2011 by alexk

My brain is completely fried.  I have finally completed a solid first draft of my research proposal and it is 12 583 words in length.  Once again, I completely under estimated the effort required.  I have had the whole week to focus on the paper and have worked consistently on it, averaging at least 6 hours of effort each day.  Today is Saturday and I have been working at the Second Cup steadily for 6 hours and I am finally done.  I was hoping to have a bit of down time this week, including taking today off, but it was not meant to be.

I am heading home now.  It is a beautiful day and I am going to catch some rays outside before having a nap.  The week ahead will be focused on editing.  I have a meeting with my supervisor on Thursday afternoon and will integrate her feedback as appropriate.  If the feedback is relatively minor I should be able to submit this paper next Saturday.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

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Developing Persuasiveness

Posted on April 3, 2011 by alexk

Not sure if I mentioned this before but one of my development goals for my doctorate is to improve my ability to persuade.  This is essential not only for writing papers, but also for presenting at research colloquiums and to successfully defend your dissertation!  With most business and research matters I believe that there are multiple “right answers” so typically I have an opinion on things but am very open to the views held by others.  I often focus on listening and understanding versus highlighting the merits of my approach. 

I ran into this situation with my research supervisor this week.  She raised several valid objections to my research proposal and I was able to refute only few of them during our meeting.  I thought of more responses after I had  time to reflect and absorb her comments.  I sent her some solid counter arguments this morning.  My challenge is I don’t think through most of the objections to my ideas before I present them, and I am not quick on my feet when responding to things I have not prepared for!  Clearly I need to do more advance preparation.

The meeting with my supervisor was also catalyst for some really solid thinking today.  I have been at the library for 5 hours and did a fair bit of mind mapping, reviewing theses and reading new research papers. My research question is now simplified to focus on gender, leadership style and business results.  I am going to compare two organizations in the same industry, one with a all-male C-Suite and the other with both female and male members.  I feel good about my thinking and progress, so am departing shortly. 

Next week is a research week,  I will not be at work and can focus exclusively on the paper.  I plan to do “heavy lifting” on Monday/Tuesday.  On Wednesday I have some research meetings so this should be a good reflection day.  I hope to finalize a solid draft of the paper on Thurs/Friday.  It would be lovely to NOT have to be at the library next Saturday!

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Early Exit!

Posted on March 27, 2011 by alexk

For once I am leaving the library ahead of schedule!  I arrived at 1130 and have had a very productive 5 hour session.  My productivity was “launched” by some early morning thinking.  Increasingly, I am realizing that my best idea generation occurs early in the morning, when I am partially awake and very relaxed.  I was able to see how key concepts and discussions about datasets that I have had over the past few weeks can come together for a practical and original solution.   My thesis will focus on integrating several areas of the literature that exist in isolation but not in combination.  I am hoping that I can use Structured Equation Modelling to evaluate relationships between gender, leadership style, engagement and REAL business results. 

I now have a very rough draft research proposal that is about 7000 words.  I plan to write another 1000 early next week and then submit the draft paper to my supervisor.  I have a school week scheduled for the first week in April, I will use this time to focus complete a solid draft for my supervisor’s review on April 6.  We will then meet on April 11th to do a final review.  It remains an aggressive schedule but I am committed to staying on track.   

I am heading out shortly to complete some errands.  Looking forward to this evening, dinner and dancing –woohoo!

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1000 Down, 13 000 To Go

Posted on March 19, 2011 by alexk

It has been a brutal Saturday at the library.  I had no idea how tired I was, but after about an hour of work,  I really wanted to go home for a nap!  I realized that the best approach for the day would be to keep mixing things up.  Literally and figuratively!  I actually sat in 4 different locations in the library today, including about an hour in the cafeteria.  I also did several 30 minutes activities, including searching for papers for my literature review, creating a project plan, and preparing for upcoming meetings regarding data sets.  In short, I was looking for tasks that needed to be completed but wouldn’t require deep concentration. 

I also managed to squeeze in a chapter of John Creswell’s “Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods” book and then write 1000 words on my proposal related to my research design.  I can hear my supervisor stressing the importance of writing regularly and the importance of not worrying about editing…

Next week my focus will be on reading some new papers.  I also have my first meeting with a company who may have data that I can leverage.  I have prepared a list of questions for the meeting and am really keeping my fingers crossed for a favourable outcome.  I have another similar meeting scheduled for early April.  I am really starting to understand the importance of nailing this decision down soon.  It will it enable me to write a well thought out Research Proposal.  Also, more importantly, given my desire to do sequential mixed methods approach, it is imperative to use existing quantitative data if I want to complete my doctorate in a timely fashion.  Speaking of time, I need to sign off now.   My partner is picking me up in 10 minutes for dinner and a movie.

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One Down, One to Go

Posted on March 13, 2011 by alexk

It is Sunday morning and I just submitted my Pilot Study –woohoo!!  A great deal of effort was devoted to revising and refining the paper this week.  I met with my supervisor on Thursday to discuss her feedback and this has been integrated.  I am feeling generally pleased with the end result and looking forward to receiving formal feedback.

I am departing shortly for the Second Cup for a coffee and to read the newspaper.  I then plan to return home for an afternoon nap because I am smackered.  In addition to losing an hour this morning “Spring Forward” I am zonked because I was at a concert later until the wee hours of the morning and then woke up for the 730am to go to church!! 

My next big hurdle is to tackle the Research Proposal, which is a 14 000 word paper and the last step in the MSc Stage of the doctorate.  This week will focus on some initial planning and reflecting on refining my research question.  It is due on April 15, so I have one more month of major heavy lifting!

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Full Court Press

Posted on March 7, 2011 by alexk

An unexpectedly busy weekend and a very full week.  It is Sunday night and I have been working on data analysis all day!!  Granted, I did take a few breaks to make dinner, get groceries and spend an hour at the coffee shop reading the paper.  I have put in a good 7 hours today, on top of a 5 hour library stint on Saturday, and about 5 hours during the week.  The good news is that I have completed a solid high level  analysis of the mean results and the overall findings mirror the literature.  The women in my study are exhibiting more transformational leadership than their male counterparts and achieving more overall ROI than their male counterparts.

It took a long time to get to the findings.  I completely underestimated the complexity of the data because there are multiple raters for each leader, but the number varies.  This made my EXCEL analysis more time-consuming that it needed to be.  Thank goodness that I was able to ask my partner a few questions at key moments.  His advice definitely saved me some times and I now understand the value of MACROS and Pivot Tables. I didn’t use them today but I will need to learn these functions for my thesis.  Also need to explore SPSS as an option.

I am zonked so I am going to keep this post short.  Overall, I spent a good part of the week on administration associated with the 360 survey and then setting up the logistics for the interviews.  I will be doing two interviews tomorrow and should get the transcripts on Tuesday.

My pace is accelerated because I have committed to sending a draft of this paper to my supervisor tomorrow.  This means that I will be doing another stint tomorrow after work.  I need to do three things.  First, clean the paper up a bit.  Second, add the findings/observations from the interviews.  Third, write up the “implications for my thesis” section.  I am hoping that 3 hours will suffice. 

As a final note, it may sound nerdy but I really enjoyed the day.  It is a very cool feeling to analyze your own research data!!

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Steady Progress

Posted on February 26, 2011 by alexk

It has been a very, very full week all focused on my Pilot Study.  I completely underestimated many things and have been in over-drive as I reacted to unexpected events.  The purpose of the study is to explore the impact of gender on leadership style, in addition to other variables such as age, ethnicity, business unit and tenure.  Also, by adopting a mixed methods approach, a 360 leadership style questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, the study aims to contribute an expanded examination of the leadership style of men and women.   

The testing and administration of the 360 leadership questionnaire was more complicated than I first thought, and my tight time frames made things more difficult than they needed to be.  I am working with a consulting firm that licenses the questionnaire and has a supporting on-line tool to administer the data collection.  I had multiple emails and conversations with the firm to get the questionnaire customized and then learn how to use the on-line tool.  Also, my decision to input raters on behalf of the leaders made sense to make it easier for participants but added a significant level of input administration for me.  Thankfully, 35% of the leaders have agreed to participate in the study and I hope to increase this a bit more with a follow-up email on Monday. 

It was a late start at the library today because I played 2 hours of tennis last night.  A great deal of fun, my game is actually improving!!  I have been at the library for 5 hours and have made good progress.   I fine-tuned the Interview Schedule for the semi-structured interviews that I will conduct next week and also began to write the Pilot Study Report.   I have a very DRAFT version of half of the paper written and a framework to complete the final half.  I also prepared for my meeting with my supervisor which will take place next week.  The final thing I completed was a project plan for next week.  This is very effective for keeping me on track because there is a lot of detail and process to manage.

Speaking of on track, I am going to sign off for now.  My ride home will arrive shortly.  I plan to do some groceries and then relax.  Look forward to church, some yoga and more relaxing tomorrow as well!

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