Issue 27 | Summer 2014

Hull University Business School

Business

SkillsRenewablesResearch

ContentsIssue 27 | Summer 2014

03 Welcome

04 Giving back

06 Renewables hub Renewables activity at

the Business School and University

08 Skills for the future

09 Softer side of leadership

10 Penguin Hubsy tweets for student campaign

11 Construction excellence for Sewell Group

12 Events diary

Giving back

We speak to Sarah Cash, Director of Business and Income Development at Dove House Hospice

A look at renewables activity at the University

Skills for the future Advertising and Marketing students show their creative side to promote the Business School’s summer study programmes

Our vision: to be a leading UK business school with an international reputation for teaching, learning and research that is relevant to a fast-changing, interconnected world.

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WelcomeThe announcement from Siemens in March has

come as a major boost to Hull. Coupled with Hull City FC reaching the final of the FA cup and the ongoing UK City of Culture work, it is fair to say that the eyes of the world will be on the region in the next few years.

Hull University Business School is a key part of the University, an anchor institution in the region, and as such we play a significant role in these new developments.

Our research work has been and will continue to be influential in Hull’s evolution as a renewables hub. From SME involvement in offshore wind to biodiversity, you can see the breadth of work of our academics and the University as a whole on pages 6 and 7 of this issue. Our involvement in the business of the region is continuing to increase; for example, research into local job creation for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is detailed on page 8.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the ten-year anniversary of the successful Humber Business Week. From small beginnings in 2004, the event has grown into an internationally renowned festival of business, with workshops and sessions from a diverse range of regional organisations. The Business School is once again proud to host events and looks forward to continuing this relationship in the future.

And finally, our marketing students have been showing their creativity in a multimedia advertising competition as part of their MSc studies. Inspired by the popularity of penguins at The Deep, the students created HUBSY – a mascot who has already been extremely busy tweeting and posting on social media. Look out for him at Business Week events!

Professor Terry Williams Dean Hull University Business School

‘ ’It is fair to say that the eyes of the world will be on the region in the next few years.

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Dove House Hospice relies on the generosity of the local community and businesses to support its work. Business School graduate, Sarah Cash,

Director of Business and Income Development, is tasked with keeping the money coming in to help hundreds of families each year.

• Youareverypassionateabouttheregion.What do you think are the main factors of its growth and continued success?Having lived in Hull all of my life, I am delighted to see the City of Culture award and investment from Siemens helping to put my home city on the map. Working in the third sector, I get to see first-hand how thoughtful, generous and humble the people of Hull and the East Riding are and it is these people that I believe will be responsible for the growth of our region. We’ve had more than our fair share of the bad times but it feels to me like we’ve turned a corner over the last year, which has given us the confidence to take pride in our city and cast off the negative labels of the past. I work with just over 200 staff and over 1,000 volunteers here at the hospice – in all sorts of different capacities – as well as thousands of donors and service users. Their determination and hard work inspires me and gives me great confidence in our city’s future.

• TellusabitaboutDoveHouseanditsongoing journey?I feel incredibly lucky to work for Dove House Hospice. I’ve sometimes had people take a sharp intake of breath when I tell them where I work, fearing it must be days filled with heartache and sadness; but I can honestly say

the hospice is such a bright, airy and life-affirming place for staff (as well as our patients and relatives) that it is a joy to come to work each day. The hospice is the largest ‘local’ charity in the Hull and East Riding region and each year we care for over 1,200 families facing life-limiting illnesses such as cancer or motor neurone disease. We add life to days when days can’t be added to life.

There are huge changes ahead in the healthcare arena which means the hospice will likely have to adapt its approach to care to ensure we are still meeting the needs of our community and obtaining as much funding as possible to enable us to care for more people. Having close working relationships and partnerships with other charities, businesses and providers is vital to make our patient experiences the best they can be and to secure our future for generations to come.

To run the hospice costs £6.5m each year and it is my job as Director of Business and Income Development to make sure we have the money coming in to keep us running, through our division of 34 charity shops, our 15,000 member lottery and fundraising activities. With only 42 days of the year currently funded, Dove House relies on the generosity of the local community and businesses to support its work. The hospice couldn’t exist without them and our ongoing journey will only be possible with them by our side.

Giving back

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• HowhasyourexperienceattheBusinessSchool shaped your career?When it came to choosing a university, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have such an excellent business school within the city I’d grown up in. The School gave me the perfect mix of theory and practice to prepare me for work and I was lucky to have a job offer at a PR and events company on the strength of its reputation, starting the day after my final exam! I feel indebted to the Business School for what it has enabled me to achieve as I quickly progressed into management and then to become a director; and it continues to help me today. I became an active alumni member and last year decided to develop my management skills further with the Executive MBA which I can’t recommend highly enough. At almost half way through the course, I have already applied the teachings directly to my work which has helped me improve how we operate.

I am also especially grateful for the guidance and support of Dr John Nicholson who taught me in my degree some 10 years ago, inspired my career in marketing, continued to assist me in my work after I left university and last year agreed to become a board member at the hospice. Having this close link to the school has not only helped me personally but has also helped the hospice become more strategic in outlook. The Business School is filled with inspirational and passionate staff which makes engaging with it a pleasure.

• Anytipsforourcurrentstudentsandrecentgraduates?If I had to give just one tip it would be to keep in touch with the University after graduation. In my opinion, the Business School isn’t something you should just pass through but something you should hang onto. I am a big believer in continual learning and my contact as an alumnus has given me the opportunity to do just that. It also allows me to give back and offer guidance to new students through initiatives such as e-mentoring. I am certain I wouldn’t be where I am today and in such a privileged and fulfilling role without the school and I am happy to be able to play my part in helping that happen for the students there today too.

Sarah CashDirector of Business and Income DevelopmentDove House Hospice

• If you are a graduate and would like to engage with the Business School please contact our alumni relations manager Sarah Fewster s.fewster@hull.ac.uk

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The announcement from engineering giant Siemens giving the green light to wind turbine production in East Yorkshire, backed by £160m investment, confirms Hull is on course to become a big player in green energy and renewables.

A diverse range of projects and initiatives across the city helped pave the way for the Siemens’ decision. With research, training and education provision, the University and Business School will continue to play our part to make the renewables hub a reality.

Associated British Ports (ABP) Siemens’ British partner, will invest a further £150m in the Green Port Hull development. It is expected that 1,000 jobs will be created as a direct result of the investment, with further positions created in the construction and supply industry.

The University has a long history of working closely with the renewables industry, including through the Centre for Adaptive Science and Sustainability (CASS) and the Faculty of Science and Engineering as well as the Business School.

Research:Leanwind logistics and transport issues; local job creation, employability and skills in Hull; boosting regional SME involvement in offshore wind; capability of the Humber region; Dogger Bank - stakeholder and policymaker needs for successful marine environmental management, and its biodiversity value; ecosystem services and societal benefits – from estuarine saltmarsh and managed realignment sites. Business School academics are also researching green tourism, marketing of bioplastics, greenports and nearporting.

Read more about our research at: www.hull.ac.uk/hubs

Degree programmes:The Logistics Institute, a world-class centre of excellence in global logistics and delivers highly relevant degree programmes in supply chain management. Students can also study for a Sustainable Business degree.

Skills:Events for school pupils at the Business School raise awareness of career paths in logistics. The School is also working with the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce to address the looming skills crisis and with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (see page 8).

Renewables activity at the Business School

Renewables hub

From logistics to biodiversity, ecosystems to employability, academics at the Business School are working to establish our area as a green energy capital.

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Research:Energy and the Environment is a priority. Projects include: design and development of tidal power; fault-tolerant control of offshore wind; prediction, analysis and optimisation of scour and scour-protection on sub-sea structures eg offshore wind turbines; environmental assessment, monitoring of renewable energy development sites; tidal turbines; Carbon capture and storage/utilisation; green jobs in the region.

Strategic role:The University was part of the founding group with ABP, Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council that worked towards attracting Siemens’ investment here and is leading the R&D theme of the Green Port Growth programmes. It is a member of Green Port Growth Board, LEP Board (Energy Estuary), LEP Joint Strategy Unit, LEP Business Development Board, LEP Skills and Employment Board, LEP Energy Campus Board – all with renewables at the heart of their activities.

Training:Hazardous conditions faced by engineers working at the top of a wind turbine are recreated at Hull Immersive Visualisation Environment (HIVE). A 3D virtual reality ‘CUBE’, based in the Department of Computer Science, gives workers experience of the complex and often hostile conditions that they will face whilst working offshore.

Siemens expects Green Port Hull to take up operations at the beginning of 2016, with blade production at Paull scheduled to start in the summer of the same year. Production at the factory will reach full capacity from mid-2017, the same year Hull will be celebrating the title of UK City of Culture, and the University’s 90th anniversary.

Paramount to Siemens’ decision to invest in Hull and East Yorkshire were the logistical capabilities of the Humber and surrounding area. Dr James Tannock, Director of the Logistics Institute at the Business School, said:“Logistics considerations were key to the choice of Hull for the Siemens offshore wind facility. The Logistics Institute has been engaged since the early stages of the Green Port project, recognising the region’s huge potential in the renewables sector and assisting in its development, to provide a major boost to the local economy.

“With ABP as a corporate partner and with our links to the ports and logistics sectors, we will continue to contribute – whether in terms of research, identifying and advising on the enormous opportunities for local business or working with schools and colleges to raise the profile of logistics as an extremely viable career path.

“We are working in partnership with many organisations in Hull to create the infrastructure of skills, training and education that will be required as the Humber emerges as a hub for renewable energy.”

And there’s more going on at the University

ABPABP, a corporate partner of the school, is a member of our International Advisory Board and Logistics Steering Group and a partner in a feasibility study for research into Solutions for Integrated Seamless Transport Across Land and Sea (SISTALS).

Our management development programme for ABP has provided targeted teaching for staff since 2009.

SIEMENSBack in 2013, our centre for Systems Studies hosted a seminar for Siemens which gave insights into the company’s stringent anti-corruption measures.

ComplexprojectsProfessor Terry Williams, an international thought-leader in the field of modelling and understanding complex project behaviour (and its implications for project governance, project claims and learning from projects) has also had recent involvement with Siemens Energy.

The Business School has a long history of analysing and understanding complexity, and understanding complex projects is a particular expertise.

Logistics: Dr James Tannock

VIP visit: Prime Minister David Cameron (left) visited Hull following the Siemens’ announcement. Picture courtesy of ABP/David Lee Photography

Logistics research: ABP are a partner in a feasibility study of integrated transport solutions.

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‘The Humber and Scarborough areas will benefit significantly from new employment related to the development of the offshore wind energy and related sectors.’ So says Professor Steve Johnson.

‘It is vital that the employment and training infrastructure in the sub-region is geared up to providing the skills that employers are going to need over the coming few years. This research will help local organisations to ensure that skills and economic development priorities are fully aligned.

‘The Business School is delighted to support the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with this project, which will provide researchers and local organisations with access to the expertise and experience of employment and economic development specialists from around the world.’

This project will assess the contribution of labour market policy in boosting quality employment and enhancing productivity by better matching skills supply to demand, improving training provision and addressing skills gaps but also improving skills utilisation by firms.

Local Job Creation is one of three signature projects for OECD’s Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) initiative, which leverages expertise from five continents into expert task forces to provide rapid response and targeted advice on specific economic and social issues. The project will involve a series of country reviews, including case studies of selected localities – of which Hull is one.

Each review will look at the capacity of employment services and training providers to contribute to a long-term strategy which can yield returns in terms of resilience of the local economy, skills levels and job quality.

The project, which reported initial findings in May, will involve data analysis to understand the key labour market challenges facing the country in the context of the economic recovery – with a view to assessing the balance between the supply and demand for skills and labour at local level.

Read more about out our research at www.hull.ac.uk/hubs

Skills for the futureResearch into job creation will help local organisations plan for the future in renewables and other sectors of growth.

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‘Softer’ skills relating to emotional intelligence and the ability to deal with uncertainties are in demand again for executives wanting to move into senior positions. MBA Programme Director, Professor David Collins explains the resurgence of interest.

ProfessorJohnBlenkinsopp,Headof Subject Group, Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management:

‘One of the key soft skills which managers need to develop is the ability to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity. Management education traditionally sought to reduce uncertainty by equipping managers with analytical tools to break down the problem and thereby reduce uncertainty.

Whilst this remains valuable in many situations, at other times uncertainty is unavoidable, and managers need to be able to stay with the uncertainty rather than rushing to action.

Research at the Business School has shown that the challenges of the MBA – the very parts of the programme which cause students most anxiety – can lead to an enhanced ability to cope with uncertainty, and recognise that sometimes it is appropriate to wait rather than act.’

Emotional intelligence and skills, understanding of ethics, sustainability and engagement are an integral part of the well-rounded leader in 2014.

A report into global executive education, the 2013 Hanover Research Report MBA Course Trends suggested that while core, technical skills are still required, increasing importance is placed on softer attributes of leadership.

‘This interest in softer skills may be growing but it is not new,’ said Professor Collins. ‘The attack on hard business planning and practices stems from the 1980s, from the time when management guru Tom Peters was writing on business management practices.

‘But it is true there is a greater concern now than ever before with ethics and values and sustainability – so it is unrealistic even to think of providing business education without these at the core.’

Tasked with ensuring the school’s MBA is highly relevant to today’s business leaders, Professor Collins is committed to forms of inquiry that place a premium on holism, connected thinking and plurality.

Students are encouraged to consider a systems thinking approach, to identify a problem and to understand the issue in its totality.

While not, formally, a systems thinker himself, Professor Collins acknowledges the complexity of organisations. He suggests complexity is both a practical and everyday concern: ‘It explains why managing yourself and others can be so difficult. And – more importantly – it helps us to understand why managing is so rewarding, and I don’t mean in cash terms!’

‘But, of course, the hard stuff still matters. We don’t have UPS deliver stuff because we like the jingle... we use UPS because they do logistics very well.

‘For the MBA, we operate on the understanding that any attempt to develop a strictly technical fix to a business problem will founder in the face of ingenuity. It is the human problems of managing that are hard to deal with.’

Findoutmoreatourpart-timeExecutiveMBAopeneveningson25Juneand 4 September 2014 at www.hull.ac.uk/hubs/mba

Softer side of leadership

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PenguinHubsytweetsfor student campaignAdvertising and Marketing students showed their creative side in a competition to promote the Business School’s summer study programmes.Team ‘enspire’ created penguin-branded marketing materials - their mascot, HUBSY, even has his own social media accounts, attracting a lot of interest in the competition.

Team member Immaculate Magadi said: ‘We did our research, looked at what is attracting attention worldwide and came up with a penguin as an idea for a mascot.

‘The introduction of penguins to The Deep has increased visitors there between 50 and 100 per cent. We created a Facebook page and a Twitter feed as part of the assessment and have innovative ideas about how to attract visitors to the Summer School and to Hull.’

The creators of HUBSY were given a personal commendation for their creativity by Dr Wen-Ling

Liu, programme leader for MSc Advertising and Marketing.

‘By producing ‘real-life’ campaigns as part of their studies, students gain valuable insights into the world of work,’ said Dr Liu. ‘This adds to their student experience here and ultimately enhances their employability.’

In small groups, the MSc students devised and developed multimedia campaigns for the 2015 summer schools to highlight the

benefits of taking part in international study and attract potential participants.

The winners of awards for best advertising campaign overall, creative advertising and media

strategy were the team named Fire.

The team was inspired by the diversity of the summer school programme to create eye-catching posters focusing on the personal development which would result from attending a summer school.

‘We wanted to encourage students to get out of their personal digital network, to travel and to meet other students,’ said team member, Jingtin Sun. ‘It is a great experience for everyone and is good for their CV.’

Team Switch also received a personal commendation for its media strategy.

FindoutmoreaboutHUBSYviatwitter#HUBS_Y

News in BriefExtendinginternationalreachA large delegation organised by leading Malaysian logistics company PKT Logistics, including a number of Business School alumni, visited the University to discuss collaborative ventures.

The delegates, who included entrepreneurs, high-ranking executives from PKT and its partner college ALC, enjoyed an academic programme with presentations on different areas of logistics, modelling complex projects and international operations and economics. Cultural activities included a talk on the City of Culture win as well as a tour of the KC Stadium.

It is proposed that the Business School will deliver its distance-learning MBA programme in Malaysia through ALC College, as well as participating in a number of logistics symposia.

In recent months, the school has also played host to a number of international delegations from a range of countries including China and Mexico.

Marketers aid green plastic firmMarketing lecturer Peter Andrews, is working with bioplastics company, Floreon Transforming Packaging Ltd, to develop a strategy to revolutionise the worldwide plastics market.

Floreon has developed a plastic with green credentials, which is four times stronger than any other bioplastic available and has the potential to become a global leader. Working with the Business School, the aim is to develop the right marketing strategies in order to introduce the product internationally and target the correct customer base.

The research, which will be conducted by Peter Andrews and senior marketing lecturer Dr David Harness, is funded by the Yorkshire Innovation Fund. The YIF funds access to university expertise, free Research and Development and innovation for Yorkshire and Humber SMEs in a range of sectors.

School agrees Chamber patronageThe Business School, working with the University’s Knowledge Exchange, has become a patron of the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce.

This link will help to further cement our relationship with businesses in the region and allows us to engage in this important forum, to debate the big issues within the city and beyond.

The Chamber offers excellent support for local organisations, from legal advice to guidance on international trade. It is expected that the University will participate fully in future events and networking as well as offering ongoing training opportunities for members.

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Sewell Group, a company famous for its ‘Sunday Times Top 10 Companies to Work For’ accolades, was given this independent stamp of approval for its work on schemes delivered as part of the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust Programme and the Building Schools for the Future Programmes, between 2008 and 2013.Professor Williams said: ‘With the end of the Government BSF and LIFT programmes, it was clear that Sewell had performed well in their projects in Hull and the area, well exceeding the industry norm in outcomes. We wanted to understand why that was so we could all do better in our projects in the future.

‘It is clear that Sewell look at project ‘success’ in its widest sense, not only

traditional project success criteria – so they take into account the quality of the final product, customer and user satisfaction, community relationships, disputes and changes, the production of a legacy – rather than just a building – and so on.

This achievement of success across a whole range of criteria has a number of factors at the root of this, but key is the organisational culture, and also the sense of locality of the company, the use of ‘learning teams’ and the adoption of the ‘single team’ approach of Latham.’

In 2014 Sewell Group will look to transport the project expertise evidenced in the report across the region. Paul Sewell, Managing Director, said: ‘I hope these findings are a fair reflection of our customers and communities experiences of Sewell. We’ve always been big on people engagement and culture to

drive quality and performance and I’m pleased this has been highlighted as a golden thread throughout the study.

‘We have been privileged with our construction position over the last five years with the health and education programmes in Hull. These long standing programmes enabled us to continually learn and develop, and to invest in our people, systems and processes, leading to a more holistic estates offer for our customers.’

Over the five year period Sewell has created a legacy in Hull. £200m of developments delivered by Sewell Group under these two Government programmes has created a multiplier of 2.54 for Hull and 2.97 for the region.

The report will be developed into an academic journal article over the coming months.

Outstanding student achievement will be recognised in a new awards framework designed to encourage personal development and boost employability.The Hull Employability Award scheme, which will complement academic study, will encourage students to be involved in a wide range of activities from sport to volunteering, local-level community projects to international experiences.

‘The University has a great track record in providing a rich and diverse student experience,’ said Valerie Monaghan, Graduate Skills and Careers Manager at the Business School. ‘Now we want to help students leverage the benefits of their extra-curricular activities to benefit them in the recruitment process.

‘Many universities can claim that their graduates have good transferable skills and valuable workplace experience but our aim is to be one of the few universities to demonstrate this.’

The awards will credit a wide variety of skills and will develop the students’ ability to catalogue their competencies and achievements in a formalised way, similar to that required in many job applications. Skills and aptitudes may include: supporting others, team-working, leadership, effective communication, digital literacy and intercultural understanding.

Students who achieve an employability award will be in an excellent position to present themselves and their capabilities confidently and successfully to future employers. They will demonstrate the distinctive attributes associated with being a Hull graduate.

Director of Careers, Norman Day, said: ‘The University is committed to providing outstanding employability support to students and graduates and is investing in the expansion of the central careers team and a wide range of new and exciting initiatives, including the Hull Awards’.

New award scheme boosts employability

ReportfindsconstructionexcellenceforSewellGroupResearch by Professor Terry Williams, Dean of the Business School, recently looked into the ways that Hull company Sewell Group had delivered ‘construction project excellence’.

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Full and part-time open events and applicant days

Open events offer potential students the opportunity to visit the Business School facilities at Hull or Scarborough.

Visitors will meet members of staff and students from the school, helping applicants to make an informed decision about their future education.

Full-time open events14 June, 5 July, 11 October and 25 October 2014

Part-timeopenevents25 June (all part-time programmes) 4 September (Executive MBA and MSc in Human Resource Management) 9 September (part-time BA Business Management)

For general enquiries about open days please visit the website or contact businessschool@hull.ac.uk

For more information about the admission process please contact Bella Anand, Admissions Manager, at b.anand@hull.ac.uk

Business Bites seminar series – in conjunction with IoD East Yorkshire

Marketing beyond advertising September 2014, 5.30 pm – date TBC

For more information and to book your place at these events, please contact Ian Calvert – i.calvert@hull.ac.uk

Hong Kong events

Graduation celebration event at HKU SPACE14 June 2014

Hong Kong Alumni Reception15 June 2014

Please contact the Business School via hubsalumni@hull.ac.uk for more information

Support for Business Week

Hull University Business School is hosting two events as part of Business Week 2014

For Entrepreneurs Only (FEO) presents: Superhero Battle Royal8.00 – 10.30 am, Wednesday 4 June, Allam Lecture Theatre.

Business Improvement Challenge with npower9.00 – 11.30 am, Thursday 5 June.

Visit the Humber Business Week website for more details: www.humberbusinessweek.co.uk

For further information about any of the events listed above or forthcoming activities, please visit the events section of our website: www.hull.ac.uk/hubs

Hull University Business School Hull HU6 7RX

+44 (0)1482 347500 businessschool@hull.ac.uk

Explore the Business School and University campus at one of our Open Days

Events Diary

© University of HullPublished June 2014

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