Achievements “too remarkable not to honor” have earned two UT Dallas School of Management professors top awards from the Southwest Academy of Management (SWAM).
In bestowing its Distinguished Scholar Award on both Gregory G. Dess, the Andrew R. Cecil Endowed Chair in Applied Ethics, and Mike W. Peng, Provost’s Distinguished Professor of Global Strategy, the academy recognized not only their academic accomplishments but also the impact their work has had on the field of management.
“This is not an award that is given out every year,” said Shawn Carraher, a past president of SWAM and one of the organizers of its annual conference.
However, Dr. Carraher, a business professor at Cameron University, added, the accomplishments of Drs. Dess and Peng were “too remarkable not to honor them with the award.”
The academy recognized Dr. Dess, a business-strategy expert and coordinator of the School of Management’s Organizations, Strategy and International Management area, and Dr. Peng, a global business expert and editor-in-chief of the Asia Pacific Journal of Management, during the SWAM conference in Dallas March 2-6. Michael A. Hitt of Texas A&M University also received a Distinguished Scholar Award.
“Mike Peng is outstanding in the field of international business and international management,” Dr. Carraher said. “We also base [the award] on their publication records. Greg Dess has been incredibly well cited. Both of them have had a very significant impact on their field.”
Dr. Peng is widely regarded as one of the most prolific and influential scholars in global strategy. Both the United Nations and the World Bank have cited his work in major publications, and he has published close to 80 articles in leading academic journals. In addition, he has authored four books, including two best-selling textbooks, Global Strategy and Global Business, which are used in 30 countries.
“I was absolutely honored and excited to get this award,” Dr. Peng said. “It’s the recognition of a long stream of work; so it means a lot not only to me but also to our school. The fact that UT Dallas faculty members received two of the three awards—right here in Dallas—makes it even nicer. We are clearly being acknowledged as a dominant school in this region. As we try to become a Tier One school nationally and internationally, recognition like this really helps.”
Dr. Dess’ achievements include being cited “an absolutely incredible” number of times, according to Dr. Carraher. “Usually it is considered a major impact if a paper has been cited more than 100 times,” he explained. “Greg Dess has one paper that has been cited more than 1,800 times [“Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It to Performance,” with G. Thomas (Tom) Lumpkin, Academy of Management Review, Volume 21, No. 1: 135-172], and another one that has been cited almost 1,300 times [“Effectively Measuring Organizational Performance in the Absence of Objective Measures: The Case of the Privately Held Firm and Conglomerate Business Unit,” with Richard B. Robinson Jr., Strategic Management Journal, Volume 5: 265-273]. That’s almost unheard of.”
Additionally, three of Dr. Dess’ papers have been cited more than 1,000 times, and 20 of his papers have been cited more than 100 times.
“What I try to do is ask the basic questions of, ‘Is this interesting? And, does it help someone think in a different way than they did in the past?’ ” Dr. Dess said.
He said being named a Distinguished Scholar by SWAM is beneficial to UT Dallas as a whole. “It’s always flattering to be recognized by your peers,” he said. “It gives an added measure of academic credibility to what we’re doing here.”
The Southwest Academy of Management promotes the advancement of teaching, research and practice in the field of management. Its programming encourages links between academia and industry, and examines career development issues while pursuing positive changes through member participation.