Delve

Could accounting hold the key to successfully implementing climate change initiatives, achieving equality and diversity in the workplace, and contributing towards a more sustainable future? Current research shows that accounting and global regulatory accounting practices are essential for organizations to reach sustainability goals that have a more measurable impact. An accounting perspective can also shift how organizations approach sustainability toward a holistic standpoint instead of piecemeal solutions or departmental silos.  On this episode of the Delve podcast, Professor Brian Wenzel from the Desautels Faculty of Management follows up on another Delve podcast episode about the current and future role of accounting in sustainability initiatives. Delve’s first conversation with Professor Wenzel focused on how accounting and accounting standards are essential for organizations in reaching their sustainability goals. This episode further examines the future of accounting in sustainability initiatives, covering the topics, insights, and outcomes of the McGill Accounting Research Conference, co-sponsored by the McGill Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI) at McGill on June 7 and 8, 2023. **This episode of the Delve podcast is produced by Delve and Robyn Fadden. Original music by Saku Mantere.Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. Subscribe to the Delve podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow Delve on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

What can older generations learn from Millennials and Gen Z about leadership, strategy, and dealing with crisis? And how can these younger generations unlock their professional potential by engaging in meaningful work and taking larger roles in organizational strategy and change? On the Delve podcast, Desautels Professor Karl Moore and Lightspeed and Age of Union Founder Dax Dasilva discuss communication beyond traditional hierarchies, the value of reverse mentorship and receiving feedback, and what real equality, diversity, and inclusion can look like in an organization. In Moore’s new book, Generation Why: How Boomers Can Lead and Learn from Millennials and Gen Z, he posits a philosophy that has played out in real life: that people over 45, with a university degree, were taught a modern worldview in their education, while people under 35 with a university degree were taught a postmodern worldview. In his investigation, he challenges traditional views of who has truth and knowledge and why.Hear Moore and Dasilva share their thoughts on these worldviews, their experiences, and how to engage, manage, and learn from people across the generational spectrum. Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Delve's Managing Editor, Robyn Fadden, is the host for this episode. You can find out more about Delve at delve.mcgill.ca. Subscribe to the Delve McGill podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow DelveMcGill on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

What does accounting have to do with sustainability? Essentially, everything. In general, accounting isn't the first thing that comes to mind when most people think about sustainability, whether that means climate targets or diversity on boards. But just as research and regulations around sustainability have expanded in recent years, so has sustainability accounting, focusing on activities of an organization that have a direct impact on its environmental, social, and governance aspects.On the Delve podcast, Desautels accounting professor Brian Wenzel discusses the role of accounting and accounting research in facilitating how organizations reach their sustainability goals. For one, sustainability approaches and new global standards could be integrated into accounting practices to encompass all aspects of an organization’s performance, from the big picture to the bottom line.“Accounting perhaps has been part of the problem with sustainability because accounting has led to short-termism inside organizations,” says Wenzel. “Next quarter’s profits are much more tangible than something that will happen five or 10 years down the road. Even if making a sacrifice now will lead to a greater good in a decade, that's harder to quantify because it's so far in the future. Accounting maybe has been part of the problem but could also solve it.”This episode of the podcast is a collaboration between Delve, the McGill Sustainable Growth Initiative and its Director and Desautels Professor Javad Nasiry. The Sustainable Growth Initiative is also co-sponsoring the conference.Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Delve's Managing Editor, Robyn Fadden, is the host for this episode. You can find out more about Delve at delve.mcgill.ca. Subscribe to the Delve McGill podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow DelveMcGill on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Craft business, such as microbreweries and ethical chocolate companies, has seen a rise in the past several years, with many claiming to put values over excessive profit. Meanwhile, larger, economically driven businesses, such as Silicon Valley Bank, have imploded in the wake of questionable decision making. Are craft businesses somehow more ethical or moral than others? Or is business ethics an oxymoron? The answer really depends on values. In this episode of the Delve podcast, On this episode, Jo-Ellen Pozner, a professor at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, joins Desautels Professor and Delve Editor-in-Chief Saku Mantere in an inspired conversation that asks how ethics affects the ways that businesses fundamentally function, from everyday operations to how leadership and boards make strategic decisions.Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Delve's Managing Editor, Robyn Fadden, is the host for this episode. You can find out more about Delve at delve.mcgill.ca. Subscribe to the Delve McGill podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow DelveMcGill on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Why is being overqualified for a sought-after job at a desirable workplace seen as a drawback? Despite having prestigious educations and impressive work credentials, these candidates get turned down by hiring managers, often before they even get an interview. Desautels Professor Roman Galperin ran experimental studies to figure out what hiring managers really thought about these exceptionally qualified job candidates. They found that the signals that candidates give about their capability for a job are linked to hiring managers’ perceptions of commitment—namely, the concern that overqualified applicants are a flight risk. On the Delve podcast, Galperin discusses why that is, what people can do about it when navigating the labour market, and why prospective employers should think again about these overqualified, highly knowledgeable job seekers—especially in a time when AI technologies are increasingly applied in the workplace.Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Delve's Managing Editor, Robyn Fadden, is the host for this episode. You can find out more about Delve at delve.mcgill.ca. Subscribe to the Delve McGill podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow DelveMcGill on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Logically everyone knows that software doesn’t have feelings, but AI chatbots that express emotion—as well as other advanced artificial intelligence tools like Google AI’s chatbot and ChatGPT—have a sentient quality that places them somewhere between machine and human. Conventional customer service wisdom shows that when human employees express positive emotion, customers give higher evaluations of the service. But when emotionally expressive chatbots enter the equation, people’s reactions change depending on their expectations. Research by Desautels Faculty of Management professor Elizabeth Han investigates the effects of AI-powered chatbots that express positive emotion in customer service interactions. In theory, making software appear more human and emotionally upbeat sounds like a great idea, but in practice, as Han’s research shows, most people aren’t quite ready to make a cognitive leap across the uncanny valley.Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Delve's Managing Editor, Robyn Fadden, is the host for this episode. You can find out more about Delve at delve.mcgill.ca. Subscribe to the Delve McGill podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow DelveMcGill on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

What does the business firm of the future look like? In a special episode of the Delve podcast investigating digital platform economies, blurred firm-market boundaries, and shifting bureaucracies, Desautels professor and Delve Editor-in-Chief Saku Mantere speaks with Nobel Prize in Economics winner and Paul A. Samuelson Professor of Economics Emeritus at MIT Bengt Holmström. Their conversation investigates how companies are changing today: What social structures, financial factors, and digital technologies are at play in how contemporary businesses are changing the traditional nature of the firm? And are hierarchical bureaucracies and conventional leadership soon to become a thing of the past?For research-based insights, listen to the Delve podcast interview and read the Q&A article with Bengt Holmström and Saku Mantere in Delve's Spring 2023 digital magazine: Reworking Bureaucracy.Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Delve's Managing Editor, Robyn Fadden, is the host for this episode. You can find out more about Delve at delve.mcgill.ca. Subscribe to the Delve McGill podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow DelveMcGill on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

How useful, overhyped, or even detrimental are digital technologies in a crisis? Zoom came in to save the day when work went remote during the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping and food delivery became even more normalized, even doctors’ appointments went online. What can be learned from experiences of crisis-driven technology use, both on an individual and organizational scale? For many, these digital technologies and even more specialized innovations provided a kind of utopian hope for large-scale societal change. In reality, the acceleration of digital innovation across sectors and the world has disrupted business as usual and exposed systemic challenges and inequalities. This is what Cambridge professor Michael Barrett points out on the Delve podcast as he discusses his latest research examining the possibilities and limits of digital innovation.“Any crisis will disrupt work practices in ways that challenge routines that have a need for new ways of operating,” explains Barrett. “We have seen how at scale, digital platforms allow us to engage in activities, whether it's telemedicine, whether it's learning opportunities or sales meetings through Zoom, many things that we knew were possible, but didn't scale anywhere near that. But we must also always look at the tension and the critical issues that might produce new risks, in that these platforms are becoming increasingly indispensable and overdependence on them raises concerns.”For research-based insights on diversity, equity, and inclusion in job recruitment, listen to the Delve podcast interview and read the article with Michael Barrett on Delve.Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Delve's Managing Editor, Robyn Fadden, is the host for this episode. You can find out more about Delve at delve.mcgill.ca. Subscribe to the Delve McGill podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow DelveMcGill on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.