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"WE FOUND THAT WHEN TEACHERS EVALUATED LEADERS AS BEING MORE HUMOROUS, THEY ALSO EVALUATED THOSE LEADERS AS HAVING GREATER INTEGRITY." —Craig Pearce, Claremont Graduate University ed confidential surveys of teachers about their principals' use of humor; use of rewards, such as positive feedback, for good performance; and sense of integrity. Teachers also were asked about their own level of job satisfaction, measured by state- ments such as "In general, I like working here" and "I will probably look for a new job in the next year." The researchers then surveyed each teacher's principal about his or her satisfaction with that teacher's performance. Pearce notes a surprising cor- relation between humor and the perception of integrity. "We found that when teachers evaluated lead- ers as being more humorous, they also evaluated those leaders as hav- ing greater integrity," he notes. The researchers found several other correlations between humor and leadership: n Teachers who reported an UPCOMING & ONGOING n MICROFINANCING STUDY The IRIS Center, a nonprofit policy and research advisory center at the University of Maryland, has been awarded a five-year, $6 million grant by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to assess the impact of six grants the foundation made in the area of microfinancing. Working in conjunction with Microfinance Opportunities, based in Wash- ington, D.C., IRIS will assess the impact of microfinancing on pov- erty, sustainability, and scalability. n NEW CENTER AT AUDENCIA Audencia Nantes in France recently opened a new center that will focus reported that their principals had a lack of humor and used few rewards or a lack of humor and little integrity. The study suggests that when it Robert Vecchio Craig Pearce interest in leaving their jobs most often also noted a lack of humor and a lack of integrity on the part of their principals. One factor alone did not fully account for their planned defection. n Teachers who reported that their principals had good senses of humor were less likely to want to leave their positions, even if they also reported low levels of leader integrity or use of reward. n Principals rated teacher perfor- mance lower when those teachers on research, pedagogy, and con- sulting in the field of competency development. In addition to advis- ing alumni, training managers, and assisting students, the Centre for the Development of Competencies will examine the role of competencies within organizations. n IT IN INDIA The Indian School of Business and consult- ing firm QAI India have launched the Centre for IT and Networked Economy (CITNE) in Bangalore. The center will con- duct research in the information technology industry in India and will also provide consulting, training, and assessment services. In addition, comes to keeping employee turn- over low, humor may have a posi- tive effect, says Vecchio. "There's reason to believe that people are less likely to leave if their leader exhibits humor, even if other negative fac- tors are present," he says. "Using humor to improve a workplace's social dynamic can be a plus." The researchers admit that their study did not take into account the type of humor principal-leaders used. After all, some of a leader's attempts at humor will be welcomed by fol- lowers, while others may cause ten- sion or offense. Vecchio would like to do future studies of the "dark side" of humor, when a leader uses humor at the expense of others to reinforce his or her superiority. He also would like to study how gender the center will include a doctoral residency program, aiming to train researchers to study and improve India's burgeoning IT sector. n STUDY OF MINORITY WOMEN Babson College in Wellesley, Mas- sachusetts, will partner with the Center for Women's Business Research in Washington, D.C., to conduct a multiyear study to identify the challenges that women of color face when starting their own businesses. The study, which is sponsored by Sam's Club/Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is recruiting women of color who own businesses that are at least 50 percent women-owned and generate revenues between $250,000 and $5 million. BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2007 53