As many of you know, I am studying towards my MBA. Yet the MBA industry is currently in turmoil, as many business schools revisit their offerings to see if they still have relevance in the 21st century. The importance of MBAs has been questioned more aggressively than ever before and business schools stand accused of failing to impart useful skills and prepare business leaders. The challenge is to find a balance that provides both “rigour and relevance”, and many believe that MBAs are failing in their duty because they don’t teach creativity and innovation. Instead, business schools are creating predictable corporate managers, but not entrepreneurs.
Few business schools would disagree that the global financial crisis has become their defining moment. Failed firms such as Lehman Brothers were filled with the alumni of prestigious schools, who were complacent, greedy, too focused on the short-term and unwilling to question decisions of which they had little understanding. But regardless of whether such criticisms are valid, it is certainly true that the crisis has fundamentally changed attitudes towards both business schools and the art of management itself.
Harvard Business School (HBS) marked its centennial by examining the future of the degree it invented. Last year, HBS researched a complete, contemporary picture of the MBA. In response to criticism that too little emphasis was placed on leadership in a global environment, HBS chose to include the development of “soft skills”, as well as improvements in the areas of globalisation, experiential learning and leadership development. Interestingly, despite these curriculum changes, HBS remains committed to the case method.
This raises the questions about local business schools. Are they producing the kinds of graduates South Africa needs? And are they adapting to changes in the work environment to produce graduates whose experience is relevant to SA in 2009? There is no doubt that huge demand for management skills remains, but schools must constantly review curricula. To escape accusations of irrelevance, many schools encourage part-time lecturers who can temper teaching with practical experience, nearly every school invites experienced business people to lecture, and increasingly, courses include subjects like entrepreneurship, HIV/Aids and applied management. It is also common to offer international electives. More significantly, a greater African focus is supporting opportunities across the continent.
This raises another question: do consultants need an MBA? There are strong links, since the origins of management consulting may be found in the rise of management as a field of study. The growth of management consulting firms, primarily with strong roots in the USA, brought increasing rigour and structure to the study of management and strategy, while HBS developed the concept of strategic management. This set the groundwork for further growth, particularly the large audit firms who expanded the services they offered to clients over time. Today management consulting refers to the provision of a wide range of business consulting services, including specialist business offerings. Therefore the parallels are clear, but MBAs cannot replace experience and management education should be seen to complement experience.
To conclude, education is important for everyone. Personally, I have found huge value in focusing on things that I might not otherwise find time for. If nothing else, my MBA is providing me with a safety net by demystifying issues and limiting surprises in the workplace. To me, the future of the MBA is based on its intrinsic value, its longevity in the market and its brand recognition. However, the tension between teaching trade skills and enhancing strategic thinking will continue to lie at the heart of the debate.
|
