tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/mba-12326/articlesMBA – The Conversation2023-02-14T19:45:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989572023-02-14T19:45:59Z2023-02-14T19:45:59ZWhy using AI tools like ChatGPT in my MBA innovation course is expected and not cheating<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509889/original/file-20230213-5048-qgzqqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=111%2C22%2C4860%2C2482&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">But if students misrepresent or omit sources, including generative AI, that's a problem. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I teach managing technological innovation in Simon Fraser University’s Management of Technology MBA program. Thanks to the explosion of generative artificial intelligence, I’m rewriting my 2023 syllabus and assignments. </p>
<p>No matter our industry or field, we should regularly review our tools and workflows. New tools, like AI, are excellent triggers for this assessment. Sorting out how best to adjust our work, as per the values and existing norms of different fields, takes a systematic approach. </p>
<p>My research examines how companies can adjust how they use talent, technology and technique to hit work targets and stay aligned with the times — what I’ve <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08956308.2022.2093081">called thinking in 5T</a>.</p>
<p>Educators in MBA programs, who are concerned with building students’ professional capacities, can also use this lens to support the critical thinking that students need. We can help students consider how and when to use AI in their academic and professional lives.</p>
<h2>Abrupt availability of AI tools</h2>
<p><a href="https://chat.openai.com/">ChatGPT</a>, <a href="https://openai.com/blog/dall-e/">DALL-E</a> and <a href="https://writesonic.com">Writesonic</a> are examples of publicly available generative AI. These are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2022.3192720">“generative” in that humans provide a prompt and the AI outputs text or images based on machine learning</a>. </p>
<p>I didn’t think to mention generative AI in my September 2022 syllabus. Class discussions included my expectation that students would use <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/">Grammarly</a> or other proofreading tools to support their professional writing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People seen sitting around a table collaborating." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509891/original/file-20230213-25-ar7h5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509891/original/file-20230213-25-ar7h5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509891/original/file-20230213-25-ar7h5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509891/original/file-20230213-25-ar7h5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509891/original/file-20230213-25-ar7h5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509891/original/file-20230213-25-ar7h5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509891/original/file-20230213-25-ar7h5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s important for innovation students to learn how and when to use AI in academic and professional life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kampus Productions)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We discussed different citation styles for business writing and how incorrectly citing sources <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114667187784442718">can negatively affect one’s career</a>. </p>
<p>Some students asked whether Grammarly’s more sophisticated ability to rewrite sentences was a problem. I said, no, it’s an innovation course and we should use the tools we have.</p>
<h2>Considering social and technical aspects</h2>
<p>The 5T framework is my modernized presentation of <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Evolution_of_Socio_technical_Systems/19d1QgAACAAJ?hl=en">sociotechnical systems theory</a> — a theory describing how workers and leaders must manage social and technical aspects of work to achieve performance and well-being. </p>
<p>Thinking in 5T means you set a <em>target</em> and then consider:</p>
<ul>
<li>the <em>times</em> (context) in which you make a decision;</li>
<li>available <em>talent</em> (knowledge, skills, abilities, human reactions, limitations);</li>
<li><em>technology</em> (from AI and smart watches to shovels and conference room furniture);</li>
<li><em>technique</em> (practices, workflows and so on) as you look for the right balance of all these elements.</li>
</ul>
<p>Research suggests that people who are more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10726-019-09619-4">systems savvy</a> have a greater ability to see the connections across these different domains and construct synergies appropriate for their work. </p>
<h2>No silver bullet</h2>
<p>Thinking in 5T means you never expect a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.1987.1663532">silver bullet</a>” change to work: for example, just blocking ChatGPT <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-schools-colleges-ban-plagiarism-misinformation-education-2023-1">on an organization’s network with no other adjustments</a>. Instead, you look to manage all aspects of your human and technological variables.</p>
<p>My target is for my students to improve their ability to identify and evaluate existing innovations and create valuable new ones. </p>
<p>To date, my syllabus has said “your final submission must be your individual work and words,” but now I will need to clarify what this means. </p>
<h2>Learning how to use AI</h2>
<p>I agree with <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/picture-limitless-creativity-ai-image-generators/">Kevin Kelly of <em>Wired</em> that asking ChatGPT how to do things — in technical terms, writing AI prompts — requires work and expertise</a>. We also need to be careful consumers of what the generative AI produce.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/12/generative-ai-brings-wrongness-at-scale/">Generative AI are often wrong</a>. Both students of innovation and business professionals will need to understand how the tools generate responses to assure factual answers and correct references.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unlike-with-academics-and-reporters-you-cant-check-when-chatgpts-telling-the-truth-198463">Unlike with academics and reporters, you can't check when ChatGPT's telling the truth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Beyond fact-checking, my students must use critical thinking and show they can apply course concepts. As I teach innovation skills, we can cover how to engage with ChatGPT and other generative AI effectively. </p>
<p>My innovation students create personalized templates that allow them to take course concepts, apply them in the real world and improve the application of these concepts throughout their careers. How might students write an AI prompt for ChatGPT to help them use <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Design_Thinking_Toolbox/yGrTDwAAQBAJ">design thinking</a> in their work?</p>
<p>An effective ChatGPT prompt would be: “Create a playbook to support design thinking. Include alternatives for expert versus novice team members and teams working virtually versus face to face.” </p>
<p>Such a prompt guides ChatGPT to return a response drawing on both the social and technical aspects of work — the thinking in 5T approach from my course. </p>
<h2>Academic integrity</h2>
<p>While academic discussions are ongoing about the ethical and knowledge implications of using generative AI, academic integrity does provide some firm boundaries. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unlike-with-academics-and-reporters-you-cant-check-when-chatgpts-telling-the-truth-198463">Unlike with academics and reporters, you can't check when ChatGPT's telling the truth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, at Simon Fraser University, students must demonstrate “<a href="https://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html">a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception</a>.” </p>
<p>In my course, the notion of “individual work” must change. </p>
<p>I’ll be adjusting the assignments and requiring an appendix describing the toolkit and practices students use. Using AI is not cheating in my course, but misrepresenting your sources is.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aizFfLbY2kI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">CBC News video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Work doesn’t exist in a vacuum</h2>
<p>The AI will get better, and there will be more of them. Guidelines in work and education need to keep pace and be thoughtfully aligned to how knowledge is constructed in different fields.</p>
<p>We’re learning that some journals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg7879">won’t accept AI as credited authors</a>. Other publishers have announced that while you can’t list ChatGPT as an author, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/26/science-journals-ban-listing-of-chatgpt-as-co-author-on-papers">AI tools can be used in some stages of preparation, as long as you disclose this in</a> the manuscript.</p>
<p>We need <a href="https://apastyle.apa.org/">the various</a> <a href="https://style.mla.org/">manuals of style</a> to update their rules to include work generated by an AI. Given the pace of AI change, writers may need to highlight the specific versions of the AI they use (much as the <a href="https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/wikipedia-references">APA Style requests dates for Wikipedia articles</a>).</p>
<p>I like an approach some photographers use: share your tools and critical settings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terri L. Griffith receives funding in support of her research at Simon Fraser University from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Negotiation and Team Resources Institute. Prof. Griffith is a member of the Academy of Management, INFORMS, and the International Society of Service Innovation Professionals. She does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article and has disclosed no other relevant affiliations.</span></em></p>Research about both social and technical aspects of work can guide critical thinking about when and how business leaders and MBA students might use generative AI.Terri L. Griffith, Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1766512022-03-29T14:52:44Z2022-03-29T14:52:44ZHow MBA programs can remove disability-related barriers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454490/original/file-20220326-15-130639y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C582%2C5184%2C2863&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Candidates applying to MBA programs avoided some schools based on perceived stigma towards disability and inaccessibility. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Equitable access to employment is a prerequisite for a just society, yet many job candidates struggle to find work aligned with their goals, needs and qualifications. This is especially true for job candidates with disabilities, who often <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/89-654-X2018002">experience barriers</a> to entering the labour market and progressing in their careers. </p>
<p>This is a problem for the people affected, but also for society. Underemployment and unemployment <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910021">create a host of financial and human costs</a> carried by all. These <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499562">include increased need</a> for social support and mental health services, diminished tax revenues and reduced access to skilled workers. Overall, it means reduced community well-being.</p>
<p>Removing employment barriers for people with disabilities requires a multifaceted approach, but it starts with equitable <a href="https://ppforum.ca/publications/barriers-to-employment-for-people-with-disabilities-in-canada/">access to education</a>. </p>
<p>MBA degrees are <a href="https://fortune.com/education/business/articles/2021/11/17/employability-job-security-and-hefty-paychecks-does-an-mba-still-guarantee-that">considered the gateway to lucrative and influential senior positions</a>, and they are increasingly required for promotion to mid-level managerial jobs. As a result, disability barriers in these programs represent a critical challenge to inclusion. </p>
<h2>Barriers surface early in MBA programs</h2>
<p>We examined <a href="https://accesstosuccess.ca/report">these issues in a study</a> of 184 prospective, current and former MBA students with disabilities. <a href="https://discoverability.network/blog/speaker/varun-chandak-%E2%94%82-access-to-success/">Varun Chandak, president of Access To Success</a>, an organization that advocates for inclusive design and accessibility, was instrumental in initiating and providing practical support for this research. </p>
<p>We found that disability-related barriers surfaced as early as the application stage and continued to impact academic experience until graduation. This research explored the specific challenges that respondents experienced and their recommendations to improve inclusion.</p>
<p>Disability-related factors influenced these MBA students’ educational decisions from the start. Many candidates did not consider applying to certain programs based on program inflexibility, overly large class sizes, perceived stigma towards disability and inaccessibility. </p>
<p>Respondents were attracted to schools that demonstrated support by having physically accessible campuses, easily located accommodation policies, and students or faculty with disabilities in their promotion materials. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person working at a computer in a wheelchair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454482/original/file-20220326-17-el31dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454482/original/file-20220326-17-el31dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454482/original/file-20220326-17-el31dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454482/original/file-20220326-17-el31dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454482/original/file-20220326-17-el31dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454482/original/file-20220326-17-el31dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454482/original/file-20220326-17-el31dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Respondents were attracted to schools that showed students or faculty with disabilities in their promotion materials.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Over half of students faced barriers</h2>
<p>Overall, one in three respondents faced disability-related barriers during the application process. The accessibility of standardized tests required for entry into MBA programs (such as the GMAT and GRE) was a notable concern. </p>
<p>For example, respondents noted barriers when booking appointments and when attempting to use permissible accommodation-related software during the testing process. Many of the issues identified, however, particularly in the booking process, were very promptly addressed by the relevant organizations after receiving initial report data.</p>
<p>After entering a program, 57 per cent of respondents experienced disability barriers. </p>
<p>The most frequently cited problems were:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Overly demanding schedules, inflexibility about deadlines (for example, one respondent was not given an extension despite having a seizure, while another was asked to make a graded presentation from the hospital); </p></li>
<li><p>Difficulty participating in classroom discussions due to hearing impairments or social anxiety; </p></li>
<li><p>Issues communicating with professors and peers. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Respondents also reported inaccessible facilities, inaccessible learning materials and difficulty sitting for three-hour classes.</p>
<h2>Accommodations</h2>
<p>Two out of three students required accommodations. Some who needed accommodations were unable to access them since schools require formal proof of disability — and the students could not afford to pay for assessments. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="a clock on a wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454480/original/file-20220326-17-3p06dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454480/original/file-20220326-17-3p06dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454480/original/file-20220326-17-3p06dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454480/original/file-20220326-17-3p06dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454480/original/file-20220326-17-3p06dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454480/original/file-20220326-17-3p06dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454480/original/file-20220326-17-3p06dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students identified issues around the time given for assignments and tests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Public health does not universally cover all diagnostic processes that document disability, making proof <a href="https://www.ldac-acta.ca/downloads/pdf/research/5B%20-Economic%20Costs%20of%20LD%20-%20Jan%202002%20RJune_2007.pdf">cost-prohibitive</a>. Documentation from childhood is often considered “too old” to be acceptable. </p>
<p>Notably, our study found that 60 per cent of the accommodations students needed could be provided for free. We split required accommodations into physical access, the need for extra time or scheduling considerations and social consideration.</p>
<p><strong>Physical access:</strong> Respondents required recorded lectures or note-takers. Having lecture slides available in advance was helpful. Better access to required reading materials was frequently mentioned. Video captioning was often not provided and numerous respondents reported a lack of wheelchair accessibility. Finally, testing environments were ill-suited for many students who required settings that are distraction-free.</p>
<p><strong>Time and scheduling:</strong> Students reported needing more time for exams and flexibility in assignment due dates. More frequent breaks (especially in three-hour classes), a quiet space for breaks and permission to eat in class and take bathroom breaks as needed were valued. Respondents also noted that <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/iv-human-rights-issues-all-stages-employment/11-managing-performance-and-discipline">absenteeism policies</a> need to be non-punitive when absences are medical.</p>
<p><strong>Changes to classroom or peer interactions:</strong> Many respondents required changes to classroom and peer interactions. This included access to front-row seating, having access to written materials before class, having classmates face hearing-impaired students when speaking and being welcomed into work groups instead of being treated as a burden. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen sitting at a work table, one in a wheelchair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454184/original/file-20220324-15-1s7vmoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=89%2C38%2C8417%2C5050&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454184/original/file-20220324-15-1s7vmoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454184/original/file-20220324-15-1s7vmoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454184/original/file-20220324-15-1s7vmoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454184/original/file-20220324-15-1s7vmoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454184/original/file-20220324-15-1s7vmoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454184/original/file-20220324-15-1s7vmoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Numerous respondents reported a lack of wheelchair accessibility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Left out of groups and formal events</h2>
<p>Since most MBA programs rely heavily on group work, peer attitudes were significant in determining the quality of students’ learning experiences. Just over half of the survey respondents reported that having a disability negatively impacted their campus social life. Nearly 40 per cent reported being left out of formal university social events and over 60 per cent reported being excluded from informal social gatherings. </p>
<p>For example, one wheelchair-using student reported that her program’s social committee organized university-funded events for the whole class in venues that were not wheelchair-accessible six times in a row despite being alerted to the problem.</p>
<p>The accommodations identified highlight the value of creating <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0007650320907134?casa_token=dCPok3pqSX8AAAAA:HkqpFXVRHuCORXFfeAT7Bwo8ceq9RJhSU012DS0javuLYw72E9OLQKA8CKBqr-qGf1Zlkn0IKQRB_Fc">flexible policies and training faculty and administrators</a> to mitigate barriers. </p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>In noting the broad range of needs and possible accommodations required, we see the importance of treating each person as an individual in order to meet their needs. That said, intensive time pressure and aggressive assignment deadlines were so frequently cited as barriers that they may be a useful point of focus for high-impact, immediate change. </p>
<p>All of these insights can be usefully applied in the corporate and public service sectors as well as educational settings. In addition, a proactive focus on <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-a-safe-return-to-university-campuses-listen-to-students-most-affected-by-the-pandemic-178236">inclusive design</a> can render spaces inherently more disability-friendly so that special accommodations are needed less frequently.</p>
<p>This study demonstrated that students with disabilities are working hard to succeed in their programs. However, current practices make attaining this goal difficult. </p>
<p>By being more attentive to the issues outlined, universities and other organizations can reach a wider talent pool, realize their inclusion objectives and ensure that persons with disabilities have more equitable access to managerial and leadership positions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Breward would like to acknowledge the generous funding for this research that was provided by CIBC. The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) also provided significant logistical and practical support to enable survey distribution to relevant populations. Katherine Breward is a volunteer Director of Level IT Up, a Winnipeg not-for-profit that provides employment services to young adults who are neurodiverse and face associated barriers to labour market entry.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Samosh would like to acknowledge the research funding provided by CIBC for this project. He also receives funding for his research as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow from Mitacs and from the Centre for Research on Work Disability Policy (CRWDP), which is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded Centre.</span></em></p>Students with disabilities are working hard to succeed in their MBA programs, but current program practices make attaining this goal difficult.Katherine Breward, Associate Professor, Business and Administration, University of WinnipegDaniel Samosh, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1671742021-11-18T13:09:20Z2021-11-18T13:09:20ZEntrepreneurship classes aren’t just for business majors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429402/original/file-20211029-13-11o9quz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C7928%2C5285&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An entrepreneurial mindset can help arts and humanities majors succeed in the gig economy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/afro-female-fine-artists-drawing-in-studio-royalty-free-image/1155361135">Valentin Russanov/E+ Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colleges are returning to normal operations, and many have begun to offer in-person classes once again. But are they prepared to teach students how to navigate post-pandemic life? Or how to get a job in an economy fundamentally changed by COVID-19?</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tREg5E0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">professors of engineering</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZQM89IIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">entrepreneurship</a>, and authors of a new book <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-79050-9">on teaching entrepreneurial thinking to college students</a>, we have studied how entrepreneurial skills can improve students’ confidence, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication. </p>
<p>Such curriculum is a staple in business schools, especially for students who want to start a company. But it has the potential to benefit all students – including majors in <a href="https://engineeringunleashed.com/">engineering</a>, <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-de-l-entrepreneuriat-2020-4-page-13.htm#:%7E:text=Agricultural%20entrepreneurship%20refers%20to%20farmers,2015%3B%20Condor%2C%202019">agriculture</a> and even the <a href="https://blog.americansforthearts.org/2019/04/09/but-what-does-arts-entrepreneurship-even-mean">arts</a>. </p>
<p>Graduates who develop an entrepreneurial mindset learn to habitually and intuitively recognize new opportunities and create value within an organization. This value could be new product development or related to continuous improvement, like implementing a more ergonomic workspace to combat health and safety issues. These entrepreneurial skills leave graduates better prepared to enter today’s workforce and solve the <a href="https://business.bofa.com/en-us/content/covid19-insights/business-challenges.html">complex challenges</a> raised by the pandemic.</p>
<h2>Think like an entrepreneur</h2>
<p>The entrepreneurial mindset is defined as the inclination to discover, evaluate and exploit opportunities. For example, an employee with an entrepreneurial mindset might recommend ideas to improve a company’s general cost savings, or focus on improvements related to quality, productivity or safety.</p>
<p>Students can use these skills in four key ways: to start a new business, to bring value to their employer, to address <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">major societal challenges</a> and to improve their personal life. Major societal challenges might include ending hunger or reversing climate change, while a personal application of the entrepreneurial mindset could involve making a career change. </p>
<h2>Rise of entrepreneurial education</h2>
<p>Entrepreneurial training has long helped graduates succeed in business and technology. The University of Michigan was one of the first to offer a course in entrepreneurship <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237387">as early as 1927</a>. However, the real growth in entrepreneurial education began in the 1970s, despite being in the <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2018/09/05/5-things-70s-inflation/">midst of an economic downturn</a>.</p>
<p>In 1975, there were only about <a href="https://www.kauffman.org/currents/the-evolution-of-entrepreneurship-on-college-campuses/">100 college majors, minors or certificates</a> in entrepreneurship throughout the United States. Today, more than <a href="https://books.google.al/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CfABAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=Morris,+M.+H.,+Kuratko,+D.+F.,+%26+Cornwall,+J.+R.+(2013).+Entrepreneurship+programs+and+the+modern+university.+Edward+Elgar.&ots=ARO_3A1CbH&sig=SWZj2bdE9OZ-pTJ4jgLVvEsJ8B4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">3,000 colleges and universities</a> throughout the world have courses and programs related to entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>In these courses, students learn how to validate a business model, interview potential customers and pitch an idea to investors and decision-makers. The goal is to learn how to identify the intersection between meeting customer desires and optimizing their own business capabilities.</p>
<p>Such training works. </p>
<p>Research shows that developing behaviors linked with entrepreneurial thinking is valuable, if not vital, for <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1199596">long-term business success</a>. Entrepreneurship training helps students to better communicate, collaborate and solve problems. In short, it allows students to better understand and implement activities that generate value within and across organizations. </p>
<p>And yet, despite these benefits, most universities offer entrepreneurial education simply as an option for students <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/should-entrepreneurs-major-in-business-11635779974">specifically interested in business</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two male college-age students wear protective goggles, earphones and gloves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432054/original/file-20211115-25-7l1eb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432054/original/file-20211115-25-7l1eb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432054/original/file-20211115-25-7l1eb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432054/original/file-20211115-25-7l1eb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432054/original/file-20211115-25-7l1eb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432054/original/file-20211115-25-7l1eb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432054/original/file-20211115-25-7l1eb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An entrepreneurial mindset can help engineering students stay competitive in a fast-moving field.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/engineering-students-working-on-a-project-at-the-royalty-free-image/1204069363">andresr/E+ Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Entrepreneurship for all majors</h2>
<p>However, an entrepreneurial approach to curriculum could <a href="https://www.marlborough.org/news/%7Eboard/stem/post/why-entrepreneurship-is-so-important-for-students">benefit all courses and university majors</a>. </p>
<p>Take, for example, engineering majors. </p>
<p>Typically, a company’s marketing department will study consumer trends to identify products and needs. The marketing department then <a href="https://manufacturinghappyhour.com/educating-the-engineer-of-the-future-kris-ropella/">expects engineers</a> to obey their orders without questioning the problem at hand. </p>
<p>But entrepreneurially minded engineers could be involved in the process from the beginning. This is what we explored in <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-61412-0">our previous book</a>, which focused on how to integrate engineering and entrepreneurship education. Being able to help identify problems and recognize new opportunities leaves engineers better prepared to identify and solve problems that arise while designing certain products.</p>
<p>Within the liberal arts and humanities, design and media majors can also develop their entrepreneurial mindsets in order to be better prepared for entering the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gig-economy.asp">gig economy</a> as independent contractors.</p>
<p>For example, photographers, book illustrators and graphic designers can be trained not just on how to make great art according to theory and books, but how to <a href="https://artbusinessnews.com/2020/01/be-a-successful-artist-entrepreneur-with-the-right-mindset/">sell great art</a>. </p>
<p>The pandemic highlighted the importance of entrepreneurial training in the health sciences. Nurses and hospital staffs provided design insights and practical feedback to <a href="https://nursing.jnj.com/nursing-news-events/nurses-leading-innovation/meet-10-nurses-pioneering-innovative-covid-19-solutions">increase mask and ventilator production</a>. They then worked to develop efficient COVID-19 testing and vaccination processes. The result? Many lives saved.</p>
<p>We believe it’s time to integrate the entrepreneurial mindset across the university – and truly prepare students to succeed in the post-pandemic world. </p>
<p>[<em>More than 140,000 readers get one of The Conversation’s informative newsletters.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140K">Join the list today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Bosman receives funding from federal agencies and foundations to research entrepreneurial mindset development. She works for Purdue University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie A. Fernhaber works for Butler University. </span></em></p>Teaching entrepreneurial skills is a staple in business schools. But it can benefit all students – including majors in engineering, agriculture and even the arts.Lisa Bosman, Assistant Professor of Technology Leadership and Innovation, Purdue UniversityStephanie A. Fernhaber, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Butler UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1055602018-11-22T23:05:09Z2018-11-22T23:05:09ZHow today’s MBA graduates can help save the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246692/original/file-20181121-161641-rpqwyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">MBA programs that produce leaders who are committed to sustainability are on the rise. Here's why Canada can lead the pack in turning out business leaders who can change the world.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Baim Hanif/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/m-b-a-applications-keep-falling-in-u-s-this-year-hitting-even-elite-schools-1538366461">news reports</a> have suggested that the MBA (masters in business administration) may be “losing its lustre” at American business schools, including some of the most elite on the planet.</p>
<p>The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has reported <a href="https://www.gmac.com/-/media/files/gmac/research/admissions-and-application-trends/gmac-application-trends-survey-report-2018.pdf">declining U.S. applications</a>, while in Canada the opposite is true, with applications increasing almost eight per cent last year. </p>
<p>The council’s report also found that of 60 Canadian business school programs, almost half reported growth or stability in domestic applications, while 76 per cent reported growth or stability in international applicants.</p>
<p>Why are we seeing this increase? </p>
<p>It’s because Canada offers an attractive destination for international students looking for a progressive environment in which to study, alongside the prospect of gaining Canadian work experience and residency following <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/work/after-graduation.html">the completion of their degrees</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246690/original/file-20181121-161641-ma3tyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246690/original/file-20181121-161641-ma3tyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246690/original/file-20181121-161641-ma3tyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246690/original/file-20181121-161641-ma3tyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246690/original/file-20181121-161641-ma3tyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246690/original/file-20181121-161641-ma3tyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246690/original/file-20181121-161641-ma3tyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">International students are attracted to Canada to further their business education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andre Hunter/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For both international and domestic students, program quality, cost, convenience and reputation related to business school rankings are also significant factors. </p>
<p>While those rankings typically use salary and reputational data as primary determinants, we are seeing a shift towards more progressive criteria.</p>
<p>The most notable of that type of measurement is the Toronto-based Corporate Knights’ <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/2018-better-world-mba-methodology/making-the-grade-15417432/">Better World MBA ranking</a>.</p>
<p>Last week, Corporate Knights released its 2018 Better World MBA rankings, selecting programs based on how they encourage future business leaders to contribute to building a better, more sustainable world. There were 11 Canadian schools in the Top 40, including the University of Guelph at No. 9 for its MBA in sustainable commerce.</p>
<h2>Consumers want companies to fuel change</h2>
<p>It has never been more important to teach leaders of the future the skills to solve pressing issues. Sixty-four per cent of consumers now expect <a href="https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2018-10/2018_Edelman_Earned_Brand_Global_Report.pdf">brands to drive</a> positive change, according to a recent Edelman report. And it’s through sustainably focused programs that we can ensure future leaders have the ability to solve global problems.</p>
<p>By 2025, millennials will make up 75 per cent of the workforce. Businesses need to adapt in order to compete for talent given 81 per cent of millennials believe that a successful business needs to have <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2017/12/11/millennials-want-companies-mixing-mission-and-money/#3202dcaabf2c">genuine purpose</a>, and two-thirds aspire to make a positive difference in the world.</p>
<p>One in two consumers today are belief-driven buyers, according to Edelman, and of these, <a href="https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2018-10/2018_Edelman_Earned_Brand_Global_Report.pdf">two-thirds</a> will not buy from a brand if it stays silent on an issue its potential customers feel it has an obligation to address. </p>
<p>Brands are consequently responding to modern consumer expectations. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/edfenergyexchange/2018/10/25/walmart-and-unilevers-push-to-halt-deforestation-may-signal-change-for-business/#1cbc89f8281e">Walmart and Unilever</a> recently came together to limit tropical deforestation in response to demand for sustainable supply chains.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246683/original/file-20181121-161615-145zjdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246683/original/file-20181121-161615-145zjdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246683/original/file-20181121-161615-145zjdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246683/original/file-20181121-161615-145zjdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246683/original/file-20181121-161615-145zjdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246683/original/file-20181121-161615-145zjdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246683/original/file-20181121-161615-145zjdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A deforested area near Novo Progresso in Brazil’s northern state of Para.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/inside-microsoft/cross-disability/hiring.aspx">Microsoft</a> is championing inclusion, providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities, while workplace messaging giant Slack recently <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/big-techs-newest-experiment-in-criminal-justice-reform/568849/">announced an apprenticeship offering jobs to the formerly incarcerated.</a></p>
<p>Rapidly growing international companies like <a href="https://www.benandjerrys.ca/">Ben & Jerry’s</a>, <a href="https://www.patagonia.ca/home/">Patagonia</a> and <a href="https://www.danone.ca/">Danone</a> have committed to social, environmental, governance and employee accountability. </p>
<p>In a world where employees and consumers are pushing businesses to be more sustainable, there’s a growing need for leaders who share these values — and for business degrees committed to developing people who will guide the purpose-driven organizations of the future.</p>
<h2>A role for Canada</h2>
<p>At the University of Guelph’s <a href="https://www.uoguelph.ca/business/">College of Business and Economics</a>, we aim to improve life through business. As champions of the <a href="http://www.unprme.org/">United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education</a> initiative, we are pushing the frontiers of knowledge through socially relevant curricula and research in line with the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246243/original/file-20181119-76137-yham37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">University of Guelph business students hold the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Guelph</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our undergraduate students participate in the <a href="https://aim2flourish.com/">Aim2Flourish</a> program, interviewing leaders of innovative social-purpose organizations, and they’re increasingly launching their own entrepreneurial ventures. </p>
<p>In our MBA program, students are participating in live case studies, helping organizations increase their profits and their positive impact on society. Through all of this, we are inspiring students to tackle issues like poverty, hunger and inequality through business innovation, but we recognize that no one business school can fully change the world.</p>
<p>Collaboration is key to affecting positive change, and Canadian business schools are leading by example in driving purposeful collaboration. </p>
<p>Business schools, thought leaders and associations are coming together to learn from one another through initiatives such as the dean’s and director’s cohort of the <a href="http://www.grli.org/">Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative</a> and the <a href="https://www.cfbsd.ca/event-2726026">Canadian Federation of Business School Deans’</a> meetings on disruption and sustainability in education. </p>
<p>By working with others, we’re all creating a new kind of educational experience. Rankings and application numbers prove the appetite exists for this new form of business education.</p>
<p>Last year, the University of Guelph saw a 46 per cent increase in applications to our MBA program. While still relatively small, enrolment in the MBA in Sustainable Commerce has doubled since 2015.</p>
<p>We fully anticipate that demand will continue to rise. That’s because of the increasing need for a new kind of business leader, one who aspires to use business as a “force for good” in confronting the world’s most pressing problems, whether it’s social inequality, environmental degradation or food insecurity.</p>
<p>For the good of the planet, it’s essential that business schools increasingly emphasize sustainability and ethical leadership. MBA programs — the most dominant graduate degree in the world — must endeavour to develop the leaders so desperately needed. And this is where Canada can truly lead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105560/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Christensen Hughes is affiliated with
University of Guelph - Dean
Canadian Federation of Business School Deans - Vice Chair
Founding member GRLI Deans and Directors Cohort</span></em></p>In a world where employees and consumers want businesses to be more sustainable, there’s a growing need for business leaders who share these values — and a new type of business education.Julia Christensen Hughes, Dean, College of Business and Economics, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1009992018-08-27T10:46:30Z2018-08-27T10:46:30ZThe few humanities majors who dominate in the business world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230619/original/file-20180803-41354-1lwhwq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students often believe a STEM degree will serve them better in the job market.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/science-vs-humanities-traffic-sign-two-454914721?src=4VcA46_ZUFa5f7PwCJAZ2A-1-90">M-SUR/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the mid-1990s, technology-driven economic growth <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-myth-of-the-science-and-engineering-shortage/284359/">induced a strong demand</a> for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, skills. </p>
<p>This development came at the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/06/05/analysis-finds-significant-drop-humanities-majors-gains-liberal-arts-degrees">expense of humanities</a> and liberal arts.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/11/princeton-grad-student-takes-humanities-crisis-decidedly-gendered-perspective">More people, especially women,</a> enrolled in STEM fields rather than humanities and liberal arts studies. </p>
<p>Students <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/11-reasons-to-major-in-the-humanities-2013-6">often falsely assumed</a> that a humanities or liberal arts degree has far less employment potential <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emsi/2016/10/19/what-can-you-do-with-that-useless-liberal-arts-degree/#396cfda041b8">than one in STEM</a>. <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/11/17/southern-illinois-u-carbondale-wants-dissolve-academic-departments-all-them">Universities shuffled resources away from</a> humanities and liberal arts toward STEM over the last three decades.</p>
<p>As researchers at a business school that trains many STEM graduates in management and leadership, we see no reason why humanities graduates too cannot expect to excel in the corporate world. We believe that humanities departments at universities should work more closely with business schools to better prepare humanities majors for the corporate world.</p>
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<h2>Humanities leaders</h2>
<p>In the U.S., some high-profile humanities and liberal arts graduates have left their mark on the corporate world. <a href="http://time.com/3964415/ceo-degree-liberal-arts/">A 2015 Time magazine list</a> of humanities business luminaries includes Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who studied communications; HBO CEO Richard Plepler, who studied political science; and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who studied history and literature. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230620/original/file-20180803-41366-14yqj5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, studied philosophy and religion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Richard Drew</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>We analyzed <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/solutions/professionals-data">data from S&P Global</a> on 2,262 corporate leaders – vice presidents and C-suite executives – in the U.S. today. According to the data, only 1.5 percent graduated in a humanities or liberal arts field. </p>
<p>History and psychology graduates are the two groups of humanities graduates most common in the executive ranks of the business world, followed by philosophy and linguistics graduates. People with degrees in music, drama and fashion were the least common.</p>
<p>The data also show that only 23 percent of humanities and liberal arts executives pursued an MBA, lower than the 26 percent rate for the total population of executives. A higher proportion of humanities and liberal arts executives also had Ph.D.’s or master’s degrees.</p>
<p>We found that only a little under 12 percent of humanities and liberal arts graduates in the corporate world attended Ivy League schools. However, that figure is higher than 7.6 percent of the total executives who attended Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>More than six in 10 humanities majors in the corporate world work in the consumer products industry. </p>
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<h2>Promoting business skills</h2>
<p>In 2016, there were <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/cip/240101/">more than 310,000 graduates</a> in the humanities and liberal arts in the U.S. That suggests to us that the humanities and liberal arts represent a vast pool of untapped leadership for U.S. corporations. That’s especially important today, when <a href="https://hbr.org/2010/06/5-steps-to-addressing-the-lead">60 percent of American companies</a> face leadership talent shortages that impede their performance. </p>
<p>It’s in the humanities and liberal arts, after all, that students learn about the complexities of human behavior – which is useful when trying to understand consumer behavior, users’ needs and interpersonal relationships in the business world.</p>
<p>We see two steps that universities can take to promote humanities leadership in the business world. First, they can make training in the humanities and liberal arts more relevant to business and job market needs. Second, they should incorporate humanities and liberal arts training into STEM itself – for example, by introducing mandatory modules that would include learning about major works and key ideas in anthropology, philosophy and psychology. </p>
<p>We believe that integrating humanities and business at the university level would help develop a more agile and versatile workforce whose members can adapt much quicker to the marketplace’s changing needs.</p>
<p>What’s more, many business are emphasizing big data and analytics more and more. That means that responding to the nuances of individual and community behaviors will offer a competitive advantage. We think that humanities graduates would be more adept at detecting, analyzing and understanding such nuances.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A handful of high-profile executives have humanities degrees. But those standouts make up a small proportion of the total pool of American executives.Sami Mahroum, Senior Lecturer, INSEADRashid Ansari, Researcher, INSEADLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/962972018-06-27T12:49:13Z2018-06-27T12:49:13ZWhy middle-aged entrepreneurs are better than young ones<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225126/original/file-20180627-112628-1jufxp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Start-up should not be synonymous with young people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/home">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg are three of the biggest role models for entrepreneurs. They are all famous for starting their companies in their early 20s and in many ways set the benchmark for what a successful entrepreneur looks like. </p>
<p>And yet, there is reason to believe that we’d be better off investing in older entrepreneurs. They are actually far more successful than younger ones, according to <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-successful-entrepreneurs-are-older-than-you-think-95402">new research</a>, which analysed the age of all business founders in the US in recent years and how well they did.</p>
<p>Young entrepreneurs may have some advantages. They are often native users of the most modern technology, are more flexible and do not have family commitments (and therefore inclined to take more risks). But a <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w24489">recent publication</a> in the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that middle-aged entrepreneurs are far more successful than younger ones. </p>
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<p>The study reveals that entrepreneurs who are under 25 tend to perform poorly. The probability of success increases once people reach 25, then performance seems steady among people aged between 25 and 35. The success probability then starts to jump after the age of 35, jumping again at the age of 46 and remaining stead toward the age of 60.</p>
<h2>Respect your elders</h2>
<p>Success as an entrepreneur depends on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883902609000998">your skill set</a>, which includes education, experience, knowledge and skills. Economists call this human capital. It’s essential for exploring hidden opportunities and exploiting existing ones. </p>
<p>While young people may have an edge creatively and technologically, their lack of industry experience, as well as financial security, will also effect their business success. We gain knowledge and skills through both education and working experience. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the research found that entrepreneurs with longer industry experience – particularly when it was industry specific – have higher success rates than those who have shorter experience. </p>
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<p>This has serious implications for the way we teach business in higher education. The idea of the young entrepreneur has fuelled a huge number of courses in business schools, which are a very popular choice for young people. </p>
<p>In the UK alone, there are <a href="https://www.bachelorsportal.com/study-options/268927062/entrepreneurship-united-kingdom.html">64 entrepreneurship bachelor degrees</a> and <a href="https://www.mastersportal.com/study-options/268927062/entrepreneurship-united-kingdom.html">106 entrepreneurship masters degrees</a>. Universities invest in entrepreneurship support to students such as <a href="http://enterprise.shef.ac.uk/evolve-startup-support/our-services/coming-summer-2015-evolve-coworking">co-working spaces</a> and <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/enterprise/">entrepreneurship hubs</a>, as well as helping students gain <a href="http://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-students/careers-and-employability/start-a-business/graduate-entrepreneur-visa.aspx">graduate entrepreneur visas</a>. </p>
<p>But, the clear evidence that older, more experienced people make for better entrepreneurs suggests that MBA graduates without the requisite work experience should not be encouraged to start their own business right away. A lot of entrepreneurship education promises students that they will be ready to launch their own start-up as soon as they graduate. As a result, universities overemphasise start-ups among graduates as a key success indicator of their education programme. </p>
<h2>Good things come to those who wait</h2>
<p>Sure, there is potential for students to start something of their own after their graduation. But the question remains: will they become successful entrepreneurs? Would it be better to encourage them to start a career first, and consider entrepreneurship at a later stage, where the chance of success will be double?</p>
<p>Unlike science or engineering education where students are trained to work as scientists or engineers after they graduate, entrepreneurship graduate students may need to change their mindset that they have to start their own business right away. This is often accompanied by thinking that if they don’t, it will be too late or may be seen as a failure to launch their entrepreneurial career. Yet, although Jobs started his business at 21, arguably the peak of his success came with the iPhone, which was released when he was 52.</p>
<p>Entrepreneurial graduates have a lot to offer existing businesses, including bigger corporations. While some traits, such as risk taking may not align well with corporate culture, a lot of companies are in need of employees who will innovate and take their own initiative. Companies such as <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3003818/linkedin-launches-incubator-turn-employees-entrepreneurs">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.cultofmac.com/200915/apples-blue-sky-program-gives-select-employees-20-time-to-do-whatever-they-want/">Apple</a> and <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/garage/about/">Microsoft</a> are constantly trying to encourage their employees to take time away from their regular duties to work on new, innovative ideas. </p>
<p>Business schools should also think about shifting their education toward more middle-aged, experienced candidates. The same goes for the numerous start-up grants and programmes, which target young people, often giving funding without a need for collateral. Older entrepreneurs, meanwhile, have to resort to using their savings or home as collateral – despite the fact they are clearly a much better potential return on investment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96297/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sukanlaya Sawang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that the probability of entrepreneurial success jumps after the age of 35, increasing up to the age of 60,Sukanlaya Sawang, Associate Professor (Reader) in Small Business, Innovation and Well-being, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/973432018-05-29T15:14:45Z2018-05-29T15:14:45ZDebate: Do we really need business schools?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220637/original/file-20180528-80626-l37ku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1198%2C745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Harvard Business School classroom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/39829646@N07/9024453165/in/album-72157634084449967/">mleiboff/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After every financial crisis, business schools find themselves accused of every evil – rising inequality, the oppression of women, environmental devastation. In the midst of all these criticisms, why should management schools be preserved?</p>
<p>Two recent books have provided a sour portrait of management schools: Duff McDonald’s <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062347176/the-golden-passport/"><em>The Golden Passport</em></a> and Martin Parker’s <a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9781786802408/shut-down-the-business-school/"><em>Shut Down the Business School</em></a>. <a href="https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/en/persons/martin-parker(f6702005-ada6-48dd-bc91-27b668a0f5a2).html">Professor Parker</a> finds business schools <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/27/bulldoze-the-business-school">“immoral”, “stupid”, “vulgar”</a>, solely concerned with money, and where corporate social responsibility is used mainly as a marketing tool. </p>
<p>One could be surprised at the hypocrisy of the situation: Parker, a professor in two UK business schools for 20 years, attacks his colleagues and institutions without proposing a solution other than (and I quote) teaching the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/nov/30/management-business-schools-capitalism-comment">“communist views on hierarchy and decision-making”</a> or “forms of micro-credit and mutualism”. He appears to have fallen asleep in the 1970s and, turning on his television in 2018, suddenly discovered the ecological crisis, the war in Syria and the rise of religious fundamentalism. Appalled, he accuses management schools. They’re certainly open to and deserving of a measure of criticism, and the academics who teach at such institutions are capable of seeing the path forward. At the same time, it’s not appropriate to accuse all business schools, irrespective of their level of quality, of the same faults. Further, we can all attest to the true value of business schools.</p>
<p>First, business schools have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2009.01403.x">evolved considerably since their creation in France</a> with <a href="http://www.escpeurope.eu/escp-europe/history-of-escp-europe-business-school/">ESCP</a> in 1819 or <a href="http://about.audencia.com/en/who-we-are/history/">Audencia</a> in 1900, in the US with the <a href="https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/about-wharton/">Wharton School</a> in 1881. The pedagogical content, the teaching methods, the modes of operation and the recruitment processes have been completely overhauled. In the 1950s, schools recruited mainly from wealthy families, with no real selection and with practical courses distilling a series of “recipes” without hindsight on practices. Conservatism is no longer the norm, with business schools driven by managerial innovation, international diversity, personal development and critical analysis. With the development of research in the 1990s, management schools have become venues for innovative creation in the field of management sciences and fantastic R&D reserves for firms and the economy as a whole.</p>
<h2>The success of alumni</h2>
<p>The success of business schools is deeply connected to that of their graduates, who must first thrive within the confines of academia and then grow and develop in their organisations, thus giving back to their environment. A proof of this quality is the rate of recruitment: many of our students find jobs even before they finish their studies. There are certainly examples of alumni who have had central roles in enterprises of oppression and domination. Yet in the vast majority of cases, business school alumni bring with them energy, respect for others, a thirst for discovery and the desire to contribute to their teams’ well-being. The students I meet daily convey the image of positive youth seeking to change the world and guided by a real moral concern.</p>
<p>The sociology of business schools has also changed through the years and is now a reflection of society at large. Schools have enriched themselves through a more diverse range of students, worldviews, forms of organisation and firms’ fundamental missions. For example, business schools no longer teach that the sole purpose of a private company is shareholder profit. In passing, to think that “finance is always bad” is to understand nothing about how the economy runs and how innovation and job creation are financed.</p>
<p>Management schools also convey the need for a critical look at our world, in particular, a respect for all, the importance of gender equality, the defence of the oppressed and the protection of the environment. They have also helped fund critical researchers (including Martin Parker) and departments with limited resources, and also encouraged teachers to pursue ethical teaching and research projects. For example, the <a href="http://www.unprme.org/about-prme/the-six-principles.php">Principles for Responsible Management Education initiative</a> (PRME) was launched in 2007 by representatives of leading business schools and academic institutions to continue the development of responsible management education. Thus, business schools fund more and more research on corporate social responsibility, corruption, gender equality or ecological transition.</p>
<h2>Venues of fulfilment</h2>
<p>Finally, management schools are places of fulfilment, where every teacher has the possibility of helping educate young people who will one day change the world. As management-science educators, our goal is not to facilitate the domination of money-hungry crooks, but to help young minds develop critical examination skills, enabling them to fight for the common good within their respective companies. With this pedagogical project, management schools are undoubtedly absolutely necessary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97343/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bertrand Venard ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Since the financial crisis, business schools have been accused of every evil – inequality, oppression, environmental devastation. So why should management schools be preserved?Bertrand Venard, Professor, AudenciaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/955772018-04-29T19:49:11Z2018-04-29T19:49:11ZIf the master’s degree is the new bachelor’s, is the doctorate now the new master’s?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216734/original/file-20180428-135848-ew3mlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C0%2C5044%2C3511&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As working lives last longer, more Americans are seeking Ph.Ds later in life.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/older-male-student-university-smiling-106313240?src=4k1Ech_4qWHhlP-ucoNyFQ-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The US Census Bureau can tell us a thing or two about how the American and European populations are aging – the proportion of those older than 50 <a href="https://census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p95-16-1.pdf">continues to outpace</a> that of those younger than 50. Indeed, the number of US residents 65 and over is projected to double by 2060. AARP president JoAnn Jenkins has suggested that we need to “disrupt aging” – to rethink what getting older means and to dispel the many received ideas we have.</p>
<h2>50-plus shades of greying…</h2>
<p>With rising percentage of Americans living longer than previous generations, their <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/20/more-older-americans-are-working-and-working-more-than-they-used-to/">working lives</a> are longer as well. Their <a href="https://www.prb.org/aging-unitedstates-fact-sheet/">educational attainment</a> has also risen, as they pick up a new diploma or two later in life.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, a number of reports on the US education sector have revealed a stagnation or even decline in the <a href="https://www.gmac.com/market-intelligence-and-research/research-library/admissions-and-application-trends/keeping_pace_insights_and_strategies_for_the_future_of_us_part_time_mba_programs.aspx">number of MBA programs</a>, with several renowned schools discontinuing full-time two-year programs. This is in part due to a crisis of <a href="https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/5270bffa-c68e-44f0-ac08-693485083747/the-college-affordability-crisis-in-america.pdf">college affordability</a> in the United States. With increased mobility, a rising number of American students, young and old, are considering countries with <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/featured/6-countries-with-free-college-for-americans/">lower tuition rates</a>. For those interested in obtaining an MBA, this has led to a <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/business/21730682-part-american-market-may-be-decline-globally-qualification-continues">thriving sector</a> in other parts of the world, as well as alternatives such as the MIM (Master’s in International Management) and <a href="https://www.professionalsciencemasters.org/">Professional Science Master’s</a>.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p95-16-1.pdf">2015 US Census</a>, 32% of US residents hold at least a bachelor’s degree, 9% a master’s degree, and 2% a doctorate. This increase in people boosting their educational qualifications has resulted in a kind of “credential one-upsmanship”. If the master’s degree has been called the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/education/edlife/edl-24masters-t.html">“new bachelor’s”</a>, then a mere bachelor’s degree may be devolving into the equivalent of a high-school diploma.</p>
<h2>Doctor who?</h2>
<p>With the rise in the number of Americans over 60 remaining in the workforce and those holding master’s degrees, it seems safe to say that the demand for doctoral qualifications for <a href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/your-money/taking-on-the-phd-later-in-life.html">older students</a> will increase as well. This trend will in turn put new pressures on universities to design part-time alternatives for professionals, rather than the traditional Ph.D. programs that require 4 to 6 years of full-time commitment. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2013.842968?src=recsys&journalCode=cshe20">Country case studies</a> show the need to design professional doctorates to meet this growing demand.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2016/Provision,of,professional,doctorates/Professional_doctorates_CRAC.pdf">2016 study</a> in the United Kingdom indicated that professional doctoral programs are on the rise in fields like engineering, psychology, education, medicine and business administration. As the program director of a Doctor’s of Business Administration (DBA) in France’s <a href="https://en.grenoble-em.com/node/3815">Grenoble Ecole de Management</a>, I have witnessed first-hand the growing demand from the United States, with an increasing number of highly qualified candidates from a range of backgrounds.</p>
<p>The DBA is part-time program that trains executives and professionals in research methodology for the social and management sciences, and enables those seeking new challenges the possibility of reaching the upper echelons of learning while continuing to meet professional and familial obligations. Many of our candidates and graduates evoke an existential “quest for meaning” after years of corporate service, or the desire for an “Act 2” that would allow them to move toward a career in academia or consulting. For them, the doctorate can be the ultimate item on life’s “bucket list”, where professional identity and a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14427591.2008.9686622">personal narrative</a> converge.</p>
<h2>Practiced in theory vs praxis</h2>
<p>However, many programs can push professional doctoral candidates toward the same playing field as PhDs looking for tenure-track positions in the ever-competitive academic job market. Instead of moving the professional doctoral candidates towards topics rooted in practice and leveraging their life experience, academic supervisors and employers – alongside peer-reviewed publications, conferences, and hiring committees – push them toward making theoretical contributions.</p>
<p>As indicated in a recent article by Valérie Sabatier, Mark Smith and Michel Albouy, also with the Grenoble Ecole de Management, such hide-bound approaches can result in less innovative, more conservative <a href="https://theconversation.com/doctoral-diplomas-a-european-tradition-waiting-for-a-transformation-81302">thesis topics and subsequent publications</a>. Yet <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/how-to-build-a-better-phd-1.18905?WT.mc_id=SFB_NNEWS_1508_RHBox">PhD graduate programs have been critiqued</a> for flooding the market with ill-prepared, inexperienced candidates.</p>
<p>Navigating the currents flowing between theory and practice while overseeing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">tricky relationship between supervisors and students</a> means that doctoral programs, whether targeted at younger or older students, have their work cut out for them.</p>
<h2>Brain drain – from the United States to Europe?</h2>
<p>As supply-side economics would have it, the number of doctoral candidates is growing because the number of Ph.D. programs is on the rise. It follows that the more doctoral candidates there are on the market, the more aspiring researchers will flock toward good programs.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/business-administration-doctorate-degree">online-only DBA programs</a> are promoted as being more cost- and time-effective, it seems neither possible nor desirable to train individuals 100% remotely for a career in which rhetorical skill, debate and critique, and peer review are required on a daily basis. While I’m far from a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/04/will-2018-be-the-year-of-the-neo-luddite">neo-luddite</a>, it seems that replacing the physical presence of the analogue with the remoteness of the digital is next to impossible when it comes to the development of high-quality, original ideas. What is required to foster innovative research proposals is good old-fashioned face-to-face discussion and debate of one’s ideas with peers and mentors.</p>
<p>It seems that many Americans interested in late-in-life doctoral degrees agree, judging from growing demand for professional programs such as <a href="https://en.grenoble-em.com/doctorate-business-administration-dba">Grenoble’s DBA</a>, where 100% of the teaching is face-to-face and where students are trained to iteratively “socialize” their research. Add to that the fact that European programs are <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/student/study-abroad/free-university-education-courses-study-abroad-brexit-erasmus-students-germany-copenhagen-france-a7457576.html#gallery">dramatically more affordable</a> than many US options, we expect that a steady stream of highly qualified Americans looking for their “Act 2” will continue to grace our hallways in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95577/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Mielly ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>With more Americans living and working longer, many professionals are continuing their educations later in life – with a doctorate.Michelle Mielly, Associate Professor in People, Organizations, Society, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/557222016-03-07T04:31:35Z2016-03-07T04:31:35ZWhy it’s time for business schools to radically rethink the MBA<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113744/original/image-20160303-9499-1r1xa5a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It can't be business (training) as usual for MBA students any more.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Employers love business school graduates. That’s not just a wild claim: 96% of employers globally polled by the Graduate Management Admission Council in January 2016 <a href="http://www.gmac.com/market-intelligence-and-research/research-library/employment-outlook/2015-year-end-poll-of-employers-report.aspx">said</a> that hiring such graduates creates value for their companies. </p>
<p>But that most-sought-after of business qualifications, the Master of Business Administration (MBA), is not above criticism. It has been accused <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224440">by some</a> of not meeting the needs of a changing market.</p>
<p>In this tough economic and political climate it’s important to question whether business schools should be doing something differently. </p>
<h2>After the crisis</h2>
<p>During the 1900s, for instance, the MBA program developed by US universities supported rapid industrialisation in that country. The idea behind the degree was to increase efficiency and smooth the production cycle.</p>
<p>But things have changed. In 2001 McGill University professor Henry Mintzberg <a href="http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2001/02/19/296894/index.htm">famously said</a> that MBA programs were labouring under irrelevant curricula. </p>
<p>Nine years later, and following the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/schoolsbrief/21584534-effects-financial-crisis-are-still-being-felt-five-years-article">global financial crisis</a>, Harvard Business School scholars Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin and Patrick G. Cullen <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/rethinking-the-mba/">wrote that</a> executives and deans had identified a number of gaps in MBA teaching, largely in areas like risk management, internal governance, the behaviour of complex systems, relations between business and government and socially responsible leadership. </p>
<p>Importantly, the authors noted a distinct lack of introspection and a heavy concentration of greed. Students, they write, are typically overconfident of their own abilities. If astute financial management is to occur outside the classroom, better self-knowledge is critical.</p>
<h2>Know thyself</h2>
<p>The issue of self-knowledge is key. One of the chief critiques levelled at MBAs today is that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction: they concentrate too much on leadership and personal development and too little on the nitty-gritty of administration. </p>
<p>But, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, this is a very necessary addition to the educational menu. </p>
<p>Much of the contemporary thinking following the <a href="http://www.npr.org/news/specials/enron/">collapse of Enron</a> and the economic meltdown of 2008 has required a more abstract analysis and – dare one say it? – a philosophical turn of mind to explore its origins. These crises were not merely financial in origin. Many of the initial wrong turns were ethical or could have been averted by more accurate self-assessment. </p>
<p>All of this is particularly relevant in the context of emerging markets. Countries’ economic and political challenges cannot be solved by skills alone. These skills will need to be applied empathetically, introspectively and innovatively.</p>
<h2>The South African example</h2>
<p>I am the director of the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business in South Africa. There is a sense here that our business schools have not done enough to provide the management and leadership that’s needed to make the country work. How can this be addressed?</p>
<p>Warren Bennis and James O’Toole, writing for the Harvard Business Review, have this to say about business schools:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In fact, business is a profession, akin to medicine and the law, and business schools are professional schools – or should be. Like other professions, business calls upon the work of many academic disciplines. For medicine, those disciplines include biology, chemistry, and psychology; for business, they include mathematics, economics, psychology, philosophy, and sociology.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So if business schools are to evolve, they must use what we at the Graduate School of Business call “full-colour thinking”: a spectrum of analysis that covers leadership and management responsibility from all angles. </p>
<p>Those of us in the field all agree that a key purpose of an MBA – or any business qualification – is to learn to run companies effectively. But this on its own is no longer sufficient.</p>
<p>Writing for Forbes.com, leadership and management expert Steve Denning argues that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Business schools should be equipping graduates to be leaders of the 21st-century organisation that operates in a complex environment, where innovation and responsiveness to customers and society are key … Forward-looking business schools should join together in generating textbooks and courses that reflect an updated view of management … [and] the ranking of business schools by the Financial Times and others should include a criterion that reflects practical relevance, vitality and impact.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>More than just skills</h2>
<p>South Africa requires more than just the skills to administer: it needs the knowledge and wisdom to administer with a purpose – being accountable and contributing to a better world for future generations. The country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in his 2016 budget speech that effective leadership is essential to progress.</p>
<p>Business schools across Africa are really taking the question of impact to heart. The Association of African Business Schools, for example, has initiated an <a href="http://www.aabschools.com/news_items/detail/269.html">accreditation system</a> for the continent that is designed to sit alongside the sought after European and US accreditation models. Through this process, the association is encouraging schools to focus on what is relevant to the African context by measuring impact and relevance rather than just output. </p>
<p>Many schools are already starting to shift their curricula to be more relevant to their context. The UCT’s Graduate School of Business, as an example, has redesigned its MBA curriculum for 2016 with a much greater focus on values and inclusive business. </p>
<p>After all, a business school is much more than just an MBA school. Do we want to leave our world merely well administered, or do we want to leave it in overall good health?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Walter Baets is a past chair of the Association of African Business Schools.</span></em></p>Employers still love a smart MBA graduate, but business schools are increasingly accused of not meeting the needs of a changing market.Walter Baets, Allan Gray Chair in Values Based Leadership and Director of the UCT Graduate School of Business, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/469562015-09-23T04:29:17Z2015-09-23T04:29:17ZWhat young Africans want from business education programmes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95526/original/image-20150921-31504-k9rs3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young entrepreneurs like Nigerian taxi boss Bankole Cardoso (26) want to learn how to do business - but they also want something very different from the traditional, structured MBA.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you ask people what they consider the world’s most prestigious business degree, most are likely to answer, “An MBA.” Indeed, the Master of Business Administration remains a hugely popular business degree and still <a href="http://www.mbanews.com.au/amba-global-conference-global-mba-trends/">impresses</a> many employers.</p>
<p>Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Denmark are among 29 countries where interest in the MBA is at a <a href="http://www.mbanews.com.au/amba-global-conference-global-mba-trends/">nine-year high</a>. There are a number of growing Asian and South American countries on the same list.</p>
<p>But Africa is bucking the trend. New research by the Association of African Business Schools (AABS) <a href="http://www.mbaworld.com/%7E/media/Files/Publications/AMBA_AABS_Report_2015.ashx">reveals</a> what the continent’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/renaissance-or-mirage-can-africa-sustain-its-growth-41828">large youth population </a> - and it’s very different to the traditional MBA model.</p>
<h2>Short, sharp and online</h2>
<p>The research shows that many African students simply don’t believe an MBA is relevant to their needs. They prefer shorter, more modular business courses and want these to combine elements of blended learning - such as online components - with contact time. Students also want more flexibility than is built into traditional business education programmes.</p>
<p>There is also a move towards shorter and more hands on programmes and services. These include executive education, quick interventions and business support services. </p>
<p>Both these trends are being driven by an increased access to technology and the rapid development of new online learning applications. </p>
<h2>Do it yourself</h2>
<p>The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s 2014 report described young people in sub-Saharan Africa as among the <a href="http://www.gemconsortium.org/report">most entrepreneurial</a> in the world.</p>
<p>Several African countries are recording <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/african-economies-to-grow-4-5-on-average-in-2015-1432544482">strong economic growth</a>. Despite this, unemployment is rising - which explains why many young Africans are looking for ways to go it alone.</p>
<p>Traditionally, low education levels have posed a major barrier to such entrepreneurship. But post-school entrepreneurial business education is on the rise - and that must be at least partly responsible for what the 2014 report found and what is echoed by the AABS report.</p>
<p>Numerous business incubators and entrepreneurial programmes have sprung up across the continent. Entrepreneurship is increasingly part of most business schools’ core offerings rather than being just an add-on or elective.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150403005252111">entrepreneurial network</a> for Africa’s business schools, the African Academic Association on Entrepreneurship’s, was launched in 2015.</p>
<p>This underscores the growing value that is being placed on entrepreneurship education. It also reflects another trend: the increase in partnerships and support networks. Nearly 80% of the business schools surveyed have ties with international business schools. 82% have links with schools within Africa. </p>
<h2>Values over value</h2>
<p>Globally, young people seem increasingly aware about social and environmental issues and have a greater sense of social responsibility. This is evident in the rising numbers of business students who elect to <a href="http://www.mbaworld.com/%7E/media/Files/Publications/AMBA_AABS_Report_2015.ashx">stay in Africa</a> and reinvest in their communities.</p>
<p>The report also reveals that this new generation of African business students is not overly interested in building careers in finance or consulting. Instead, they are motivated by entrepreneurship and innovation. They want to engage with their communities. </p>
<p>The shift towards a more values-driven approach to business and business education is underpinned by sustainability and social responsibility. In Africa, sustainable and ethical business solutions are seen to be a major catalyst for transforming communities, improving living conditions and creating more opportunities for others.</p>
<p>These aspirations reflect the continent’s ambitions for greater unity and a sense that Africans must and can do it for themselves. At the 25th Ordinary Session of the African Union heads of State Summit held in June this year in Johannesburg, African nations recommitted themselves to <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/africa/au-summit-150615.htm#.VfvPqVzxgeM%23ixzz3m4zNvjn9#ixzz3m59st6xu">creating</a> a prosperous, peaceful and technologically advanced continent.</p>
<p>Business schools have a vital role to play by inspiring and equipping students to be part of this new path of development and make meaningful and lasting changes while running successful businesses. </p>
<p>The AABS report found that several of the continent’s older business schools - among them the University of Stellenbosch Business School, the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, the Gordon Institute of Business Science (all in South Africa) and Nigeria’s Lagos Business school - are examples of those which practise what they preach.</p>
<p>These schools are looking beyond their traditional markets to engage with entrepreneurs in nearby poorer areas. They are offering personal business advice to local companies as part of their entrepreneurship work.</p>
<h2>The rise of the private provider</h2>
<p>The demand for business school education in Africa is growing exponentially and is already outstripping supply. There are a few world-ranked institutions and programmes operating alongside smaller, less developed schools. In all, there are only about 100 fully operational and identifiable business schools on the continent compared to an estimated 4000 in India.</p>
<p>Numerous private training providers are inevitably stepping into this gap, many specialising in executive education or short courses.</p>
<p>There are already 100 or more such private providers, including corporate training initiatives, in <a href="http://www.mbaworld.com/%7E/media/Files/Publications/AMBA_AABS_Report_2015.ashx">Addis Ababa alone</a> - but just one university. This demonstrates how the market is opening up in some territories.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that the management education market will continue to diversify throughout Africa to address the demands of a growing number of learners. The mix is likely to include public-private partnerships and other forms of collaboration. Technology will play a central role and novel forms of delivery and content will be norm. </p>
<p>The MBA, while far from dead, will no longer be the only kid on the block.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46956/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Walter Baets is affiliated with Graduate School of Business UCT and the Chair of the African Association of Business School (AABS). </span></em></p>Young, entrepreneurial Africans want more flexibility and values-based learning than they feel is offered by a traditional MBA.Walter Baets, Allan Gray Chair in Values Based Leadership and Director of the UCT Graduate School of Business, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/441142015-07-20T12:05:22Z2015-07-20T12:05:22ZThe quiet rebellion taking place in business schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88973/original/image-20150720-12522-i7ev1v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't be fooled by appearances.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you ask most people what goes on in business schools, they would probably assume that a bunch of pointy heads tell other pointy heads how to read spreadsheets. Push a bit further and you might get some stories about foreign students, shiny buildings and courses that teach people how to be bastards and make lots of money. The financial crisis has often enough <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/apr/07/mba-business-schools-credit-crunch">been blamed on business schools too</a> for the ways that they <a href="http://www.selfishcapitalist.com/index.php/the-selfish-capitalist/">spread the gospel of selfishness</a>. But an odd thing is happening beneath the glass atrium – the academics are rebelling.</p>
<p>All around the world, the business school is now the <a href="http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2015">fastest growing</a> part of higher education. In many countries, particularly the UK, its expanding revenues are compensating for a decline in state funding and ensuring that the history department stays open. </p>
<p>In 2011, there were <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2013/PatternsAndTrendsinUKHigherEducation2013.pdf">more than 360,000 students</a> studying business and management in the UK, the largest subject by far. This growth has also meant that there are a lot of business and management academics to teach them, <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/stats-staff">14,305 in 2013</a>.</p>
<h2>Growth of the fringe</h2>
<p>Since the subject has grown so fast over the past 20 years a lot of new academic jobs have been created. Some are filled by people with business school PhDs, but many have been recruited from other similar disciplines – such as economics, psychology and sociology. Others have even come from further afield such as philosophy, cultural studies and history. And that’s where the trouble has started – because many of these new recruits have brought some very different assumptions with them. So over the last few years we have seen the growth of the business school’s very own fringe – “<a href="http://www.criticalmanagement.org/node/2">critical management studies</a>”.</p>
<p>It is certainly true that most business schools, in pursuit of marketing products that will sell, have become apologists for the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/nov/30/management-business-schools-capitalism-comment">most extreme forms of neoliberal ideology</a>. Management and markets are assumed to be progressive forces, and trade unions and the state are presented as problems to be overcome. Courses on finance still sell best, with their implicit promise of well-paid jobs in expensive cities, and the general tone of the marketing for the elite schools is always “study with us and you will become powerful and wealthy”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88971/original/image-20150720-12558-1b2c990.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88971/original/image-20150720-12558-1b2c990.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88971/original/image-20150720-12558-1b2c990.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88971/original/image-20150720-12558-1b2c990.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88971/original/image-20150720-12558-1b2c990.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88971/original/image-20150720-12558-1b2c990.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88971/original/image-20150720-12558-1b2c990.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demands for change have come more loudly from below.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Assembly_Against_Austerity#/media/File:People%27s_assembly_20150620.jpg">Peter Damian</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So it might seem odd, but a large number of business school academics in North Western Europe are now deeply sceptical about the values and purposes of management education and are becoming more confident in saying so. In July there was a <a href="http://www2.le.ac.uk/conference/cms15">large conference</a> held in the UK on the subject. There are even critical textbooks and journals, as well as <a href="http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/management/research">some schools</a> that claim being critical as their unique selling proposition. So what might a world look like that didn’t just parrot the kind of managerialism you see on display on airport book stands? </p>
<p>Given everyday business scandals – whether concerning corruption, pollution or eye-watering salaries – the business schools often come across like drug dealers who blame the addicts while profiting from the sales. There are the occasional nods to ideas such as the UN <a href="http://www.unprme.org/">Principles for Responsible Management Education</a>, and much waffle about ethics and culture. But there is little evidence that this is impacting on the strategies of business schools globally.</p>
<h2>Doing things differently</h2>
<p>This is why critical management studies is such an interesting development, because it means that the business school heads themselves are pressing to do things differently. The recent conference featured work on co-operatives, mutual finance, local economies and many other models for business which challenge the idea that business as usual is the only way forward.</p>
<p>For example, businessman <a href="http://daviderdal.net/">David Erdal</a> talks about the idea that worker ownership is more robust than share ownership, and academic activist <a href="http://vandanashiva.com/">Vandana Shiva</a> shows how global biodiversity is being destroyed by big agrochemical companies. Other presentations explored alternative currencies, and attempts to produce a “slow” form of capitalism which is genuinely responsible. The general tone was that business strategies of localism and co-operation, not global competition, should be the focus of business school education and research.</p>
<p>It is clear to many people that global capitalism is <a href="http://thischangeseverything.org/">killing our planet</a>, as well as stacking up inequalities which make our societies <a href="https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level">increasingly unstable and unhealthy</a>. We might expect that the demands for change would come from below (and they are), but it is ironic that they are also beginning to come from the tenured teachers of the global elite. The business school dons are revolting, and that might turn out to be a very good thing indeed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Parker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A number of business school academics are increasingly sceptical about the values and purposes of management education and are becoming more confident in saying so.Martin Parker, Professor of Organisation and Culture, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/384812015-03-11T17:03:33Z2015-03-11T17:03:33ZCrime pays – could it offer students more than an MBA?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74495/original/image-20150311-24197-swvn0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">That's Professor Corleone to you.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jaguar PS / www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Once upon a time, in the warm neoliberal afterglow of the 1990s – the early post-Thatcher age – the MBA was the golden ticket to the top table. Graduates might find themselves at a big city firm, a global investment bank, a blue-chip corporate or a major league accounting-consultancy giant. </p>
<p>Now, the MBA bubble hasn’t burst, but it does have a rather saggy and post-birthday party deflated feel about it. One of the problems for business schools selling the meritocratic business administration dream is that there are fewer places on the top table and the feast is looking less sumptuous. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26992728">recent report by the Complete University Guide</a> found that starting salaries for professional graduates plummeted by 11% in real terms between 2007 and 2012 – from £24,293 to £21,702. The accounting and finance sectors – guaranteed career destinations for newly minted MBAs – have seen graduate recruitment essentially flatline. It seems the student market is responding to the new economic world order. </p>
<p>Even before <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/global-financial-crisis">the global crisis of 2008</a>, stories from the likes of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/business/16mba.html?ei=5124&en=1a0296d2271dbac0&ex=1347595200&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&pagewanted=all&_r=0">New York Times</a> and Forbes magazine suggested that applications for MBAs from top US business schools were declining. In fact, there is good academic evidence to support what people have been doing with their feet. Back in 2002 Jeffrey Pfeffer and Christina Fong <a href="http://www.aomonline.org/Publications/Articles/BSchools.asp">used data spanning 40 years</a> to assess the value added by an MBA. </p>
<p>They came to the stark conclusion: the MBA adds very little in terms of career progress and salary.</p>
<h2>Rise of the entrepreneurial master</h2>
<p>But the business school as the destination for a vocationally relevant form of higher education is a brand that still holds some value for aspiring corporate leaders. For business schools, too, there is a realisation that it makes no pedagogical (or indeed commercial) sense in being one-trick ponies when it comes to postgraduate education. Business schools in both the UK and the US are diversifying their teaching programmes – why offer one master’s degree when, using sleight of hand and cloning, <a href="http://www.topmba.com/mba-programs/full-time-mba/do-mba-specializations-make-sense">you could provide another ten</a>? </p>
<p>One of the rising stars in the new post-MBA age of postgraduate business education is the Masters in Entrepreneurship. George Deeb, writing for Forbes, has <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgedeeb/2013/10/16/out-with-mbas-in-with-masters-in-entrepreneurship/">argued that there is a generation of students</a> who do not want to “‘work for the man’; they want to ‘be the man’”. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74493/original/image-20150311-24188-1vwkqfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74493/original/image-20150311-24188-1vwkqfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74493/original/image-20150311-24188-1vwkqfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74493/original/image-20150311-24188-1vwkqfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74493/original/image-20150311-24188-1vwkqfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74493/original/image-20150311-24188-1vwkqfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74493/original/image-20150311-24188-1vwkqfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The man.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">s_bukley / www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>There has been a notable proliferation of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/nov/14/mba-entrepreneurs-start-up-skills">entrepreneurial masters courses</a> being provided mainly, though not exclusively, by UK business schools. Diversity is a notable feature in this development. Prospective entrepreneurs can opt for a straight <a href="https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/management/coursefinder/mscentrepreneurship.aspx">MSc in Entrepreneurship at Royal Holloway</a> or an <a href="http://www.gcu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/international-business-management-9697.php?loc=uk">MSc in International Business and Management at Glasgow</a>. Or there is the synergy between <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mecheng/our-courses/postgraduate/engineering-with-innovation-and-entrepreneurship">engineering and innovation at UCL</a> or you can be a master in <a href="http://www.strath.ac.uk/civeng/pg/enventrepreneurship/">environmental entrepreneurship at the University of Strathclyde</a>. </p>
<h2>Entrepreneurship and organised crime</h2>
<p>The diversity of these new masters reflects in part the range of skills that are required to be an innovator in business. But if these programmes are to properly instruct students in the best and most innovative forms of entrepreneurship that currently exist in the economy, a UK business school should soon be providing an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Organised Crime. This is not a waggish point but a perfectly serious one about the need for business schools to ground their education in the real world. </p>
<p>A study by Petter Gottschalk and JanTerje Karlsen from the Norwegian School of Management, and published in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326085220.htm">found distinct similarities</a> between legitimate entrepreneurs and criminals operating in illicit markets. As the author and security adviser Marc Goodman <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/11/what-business-can-learn-from-organized-crime">observes</a>:</p>
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<p>Criminal groups attract people who seek intellectual stimulation – not unlike the people drawn to the work environment of a start-up.</p>
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<p>Unlike mainstream businesses, though, the risks of failure in the illegitimate economic sphere involve more than a loss of income or investment – there’s the possible loss of freedom or even life itself. Thus, criminal gangs make useful case studies in how to reduce risk and maximise returns. </p>
<h2>Lessons to be learned</h2>
<p>According to Goodman writing in the Harvard Business Review, an unapologetic mouthpiece for free market capitalism, businesses and wannabe entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from organised crime. One important lesson the would-be entrepreneur can learn is the move away from a blockbuster approach – a dependency on the one big innovation to secure the million sales. </p>
<p>The increased globalisation of organised crime has underlined the importance of exploiting the long tail rather than opting for the single heist which guarantees retirement on a beach somewhere. For Goodman, “global criminals have learned that they can reap big profits by executing smaller operations over and over again”. This is both safer from a criminal justice point of view and allows for efficient and continual gains over time. </p>
<p>Despite the gruesome stories about murder and violence emerging from organised crime hotspots like Mexico, the growing lesson in organised crime is one of co-operation over competition – a lesson no doubt learned from the <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PrisonersDilemma.html">prisoners’ dilemma</a> and game theory. </p>
<p>Misha Glenny’s book <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/06/society">McMafia</a> attests to the way organised crime groups are developing alliances across borders to expand markets and share expertise. It seems that crime not only pays but also contains some useful business lessons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Marinetto does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With appetite for MBAs on the decline, should courses be redesigned with lessons from organised crime in mind?Mike Marinetto, Lecturer in Business Ethics, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/314502015-01-04T19:10:53Z2015-01-04T19:10:53ZMOOC your way to a free MBA?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58859/original/wvrtqvnc-1410501397.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The ability to do an MBA online is attractive, but getting it for free is problematic.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ed Yourdon/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been <a href="http://poetsandquants.com/2013/12/17/the-mooc-revolution-how-to-earn-an-elite-mba-for-free/">suggested</a> that, with care and dedication, you can assemble a Masters of Business Administration for free. Perhaps unsurprisingly for those in the know, the idea hasn’t caught on.</p>
<p>When leading MBA providers, including the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, started offering free MOOCs mirroring their MBA content in <a href="https://www.class-central.com/mooc/625/coursera-an-introduction-to-corporate-finance">finance</a> and <a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/marketing">marketing</a>, the more entrepreneurial among MBA aspirants thought of assembling a collage of such courses to create a DIY MBA.</p>
<p>As you might expect, <a href="http://www.nopaymba.com/">blogs</a> sprouted to update progress.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Business_Administration">MBA</a> has been a remarkably resilient academic beast. Most program names and arrangements fall foul of the regular reviews and restructures that sweep through all academic institutions, but the MBA – first offered more than a century ago at Harvard – continues to draw in the crowds.</p>
<h2>Why do an MBA – the credentialists</h2>
<p>Having taught MBA students for two decades, I have insights into why students choose the degree, and what they achieve.</p>
<p>While the motivations for entering an MBA are varied – they generally coalesce around two core groups. First are the credentialists – drawn by the cache of a degree that is often cited as a gateway to promotion within organisations.</p>
<p>For credentialists, MBA programs are still value for money. Generally, a well ranked MBA raises earnings by <a href="http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2014">more than 50%</a>. Even a modest 10% increase in earnings would repay the investment in an MBA in a few short years for most graduates.</p>
<p>A key problem for credentialists is that the free MOOC MBA (at least currently) does not lead to any credentials. If the great and good MBA schools have been giving away their content, they have not been giving away their MBAs.</p>
<h2>Why do an MBA – the transitioners</h2>
<p>The second group of MBA students are the transitioners. Generally, these are the more rewarding to teach. Typically they have achieved great things in their career within a technically-defined role (often a very senior one) and seek to garner the skills required for more general managerial roles.</p>
<p>Better still among this group are those who are sick of the mundane aspects of their career and are seeking some “frame-breaking change” (in MBA speak). They want to radically change the direction of their lives and careers, moving across sectors or launching into a new entrepreneurial challenge, for example.</p>
<p>An MBA provides these people with valuable knowledge and skills, and as importantly provides a significant labour market signal for new employers or investors that the graduate is serious about embracing new challenges.</p>
<h2>The MBA – more than its content?</h2>
<p>The MBA, when taught well, engages students in a variety of learning tasks that extend them intellectually and socially and builds new skills. The core academic knowledge is important, but the process and social arrangements of a good MBA are arguably the essence of the program.</p>
<p>This is the crux of the problem of an MBA assembled through MOOCs. If an MBA was only about its theoretical content, a student could easily read the relevant text books and (perhaps better still) relevant academic articles and quickly master the essential elements of its content.</p>
<p>If an MBA is any good, it will confront its students with more than content. An MBA, as a generalist degree, should expose students to the bigger questions of life and organisational management through a series of processes that challenges assumptions and stretches goals and aspirations.</p>
<h2>New models of MBA education</h2>
<p>None of this, of course, assumes that the MBA in its current form will endure. Students are becoming more time-poor and more attuned to better and more efficient ways of working. Entrepreneurial organisations are continually thinking of new ways of managing the content and process delivery arrangements of their programs.</p>
<p>How much of this can (or should) be done online is a major question. Proximity between educators and students and students and their peers matters a lot when it comes to the fundamentally important social and relational aspects of executive education.</p>
<p>In the US, a number of large schools with deep resources are making a <a href="http://fortune.com/2013/05/29/the-online-mba-comes-of-age/">strong effort</a> at offering their MBA programs online. While it is early days, there is potential here to deliver good programs to those for whom a campus-based program is not possible.</p>
<p>The challenge, however, will be for the smaller schools (like many in Australia) without the depth of knowledge in online delivery, or the resources to acquire it, to replicate the leaders’ success. When online teaching is seen as a lower cost version of on-campus delivery, the end is almost certainly bad for all concerned.</p>
<p>The resources necessary to design and deliver online MBAs will almost certainly mean that a DIY MOOC MBA will remain a peripheral curiosity to the main game of high-value, intensive and demanding MBA education, which can never be done on the cheap.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Rice works for Griffith University and teaches in its MBA program. He has received funding from the ARC, ALTC and CWL. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party and the NTEU.</span></em></p>It has been suggested that, with care and dedication, you can assemble a Masters of Business Administration for free. Perhaps unsurprisingly for those in the know, the idea hasn’t caught on. When leading…John Rice, Associate Professor in Strategic Management, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.