MBAs and their programs can point to their “success.” MBAs tend to take a holistic view of an organization. They are quick to change direction and make changes which can be good. On the other hand they are taught they can and should make decisions with relatively superficial knowledge of all aspects of their decisons. Mr. Lay, like others, tried to use what I call the “I am an Idiot” defense in the Enron matter. They may know very little about operations. Failures can mostly be attributed to the propensity to make big decisions with little understanding.
I am wondering if colleges are simply in it for the money with no sense of educational responsibility.
Eriemasterof OH8:23AM April 21, 2010
How are schools ranked? Generally two ways: First, the rankers send surveys to the dean office and they are given to students and/or alums and then they either collect the data or they ask the students to mail the surveys directly to the company engaged in ranking. This methodology is far from scientific and it can be open to fraud. Student’s surveys can account for between 10 to 50 percent of the total ranking score. What are students asked? They are asked to rate their professors, the quality of education, the facilities and service and of course internship and/or job placement. Secondly, academic quality can account for another 30 to 50 percent of the ranking score. Here is where it can be problematic; often the quality score included in the rankings is the students score on entry tests like the GMAT for MBA or SAT for undergraduates. The assumption is that if one gets a group of students together who score high on these tests if will somehow prove the quality of education is high. They also look at student-faculty ratio and sometimes they ask head hunters what school produced the most employable students. Is this arbitrary? Of course, especially when the survey returns rarely exceed 25 percent. This spurious process is further reinforced by the fact that over the years the these raters rarely agreed on each others rankings for example in 2009 BusinessWeek claimed the best was the University of Chicago, U.S. News claimed Harvard, The Economist claimed Spain’s IESE Yet dean’s fight to get good data and a successful year occurs when they report they moved up a notch in the rankings.
According to Zimmerman (2001):
“Business school deans rise and fall with the media ratings of their schools, even though they admit that such ratings are at best imperfect measures of school quality. A decline in a schools ranking generates angry calls from influential alumni, trustees, university administrators, potential donors, and, of course, current students who fear the devaluation of their soon-to-be-granted MBA degrees. Deans…stress their importance as a student recruiting device-especially for foreign applicants, who account for upwards of 40% of many schools’ entering MBA classes.”
Corley and Gioia (2000), maintain that focusing on these rankings causes schools to focus on “looking good” rather than “being good.” Virginia Commonwealth University is an example of the “looking good” approach, they recruited their new B-school dean from Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. That’s right the former president of a Disneyland Resort will bring his skills running operations at theme parks, his “looking good” skills, to the B-School. They have their priorities straight. In his career at Disney he served as the manager of marketing development at Disneyland Paris, general manager of operations at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Fla., and vice president and representative of Walt Disney Attractions Japan in Tokyo, all the necessary ingredients to run a B-school.
czanderof NY9:13PM April 19, 2010
Generally speaking, when we think about Business School, we can expect that it can bring us better oportunities to manke more money.
In this respect, I think, this article tells us a very important insight about truely making money, which all the related people, such as faculity members and students, should keep in mind.
I would like to show a example for being added to that.
When I asked people a question: What do you think the most uncertain and important factors to affect your future life would be? Most of them answered, "Money and Health"
When I heard that,I told them,"Right"
But I asked them again to dig deeper into two factors, say,"Money and Health" for realizing the fundamental factors hidden in them. It may be the first key to open the door for truly making money.
And my last question is: What do you think the best way to diffuse a positive energy to other people around the world is?
The answer to this question is the second key to do that.
I hope Business School to teach students how to answer aforementioned questions. If this is possible, more people around the world will have good opportunities to live more successful and happier lives.
touchyourdream9:24PM April 17, 2010
Very important article. This topic has had a lot of coverage for several years, starting even before Enron and other high-profile ethical messes. The global financial meltdown has given this issue even more steam. I just hope that this time the discussion evolves past "teaching ethics," which is a questionable concept (adults learning to be ethical). I see a lot of business schools digging way deeper than new courses or experiences or requirements of some sort. They are looking at their entire cultures, the values that the institution stands for, the deeper ethic of the place and how the entire enterprise reflects that there is a lot more to sustainable business success than technical skills, hands on experience, global perspectives and the many other buzzwords nearly every business school today tries to use to differentiate its value in the marketplace. Beyond the fact that this is the right thing to do and will, if pursued seriously, perhaps up the esteem the world currently has for business education, it's also a smart strategic step from a reputation building standpoint. I've studied many business schools and never seen one that doesn't have at its core particular values and a related educational culture that really makes it unique. I see an era where great business school brands will be built on the character of institutions and how well they cultivate a new set of values in students. Attached is a link to a recent article on the subject for further reading on the subject.
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Eriemaster of OH 8:23AM April 21, 2010
czander of NY 9:13PM April 19, 2010
touchyourdream 9:24PM April 17, 2010
Tim Westerbeck of IL 1:45PM April 15, 2010