Rethinking the MBA | HBR IdeaCast

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  jlelson

  05/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Rethinking the MBA | HBR IdeaCast

  I agree with some of Dr. Mintzberg's ideas - certainly managing and leading in the real world is different than the classroom experience. A false sense of expertise is dangerous. I think, however, that there are principles of management and systems thinking that can and should be the basis of a management education program. And virtual world simulations are a partial answer to providing more in depth experiences and real world context. More research is required to understand the optimum ways of using this technology for education. As for GW Bush and his management understanding of Iraq, the nature of the management position of the President is such that a deep personal understanding of that situation is hardly possible, given the kinds of military and political intelligence available and many many other factors. The President must choose his advisors who have the knowledge and capability to understand the contexts and content of their areas of expertise and advise the President (as General Manager or CEO). My point is that there are better examples than GW Bush and Iraq. But, I am not convinced that there is any competent management anywhere in the US Federal Government given the highly political context and partisan nature that has such a tight grasp on the system (perhaps a slight exageration). Jack Elson, PhD, Assoc. Professor, College of Bus. Admin, TUI University.

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  mohanramsujatha

  05/14/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Rethinking the MBA | HBR IdeaCast

  I will not contest Dr. Mintzberg's perception on whether leadership could be nurtured, moulded and better prepared for ever increasing complex environment of business and life in general. But the question still lies whether chicken or egg was first to appear. From where I hail most people believe that expectant mothers should read stories from history to start education in the womb, that is how prepared they want next generation to be, not just learn from their own mistakes and successes but from others ups and downs as well. There is increasing conscientious that moulding people younger from lessons of history and enhancing their power to respect others view, fostering their display of confidence in their decisions based on thorough analysis, encouraging to promote others voice, nurturing collective decision making ability, open display of honesty and humility are factors that measure up to today?s environmental demands and survival for existence. Could everything be gained in one lifetime through learning from once own experience is surely contestable. Having had a military background and seen in person how leadership is inculcated as a virtue in the behaviour through rigorous training and education is admirable. How many business organisations have time and patience to invest in future generation when everyone is running madly to earn their own bread. I definitely agree with Dr. Mintzberg that contextual knowledge is important, but a better-prepared soldier will resonate knowledge gained from others experience on top of his intellectual alertness and understanding of the situation and he who does that will be return with head on his shoulders from the battlefield. Taking the example of Iraq war, most of our soldiers were trained in much moderate weather conditions, had we learnt from history and others experience, they would have been much more prepared and effective. [Although not debating whether a war was worthwhile and just decision so made].

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  tticeric

  05/15/09 | Report as spam

  RE: Rethinking the MBA | HBR IdeaCast

  Very good interview. These issues are very much alive and current. I am a student of an eMBA programme and I can say from my own experience two things adding up on the issues from the interview with Dr Mintzberg:
  
  1. Without 13 years of working experience the programme would be difficult to complete. MBA should not be available to freshmen who just walked out of Univeristy with a BA in his/her hand... and it's NOT about fundamentals, it's about the depth...
  2. ... this is often neglected, even in good MBA programmes. Maybe, it should last longer. Maybe, we should take care that the modules are not so ... well, lame. I remember I skipped some classes/lecturers because they bored me to death! The problem is, universities often call in the lecturers according to their academic credentials, and not according to their professional experience. I do not really need someone who has never spent couple of years in high management position to teach me anything! Cut the crap. But most still don't.
  3. There is an issue with fundamental knowledge gap between the economist or a finance person taking an MBA and an engineer or a medical doctor taking an MBA. We can not listen to the same stuff. Don't get me wrong, medical doc's are often far better managers then others, it's not about that. The knowledge of the group is not homogenous. Modular approach to address this issue should not raise expenses to the programme, and could result in significant qualitative headway, by means that a medical doctor will understand the price elasticity and I will understand some other things that I feel I do not know enough about.
  
  
  At the end of the day, I do not regret paying for this programme as I really had a chance to learn and discover many things that really help me around, but yes, it was disappointing in some point in time.