I’ve come to the conclusion that the bloggers at the Huffington Post aren’t big fans of b-school. This summer, a post referred to b-school graduates as “menaces,” and more recently, in his post “Why B-schools Don’t Change,” Pablo Triana attests that despite talk of revamping, b-schools remain unchanged because:
1) In many cases, the negative aspects of inexperienced professors and theoretical dominance are conveniently ignored by both students and recruiters, thus effectively becoming harmless; 2) The positive aspects presented by (good) schools continue to be attractive enough to compensate for the disappointments.
Triana’s second point is valid. Despite the finger-pointing b-schools have endured for producing flawed leaders, a large number of business aspirants still see the b-school brand as a desirable one, and many are waiting out the financial crisis in b-school classrooms. According to a recent article in BusinessWeek, many of the top b-schools admitted their largest classes ever this fall.
It’s his first point, then, that deserves closer scrutiny. Triana is certainly not the first to criticize b-schools for focusing too heavily on theory instead of real-world practical business knowledge, and this is a discussion that needs to had both inside and outside of business schools.
I object, however, when Triana goes on to say that b-schools are not able to “unshackle themselves from practical irrelevance” because they’re populated by professors “who, for whatever reason, didn’t go into business. The sad irony is that, no matter how loud we may demand practicality-delivering changes, B-schools may be condemned to being populated by business virgins.”
In response to this statement, I’d like to share a few facts:
- Over half of Columbia Business School’s faculty have worked within global business organizations. Top programs including Harvard Business School and the London School of Business emphasize their faculty’s real-world business experiences on their web sites and in recruiting material.
- The Stanford Graduate School of Business has the following business leaders among its faculty: Irv Grousbeck, co-founder of Continental Cablevision/Media One and principal owner of the Boston Celtics; Mark A Wolfson, founder and managing partner of Oak Hill Investment Management and Oak Hill Capital Management; and Myron Scholes, co-creator of the Black-Scholes pricing model, Nobel Prize winner and chairman of Platinum Grove Asset Management.
- Wharton’s Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Program partners faculty with successful business owners to provide both theoretical and practical business knowledge throughout its courses.
- And it isn’t just the elite programs teaching students by enlisting those who have gone before in the business world. Former GE chief executive Jack Welch earlier this year announced plans to start his own online MBA program and intends to be actively involved in shaping the curriculum.
While some full-time faculty have spent the majority of the their careers in academia, many others have started companies, served on business boards and held positions in powerful corporations. To insinuate that b-school students are taught only by “business virgins” simply misrepresents the situation.
Business books image courtesy of Flickr user miss_rogue, CC 2.0.
