MBAs Think They Can Change Business For the Better
It has been five years since Bear Stearns imploded, the opening salvo of a near death spiral in the global financial system. Since then, banks have cleaned up their balance sheets; companies have hoarded cash; and government has added new mandates and regulations. Of course, MBAs have emerged as the public’s favorite whipping boys.
The economic meltdown – and the lost wealth, flat growth, and uncertainty it left behind – has also left its mark on the next generation of MBAs, who entered the job market as it caved in. This week, Access MBA, a global resource that assists students and business schools, published a survey on the role of MBA programs in the wake of the crisis. Surveying over 2000 prospective, current, and former students in 57 countries, Access MBA compiled some intriguing observations:
- 62% of respondents believe business schools have “significant responsibility” to address the economic crisis.
- 64% agree that schools should actively encourage involving students in hands-on projects in the field to provide real world experience.
- 53% agree that programs should research and develop sustainable business practices.
- 35% answered that schools should concentrate on business ethics.
- 80% of graduates and current students found that their business school adequately addressed the roots and consequences of the recession.
This lack of enthusiasm for ethics certainly stood out. However, it likely stems from a perception that ethics don’t translate to the bottom line. However, Jessica Smith, IESE’s Associate Director for MBA Admissions, notes that ethics still have a place in an MBA program: “Business ethics do not need to be a separate course, but should be incorporated into the curriculum.”
Finally, the study ends on an upbeat note. According to alumni surveyed, 95% believed their MBA education prepared them to respond to future recessions and improve their companies’ practices. Who knows, maybe that education will help businesses bounce back faster from the next economic freefall.
Source: Business Because
Why Women Should Skip Business School
This week, Laura Hemphill, a Lehman Brothers alum-turned-novelist, lobbed a grenade into the gender- and-education fault line. In her essay entitled “Why Women Should Skip Business School,” which was published by The New Yorker, Hemphill argues that it is financially wiser for women to forego business school in favor of building their careers and learning scarce skills. And she backs up her premise with some cogent arguments. Here are some highlights from her piece:
- You Can Succeed Without An MBA: “Unlike medical school or law school, business school isn’t a requirement for a business career. Many successful C.E.O.s don’t hold M.B.A.s: Marissa Mayer, of Yahoo; Jeff Bezos, of Amazon.com; Ginni Rometty, of I.B.M. On Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, business school is often stigmatized as a booze-addled vacation; Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist, famously observed that business-school graduates’ interest in a sector is a leading indicator of a bubble.”
- Elite Students Don’t Need The Degree: “…the average incoming Harvard Business School student needs the degree the least, given the qualifications required to be accepted in the first place. Arguably, it’s the qualities that get a candidate admitted to Harvard in the first place that insure her success after graduation, rather than the degree itself. Meanwhile, an M.B.A. isn’t always worth its steep financial cost. Including tuition, room, and board, a Harvard M.B.A. today costs more than a hundred and eighty thousand dollars—and that’s before lost wages.”
- An MBA Only Delivers A Temporary Advantage To Women: “The uncomfortable truth is that women in business are more likely than men to drop out of the workforce or have their careers interrupted a decade after earning their M.B.A.s, because of family considerations. According to a Harvard study of graduates of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a decade after earning their M.B.A.s, women were twenty-two per cent more likely than men to have experienced at least one career interruption. Thirteen per cent of women weren’t working, compared to one per cent of men. And even if women’s careers weren’t interrupted when they had children, they were certainly affected: the study also found that “M.B.A. mothers seem to actively choose jobs that are family friendly and avoid jobs with long hours and greater career advancement possibilities.”
- It Takes Away Two Precious Years: “…isn’t the most important thing for a woman to work as hard as she can and advance as far as possible while she’s still in her twenties and her life is as uncomplicated as it’s going to get? That way, by the time she’s a decade or so along, she’ll have more savings, more job experience, and more bargaining power—all of which translate into more options.”
- There Are Alternatives To The MBA: “Consider other uses of those two years. Instead of relying on an M.B.A. to boost her skill set, a woman could teach herself a hard skill like programming or Chinese, or she could start her own business. If she’s working in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street, or another industry where many are promoted without M.B.A.s, she could stay put and continue to rise. And if she doesn’t have a better use for those two years now but thinks she might later on, why not preserve that option?”
Doug Guthrie is no longer dean at GW’s business school
GW Profs Fear B-School Accreditation In Jeopardy
It couldn’t happen. A Top 50 business school loses its accreditation? This is a joke, right?
According to George Washington faculty members, this is a real possibility. This week, The George Washington Hatchet, the student newspaper, reports that Interim Dean Christopher Kayes informed faculty that the school is hoping to delay an on-campus by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), their accreditor, until spring.
This delay stems from the recent dismissal of Dean Doug Guthrie in August due to overspending by $13 million dollars in 2012. According to The Hatchet, these additional expenditures stemmed from unexpected costs related to expanding the online graduate programs and events for its executive education programs.
Sok-Hyon Kang, who served as Vice Dean under Guthrie, noted that financial troubles often hinder a school’s ability to receive accreditation:
“Accreditation is going to get much harder this year, no matter what.” We’d been preparing for AACSB during the last three years very well, so getting accredited this year was almost a done deal. Now it’s in jeopardy.”
Phillip Wirtz, Vice Dean of Programs and Education, added that accreditors could pay special attention to the business school’s independence from school administration:
“If I were a site visitor right now I’d say, ‘Wait a minute. They fired a dean three days before the semester started and three-and-a-half months before the accreditation site visit. Tell us again about that independence thing?’ And I think we’re going to have to worry about that,”
If George Washington would lose accreditation, it could potentially lose students and tuition dollars, along with tarnishing their reputation. In fact, there is precedent, as George Washington’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences was placed on probation from 2008-2010 over curriculum standards and student space.
Despite the uncertainty after Dean Guthrie’s removal, George Washington doesn’t anticipate issues with accreditation. Provost Steven Lerman notes that the $13 million dollar shortfall has already been covered by the university. He added that “one in four or one in five” schools in the accreditation process are run by interim deans, adding “I believe accreditations are not about people, they’re about institutions.”
Our Prediction: This is a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. George Washington’s business school will keep its accreditation.
To read Poets and Quants’ exclusive interview with former Dean Doug Guthrie about his dismissal, click here:Poets and Quants
Source: George Washington Hatchet
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Wharton Puts First Year MBA Courses Online For Free
What if you could get an Ivy League education – worth over $54,000 – absolutely free?
Now, you can. Last week, Wharton announced that it was adding three more courses from its core curriculum to its online Coursera platform. As a result, all four of its first year core MBA courses – marketing, operations and information management, accounting, and finance – are available online…for free.
These courses, along with five electives, are available as MOOCs (Massive open online courses). Taught by Wharton’s full-time MBA faculty, they began in September and last from 6 to 10 weeks. The content also mirrors what Wharton’s MBA students are learning. It includes prerecorded lectures, along with access to the professor or an assistant. In fact, some Wharton professors are assigning these MOOCs to their on-site students, so they can focus class time on discussion and activities.
An outsider might believe Wharton is losing money by giving away content. Diedre Woods, the Interim Executive Director of Penn’s Open Learning Initiative, disagrees with this notion. By putting their MBA program online, Woods believes the university is demonstrating their “depth and breadth” and “providing leadership” to other schools. Brian Bushee, a Wharton faculty member, adds that this initiative allows students to test the waters and see if a business education is the right choice for them: “If you were thinking of getting an MBA, you might not know what the core courses are. The branding helps you know the four things you need to know.”
Still, don’t expect these MOOCs to replace a Wharton degree. Students don’t receive course credit for passing a course, though Wharton does provide a certificate of completion for a fee. What’s more, Woods believes the classroom discussions and interaction with peers are what makes business school special:
“There’s some magic that happens in class. I don’t think there’s a substitute out there in the real world. I think having a wonderful, lively, intellectual campus experience really can’t be replicated 100 percent online.”
According to Don Huesman, the Managing Director for Wharton’s Innovation Group, Wharton’s MOOCs have already attracted nearly 700,000 students in 173 countries. Huesman added that more courses could be added online in the future.
Blast from the Past:
Guide To The Best MOOC Courses In Business
MOOCs are all the rage these days. Some enthusiasts claim they’ll eventually replace brick-and-mortar classrooms. Others dismiss them as watered-down curriculum and glorified correspondence courses. Either way, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have grabbed the attention of educators. And no one is quite sure if they are friend or foe, a fad or the future.
Last year, Poets and Quants Founder John Byrne reviewed many of the free MOOCs available for MBAs. Some courses lasted 6 weeks; others went months. Most included homework and tests. And they covered topics ranging from financial markets to organizational analysis. And some were even taught by leading minds at top institutions like Darden and Stanford.
