gf vol 04 issue 02

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Norwegian wouldPeter Lorange on why he’s started his own business school

China successThink Chinese to get ahead says Nandani Lynton

Drucker was rightRichard Straub considers the current crisis

Do we need the MBA?Yes – if it’s rethought, according to Jopie Coetzee

Learn to teachAndrew Rutsch says those who can do teach – well

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Global Focus

Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010

Should management be a profession?

Santiago Iñiguez weighs up the arguments for a unifying professional association of managers

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1EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010


In focus

Management. We talk about it and write about all the time. We worry about how to teach it and fret about preparing a new generation of responsible managers.

But what is management and who are managers? The main theme of this issue of Global Focus is to answer those questions.

Santiago Iñiguez, dean of IE in Madrid, one of Europe’s most successful business schools, kicks off the debate on page 8. Is management, he asks, a profession like law or medicine. And if not, should it be? It has many of the attributes of a profession after all but has notably failed to establish a unifying code of practice that could be the basis of a professional association. Indeed, Professor Iñiguez argues that the very ubiquity and diversity of management makes it an unlikely candidate for professionalisation.

On page 34 the EFMD’s own Richard Straub picks up this point to argue that the current economic crisis is ultimately a crisis of management, reflecting the crumbling trust in managers.

Quoting from the works of Peter Drucker (Mr Straub is also President of the Drucker Society Europe) he argues that the only way forward in this

“moment of truth for management” may be the re-invention of management itself.

But how to do that? On page 40 Jopie Coetzee expresses concerns over the current state and possible future of the MBA (perhaps the pre-eminent

“qualification” for management). It is, he argues, an academic degree potentially in danger of losing its way. Urgent rethinking may be required.

And is that being done? Perhaps. And coming from a possibly unlikely quarter.

For the last quarter of a century, a period of explosive growth in management education, one of the key players in Europe and the world generally, has been Peter Lorange, latterly head of IMD management school in Lausanne.

On page 18 he sets out a prospectus for a new type of business school, an experiment he is putting into practice in Zurich, where he has created his own school.

“My aim was to conduct a live experiment. I wanted...to attempt to create a business school that would stand for top quality but that would be different in its design, structure and processes than what has been the norm so far,” he says.

The debate on management is just beginning.

2 www.efmd.org/globalfocus

Global Focus The EFMD Business Magazine

Executive Editor Matthew Wood [email protected]

Advisory Board Eric Cornuel Jim Herbolich Howard Thomas

Consultant Editor George Bickerstaffe [email protected]

Contributing Editors Ed Andrews, Jopie Coetzee, Fiona Dent, Bob Galliers, David Grayson, Viki Holton, Frank Horwitz, Santiago Iñiguez, Nandani Lynton, Jan Rabbetts, Cora Lynn Heimer Rathbone, Andrew Rutsch, Richard Straub, Frank Waltmann, Bill Wiggins

Design & Art Direction Jebens Design www.jebensdesign.co.uk

Photographs & Illustrations ©Jebens Design Ltd / EFMD unless otherwise stated

Editorial & Advertising Matthew Wood [email protected] Telephone: +32 2 629 0810

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©EFMD

1 In focus

4 Talking ShopProfor project inaugurationFour new EQUIS schoolsEIP winnersMiddle East and Africa conferences

8 Should management be a profession?There is no unifying professional association of managers. Many now believe that to preserver and promote standards this should change. Santiago Iñiguez weighs up the arguments

14 Why companies need business schoolsCora Lynn Heimer Rathbone explains how business schools can help in the development of employees

18 Return of LorangePeter Lorange, doyen of business school deans, retired as head of IMD on 2008. Now he has re-emerged with a new Swiss business school that he believes challenges the old model. Interview by George Bickerstaffe

22 Lessons from China: what makes global leaders successful – and what makes them fail? Do effective global leaders, especially those working in China, adopt a Chinese mindset that allows them to develop superior intellectual, emotional, cultural and spiritual attributes? Nandani Lynton thinks yes

26 Putting PRME into practice in a business schoolFrank Horwitz and David Grayson describe how Cranfield School of Management in Britain is embracing the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education

30 Motivation and employee engagement in the 21st centuryMuch of what we already know about motivation still holds true. But nearly half of the managers in a survey by Ashridge Business School feel that organisations and managers still don’t get it right. Fiona Dent, Viki Holton and Jan Rabbetts explain why


Contents

3EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Contents

22

34 Managing in the Next Society The current global crisis has triggered the question of whether management is the problem rather than the solution to the challenges of the 21st century. Richard Straub outlines the issues

40 The postmodern MBA: breaking the glass ceilingJopie Coetzee suggests how a reinvigorated MBA could become a central part of a new inclusive world order

44 Chain reaction: using a company’s best and brightest to teach the restA recent EFMD Sharing Best Practice CLIP Workshop focused on how to engage professionals in the learning value chain. Andrew Rutsch presents some insights that emerged

48 Why project management mattersEd Andrews argues that project management is the key to sustainable success

52 When is a business school a university?Bentley University describes itself as a university within a business school. Bob Galliers and Bill Wiggins describe what this means and the implications and benefits of gaining EQUIS accreditation

56 Eating the elephant one spoonful at a timePeter McKiernan outlines the progress being made in building a community of research leaders in European business and management schools

56

18

Success or failure? Nandani Lynton considers whether effective global leaders adopt a Chinese mindset page 22


News and events in brief from the business world

Talking shop

PROFOR project will help strengthen management capabilities in CubaThe PROFOR project inauguration took place in March in Havana, Cuba. Prior to the official inauguration ceremony for the PROFOR project, its main activities and the provisional calendar of implementation was presented by EFMD, ESADE and the European Union Delegation in Cuba, to the representatives of ten EU member states: Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Javier Niño Pérez, head of the EU delegation in Cuba, opened the official inauguration ceremony which included all the stakeholders of the project including Manuel Cacho Quesada, the Spanish ambassador representing the Spanish presidency of the EU, EU member states ambassadors and staff, the MINCEX and MES as well as representatives from Cuban universities, companies and local joint ventures.

The project and description of the main activities were jointly presented by Professor Jim Herbolich, Director Network Services of EFMD and European Director of PROFOR, Gerardo Montenegro, Cuban Director of PROFOR, Professor Paco Lamolla, European Academic Director and Dr Mariella Columbie, Cuban Academic Director.

A large attendance, including the ambassadors of seven EU member states followed the ceremony and presentations.

The partners agreed that the first edition of the DEADE programme (Diplomado Europeo de Administración y Dirección de Empresas) would begin in September 2010. Recruitment of the participants will take place in May-June 2010.

A working group, including European and Cuban experts, will begin carrying out a survey of the Cuban needs and requirements for management education.

The PROFOR project is financed by the EU.

For more information on this project please visit www.efmd.org/cuba or contact Emmanuelle Duval, [email protected]

EFMD Africa Conference September 19–21 2010, Lisbon, Portugal Building a Business School in the XXIst Century – The Africa Case

There is no area of activity more crucial to Africa’s economic and social development than the training of business leaders and managers. Africa needs competitive companies and effective institutions if its is to thrive as it should. For this to happen Africa needs competent and energetic managers.

The Association of African Business Schools (AABS) and EFMD share a commitment to build quality management education, and in this first meeting between the two bodies they will explore ways in which they can learn from each other. In particular it will look at how European experience in building capacity around the world can be harnessed to spread good management education across Africa.

Africa’s population is rapidly closing in on that of India and China. There are already more Africans than Europeans in the world. According to UN projections, by 2050 (one generation away), Africa will have 20% of the world’s population – approximately equal to what the populations will be then of Europe, North America and Latin America combined.

This is a giant waiting to be equipped to take its place among the economies of the world.

For more information visit www.efmd.org/conferences


European CategoriesCorporate Social ResponsibilitySponsored by: IE Business School, Spain

Hayleys PLC: Focusing on Corporate ResponsibilityBy Prof. Luk Van Wassenhove and Dr. Mark Lee HunterINSEAD

EntrepreneurshipSponsored by: E.M. Lyon, France

GoApe! Live life adventurously By Stephanie Hussels and Mr. Molian DavidCranfield School of Management, UK

Family BusinessSponsored by: Family Business Network, Switzerland

From Swords to Ploughshares: Three Generations of Family Entrepreneurship, Conflict, Transitions and ConnectionBy Elizabeth Florent Treacy and Professor Randel CarlockINSEAD

Finance and BankingSponsored by: Toulouse Business School – Groupe ESC Toulouse, France

Feeling the heat: Allianz and WWF push financial services industry action on climate changeBy Dr. Aileen Ionescu-Somers, Dr. Tania Moreira Braga and Professor Corey BillingtonIMD

Supply Chain ManagementSponsored by: BEM Bordeau – ISLI Global Supply Chain Management, France

LEGO: CONSOLIDATING DISTRIBUTION (A) & (B)By Prof. Carlos Cordon, Prof. Dr. Ralf W. SeifertIMD

Special Categories:Euro-Mediterranean Managerial Practices and IssuesSponsored by: EFMD

“VêGê, Brand Repositioning in the Food Industry”By Prof. André Vilares MorgadoAESE-Escola de Direcçao e Negocios

Public Sector InnovationsSponsored by: Euro-Med Marseille, Ecole de Management, France

Safety in Numbers: Reducing road risk with Danida's multi-sector partnershipBy Ms. Aline Gatignon, Luk Van WassenhoveINSEAD

African Business CasesSponsored by: China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), China

"Paving the Road to Healthy Highways: A partnership to Scale up HIV & AIDS Clinics in Africa"By Ms. Aline Gatignon, Luk Van WassenhoveINSEAD

Responsible LeadershipSponsored by: EFMD

Tata Nano: Dilemmas in Sustainable Development By Professor Bala CHAKRAVARTHY and Sophie CoughlanIMD

Inclusive Business ModelsSponsored by: United Nations Development Programme, Growing Inclusive Markets Initiatives

Essilor's Base of the Pyramid Strategy in IndiaBy Prof. Bernard GarretteHEC

Indian Management Issues and OpportunitiesSponsored by: Emerald

The judges have nominated joint winners this year!

Winner 1:Tata Motors: Becoming a Global ContenderBy Professor Bala CHAKRAVARTHY, Ms Anna Moncef and Sophie CoughlanIMD

Winner 2:Fiat's Strategic Alliance with TataBy Prof. Africa Ariño, Prof. Pinar Ozcan, Mr. Mitchell Jordan and Mr. Brian HohlIESE

EFMD 2009 Annual Case Writing Competition

EFMD 2010 Case Writing CompetitionThe 2010 EFMD Case Writing Competition is now open.

Visitwww.efmd.org/casecompetition

Contact – Emmanuelle Duval:[email protected]


News and events in brief from the business world

Talking shop

Excellence in Practice Award 2010 – Winners AnnouncedThe Excellence in Practice Awards recognise and promote outstanding partnerships between companies and learning and development providers.

Category: Executive DevelopmentMAN SE and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management & Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Executive Education Centre“Engineering the Future: A Transformational Learning Journey”

Category: Organisational DevelopmentThe National Trust and Ashridge Consulting Ltd“Developing Internal Consulting Capability within the National Trust”

Category: Professional DevelopmentHSBC North America Learning and Development and Lake Forest Graduate School of Management “Partnership in the Design, Development and Delivery of the Advanced Consulting Skills Program”

Category: Talent DevelopmentPon Holdings BV and ORMIT BV“Developing a sustainable supply of leaders”

Category: Special CasesPrism Venture Capital, KickApps Startup and Bentley University“An innovative Case of Synergistic Learning and Development between Venture Capital, Start-up and University”

The winning cases are available via the EFMD website www.efmd.org/eip and there will be a special supplement on the winners with the autumn issue of Global Focus.

Dubai to host EFMD's first Annual Conference in the Middle East and North Africa regionHosted by the University of Dubai (UD) on November 28–30, 2010 and with the theme: "Creating International Impact with Programmes – Management Education in the MENA Region" this conference is an ideal opportunity to learn about ongoing trends in management education inside and outside of the MENA region.

The conference will discuss topics such as internationalising faculty and the study experience, establishing masters, executive education and doctoral programmes, and developing strategic partnerships with international business schools.

Presentations will include a series of speakers from the MENA Region, America and Europe with plenty of opportunities for networking and sharing within the EFMD community of schools.

In parallel to this conference, EPAS and EQUIS accreditation seminars will be also be offered on November 30 and December 1 2010.

For more information visit www.efmd.org/conferences or contact Emmanuel Duval, [email protected]

Four New Schools Receive EQUIS accreditationEFMD would like to warmly congratulate four new schools awarded EQUIS accreditation in April.

College of Commerce, National Chengchi University, Taiwan

Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, China

KAIST Business School, Korea

Newcastle University Business School, United Kingdom

We would also like to congratulate nine schools for their continued commitment to excellence who were re-accredited:

Amsterdam Business School, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Netherlands; BI Norwegian School of Management, Norway; College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, China; EDHEC – Business School, France; HEC – Montréal, Canada; University of Edinburgh Business School, United Kingdom; University of St Gallen, Switzerland; UVic Business, University of Victoria, Canada; and WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Austria.

This takes the numbers of accredited schools to 124 across 35 countries. For more information visit www.efmd.org/equis

Talking shop


PROCURATIO SOLUTIONEM EST


One of the more interesting social phenomena to appear during Middle Ages in Europe were the guilds, the origins of our modern trades and professions. The expansion of the city and the emergence of a money-driven economy rather than one based on barter saw the guilds’ stature grow over the course of the 13th century.

Among the time-honoured professions that developed into guilds were jewellers, carpenters, blacksmiths and glaziers. Many guilds were established on the basis of a letter of patent or a concession by the local ruler in exchange for which the guilds agreed to pay taxes and bear arms on the ruler’s behalf in times of conflict.

Germany’s zünfte, the métiers in France, the craft guilds in England and Spain’s gremios were all variations of this model of association out of which vocational studies would eventually emerge characterised by long apprenticeships under the supervision of master craftsmen.

The guilds were also the forerunners of the trade unions, providing their members with a rudimentary health insurance in case of illness and in some cases a pension.

Management as an activity pervades almost every human endeavour. But there is no unifying professional association of managers. Many now believe that to preserve and promote standards this should change. Santiago Iñiguez weighs up the arguments

The original guilds were the forerunners of the trade unions, providing their members with a rudimentary health insurance in case of illness and in some cases a pension


PROCURATIO SOLUTIONEM EST

Should management be a profession? by Santiago Iñiguez

The guilds also became fiercely guarded repositories of expertise accessible only to members and they laid out the first career structures and established specialist niches within their particular professions.

Over time, the guilds disappeared or adapted to the needs of the market economy, giving way to chambers of commerce, professional associations—such as those of doctors, architects or engineers—and to more sophisticated, increasingly open, trade bodies.

Nevertheless, some modern-day professional organisations, such as the bar associations, retain something of the guild, although many of their privileges are now endangered by supranational legislation such as the European Union’s 2006 Services Directive, which aims to create a single market for services, eliminating cross-border barriers in the process.

Historically, management has never attained the status of a formal profession in the sense of setting up a guild or association. In large part, the reason why there are

no managers’ organisations is due to the flexibility and presence of management throughout such a wide range of activities.

Would it really make much sense for the head of a hospital’s surgery department, the partner-director of a law firm, the founder of a high-tech start-up company and the CEO of a consumer products manufacturer to create their own guild or any other type of association?

They are all managers, and it may be that some of them have MBAs, but their shared professional interests would not extend much beyond ideas on how best to manage a budget or to motivate their workforce.

In all likelihood, they are going to be more interested in learning all there is to know about their respective professions—medicine, architecture, law—and applying these techniques, tools and ideas on management within the framework of these professions.

Looked at in detail, all forms of work reveal the presence of some kind of management. As with design we only become


aware of faults in the objects we use when they do not work. In the same way, we realise that a professional activity is being badly run when we note the absence of the basic principles of management.

For example, this could be human error during a medical procedure resulting in a wrong diagnosis or even death or an architect repeatedly going over budget on a project or failing to meet deadlines.

The need for management in all activities has helped drive the growth of management studies along with the appearance of so many new business schools and the decision by professionals from diverse fields to take an MBA degree.

It has also prompted some sociologists to predict that business studies will form part of the syllabus of primary schools in the future in the same way that literature and mathematics do.

Nevertheless the presence of management in so many areas makes it very difficult to meld the many different executive fields into a single profession, one that stands out from the rest of the applied professions.

That said, there is a growing debate, set off in America by Rakesh Khurana in his book From Higher Aims to Higher Hands. The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession (Princeton University Press 2007) and picked up on in Europe by a range of writers, in favour of the professionalisation of management.

In which case, what are the main arguments for turning management into a profession like any other?

The presence of management in so many areas makes it very difficult to meld the many different executive fields into a single profession, one that stands out from the rest of the applied professions

Argument one: The keeping out the under-qualified argument

In many cases professionalisation has been introduced to prevent those without the necessary training and skills from practising certain trades and careers.

In the case of medicine, professionalisation means that doctors have been trained sufficiently to carry out their job. But, as experience shows, keeping out those who are not properly qualified does not mean that some patients do not seek the services of those providing alternative medicine anyway.

It should also be said that the justification of maintaining professional standards has often been used to prevent professionals from other countries being accredited, typically on the basis that they have undertaken a different line of studies, or that they have not completed their training or that the standards in the country in question do not match ours.

For the purposes of this analysis, the main task here is to identify whom we would keep out of our professional association – and on what basis.

It is virtually impossible to determine who should be kept out of management. What about entrepreneurs, the most authentic representatives of management, men and women who, in the best sense of the word, are rule breakers?

Do we foresee setting up formal accreditation procedures for entrepreneurs to join the management profession? Would they only be considered professionals when their start-ups had proved to be a success over time or would they be allowed in even if their businesses had failed?

The answer to such questions is obvious: there is no point in professionalising entrepreneurs. Interestingly, almost all business schools these days say they want to create entrepreneurs; trying to professionalise them would surely be the best way to frighten them off.

Clearly, the argument of maintaining professional standards or keeping out the under-qualified would not justify professionalising management.


Argument two: The necessary skills argument

Closely linked to the first, this argument says that professionalising management would guarantee that those in charge of organisations have the necessary skills to carry out their tasks.

The tendency for multinationals to recruit MBAs indicates that business school graduates possess certain skills and that they have developed certain abilities that will increase their likelihood of being successful managers.

But once again we find a number of respectable exceptions to this rule, notably in the form of successful business people who have no formal education. That said, the main objection to the argument that managers must possess certain skills is that a qualification obtained in the past does not necessarily enable anybody to face all the challenges of the future.

This is why business schools always insist that continuing the learning process throughout a management career is a sine qua non for success, even for entrepreneurs.

Management is a clinical profession practised in a constantly changing environment. As with medicine, where doctors update their knowledge and their techniques constantly, managers should keep abreast of the latest business theories and concepts if they are to make their decisions based on the right criteria.

The course content of an MBA today is significantly different to that taught 20 years ago. This is something that Frank Brown, the dean of INSEAD, has recently defended in an article in the Financial Times (June 9, 2009).

He believes that MBA graduates should update their skills base by taking short courses regularly. It is only by guaranteeing that management professionals update their skills on a regular basis that we can really start to talk about management as a profession.

Argument three: The improving professional practices argument

A popular one this, and an argument that lies at the heart of Professor Khurana’s proposals. He argues that the professionalisation of management would not only promote a more ethical approach to doing business but also result in better management practices.

In effect this would be akin to managers taking an oath or making some kind of commitment to society as is the case with other professions with an ethical code. Lawyers, for example, sign an ethics code when they join their respective bar associations.

That said, in the case of the bars, as with the guilds, these ethical codes are based more on sticking to technical principles associated with a profession than on any wider-reaching values.

For example, the New York State Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct overwhelmingly focus on the responsibilities of a lawyer to his or her client. In its preface covering the general responsibilities of lawyers, it is established that a lawyer “is a representative of clients and an officer of the legal system with a special responsibility for the quality of justice”.

That reference to justice needs to be understood more in the context of respecting the judicial system and procedural principles rather than as some kind of search for abstract or absolute justice.

It is often said that lawyers are committed to their clients and the judicial system but not to society. In any event, any authority that ethical codes might have would depend in large measure on the extent to which their infraction could be punished.

Codes of conduct are to be found throughout the business world even if management is not a rule-bound profession. The majority of chambers of commerce around the world have ethics codes and mechanisms for expelling members that do not abide by them. A great many businesses, particularly multinationals, also have codes of conduct.

Should management be a profession? by Santiago Iñiguez


In this sense, the eventual professionalisation of management would not add much to the already existing process of self-regulation that has spread so rapidly and widely throughout the business world in recent years.

For their part, many business schools have codes of conduct that must be adhered to by those attending their MBA programmes. As with the legal profession’s definition of its commitment to justice, establishing the exact nature of a manager’s responsibility beyond that of creating economic and social value, along with the use of reason to resolve moral dilemmas, would be a tantalising and controversial exercise.

Argument four: The regulating the activity or managers argument

Though a less persuasive argument, this is implicit in the idea of professionalising management and certainly the protectionists’ goal would be to regulate managers’ activity.

The creation of associations or guilds for managers would involve granting licences and authorisation to practise their profession and eventually the requirement of belonging to a specific association.

Such a solution would be in nobody’s interests and, furthermore, would be counterproductive in terms of creating value. That said, in the European context at least professionalisation is generally associated with setting up some kind of regulatory framework involving limits and restrictions.

We need to advance the process of making management one of the best and noblest of jobs. In my opinion, professionalisation is not the way to do this and would be a step backwards.

Business schools are comparatively much younger than other educational institutions but more innovative when it comes to facing up to challenges. It is through better research, better programmes and a faculty more focused on the needs of the real world that we would be better equipped to provide creative responses to the demands that society puts on managers.

In sum, rather than look to the past for answers, by reviving guilds for example, we need to come up with new ways to help advance creative and socially committed management in the future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño is Dean of IE Business School, Madrid, Spain

The majority of chambers of commerce around the world have ethics codes and mechanisms for expelling members that do not abide by them

Looked at in detail, all forms of work reveal the presence of some kind of management


Educational leadership and strategyCategory sponsored by Journal of Educational Administration

Hospitality managementCategory sponsored by International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Human resource managementCategory sponsored by Personnel Review

Information scienceCategory sponsored by Journal of Documentation

Interdisciplinary accounting researchCategory sponsored by Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

Knowledge managementCategory sponsored by Journal of Knowledge Management

Leadership and organization developmentCategory sponsored by Leadership & Organization Development Journal

Logistics and supply chain managementCategory sponsored by International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Management and governanceCategory sponsored by Management Decision

Marketing researchCategory sponsored by European Journal of Marketing

Operations and production managementCategory sponsored by International Journal of Operations & Production Management

Property investment and financeCategory sponsored by Journal of Property Investment and

Finance

For full details please visit www.efmd.org/awards or www.emeraldinsight.com/awards or contact Matthew Wood, [email protected] or Devon Blake, [email protected]

The 2010 Emerald / EFMD

Outstanding Doctoral Research AwardsInternational recognition and cash awards for the best doctoral research

EFMD and Emerald seek to celebrate excellence in research by sponsoring the 2010 Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards.Award-winning entries will receive a cash prize of a1,500 (or currency equivalent), a certificate, a winners' logo to attach to correspondence and the prospect of an offer of publication in the sponsoring journal – either as a full paper or an executive summary – at the discretion of the Editor(s). In addition, a number of Highly Commended Awards will be bestowed. This year there are 12 categories:


Made to measureCora Lynn Heimer Rathbone explains how business schools can help in the development of employees

15EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Made to measure by Cora Lynn Heimer Rathbone

Why do major companies use business schools to develop their employees? After all, the most significant corporates recruit the best people from the best academic institutions in the first place. Beyond this, a well-connected industry of headhunters matches the most appropriate individuals to organisations for specific, often senior, positions. Surely once integrated, these are presumably suitably skilled for their task?

Do I hear you suggest we look to the big “c” word for an answer? I hope not.

Change as a constant is factored into recruitment strategy. Major corporates do not only attract and select individuals whose technical and personal skills add most value in the short term; the long-term strategic needs of the organisation are also considered. Corporates recruit people who can flex and adapt to changing business needs.

Having their human capital in place, you would think major organisations are best placed to develop their own talent. After all, existing executives must be the best “developers” of others within and beyond their organisations.

Who best to learn from than those who have succeeded in their given environment? In this vein, references to “mentors” and “coaches” pepper both organisational conversations and management literature.

So why do major companies commission business schools to train their best people?

One reason could be that, as evidence suggests, young talented individuals seek to join companies that will invest in their formal development. To be an “employer of choice”, corporates will increasingly be pressured to tangibly develop the talent they wish to attract and retain.

A second reason could be to provoke fresh thinking, sparked by the external and systemic perspective that research and management theory from business schools provides.

A third explanation could be the useful networking opportunities that are a by-product of cross-organisational development programmes. Nothing beats open discussion around a structured theme to fuel cross-matrix and business-unit collaboration, especially when moderated by an apolitical external expert.

Customised programmes provided by business schools serve these purposes particularly well and complement induction programmes, on-the-job projects and coaching provided by corporates themselves.

Though the objectives of customised programmes differ from one corporate to another and are at the best of times connected to an organisation’s strategy, three generic aims drive demand for differing types of programmes:

To improve an organisation’s “economic performance”These programmes aim to enhance the ability to grow sales, reduce operating costs, tighten working capital, lower external charges (including taxes) and/or reduce the capital intensity of operations.

Though they can be “functionally biased”, they are in many ways a business school’s “bread and butter”. They fit well within a typical school’s capabilities and draw on the knowledge pools that feed its MBA and EMBA programmes. In some cases, customised programmes also allow business schools to showcase emerging thinking from research groups and PhD output.

To enhance the “strategic thinking” of key playersThis type of programme tends to cut across business disciplines and to help people think across the business as a whole. They present a collage of subjects such as economics, finance, marketing, supply chain, operations and programme management wrapped in the context of leadership.

Clear storylines are important to carry the fil rouge (or main theme) of what could otherwise be a poorly connected series of independent albeit important topics.

To the chagrin of business schools, such programmes are occasionally called “mini-MBAs”.

To raise the “leadership skills” of talentThese programmes often begin with behavioural competencies and data from 360° or performance appraisals. They can be among the most creative of those delivered. Arguably, their design logic needs to be the clearest of all.

More than with “strategic” programmes and much more than with “economic performance” programmes, the effectiveness of leadership programmes depends on the social context created within the session itself.

For leadership development programmes to be effective, an environment must be established where participants are willing to look at themselves and their own behaviours honestly and personally. Only in so doing will they take on the concepts explored during the sessions.

To this end, participants need to be impacted by new incisive knowledge about themselves, at the same time as they feel that they are in a safe place and not under

Corporates recruit people who can flex and adapt to changing business needs


judgement, free to acknowledge and explore what are often uncomfortable novelties. They need to think out-of-the-box about themselves – and about themselves relative to significant others.

Of course these three categories interface with each other (see Figure 1). Often differences are subtle. It is therefore important to be clear about the emphasis and purpose so that faculty may gear their material to achieve what the corporate intends.

Generally speaking, emphasis on taught “tools, models or frameworks” within programmes decreases progressively as you move counter-clockwise, from those that focus on “economic performance” to those that focus on “strategic thinking” with those concerned with “leadership skills” being least reliant on “how to” tools.

One manifestation of this is that the stronger the focus on “economic performance”, the more concrete the sessions become and the more structured the learning can be.

An example of a customised programme that emphasised “economic performance” is the four-part suite called “Management Fundamentals” created for French energy group EDF’s corporate university, which has run since 2004.

Though there are sessions on “Strategy” and “People” within the suite its purpose is to accelerate the transformation of the group from a state-owned monopoly to a multinational commercial utility operating competitively in all of its regions.

The storyline across the suite is to “understand your market so that, within it, you can position EDF’s strategy, strategise within your own business unit and lead your people to increasingly impressive performance”.

By contrast, a programme whose emphasis is on “strategic thinking” was that created for France Telecom Orange and which ran for six years. With a remit to raise the entrepreneurial spirit among promising managers and first-line directors, the programme was designed to explore a group-selected business project in order to create an entrepreneurial opportunity.

Often for the first time in their professional lives, participants were invited to rise above their functional

discipline, think beyond their business unit boundaries and extend well beyond the normal annual and quarterly business cycle to plan the launch of a new market offering.

Exemplifying a “leadership skills” programme, Oracle’s “4Sight” was created in 2007 to support Oracle EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia) in developing its future leaders.

Successful, competitive and determined participants (directors and senior directors) brought their significant experience, knowledge of the market and personal drive to the debates.

Though this programme was packed with tools, its purpose was to enable participants to lead more effectively in their different contexts – as collaborators, as peers and as business unit leaders.

Benefits derived from executive development cannot always be measured, particularly in the short term. Indeed, what can easily be measured is not always the most important. And often, development programmes, like slow-release capsules, build for the long term, their value taking effect over time.

Some benefits, however, can and should manifest themselves immediately.

Take, as an example of a “taught” element from an “economic performance” programme, the ability to select between mutually exclusive projects by calculating their discounted cash flow. Application of such knowledge and the value it creates is relatively easy to track.

Application of learning, and the value associated with such application, from strategy programmes is harder to assess.

Application of learning from leadership sessions is hardest of all to measure. In part this results from the more indefinable nature of “strategy” and “leadership” as concepts and topics. It is also a consequence of the fact that things “strategic” and “behavioural” are much more “relative, situational” than things appertaining to “economic performance”. Application is more subtle. Cause and effect are less inextricably connected.

Though models exist that can form the backbone to strategy and leadership programmes, these models only

Improvement in corporate results is seldom the effect of just one action or change of approach

‘Strategic thinking’‘Leadership skills’ ‘Economic performance’

Fig 1

17EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Made to measure by Cora Lynn Heimer Rathbone

serve to frame new and emerging thinking. It is from such thinking that the true value of these programmes derives. Clearly, the increased complexity of these subjects and their interdependence with often innumerable factors influence the direct measurability of such programmes.

To this end, to ensure development is purposeful and delivers measurable results, key questions related sequentially to the three categories listed above, will be:

– What new level of performance do you want individuals to be able to deliver?

– What new conversations do you want individuals to provoke that they are not currently undertaking?

– What behaviours do you want to see in individuals that are different from the way in which they currently conduct themselves?

Put simply, one client director regularly asks participants at the end of development programmes: “What are you doing differently?”

Having said that, improvement in corporate results is seldom the effect of just one action or change of approach. At best one can only say truthfully that an executive programme was one of several contributors to an improvement in performance in the period following specific interventions.

Clearly the above applies to an even greater extent to programmes whose purpose it is to enhance a population’s “strategic thinking” or “leadership skills”.

Arguably the only bona fide way of measuring specific quantifiable benefits from an executive development programme is to track value added through the application of unique tools, models or frameworks taught in the programme. Business benefits from such an approach can be evidenced.

Fundamentally, the expectation that application of programme learning will be tracked and measured to quantify a programme’s return on investment should be written into the programme timetable.

Participants, aware from the start that this is a vital feature of the programme, will look for ways to apply the learning to their reality as the programme unfolds.

Equally, faculty will be conscious of the need to be practical in their delivery and relevant to the level of the participants in order to ensure that their sessions feature among those that add tangible value to the commissioning organisation.

The probability of seeing “action” and “use of tools learnt” increases significantly when measurement is hard-wired into programme design and participants’ post-programme application of learning is tracked.

Such foresight is purpose-driven and accountable, demonstrates integrity and inspires many to deliver greater results.

ABOUT THE AUTHORCora Lynn Heimer Rathbone is Director of the Centre for Executive Development, Aston Business School, UK [email protected]

FURTHER INFORMATIONThis article is an edited extract from Corporate Development Journeys by Cora Lynn Heimer Rathbone, published by Palgrave Macmillan, June 2010.

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Peter Lorange, doyen of business school deans, retired as head of IMD in 2008. Now he has re-emerged with a new Swiss business school that he believes challenges the old model. Interview by George Bickerstaffe

Peter Lorange (right) is not, it seems, the type of man to enjoy a quiet retirement.

In March 2008 he left IMD, the Lausanne-based business school, after 15 years as principal. During that long incumbency he propelled IMD to the top rank of international schools.

Many assumed that his departure marked the worthy end of a distinguished academic career. Before IMD he had been president of the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo. (Professor Lorange is Norwegian, the name a result of a French Huguenot ancestry.) Earlier he spent long spells in America as an academic at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

On top of that he had in January 2007 sold a successful Norwegian offshore services shipping company, Ugelstads Rederi, he had owned and run since 1988 to the Athens-based Aries shipping group for a reported NOK 730 million (Z 90.4 million at March 2010 prices).

Given that he sold at the very top of a market that soon collapsed dramatically, he was assumed to be headed for a well-funded seclusion.

However, barely a year later, in August 2009, aged 66, much too many people’s surprise he popped up as the head and owner of an “experimental” business school in Zurich.

He had bought the Graduate School of Business Administration Zurich (GSBA), a small independent business school in Horgen, on the Zurich lakeside, and renamed it the Lorange Institute of Business Zurich. GSBA had a turnover in 2008 of CHF 8.7 million (about Z 6 million), more than 900 students and nearly 50 faculty, all visiting rather than based at the school. It was founded in 1968 by Dr. Albert Stähli.

900The Graduate School of Business Administration Zurich (GSBA), now the Lorange Institute of Business Zurich, has more than 900 students and nearly 50 faculty

19EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Return of Lorange: Interview by George Bickerstaffe


In an unpublished paper he has outlined the rationale:

“My aim was to conduct a live experiment. I wanted, together with a small team of academic and administrative partners, to attempt to create a business school that would stand for top quality but that would be different in its design, structure and processes than what has been the norm so far.” As well as owner, he is chairman of the school.

When Professor Lorange left IMD he was eager to move away from its base in Lausanne in the south west of the country. Mainly this was to give room to his successor as principal of the school, John Wells.

(“I didn’t want to hang around IMD like the fifth wheel on a wagon,” he says characteristically.)

But there were also financial implications. The sale of his shipping company had made him a wealthy man.

“I thought I should move away from this rather socialistic canton [French-speaking Vaud] to somewhere a bit more conservative,” he jokes.

He now lives in German-speaking Canton Schwyz, one of the two original Swiss cantons, in the same village where the mediaeval Swiss hero William Tell reputedly lived.

Although GSBA has had a somewhat colourful reputation at times, Professor Lorange believes it is well placed.

“There is a need for this type of school in the Zurich area,” he says. “Most of the commercial business in Switzerland takes place in the German-speaking part. So there is a big business base to tap into.”

He says that he was not really looking to take over a new school but he just “happened to be there”.

“I just got the chance to buy the school,” he says. “I wasn’t really looking to do it. But I have to say that I was ready for it.”

Since taking over the school Professor Lorange has spent most of his time on quality control issues and upgrading programme and course curricula.

The Lorange Institute is devoted to executive education (rather like IMD, which has only a small full-time MBA programme). Its programmes include an Executive MBA, which the school says “prepares graduates to play a leading role on the global management stage”.

There is also suite of six executive specialist masters programmes covering areas such as wealth management, sports management and marketing. A short Certificate of Advanced Studies in Business Administration programme and two-day courses plus in-company programmes supports the degree programmes.

It teaches only part-time, mainly local, students aged between 25 and 45 and with plenty of experience.

”I believe that you learn best when you have a real-life job so that you can take what you learn and apply it straight away,” Professor Lorange says.

This means, of course, that the school will find it hard to

replicate the international student body that is so much a feature of IMD. While it may expand its marketing push into parts of southern Germany, that will be about it. Professor Lorange says the he has an option to take over another school in Beijing but at present he sees that as an unlikely way forward.

Another big difference with IMD is faculty. The Lausanne school is renowned for its small, collegiate and long-serving cadre of professors. In Zurich the faculty is all part time and visiting – brought in from other business schools. But this, argues Professor Lorange, can be a virtue, avoiding the “silo” mentality of a full-time faculty and also helping to keep costs under control.

“One thing I have seen is that full-time faculty do tend to develop a silo mentality,” he says. “Though they are supposed to work together across functional borders it doesn’t really happen and that holds back innovation.”

On the other hand, he suggests, a part-time faculty can have advantages. It allows a school to bring in experts in particular subjects so that it can tailor professorial talent to what it is trying to do. But, he adds, it is very important that that network of external faculty is stable and committed.

Lorange is well aware that if everyone did this then the model would not work. He admits to being open to charges of

Looking back on my own career I would say that the speed of innovation within business schools is too slow

21EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Return of Lorange: Interview by George Bickerstaffe

“cherry picking” but counters that the new school places a high emphasis on faculty research and that individuals must remain loyal to their primary institutions.

“This all has to be very transparent. So far it seems to be working very well,” he says.

The school is funding each visiting faculty member to undertake research, which Professor Lorange told EFMD last year should have a practical focus of direct relevance to executives.

One of the key aspects of maintaining quality and enhancing the school’s reputation will be accreditation (which it currently does not have).

Professor Lorange has been talking to the key accreditation bodies EFMD, AACSB and AMBA but accepts there could be problems. All of them regard a fixed and stable faculty as a key element in quality.

“That’s not our business model. We don’t agree with that,”

he says. “But perhaps we just have to wait and see, give ourselves more time to prove that our model does deliver.”

Setting up a self-proclaimed new style of business school does, of course, beg the question of what was wrong with the old style. Professor Lorange is fairly clear on that.

“Looking back on my own career I would say that the speed of innovation within business schools is too slow in terms of both the content of programmes and courses and also the pedagogical process,” he says.

He also, unlike many academics, believes that business schools bear some responsibility at least for the current economic crisis.

“I think they had some responsibility,” he maintains. “I think one of the underlying factors was the linear thinking that many professors seem to have in regard to their research and their teaching – knowing more and more about less and less.”

In particular he thinks they did not “sensitise” managers sufficiently to what he believes is the critical importance of cycles in business

He argues that all businesses go up and down and that this is key to understanding how to make decisions in such contexts, to having a better “feel” for in/out, long/short turning points. At the Lorange Institute, he says, such issues will be at central rather than “linear” positive/ negative thinking.

As an example, he cites the sale of his own shipping company in 2007. At the time, he says, many people thought he was “crazy” to exit such as lucrative business. Shortly afterwards, when the shipping sector all but collapsed, he was hailed as a “genius” for his foresightedness.

“I’m neither, of course,” he laughs. “It’s just a question of cycles.”

Professor Lorange has given himself five years to make a success of the Zurich school, after which he plans a to write yet another book (he has written 18) detailing the process.

In doing so he is perhaps taking a risky gamble to prove his theoretical concept of what he believes is a new model for business schools in the unforgiving world of business reality.

Does he regret not taking any similar action when he was in the relative security of mainstream business schools and academic life?

“In a sense, yes,” he says. “But even though IMD was fast and practical and flexible it was still a little too slow.”


What makes global leade

rs successful

_ and what makes them fail?


The challenges facing us today are global: the global financial crisis, global warming, global peace. These challenges call for global leaders able to take a global perspective to deal with these highly complex topics and to do so in global teams, working with others who are unlike themselves. This is a tall order.

What enables a few leaders to be successful in such challenging situations, and what distinguishes those who fail?

This question had led to a series of research initiatives (see box page 25).

Interviews with highly effective expatriate leaders in China and around the world indicate that the challenges and patterns of success or failure are similar for executives heading country and regional operations anywhere.

Senior leaders in all organisations carry a heavy responsibility but working globally brings particular stresses. These leaders live and work in cultures not their own, often head diverse teams from yet other countries, do business in environments where many things are unclear or feel unnatural and expose their families to these changes too.

In addition, they are faced with temptations ranging from succumbing to arrogance to frequent offers of unethical personal and business practices. It is a difficult role.

Lessons from China: What makes global leaders successful –and what makes them fails? by Nandani Lynton

Do effective global leaders, especially those working in China, adopt an Eastern way of thinking that allows them to develop superior intellectual, emotional, cultural and spiritual attributes? Nandani Lynton believes they might well

Senior leaders in all organisations carry a heavy responsibility but working globally brings particular stresses

IMPLICATIONS FOR development

Two decades of work with top leaders has convinced me that effective global leadership rests on 4Qs: IQ for intelligence quotient, EQ for emotional intelligence, CQ for cultural intelligence and SQ for spiritual intelligence.

IQ reflects the ability to think in complex ways and in complex systems. Someone managing across borders must be able to deal with a range of business, social and economic systems and networks. Implementing IQ takes communication and interaction: in other words EQ.

EQ includes empathy, social stability, openness, passion, confidence, awareness of self and others, and authenticity. This is about really knowing yourself, being positive and being able to deal with strong emotions without losing your bearings.

CQ concerns cultural acumen or the ability to feel one’s way into another context without judging too quickly; curiosity and openness are major components. For global leaders, CQ must show the way to positive and concrete business outcomes. One executive described it as “not just about respecting other cultures, it is about getting things done in a respectful manner”.

SQ refers to feeling connected and part of a larger whole. This develops humility and intuition, which in turn rests on high awareness of one’s environment.

Together, these forms of intelligence seem to bring success. But how does that work in actual cases?


Focusing specifically on Western executives who are extraordinarily successful in China, in a 2006 article in Organizational Dynamics, my co-writer Kirsten Thogersen and I show how these leaders have adapted to local culture and, by doing so, have changed the way their brains work.

They develop techniques to incorporate the impact of Eastern holistic thinking. They learn to seize the moment powerfully by using Chinese-style pattern recognition and holistic thinking as a frame of mind in their business dealings. They use pragmatic action to achieve results; they develop razor-sharp focus; they emphasise relationships and community, and they are deeply connected.

Together these build a new mindset, using both sides of the brain and paying attention to both intuition and practical details. The new mindset underlies their consistently impressive business results. These lessons learned in China are key to future global leaders everywhere.

The research on highly effective expatriates in China dovetails with the 4Q approach. The executives interviewed were all at least bilingual and 80% spoke three languages fluently; this speaks for their IQ.

They all had strong family and community ties and 90% had been married more than ten years and all belonged to community organisations, indicating high EQ.

The way they had learned to communicate with their Chinese colleagues and staff, as well as all their international colleagues and headquarters, indicated a high level of CQ.

The executives all nourished their souls with a range of activities. They sailed, read widely from history to poetry to more mundane news, listened to music, and donated time and money to charities.

The single common denominator was most important: all but one of them set aside time every day to reflect. They used this time to think about what was going on around them, to consider their own actions and to check whether they were on the right path.

Some had specific questions they would ask themselves, such as: "Could I tell a good friend all of this comfortably?” or "Have I seen the big picture; if this continues where will it take me; have I asked someone to ensure I understand this or that action correctly”. Such a period of reflection is the highest indicator of SQ.

These were wonderful examples of global leaders. And yet some years later a few of them crumbled in their personal and professional lives.

Investigation showed that these numbers tallied with the information available on long-term executive success.

There is a rule of thumb with expatriates. If you send out 100 about 20% will fail, usually returning home before the contract ends and often at great human and financial cost. About 70% will manage their assignments – some better and some worse but they get through. And about 15% will stand out as highly successful. The total is 105%, because after about seven years a few of the most highly effective executives begin to slip and by ten years about one-third of those crash from the very top to the bottom. This is a huge loss of human potential.

Interviewed on this topic, global human resources heads of major multinational companies all recognised the issue and roughly agreed with the numbers. One, from a well-known energy company, described the process:

"Oh, you are talking about the rock star syndrome. That is when executives begin to believe their own PR. They are treated so well in the office, are given so much apparent respect outside and live such luxurious lives that it goes to their heads. They forget it is because of their position and think it is because of them.

“The first sign is usually that their family does not return from summer vacation. Their private lives go downhill and they begin to make professional slips as well. We recognise this as a company and so headquarters calls them back quickly.

“In just the last few months I had two extreme cases. Neither could believe that they were not essential to our business in the country they were in so I actually had to send security guards to pull them out of their houses and accompany them to the airport."

How do smart, experienced executives get into this situation?

When you look at the numbers and the career paths of those who fall, a pattern emerges. These are people who take on more and more and under pressure lose their centre. They are satisfied that they are contributing because they are always producing something – a quote for the newspaper, an idea for the company, a donation for charity – but they incrementally move into needing these things to feel good about themselves.

They need the external recognition, the apparent adoration, the fame to find their lives meaningful. But meaning is precisely what they have lost because under all the pressure they have also lost their ability to reflect and, frankly, they no longer feel comfortable asking themselves hard questions.

Live high, fall hard

The executives had in common that they set aside time every day to reflect – to think about what was going on around them, to consider their own actions and to check whether they were on the right path


What do the others have – those who do not fall? Their deep roots hold them, like trees that stand despite the storm winds. The executives who keep their centre pay attention to their own cultural identities. They value the rituals of lighting candles on holy days, celebrating their wedding anniversary and so on. Above all, they look after their old friendships from long before they climbed the corporate ladder.

It seems counterintuitive that tending your own cultural heritage allows you to be open and accepting of another culture. Why would someone who is deeply conscious of being Danish, someone who spends time on his traditional Indian mediation practice, someone who keeps in touch with her school friends from a village in Hebei be a good global leader?

Yet research shows that successful global executives working in China increasingly nurture their roots. They realise that only a deep bond to their own history renders them open and resilient enough to let in a completely different culture. Searching for meaning in their hard work, they negotiate Chinese pragmatism and learn to do good in step-by-step action, for example by being attentive to quality of goods and customer care.

In a 2009 article in the Journal of International Business Ethics, Kirsten Thogersen and I demonstrate how Western executives maintain this approach through regular reflection, which supports their personal direction.

Quite differently (even as expatriates), Chinese leaders are naturally embedded in a deeply self-referential and integrated collective culture and rarely lose their bearings. Instinctively tied to their cultural patterns, they draw on images of nature and traditional philosophy to enhance spiritual intelligence. They set the frame of reference for their organisations, establishing norms of behaviour and performance that will inspire the group around them to act in concert. They are highly sensitive to the environment, and accept the existing situation, finding ways to work within it.

As one Shanghai executive expressed it: “I do not create my own path, I just follow what is there already”. They do not reflect; they sense. And their roots are strong.

What do these insights imply about developing global leaders? Can executive programmes strengthen the 4Qs and encourage good practices? Can case studies of success and failure grasp participants’ attention?

Sustainable performance as a global leader demands skills and abilities beyond the norm but it also builds on consistent long-term practices. These include a regular, disciplined process of reflection or sensing, attention to a larger good beyond the self and maintaining one’s roots.

These habits can be introduced and various approaches practised in executive programmes, usually in conjunction with work on personal leadership and values. Often it is the examples of those who fly high and those who fall hard that catch the participants’ imagination and inspire attention. For often the examples describe men and women very like the executives in the seminar room. For some, it may be a last chance.

The global leader research includes in-depth interviews with 83 exceptionally effective senior expatriate leaders around the world, interview and survey data from 220 Chinese and European Generation Y young professionals as well as data from almost 1,000 briefer interviews and surveys.

Approximately 60% of those interviewed are Chinese or Western executives working in China, which gives an opportunity to compare East/West perspectives in depth. The top executives are 90% male, 30% European, 20% North American, 20% Asian and 20% Chinese. The young professionals are 85% Chinese and 55% male.

The young generation of Chinese maintain their cultural values strongly, with family being the most important thing in their lives. They value harmony and hard work. And achievement makes them most happy.

The one value they do not accept without question is hierarchy. Today’s young Chinese fit into the hierarchy in the family but at work they want a reason to respect their boss – they want their superior to be an expert, an unobtrusive mentor and a well-rounded person. Seventy per cent say they are spiritual beings.

It will be interesting to watch their impact on the workplace.

roots hold the uprootedIMPLICATIONS FOR development

ABOUT the global leader research

80%The executives interviewed were all at least bilingual and 80% spoke three languages fluently

ABOUT THE AUTHORProfessor Nandani Lynton is Adjunct Professor of Management at the Euro-China Centre for Leadership and Responsibility , China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai, China.

Lessons from China: What makes global leaders successful –and what makes them fails? by Nandani Lynton


Frank Horwitz and David Grayson describe how Cranfield School of Management in Britain is embracing the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education

Putting PRME into practice in a business school

27EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Putting PRME into practice in a business school by Frank Horwitz and David Grayson

The Economist, the Financial Times and the New York Times have all recently asked whether business schools should share any responsibility for the current global financial crisis. Both inside and outside business schools opinions on this question vary strongly.

Arguably, an over-emphasis on shareholder value as the purpose of business and insufficient attention to managers’ personal responsibility has contributed in some degree. At the Cranfield School of Management we encourage faculty and students to explore what the global sustainability crisis means for them and for businesses.

We like our students to leave the school having had the opportunity to reflect on how they define their own moral compass for decision taking and how they define a successful life.

This is a work-in-progress and we are only at the beginning of the journey. We are looking to learn how some leading companies are embedding corporate sustainability and responsibility and how we can apply their experience to our own context.

Along with over 310 other business and management schools across the world, we have signed the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME). Learning from corporate experience, we have explicitly incorporated a commitment to PRME and responsible management education within the school’s overall strategy.

Businesses talk about the importance of “tone from the top” and having effective governance and oversight of commitments to corporate sustainability and responsibility.

One of this article’s authors, the Director of Cranfield, considers embedding PRME into the organisational culture, curriculum, policies and practices of the school as fundamental and chairs the School’s PRME taskforce.

This brings together faculty and staff from across the institution including the directors of the MBA and other Graduate Programmes. Cranfield appreciates the codicil at the end of the six PRME Principles, that “we understand that our own organisational practices should serve as an example of the values and attitudes we convey to our students” and is examining its own workplace practices. These include, for example, adding a reference to external

citizenship in the annual Performance and Development Review process and looking at purchasing policies and criteria for working with clients. The school recently approved a code of practice for engaging with corporate clients and other stakeholders.

As part of the initial stock-take of what is already happening and what needs to be done, we are holding discussions with all faculty about PRME and what it means for research, teaching and practice.

We recognise that some of our students are deeply interested in sustainable development and improving the practice of responsible management. The goal is to ensure that sustainability and responsibility are built-in to the curriculum and not just bolted-on.

The MBA is one of the early areas of focus. One of Cranfield’s visiting fellows has examined MBA course case-packs in order to see where environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues as well as ethical performance would logically fit within what is already being taught.

In marketing, for example, what responsibilities do organisations now have for protecting vulnerable customers or for the misuse of their products and services? What does responsible marketing involve?

Each course director has been encouraged to incorporate PRME within their course learning objectives and to reflect

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Our students are deeply interested in sustainable development and improving the practice of responsible management


this in recommended reading and taught cases. The Organisational Behaviour and Personal and Professional Development (OBPPD) core course, which runs through the entire MBA year, has been amended to include more sessions on ethical leadership, the implications of ESG issues for the individual manager – and some of the personal challenges when things go wrong such as the tough choices associated with becoming a whistle-blower.

Outside the classroom, students are encouraged to explore these issues further through, for example, the Cranfield chapter of Net Impact. And we invite visiting speakers to debate with staff and students in the Cranfield Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Network. All full-time and Executive MBAs take part in the International Business Experience (IBE) – an intense week in an international market such as Brazil, China and South Africa. One of the underlying themes of the IBE is the challenge of sustainable development, and doing business ethically in different cultures and political systems.

In due course we will introduce a similar process for each of our eight specialist masters programmes. Issues of sustainability and corporate responsibility already feature on a number of our executive open programmes and we have been tracking the views of individual managers attending our General Management Programme on these issues for the past decade.

Thanks to the generosity of an MBA alumnus, Nigel Doughty, since 2007 we have had a dedicated unit – the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility (www.doughtycentre.info) – which is helping champion the embedding of PRME. We are very clear, however, that this is everybody’s business in the school – and will fail if it is associated with just one team.

We have also been able to commit some dedicated funds to help promote PRME and to undertake some legacy projects

to help faculty to explore what it means for their own disciplines and to explore the inter-disciplinary aspects of generating “sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy”. (Principle 1).

One of Cranfield’s potential competitive advantages is that it shares a campus with the School of Engineering and a School of Applied Sciences, where there is world-class technical expertise on topics such as biodiversity, carbon sequestration, desertification and water management.

Cranfield has a thriving alumni organisation, the Cranfield Management Association, and in the future we want to harness and support an on-line alumni community around sustainability issues where we can simultaneously support and learn from alumni grappling in real-time with “the role, dynamics and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value.” (Principle 4).

The Cranfield campus is in the English countryside. This helps create an immersing work and social environment for students. Many live on campus and this is regarded as a valuable part of the “Cranfield experience”.

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310Business and management schools across the world have signed the UN PRME

29EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Putting PRME into practice in a business school by Frank Horwitz and David Grayson

Rural bus services are, however, infrequent. Physically getting to and from campus involves driving for many staff, students and visitors. We want to do more to encourage car-pooling and cycling and to promote better public transport links.

Similarly, many of our faculty travel regularly by air in order to teach in different parts of the world. Though we can encourage carbon off-setting we also need to learn how to harness the latest in communication technologies so that at least some of the face-to-face teaching can be replaced by virtual learning through video-conferencing, webinars and e-learning – without harming the pedagogical experience.

As with any significant change-management programme, we know we are evolving through a number of phases.

First, denial of the importance of these issues; to compliance to grudging acceptance; to instrumentalism (“doing it because our competitors are doing it”) to exploration (“how can we integrate?”) and finally to cultural integration (“it’s how we do things around here!”)

We are using a variety of processes to speed up our evolution such as leading by example, empowering enthusiasts, setting targets, creating opportunities to explore what is involved and benchmarking.

When (if ever) will we know we have made good progress? There is a destination but the kind of destination it is may change as we progress in the journey.

We are just at the beginning of our journey to embed PRME. We have to continue to intensify the dialogue with colleagues, to understand and respond to concerns such as that this is an “evangelical crusade” or is seeking to impose a “party-line” on what is taught.

Some fear this is just another management fad, with insufficient rigour.

Certainly, it requires some new mindsets. It is vital that students are exposed to different perspectives. We are not in the business of trying to indoctrinate anyone or censor opinions. We want healthy debate and challenge.

We are, though, committed to “incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.” (Principle 3).

We welcome dialogue and the opportunity to exchange lessons and experiences with others on a similar journey, through our membership of groups like EFMD and EABIS and through engagement with initiatives such as the Aspen Institute Centre for Business Education.

Milton Freidman’s tenet that “the business of business is business” reflects a singular focus on shareholder value. Its assumption that shareholder value return is the sole purpose of a business has been shown as limited and flawed by the nature and depth of the current economic crisis. The associated efficient market hypothesis is also being questioned.

Equally, excessive market regulation undermines entrepreneurship – including social entrepreneurship. What is needed, as Cranfield Emeritus Professor David Myddelton argues, is not more regulation but better regulation. And, even more, businesses need individuals who have better developed moral consciences.

What does this mean for today’s business school student?

Our students will graduate into a work milieu that is increasingly complex, diverse and technologically interconnected, social networked and where emerging market economies will assume more prominence. This offers exciting challenges but also the need for new mindsets for the next generation of business leaders.

Corporate responsibility and the tough ethical and governance choices managers have to grapple with, where there are no easy answers, reflect the need for business education to embrace the stakeholder model. Our next generation of business and organisational leaders need to be confident and aware of, and able to negotiate their way around, multiple perspectives and conflicting and common interests of stakeholders such as employees and managers, shareholders, trade unions, suppliers and civil society.

Business schools need to create understanding and sensitivity to this new and changing world of work. Today, the challenge for business schools and business itself is to implement effectively, a new maxim: “the business of business is sustainable business.”

ABOUT THE AUTHORSProfessor Frank Horwitz is Director of Cranfield School of Management and Professor David Grayson is Director of the school’s Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility.

Our students will graduate into a work milieu that is increasingly complex, diverse and technologically interconnected, social networked and where emerging market economies will assume more prominence


Motivation has been a major managerial issue for decades. Since the second world war many researchers have explored the area – Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, Douglas MacGregor, Clayton Alderfer and John Hunt to name but a few.

Much of what they found remains applicable and important today. However, there have been changes in both individual and organisational working practices, processes and principles that have an effect upon the needs and views of the 21st Century employee. These include the focus on work-life balance, virtual working, home workers and the increased focus on formal performance management processes.

During many of our development programmes at Ashridge participants continue to be challenged by the whole area of motivation – both their own and that of their colleagues and

Much of what we already know about motivation still holds true, even in today’s turbulent business environment. But nearly half of the managers in a survey by Ashridge Business School feel that organisations and managers still don’t get it right. Fiona Dent, Viki Holton and Jan Rabbetts explain why

Motivation and employee engagement in the 21st century

31EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Motivation and employee engagement in the 21st century by Fiona Dent, Viki Holton and Jan Rabbetts

subordinates. We were interested to understand more about what individuals need to keep them motivated and engaged and what organisations are currently doing to support the motivation and engagement of their employees.

Part of the “The Ashridge Management Index” focussed on employee engagement and motivation. We explored this from two different perspectives:

– Personal motivation – what is it that motivates you at work?

– Organisational motivation – what approaches are organisations adopting to ensure employees are engaged and motivated in the workplace?

The research was done in two stages. First, a questionnaire that was largely quantitative in nature followed by a second survey that was qualitative. On both occasions we selected several respondents to interview in order to pursue the issues in more depth.

During the first survey we suggested a list of key motivators and asked respondents (about 1,400 of them) to rank each element in relation to importance to themselves and also to rank them in terms of how their organisation viewed these as motivators for employees. Table one highlights the major responses.

It is interesting to note the discrepancies between what managers want and what they believe their organisations rely on. This disconnect is one of the reasons we decided to explore this area in further depth.

It was of particular interest to us that while performance-related pay and incentive schemes had some motivating effect on individuals, the majority believed that their

organisation over relied on this as a key motivator when basic salary was more important to individuals (especially if it was felt to be a fair one). However, that said, both individuals and organisations seemed to recognise the importance of providing challenging and interesting work.

The follow-up research survey (of about 200 respondents) was qualitative and involved some of the same people as the first survey as well as new respondents. Table two summarises the key findings.

It appears from the survey findings that the relationship between people within the organisation is more important from a motivational perspective than the relationship between the organisation and its people. In these challenging times it is easy to lose sight of the importance of the relational and people aspect of motivation especially when people around you are losing their jobs and you are working in overload mode. (See Case Study, page 33) In addition, many organisations have less scope to employ the traditional means of reward and recognition. We would offer the following practical model to help you assess your own motivation, your organisation’s approach to motivation and how you can help motivate others.

The framework suggests that there are five inter-linked aspects of working life that contribute to motivation.

• The organisation provides the structure and processes – performance management and reward schemes, training, interesting work. However, these systems can become overly relied on and turn into bureaucratic nightmares that begin to demotivate. So structures and processes in themselves are not

What Managers Want Ranking What Organisations Rely On Ranking

1 Challenging/interesting work 2

2 Opportunity to learn continuously and develop skills and knowledge 5

3 A high basic salary 6

4 Having the authority to run ‘my own show’ 15

5 Clear career advancement within the organisation 8

6 Knowing my decisions have an impact on the organisation 14

7 Performance-related pay/incentive schemes 1

Table 1: The seven key factors for motivation and engagement

It is interesting to note the discrepancies between what managers want and what they believe their organisations rely on


enough – “organisations do not motivate people, it’s people in organisations that motivate people”.

As our research shows, organisations must be clear in terms of vision, communication and decision-making processes. Leaders and managers must earn the respect of others, create an appropriate working environment and provide opportunities for people to grow and develop. This becomes doubly important when times are tough.

– It appears the key element in relation to motivation is for the individual to be clear in his or her own mind about what it is that motivates them and how these needs can be satisfied at work. It then rests with the individual to share this information with their boss and relevant colleagues.

– The boss provides a crucial role in the motivation process, not only acting as a role model but also valuing each of their colleagues and staff in a way that makes them feel motivated. This means that as a boss you need to take time to understand each person’s needs and “what makes them tick”.

A simple and useful starting point is to engage your people in a conversation about their motivation. As leadership guru Benjamin Zander suggests, a boss could ask people “What could make things around here more meaningful for you”? Simple really, but think about how often something like this is done?

Table 2: Feedback from follow-up survey Question Findings

Do you feel the approach your organisation takes towards motivating you is largely right?

Yes – 54% No – 46%

Please describe what your organisation does that motivates you?

Autonomy, empowerment, trust and freedom “trust being shown in me to deliver important outcomes”, “freedom to create” Shares the vision, values and beliefs; engaged “clearly communicated picture of expectations of our division”, “clear values which are shared” Involved, consulted and values my opinions “values my contributions”, “informs me and involves me”, “suggest changes and be listened to” Pay and rewards “acceptable level of reward”, “salary (obviously!)”, “financial package”, “OK salary”

What else could your organisation do to motivate you?

More recognition, thanks, encouragement and feedback. “some kind of formal recognition would be good”, “better recognition of good work”, “wider recognition of success”, “say thank you occasionally”. Improved communications, more visibility of top team, contact, talk more, be more open “better communications and a couple of thank yous” More money “performance related pay – for some”, “pay more”, “salary increases linked to performance”

Describe anything that your organisation does which demotivates you?

Poor management/leadership, slow decision making, risk aversion at the top “risk averse and will always err on side of caution”, “going back on decisions”, “lack of leadership from immediate manager”. Poor top managers and leaders “too many people who lack the skills to be top managers and leaders”, “who avoid giving positive feedback in these litigious times”. Not valued, lack of feedback “lack of acknowledgement/acknowledgement of wrong people”, “not valuing what we do”, “not given feedback often”.

How easy is it to motivate the staff that report to you? And Reasons.

Agree – 75% “Involving, consulting, valuing opinions”, “shares the vision”, “gives clear goals”, “autonomy, trust, freedom”. Disagree – 25% “Negative environment in the organisation”, “Yes...you need to involve, consult, BUT I can’t do it”

Organisations do not motivate people, it’s people in organisations that motivate people


– In addition to the boss colleagues can play a major role in levels of motivation at work. Being with like-minded people can energise and motivate us. Several managers in our survey emphasised this – “I personally get motivated by good feedback from those I work with”. The darker side of this is where no collaboration or team spirit exists and can actually cause demotivation – “colleagues who whinge and moan and have a negative outlook”.

– Many of us are also motivated by feedback from our customers (both internal and external) and clients. The issue here is, to consider whether this is left to chance or part of organisational processes.

What is this all telling us about motivation? It seems to suggest that motivation is more individually focused in that it is about personal relationships and our own perspective on motivation. Organisations can provide platforms, processes and policies to create a framework but this is only a skeleton.

If you want employee engagement and motivation to be truly first class in your organisation you have to apply the model to assess where you have strengths and weaknesses organisationally. At an individual level you have to take responsibility for yourself and for others around you.

A good starting point will be to ask yourself:

– What do I do on a daily basis to help others feel motivated at work? How can I do more of this?

– What happens on a daily basis that motivates me? How can I further influence this?

– It’s tough out there. Am I doing enough?

Yves Kohl works for a high-technology multinational and has been with the company for ten years, most recently as a country manager in Europe. He has a team of 50 people currently, though staff numbers have reduced dramatically over the past year. The current environment (Summer 09) he says is challenging, not least because the technology sector is one of rapid change. The current tough economy is also relevant, “it was a competitive market we were in before the recession but now this is even more the case”. Significant changes are just ahead including a planned merger later this year with another company.

Motivation is often harder to maintain in tough times like these. However, Mr Kohl is clear that motivation is, “one of the most important things for any company; especially one like this. We’re in the service business and there’s no doubt that you make your money by your people and so they have to be motivated”. His own philosophy for motivation is what he describes as a “personal approach” to include:

– Provide work that is worth doing well– Communicate effectively– Act as a role model– Find non-financial targets for the team– Provide feedback– Close, constant attention

Case Study –the multinational view

Individual

ColleaguesThe Boss

Organisation Customers

Motivational Framework

Figure 1

Motivation and employee engagement in the 21st century by Fiona Dent, Viki Holton and Jan Rabbetts

FURTHER INFORMATIONAshridge Management Index: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century – April 2008 by Viki Holton, Fiona Dent and Jan Rabbetts.

Motivation and Employee Engagement in the 21st Century: A Survey of Management Views - September 2009 by Viki Holton, Fiona Dent and Jan Rabbetts

ABOUT THE AUTHORSFiona Dent is Director of Executive Education, Viki Holton is Principal Researcher and Jan Rabbetts is an Associate at Ashridge Business School in the UK. www.ashridge.org.uk


Managing in the Next Society

The current global crisis has triggered the question of whether management is the problem rather then the solution to the challenges of the 21st century. Richard Straub outlines the issues

Peter F Drucker’s book Managing in the Next Society was published in 2002 – three years before his death. The title makes one of the fundamental connections that Peter Drucker emphasised during his long life as teacher, writer and consultant: management is deeply rooted in society.

A crisis of managementDrucker called management a “social technology” and referred to himself as a “social ecologist”, meaning someone who watches and understands the man-made environment of modern societies. This environment is made up of institutions and organisations that need highly skilled people called “managers”, who achieve their objectives with others and through others.

Thus management becomes a generic function in modern societies – not only for business but also for government, education and civil society. As decision makers, managers wield significant power and influence. Their choices have direct impact on people’s lives. This means responsibility and accountability.

The current crisis may be perceived as a crisis of management.

It marks the culminating point in a process of increasing disenchantment with business leaders, who are considered the ultimate culprits. In a 2008 Gallup poll on honesty and ethics among workers in 21 different professions a mere 12 % of respondents felt business executives had high/very high integrity – an all-time low. Even within companies the esteem

35EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Managing in the Next Society by Richard Straub

Peter Drucker The Ecological Vision: Reflections on the American Condition

Management and managers are the central resource, the generic, distinctive, the constitutive organ of society…What managers are doing is therefore a public concern

12%In a 2008 Gallup poll on honesty and ethics among workers in 21 different professions a mere 12 % of respondents felt business executives had high/very high integrity

for management is at a low point. In a recent study about happiness economist Richard Layard showed that the boss came last among people that employees would want to interact with.

It is obvious that the excesses in global finance have further tainted the reputation of management as a profession. Yet those who rightly condemn the management of financial services institutions tend to forget that management is a vital profession, permeating all institutions of our society. There is no alternative to “management”

As Peter Drucker put it in his 1993 book The Ecological Vision: Reflections on the American Condition: “Management and managers are the central resource, the generic, distinctive, the constitutive

organ of society…and the very survival of society is dependent on the performance, the competence, the earnestness and the values of their managers…What managers are doing is therefore a public concern”.

Can corporate management redeem itself from a public perception of greed and shortsightedness? Is there credibility to achieve what Lynda Gratton, a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, has postulated – to put people at the heart of the corporate purpose? (Living Strategy, Prentice Hall 2000)

Or are there new role models emerging from the world-leading small and medium enterprises as described by Hermann Simon in his book Hidden Champions of the 21st Century?


A moment of truthThe combination of widening budget deficits, an aging population and increasing competition from emerging markets is set to exacerbate the imbalances in public finances in developed nations around the world. There are no easy answers – pure belt-tightening might have a huge social cost. Achieving significant growth seems to be the only alternative.

Craig Barrett, former CEO and Chairman of Intel, has formulated it like this: We cannot save our way out of the crisis, we must innovate it!

Yet it is more than innovation in products and services. Innovation needs to comprise business models, organisation processes, public private partnerships, government services and the social sector. Ultimately we will have to innovate innovation itself. A combination of productivity increases and incremental and game-changing innovation will be the ingredients for growth and future prosperity. The time may also be over where we the West were the hub of the world for understanding and managing innovation. As the late and much missed C K Parahalad has demonstrated in his influential book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, new ways of innovating are being created in emerging nations that might revolutionise innovation in the developed world. In the recent special report on innovation in emerging markets in The Economist Adrian Wooldridge provides impressive indications for a rapid shift in the centre of gravity for innovation in a world turned upside down.

What might be called “Innovation 3.0” must include system-level transformation taking into account the increasing interdependence and complexity of companies, economies and social systems. Innovation 3.0 is not just a quest for competitive advantage by individual institutions, a strategy game or sand table exercise for business and policy makers – it is the lifeline for 21st century society.

Hence, this is the moment of truth for management. Transformation, managing and accompanying profound change in organisations and reinventing the institutions of our society is an unprecedented challenge. Will this require reinventing management itself as postulated by a recent book from Julian Birkinshaw (Reinventing Management, Smarter Choices for Getting Work Done, Jossey Bass, 2009)? Or does it mean – as Fredmund Malik would argue – to finally apply the fundamentals of management as established by Peter Drucker and other great management thinkers (Führen Leisten Leben, Campus 2006)?

Challenges and opportunitiesCan it be done? Is there a realistic chance to make the 21st century an age of pervasive and systemic innovation and of deep transformation? Will we be able to manage both continuity and change to avoid a catastrophic system crash? Where are the opportunities and how realistic is it to assume we can make this work?

In his prescient way Professor Drucker pointed in the 1960s to the rise of the knowledge worker and knowledge becoming the key resource in a post-capitalist society.

The underlying social challenge is to avoid yet another divide – the knowledge divide between those who can participate in the creative economy and those who are excluded


With an ambiguous and vaguely defined precautionary principle there is a capacity to stop innovation under the banner of a zero-risk policy

With some 30% of the population in developed economies dealing with knowledge in non-routine and creative ways there is still a huge untapped potential for increasing this pool. This is the big challenge for the education system – increasing the quantity of people benefitting from advanced education and improving quality and relevance at the same time.

The underlying social challenge is to avoid yet another divide – the knowledge divide between those who can participate in the creative economy and those who are excluded.

The first and foremost challenge relating to knowledge work in modern organisations will be the liberation of latent creative and innovative potential. The level of autonomy required by knowledge workers is in stark contrast to the reality in most organisations that still use bureaucratic top-down approaches. However, with knowledge workers connecting in professional and scientific communities beyond the enterprise there is an enormous intellectual and creative pool emerging.

The so-called demographic time bomb is one of the big threats and opportunities as we move into the 21st century. Peter Drucker has pointed to the absurdity of applying the current pension philosophy to knowledge workers and thus invalidating their intellectual and social capital at a pre-defined date. This is a colossal waste, particularly at a time where state pension deficits are soaring while all hands – or rather all brains – are badly needed on deck. This exemplifies well the

profound systemic changes required in regulatory frameworks, flexible work arrangements, life planning, work ethics, lifelong learning and a culture where generations re-learn to care for each other.

The slowness and inertia that resist change are a major obstacle to confront. Business has been struggling to become more nimble under the pressure of unforgiving markets – in particular with regard to a big increase of volatility and complexity during the last decades. Will those who act outside market conditions be able to change their culture and to adopt similar approaches?

Yves Doz and Mikko Kosonen in their book Fast Strategy (Wharton School Publishing 2008) have analysed how companies achieved what they called “strategic agility” – putting them in a position to take advantage of change and disruption. How can this be applied to public services, education and non-profit organisations?

There is another major challenge to deal with – it is the assessment of risk in today’s society. With an ambiguous and vaguely defined precautionary principle there is a capacity to stop innovation under the banner of a zero-risk policy. This principle has been imposed with a vengeance to parts of the “real” economy. However, it has been virtually ignored in the financial services sector, where toxic innovation created huge environmental damage – to humans, who are also part of the habitat of our planet. To re-inject some sound business judgement and more commonsense in this field may be something to consider.

Managing in the Next Society by Richard Straub


FURTHER INFORMATION

The Global Peter Drucker Forum 2010 in Vienna on November 18 and 19 will focus on many of the issues raised in this article. www.druckersociety.at

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Straub is Director of Development at EFMD and President of the Drucker Society Europe.

Today, information and communication technology (ICT) pervades all fields of our lives and has already had a deep impact on business and society. With new architectures such as “cloud computing” we should get to the point where it becomes a true utility and enabler for innovation. It has the potential to make us much “smarter” in dealing with our environment, with our institutions and with each other.

ICT provides us only with tools and infrastructures. By applying the “social technology” called management we can create value from technology based solutions such as intelligent cities, smart grids, cost-effective social services, personalised health care and telemedicine, technology enhanced learning and new open innovation approaches.

There is significant experience and a considerable body of knowledge from business research and education that managers can draw on. However, a reorientation of academic institutions towards practical relevance without giving up scientific rigour should be of high priority along with adequate funding schemes for management research that have been provided only for “hard” technology oriented research so far.

Another silver lining is the new generation of people arriving in the workplace. For them purpose and meaning are of the foremost importance. They tend to look at the bigger context. As digital natives they are interacting with technology in a natural way. With a strong sense of ownership for their pesonal development they seem to have significant entrepreneurial genes in their DNA. These attitudes will be essential in a society that will have to become more entrepreneurial to sustain itself.

As the American magazine Business Week pointed out in June 2009, innovation performance as a driver of economic growth was not brilliant in the last decade. The bubble economy may have resulted from insufficient innovation in the “real” economy. Now there is a realistic chance that some new technologies will at last achieve breakthroughs and create new growth industries – such as miniaturised silicon-based machines (MEMS), biotech, alternative energy and tissue engineering.

Even so, much will depend in the 21st century on our progress in non-technological innovation with deep changes in how companies operate and how society functions.

John Kao in Innovation Nation (Free Press 2007) defines innovation as the ability of individuals, companies and entire nations continuously to create their desired future. Matthias Horx has recently launched a call to action in his “creative manifesto” (Das Buch des Wandels, DVA 2009) to all those who are passionate about creating a new society in an evolutionary and peaceful manner.

This is perfectly in line with Professor Drucker’s famous quote: “The best way to predict the future is to create it”, which summarises well the challenge for management in the next society.

Much will depend in the 21st century on our progress in non-technological innovation with deep changes in how companies operate and how society functions


K N O W L E D G E I N N O V A T I O N C R E A T I V I T Yat the heart of the next society.

M A N A G E M E N Tas a Key roLe.

«the Best Way to predict the future is to create it» Peter F. Drucker

confirMed speaKers incLude

> Lynda Gratton> Matthias horx

> andreW Keen> peter LoranGe

> JuLian BirKinshaW

W W W . d r u c K e r s o c i e t y . a t

M A N A G I N G I N T H E N E X T S O C I E T Y

>Join us at pdf_1o in Vienna

PETER drucKer foruM2O1OV i e n n a - a u s t r i a

18-19/11


The postmodern MBA

41EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010The postmodern MBA: Breaking the glass ceiling by Jopie Coetzee

Jopie Coetzee suggests how a reinvigorated MBA could become a central partof a new inclusive world order

The world’s premier management qualification, the MBA, has become a victim of its own success – stuck below a glass ceiling.

Why, when the MBA has had such phenomenal success following its transition from a pre-modern to a modern qualification in the 1950s, is it in this predicament? Simple. The pace of change in the global business environment has outpaced changes to the MBA.

The Economist magazine compares today’s geo-political and socio-economic forces with the Industrial Revolution of 200 years ago in the way they are shaping a new world. Except that two centuries ago only a third of the global population was affected; today nearly the entire population of the world will be.

Business schools initially responded to this tsunami of global change with incremental adjustments to the MBA curriculum, introducing subjects such as international business, ethics, governance and sustainability.

Today’s economic crisis is a stark reminder that the point of diminishing returns has been reached in attempting to make an outdated educational paradigm fit-for-purpose through small curriculum changes. But business schools continue to deliver this re-jigged MBA successfully – sadly a case of implementing the wrong strategy very effectively.

If the MBA is to reposition itself as the leading management qualification in a new world order, the glass ceiling needs to be broken to let in higher modes of thought – the domain of the postmodern MBA.

The glass ceiling is MBA curriculum designers’ inability to answer (or fear of answering) the calls for change made by eminent scholars over the past 20 years.

The questions they were asking included: What is the role of management and business in society? What is a business for? What is the end-purpose of a firm’s vision? What global scenario contextualises the firm’s vision? What dominant logic is required to eradicate poverty at the bottom of the human pyramid? Why have business schools failed themselves and society?

If the MBA is to reposition itself as the leading management qualification in a new world order, the glass ceiling needs to be broken to let in higher modes of thought


These visionary questions from academia are underpinned by similar voices from business, societal and political leaders that fly in the face of today’s MBA educational paradigm:

In January 2009, President Barack Obama said in his Inauguration speech that the current state of the global economy is “a consequence of greed and irresponsibility...and a failure to make hard choices”.

In September 2008, Ban Ki-moon, addressing leaders from business, government and civil society at the first UN Private Sector Forum, said “markets can flourish only in societies that are healthy; and societies need healthy markets to flourish”.

In July 2008, at World Youth Day in Sydney, Pope Benedictus VXI said that insatiable consumerism [fuelled by irresponsible marketing] was driving global warming and ecological degradation and destroying human values – a poison that corrodes what is good.

In January 2008, Bill Gates addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos on “creative capitalism” that works both to generate profits and to solve the world’s inequalities.

Muhammad Yunus (chairman of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh) received the 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace for “his efforts to create economic and social development from below”.

It is against this background that it becomes clear that global leaders and thinkers are envisioning and working towards a new world order – radically different to today’s world of destructive globalisation. Consequently, the time has come for another fundamental shift in the evolution of the MBA - the transition of the MBA from a modern to a postmodern qualification.

Instead of joining the choir of voices calling for change, my research asked what are the implications of them for the education of business leaders. The voices were calling for change – but change towards what?

For a paradigm-busting research methodology, I had to reach outside the traditional domain of business research towards metasynthesis, critical management research and philosophy. From this a sample of global business, societal and political leaders from rich countries (representing some 50% of global wealth) and BRICS-countries (representing some 50% of global population) was selected. The control sample was all Nobel Laureates over the past ten years.

The time has come for another fundamental shift in the evolution of the MBA - the transition of the MBA from a modern to a postmodern qualification

Among the 145 global leaders selected were Jorma Ollila and Stephen Green (chairmen of Royal Dutch Shell and HSBC respectively), Jose Barroso (President of the European Union) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva (2007 Nobel Laureate for Peace, together with Al Gore). Also included were management gurus such a Peter Drucker, C K Prahalad, Charles Handy and Sumantra Ghoshal.

The wisdoms of these global icons have been synthesised and constructed into a Socratic dialogue as an End-purpose Statement of Visions, which reads as follows:

Society aspires to a world of inclusive globalisation (that global scenario where humankind’s broad security is assured and where extreme poverty has been eradicated); requiring a society that finds its greatness in protecting both its humanity and its economy as a whole; requiring world-class businesses, financially robust across business cycles, with global stewardship as the dominant business logic; requiring global business leaders with an ability to envision the world of inclusive globalisation and then to lead thereto in an entrepreneurial and path-breaking manner exerting leadership qualities associated with the Golden Rule of Humanity (that is, love for and reaching out to one’s neighbour as enshrined in all the great religions and ethical traditions of the world).

This collective answer provides five pillars of wisdom upon which the postmodern MBA may be constructed:

1. It is aligned with the End-purpose Statement of Visions

2. It is aligned with the knowledge, values and aspirations of Western, Southern and Eastern societies; it transcends all boundaries between humanity

3. It requires two extraordinary pedagogical challenges as prerequisites for business leadership education, namely: to cultivate a global mindset competence passionately oriented towards a world of inclusive globalisation; and to develop a mindset competence able to reason critically and holistically using qualitative and quantitative methods as well as philosophical enquiry in decision making to advance the cause of good for all stakeholders

4. It requires entrepreneurial and path-breaking leadership in the turnaround to a world of inclusive globalisation


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Jopie Coetzee has taught Strategic International Business at the University of South Africa since 2002. He has 30 years of global management experience and has worked in 25 countries on five continents on global strategy development and implementation. He is the author of A social contract with business as the basis for a postmodern MBA in a world of inclusive globalisation – a critical metasynthesis ISBN: 1 - 59942 - 290 - 5http://www.dissertation.com/book .php?method=ISBN&book=1599422905

www.jopiecoetzee.co.za

145For this research a sample of 145 global business, societal and political leaders from rich countries and BRICS-countries were selected

Criterion From today’s MBA To the postmodern MBA

Premise Business is stand-alone Business is an organ of society

Business is the whole Business is an element of the whole

Business leadership to participate in the planetary turnaround from destructive to inclusive globalisation

Economic delivery system Capitalism Economic conservationism

Quarterly results Intergenerational results

Mindset Self interest, greed, narcism Golden Rule of Humanity bellicosity, irresponsibility Global stewardship

Raison d’être of business Supply goods and services The Social Contract with Business

Business vision Value to shareholders Value to stakeholders

End-purpose of business vision More value to shareholders To contribute to a society that finds its greatness in protecting its humanity and economy as a whole

Business scope Top end of human pyramid Straddling the entire human pyramid (Consisting of ~30% of humankind)

Canon of knowledge Western-based Global-based (Western, Eastern, Southern)

Levels of MBA canon of knowledge Philosophy, critical reasoning, holism

The glass ceiling

Business science Business science

Business experience Business experience

Output Homo economicus Meaningful business leadership (a rational self-interest maximiser)

5. It uses a Social Contract with Business to guide and inspire business leaders towards delivering on eight responsibility domains, which together constitute global stewardship as the dominant business logic – the only guarantee of a sustained stable business environment and thus a solid business case. The eight responsibility domains are mutually supportive and require collaboration with political and societal leaders (see Figure 1)

The overall outcome of the postmodern MBA is a graduate who can turn any business around from a path of destructive globalisation to a path of inclusive globalisation.

For this to happen, the MBA’s glass ceiling needs to be broken to embrace a new educational context as outlined in the table above. With its flexible pedagogical approach, the postmodern MBA can be delivered either as a full MBA, an Executive MBA or as the basis for a continuing business leadership development programme.

The postmodern MBA stands ready for implementation as a gift to future generations.

Figure 1: The Social Contract with Business Global stewardship's eight responsibility domains

The Earth: Co-guardian of its ability sustain life

Environmentally friendly towards the firm's direct environment

Co-protecting the global commons

Business: To become financially robust across business cycles

Society: Co-trustee of its rights, values

and aspirations

Co-countering the global underworld ( third largest economy)

Politics: Co-implementer of policies on a local, regional

and global level

Co-upholding democracy

and the free market

The postmodern MBA: Breaking the glass ceiling by Jopie Coetzee


A recent EFMD Sharing Best Practice CLIP Workshop focused on how to engage professionals in the learning value chain. Andrew Rutsch presents some of the insights that emerged

Chain reactionUsing a company’s best and brightest to teach the rest

Teaching organisations rely on alignment through dialogue, not authority, so learning can occur at all levels of the organisation

45EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Chain reaction: Using a company’s best and brightest to teach the rest by Andrew Rutsch

A key success factor for learning and development (L&D) organisations to maximise the business impact of workplace learning is engaging non-learning clients from the business, within or outside the company, in all key phases of the learning value chain.

This implies collaborating with the business end-to-end, from relationship building, consulting on and contracting learning to design, delivery and evaluation.

Involving non-learning professionals in a way that drives learning within the enterprise in a faster and more strategic way than its competitors, may be the only competitive advantage.

Noel Tichy, creator of seminal accounts such as The Leadership Engine (1997), The Teaching Organization (1998) and Cycle of Leadership (2002), asserts that this can be achieved by creating a teaching organisation, leveraging leaders and professionals as teachers, and moving beyond a learning organisation. He argues that teaching organisations are more agile and better at designing and implementing strategies.

Both concepts aim at everyone continually acquiring new knowledge and skills. But a teaching organisation requires that everyone pass his or her learning on to others. They rely on alignment through dialogue, not authority, so learning can occur at all levels of the organisation and leaders simultaneously learn while teaching others.

The most recent EFMD Sharing Best Practice CLIP Workshop, hosted by Capgemini in March 2010 at its

Learning Campus “Les Fontaines” near Paris, brought together leading international companies to explore and discuss how to engage non-learning professionals in learning.

Capgemini, Swiss Re and Volkswagen, all CLIP accredited organisations, highlighted their best practices. Common areas of interest were explored and discussed in work sessions.

So is it an easy job to engage people from the business in learning activities? No, but the benefits are argued to outweigh the efforts.

This article discusses the practices of the three presenting companies and workshop insights in light of how Edward Betof, author of Leaders as Teachers (2009), proposes firms might go about using their best and brightest leaders and professionals as teachers, coaches and contributors to learning programmes and, more broadly, to organisational learning.

In his book, he describes how he helped transform Becton, Dickinson & Company (BD), a global medical technology company in a changing external environment, into a great place to work by implementing a leaders-as-teachers programme and establishing BD University (BDU).

BDU is perceived as best-in-class with recognition as such from Fortune magazine, ASTD and Corporate University Xchange. Betof suggests four ways to engage leaders and professionals in learning activities:


1. Identifying learning needs and learning solution design

One firm is engaging with its business leaders and subject matter experts to enhance its governance model. A University Board sets the strategic direction, Business Unit Councils drive and contract the learning demand, and a Curriculum Board and Curriculum Council develop and maintain the learning content. Business sponsors and global content owners ensure the continuous relevance of curricula.

A key role is also played by University Facilitators, a pool of 500 executives and professionals from the business, in needs analysis and learning design. Further, an end-to-end core process, the University Learning Framework, ensures that non-learning people are involved in each step of the learning value chain. That way, the business owns the learning while the corporate university acts as facilitator.

The second company leverages its line managers’ and executive board members’ passion for the development of future leaders to drive business results. Its talent development organisation prepares and develops talent with upwards potential to take over managing director positions.

To do that it has designed a pool programme including a development centre and action learning projects with the results presented to the executive board by the participants. Top line managers are involved in the design of the learning activities and selecting and sponsoring business challenges. One example was a project developing a new green energy product to work on as a means of developing both the individual and the organisation.

For that, it broadens their technical expertise using champions, the best and the brightest practitioners, from the bottom of the organisation. It has implemented professional families ranging from product development and engineering to marketing and auditing that are responsible for the company’s excellence in their areas of expertise.

Each professional family is overseen by an executive board member and includes four personnel categories – top people, experts, specialists and career entrants.

2. Live teaching and teaching through the use of media and technology

All companies engage their leaders and professionals in teaching and learning programmes, be it in a classroom setting, blended learning formats or technology enhanced through videos, wikis, blogs and the like.

For example, one company uses its business leaders to interact with programme participants as facilitators and coaches. These are leaders from within the company such as department heads or the senior executives in charge of risk management or from the outside such as non-governmental organisations and public administrations.

Internal leaders are willing to engage as they get an opportunity to receive new business ideas, acquire fresh perspectives on their daily work and spot talent as well as having the opportunity to interact with emerging leaders they might wish to work with in the future.

Another enterprise is driving a variety of innovative ways of motivating learning across the enterprise and qualifying its workforce. Examples include practice workshops facilitated by practitioners, qualification action plans fostering knowledge exchange between departments and country organisations driven by professionals, training “from experts for experts” where subject matter experts demonstrate skills to colleagues, and a mentor system where skilled workers look after their junior colleagues.

In this way, non-learning professionals engage from the bottom-up in learning activities so their colleagues can easily tap on their wealth of expertise, which helps to facilitate the swift dissemination of key knowledge.

The third company leverages its University Facilitators Initiative across four levels – University Faculty, University Qualified Facilitator, Facilitator, Facilitator in Training – complemented by the involvement of business executives to facilitate learning programmes and activities.

Internal leaders are willing to engage as they get an opportunity to receive new business ideas and acquire fresh perspectives on their daily work


3. Pre-programme and post-programme teaching and coaching

All three firms use business leaders and professionals prior to and after their learning programmes and activities to reinforce and drive application and learning impact.

For example, one firm’s heavy use of practitioners from the bottom of the organisation enables it to foster networks that facilitate learning beyond the actual learning event.

Having the best and brightest people from across the organisation leading and facilitating learning plays a key role post-event in clarifying questions, helping with follow-up actions and being available to provide guidance in daily work

The corporate university of one company uses senior executives for its Business Priority Weeks. These are mobilisation events focused on strategic business priorities prior to the learning programmes.

They allow facilitators to engage effectively with programme participants prior to the learning sessions to provide the strategic context, set expectations and increase their awareness of the learning content.

Post-event, its action orientation and heavy focus on networking contributes to people continuing to engage with teaching leaders and professionals after the learning experience.

At the third company, the talent function’s programme also capitalises on a blended learning design. The process involves an entry procedure with a 360° interview, structured development over two years through a mix of formal leadership training, action learning projects and tailored development actions such as mentoring or job rotation.

There is also an “exiting” procedure for alumni through an interview and special focus during talent reviews so the company can continue to build on their potential should promotion opportunities arise.

As a result, business leaders are engaged along the overall process – before, during and after learning activities – to take active roles in facilitating, coaching and mentoring.

4. Recruiting, training, coaching and mentoring leader-teachers

All three companies are undertaking efforts to recruit, incentivise and engage business leaders and professionals in teaching and learning activities.

One company deliberately caters to the organisational interests of its business leaders – task/job, personal and career – in its communication and promotion to attract sufficient numbers of leaders able to take on facilitator, coaching and mentoring roles.

It engages them in discussions on how to move the company to a higher level using learning activities. It promotes the added value of their contribution to their daily work, reinforcing the benefits from a career perspective. And it stresses how the activity supports personal values such as meeting unconventional, young professionals, helping talents to grow or contributing to something meaningful.

The second enterprise has put in place a tough personal development process for building professional competence that creates strong demand for the different learning activities.

The corporate university of the third company has put in place a competency framework rating the four facilitator levels on competency areas.

This article has tried to shed light on how L&D organisations might go about using their best and brightest leaders and professionals as teachers, coaches and contributors to learning programmes and organisational learning.

Interestingly, it seems there is and increasing shift towards capitalising on practitioners, from both the top and bottom of organisations to engage in learning activities, with the L&D organisation acting as the overall process facilitator.

In a time of uncertainty and increasing need to act swiftly and responsively to market trends, companies would be well advised to tap the wealth of knowledge and expertise of their own people, and especially to leverage those that understand market and client needs best.

Chain reaction: Using a company’s best and brightest to teach the rest by Andrew Rutsch

ABOUT THE AUTHORAndrew Rutsch is Program Director Corporate Learning Improvement at Capgemini University


We have all heard of project management. Many imagine it as some loosely defined or ethereal function that bridges across multiple departments and is useful especially in IT or other operations of a company. Many believe that it is also useful in a crisis but perhaps not important on an ongoing basis.

However, project management has over the last few decades emerged as a much more important business competency. In fact it is a discipline that companies cannot do without. If implemented correctly it becomes one of the key factors in corporate sustainability for success.

Project management embraces not only the management and execution of individual projects but also programmes of projects and portfolios of strategic initiatives. It is project, programme and portfolio (PPP) management.

PPP management has become a strategic imperative for companies, helping not only in the ability to deliver strategy

Why project management matters

Ed Andrews argues that project management is the key to sustainable success

49EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Why project management matters by Ed Andrews

in a timely and cost-effective manner but, as importantly, to choose those projects that most strongly support the strategic intent of an organisation.

It is a feedback mechanism that allows companies to begin projects with a set of assumptions and to be able to quickly discern whether the expected outcomes will be met. If not, then it provides the mechanisms to quickly alter the project so as to achieve a successful conclusion or, alternatively, to end it without further expenditure.

It might sound odd to use project management to kill projects. But consider, for example, that you are in the pharmaceutical industry where you will funnel a large number of potential products through a sieve, hoping to find the one or two that will be winners. The sooner you can finish that winnowing process and eliminate the losers, the less money, resources and time will be spent.

If the correct implementation of project management has value to organisations we ought to be able to simply begin using it and reap the successes that it will bring. But can we?

Well, there is a problem that first needs to be addressed. It deals with the fact that project management is growing so fast and is so increasingly recognised as an imperative for organisations that there is a rising gap in the supply of and demand for project managers.

Global skills deficienciesOver the last year the Project Management Institute (PMI) has sponsored a number of research projects looking at the kinds of skills that industry needs and at the growing gap in the supply of and demand for project managers.

Research with the Economist Intelligence Unit, part of The Economist group, surveyed 600 senior executives globally and found that 95% agreed that certain leadership skills were necessary for the success of their operations. However, 75% also agreed that new recruits lacked the skills that they needed. The study detailed those skills by defining leadership, communication, agility, critical thinking and motivational capabilities as essential for success. Specifically one question in the survey said it all: Over the next five years, which of the following skills will be most important to your company’s success?

Project management is growing so fast and is so increasingly recognised as an imperative for organisations that there is a rising gap in the supply of and demand for project managers

75%75% of Senior Executives asked agreed that new recruits lacked the skills they needed for the role of project manager in industry


The answers, detailed in Figure 1, are all, essentially, project management skills.

PMI also completed in 2008 and 2009 a series of three corporate-academic workshops in America and Europe exploring the talent issues facing companies. One of these, in Brussels, was a joint seminar with EFMD.

The workshops validated the corporate survey and have even suggested that project management is a life skill, one that should be taught at the earliest educational levels regardless of an individual’s functional focus, whether it is business, science, engineering or social studies.

The business literature is rife with concerns about current MBA programmes where new graduates can readily analyse a financial situation or model an equation but have no skills in actual execution. Clearly there is a significant gap in what is being taught in educational institutions today and what the corporate world and government agencies truly need for organisational success.

A total of 75 executives and academic leaders, primarily deans and department heads, attended the three workshops. The findings were telling in several ways and are summarised into three categories:

What can academe do?

Make project management part of the core (undergraduate) curriculum (especially in business and engineering)

Create advanced (masters) project management programmes or minors/concentrations/certificates in project management

Embrace linkages with the corporate world and the need for leadership skills

Conduct research in project management

Benchmark best practices in project management

Validate the value of project management

Prepare case studies of project management successes

What can corporations/government agencies do?

Work closely with academe in structuring course content/programmes

Provide access to facilities, personnel and data for academic researchers

Provide executives opportunities to be adjunct lecturers (real-world experience)

What can PMI do?

Be the liaison between academe and industry/government

Facilitate/mentor project management course/programme development

Set quality standards for project management degree programmes

Provide resources and support for academe and students

Facilitate acquisition/training of project management faculty

Supply-demand gap In addition to the skills deficiencies there is an actual supply-demand gap in project management. This gap is the result of a number of issues all colliding at the same time.

First, project management is a relatively young profession, having formalised itself only in the 1960s. The result is that many of those in the profession are reaching retirement age. The baby boomer retirement onslaught has governments globally concerned about who will fill the shoes of these experienced and talented individuals. Figure 2 demonstrates this concern with data from the US General Accounting Office (GAO).

In addition, World Bank data on Gross Fixed Capital Formation, by its own definition large infrastructural projects such as highways, hospitals, schools and so on, show that of the global GDP, that is the world’s economic worth, 20% or $7.5 trillion is related to projects And these figures do not capture the additional trillions of dollars of private investment by companies in new product development, plant refurbishment and so on, all of which are projects. The real number on a global basis is likely to be US$12 trillion, closer to one-third of the world’s GDP.

So what we now have is a situation where projects are increasing globally, all requiring more and more project managers, but where experienced project managers are retiring.

So where are the new project managers going to come from? Naturally one would expect the academic world to heed this clarion call and rise to the occasion by creating more and more project management programmes. However, that is not exactly the case.

To be fair, there has been a steady increase in project management courses and degree programmes at universities and colleges globally. In fact in 1997 there were only 11 such programmes recognised whereas today there are well over 3,000 institutions teaching project management at one level or another.

Yet despite that growth there is still nowhere near the number of degree programmes necessary to satisfy the growing gap in the supply-demand of project managers.

The role of the corporationIf corporations truly understand the self-interest of assuring their continued success, then they have a huge opportunity, perhaps even a mandate, to work


ABOUT THE AUTHORDr Edwin J Andrews is Director, Academic and Educational Programs and Services at the Project Management Institute ([email protected])

with academe to affect the necessary change in teaching programmes.

Academe has been maligned as an isolationist ivory tower reticent to change. Yet when business and global needs demand, academe will accommodate. But industry and governments must speak to that need, must encourage and, more importantly, work with academe to solve the problem.

Virtually every corporation and government agency has an association or alliance with an academic institution. If each took the time to discuss the issue of their needs seriously with academe, there could be a dramatic increase in meaningful programmes in project management.

But it is more than a matter of merely convincing academe of the need; industry must also be willing to assist in a variety of ways. Certainly, financial assistance would be important in establishing programmes or courses but so would the willingness to provide experienced leaders and experts to teach in these programmes and the willingness to lobby for increased government funding for such programmes.

Industry can also assist academe by allowing access to data for research. The singular issue with business research is access to organisations for data. A trust relationship needs to be established between academe and industry at the local level. The benefits back to industry are apparent – a recruitment pipeline, a secure consulting channel with academe and the knowledge that the proper skills to satisfy corporate needs are being taught.

Clearly there is a role for the private sector, a role that it must proactively accept.

Some of this is already happening. Many corporate-academic partnerships have proved successful. But they are few and far between. Nevertheless, if a small percentage of companies seriously took the opportunity to focus on their self-interest, their corporate responsibility for success, we would see a marked increase in project management courses and programmes globally. By adding project management courses and eventually full-degree programmes in project management to existing academic offerings, universities and colleges are guaranteeing a steady supply of qualified recruits for the corporate and government sectors.

The intellectual fabric of academe can only be enriched by addressing the growing corporate and government agency need. The opportunity is there for the taking, simply by embracing project management, the key to corporate sustainability of success in times of economic turmoil.

Why project management matters by Ed Andrews

Figure 1 Over the next five years, which of the following skills will be most important to your company’s success?From: Measuring and improving staff performance. 2008 Global study of executives in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Figure 2 Retirement-Age Employees in US Government (%)Senate testimony by GAO, April 30, 2008

We now have a situation where projects are increasing globally, but where experienced project managers are retiring

34%Execution skills

25%Adaptability

21%Project risk identification and mitigation skills

18%Communication skills

18%Planning skills

14%Organisational skills

14%Motivational skills

13%Team building skills

12%Interpersonal skills

10%Analytic skills

2%Other, please specify

1%Don’t know

0 10 20 30 40 50

Employees

Supervisors

Executives

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012


Bentley University describes itself a university within a business school. Bob Galliers and Bill Wiggins describe what this means and the implications and benefits of gaining EQUIS accreditation

When is a business school

a university?

53EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010When is a business school a university? by Bob Galliers and Bill Wiggins

The first business school within a traditional university in America was established at the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) in 1881. Following this model, business schools within traditional universities were established at institutions such as Dartmouth, Harvard and New York University.

One of the distinguishing aspects of these early business programmes was the requirement that students be “liberally” educated.

For example, the College of Commerce and Administration at the University of Chicago required its business students to study history, Latin, a modern foreign language, English, mathematics and physics.

So, from the beginning, students studying business at business schools housed within traditional universities were expected to have exposure to or direct coursework in those disciplines generally associated with a “liberal” education. This tradition continues to be a part of the learning experience of students studying in American business schools today, particularly at the undergraduate level.

Some stand-alone European business schools take a similar approach. For example, Copenhagen Business School has a Department of International Culture and Communication Studies and a Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy.

At Bentley University, near Boston, however, the concept is of a university within a business school. How does this differ from the traditional models? And why did we believe that pursuing EQUIS accreditation was an integral part of making the business university concept a reality?

First, as a free-standing business university offering degrees at all levels, Bentley has one “unified faculty” rather than separate faculties in the arts, sciences, business and so forth. While such a structure may seem likely to stimulate and encourage trans-disciplinary research, very little research was actually being undertaken that spanned departmental boundaries until we provided internal seed funding.

We established just one criterion (other than quality requirements): research teams had to comprise a member from at least two departments. The results were immediate and quite spectacular, with research collaboration being spawned across departments.

We believe that pursuing EQUIS accreditation was an integral part of making the business university concept a reality


Supporting trans-disciplinary research had a benefit beyond collaborative research projects. It encouraged faculty to consider new ways of challenging students to uncover the treasure that resides at the margins of the disciplines and to discover new knowledge that surfaces only when searching for the tunnels that connect what may be seen as widely distinct fields of study such as philosophy and accountancy.

As an example, Bentley’s “Complex Problems, Creative Solutions” series of 12 undergraduate courses brings together problem-related perspectives from such apparently disparate fields as philosophy, history, accountancy, finance, management and the natural sciences.

Working together, faculty members develop thematic areas of enquiry that they use in each of their courses to help students search for solutions by exploring precepts, theories and practices from the different disciplines.

Bentley is able to deliver this type of high-level collaborative experience to its students because of its structure as a university within a business school. Faculty members from the arts and sciences and business are not constrained by the artificial walls of discipline-specific silos – a problem that so often confronts business schools within traditional universities or the stand-alone variety.

If Bentley is to succeed in ensuring that its graduates excel in complex and dynamic environments through their capacity to initiate, lead and effect value-creating change, then our curriculum has to provide them with the tools to do so.

They need to understand the global context in which business is undertaken. And that requires a deep understanding of societal, political and cultural nuances – issues that the liberal arts have dealt with over the centuries.

This is where the thought of pursuing EQUIS accreditation emerged. If we were to be global in our outlook; if we were to test our thinking moving forward and our accomplishments to date; if we were to do so in an international context; if we were to learn in the process, then what better mechanism was there?

Others have talked about the role that EQUIS has played in their school’s development and everyone seems to agree that the very process is of prime importance: both the self-assessment element as well as the peer review.


In addition, however, and if we were to be true to our belief in the business university model, we decided that the whole of Bentley –arts and sciences as well as business – should be the subject of EQUIS accreditation. Fortunately, our peer review team and the EQUIS Awarding Body agreed.

In deciding to pursue EQUIS accreditation, what were the challenges faced by Bentley, particularly from the perspective of being located in America where AACSB International is the dominant accreditation body for business schools?

The first challenge was to convince our internal stakeholders that pursuing EQUIS accreditation was an integral part of achieving recognition as a major international business university. We had to answer the question: “Why isn’t AACSB accreditation enough?”

Next, we had to rethink the process of preparing our self-assessment report. Because both AACSB and our regional accreditation body (The New England Association of Schools and Colleges) do not have accreditation standards focusing directly on internationalisation or corporate connections, we did not have internal systems in place for tracking these kinds of data on a regular and consistent basis.

We also needed to convince our peer review team as well as the EQUIS Awarding Body that our faculty, research, programmes and students were sufficiently international in their depth and breadth.

What benefits have been realised by achieving EQUIS accreditation? Stated simply, there are many.

For example, in a very short time, EQUIS accreditation helped propel Bentley’s stature as an excellent business school to that of an internationally recognised business university.

And internally we have witnessed a marked increase in the productivity of our faculty in publishing in top-tier international journals and in presenting their work at prestigious international conferences.

We have also observed an undeniable shift in the culture on campus. In the early days of developing the business university concept, some of our internal and external stakeholders questioned the need to pursue an international agenda. Today, Bentley has a strong international outlook, enjoying the benefits of the company of elite business schools holding EQUIS accreditation.

EQUIS accreditation helped propel Bentley’s stature as an excellent business school to that of an internationally recognised business university

When is a business school a university? by Bob Galliers and Bill Wiggins

ABOUT THE AUTHORSBob Galliers is Bentley’s inaugural University Distinguished Professor, appointed in July 2009. During the previous seven years he was Provost.

Bill Wiggins has served as Associate Dean at Bentley since 2004. He co-ordinated Bentley’s EQUIS Self Assessment Report prior to EQUIS accreditation being awarded in June 2008.


Peter McKiernan outlines the progress being made in building a community of research leaders in European business and management schools

European research in business and management is both rich and eclectic.

Its richness is manifest in continent-wide initiatives involving major social science centres that have a penetrating impact at the practical and policy levels. Its eclectic nature provides a tolerance of varied methods, methodologies and philosophies in the conduct and process that leads to these highly engaged outcomes.

In 2003, the British Academy of Management (BAM) and the Association of Business Schools (ABS), combined to design and launch a programme for Directors of Research (DoRs).

Eating the elephant one spoonful at a time

57EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Eating the elephant one spoonful at a time by Peter McKiernan


The British academic system is one of the most “measured” in Europe, with five- year national, peer-reviewed research audits that have weighed research output, research context and individual esteem.

These inputs are used to assign star rankings to each school and, thereby, allocate funding. Future audits are likely to gauge the extent of the “impact” of research output as it engages with practice and policy.

Hence, there was a natural demand for a programme addressing the needs and wants of DoRs. The post is well established and defined in the UK context and the demands of the audit panels are similar for each school or department. Hence, there is a sense that similar pressures act upon DoRs in the system so creating a homogeneous landscape. The BAM/ABS programme has become de rigeur in the training of the UK’s new and existing DoRs.

Inspired by the success of the BAM/ABS initiative and determined to help increase the research capacity in Europe, the European Academy of Management (EURAM) joined forces in 2008 with EFMD to build a Research Leadership programme to support European DoRs.

The original ambition was to prepare individuals in European business and management schools to step into significant research management roles, especially that of DoR, through exposure to a wide range of strategic and operational concerns.

Additionally, and with more aspiration, it was hoped that such a programme would help build a community of research leaders in European business and management schools.

However, little was known of the heterogeneous European research landscape in which these DoRs operated nor their differing tasks or audit demands. The two organisations commissioned market research and the results yielded a confused picture of differing roles, job titles, resources, contexts and duties that, taken together, challenged the programme design.

This diversity coupled with commonality was noted by participants.

“The Research Leadership programme offered a great opportunity to share insights and perspectives with colleagues from across Europe. I was struck by the diversity of contexts in which we operate but also the similarity of challenges we face in our roles as research directors,” comments Alistair Bruce of Nottingham University Business School in the UK.

The inaugural programme was a combination of deliberate and emergent properties, which one participant described as being… “combined in a balanced way with case studies, best practices, problem solving and predictive exercises regarding the future development of business schools”.

Carried out over three two-day modules over the winter of 2009/10, the programme had a deliberate content base that covered two fundamental areas – Research Context, and Strategy and Operational Performance.

The Research Context agenda covered:

Research identity

(approaches to research in European schools; types of schools; the future schools in Europe; impact on research strategy; research quality)

Previously little was known of the heterogeneous European research landscape in which these DoRs operated nor their differing tasks or audit demand

The programme was greatly enriched by stimulating inputs from prominent figures in the European management research community

59EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010Eating the elephant one spoonful at a time by Peter McKiernan

Differing contexts in Europe and environmental influences(funding; role of the EU; doctoral standards; roles of other key agencies, for example EGOS, EIASM).

The Strategy and Operational Performance agenda covered:

Operational performance (faculty development and talent management; performance measurement and management; dealing with difficult issues in assessing performance; the role/relationship between Dean and Research Director;managing toward exceptional performance)

Shaping and organising(especially with large projects in mind)

“Making a difference” (including personal survival and support; the big picture and “how to eat the elephant one spoon at a time”). Its emergent properties lay around peer networking, problem sharing and purposeful support

“The EFMD-EURAM Research Leadership Programme offered me the opportunity to interact with research directors from other European business schools, to share ideas and to identify possible solutions to the problems that I experience in my day-to-day activity,” says Calin Gurau of GSCM Montpellier Business School in France.

According to another participant, the programme was “greatly enriched by stimulating inputs from prominent figures in the European management research community”.

These included Joan Ricart (IESE), Niels Noorderhaven (Tilburg), Kathrin Moeslein and Angelika Bullinger (Erlangen-Nuremberg),

Ken Starkey (Nottingham), Thomas Durand (Ecole Centrale), John Bessant (Exeter) and Wilfred Mijnhardt (Erasmus).

All inaugural programmes have their teething problems and EURAM and EFMD have worked creatively on the programme feedback to improve future offerings. Even so, the benefits of the initial design have been broader than expected, moving into stakeholder management territory.

“Taking part has certainly helped me to develop my role as Vice Dean (Research), both by helping me understand what I need to encourage my colleagues to do and also by helping me explain policy options to the university senior management,” says Tim Bedford of the Britain's Strathclyde University.

The graduates of the programme, along with EURAM and EFMD, have formed an Association of European Research Directors into which future graduates will be welcomed. The purpose is to continue to help and support each other in the ever-changing European domain of business and management research.

From what we have discovered, that domain is certainly rich and eclectic.

ABOUT THE AUTHORPeter McKiernan is Professor of Management at the University of St Andrews School of Management, a Fellow of the British Academy of Management, President of the European Academy of Management and Chair of the Association of Business Schools (Scotland).

FURTHER INFORMATIONThe dates for Cycle 2 of the EFMD-EURAM Research Leadership programme have been announced:

Module 1: 28–29 October 2010Module 2: 9–10 DecemberModule 3: 9–10 February + 11 February (Alumni Day)

More information is available via Robin Hartley, [email protected] or Luisa Jaffé, [email protected]


Upcoming events

EFMD 2010 | www.efmd.org/conferences

June 2010

2010 EFMD Annual ConferenceDATES / VENUE

6–8 June Oestrich-Winkel (Wiesbaden) GermanyTHEME

Is Management a Profession?HOST

European Business School (EBS)

Bi-Annual EU-China Forum preceded by an EQUIS Accreditation Seminar followed by an EPAS Accreditation SeminarDATES / VENUE

20–22 June Shanghai, ChinaTHEME

Globalising Management Development: Moving ForwardHOST

CEIBS – China Europe International Business School

August 2010

2010 EFMD-FDC ConferenceDATES / VENUE

15–17 August Minas Gerais, BrazilTHEME

Strategic Movements in Business EductionHOST

FDC – Fundação Dom Cabral

September 2010

EFMD Africa Conference DATES / VENUE

19–21 September Lisbon, PortugalTHEME

Building a Business School in the XXIst Century – The Africa CaseHOST

AESE – Escola de Direcçào e Negócios

EFMD Advisory SeminarDATES / VENUE

28 September Brussels, BelgiumTHEME

Student SelectionHOST

EFMD

2010 EFMD Conference on Undergraduate Management EducationDATES / VENUE

29 September – 1 October Madrid, SpainTHEME

Innovating for Global Issues: Creating Critical ThinkersHOST

IE Business School

October 2010

EFMD Advisory SeminarDATES / VENUE

5 October Brussels, BelgiumTHEME

The impact of Bologna on programme designHOST

EFMD

2010 EFMD Executive Education MeetingDATES / VENUE

10–12 October Berkhamsted, UKTHEME

The role of Executive Education in developing and inspiring leaders for the futureHOST

Ashridge

Sharing Best Practice CLIP WorkshopDATES / VENUE

(21)–22 October Dusseldorf, GermanyTHEME

tbcHOST

ERGO Versicherungsgruppe AG

EFMD-EURAM Research Leadership Programme – Cycle 2 DATES / VENUE

28–29 October Brussels, BelgiumTHEME

Creating Research Leadership in Europe – Module 1HOST

EFMD-EURAM Research Leadership

November 2010

Corporate Advisory SeminarDATES / VENUE

16 November Brussels, BelgiumTHEME

Engaging Managers in Employee Development in the workplaceHOST

EFMD

2010 EFMD Conference in the MENA RegionDATES / VENUE

28–30 November Dubai, U.A.E.THEME

Creating International Impact with Programmes: Management Education in the MENA RegionHOST

University of Dubai

For more detailed information, please visit our website www.efmd.org under conferences & learning groups or email [email protected]

order now at: www.cambridge.org/rasche

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‘Encyclopedic in scope, the volume touches on all facets of the Global Compact’s ideas, ideals, innovative organizational modalities and impact. It will be an indispensable reference work, and an inspiration to global norm entrepreneurs in every field, for many years to come’

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1 Providesacomprehensiveoverviewoftheworld’slargestvoluntarycorporateresponsibilityinitiativewithmorethan7,000participantsinover130countries

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The United Nations Global CompactAchievements, Trends and Challenges

Edited byAndreas Rasche, Georg Kell

The Bentley/City Year “give a year” program is a pioneering initiative that enables students to integrate a full year of national service into their Bentley academic experience.

Bentley University is preparing our

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broader implications of their actions—

in business and in life. For example,

fi nance students at Bentley are

fueling economic and community

development in the Greater

Boston area with the Bentley

Microcredit Initiative, an

innovative program that

provides small loans to

local entrepreneurs at

or below the poverty

level. Other Bentley

students are

engaged as

interns with

NGOs in

Ghana,

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Diane M. KelloggAssociate Professor of Management,

Bentley University and Program Director of the Bentley-Mmofra Trom Project

The Business of LifeADVANCING ACCOUNTABLE LEADERSHIP

at Bentley.eduaLearn

©2010 Bentley University, Waltham, MA

The Mmofra Trom Center, to help

build the economic, educational and

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BEN-16946 PeerGFocus.indd 1 5/7/10 12:58:34 PM

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Norwegian wouldPeter Lorange on why he’s started his own business school

China successThink Chinese to get ahead says Nandani Lynton

Drucker was rightRichard Straub considers the current crisis

Do we need the MBA?Yes – if it’s rethought, according to Jopie Coetzee

Learn to teachAndrew Rutsch says those who can do teach – well

EFMD

aisbl

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achard 88 – Box 3

1050 Brussels, B

elgium

Phone: +32 2 629 08 10

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d.org

www.efmd.org Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010

EFM

D

Global Focus



Santiago Iñiguez weighs up the arguments for a unifying professional association of managers

“�In�its�15�years�of�existence,�CEIBS�has�become�the�top-ranked�business�school�in�Asia�and�a�leading�business�school�worldwide,�primarily�due�to�our�commitment�to�offering�world�class�business�management�education�matched�with�a�focus�on�the�dynamic�China�business�environment.�In�keeping�with�this�goal,�CEIBS�has�been�committed�to�standardized�testing�throughout�our�rapid�growth�and�development.�The�GMAT�allows�CEIBS�an�internationally�respected,�secure�and�accurate�method�of�pre-screening�applicants.�GMAT�is�now�established�as�a�key�‘tool’�in�the�CEIBS�‘toolkit’�used�for�selecting�applicants.”

GMAT®�is�a�registered�trademark�of�the�Graduate�Management�Admission�Council�(GMAC),�the�leading�advocate�and�resource�for�quality�graduate�schools�of�business,�worldwide.

To learn more about the GMAT Exam and about the GMAC products and services it makes possible, visit gmac.com/efmd.

Dean Rolf Cremer on precise pre-screening to identify quality applicants

Rolf D. CREMER, DEAn, ChinA EuRopE inTERnATionAl BusinEss sChool

GMAC_Testimonial_Ad_Cremer_v2.indd 1 3/24/10 9:05:16 AM

gf vol 04 issue 02

Documents

bentley university

year program

actionsin business

bentley microcredit

efmd global focus volume

dean rolf cremer

innovative program

bentley academic experience