The MBA is dead – part 1: God save the MBA!

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is becoming increasingly publicly criticised by the likes of Mintzberg and other management writers. Much of their criticism is based on personal experience and opinion rather than any systematic research, and ready-made solutions are proposed as alternatives. This paper (and its counterpart) are the result of a year of research into the future of the MBA. Its purpose is to question whether its current market decline is terminal or if indeed it can be resurrected.Design/methodology/approach -A year-long future study was undertaken at Cranfield School of Management combining a range of traditional research methods and samples including literature review, surveys of alumni, academics and futurists, interviews with recruiters and human resources (HR) managers, a Delphi study with international participants, and interviews and a focus group with business leaders. The results were then analysed and combined to form the pictures developed in this article and its counterpart.Findings -The MBA is positioned here as a qualification that is plagued by market confusion as to what it actually represents and what its value is. A pre-emptive post-mortem is carried out into the future of the MBA and the future senior manager/leader, which highlights the gap between research and practice, league tables, e-learning and attempts at internationalisation as some of the causes of the current malaise. The paper also looks at how some business schools are starting to address these issues in order to maintain the MBA as a valued qualification in the management marketplace.Originality/value -This paper provides a comparison of MBA offerings and potential substitutes. It opens the arena of senior management education for debate by charting the future decline of the MBA, challenging business schools to make changes or witness the death of their cash-cow.

CEO business education and firm financial performance: a case for humility rather than hubris

“…Common deficits are suggested to be in critical thinking, reflection and decision making, strategic management, risk and regulation, people management and innovation, creativity, business realities and tradeoffs, organizational politics, integration, awareness of social issues and corporate social responsibility, leadership, communication, reflective skills, adaptability, vision and culture and change management (Almog- Bareket, 2011;Datar et al, 2010;Rubin and Dierdorff, 2009). MBAs are also suggested to be too "western", and not transferable to other cultural regions (Blass and Weight, 2005a), and to both ignore the skills needed for early career progression (Benjamin and O'Reilly, 2011) and only be suited to those wishing to undertake a junior management role (Blass and Weight, 2005b). Business school teaching has also been accused of being too focused on shareholder value and organizational performance, and failing to respond to wider society needs (Ferlie et al, 2010;Ghoshal, 2005).…”

Learning problems in transnational business education and training: the case of the MBA in Thailand

“…In terms of the content and training style, most MBA programmes suffer from the same criticisms made of management education and training more generally. Students are often confused and disenchanted by the range of programmes that are available (Blass & Weight, 2005). All providers claim success and promote their model as being the ‘way to do it’, in short, they all seem to ‘promise the world’ to their students (Smith, 1993).…”

Searching for excellence in business education

“…A number of scholars (Pfeffer and Fong, 2002;Minztberg and Gossling, 2002;Donaldson, 2002;Leavitt, 1989) have identified the problematic management education that has resulted in greed and the apotheosis JMD 30,9 of ego. They have expressed their concern regarding business education, its quality and whether this actually serves the needs of the corporate world (Elmuti, 2004;Thomas, 2007;Blass and Weight, 2005). Moreover, the prevalence of the financial logic in management research over the past 30 years as documented by Walsh et al (2003) unveils greater use of stock price or other financial indicators and less attention to dependent variables relevant to stakeholders' satisfaction.…”