The tradition educational system tends to be more conservative and less liberality. The professor usually teaches the same material over years without updating. Also, the studying atmosphere is considered individualized instead of team working. Each student focuses more on their own ideas or goals. It is also because of the large numbers of students each class contains. Thus, the verbal skills and social skills are greatly ignored, so as their studying attitudes. We should try to improve student satisfaction and promoting positive attitudes by minimizes the class size and initiate personal attitude. The lecturer should care more about students needs in order to accomplish the study goal.
Furthermore, the real life case studies should be helpful when we are solving the actual problem. We can learn the knowledge faster when we experience the real situation. In addition, improving cross culture understanding is also very important issue, especially in Canada. It means that we can not just learn single scenario from one culture background. The global cultural diversity should be fully understood to prevent any misunderstanding.
Showing posts with label Management Education in the 21st Century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Management Education in the 21st Century. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
21st Century Education
Management education has gone through an evolutionary process throughout the course of its history as illustrated in the course handout “A Brief History of Management”. Management education seeks to provide students with the knowledge, expertise and tools to succeed in the worldwide industry of business commerce. I believe that one of the problems historically and still today is that institutions and professors alike place too much emphasis on the theoretical aspect of learning instead of putting focus on practice and innovation. After my 1st year of education at McGill, Organizational Behavior is one of the very few classes that promote creativity and vision. I believe the success of this course can be explained by the enthusiasm and passion our professor exhibits for this topic and the manner in which he teaches it.
The role of the 21st Century leader is to be a social artist, spiritual visionary and cultural innovator. I believe this statement to be true, but the path on which the educational system is taking us may not exactly shape us to be aspiring future leaders we should be. Creativity should be acknowledged as an essential tool in management education because most manuals present outdated information by the time it reaches students and in a fast-paced and continuously changing global environment, we as leaders need to be a step ahead and not one behind.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Education system
What are problems in current business education?
Education has been defined as including " teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation."
"The education of an individual human begins at birth and continues throughout life"
Education is a tool that humans use to survive the uncertainty of the future, and give them hope. John Dewey believed that education is the key to success in the democratic capital society. By giving mass public education, you are training the future, and developing/standardizing the knowledge and advantage in US. The idea of education did not gain popularity in West, until 19 th century during the Industrial Era, where the government introduced and promoted the public education system. The education system since then has had very minimum adjustment using science and innovation technology. The problem with the system is that it's too narrowly focused on methodical teaching methods for social sciences, sciences, math, and language. This type of education prepares students for thinking systematically, logically and rationally while promoting the black and white solution. Thus, the problem is that the educational system isn't designed to promote the sort of innovative thinking that students need. It is designed to promote uniformity and a certain type of narrow skill set. Business education is no exception; it's focused on linguistics and numeric profit oriented education.
How can they be solved?
PROBLEM:
There is little importance places on growth of creativity and the ability to think outside the box in the current business education however, in the real world, the ability to think outside the box is crucial; no connection between education and the work force is cultivated. Students are only remotely exposed to experiences and skills needed in business through traditional case studies and lectures. Although this is an integral part of business education, it needs to be supplemented with creative education models. Due to our needs, we stop educating creative (music, arts, dance.. etc) for young adults. Even in university, it's oriented academic and literature, but integrating and customizing the creative (left side) of human brain and right (traditional linguistic and numeric) helps to be innovative.
"Lot of the secret of the creative corporation is looking hard at employees and realizing their strengths. When companies first start thinking about becoming creative, they tend to start thinking about hiring people from outside. They don't think about the people they already have. And a lot of creativity is in helping people, whether students or employees, to find their talent -- the way they are creative. "
Sir Ken Robinson.
What is your ideal dream undergraduate course look like?
Thinking outside of box, or be creative in the business world is quite new. I believe that to be creative you need to explore different environment and knowledge. In McGill University for management program gives U0 student to explore other faculties in and outside of campus. This allowed student to give an exposure to other field, and widen their horizon. It also, allowed student related and observed the knowledge in another discipline, exposure to apply in the situation. Depends on the student, they may customized heavily towards arts, or science or in education. This customization gives student to be innovative and prepared in the work force. Student are well rounded, outspoken, able to breaking through its traditional approach (teacher and student), which is bridging the gap between theoretical teachings, and integrating "hands on" experiences / practical preparation for the work place.
This goal can easily be achieved by incorporating field trip, guest lecture in the discipline, small size class (more seminar style/ convention than lecture) . The field trip is great idea, because it introduced us to various possibilities that the world has to offer, and it's first hand experience (hand on based) respects to the working environment, it will enable us to envision where our skills and abilities will be best-suited and even launch us into new ventures never thought of before. This will not only allow the concrete application of learned theories but also understand its consequences in the work place.
Also, the examination and grading system should be improved. Academia only concerns about the finial right result, not the thinking processes, or the explanation of analysis. Subject like numeric related filed, sometime student are only responsible to not fully grasping the knowledge behind the theories or the philosophy. The customaries learning environments, minimize the class size, and open learning experience also could be suggested for changes in the future.
moonjin kim
Education has been defined as including " teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation."
"The education of an individual human begins at birth and continues throughout life"
Education is a tool that humans use to survive the uncertainty of the future, and give them hope. John Dewey believed that education is the key to success in the democratic capital society. By giving mass public education, you are training the future, and developing/standardizing the knowledge and advantage in US. The idea of education did not gain popularity in West, until 19 th century during the Industrial Era, where the government introduced and promoted the public education system. The education system since then has had very minimum adjustment using science and innovation technology. The problem with the system is that it's too narrowly focused on methodical teaching methods for social sciences, sciences, math, and language. This type of education prepares students for thinking systematically, logically and rationally while promoting the black and white solution. Thus, the problem is that the educational system isn't designed to promote the sort of innovative thinking that students need. It is designed to promote uniformity and a certain type of narrow skill set. Business education is no exception; it's focused on linguistics and numeric profit oriented education.
How can they be solved?
PROBLEM:
There is little importance places on growth of creativity and the ability to think outside the box in the current business education however, in the real world, the ability to think outside the box is crucial; no connection between education and the work force is cultivated. Students are only remotely exposed to experiences and skills needed in business through traditional case studies and lectures. Although this is an integral part of business education, it needs to be supplemented with creative education models. Due to our needs, we stop educating creative (music, arts, dance.. etc) for young adults. Even in university, it's oriented academic and literature, but integrating and customizing the creative (left side) of human brain and right (traditional linguistic and numeric) helps to be innovative.
"Lot of the secret of the creative corporation is looking hard at employees and realizing their strengths. When companies first start thinking about becoming creative, they tend to start thinking about hiring people from outside. They don't think about the people they already have. And a lot of creativity is in helping people, whether students or employees, to find their talent -- the way they are creative. "
Sir Ken Robinson.
What is your ideal dream undergraduate course look like?
Thinking outside of box, or be creative in the business world is quite new. I believe that to be creative you need to explore different environment and knowledge. In McGill University for management program gives U0 student to explore other faculties in and outside of campus. This allowed student to give an exposure to other field, and widen their horizon. It also, allowed student related and observed the knowledge in another discipline, exposure to apply in the situation. Depends on the student, they may customized heavily towards arts, or science or in education. This customization gives student to be innovative and prepared in the work force. Student are well rounded, outspoken, able to breaking through its traditional approach (teacher and student), which is bridging the gap between theoretical teachings, and integrating "hands on" experiences / practical preparation for the work place.
This goal can easily be achieved by incorporating field trip, guest lecture in the discipline, small size class (more seminar style/ convention than lecture) . The field trip is great idea, because it introduced us to various possibilities that the world has to offer, and it's first hand experience (hand on based) respects to the working environment, it will enable us to envision where our skills and abilities will be best-suited and even launch us into new ventures never thought of before. This will not only allow the concrete application of learned theories but also understand its consequences in the work place.
Also, the examination and grading system should be improved. Academia only concerns about the finial right result, not the thinking processes, or the explanation of analysis. Subject like numeric related filed, sometime student are only responsible to not fully grasping the knowledge behind the theories or the philosophy. The customaries learning environments, minimize the class size, and open learning experience also could be suggested for changes in the future.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The Future of Management: Uncertainty
The future of management is uncertain. Fads come and go, trends change over time and industries will rise and fall, but the truth is no one can possibly predict what the future of management will resemble. No one could have predicted in 2001 that a little device called an iPOD would become so ubiquitous that in 2007, cars would come equipped with iPOD docking stations. Even today, after decades of thorough research, economists do not know what causes the business cycle nor how to predict recessions and booms, just that they happen. Uncertainty is the only certainty there is when it comes to the future and management education is no different. In uncertainty however lies opportunity, uncertainty is what makes people invest in equities, start up businesses, take risks and create change. The future is uncertain but it should not be feared, it is something to be embraced and explored.
While uncertainty is inevitable, that does not mean that it is futile to try and predict the possible outcomes, that is what spurs activity in any marketplace after all. This entry however is not going to predict what lies ahead but will state what we need to get there. Whatever lies ahead for the future of management education whether it be more focused on social responsibility or the new paradigms outlined by our professor, it will be attained by people with the creativity to think of the new ideas and the courage to act on them. The future of management education will lie with trailblazers and pioneers, not followers. It may or may not come from the halls Harvard Business School or even a business school at all. It may come from a small company in India that was built on the microfinancing or an environmentalist group in Sweden that seeks to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. The future of management education will have global implications, will be controversial at first, will create ripples in the pond but whatever it is, it is to remain uncertain.
While uncertainty is inevitable, that does not mean that it is futile to try and predict the possible outcomes, that is what spurs activity in any marketplace after all. This entry however is not going to predict what lies ahead but will state what we need to get there. Whatever lies ahead for the future of management education whether it be more focused on social responsibility or the new paradigms outlined by our professor, it will be attained by people with the creativity to think of the new ideas and the courage to act on them. The future of management education will lie with trailblazers and pioneers, not followers. It may or may not come from the halls Harvard Business School or even a business school at all. It may come from a small company in India that was built on the microfinancing or an environmentalist group in Sweden that seeks to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. The future of management education will have global implications, will be controversial at first, will create ripples in the pond but whatever it is, it is to remain uncertain.
Management Education 2.0
Current management education emphasizes too much on theories of management. It focuses on problem solving. It assumes there are always right and wrong answers to a management issue. It has a little implication in business world. In reality, business management is very complicated. It is not always rational. Sometimes, it may not make any sense at all. Most things happening in the business world are not black and white. They are grey. The future manager has to deal with the grey matter most of the time. In order to train a competent future manager, the management education should focus on the real world problems. Instructors should expose management students to the business world. Students should have a chance to use their knowledge to solve problems of existing enterprise. The lack of management experience of the students can be compensated by instructors’ knowledge and experience. Combining the collective intelligence of the students and the guidance of the instructors could help companies survive and prosper in 21st century.
The ideal management class should not have any close-book exams or quizzes. In reality, managers are rated by their performance but not tests. Mastery of the management knowledge is through team projects and interactive learning. Furthermore, students need to be exposed to real world business issues.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Management Education in the 21st Century
When we talk about management, first question that comes to mind is what is to manage? Are we talking about just managing people, teaching them strategies, human resources and so on? Or are we talking about managing materials, physical resources and so on? Is management a concept or is it a practical action? Or is it a combination of both? 21st century is about diversity, collaboration, cooperation, and it’s about maintaining balance! There are no longer black and white decisions or picking sides. A lot of the time, decisions lie in the grey area encompassing multi qualities and multi factors. This focus is continuingly being revised and we can see promising progress developing beginning in the last half a century.
Personally, I believe there’s more to change in “education” than in “management.” Education should no longer reflect the traditional teacher-student relations but should aim at collective knowledge and sharing of intelligence. Everyone has different specialties, and everyone has knowledge to contribute in certain areas. Instead of taking traditional text book-lecture classes, why not engage in simple exchange of intelligence among colleagues, among friends, even among families. There are more than enough opportunities around us. A conversation with a lobby receptionist may tell you a better floor plan for customer reception; a conversation with a young newcomer may tell you what's hot on the market and what types of advertisement is catching; a conversation with a janiter may tell you a better budgeting strategies... It doesn't matter how big or how small is your role, a simple conversation with anybody will teach you something new. Let's put it this way, if you can skip a 3-hour strategy class and talk to Dr. Henry Mintzberg for 30 minutes would you do it? What you learn in a class might not be as useful or direct as a thought or a story from someone's first-hand experience. Now that's the new education in 21st century should be like.
I believe it has come to the time of multidimensional-approach management. The above is an idea. How it should be and could be realized. This is a new challenge for management education in 21st century and it is up to your creative mind to solve it.
Personally, I believe there’s more to change in “education” than in “management.” Education should no longer reflect the traditional teacher-student relations but should aim at collective knowledge and sharing of intelligence. Everyone has different specialties, and everyone has knowledge to contribute in certain areas. Instead of taking traditional text book-lecture classes, why not engage in simple exchange of intelligence among colleagues, among friends, even among families. There are more than enough opportunities around us. A conversation with a lobby receptionist may tell you a better floor plan for customer reception; a conversation with a young newcomer may tell you what's hot on the market and what types of advertisement is catching; a conversation with a janiter may tell you a better budgeting strategies... It doesn't matter how big or how small is your role, a simple conversation with anybody will teach you something new. Let's put it this way, if you can skip a 3-hour strategy class and talk to Dr. Henry Mintzberg for 30 minutes would you do it? What you learn in a class might not be as useful or direct as a thought or a story from someone's first-hand experience. Now that's the new education in 21st century should be like.
I believe it has come to the time of multidimensional-approach management. The above is an idea. How it should be and could be realized. This is a new challenge for management education in 21st century and it is up to your creative mind to solve it.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Management Education
A new model for management education will have to be forged for various reasons mainly to be able to educate professionals for success in an environment that is fast-paced, constantly changing, culturally diverse, technologically dependent, and media influenced. Traditional models are ineffective in educating, teaching skills and concepts for leadership within actual work environments.
The American Association of School Administrators offers the following new definitions for the 21st century:
1) Schools - Schools will go “from ‘buildings’ to nerve centers, with walls that are porous and transparent, connecting teachers, students and the community to the wealth of knowledge that exists in the world.”
2) Teacher - From primary role as a dispenser of information to orchestrator of learning and helping students turn information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom.
3) Learner - "In the past a learner was a young person who went to school, spent a specified amount of time in certain courses, received passing grades and graduated. [1]
Most common traditional learning methods used in management education provide learning experiences that are inadequate. To make them satisfactory we will have to make changes such as to start using teaching methods that challenge all students, forces them to learn to work both independently and interdependently. Sometimes students are collaborating with people around the world in various projects therefore will have to learn to work dependently as well.
As for the curriculum, it should not be textbook based but thematic and project-based. Skills and content are not taught as an end in themselves, but students learn them through their research and application in their projects. Textbooks, if they have them, are just one of many resources.
Students should use the technological and multimedia tools that are available to them now to design and produce web sites, television shows, radio shows, mini-documentaries, oral histories, and even mini-films.
A management course should be created in a way for a student to be able to express their view about important issues. They should be given the opportunity to create projects using multimedia and deliver these products to real-world audiences. In this way students would realize that they may be able to make a difference in the world in the future. They learn what it is to be a contributing citizen, and carry these citizenship skills later in their lives.
[1] http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_21st_Century_Education.htm
The American Association of School Administrators offers the following new definitions for the 21st century:
1) Schools - Schools will go “from ‘buildings’ to nerve centers, with walls that are porous and transparent, connecting teachers, students and the community to the wealth of knowledge that exists in the world.”
2) Teacher - From primary role as a dispenser of information to orchestrator of learning and helping students turn information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom.
3) Learner - "In the past a learner was a young person who went to school, spent a specified amount of time in certain courses, received passing grades and graduated. [1]
Most common traditional learning methods used in management education provide learning experiences that are inadequate. To make them satisfactory we will have to make changes such as to start using teaching methods that challenge all students, forces them to learn to work both independently and interdependently. Sometimes students are collaborating with people around the world in various projects therefore will have to learn to work dependently as well.
As for the curriculum, it should not be textbook based but thematic and project-based. Skills and content are not taught as an end in themselves, but students learn them through their research and application in their projects. Textbooks, if they have them, are just one of many resources.
Students should use the technological and multimedia tools that are available to them now to design and produce web sites, television shows, radio shows, mini-documentaries, oral histories, and even mini-films.
A management course should be created in a way for a student to be able to express their view about important issues. They should be given the opportunity to create projects using multimedia and deliver these products to real-world audiences. In this way students would realize that they may be able to make a difference in the world in the future. They learn what it is to be a contributing citizen, and carry these citizenship skills later in their lives.
[1] http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_21st_Century_Education.htm
Management Education: Less 'management' and more reality
The world is facing major transformations and revolutions in fields such as physics, geometry, psychology, computer science and politics so why shouldn’t management education adapt to recognize today’s new paradigms? I believe in management as a science that is highly influenced by other sciences thus the future of management education should be open to emerging concepts and technologies and not be circumscribed by traditionalism. As paradoxical as it sounds, management education will not be about management but instead, it will become more like a learning platform from which to look in all possible directions in order to achieve that broad understanding of how the world works and hence, be able to discover and extrapolate managerial skills. Certainly, it will be a dynamic platform that transforms motivated by world events, new paradigms and emerging concepts in other sciences and arts.
As an ideal management course, I anticipate most importantly a strong communication network. It might thus be necessary to reduce the number of students in classes to achieve those trust relationships that encourage learning. Although grades are very important for the student, these should not become the main motivation to work and contribute to the class. Instead, the motivation should lie within the learning itself. Consequently, topics should be appealing and useful to create motivation among the students. Real-world situations, study cases and controversial debates are always a source of motivation. Finally, classes should incorporate as much cross-disciplinary content as possible because the future of management is closely related to the interconnectedness among different fields.
As an ideal management course, I anticipate most importantly a strong communication network. It might thus be necessary to reduce the number of students in classes to achieve those trust relationships that encourage learning. Although grades are very important for the student, these should not become the main motivation to work and contribute to the class. Instead, the motivation should lie within the learning itself. Consequently, topics should be appealing and useful to create motivation among the students. Real-world situations, study cases and controversial debates are always a source of motivation. Finally, classes should incorporate as much cross-disciplinary content as possible because the future of management is closely related to the interconnectedness among different fields.
The Future Management Education
What is wrong with our management education now? Asking this question would be the first step towards the solution towards a better educational structure. The most important element in education is the link between the students and course material: the instructor. Used widely amongst students RateMyProfessors.com can be referenced as a fairly subjective “scoring card” of professors by students themselves. At times these reviews can be a crucial factor for a student’s decision to enlist in a certain class, as from a student’s perspective, the quality of the professor determines the richness in educational experience and ultimately affects the overall outcomes. A professor “sweet and cute, but [who’s] lectures reiterate the textbook” will not give provide any interest or interaction to the willful learners. A “disorganized teacher, who does not care about his students” will not win over the hearts and minds the future students. Someone “frequently late to class, offer[ing] nothing of substance,” who “will mock you if you say something ‘unsmart’,” would not gain any trust and respect from the class. The core of education, the professor of the future, should bring inspiration to the minds with an optimistic spirituality, spark the interest and attention of the students with plenty of human interaction, and most of all, build respect and trust in the classroom as a whole by showing his passion and love towards the course content, the students and the world. An ideal professor with these attributes would be able to nurture students who will similarly develop passion towards their fields, who have love for their surrounding world, and who can feel the joy of learning. Management education of the future simply needs these ideal instructors to lead the students.
Management Education in the 21st Century
For the longest time, management has focused on how to run a business (aka the monetary aspects of running a business). Considering that in a business, management has the final word on important decisions, there are many important categories that current university curriculum fail to address... the ongoing "green revolution." Although many know about the environmental movement going on, still up to this day, those in management consider environmental aspects "annoying, uncorroborated, a hassle, and run by hippies who have no idea about business and real life." Although some strides have been made to change this pre-set attitude, environmental courses taught for most departments fail to link the given department to environmental issues. Instead, now we have managers (among other departments) who know how global warming works and possible solutions but in their heads all of these alternative options are merely wishful thinking with little chance of functioning in real life... a situation which is far from true.
I believe that in the 21st century, management education will contain at least one course which links the issues of management and the environment. This education would of course cover a brief basic on the issue but most importantly will demonstrate real life examples of companies which applied environmental principles to their business strategy/decision making and had some extraordinary results. A particular note should be on profit margin gains since it would drive the notion that environmental solutions doesn't always negatively affect a company, in fact it can benefit tremendously from it.
Some of the topics which I believe should be focused on are:
- Environmental Requirements Integrated in Product Development and Life Cycle: Special note should be made on the end-of-life section and new ideas on disposal methods (aka incorporating techniques to improve recyclability)
- Designing for the Environment: Examining the external and internal drivers for environmental awareness in business with focus on the section regarding manager's sense of responsibility. The strategy wheel should also be taught to provide examples of how improvements in each section of the wheel provided positive feedback to the company.
- Environmental Management Systems: Studying what ISO 14001 is, why it can be beneficial for a corporation, some basic understanding of its sections, and most importantly economical aspects with focus on its benefits. A possible topic could also include on how to begin the process of incorporating ISO 14001 in an industry/company which doesn't have the system in place.
- International Environmental Issues: To bring light about the issues facing international businesses and their impacts to humanity in developing nations. The importance of environmental ethics (do what you would do in your own country) and the consequences of not following them (special attention to case studies such as Bhopal).
- International Environmental Agreements and Protocols: A basic outline on treaties such as Clean Air/Water Act, Kyoto, etc.
In all these major points, emphasis should be focused on companies who have set the example on working with environmental issues, how they implemented them and their success. By providing these case studies we can teach future managers that business and environmental issues can be linked positively. Furthermore, we give them the chance to open their minds and that solutions can come from unlikely sources as opposed to the traditional forms of managing a business (aka, need to cut costs? fire some workers). I believe that teaching environmental issues in such a way will truly give them real life tools to apply in the future or at least open their minds for environmental issues and solutions.
FUTURE OF EDUCATION IN MANAGEMENT
Management Education is based on the changes in the society. Education related to managerial education should therefore go through change, be updated, continuously researched and developed so that at any point in time, we are not faced by any obsoleteness in its practicality. The traditional approach may not be adequate to gear the students up for facing real-time problems. Thus, preserving certain relevant and important elements from the traditional style of teaching, and giving it the dexterity to match todays expanded, more comprehensive and holistic teaching style could be rendered sufficient for making difficult situations somewhat ductile. For example, the traditional style of using textbooks and giving out homework is the most basic, and most essential component for any form of academic teaching. However, this must not be the only means, because as reality has it, student psychology has evolved over the years and yearns for more for excellence in academic pursuit. It is important to ensure that current affairs are incorporated into classroom teaching, for practical purposes. To excel in today's world, which is shrinking into networked global village, socialization is a paramount quality. Hence, group ethics should be inculcated into the students through activities which will require them to work as a team, deal with each others' mentality and so on. They should be made to co-op briefly with a company of interest to understand it's functioning. This may not necessarily be long term, and can come in the form of company conferences. Grading can be implemented in the quality and ideology of thought put into every assignment of different testing abilities. The idea of examinations is not totally redundant, as it may be a decently accurate measure of a student's capabilities. To motivate a student in the above-mentioned manner, the teacher himself/ herself has to have the drive, the vision, and the ambition to excel as a human being for making a difference in the world. He/she should understand the importance of change in today's society and is growing needs.
The teacher should be able to identify with the psychology of the students and stir a creative assembly, instilling the goodness of working thoughtfully and thought-provokingly and making them realize that academic excellence in any form not only benefits at an individual level, but at the global level. The teacher should be able to identify with the psychology of the students and stir a creative assembly, instilling the goodness of working thoughtfully and thought-provokingly and making them realize that academic excellence in any form not only benefits at an individual level, but at the global level.
Management Education is based on the changes in the society. Education related to managerial education should therefore go through change, be updated, continuously researched and developed so that at any point in time, we are not faced by any obsoleteness in its practicality. The traditional approach may not be adequate to gear the students up for facing real-time problems. Thus, preserving certain relevant and important elements from the traditional style of teaching, and giving it the dexterity to match todays expanded, more comprehensive and holistic teaching style could be rendered sufficient for making difficult situations somewhat ductile. For example, the traditional style of using textbooks and giving out homework is the most basic, and most essential component for any form of academic teaching. However, this must not be the only means, because as reality has it, student psychology has evolved over the years and yearns for more for excellence in academic pursuit. It is important to ensure that current affairs are incorporated into classroom teaching, for practical purposes. To excel in today's world, which is shrinking into networked global village, socialization is a paramount quality. Hence, group ethics should be inculcated into the students through activities which will require them to work as a team, deal with each others' mentality and so on. They should be made to co-op briefly with a company of interest to understand it's functioning. This may not necessarily be long term, and can come in the form of company conferences. Grading can be implemented in the quality and ideology of thought put into every assignment of different testing abilities. The idea of examinations is not totally redundant, as it may be a decently accurate measure of a student's capabilities. To motivate a student in the above-mentioned manner, the teacher himself/ herself has to have the drive, the vision, and the ambition to excel as a human being for making a difference in the world. He/she should understand the importance of change in today's society and is growing needs.
The teacher should be able to identify with the psychology of the students and stir a creative assembly, instilling the goodness of working thoughtfully and thought-provokingly and making them realize that academic excellence in any form not only benefits at an individual level, but at the global level. The teacher should be able to identify with the psychology of the students and stir a creative assembly, instilling the goodness of working thoughtfully and thought-provokingly and making them realize that academic excellence in any form not only benefits at an individual level, but at the global level.
Friday, August 3, 2007
The Future of Management Education
In the fast-changing, interconnected and chaotic world we see today, it is important for general education to reflect the shifting paradigms. This is even more crucial in management education, for as we have seen, the structures of organizations often reflect the structure of society and common mentality. It is extremely difficult to change a system that has been set up for generations – and so it is no wonder that for present corporations and entire systems of government – be that businesses, education, or even nations - to change, it is essential to start teaching the new generations the new possible ways of applying knowledge. The focal point of the transformation of management education is to open up the eyes and minds of students to the endless possibilities in ways to organize, manage and teach. The new generation of management education courses has to broaden the perspective of students and give them real-life challenges in order to raise creative and innovative thinkers. To the new management education system, the sky is the limit. The reason for this revolution in education is the need to nurture the new kind of managers – those able to transform the chaos around them to benefit the world and those they have to take care of.
An ideal management class would not solely focus on the theoretical material that has been in circulation over the last decades, but instead teach the direct application of that knowledge – something rarely done in today’s courses. The facts from books bring no experience, and thus no innovation, to the students. Since the present world desperately needs the managers and leaders who are capable of thinking unconventionally and providing solutions that are original and ground-breaking, the courses have to reflect this need and cultivate the creative spirit inside the students. Only the courses that make students think, and teach them how to learn and adapt, not simply how to remember facts and formulas, will provide the humanity with the leaders who can bring the world into a better tomorrow.
Management Education in the 21st Century
In a century of uncertainty and dynamism, management education needs to continually evolve to keep up. The role of management can be seen as narrowing and widening itself at the same time. On the one hand, ever increasing workplace democracy is reducing the load on managers by dividing management functions among workers. But on the other hand, this new era of exponential change has introduced many new factors into management, such as changes in workplace demographics. To better prepare management students for the workplace, management education must go beyond just introducing new workplace trends. To achieve that, I think it is important to first understand the source of these trends. New trends start because our society goes through change. Therefore key to 21st century management is to understand people. This can be done by reducing faculty barriers between social science and management. Finally, business ethics need to be highlighted in management education. Apart from focusing on traditional business ethics topics such as fraud, management schools also need to emphasize on new topics such as sustainable development.
My ideal management class has no distinct boundaries across different management disciplines. I think students can relate their knowledge better when the barriers between courses are removed. For instance, operations management and marketing can be combined to give the benefit of aligning effective input/output management with marketing opportunities. Also I disagree with cramming hard facts about management, especially upon entering the faculty. I believe that starting students off with a concrete picture about the workplace can severely limit their creativity. It would be interesting to have a class where the objective is to design a business organization, and then slowly analyze the problems with the design model before finally applying methodologies from modern day organizations.
Management Education in the 21st Century
I believe that management education is capable of and is beginning to shift towards a more practical and applicable style of education. From my experience at McGill up until now, what I have seen is courses being taught directly out of the textbooks. In fact for the majority of the my management courses I have simply read the course syllabus to know what material I need to read and then studied from that without attending classes, and it has done me just fine. I envision a class where you leave the textbook behind and that class becomes more of a business atmosphere where you feel like you are learning but at the same time working at a job. I find that co-op training, which is offered at some universities, is very useful because you get a balance of theoretical and practical learning. My ideal course, would value case studies very highly while it would not include exams because they have no usefulness in real business practices.
The Future of Management Education in the 21st Century
In the 21st century, the study of management in academia should incorporate more multi-disciplinary and practical approaches rather than solely the traditional, theoretical curriculum of marketing, finance, operations, and accounting that we see today. The rise of globalization has resulted in an increased need for greater multi-cultural understanding with regards to political, social, and economic conditions around the world. As such, new managers in the 21st century will require not only traditional business knowledge, but also other forms that involve the integration of psychology, political science, languages, macroeconomics, law, and sociology. Whether working for a domestic firm or a multi-national, managers must have some basic understanding of these issues as they relate to business. It is my belief that management as a discipline has become too traditional, rigid, and limited in scope. Business schools are too preoccupied teaching theories to students that focus solely on bottom line principles, and are sending them out into the world with almost no practical experience or knowledge of other important disciplines that affect corporations and managers alike.
In order to remedy this problem, I would suggest two major changes to traditional management programs. To start off, I would include in the core courses of all management students a course on international affairs, consumer behaviour, business ethics, languages, world history, cross-cultural management, law and sociology, and economic integration/globalization. By including such courses, it will provide management students with a broader, more multi-disciplinary approach to understanding both consumer thinking, as well as the environment in which businesses operate. In addition to the inclusion of these multi-disciplinary courses, I would also make internships and practical experience a mandatory component of the program before graduation. This will provide students with a more practical understanding of the real-world application of business theories, as well as provide them with invaluable experience and important contacts in the business world.
In order to change management education for the better, professors should not only emphasize bottom line principles, but they should also teach students the power and importance of business as a tool for positive change. In my ideal management class, a professor will apply this approach. They will not limit their students to just the use of exams and textbooks as a means of learning, but will also use class discussion, cases, team projects, guest speakers, and field trips as a means of challenging and inspiring their students. My ideal class would not only focus on one discipline, but will include other disciplines as well and relate these to one another so as to show their interconnectedness and importance to managers. In my view, the ideal management class will focus less on profits, and more on ethics, global issues, and effective business practices. It will discard exams and textbooks as the sole method of learning, and will put more emphasis on personal growth, leadership, and practical business skills rather than the importance of the grade. Ask many business students when they graduate and most will say the same thing – that they forgot most of what they were taught in the classroom, textbooks, and exams. In order to make the study of management more effective, and more memorable, it is my belief that it is now the time to move away from limited traditional methods to a more practical, multi-disciplinary approach.
In order to remedy this problem, I would suggest two major changes to traditional management programs. To start off, I would include in the core courses of all management students a course on international affairs, consumer behaviour, business ethics, languages, world history, cross-cultural management, law and sociology, and economic integration/globalization. By including such courses, it will provide management students with a broader, more multi-disciplinary approach to understanding both consumer thinking, as well as the environment in which businesses operate. In addition to the inclusion of these multi-disciplinary courses, I would also make internships and practical experience a mandatory component of the program before graduation. This will provide students with a more practical understanding of the real-world application of business theories, as well as provide them with invaluable experience and important contacts in the business world.
In order to change management education for the better, professors should not only emphasize bottom line principles, but they should also teach students the power and importance of business as a tool for positive change. In my ideal management class, a professor will apply this approach. They will not limit their students to just the use of exams and textbooks as a means of learning, but will also use class discussion, cases, team projects, guest speakers, and field trips as a means of challenging and inspiring their students. My ideal class would not only focus on one discipline, but will include other disciplines as well and relate these to one another so as to show their interconnectedness and importance to managers. In my view, the ideal management class will focus less on profits, and more on ethics, global issues, and effective business practices. It will discard exams and textbooks as the sole method of learning, and will put more emphasis on personal growth, leadership, and practical business skills rather than the importance of the grade. Ask many business students when they graduate and most will say the same thing – that they forgot most of what they were taught in the classroom, textbooks, and exams. In order to make the study of management more effective, and more memorable, it is my belief that it is now the time to move away from limited traditional methods to a more practical, multi-disciplinary approach.
Management Education
Being able to generate profit for an organization is no longer enough to effectively manage a team in the 21st Century. Workers are gaining more power, new world values are putting stress on the importance of self-development, and people are beginning to act as global citizens—all of which make the role of management more complex and all-inclusive. Some of the emerging managerial skills required in the 21s Century are:
Possessing good character traits, such as loyalty, honestly, competence, integrity, and courage
Being able to develop a sense of community and team-spirit
Taking responsibility for stakeholders concerns
Being able to generate trust from your workers, and
Knowing the needs of your workers and keeping your team healthy and happy.
The shift in management practice means that we must reorganize the way management education is taught. Education is becoming more universal, and the demand for higher education has never been greater. To handle the fast faced, chaotic 21stCentury, we must prepare our graduates from a young age. Developing creative skills early in a person’s education is essential for future generations to be innovative scholars that can move the world forward. We must teach the youth that focusing on the positive, while still acknowledging and learning from the negative will make for a more peaceful and united global community. Self-confidence is a major character trait that needs to be developed because when people are happy with themselves, they thrive as an individual; they are not afraid to share their innovative and creative ideas, they delve into fields that they enjoy and excel at them, and they are self visionaries ambitious and driven to contribute to the world.
In the later years of high school and early years of post-secondary, there is slowly becoming less and less room for the traditional textbook-exam format of learning. Management education needs to bring learning outside of the classroom by encouraging students to delve into the world, visiting banks, businesses, and business professionals to developing strong communication skills, self-confidence, and a sound network for after graduation. Professors need to engage in their students and offer different teaching methods that will keep students from not coming to class. These small details develop responsible, punctual, enthusiastic, hard-working manager on his(her) way to lead and manage a team.
In brief, management education must be redesigned for the 21st Century. We must foster creativity and self-confidence at a young age because the world is shifting into a new paradigm consisting of self-fulfillment, community, and global wellbeing. As well, positive thinking and positive living will enrich the lives and performance of future graduates so instead of giving a child a time-out for bad behavior, we must not punish but come up with new consequences that will allow for the child to learn from the mistake, but not humiliating the child or generating a negative relationship. In the later years, we must incorporate outside learning and networking, new and innovative teaching methods, and eliminating a major chunk of traditional textbook-exam methods.
My ideal Management course would be a small class where I would be able to participate in collective learning with my classmates and professor, build a strong relationship with my professor and establish lifelong friendships and networks, and get personal attention with projects and guidance for my future. I would like a class involving many group projects focused on individual learning, allowing flexibility and mistakes. I would like a class where we were brought different places, to see and experience different things and meet influential global leaders. There are limitless possibilities to have a class like this; I have taken part in one this summer. It is a matter of commitment, passion, and enthusiasm.
Management Education
My vision of management in both theory and practise for the 21st century is to study the emergence of the new types of capital, and the rearrangement of markets. We also need to see whether the social capital will be characterised by the global consolidation of multicultural organizations and if the theories of management of the 20th century will carry over to the 21st century. I think we need to come up with new executive strategies that foster and maintain innovation and entrepreneurship. I think the focus should be more on social, economic and technological forces that have been developed in the 21st century. We should also view the responsibilities that the managers of the 21st century hold and their relationship with their employees and families to get a positive environment in the work force. A few tips I would offer to the professors are the following:
- Prioritizes on student relationships and leadership skills, and implements change.
- Ensures both physical and intellectual access to the latest breakthroughs, articles, and books.
- Understands students and their social, emotional, and intellectual needs.
- Is committed to the program excellence and lifelong learning.
Below I have come up with a rough sketch on the main topics that we should focus on for future management courses.
Management for the 21st Century
TECHNICAL
Networking
Critical Thinking
Optimization
Control Procedures
Reporting
SOCIAL
Balance
Training Development
Healthy Environment
Cross Cultural Skills
Volunteerism
ECONOMICAL
Worldwide Presence
Innovation and Reliability
International Growth
Well-known Brands
E-Learning
Brainstorming
In the 21st century, management education should become a broader field then simply consisting of the classical accounting, finance and marketing courses. Management students should acquire basic knowledge about the world around them, not simply business skills. Therefore arts and political classes should be added to the curriculum for students to be aware of the problems in the 21st century since current students will become tomorrow’s leaders. They need to be given the necessary tools to succeed, but first they need to be aware of the problems and they need to be motivated into finding a solution. Also, in the final year, it should be compulsory for students to attend brainstorming sessions. Groups of about twenty students would meet on a weekly basis throughout the semester and discuss given global issues. Students would just throw in thoughts and ideas. Putting the students’ minds together could lead to great findings while being a valuable experience for the students.
In an ideal management course, the theory is covered through real life examples. There can be some pure theory teaching, but this must be very brief since students should be able to read it themselves out of textbooks. Class time should be dedicated to real applications of theory, analysis of situations and problem solving since learning is always greater through experience. Classes should be formed in such a way as to encourage more discussion between students and professors since professors are specialist of their fields. Students can greatly benefit from their expertise. Finally, I think class size should be reduced to build a stronger, more intimate teacher-student relationship.
In an ideal management course, the theory is covered through real life examples. There can be some pure theory teaching, but this must be very brief since students should be able to read it themselves out of textbooks. Class time should be dedicated to real applications of theory, analysis of situations and problem solving since learning is always greater through experience. Classes should be formed in such a way as to encourage more discussion between students and professors since professors are specialist of their fields. Students can greatly benefit from their expertise. Finally, I think class size should be reduced to build a stronger, more intimate teacher-student relationship.
The Future of Management Education
Business schools are more and more popular within the youth generation because everyone is related to business directly or indirectly. For instance, in 2006, 10,000 students applied at McGill’s Desautel faculty of management and 600 were chosen for the Bachelor of Commerce. Because the demands for B schools are enormously high, the faculties can only afford a limited number of places and there is also a lack to provide an effective and efficient education.
The Problems are:
§ The classes are filled up with many students and the teachers are not able to give enough time for everyone of them.
§ The majority of the courses rely on theoretical aspects and less on real life application.
§ There is often a lack of relationship between the student and the professor.
§ Most of the teachers don’t make students think out of the box because they give the typical paper-homework.
§ Too often, the students don’t interact enough between each other, which could help them create a network for their future.
The Solutions and the ideal course:
I believe that one of the major solution is to reduce the number of students per class. The ideal number would be between 30 and 50 students by course. This will enhance the interaction between students and professors.
Moreover, each management course needs to have a blog and use it. It will give the opportunity for the students to communicate and brainstorm new ideas about any subjects.
Innovation:
I believe that students need to use the power of technology to get in touch with other students outside the country. For example, professor Fahri Farakas showed us how to get in touch with undergrads from Turkey. Through the usage of Skype, two students are able to discuss about international news, come up with new ideas, learn from each other, and understand each others culture and lifestyle. This process will favour both parties because they will master cross-cultural skills and as future managers of the 21st century it is certainly a critical competence to have.
The Problems are:
§ The classes are filled up with many students and the teachers are not able to give enough time for everyone of them.
§ The majority of the courses rely on theoretical aspects and less on real life application.
§ There is often a lack of relationship between the student and the professor.
§ Most of the teachers don’t make students think out of the box because they give the typical paper-homework.
§ Too often, the students don’t interact enough between each other, which could help them create a network for their future.
The Solutions and the ideal course:
I believe that one of the major solution is to reduce the number of students per class. The ideal number would be between 30 and 50 students by course. This will enhance the interaction between students and professors.
Moreover, each management course needs to have a blog and use it. It will give the opportunity for the students to communicate and brainstorm new ideas about any subjects.
Innovation:
I believe that students need to use the power of technology to get in touch with other students outside the country. For example, professor Fahri Farakas showed us how to get in touch with undergrads from Turkey. Through the usage of Skype, two students are able to discuss about international news, come up with new ideas, learn from each other, and understand each others culture and lifestyle. This process will favour both parties because they will master cross-cultural skills and as future managers of the 21st century it is certainly a critical competence to have.
Management Education: Moving Forward
Management education of today is a changing discipline, and it is important that it continues on this trend into the twenty-first century. As the world is changing, becoming more concerned with and involved in human rights and the environment, it is important that management education also follows the same trends. It is very important that classes are concerned with the well being of people, not only the companies. People, like business and management, are also evolving and becoming more concerned with others, so there is now a need for classes based on humanity and how to treat all employees right in a business. From the managers all the way to the wageworkers, it is important that every employee is understood and treated fairly according to a universally understood law of humanity, which should be taught in management courses in university. Business classes in the future should also be based more on ethics than they are currently. In addition, professors cannot assume that everyone knows and lives by ethics. Those who do not practice business ethics are graduating and becoming managers in influential companies, yet if business ethics and morals were taught within every course of management, it would be more likely that these managers would become better managers. Although many assume that ethics are taught at home, it is important that this is also taught in higher-level education in order to stress its importance for a changing world. With future managers with an education based more in ethics and people, we will see a better trend in the twenty-first century, when both the companies and the employees thrive.
The ideal management course incorporates business ethics, concern for people, and business practices in order to create balanced and well taught managers of the future. Within the class, it is important that the high value of every person is stressed, so that the future managers think no less of those building a product than of those who are running a project or company. Every person should be treated well in the future of management, and this trend can only begin through education. Business ethics are of growing importance in the twenty-first century, and the perfect management course stresses this movement in order to create more informed managers of the future. Each concept learned should be applied to ethics. In addition to concentration on business ethics and human worth, it is important, of course, that strong business practices are taught. If the course is taught properly, balancing the three factors, well-informed and powerful managers will be able to take the reigns in the twenty-first century.
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