vol. XXI no. 2
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FORQUER: You are
talking to a program manager. If I had to split out and make choices,
I’m going to make sure that our students know how to compete, because
at the end of the day if you are not competitive, you are in trouble.
PETERSON:
Drucker [Peter Drucker, considered “the father of modern management”]
says, “The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise
is the results exist only on the outside. The purpose of a business is a satisfied customer. Inside an
enterprise, there are only costs.” So if you think about it, you better
be collaborating with customers and firms along the supply chain. We
have much more interdependence than I think business schools may be
teaching. If it’s all competition, then you lose some of that
collaborative thinking that you need to operate globally.
WHITE: If you’re in
an economics class and you’re going over the numbers, that’s wonderful,
and when you’re in an organizational behavior (OB) class you are
thinking of something different. What about integrating that case
throughout all the classes?
FORQUER:
Do we have faculty prepared to teach these new contextual skills we are
talking about?
HUSS:
The blunt answer to your question is today, no. But the positive answer
is that we’ll either make them or we’ll hire them. We’ll figure out a
way to take the talent that we have and broaden their thinking, and in some cases we’ll recruit some who
already have had that experience.
FORQUER:
This is a long-term issue, particularly in the EMBA world, where the
demands on turning theory into practice are very high. I think that
what we are already seeing is a much
differentiated faculty. One size does not fit all. So it’s a balancing
act of people who can add value in different ways.
Shifting gears, what about technology and the competitors like the
University of Phoenix?
PETERSON:
I think that schools like Robinson have a distinct advantage over
competitors like the University of Phoenix because your school is
bringing together people face-to-face, which is where and how business
is done. You have a niche and you have to protect that niche by
delivering on what you do well.
HUSS:
What technology may permit us to do is use the face-to-face time we
have for some of the richer discussions.
Technology can be used for the more routine, codified skills.
Technology gives us the opportunity to add that richness
to the face-to-face interaction.
LORD:
On the delivery question, we are learning how to integrate
international experiences as well by using a wide
range of technology platforms. We can share knowledge with people
around the world. We are doing things we couldn’t have done five years
ago – it’s very challenging and exciting.
FORQUER:
I wish we had more time. Thank you all for participating.
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