Business
school’s curriculum should become bedrock of innovation and produce thinking
professionals. See the changes around, particularly opportunities thrown up by
rising digital economy and industry 4.0. Are we keeping pace with the same? Tracing
back the Industrial Revolutions- the FIRST (1.0) is known to be referred to the
time when water and steam power was invented to mechanize production. This
followed by second Industrial Revolution (2.0) primarily identified by the
invention of electric power leading to the concept of 'factory' for mass
production. Next revolution (3.0) is digital revolution where Electronics and
Information Technology arrived with enhanced computing power, electronic gadgets
and telecommunications. Industrial operations saw a new level of integrated
automation. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is technological expansion
over the Third, and characterized by a fusion of technologies (viz. Artificial Intelligence-AI, Internet of Things-IoT, Augmented Realty, Blockchains and more...) that is blurring
the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres (Klaus Schwab,
World Economic Forum). These are altering our lives to the core - personal
life, work life and social life. Manufacturing capacities are enhanced with high precision - connecting
everything, everywhere, all the time. These result in huge capacity and
capability of delivering instant, intimate, frictionless, incremental value on
a large scale. These are unthinkable before! Do Business school’s curriculum
reflect this trend?
‘Profit vs wealth maximization’ debate that used to constitute major part of Business Schools teaching is no more relevant. Today’s firms are driven by continuous innovation for customers than profit motives. Look at Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Alibaba, Airbnb, Tencent, Spotify, Tesla and Uber etc. In these firms, profits are result, not the goal that defines 21st-century thinking. Talent drives strategy. Big issues may not require large teams; complex tasks are handled by breaking into small tasks as it provides control. Companies are making more money by not focusing on money. Entire attention is on innovation- new product, new process, new features, new business model, new channel. Innovation is following Moore's law more deligently.
These firms are creating business practices - unheard of before. Not all Business Schools would be following the trend without a lag. Accreditation process helps here to some extent in insisting on curriculum change but the problem is faced when change cycle is long. Paradoxically, Business school research is also seen circulating in self-referential envelop—a labrary to library journey. The utility of the entire research is not convincingly established. Corporations remain ignorant or aloof to our research. The fact is that most them turn to consulting firms, and not to Business School for guidance. A massive opportunity is missed out.
Today, emphasis in MBA is on diversity, curriculum, Global Immersion Program (GIP), teaching pedagogy, amongst other factors.
Diversity
Referring to 2015 McKinsey study, companies now discover positive financial performance with more women leading alongside men - 15% better than the industry median. The most ethnically diverse companies did even better, outperforming the industry median by around 35%. Improving diversity in the MBA classroom is, therefore, crucial now. Additionally, international diversity along with gender diversity is vital for B-School rankings and could tip the outcome easily.
Flipping the classroom
The concept of “Flipping the classroom," a “pedagogy-first” approach to teaching is being found to be more impactful in course takeaway than traditional lecture mode pedagogy. Lectures can be watched and replayed hence Professor's time is more effective in engaging students into more case discussion, role-playing practical, project conceptualization and learning via business simulation. Thus the entire vision of delivering an MBA program has changed.
Gamification
Gamification is also playing a more prominent part in education. AI & Augmented Reality help students engage with business simulations, where each student plays a role in running a company, thus, making learning outcome high.
Soft skill
Training in soft skills, such as negotiation, leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving, therefore, remains a top priority for business schools.
The Global Immersion Program (GIP)
It is a new trend designed to provide a high-level exposure of the economic, cultural and geopolitical drivers behind regions integral to the global economy. This is a very structured program. Students are given opportunity to spend time over defined project at an overseas location in batches to get exposed to local culture and business environment. The overall aim is to provide an understanding of the region’s business, cultural, and political environments; acquire a working knowledge of local business practices by interacting with managers and government officials; develop familiarity with different economic models as benchmarks for global business practices; and become ambassador for promoting intercultural awareness and communication.
Technology trend
MBA curriculum must reflect the emerging technology trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, Blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency, Nano-technology, and neuro-technological brain enhancements, etc. However in Business School setting, these would need to be suitably re-focussed. MBA has to be more a 'Technology leadership' program.
Shorter Duration Management Education
In addition to above latest trends in B-Schools, 1-year Master program is becoming more popular. Some of the schools have already started winding up their 2 year full-time program. For instance, Tippie Business School launched 1-year master program in Business Analytics in 2014 and later decided to close the school's full-time MBA in August 2017. In Europe, many Business Schools have closed MBA program and started specialized programs of shorter duration such as MSc, MS, etc. of 1 year duration. These are a less costly option compared to MBA, and students get rightly placed after graduation and payback education loans easily. It is a fact that overhead costs of MBA are high for student and employer both. Of 661 institutions accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), 79 Schools do not offer any form of MBA, instead opted for 1 year specialized programs in cutting edge topics. Few have chosen to drop full-time courses or opened without MBA programmes such as Wake Forest University in North Carolina, King's College London and the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business. These are thoughtful response to the shifting demands in the business education market.
Due to the new format of shorter management education, a higher number of applications is received in European and Asian institutions as compared to the USA. Tippie Business School has been running Business Analytics program successfully, experiencing a rise in applications by 517 percent since its inception in 2014. This has led them to now developing another set of specialist masters courses.
In Europe, many Business Schools have closed MBA program started specialized programs of shorter duration (MSc, MS, etc. of 1 year duration). These are a less costly option compared to MBA, and students get rightly placed after graduation and payback education loans easily. Of the 661 institutions having acquired accreditation of AACSB, 79 Schools opted for 1 year specialized programs in cutting edge topics over traditional MBA, .
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