There is a strong argument that in the future
everyone will need to have had a business education. Whatever you
do in your professional life, the chances are that it will involve
some ‘business’. Scientists, engineers, even artists,
will inevitably have to understand at least the basics of business,
and probably a lot more.
Today’s management gurus, the people who are forecasting the
way we will do business at the beginning of the 21st
century, are saying that the companies of the future will consist
of groups of specialists who work together on a specific project
and then disband. For the next project the composition of the group
will almost certainly be different. One of the consequences of this
is that many more people will be what we call today ‘independent’,
and will have to understand more about the opportunities and constraints
of business.
In other words, the combination of specialist qualification and
business knowledge will become vital.
But it is not just ‘knowledge’ of business. Before embarking
on a business education you need to ask yourself a basic question,
‘what should a business education give me?’
Most subjects that one studies are composed of theory and practice.
The important question is, where does one end and the other start?
In many cases there is obviously no clear-cut answer to this.
Business is a practical subject. It sounds obvious, but it seems
too easily to be forgotten.
Let me explain what I mean by this simple statement. Business cannot
be compared with chemistry, physics, mathematics, law, which can
be purely theoretical i.e. little or no practical work is required
in order to be an ‘expert’. Business can be compared with
medicine. No doctor is allowed near a real live patient purely on
the basis of book study (otherwise the patient would probably not
be alive for very long!).
How do doctors learn the practical skills? - they are taught by
practising doctors, they make diagnoses of real situation s under
the guidance and supervision of practising doctors.
Why is business a practical subject? The reason is that in business
you have to DO things, take decisions, take action, monitor results.
You cannot operate any business by just planning what to do on paper.
Planning is, of course, an important step in the process, but there
are many examples of businesses which have had excellent plans but
failed because no one implemented the ideas.
So, isn’t the best way to learn about how to do business,
to work in a business and learn from others? NO
In the heat of battle, and business today becomes a battle, you
cannot learn to fight, there are too many day-to-day pressures,
and few people have the time (or the capability) to explain what
is happening and, more importantly for someone trying to learn,
the reason for decisions.
The alternative is to simulate the dynamism of real business in
the classroom, but without the pressures.
How can this be done?
By having people who know about business, teach business. Who knows
better about business than the people actually doing business now
- the successful business practitioners of today. This has been
BSL’s philosophy from the start.
What does this mean in practice?
First of all, the faculty are a special breed of people. They not
only have high academic qualifications, but are also current, successful
practitioners of the ideas they are discussing, "What we are
doing right now" is a phrase often heard in BSL. But, the thing
which really makes the faculty special is their ability to teach,
the skill to communicate both knowledge of an enthusiasm for a subject.
One of the important things these people know is that very few
business situations will fit the textbook example. The comparison
with medicine is again valid. Each situation can be described as
unique, requiring its own unique solution. To be able to do this
requires that people are able to analyse a situation, examine various
alternatives and combine parts of solutions to solve the particular
problem being faced. BSL teaches people to do this.
There are, in addition, several other aspects of simulating the
real business world in the school which are important. Only a business
practitioner faculty knows about these things and can correctly
incorporate them into the l earning process. Business today is global.
Even the smallest company is affected by happenings outside its
immediate geographical boundaries. Medium and large companies are
automatically involved in cross-border business. The young businessman
and women needs to understand this, and, where necessary, to be
able to exploit the situation. It is not possible today to teach
domestic business an global or international business as separate
subjects. The BBA and MBA degrees must be in Global Business Management.
In the real world of business, few people can or are expected to
solve a problem by themselves. The value of multiple imputes in
reaching a better solution is widely recognised. But the sharing
of ideas, the acceptance of other people’s ideas, and the learning
from other approaches is not always a natural process. Students
must be encouraged to actively participate. Statements must be challenged
by faculty and other students. Attack and defence of ideas, and
the assimilation of other approaches are important parts of the
learning process. The benefits gained from the participation learning
approach are further enhanced by a multi-cultural student body.
Students who come from literally the four corners of the world,
bring with them all the advantages, disadvantages, fairness and
prejudice of centuries of cultural heritage. These characteristics
manifest themselves in sometimes totally different approaches to
solving business problems. From all of these approaches there is
something to learn. To come back to the original question, ‘what
should a business education give me?’ The answer is, the tools
to enable you to make an immediate contribution to global business.
These tools are:
- * the ability to use the contingency approach to solving business
problems, combining the best parts of several solutions into a
unique and better solution
- * having a global perspective
- * working with and learning from others
The BBA and MBA programmes which offer these tools are spearheading
the education of a new generation of business people.
Author: Dr Trevor Johnson, Dean of The Business School
Lausanne
This article first appeared in Studying Abroad magazine
