Management education and location
| Author | Professor Kai Peters |
| Function | Chief Executive |
| Organistation | Ashridge Business School |
Executives need different kinds of education as they progress through their careers. Where they study has a strong influence on their success. This article looks at these different stages and incorporates an international perspective.
At different points in their lives, executives must acquire, and business schools can help them hone, four distinct skills:
Functional competence. At the most basic level of ability, managers must understand the fields of finance, accounting, marketing, strategy, IT, economics, operations, and human resource management.
An understanding of context and strategy. Rising executives need to understand how organizational processes interrelate and occur within a context. They must be able to make sense of societal changes, political drivers, social values, global interaction, and technological change.
The ability to influence people. Building on their understanding of the interconnected nature of management, executives at the third level want to learn how to exert influence on their organizations. It is one thing to formulate a strategy, and it is quite another to implement that strategy while getting the buy-in of the rest of the staff. To be successful, managers must understand human drivers and the development of collective views. They must cultivate a broad understanding of societies and the sociology of organizations, and they must be able to challenge and communicate.
Reflective skills. At the top level of management, executives need to develop themselves as human beings. Two considerations move them. First, as their seniority increases, they begin to reflect on their own wants, needs, and capabilities so they can set priorities and spend time on what’s most important. Second, as they rise within management ranks, they inevitably are aging. Top managers not only must prioritize their work efforts, they must prioritize their life goals. As they realize they are mortal, they must consider what they want to accomplish with what time they have left.
Lessons
These four levels of managerial needs offer lessons to individuals considering management education.
1. Age is a factor in management education. The primary need of younger business students is to develop functional expertise. While they also need to learn about context, organizational dynamics, and individual effectiveness, their true need for those skills will come later. Similarly, at the senior management end of the spectrum, there is no need to focus on functional skills. Executives acquire these at earlier stages of their careers—at one point, such skills were the "price of admission" for their ongoing career development. Instead, senior managers will want to focus on questions of strategy, organizational dynamics, and their own individual drivers.
2. The changing needs of executive development should dictate faculty composition. Younger managers need instructors who can teach traditional subject matter. Those in the middle of their careers need guidance from practitioners and integrators. Senior executives need coaches who can help them achieve wisdom, insight, and reflection.
3. The size of the classroom will shrink as the age of the students goes up. A large classroom is perfectly acceptable when the subject matter is basic business content or the development of functional skills. It is possible to lecture about economics to a group of 100 or to use Internet-enabled technology to transmit information to almost limitless numbers.
However, such transmissions of knowledge are less suitable for managers who already have some practical experience. Issues concerning interdisciplinary and cross-functional trade-offs involve decisions. Managers facing immediate business problems are looking for practical solutions from instructors with real-world experience, not simply an understanding of business theory. These participants benefit from smaller groups that can offer in-depth discussion and thoughtful insights.
At the most senior managerial levels, the group size is likely to be reduced even further. It is simply unsuitable to discuss issues of personal priorities and boardroom dynamics in large group settings. In addition, there are practical challenges inherent in trying to assemble a large number of senior managers in one room at a common time. Therefore, executive education for top-level managers is likely to take place in relatively small groups.
The Geography of Business Education
Undergraduates frequently seek out a school that provides an affordable, enjoyable study environment—and is close to home. MBA candidates looking for career acceleration are often drawn to urban centres where potential employers are located. By contrast, executives who are looking for a chance to be more reflective seek venues that are outside of the normal bustle of their busy careers.
These factors extend beyond the confines of a particular country and can be applied world-wide. But there is more to it then that when one considers international education and it is important to look at the various strands of what is often grouped together as an international experience.
Cultural Awareness
Spending considerable time abroad obviously gives a participant a chance to experience another culture from a variety of perspectives. What is it like to live there? What do they do there? How does the economy work? What should not be underestimated is that in addition to learning about a new culture, one also has a tremendous opportunity to reflect on one’s own. This allows one to transfer knowledge between countries. A clear example is when one discovers a new business opportunity or a new market trend and then sets up a business along these lines. Has Starbucks come to the Netherlands yet? Will it ever?
Different Business World Views
Ashridge Business School is presently in the midst of a pan European study and is looking at different perceptions of leadership in various European countries. This research is being conducted through interviews but also through a literature search in a variety of languages. The research thus goes beyond the normal classifications of the Netherlands using a Rijnland or Polder model and the United Kingdom embracing "Anglo American Capitalist Values". These different approaches can be seen not only in views of leadership but in other areas as well. For candidates considering an MBA or executive education in another country, it is important to think about these issues.
Educational Philosophy
Just as there are differences in views of business, there are also different views of educational processes. While some are anchored in the philosophy of a particular school, others are influenced by the educational philosophy of a nation – one can effectively extrapolate them from some of the cultural difference research conducted by Hofstede and others. English speaking countries tend to favour a highly participatory educational system. In other countries, a more lecture based system is favoured. The best learning, hoewever, happens through participating and doing.
Post Study employment
Recent research in Australia and anecdotal evidence from Canada and from colleagues in Cape Town, indicates that one of the prime drivers for an international degree is to gain employment in the educational host country. If you’ve ever gone to Cape Town, you’ll see that this is quite understandable! Some countries encourage this type of migration. While legislation regularly changes, the UK, the US and Canada have all, at one point or another, connected immigration policy with educational achievement. In a global war for talent, securing the highly capable provides economic benefit.
In researching schools, it is interesting to note that schools located in large cities tend not to identify themselves with their host countries at all, focussing instead on the city as a global business hub.
Lessons for the Benelux
For those in the Benelux, considering study either for MBA or other qualification programmes, as well as for shorter executive programmes, an international experience offers a range of opportunities in terms of learning experience and cultural reflection. The options are extensive. A short programme in China to see what is going on? An MBA in the United States to watch developments on Web 2.0 from close-up? A Masters programme in London at the heart of the European financial and media worlds? Or, if you’re really ambitious, all of the above because it is about life long learning after all!
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