TEXT E The Masters of Business
Administration (MBA), the best known business school label, is an introduction
to general management. The traditional MBA, Harvard style, has remained largely
unaltered since the 1950s, and seeks to provide a thorough knowledge of business
functions through the case study--a feature incidentally borrowed from law
school. In a similar fashion to law school, the graduate management programs
train students to think in a particular way, ultimately teaching future business
leaders how to analyze problems quickly and contrive (想出)concise solutions.
However, business comprises more than merely manipulating numbers or sourcing
rational answers to problems. Today, both companies and schools are increasingly
aware that business is a human activity; it is ultimately by and about
people. John Quelch is a business school insider who detects the
limitations of the traditional syllabus. According to Quelch, leadership is an
area that schools have not fully addressed. "The basic technical training
managers need is more wide spread. But leadership skills are in short supply.
This could become a major constraint on the speed with which multinational
companies can expand", he says. Leadership is notoriously hard to teach, but
programs do have the capacity to provide a grounding in non- business areas and
personal growth. "You want to produce graduates who will be effective. To do
this, they need to know their own skills. Our job is not only to cram finance
down their throats, but help develop them as people," explains Leo Murray,
director of Cranfield School of Management in the U. K. Cranfield uses
philosophy in its core, which since 1997 has offered an evening lecture series
encompassing (包括) both Aristotelian and present day thinking. Self-awareness is
crucial at the school, which will grant the theme even more space. "These issues
help people think," states Murray. The better you understand yourself, goes the
logic, the better you can manage others. The Said Business School (SBS) at
Oxford University champions a more Intergrated approach. John Kay, SBS director,
is keen to leverage the intellectual might of the wider university. Access to
faculty from other disciplines including philosophy, politics and economics, he
believes, could give SBS an edge over other school. These are surely steps in
the right direction. But there is more. In future, developing a gut instinct for
business may be as important as understanding the figures. To create an MBA to
meet the challenges of the 21st century business schools will have to try
harder, and they know it. What does the passage mainly discuss
A.Traditional style of MBA courses. B.Self-awareness in 21st century business schools. C.Reforms in today’s business schools. D.Reforming the MBA to meet the challenges of the new century.