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What
should a Business Education give you?
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
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