Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:14:16.237Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The MBA at the Crossroads: Design Issues for the Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

David Bubna-Litic  and
Suzanne Benn
David Bubna-Litic
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of Technology 'Sydney
Suzanne Benn
Affiliation:
Corporate Sustainability Project, University of Technology, Sydney
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How appropriate is the MBA as the major vehicle for management education in Australia as we enter this new century? This question is explored from two perspectives. First, the implications of the changing social, economic and political context of management education, particularly the emerging needs for a sustainable and reflexive society. The second perspective will explore the recent debates around epistemology and their potentially important implications for related curriculum design issues. Assumptions about the nature of knowledge dominant in the 1960s formed the very rationale behind the design. At this time the assumption that knowledge was cumulative and each discipline had an uncontested knowledge, which could be taught in foundational subjects was central to the MBA's development. We question the ability of such subjects to capture the diversity of the disciplines they seek to represent and whether this design is the best way to develop graduates with the ability for reflexivity in action, who can broach different worldviews and have skills that can negotiate the transformations required of corporate Australia. The MBA is at the crossroads - can it regenerate through an incremental changing of curricula, to incorporate the active engagement of students with these issues? Or do we acknowledge the contested nature of knowledge creation and that the MBA is fundamentally a child of modernism which is no longer appropriate, and create a new holistic and integrated curriculum which is separate from the wide range of assumptions that currently underpin the MBA.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , January 2003 , pp. 25 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abrahamson, E 1996, ‘Management fashion’, Academy of Management Review, vol 21, no. 1, pp. 254–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anthony, P 1986, The foundation of management, Tavistock, London.Google Scholar
Argyris, C & Schon, DA 1978, Organizational learning, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.Google Scholar
Ashenden, D & Milligan, S 2001, ‘Australian ‘mutants’ flourishing’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 05, p. 17.Google Scholar
Australian Conservation Foundation 2001, Australia's report card, Australian Conservation Foundation, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) 2002, Socially responsible investing disclosure guidelines?, ASIC discussion paper.Google Scholar
Barry, D & Eimes, M 1997, ‘Strategy retold: toward a narrative view of strategic discourse’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 22, pp. 429–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, P & Eisen, A 2002, ‘The Piedmont Project at Emory University’ in Filho, W. (ed.), Teaching sustainability at universities, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 61–78.Google Scholar
Bate, P 1995, Strategies for cultural change, Butterworth Heinemann Ltd, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bateson, G 1972, Steps to an ecology of mind. Ballantine, New York.Google Scholar
Bauman, Z 1991, Modernity and ambivalence, University Press, Cornell.Google Scholar
Beck, U 1992, The risk society. Sage Publications, London.Google Scholar
Beck, U 1997, ‘Global risk politics’, in Jacobs, M (ed.), Greening the millennium? The new politics of the environment, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.Google Scholar
Beck, U 1999, The world risk society, Polity Press, Molden, Mass.Google Scholar
Beck, U & Beck-Gerashein, E 2002, Individualization, Sage Publications, London. Foreword by Lash, S.Google Scholar
Beder, S 1996, The nature of sustainable development, 2nd edn, Newham Scribe Publications.Google Scholar
Benn, S 2000, ‘Progress towards education for sustainability at UNSW, in den Bor, W Van, Holen, P, Wals, A & Fililo, W Leal (eds), Integrating concepts of sustainability into education for agriculture and rural development, Peter Lang Publishers, Frankfurt, pp. 231–244.Google Scholar
Benn, SBubna-Litic, D & Eckstein, D 2001, ‘Is the MBA sustainable? Degrees of change’, Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 12.Google Scholar
Blaut, JM 1993, The colonizers model of the world: geographical diffusionism and eurocentric history, Guilford Press, New York.Google Scholar
Burrell, G & Morgan, G 1979, Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis, Heinemann, London.Google Scholar
Byrt, WJ (ed.), 1989, Management education: an international survey, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Chaffee, EE 1985, ‘Three models of strategy’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 89–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clegg, SRLinstead, S & Sewell, G 2000, ‘Only penguins: a polemic on organization theory from the edge of the world’, Organization Studies, vol. 21, pp. 103–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, R & Burrell, G 1988, ‘Modernism, postmodernism and organizational analysis: an introduction’, Organization Studies, vol. 9, pp. 91–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Committee on Environmental Education in Further and Higher Education 1993, Environmental responsibility: an agenda for further and higher education, Department of Education and the Welsh Office, London.Google Scholar
Cortese, A 2002, ‘As the earth warms up, will companies pay?’, New York Times, 8 08, p. 6.Google Scholar
Crossan, MLane, H WHildebrand, T 1993, ‘Organization learning: theory to practice,’ In Hendry, J, Johnson, G & Newton, J, (eds), Leadership and the management of change, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 229–265.Google Scholar
Czarniawska, B & Genell, K 2002, ‘Going shopping? Universities on their way to the market’, Scandinavian Journal of Management, vol. 18, pp. 455–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, HE 1996, Beyond growth: the economics of sustainable development, Beacon Press, Boston.Google Scholar
Dryzek, J 1997, The politics of theearth, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Dunphy, DGriffiths, A & Benn, S 2003, Organizational change for corporate sustainability, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Engwall, L 2000, ‘Foreign role models and standardisation in Nordic business education’, Scandinavian Journal of Management, vol. 16, pp. 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elkington, J 1997, Cannibals with forks: the triple bottom line of 21st century business, Capstone, London.Google Scholar
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council 2003, viewed 28 January 2003 <http://www.oilspill.state.ak.us/>..>Google Scholar
Finlay, J & Samuclson, J 1999, Beyond grey pinstripes: preparing MBAs for social and environmental stewardship. World Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Gadamer, H 2000, Truth and method, trans. Weinshcimer, J & Marshall, DG, Continuum, New York. (Original work published 1975).Google Scholar
Giddens, A 1990, Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age, Polity Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gleeson, RE 1997, ‘Stalemate at Stanford, 1945-1958: the long prelude to the new look at Stanford Business School’, Selections, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 6–23.Google Scholar
Gleeson, RESchlossman, S & Allen, DG 1993, ‘Uncertain ventures: the origins of graduate management education at Harvard and Stanford, 1908-1939’, Selections, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 9–36.Google Scholar
Gordon, RA & Howell, JE 1959, Higher education for business, Columbia University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, C 2003, Growth fetish, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Harding, R 1998 ‘Value systems and paradigms’, in Harding, R (ed.). Environmental Decision making: the roles of scientists, engineers and the public, The Federation Press, Sydney, pp. 61–81.Google Scholar
Harman, W 1993 ‘Approaching the millennium: business as a vehicle for global transformation’ in Ray, M & Rinzler, A (eds), The new paradigm in business: emerging strategies for leadership and organizational change, JP Tarcher /Putnam.Google Scholar
Hart, S 1997, ‘Beyond greening: strategies for a sustainable world’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 75, no.1, pp. 67–76.Google Scholar
Hood, P & Bubna-Litic, D 2000, ‘Three colours green: drivers of environmental change in organizations’, paper presented at the Asia-Pacific Researchers in Organization Studies Conference, Sydney.Google Scholar
Keen, S 2001, Debunking economics: the naked emperor of the social sciences, Pluto Press, Annandale, NSW.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T 1970, The structure of scientific revolutions, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Latour, B 1993, We have never been modern, trans. Porter, C, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Locke, R 1996, The collapse of the American management mystique, Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyotard, JF 1984, The postmodern condition: a report of knowledge, University Press, Manchester.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A 1981, After virtue - a study in moral theory, Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
McDonell, G 2001. ‘On choosing…the nearest amenable and illuminating lie; the spread of transdisciplinarity’, Conference on Inter-Disciplinarity ‘No Sense of Discipline’, Brisbane.Google Scholar
McKenna, JF 1989, ‘Management education in the United States’, in Byrt, W (ed.), Management education. an international survey, Routledge, London, pp. 18–55.Google Scholar
Marsh, S & Macalpine, M 2002, ‘Perversity and absurdity in ‘high’ managerialism: the role of management educators’, paper presented at the Connecting Learning and Critique Conference, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Matthews, PJ 1999, ‘Factors influencing the design and content of management education in Australian universities’, Doctor of Education thesis, Faculty of Education cited in P Matthews 2002, ‘Management Academics: Are agents of change?’ working paper no. 11/05, Faculty of Commerce, Charles Sturt University.Google Scholar
Maxwell, P & Huang, L 1998, ‘The MBA in Australia: why has it been such a success?’ working paper, Division of Business and Administration, Curtin University of Technology.Google Scholar
Mintzberg, H & Gosling, J 2002, ‘Educating managers beyond borders’, Academy of Management Learning and Education Journal, vol. 1, issue 1, pp. 64–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mintzberg, HPascale, RGoold, M, & Rumclt, R 1996, ‘The “Honda Effect” revisited’, California Management Review, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 79–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mintzberg, H & Westley, F 2001, ‘Decision making: it's not what you think’, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp. 89–93.Google Scholar
Morgan, G 1997, Images of organization, 2nd edn. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.Google Scholar
Neelankavil, JP 1994, ‘Corporate America's quest for an ideal MBA,’ Journal of Management Development, vol. 13. no. 5, pp. 38–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novo, M 2002, ‘Higher environmental education in the XX1 century: towards a new-interpretative paradigm, in Filho, W (ed.), Teaching sustainability at universities, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 429–458.Google Scholar
Orr, D 1992, Ecological literacy, State University of New York Press, Albany.Google Scholar
Pascale, RT 1984, ‘Perspectives on strategy: the real story behind Honda's success’, California Management Review, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 47–721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penley, LFulton, PDaly, GFrank, R 1995, ‘Has business school education become a scandal?’ Business & Society Review, vol. 93, pp. 4–16.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J & Fong, C 2002 ‘The end of business schools? Less success than meets the eye’, Academy of Management Journal of Learning and Education, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 78–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, FC 1959, The education of American businessmen: a study of university-college programs in business administration, McGraw-Hill, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, M 1980, Competitive strategy, Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Porter, M 1985, Competitive advantage, Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Post, JPreston, L & Sachs, S 2002, ‘Managing the extended enterprise: the new stakeholder view’, California Management Review, vol. 45, issue 1, pp. 6–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ralston Saul, J 1997, The unconscious civilization, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria.Google Scholar
Rorty, R 1991, Objectivity, relativism, and truth, University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ross-Smith, AClegg, S & Agius, P 2002, ‘Cashed up and complacent: a diagnosis of the present condition of management education in Australian universities’, Australia New Zealand Academy of Management Conference, La Trobe University, Victoria.Google Scholar
Stacey, R 1992, Managing the unknowable, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Shrivastava, P 1995 ‘Ecocentric management fora risk society’, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 118–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spretnak, C 1999, The resurgence of the real: body, nature, and place in a hypermodern world, Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Thomas, AB & Anthony, PD 1996, ‘Can management education be educational?’, in French, R & Grey, C (eds), Rethinking management education, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Tsoukas, H 1999, ‘David and Goliath in the risk society: making sense of the conflict between Shell and Greenpeace in the North Sea’, Organisation, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 499–528.Google Scholar
Weick, KE 1979, ‘Cognitive processes in organizations’, Research in Organizational Behaviour, vol. 1, pp. 41–74.Google Scholar
Whittington, R 2002, ‘Practice perspectives on strategy: unifying and developing a field’, Academy of Management Conference Proceedings, Denver.Google Scholar
Yencken, D & Williamson, D 2000, Resetting the compass, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood.Google Scholar
Zadek, S 2001, The civil corporation, Earthscan Publications, London.Google Scholar