Ambition is AMBA’s thought leadership magazine, offering regular insights into the challenges and trends that matter most in global management education
Ambiti n The monthly magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
Issue 61 MARCH 2023
Putting people at the heart of business
How management education can help humanise society
FACING THE UNKNOWN WITHOUT FEAR IEDC-Bled on unlearning as a viable way of dealing with the challenges of a new world order
DREAMING BIG IN SOUTH AFRICA The dean of Milpark Business School discusses plans to empower the local student population
ADAM SMITH: THE MAN OF THE HOUR University of Glasgow commemorates the 300th anniversary of its renowned alumnus
AMBA MEMBERSHIP IS FREE FOR STUDENTS AND GRADUATES OF AMBA-ACCREDITED BUSINESS SCHOOLS
AMBA exists to champion brilliance in business schools and nurture impactful graduates who will change business for the better. AMBA’s network of accredited schools has grown to more than 285 institutions in 75 countries, and there are now more than 56,000 MBA, MBM and DBA students and graduates participating in our global membership community
MEMBERS GET FREE ACCESS TO: Award-winning content in our complimentary digital magazine tailored for MBAs Monthly networking and thought leadership webinars, events and masterclasses A vast array of career resources via our Career Development Centre and app, including CV 360 and interview simulator Discounts and preferential rates on business books and leisure benefits through our exclusive affinity partnerships Members can also choose to demonstrate their participation in this exclusive network by purchasing a verifiable digital badge or certificate
VALUED BY GLOBAL MBA RECRUITERS AND EMPLOYERS 93% of more than 1,000 employers polled by AMBA in 2020 were positive about the value of an MBA from a reputable business school, rating the performance of their MBA recruits as “good” or “excellent”
YOUR STUDENTS CAN JOIN TODAY: associationofmbas.com/register
Issue 61 | MARCH 2023
NEWS & INS IGHT
REGULARS
40
07 | EDI TOR’ S LET TER The role of unlearning in ensuring we are ready to challenge traditional ways of seeing and understanding things 40 | HUB HIGHLIGHTS Analysis and thought leadership highlights from Ambition ’s online content on the AMBA website 42 | FROM THE CEO From metaverse platforms to gender bias and flexible working – a look at some compelling business school research projects
28
08 | BUS INESS BRI EF ING The latest news and research from across AMBA’s global network 28 | SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS Miami Herbert Business School kicks off a new series focusing on institutions that have recently earned AMBA accreditation 30 | LEADING BY EXAMPLE Winner of the 2023 MBA award for leadership Kerry McLaverty discusses her executive MBA experience
OPINION
36 | AI The revolutionary technology behind the ChatGPT chatbot
38 | CULTURE Teaming up with technology requires the right environment
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 3
ACHIEVE AMBA & BGA JOINT ACCREDITATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS SCHOOL
AMBA & BGA joint accreditation emphasises the importance of an institution’s overall impact and value creation for students, employers and communities, with a focus on responsible management, while maintaining the same level of rigour found in AMBA’s accreditation of postgraduate business programmes. Achievement of joint accreditation allows your business school to demonstrate the quality of its MBA, as well as responsible management practices and positive impact on stakeholders
Undergoing a joint accreditation means that your institution requires only one visit of highly experienced assessors. This combines the necessary documentation from the two accreditations, reducing the amount of administrative work and tasks required to achieve two internationally recognised business school accreditations
EXPLORE AMBA & BGA JOINT ACCREDITATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS SCHOOL AT: www.businessgraduatesassociation.com/AMBA-BGA-Accreditation
Issue 61 | MARCH 2023
FEATURES
24 | INTO THE UNKNOWN Preparing for a world where old ways of thinking have become obsolete. The first
14 | THE HUMAN TOUCH Train managers to humanise companies by focusing on the people at the heart of the commercial environment, say Inalde Business School’s Ernesto Barrera Duque and Cindy Paola Pinzón Rios
in a new series on leadership from IEDC-Bled School of Management’s Pierre Casse and Elnura Irmatova
18 | DARE TO DREAM
34 | A MAN FOR ALL REASONS How the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School is commemorating the 300th anniversary of the birth of Adam Smith – the renowned economist and philosopher from whom it derives its name
Dean Cobus Oosthuizen on Milpark Business School’s decision to go online-only as it bids to widen its reach and “empower people to become more than they dared imagine”
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 5
RESEARCH AND INSIGHT: STAY AHEAD OF THE TRENDS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION
Over the past two years, AMBA’s Research and Insight Centre has produced a wealth of groundbreaking new research and compiled reports citing views from MBA thinkers, practitioners, faculty and leaders across the globe on the issues that matter most in business education. Recent AMBA research has investigated business schools’ attitudes to poverty, rankings, climate change and education technology. We have analysed MBA career trajectories, graduate success in the new normal, application and enrolment figures across a spectrum of programmes, as well as employer and student perceptions of lifelong learning.
We also seek to collaborate with business schools and corporate partners in order to further enhance AMBA’s research offering.
If you are interested in partnering on research, joining one of our roundtables or focus groups to delve into the findings, or even sharing your thoughts on what topics you would like AMBA to explore, then please contact research@associationofmbas.com
EDITOR’S LETTER
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com Art editor Yvette Beattie Sub-editor Heather Ford Insight, content and PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com CORPORATE Head of commercial relations Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@amba-bga.com
Changing TIMES
e talk so much about learning in this publication that the concept of ‘unlearning’ initially sounds distinctly odd. However, it is the cornerstone of a compelling management theory propounded by IEDC-Bled school in Slovenia. Learning to ‘unlearn’ is an essential skill for the survival and transformation of organisations
In our feature on page 24, Professor Pierre Casse and researcher Elnura Irmatova discuss the best way to prepare leaders for the unknown challenges that lie ahead in the business world of tomorrow. They suggest that unlearning is a natural process that must be managed systematically and effectively for the sake of survival and transformation. The concept is also about deciding what kind of assumptions, values, behaviours and practices we need to keep and adjust – and which ones we must get rid of – in our organisations. It is about being ready to raise questions regarding our traditional way of seeing and understanding things. One example of this philosophy in action comes from technology behemoth Apple. There, unlearning opened the way for managers, designers and engineers to rethink and explore different beliefs related to the cell phone market, something that ultimately enabled the development of its cult product, the iPhone. It began, in the words of company co-founder the late Steve Jobs, with the team thinking that “cell phones sucked, they were terrible, just pieces of junk”; unlearning this perception made Apple the huge success story it is today. Another take on the kind of leaders that business schools should be producing is presented in our cover story, jointly contributed by the academic director at Inalde Business School at La Sabana university in Colombia, Ernesto Barrera, and the school’s academic quality co-ordinator, Cindy Pinzón Rios. They have penned a fascinating piece that imagines schools ‘oxygenising’ managers and entrepreneurs, so they become ‘the lungs’ for the humanisation of society through the cultivation of ethical values and good judgement. Enjoy the issue; we return in April with a feature on lifelong learning and digital education from Lille‑based grande école EDHEC, plus an interview with Rotterdam School of Management, which scooped the prize for Best Business School Partnership in the 2023 AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards.
Head of marketing and communications Leonora Clement
Senior marketing executive Edward Holmes
Head of IT and data management Jack Villanueva
Head of events Carolyn Armsby
HR and employer relations manager Aarti Bhasin Finance and commercial Director Catherine Walker
Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Chief executive officer Andrew Main Wilson
Executive assistant to the CEO Sharon Sidaway s.sidaway@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
ERNESTO BARRERA DUQUE
PIERRE CASSE
ALAIN GOUDEY
ELNURA IRMATOVA
KERRY MCLAVERTY
ANN OLAZÁBAL
COBUS OOSTHUIZEN
CINDY PAOLA PINZÓN RIOS
DANIEL STRODE
Copyright 2023 by Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association ISSN 2631-6382 All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is independent, accurate, objective and relevant for our readers, AMBA accepts no responsibility for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed and advice given are the views of individual commentators and do not necessarily represent the views of AMBA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. AMBA makes every opportunity to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor.
Ambiti n
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 7
The latest news from across AMBA’s network BUSINESS BRIEFING
Flexible working, public transport, making cities sustainable and Māori perspectives on wealth creation all feature among this month’s selection of updates. Ellen Buchan and Tim Banerjee Dhoul report
8 | Ambition | MARCH 2023
NEWS AND INSIGHT
BEING CRUEL TO BE KIND
COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: London Business School
“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” is a common adage, but do some of the population internalise this more than others? And what happens when you must be cruel to be kind? Giving and receiving feedback is important for development in any line of work, so are people disadvantaged if they don’t get negative feedback? New research has found that feedback is another gendered element in the workplace. The study, entitled A bias toward kindness goals in performance feedback to women (vs men), was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and undertaken by Aneeta Rattan, associate professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, in collaboration with Lily Jampol, a partner and head of people science and services at ReadySet and Elizabeth Baily Wolf, an assistant professor of organisational behaviour at INSEAD. According to the study, kindness is prioritised when giving feedback to women over men – meaning that women receive less actionable feedback. Women are perceived as being warmer than men and so people are kinder and more sympathetic towards them when giving feedback. A total of 1,500 MBA students, full-time employees and managers based in the US and UK participated in the paper’s principal study. The researchers then analysed real-world feedback analysed from close to 5,000 supervisors, mentors, peers and subordinates relating to jobs held by a cohort of international MBA students before their degree. The researchers found that, on average, the feedback given to women was more positive both in tone and content than the feedback given to men. “Inaccurate, unhelpful, or unclear feedback (even when motivated by the desire to be kind) can end up obscuring critical growth opportunities and cause women to be less likely to get important job assignments, raises or promotions. At the same time, a lack of kindness in feedback given to men may inhibit their growth, harm their wellbeing and contribute to a workplace culture imbued with toxic gender norms,” write Rattan and her co-authors. The authors believe that managers should ensure that feedback is both fact-based and kind at the same time – no matter to whom they are speaking. EB
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 9
MEASURES TO ADDRESS PUBLIC TRANSPORT’S BLIND SPOT COUNTRY: Australia SCHOOL: University of Sydney Business School Better public transport is shown to improve social inclusion, health and employment while reducing crime in a new study from the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS) at the University of Sydney Business School. Led by adjunct professor John Stanley, the study focuses on place- based disadvantage – the idea that a person’s risk of social exclusion is not only impacted by individual characteristics such as income, employment status and social connections, but also by where they live. “Investment in local public transport is a valuable way to improve inclusion and, as such, inclusion benefits which are currently ignored in transport evaluation should be factored into government infrastructure spending decisions,” Stanley says. These benefits, according to Stanley, are often overlooked because they come from serving ‘social transit’ markets rather than ‘mass transit’ markets and are therefore harder to quantify. Encompassing peak-hour trains and light rail services, Stanley describes the benefits of mass transit public transport “as relatively easy to quantify in dollar terms”. Such benefits include reduced road congestion costs, lower greenhouse gas emissions and productivity improvements from denser urban places. However, social transit public transport, such as more frequent local bus routes, tends to offer advantages that are less tangible. “It indirectly benefits society in the form of lower unemployment, lower crime rates and better health, which reduces legal system costs, health system costs and adds to productivity. These initiatives are particularly important in outer suburbs, where local transport options are typically few in Australian cities,” explains Stanley. “Equity is getting much higher priority in cities such as London and Vancouver. In personal mobility terms, it’s very much about improving access to travel opportunities and thereby removing a significant potential barrier to social inclusion,” he continues. The paper builds on previous work surrounding mobility’s impact on inclusion conducted with researchers from the ITLS and the University of Melbourne and is published in Transportation Research . TBD
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE CITIES COUNTRY: Brazil SCHOOL: Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Sao Paulo School of Business Administration Big tasks are always easier to complete when split into smaller chunks and that rule seems to apply when tackling something as complicated as making cities sustainable in view of a new guide’s step-by- step approach. The Green and Blue Infrastructure Guide , created in partnership with a number of organisations, offers comprehensive instructions on how to make a sustainable city. It also aims to help cities improve their local governance and Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Sao Paulo School of Business Administration’s (FGV EAESP) primary role in the guide has been in this area. In particular, it has looked at ways in which municipal governments can improve food, water and energy systems to reduce the risk of shortages. The guide presents best practices with regards to supplies, regulation and cultural practices, while also touching on how to preserve different species. A total of 10 cities around the world have initially been selected to apply the guide’s wide-ranging lessons but the expectation is that the guide will ultimately be used in more than 30 cities. These include two different cities in Brazil, São José dos Campos in the state of São Paulo and Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. With the escalating impact of climate change and the increased demand for water, energy and food in cities, it is hoped that this guide will support their management of resources and curb shortages. Research professor at FGV and lead researcher on the project Jose Antonio Puppim De Oliveira outlined the scale of the challenge. “It is estimated that there will be a large increase in the consumption of food, water and energy over the next 50 years, and much of this consumption will be in cities. In terms of governance, it is evident that cities tend to have little management of these systems. For example, most of the food comes from outside cities, the water system is usually managed at state level and the energy system tends to be managed at country level.” EB
10 | Ambition | MARCH 2023
NEWS AND INSIGHT
THE VALUES WESTERN ECONOMIES CAN LEARN FROM MĀORI PERSPECTIVES
REEVALUATING RESEARCH ON THE RICH COUNTRY: Netherlands SCHOOL: Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam “All people are equally evil, irrespective of the type of car they drive,” says University of Amsterdam economist and professor Paul Smeets in upending a popular study from 2012 which concluded that those with more expensive cars display more antisocial behaviour in traffic. In a new study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , Smeets and his co‑authors demonstrate an inability to replicate the original study’s findings that expensive cars cut off other drivers more frequently and give way to pedestrians less often. This is despite recreating the study in the same city in which the original study had been conducted, Berkeley, California and using a group that was 2.5 times the size of the original research population. “In contrast with the original findings, we found no difference between the percentage of expensive cars that gave way to pedestrians and the percentage of cheaper cars,” Smeets explains. The new study also found no significant difference in a further replication of the original study investigating whether expensive cars cut off other drivers more frequently. For its ‘rich behaving badly’ theme, the original study was widely covered by publications that include the BBC, The Economist and the New York Times and has achieved more than 1,200 academic citations. As such, Smeets is glad to have shone a new light on the topic. “Academic research forms the basis for key social decisions. The media’s tendency to cut and paste information can lead to a distorted view of reality before you realise that it’s happening. If there’s a lesson to be learnt from this, it’s that we should be transparent about our data and methods,” he says. However, Smeets is aware of the complications inherent in addressing research’s replication crisis: “Your career in academia might suffer as a result, because the people whose work you assess may at some point be called on to assess your own work in turn. Although we’ve made progress, we must continue to make the argument for working as transparently and openly as possible.” TBD
COUNTRY: New Zealand SCHOOL: Graduate School of Management, University of Auckland Business School New research suggests that Māori views of wealth creation could provide an interesting comparison to Western views of capitalism. Manahau , an emerging te ao Māori theory of value, combines the concept of mana (power, authority and dignity) and hau (people, place and objects). While Māori people and Māori businesses can’t be categorised and shouldn’t be stereotyped, the research does show a pattern between them. Māori beliefs surrounding wealth creation go beyond financial value, with Māori value creation being intergenerational and focusing on the environment, as well as future and past generations. Māori values, meanwhile, have spiritual and material elements and centre on collective wellbeing as opposed to self-interest. These findings have been published in a chapter entitled, Māori perspectives on conscious capitalism in The spirit of conscious capitalism: Ethical economy , volume 63 by University of Auckland Business School academics Kiri Dell, Carla Houkamau and Jamie Newth, together with Jason Mika of the University of Waikato. The authors comment: “ Manahau expands our profitß and capital- focused interpretation of economy where only what can be measured financially is considered of value. It sees human activity, including survival and wealth creation, as inextricably linked with community- based values and benefits rather than individualised productivity or benefits alone. “We need environmental and economic policies and practices that enable Māori to do business in ways that align with Māori values that have resonance for both Māori and non-Māori enterprises.” The authors believe that to understand Māori values and how they relate to Western notions of capitalism would require enquiries on multiple fronts and they question how much these concepts can be applied to an economy that is dominated by Western beliefs. However, they do think that Māori values could help the Western world develop a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable approach to business. EB
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 11
GETTING FLEXIBLE WORKING RIGHT COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: University of Birmingham Business School Managers have become more attuned to the benefits of flexible working since Covid-19, but there is still much to do to ensure emerging workplace settings encourage gender equality and support working parents, according to a new report from the University of Birmingham Business School. In the report’s survey of 597 UK managers, 60 per cent agreed that working from home increases employee productivity and 63 per cent agreed that it increases motivation. A further 44 per cent felt that part-time working increases productivity. The data forms part of a series of reports exploring changes to flexible working and working norms since the pandemic from the University of Birmingham Business School’s Holly Birkett and Sarah Forbes from the University of York. “Managers have become much more positive about flexible working as a result of Covid-19, but they are still more likely to support flexitime and homeworking than other types of flexible working, such as part-time and job shares, which are more likely to be used by women,” Birkett and Forbes say. For this reason, the report gives recommendations for businesses and policymakers to implement flexible working policies in a way that ensures they are not gendered. “It is imperative that as a society we ensure that flexible working is more freely accessible, including job shares and part-time working and across more industries,” Birkett and Forbes argue. Their latest set of results have also uncovered a resurgence of beliefs that employees need to work long hours to advance in an organisation. Pre‑Covid, 43 per cent of managers thought long hours were necessary for employees’ advancement. This dropped to 35 per cent in 2021 but has now returned to 42 per cent. “While presenteeism seems to be reducing since Covid-19, there are signs we are moving back towards a traditional, long hours working culture,” the authors say, pointing to the need to further reduce the stigma of flexible working and formalise new norms in workplaces. TBD
JETTING INTO THE DIGITAL WORLD COUNTRY: USA SCHOOL: Miami Herbert Business School While virtual worlds and avatars were previously the preserve of online gamers, this is no longer the case with more and more sectors and businesses entering the world of the metaverse. Miami Herbert Business School has joined the growing number of business schools with virtual campuses by launching a metaverse designed with professional platform Engage. Designed to resemble an airport, the school’s metaverse hopes to inspire a spirit of exploration and adventure in those who visit it, said to be key features of the Miami Herbert experience. Students can, for example, enter the school through a sunlit atrium decorated with the Miami Herbert Business School logo and hop on to planes that are decked out as exclusive luxury jets. In addition, both current and prospective students can interact with art, lectures and faculty from anywhere in the world. Indeed, while this virtual school allows for greater interaction between prospective and current students, it also enables students to experience the technology of a metaverse – something that they are increasingly likely to be exposed to during their careers. The metaverse, after all, is predicted to become an $800 billion industry in 2024. “As a business school, it is important that we explore new technologies and their potential to change not only how we communicate but also how we recruit and retain our students,” says John Quelch, former dean of Miami Herbert. Zheng Fan, executive director of information technology at Miami Herbert, has initiated and led this early metaverse initiative. “We are excited to partner with Engage, a leading provider of enterprise metaverse platforms. We look forward to expanding our metaverse presence to allow our faculty to deliver courses that will enable our students to learn and to prepare for the metaverse economy,” he says. EB
12 | Ambition | MARCH 2023
NEWS AND INSIGHT
BIODIVERSITY
IN BUSINESS COUNTRY: Sweden SCHOOL: School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg Through its Biopath research programme and newly launched SamBio project, the University of Gothenburg is underlining its emphasis on finding solutions to global problems with interdisciplinary collaborations. “We are building a completely new knowledge environment around what could be viewed as one of the most important issues of our time,” says Viktor Elliot, researcher at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, and participant in both projects. “It is exciting to work with specialists from so many different disciplines who are all driven by finding new ways to spread knowledge about biodiversity to organisations and companies. We all believe that this will make a difference, and it can establish Gothenburg as a central hub for research and development around business with a high degree of ecosystem integrity,” Elliot continues. In this sense, the business school and wider university is able to leverage the existing role of the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, established in 2017, hosted by the University of Gothenburg and based around a collaboration of 18 partner institutions. “I am very pleased that the School of Business, Economics and Law is taking a more central role in the work around biodiversity,” says Jenny Klingberg, director of the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre. Biopath seeks to address business challenges linked to biodiversity by quantifying biodiversity impact assessment approaches and working on the complex problem of integrating biodiversity considerations into financial decision-making. It launched last autumn with funding from Mistra (the Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research). The SamBio project, meanwhile, aims to spread knowledge about companies’ impact and dependence on biodiversity. It has secured three years of funding from the Västra Götaland Regional Council. TBD
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA’s content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 13
The human
touch
14 | Ambition | MARCH 2023
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
Business schools can breathe new life into society by training managers and entrepreneurs to humanise companies through focusing on the people who lie at the heart of the commercial environment. Ernesto Barrera Duque and Cindy Paola Pinzón Rios from Inalde Business School elaborate A major challenge for business schools is the need to inspire their students to become agents of change, acting as a force for social transformation through their management and business practices. Just as trees oxygenate our planet, business schools oxygenate their spheres of influence: training people, sensitively, to enact responsible management. This comes not just from ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills, but from the willingness to make a difference through utilising humility and good judgement in business decisions and an awareness of the consequences of those decisions. What kind of oxygenation of society might business schools wish to enact? The answer lies in reflecting on and rethinking the purpose of training managers and entrepreneurs. This involves not just the transmission and application of technical and practical knowledge, but helping managers and entrepreneurs to become ‘the lungs’ for the humanisation of society and business through the cultivation of human values and virtues. This oxygenation rests, therefore, on the construction of a mentality that places the human being at the heart of organisations.
Making a positive impact Several concepts can be referenced when it comes to defining the consequences of managerial actions and decision-making that place individual and business responsibility within a local and global context. The concept and practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR) seek to generate a positive impact in society without negatively impacting the environment. This means creating awareness of the potential impact of a current or proposed action, with the goal of generating positive consequences for those involved. Concepts such as the triple bottom line (TBL) have been proposed. The TBL focuses not just on the economic value a company adds, but also its environmental and social value, generating a triple final result that is sensitive to what has been added, as well as what has been destroyed, taking into account the needs of all stakeholders. The TBL acts as a framework for the vision behind the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) because it specifies impact and promotes sustainable development. It is also part of a call to instil SDGs in business schools’ DNA, in order to generate value and promote sustainable development via the education of commercial leaders. Taking into account such positive impacts and a business humanisation mentality, we propose that managers focus on the following trio of elements: i) the individual; ii) the company; and iii) society as a whole. Companies are the engines for society’s development and managers are the decision-makers within those engines. The incorporation of a transformative and humanised business vision is therefore essential. Human beings are at the heart of every company: economic, social, environment and even cultural indicators are insufficient without the development of those human beings who make up companies. The managerial mentality of caring for and promoting human dignity automatically encompasses consideration for others. This mindset
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 15
The model can also be incorporated through the creation of spaces where learnings and findings are shared, as well as through the promotion of assemblies and specific academic events, during which business schools carry out collaborative projects attuned to the same purposes of impact and humanisation. In this way, research products can be developed and inspired by the triple impact philosophy, together with a practical vision that reaches business people and sheds light on their work. Use of case studies in teaching It is essential at this point to consider the teacher as the central axis of the business school. A professor must possess an individual sense of the triple impact mentality in order to put it before a class. It is difficult to teach a concept without bringing it to life and possessing a genuine interest in it. Teaching at a business school is not simply a matter of imparting hard skills (such as finance) and soft skills (such as leadership), but about conveying the third aspect: positive impact and the humanisation of business. One way to implement this vision is via case study methodology. This simulation of reality challenges the students to question themselves and understand the impact of their decision-making on the trio of elements, thereby developing managerial judgement as part of their decision-making criteria, as well as a sense of ethics and the aim of empowering others in their professional and human development. Case studies help students develop a vision of the impact of their decisions, as well as the ability to anticipate the consequences. A business school’s curriculum, as well as its class materials and simulations, must align with the positive impact and business humanisation mentality. This can be supported, for example, through the creation of specific courses and materials that are designed to encourage these conversations, with the concept of the triple impact permeating the entire programme. The creation of training spaces for professors, based on their own interests relating to such a mentality, aligned with SDGs, can also prove key to the generation of new knowledge, both from within the classroom and through research. Consultancies can nurture companies Consultancies generate a two-way impact and benefit, between the business school and the commercial environment. Business schools generate an impact via the knowledge that
incorporates respect and genuine interest in the development of human values and virtues into decision-making, over and above the skills of knowing ‘what’ to do, and ‘how’ to do it. A mindset from the outset If oxygenation is the management mentality, then what is the role of the business school? In his article Bad management theories are destroying good management practices , Sumantra Ghoshal suggests that schools must contribute positively by preventing the Enrons of the future, for which it may be necessary to stop teaching certain courses and to create new ones. In other words, Ghoshal considers that the role of the business school is not just to provide practical and theoretical content, but to guide people into obtaining a sense of responsibility and impact. Companies can be centres of social development and human empowerment via the individual development of each person. Business schools must, therefore, ensure students’ lifelong learning, not just in a theoretical/practical context, but through a mentality that positively impacts and humanises business, as well as through training that incorporates ethical criteria into managerial decision‑making. The ‘triple impact’ philosophy of individual, company and society can be undertaken by incorporating it within the school’s mission and purpose, as well as through the school’s strategy implementation. The development of people, the promotion of human dignity and the empowerment of the individual must be seen as key aspects of the school’s DNA. Research as the basis of knowledge Research is the basis for the creation of new, rigorous and relevant knowledge for companies, the business environment and managers as decision-makers. Those models and systems that are applied to the business reality can make essential contributions and result in a positive impact. The positive impact mindset can permeate research that, at the same time, nourishes the school’s SDGs. One way to incorporate this mindset is as parameters that measure the impact of research, as well as by establishing goals and incentives that guide teachers’ actions in their research projects. Research questions can also be raised that consider the humanisation of companies, the promotion of human dignity and the evocation of a conscious capitalism that focuses on the development of the individual.
professors apply in advising and consulting companies and NGOs and forming part of the board of directors or councils. Aside from the fact
16 | Ambition | MARCH 2023
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
that lecturers can export the triple impact mentality directly to the real world, they can also maintain important contact with the managerial reality and the challenges of managerial work, as well as grow within the management profession and gain experience that will later resurface both in their research and their training of others. Consultancies nurture companies thanks to the teaching staff’s expertise and positive impact and this vision of humanisation.
The academic professor who brings new ways of thinking into their work as a practitioner, and who operates a cycle of reinforcement that allows them to connect classroom students with a practical humanist philosophy focusing on the dignity of the individual, will greatly add to the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the curriculum. An inspiration to others The graduate brings the business school’s teachings to life and is an active agent of transformation, applying what they have learned with regards to ethical criteria and good judgement, as well as equity, social development and positive impact practices. The graduate’s entrepreneurial efforts make an important contribution – from the generation of employment to the construction of companies and the country itself. The graduate is therefore a basis for the provision of fair employment and a force for good, inspiring others after graduating to be aware of the need to consider positive impacts when making a decision, as well as conscious capitalism.
The managerial landscape Business schools act as incubators for managers and
entrepreneurs to develop a sense of purpose. They are the oxygen of the managerial landscape and key agents for change, thanks to their role as the lungs of society. Business schools must therefore inspire and teach in such a manner as to develop students who wish to undertake managerial work in the present with a consideration of its impact in the future. That is why theoretical/practical content is just one aspect of the learning process. The other is the teaching of the triple impact mentality, whereby students seek to anticipate the consequences of their decisions, taking into account ethical criteria, good judgement and humility in order to promote individual, business and social development. This mentality places the human being at the heart of companies and seeks to exercise responsible management practice, thereby inspiring others. This vision of humanising business should hold firm in times of prosperity, as well as in times of crisis. It’s fair to say that everything begins with the business school: from the people who run it and the team that comprises it, to how the triple impact philosophy manifests in every aspect of its activities – strategic guidelines, research, teaching, consulting and the school’s alumni. This is, of course, a process of continuous improvement and one that calls upon business schools, academics and managers to act as human beings, inspiring others and serving as agents of social change in order deliver the oxygen that transforms people, companies and society.
Graduates must have the opportunity to return to the business school via short courses and other programmes, as well as alumni gatherings, in order to continue their lifelong learning and promote the triple impact mentality, reinforcing these ideas among students. This ensures that graduates continue to reproduce this philosophy and inspire other professionals, through both their interactions and decision-making.
BIOGRAPHIES Ernesto Barrera Duque, PhD, is the academic director and marketing professor at Inalde Business School, La Sabana university, in Colombia; Cindy Paola Pinzón Rios, MBA, is a marketing researcher and the school’s academic quality co-ordinator
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 17
“By capitalising on our distinctive online capability, we will empower people to become more than they dared imagine.” Cobus Oosthuizen tells Tim Banerjee Dhoul about Milpark Business School’s decision to become an online-only institution, as well as the importance its programmes place on neuroscience, cognition and psychology
18 | Ambition | MARCH 2023
INTERVIEW
Dare to dream
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 19
Can you share some highlights of your career to date? “I’ve been with Milpark Business School (MBS) in my current role for more than 14 years. Some of the highlights over this period include leading MBS to achieve AMBA accreditation in 2018 for both its contact learning and online learning MBAs – the first private business school in South Africa to achieve this and the only AMBA-accredited online MBA in Africa. “I was also faculty advisor to a global finalist MBA team in the Global Social Venture Competition 2011 held at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. In addition, I was the lecturer of the MBA class that held the first, second and third positions in the 2013 IDC National Business Plan competition. “I also served on the MBA Standards Development working group convened by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) from 2013 to 2015 and on the accreditation of our doctoral programme (DBA) in 2018, as well as serving on the recently established Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Africa chapter steering committee.” How healthy is the current market for business education in South Africa and the surrounding region and what are the main challenges? “In spite of the setbacks of the pandemic and associated economic downturn, the region’s market is still healthy. “Against a backdrop of 22 business schools in a market of around 13 million people between the ages of 25 and 64 employed (total addressable market), three million tertiary-educated employed (serviceable available market) and two million managers and professionals (serviceable obtainable market), one might consider the local market relatively small. “Nonetheless, aligned with the global high demand for MBAs, the trend in South Africa indicates a compound annual growth rate of MBA applications of 2.7 per cent over the past decade. “On the local front, I regard the main challenge for business education as the inability of the power utility to keep the
Albert Einstein’s maxim that we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking we used when we created them, students’ world views, assumptions and current management practices are subsequently challenged to enact new world view paradigms. “Why? Because the complex present and unfolding ambiguous future challenge our assumptions, thinking and reasoning as it pertains to leading and managing the organisations of the future. Linear leadership thinking simply doesn’t suffice any longer against exponential technological progress and the other societal, economic, political and environmental drivers of change.” What are the biggest challenges international business schools are facing right now? “Besides the challenge to remain relevant, business schools face numerous challenges spawned by several drivers of change. These include technology and its relentless reconfiguration of the way we work, socialise and travel, as well as the growing prominence of the changing energy mix, coupled with a shortage of resources and climate issues. “Influential, too, is the growth of knowledge expansion and the information society, along with noticeable economic shifts and globalisation, as are demographic shifts, urbanisation and the mobility of people, as well as changing health and wellness demands. “With specific reference to management education and training, people want more options at lower cost to support their education and training for jobs. They are seeking accessible and affordable learning opportunities to enhance résumés and support career shifts. They also want fast and flexible ways to upskill, or reskill, to meet immediate skills gaps. “Also noticeable is the evolution of technology, a shifting job market that is contributing to a rise in the popularity of micro-credentials and, in some areas of study, the demand for courses that are unbundled from complete programmes and degrees. In addition, Education as a
lights on, putting more pressure on the local economy and the country’s citizens to make ends meet. This is further compounded by political instability, crime and corruption. Business education as an integral part of the socioeconomic ecosystem is adversely affected by the knock-on effect.” What do you think differentiates the MBA at Milpark? “Our emphasis is on developing the intellectual character, or cognitive disposition, that leaders need to effectively navigate the complex, chaotic and unpredictable times we live in.
“I believe critical themes such as responsible leadership, ethics and
sustainability should be integrated into a business school’s curricula, teaching and research activities as a matter of course. Subsequently, we don’t make reference to a supposed differentiator that emphasises a particular theme, as one often finds in schools’ differentiating statements. “Our differentiator, as noted above, encompasses the pursuit to ‘reconfigure’ students’ mindsets to unlock their potential. The implication is that we draw significantly on domains such as neuroscience, flow state, cognition and psychology to inform our instructional design in teaching and learning.” Which single new course or initiative at MBA level are you most excited about and why? “The management philosophy course, which draws on classical philosophy and challenges the traditional leadership and management orthodoxies against the backdrop of humanity’s biggest challenges. “Based on wisdom’s main virtues of courage, moderation and justice, four critical questions are addressed, namely: Where are we going? Who gains, who loses and by which mechanisms of power? Is it desirable? And what should be done? “The intent is to take students to the threshold of their own minds by exposing them to alternative thinking and reasoning related to the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. To use
20 | Ambition | MARCH 2023
INTERVIEW
We draw significantly on domains such as neuroscience, flow state, cognition and psychology to inform our instructional design in teaching and learning
Service (EaaS) is appearing on the radar. These challenges are further amplified against the backdrop of management and leadership challenges such as the abuse of power, unethical practices and a disregard for matters of sustainability.” How has Covid-19 changed your school’s strategy and what further changes should we expect to see in the year ahead? “In anticipation of the lockdown measures, our school was positioned to transfer seamlessly its contact-learning students to online without losing any time in students’ study progress. Our existing online capabilities were our saving grace in realising this efficient and effective transition. “Based on our experiences, our experimentation and successes in relation to the changing external environment, strategic deliberations ensued regarding positioning the business school as an entirely online institution. “By capitalising on our distinctive online capability, we will empower people to become more than they dared imagine in their businesses, careers, professions and life, unlocking their potential through trusted and leading online learning journeys. In this way, we can help South Africa and the region’s economy to grow and prosper, as well as to strengthen its social fabric. “Further changes in the year ahead include establishing MBS as a trusted and leading online business and management educator of choice in southern Africa; transitioning to a new cutting-edge online platform to maintain our online
“For example, there are evident paradoxes between eliminating fossil fuels and the manufacturing of alternative, or renewable, energy sources such as solar energy and wind turbine energy from a holistic environmental stewardship perspective. An industrial-sized wind turbine needs as much as three metric tonnes of copper and permanent magnets composed of rare metals, such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. “Solar cells use a range of rare metals including silicon, indium, gallium, selenium, cadmium and tellurium (by-products from the refining of base metals such as copper, nickel and zinc). The manufacturing of batteries adds to the conundrum as it needs nickel, cobalt and lithium. “In this context, there are three issues that come to mind: environmental degradation due to mining activities; use of fossil fuels to extract, refine and transport these rare mineral and metals; and the pollution created by decommissioned wind turbines and solar panels that find their way into landfills. “In other words, in the design of our learning experiences that integrate ethics, sustainability and environmental stewardship, how do we also confront ourselves and our students with complex (as opposed to ‘complicated’) issues in creating solutions to wicked problems? “So much is dependent on a leader’s ability to collect and process information from others. As social, political beings, humans rely on one another for all sorts of testimony, including promises, opinions, advice, support, criticism and descriptions,
competitive advantage in the local market; and developing our ‘new’ MBA to ensure relevance and addressing contemporary industry needs.” How apparent are the effects of climate change in the minds of students and the wider public in South Africa? What should business schools be doing more of, in terms of raising awareness and generating solutions in this regard? “My view is that the effects of climate change in the minds of students and the wider public in South Africa are very much on a par with the rest of the world. Generally speaking, I believe business schools across the globe are doing quite well in terms of raising awareness of climate change based on what I experience at academic and accreditation body conferences, webinars, colloquia, conventions and exhibitions. “At global and regional events of the PRME, for example, climate change features prominently in the discussions, presentations and debates. PRME sharing information on progress (SIP) reports also indicate how business schools are emphasising these matters in their teaching, learning, research and community engagements. “It is in generating solutions and addressing uncomfortable truths where I believe business schools should do more, and I seldom see this on agendas. In my view, responsible management education also means confronting the paradoxes and potential unintended consequences of evangelising particular solutions to problems.
Ambition | MARCH 2023 | 21
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online