A new era in education: part 4 In the final part of our series, Kortext’s Melissa Bowden speaks to Chahndra Dal Pont at Grenoble Ecole de Management about delivering an MBA experience to satisfy Gen Z’s desire for meaning, flexibility and real-world learning G eneration Z is driven both by value for money and personal values, according to
Dal Pont observes that instead “it’s key for them to understand how to be a change maker, whatever their job”. You don’t necessarily have to be a corporate social responsibility (CSR) manager to make an impact, she continues. “You can be in finance, marketing or tech – you can add sustainability into your strategy in any role.” For example, she shares that GEM has integrated a course on negotiating strategic partnerships into its programmes, which approaches collaborating with suppliers differently. “Instead of focusing on the bottom line, we’re trying to generate value for everyone,” Dal Pont elaborates. “We’re seeking to change the way that each aspect of a company integrates environmental, social and governance issues and CSR.” Ultimately, it’s about managing the expectations of Gen Zers by “working with their objectives and their mindset, but trying to open their eyes in a bigger way”. For Dal Pont, it’s become a personal objective “to work with them, enlighten them and help them make better choices”. The need for knowledge transfer There’s a common misconception that Gen Zers lack resilience, observes Dal Pont, “because companies aren’t used to working with employees from that generation and can find them challenging”. However, she explains, “Resilience is not necessarily the issue. They’re change-seekers. They’re looking for rapid return on investment or they move on.”
Chahndra Dal Pont, MBA programme director at Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM). This means that when selecting an MBA programme,
“they definitely shop around,” she notes. Gen Zers “have certain expectations and the return on investment is important to them”. For Dal Pont, it’s vital to manage candidates’ expectations: “They want little investment and a big return, so we need to guide them,” she explains. “They also have aspirations of value-driven jobs,” she comments, adding “they’ve been told the world is moving in a certain direction and they want to have an impact.” However, she explains, “the reality is that people are hiring for finance and tech, contrary to what they’ve been led to believe.”
32 | Ambition | DECEMBER 2024
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