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own in-house executive education ecosystems to meet the pressing demand of a skilled workforce for today’s market demands. Given the speed of change and far-reaching impacts on the future of business, Business School leaders are challenged today to an unparalleled point, not just to educate tomorrow’s leaders but to ensure their own survival. Disruptive innovation theory In our upcoming book The Innovative Management Education Ecosystem: Reskilling and Upskilling the Future Workforce (Taylor & Francis, 2022), we tackle Business Schools’ most pressing issue: how to proceed successfully at a time of great transition, not only for the workplace but for wider society. Leadership today is not what it will be in five years. For the most part, research focusing on Business Schools’ roles in reskilling and upskilling the workforce is broad and scant, with little attention given to the state of executive education ecosystems in reskilling and upskilling 4IR business leaders. The purpose of our work has been to formulate suggestions for an innovative executive education ecosystem model that reskills and upskills 4IR leaders to manage the changing workforce successfully. Our research focused on the three issues: The innovative Business School ecosystem. Digital technology integration in learning systems. Reskilling/upskilling the workforce for the 4IR. Inspired by Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation theory, which defines disruptive innovation concepts either as ‘new-to-the-world products’ or ‘business model innovations’ and not just technical innovations, we analysed the current knowledge available to make our specific recommendations. Applying a disruptive innovation framework, in terms of education, involves extending knowledge to allow academics to be the driver in creating improved access to high-quality education, designing personalised education, and circumnavigating the politics of education while deciding what needs to be taught and how.
merging executive education ecosystem models can be the drivers for Business Schools to develop the agility and readiness to reskill and upskill leaders in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), equipping them to manage the future changing workforce. The reskilling (learning new skills to do a different job) and upskilling (teaching and learning additional skills for one’s present job) of business professionals requires effective partnerships between education providers and industry. Combining traditional academic providers (such as Business Schools) with experts in online delivery, and industry partners will be complex, requiring flexibility from both parties. Schools will need to assume a role in which they genuinely co-create executive education alternatives that fit the need in real-time with businesses. The changing nature of work The modern world of work is characterised by international mobility, a renewed focus on organisational wellbeing and work-life balance, and uncertain retirement ages. Motivating and leading individuals in this challenging reality will inevitably require new managerial skills. Business Schools must design innovative education ecosystems committed to experimentation, innovation, and industry partnerships. Schools’ fundamental problem remains whether they can develop responsible leaders capable of navigating the increasingly complex economy, and a market society driven by the 4IR and post-Covid-19 work conditions. For the most part, Business Schools still function through a 20 th -century ecosystem in terms of what and how they teach, how they are governed, and how they engage their faculty and other key stakeholders. Employers note a lack of readiness for Business School graduates to prepare the workforce fully for disruptive events such as the pandemic, the disrupted job architecture across industries, and the skills employees need to survive, given changing requirements. This can be seen in how large and small corporations have taken it upon themselves to develop their
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