Volume 04 _ Issue 03 2010

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Deans that lead

How businessschool deans

GDF SUEZ

A top corporateuniversity in a

MENA

Education in theMiddle East and

Worldly leaders

West is not alwaysbest says UK’s

Brave new world

Ideas for producingleaders for a

Sexy accountants?

Yes, it could betrue But is it

www.efmd.org Volume 04 | Issue 03 2010

The path ahead Ashridge’s Kai Peters worries about

where business schools are going

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EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201

Volume 04 | Issue 03 2010

In focus

This issue of Global Focus stresses two distinct but interlinked themes:the current state of business schools as businesses; and the challengesof producing a new generation of business leaders.

In typical forthright form, Kai Peters, chief executive of Ashridge ManagementCollege in Britain (page 8), argues the case that the current business model forbusiness schools is not sustainable and could be particularly damagingto their contribution to executive education (a key area in producing businessleaders).

“I think the debate that has to happen in business schools is really aroundhow much teaching is realistic from faculty – and it surely has to be morethan we are doing now because it’s just not financeable,” he says. “You can’trun a business school without a business model but we seem to be trying.”

On page 14, Fernando Fragueiro and Howard Thomas (respectively of IAEBusiness School in Argentina and Lee Kong Chiang School of Business isSingapore) take this issue further, specifically addressing the question ofhow business schools deans can lead their organisations forward in whatthey describe as an era of persistent and emerging challenges and globaland local tensions.

One way that business schools may address these challenges in the futureis through rationalisation – merging with or acquiring each other. Many anacademics may react with horror but Michel Kalika, Dean of EM StrasbourgBusiness School in France, gives a practical and pragmatic account (page34) of how his institution emerged successfully from a complex merger.

Equally practical is the interview on page 18 with Nadine Lemaitre, who hasheaded GDF SUEZ University (one of the world’s largest and successfulcorporate universities) since its inception a decade ago. It, too, has undergonemany mergers and changes, though this time at the corporate rather thanacademic level, but has stuck to its original mission of preparing an integratedcadre of leaders for a diverse and disparate corporation.

Leadership in a diverse world is also the subject of Sharon Turnbull’s article

on page 38. This looks at what she calls “Worldly Leadership” – a search formeaningful approaches to sustainable leadership that draws not on traditionalWestern concepts but on Eastern collectivist philosophies and the wisdomsof indigenous cultures.

On page 44 Kenneth Mikkelsen outlines the kinds of challenges that businessleaders are likely to face in the future, drawing on an EFMD/Mannaz-sponsored conference.

Finally, the supplement that accompanies this issue continues the themeof leadership and effective academic/company relationships. It highlightsthe winners of the EFMD Excellence in Practice Award 2010, a celebration ofsuccessful co-operation between business schools and the corporate world.

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2 www.efmd.org/glo balfocu s

Global FocusThe EFMD Business Magazine

Executive Editor

Matthew [email protected]

Advisory Board

Eric Cornuel Jim Herb oli ch

Howard Thomas

Consultant EditorGeorge Bickerstaffe

bicke rsta ffe@b tinte rnet. com

Contributing Editors

Fernando Fragueiro, Michel Kalika, Nadine

Lemaitre, Kenneth Mikkelsen, Ken Moore,Sue Newell, Hanne Nørreklit, Tadao Onaka,

Ananth Rao, Lindsay Ryan, Guido Stein,Howard Thomas, Sharon Turnbull

Design & Art Direction

Jeben s D esig n www.jebe nsde sign .co.u k

Photographs & Illustrations© Jeben s D esig n Lt d / EFMD

unless otherwise stated

Editorial & Advertising

Matthew [email protected]

Telephone: +32 2 629 0810

EFMD aisbl

Rue Gachard 88 – Box 3

1050 Brussels, Belgium

www.efmd.o rg/g lob alfo cus

©EFMD

1 In focus

4 Talking ShopThree new schools gain EQUIS accreditationManagement Education for Tomorrow (MET) FundAnna Pehar joins EFMDecch Case Winners 2010

8 ‘As a business model, what we are doing right now is, for menot sustainable’Ashridge’s Kai Peters is worried about where business schools are going.Interview by George Bickerstaffe

14 How can deans lead?The current crisis means that business schools will have to change – andthat means a new type of leadership from business schools deans. FernandoFragueiro and Howard Thomas outline the kind of skills they will need

18 How GDF SUEZ channels leadershipNadine Lemaitre has headed GDF SUEZ University, one of the world’s

leading corporate universities, for the past decade, a time of growth andchange for the giant energy group. She talks to George Bickerstaffe

22 Managing People and Organisations: Peter Drucker's LegacyIn this extract from his book Managing People and Organisations: PeterDrucker's Legacy , Guido Stein elucidates Drucker's thinking in a way thatemphasises its relevance for today and tomorrow

26 The corporate education icebergLooking at their corporate education and training, most organisations onlysee the tip of the iceberg, treating employee training and developmentas a functional activity and just another business expense. Lindsay Ryan

believes there is more involved

30 The challenge of changeManagement education in the Middle East and North Africa faces manychallenges. In the run-up to a major EFMD conference in this importantregion, Ananth Rao outlines some of the key issues

34 Looking beyond the West for leadershipLeadership studies have been dominated in the past by a Western mindsetSharon Turnbull describes new research into non-Western leadershipstyles – Worldly Leadership –that could profoundly influence responsibleand sustainable management and business practices

Volume 04 | Issue 03 2010

Contents

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EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Contents

38 How to merge business schoolsMerging business schools is a complex and difficult business. Michel Kalikadetails one example of how it can be done successfully

44 Leadership at a crossroadsThe current economic and financial crisis has illustrated the increasedcomplexity of the world and means that companies must re-assess theiroperational agility and explore new ways of coping with change. Kenneth

Mikkelsen details some likely responses

48 HR and the new world business orderThe world has changed and is changing even more. This is placingtremendous pressures on employees and the HR function needs to respondto help them. Ken Moore offers some suggestions on how it might do so

52 A doctoral programme for the 21st centurySue Newell describes a new doctoral programme that attempts to use thebest of both American and European approaches

56 From dull and geeky to sexy and extreme?

The image of management accountants and controllers has undergonemajor change. Credibility, prudence and the obligation to ask questionshave been replaced by initiative, drive and ‘full-speed ahead’, accordingto Hanne Nørreklit

60 Can the MBA survive?Tadao Onaka believes that three dilemmas facing business schools andbusiness graduates in Japan may threaten the future of the MBA degree

The world has changed and is changingeven more. Ken Moore looks at what theHR function can do to assist employeespage 48

26

44

34

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Job opportunities across EFMD networkEFMD has a job posting service that is free for all members and which isshowcased on a six-weekly basis to over 16,000 contacts via the EFMDeNews service. So far during 2010 over 200 positions have been advertisedwith a number of successful candidates coming via the EFMD network.

For more information please visit: www.efmd.org/jobs

or contact: [email protected]

News and events in brief from the business world

Talking shop

Three new schools gainEQUIS accreditationEFMD would like to congratulate warmly:

Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales, Australia

Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), India

Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, UK

which have recently been awarded EQUIS accreditation. This takes the number

of accredited schools to 128 across 35 countries.Commenting on the accreditation Professor Leigh Drake, Director, NottinghamUniversity Business School, said: "We are delighted to join a selectinternational group of the world's top business schools. To be awarded EQUISaccreditation for Nottingham University Business School in the UK, Chinaand Malaysia endorses and enhances our ambitious, multi-campus strategyand confirms the quality of our staff, students, programmes and facilities.EQUIS sets very high standards and we are extremely proud to join this elitegroup as a truly international business school."

“We are delighted at IIMB to have received the EQUIS accreditation. It isindeed an honour to join a select group of schools globally. It has allowedus to review our processes in depth and will help us draw global attentionto our programmes and the achievements of our faculty," added ProfessorPankaj Chandra, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Professor Alec Cameron, Dean of the Australian School of Business, said thatgaining EQUIS accreditation placed the school in an exclusive group of theworld's leading business schools. “The international peer review process forgaining EQUIS accreditation is rigorous and has involved two-and-a-half yearsof benchmarking the school against international best practice in terms ofteaching programmes, students, intellectual output, corporate engagement,internationalisation and executive education. EQUIS will help us to buildstronger research linkages with other EQUIS accredited schools and it willalso enhance our brand in international markets, particularly in Europe

and Asia."For more information on EQUIS visit:

www.efmd.org/equis

EFMD launches newnetworking event formasters programmesFollowing various requests from ourmembers, EFMD has launched a newannual networking event for the directors,staff and faculty of masters programmes.

The first edition will be held from 13-15December 2010 in Colbat (Barcelona),hosted by EADA, under the theme "The MScLifecycle". The conference committee has puttogether an exceptional programme that alsoincludes numerous networking opportunitiesthroughout the event.

For further details visit:

www.efmd.org/conferences

Management Education forTomorrow (MET) FundCreated in 2008 with a $10 millioncommitment, the Management Educationfor Tomorrow (MET) Fund formalisesand enhances the Graduate ManagementAdmission Council's long-standingcommitment to investing in strategicphilanthropic initiatives that benefit businessand management education globally.

The MET Fund Ideas to Innovation Challengeseeks to find the world’s best ideas forimproving graduate management educationand then to fund the top proposals, turningthe best ideas into active innovation. Opento individuals worldwide, the challengeasks simply: What one idea would improvegraduate management education?

The two-part challenge will award a total of$250,000 in prizes to 15 people, with the mospromising proposal taking home $50,000.

Find out more by visiting: www.gmac.com

or contacting: [email protected].

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EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Talking shop

EQUIS sets very high standards and we are extremely proudto join this elite group as a truly international business school Professor Leigh Drake, Director, Nottingham University Business School

Value rarely means costValue is the key that emerges from three new studies from CarringtonCrisp inpartnership with EFMD – Executive Education Futures, The Business of Brandingand GenerationWeb – but value means different things for different audiences.

Executive education spend declined in many markets in 2009 but ExecutiveEducation Futures found that just under 60% of purchasers believe spendingwill grow in the next 24 months. Although total spend is important, corporatepurchasers are focusing on value, often seeking to do more for less.

However, quality of teaching, fit with the provider and impact are alsoimportant in judging value. Many purchasers commented that finding away to sustain the impact and measure the growth of an individual andbenefit to the business of executive education would be useful.

With growing importance placed on tools such as social networking, theGenerationWeb study sought to understand how students use web tools.Facebook dominates the market place although only 31% agree or stronglyagree that “I search for information on social networking sites about schools”.

Although two-thirds of students use social networks several times a day orweek, none of the sites appears to have established itself yet as a key tool forprospective students.

Only 13% of students use Twitter to find out about business schools but Twittermay still be useful for schools to keep journalists informed, for internalcommunications or when contacting alumni. More students (up to 40%)use iTunesU to download information about business but only 12% havedownloaded business school marketing materials. However, more than70% of students use the main iTunes site to purchase music, TV or film.

Looking at business school websites, students suggested that the qualityof a site can have a considerable impact on their choice of where to study

The Business of Branding also revealed the growing importance of value,often measured in terms of career outcomes and alumni success. The studyfound a relationship between cost, quality, academic strength and brand

reputation. The pattern of results suggests that where students perceiveschool costs as low but quality and academic standards as high they aremore likely to state that their school has a strong clear brand that iswidely recognised and understood.

Alumni can be powerful messengers in communicating the brand and valuemessages but want the relationship with their former school to have a clearpurpose and defined benefits. While most alumni are likely to agree or stronglagree that “Alumni Relations are often in touch with me”, more than 50%disagree or strongly disagree that “I have got involved with activities foralumni” or “I have made good contacts through the alumni network”.

Each of the studies will run again in the next six months and schoolsinterested in taking part should contact Matthew Wood at EFMD

[email protected] or Andrew Crisp at [email protected]

GMAC European Conference– Revealing Your Uniqueness24-25 October 2010,

Ashridge Business School, UKWhy does today’s businessschool applicant chooseyour MBA or masters in

management programmeover another school’s?

Today’s crowded graduate managementeducation marketplace requires us to rethinkour current advertising and brandingstrategies so that our audiences do not

just hear about what we have to offer, theyexperience it.

With increasing competition for candidateswithin and among business schools the thirdannual Graduate Management Admission

Council (GMAC) European Conferenceexamines the importance of communicatingthe right message to your candidatesand other stakeholders so that it is clear,authentic and tells a story that captures theessence and uniqueness of your programme.

Join colleagues in business schooladmissions, marketing and communicationstogether with other expert business schooland industry speakers at the uniquely gloriousAshridge Business School on 24-25 October.

For more information please visit theconference website:

www.gmac.com/europeanconference

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News and events in brief from the business world

Talking shop

2nd Global Peter F Drucker Forum:Managing in the Next Society18-19 November 2010 Vienna The current crisis is accentuating and accelerating the transformation ofour societies and our economies. The 2010 Forum will deal with the newchallenges seen from the vantage point of management and will addresskey questions such as:

Q. What will the Next Society be like? What does this mean for management

Q. How to unleash the latent productive and creative energies of peoplein organisations? Will Information and Communication Technology (ICT)and new media finally fulfil their promise to enable and empowermanagement and workers?

Q. Do we have the management capabilities in our institutions andorganisations to achieve a step change in innovation and value creation?How to build the capacity in a more comprehensive and systemic way?What can we learn from the emerging economies?

Q. How to manage deep transformation and change in our society withoutcreating wide-spread disruption? Can our societies become more nimble

and adaptive?

Q. Given the daunting challenges ahead - do we need to reinvent thepractice of management in business and non-business organisationsand institutions? Or would we just have to apply the basic managementprinciples that have been defined by Peter Drucker and others?

Q. Is the current corporate model adequate for the 21st century? What arethe alternatives?

The dialogue will be led by speakers from business, academia, and thenon-profit and public sectors. It will be practice focused – leveraginginsights from research and thought leadership. The line up of speakers

includes Matthias Horx, Lynda Gratton, Julian Birkinshaw, Adrian Wooldridge,Peter Lorange and Andrew Keen.

In addition to experienced managers and executives from business, academiapublic sector and non-profit institutions particular focus will be given to theyoung generation. Fifteen percent of the conference participants will qualifyfor participation based on an essay contest for young people – the GlobalPeter Drucker Challenge.

You can find more information under the link:http://www.druckerchallenge.org/

For further details visit:http://www.druckersociety.at or http://www.efmd.org

Dubai to host EFMD's first Annual Conference in theMiddle East and North Africa(MENA) region

Hosted by the University of Dubai onNovember 28–30, 2010 with the theme:"Creating International Impact withProgrammes – Management Education

in the MENA Region" this conference isan ideal opportunity to learn about ongoingtrends in management education insideand outside the MENA region.

The conference will discuss topics suchas internationalising faculty and the studyexperience, establishing masters, executiveeducation and doctoral programmes,and developing strategic partnershipswith international business schools.

Presentations will include a series of

speakers from the MENA Region, Americaand Europe with plenty of opportunities fornetworking and sharing within the EFMDcommunity of schools.

In parallel to this conference, EPAS and EQUISaccreditation seminars will be also be offeredon November 30 and December 1 2010.

For more information visit:

www.efmd.org/conferences

or contact Emmanuel Duval:

[email protected]

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EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201

The Forum will be led by speakers from business, academia, and the non- profit and public secto rs. It will be practice focused – leveraging insights from research and thought leadership.

2nd Global Peter F Drucker Forum, 18/19 Novemebr, Vienna

ecch Case Winners 2010London Business School has won the overall award in the2010 ecch Case Awards with a case on Red Bull by NirmalyaKumar, Nader Tavassoli and Sophie Linguri Coughlan.

Overall winner

Red Bull: The Anti-Brand BrandNirmalya Kumar, Nader Tavassoliand Sophie Linguri CoughlanLondon Business School

Special awardThe Sumantra Ghoshal Awardfor Excellence in Case WritingLondon Business School

Economics, Politics andBusiness EnvironmentTransforming the GlobalFishing Industry: The Marine

Stewardship Council atFull Sail?Ulrich Steger, AlexanderNick, Oliver Salzmann andAileen Ionescu-SomersIMD

EntrepreneurshipThe Grameen Bank:Credit as a Human RightEugénio Viassa Monteiroand Ana Janeiro DiasAESE – Escola de Direcçãoe Negócios

Ethics and Social Responsibilityinnocent Drinks:Values and ValueRobert Brown and David GraysonCranfield University Schoolof Management and EABIS

Finance, Accountingand ControlDeal Making in Troubled Waters:The ABN AMRO TakeoverDidier Cossin and Luc KeuleneerIMD

Human Resource Managemen/ Organisational BehaviourLeading Across Cultures

at Michelin (A)Erin Meyer and Sapna GuptaINSEAD

Knowledge, Informationand CommunicationSystems ManagementApple’s iPhone: CallingEurope or Europe Calling?Sandra Sieber, Josep Valorand Jordan MitchellIESE Business School

Marketing

sponsored by The CharteredInstitute of MarketingFord Ka: The MarketResearch Problem (A)Markus Christenand David SobermanINSEADSeh-Woong ChungSingapore Management Universit

Production and OperationsManagementOcado: An Alternative Way toBridge the Last Mile in Grocery

Home DeliveryKen K BoyerBroad College of Business,Michigan State UniversityMark FrohlichLondon Business School

Strategy and GeneralManagementNestlé’s Globe Program (A):The Early MonthsPeter KillingIMD

Anna Pehar joins EFMD as theDirector of Business Schools ServicesAnna Pehar, former Directorof Executive Education atthe Rotterdam School ofManagement, has joinedEFMD. Anna is taking overfrom Griet Houbrechts as the

Director of Business SchoolServices.

“I am delighted to welcomeAnna into the EFMD fold andknow that her experience,professionalism, character andinternational outlook will be of great benefit to EFMD in thefuture. I would also like to thank Griet Houbrechts for herexceptional contribution to EFMD over the last 16 years andwish her every success in her future career,” said ProfessorEric Cornuel, Director General and CEO of EFMD.

For the past 10 years Anna has led the ExecutiveEducation Department at RSM and was a member ofthe schools Director's Team. Under her leadership theExecutive Education Department grew substantiallyand moved from being mainly nationally focused to aleading provider of international executive education.

She was also responsible for business developmentand internationalisation and her personal client portfolioincluded among others: the United Nations, Kone, Denso,Goodyear Dunlop, Haniel, AstraZeneca and Pliva. Annahas been an active part of the EFMD network and a memberof the Executive Education Steering Committee for the past

six years.Before joining the RSM, Anna had a career in businessdevelopment, HR consultancy and training in variouscompanies.

She holds a master’s degree in linguistics, with majors insocio- and psycho linguistics and has a fascination for howinterpersonal communication works – or does not work.Raised in Sweden, Anna is Croatian-Italian and, having livedand worked in many countries, she communicates fluentlyin five languages and sees herself as a true citizen of Europe.

Anna can be contacted at:

[email protected]

For more information on

ecch visit: www.ecch.com

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Kai Peters, chief executive of Ashridge Business School in the UK, is in

serious mode. Not that it dents his natural ebullience. In the short timebetween bidding farewell to a previous visitor and walking to his officehe is a fount of stories, opinions, facts and jokes. Ashridge is doing verywell, thank you, he says, detouring to a notice board full of present andfuture courses and programmes.

So why the seriousness? Two reasons. One is the changing nature ofexecutive education, a top earner for Ashridge compared to the relative“loss leader” of its MBA. The second is what he believes is the parlousstate of business schools themselves as “businesses”.

What are your concerns about the state of executive education?

Executive Education is transforming. The question is whether this is

permanent or driven by the current economy. I think it’s permanent.

Ashridge’s Kai Peters is worried about where businessschools are going. Interview by George Bickerstaffe

Kai Peters

As a business

model, what weare doing rightnow is, for me,

not sustainable.

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EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Kai Peters interview by Ge orge Bickerstaffe

70%Historically 70% of

leadership development

has come from on the job

learning and projects, only

10% from the classroom

and 20 % from coaching

or mentoring

Historically there has been a trend for companies not to send people on

open programmes but to do them in–company. That has led to another trendwhich is to drop knowledge transfer programmes within a company in favourof doing organisational development with real goals and real targets.

This is interesting because research indicates that 10% of leadershipdevelopment comes in the classroom, 20% comes from coaching andmentoring, and 70% comes from on-the job learning and projects.

So the logic is that the more we can integrate coaching, real projects andreal strategic challenges into our development activity the more impact weare going to have institutionally and organisationally.

This is difficult. We have executive education being taken over by the corporateuniversities, the low-hanging fruit being taken by the for-profits and the

Bologna newcomers, and a lot of the market by e-learning. It’s a very messycompetitive business right now And while we in business schools might

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say, “well those aren’t the quality markets we are in” every individual lost tothem is one not coming to us.

But these types of custom programmes are notoriously difficult and expensive

to design and deliver aren’t they?

You need a different sort of faculty. You need faculty that can pretty much standon their feet for a whole day and have a plan but also be one step aheadbecause they are really a facilitator of a conversation. You are really saying“today let’s talk about international operations in Latin America in themorning and leadership development in the afternoon”. Not that X willlecture for an hour on the macroeconomic context of Latin America andY will go on about marketing in Latin America. You are really just askingparticipants about their experiences.

The idea that “I am a master of my knowledge domain, which I will transferto the participants” just doesn’t wash in a corporate executive education

setting at all.I suppose we are reasonably lucky at Ashridge in that we have had ourorganisational development consultancy for 20 or 25 years now. But lookingat other schools I can see that they are trying to attract associates who cando the coaching and the facilitation because that is not going to happen witha professor from your economics department; that’s just not realistic.

Clients are also not only looking to business schools but are cherry pickingquite a lot, working with consultancies, independents and others. They aremuch more sophisticated in their range of sources and the design of theirown interventions than ever before.

I did a CLIP visit with EFMD recently and it was very interesting to see what

the organisation did in house, how they brought in external faculty primarilyas facilitators. They brought in some as experts, almost as gurus, but mainlyto provide some impact and entertainment (I think sometimes justentertainment) for the participants. They didn’t structurally work withbusiness schools at all; they worked with individuals from business schools.

Is this affecting degree programmes as well or just executive education?

A good question. In our case here it definitely affects the part-timemasters programmes and to an extent the EMBA, which are all more orless behavioural and very much for working professionals. I’m not surehow it will affect the full-time programmes because they are not in awork situation. There’s still a tradition of such programmes being mainly

about the transfer of a body of knowledge, certainly at the undergraduateand pre-experience masters level.

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1EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Kai Peters interview by Ge orge Bickerstaffe

The idea that 'I am a masterof my knowledge domain, which I will transfer to the participants’

just doesn’t wash in a corporateexecutive education setting at all

And the MBA?

I don’t know that we will ever solve the problem of the debate around thepositioning of a full time MBA. Should it be more in the behaviouralleadership space? Well, yes, except that that doesn’t work that well witha mid-20s audience. They are still more into “I want to acquire the bodyof knowledge”.

So for me you do undergraduate and the MBA to get the subject areas and theknowledge base. And you certainly don’t stop your education there. You carryon to do an executive programme later on or something that really works on

the behavioural aspects of your managerial capability.To say that the MBA will solve all your problems for your entire life at once is

just not realistic. The challenges are not there. You’re not responsible for thesort of things you will be responsible for 20 years later. The best I can comeup with is to flag that this will be really important for you in the future,introduce it and to get people to think about it and their own behaviour.

But I don’t think it’s realistic to introduce things like organisationaldevelopment and leadership because you’re really not applying it,certainly not on a full-time programme.

Is this a challenge to business schools, even a threat?

Yes, I think it is. Part of it is a flight to size and brand. There’s also a lot

of competition right through from Duke in America to Peter Lorangeand what he’s trying to do in Zurich [see Global Focus Vol 04 Issue 2 2010] through to the consultancies.

There are quite significant changes afoot that won’t be put back in their box.

What can the schools do?

We need to think about disaggregating the various elements that we havein business schools rather than pretending that they are all easily integratedBy that I mean you cannot have faculty who spend 99% of their timeresearching and then, depending on the school you talk to, be in theclassroom for between 60 to 200 hours a year.

Look at some of the salaries that are being paid by the big Americanbusiness schools and some of the European schools If you are paying

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£150,000 a year and you are getting ten days in the classroom out of it thenat some point that doesn’t work.

So how does one fund the research? Well I think you could fund the researchonly if you are a very large school with lots of undergraduates or if you havetremendous endowments.

But as a business model what we are doing right now is, for me, notsustainable.

Do you think this is connected or driving the rather rapid turnover in businessschool deans we have seen recently?

I think some deans are trying to tackle the problem but unfortunately in somecases are not succeeding very well because attitudes are pretty ingrained.Academics don’t particularly like to be told what to do. We have half a dozenexamples of individuals who have come from the consultancy world trying

to run business schools as professional service firms and it hasn’t worked.

I think what they are trying to do is a little misguided because I feel thereis a fundamental difference in the philosophy in a business school and ina consultancy. Business school promote individualism. I am my researchwith my own personal reputation as X who happens right now to be atY business school but could just as easily by at Z school tomorrow.

At a consultancy they centrally produce knowledge and then diffuse itas a methodology that is shared by a thousand change managementprofessionals. And when you try to impose that model of centralisedknowledge development into a business school, which is used to a highdegree of autonomy and individualism, it doesn’t work. So making faculty

teach the same thing or getting them to support an institutional approachis just not a realistic proposition.

It might make sense as a business model but it doesn’t make sense asa business model within the context of a business school.

I think the debate that has to happen in business schools is really aroundhow much teaching is realistic from faculty – and it surely has to be morethan we are doing now because it’s just not financeable. You can’t run abusiness school without a business model but we seem to be trying.

The only way you could tackle it is to have 70 or 80 people in a classroom inan MBA or open programme - and you can debate whether that’s the bestlearning model for participants. I would say that is large batch processing.

So we really have to think about what we are doing.

Academics don’t particularlylike to be told what to do. We

have half a dozen examplesof individuals who have come

from the consultancy worldtrying to run business schoolsas professional service firmsand it hasn’t worked

Kai Peters is a man with a knack for being in the

right place at the right time.

German-born and educated mainly in Canada

he had a job with IBM when he was called back

to help sort out the family publishing business.

“The first generation did well, the second

generation did extremely well and the third

generation (my generation) was screwing it

up a bit,” he laughs.

Subsequently he took an MBA at the Rotterdam

School of Management at Erasmus University in

the Netherlands. He was a student representative

there and after his degree joined the school

organising in-company projects for students.

When the MBA programme director left Peters

was appointed as replacement “until someone

better came along”, as he says. They didn’t. And

when the dean left the same thing happened.

Peters served as dean at Rotterdam for three

years before joining Ashridge in 2003

as chief executive (effectively dean).

IN BRIEF:RESUMÉ KAI PETERS

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1EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201

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Deans serve as a bridgebetween school goals and

faculty’s own interests andmotivation drivers. Theymust also bring the voice ofexternal stakeholders into

the academic domain

Keeping

one stepaheadThe current crisis means that business schools

will have to change – and that means a new type

of leadership from business schools deans.Fernando Fragueiro and Howard Thomasoutline the kind of skills they will need

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1EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Keeping one step ahe ad by Fernado Fragueiro and Howard Thomas

The global financial crisis has clearly shown that profoundchanges are needed in many core components of modernlife – from market regulation policies and shareholdervalue-driven focus to globalisation and economicsustainability.

Business schools, as links between academia and business,must rise to the challenge of seeking solutions for theshortcomings that have been revealed. While manyinstitutions have made significant and useful efforts over pastdecades, their endeavours seem to have somehow fallenshort or missed the mark. Perhaps the complexities of theirgovernance schemes have hindered bolder moves to address– and even anticipate- the changing needs of both companiesand societies in an era of global and local tensions.

To successfully overcome both persistent and emergingchallenges, business schools will need strong anddetermined leadership to provide fresh ideas on how to

build fruitful interactions between academia, businessesand society.

In a world that has embraced networking at full throttle,knowledge can no longer remain enclosed in silos; itmust flow smoothly in every direction so that businesseducation becomes both relevant and effective.

How can deans champion their schools’ leadershipprocesses, building and executing successful strategicagendas over time? This is easier said than done, of course.Higher education institutions’ particular organisational traits,including shared power, dual academic and managerial

authority, collegiality and rotation schemes, bring asubstantial influence to bear on the inner workingsof leadership in business schools.

As we all know, business schools’ deans tend tobe viewed and to act as “first among equals,”for they are elected directly or indirectly byfaculties to serve for a specific term.

In a forthcoming book (see end of articlefor details), we have tried to shed somelight on how deans can deal with thedouble hurdle embedded in their

primus-inter-pares status and theirresponsibility to exercise

14The book ‘ Keeping one step

ahead ’ includes a 14-year

study of three world-

leading European schools

– IMD, INSEAD and LBS

leadership and, when necessary, introduce change.

The book includes a 14-year study of three world-leadingEuropean schools, IMD, INSEAD and LBS, and exploresstrategic leadership processes as seen from the dean’s office

In the period analysed, 1990-2004, the three schoolsembarked on several groundbreaking internationalinitiatives to respond to new management demands andglobalisation trends. How did their deans address theneed for change and how did they steer their institutionsin a new direction? How did they build and use powerto rally the support of boards, faculties and staffs?

The lessons learned from the experiences of thedeans at the helms of IMD, INSEAD and LBSin years of stunning worldwide changeare very applicable to understandinghow deans today can juggle their

schools’ standing between theacademic and businessworlds, and their ownrole as leaders.

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Deans serve as a bridge between school goals andfaculty’s own interests and motivation drivers. They mustalso bring the voice of external stakeholders into theacademic domain. And just as business schools now needto step up their responsiveness in order to help managersaddress their new challenges, deans are forced to bolstertheir own leadership skills to provide their institutionswith clear, decisive governance.

A recent survey of 200 companies by the European Academyof Business in Society (EABIS) revealed that context,

complexity and connectedness will be the key featuresfor sound management in the years to come. And, ofcourse, the same applies to business school leadership.

External and internal contexts hold the key for deans tounderstand meaningful trends in their schools’ environmentsin order to shape developments by using the flow of events topursue a specific strategy.

Furthermore, deans not only need to understand theirstakeholders’ concerns but must also take into accountthe needs of others when framing the strategic initiativesthat both each school and each situation demand. This

understanding should also enlighten deans on how to usetheir power to accomplish an appropriate leadership style.

The overriding challenge for deans is to garner the supportof their schools’ constituencies for their initiatives and toovercome any opposition from other actors whose interestsmay be also competing for scarce resources and a placein schools’ limited agendas.

When business school leadership processes are viewed asincluding a political perspective and are firmly supportedby their deans’ reputation, commitment and integrity, it ispossible for deans to use power and influence to build a

seamless continuum that reinforces their effectivenessand drives organisational advancement

Business schools’ collegiality presents a two-fold challenge:providing enough room for consensus in order to preserve andpromote motivation and commitment and avoiding endlessdebates that could jeopardise growth and cause paralysis.

Leadership processes in such organisations involve twocrucial steps: first, securing at least a modicum of support fora strategic initiative from key actors and, second, motivatingthe right people to seize that initiative and make it their own,championing its successful execution across the organisationIn other words, any strategic pursuit needs to be legitimated

by key constituencies while deans use their power to overcomresistance and to procure critical resources.

To provide more practical, down-to-earth guidelines, the roleof the dean may be narrowed down to the four key tasksidentified in the comprehensive and dynamic approachto strategic leadership processes presented in Figure 1:environmental scanning, issue diagnosis, issue legitimisatioand power mobilisation. Considering these tasks may helpcurrent and future deans in their day-to-day challenges.

Environmental scanningUnderstanding a school’s inner and outer context is crucial to

identifying opportunities and finding ways to match them withcurrent faculty aspirations, interests and priorities and boardmembers’ concerns and objectives. As they do so deans will beable to orchestrate a strategy to raise a number of initiativesnot by imposing them but by articulating and communicatingthem as a means to accomplish a common goal.

In this process potential supporters play a central role andopposition can be expressed and actually exploited to enhancefurther those initiatives rather than blocking them.

Issue diagnosisDeans should not only assess initiatives as regular business

proposals but should also weigh the effort required to“legitimise” a strategic issue within their organisations

Figure 1:Environmental scanning, issue diagnosis, issue legitimisation and power mobilisation

Environmental Scanning

– External: "What"based on critical outer context figures

– Internal: "What"– Key stakeholders' interests and needs

– Internal features

Isssue Legitimisation

– Issue sponsor

– Issue salience

– Agenda structure

– Resources required

Issue Diagnosis

– Incremental

– Breakthrough:– Organisational experience, inertia and resources

Power Mobilisation

– Deans leadership style, skills and competencies

– Power sources

– Power uses: how power is built and used

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1EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Keeping one step ahe ad by Fernado Fragueiro and Howard Thomas

particularly, to ensure faculty and board support. This issuediagnosis task requires the ability to determine whether aninitiative involves a major shift or breakthrough in the school’scurrent strategy or whether it accounts for a natural next steptowards its existing goals.

Incremental initiatives will normally go unhindered whiletrue challenges come with initiatives involving a radicalchange that rattles the status quo for key constituenciesor stretches the school’s financial resources.

Issue legitimisationBreakthrough initiatives usually demand extensivelegitimisation efforts. Deans are sometimes excessivelyearnest in their attempts to pursue their vision and ideas, andit is often hard to resist the temptation to drive an initiative bytrying to match stakeholders’ interests and ideas with marketdemands. This process may lead to initiative enhancements tomake it more compelling for others.

While a directive leadership style is generally necessary todrive breakthrough initiatives, it should be combined withan effort to allow for discussion and contributions fromkey constituencies.

Power mobilisation:Finally, deans need to exercise their ability to mobilise otheractors to champion those initiatives. In other words, leadershipis a social influence process in which leaders try to graspthe views and motivations of others, connecting them withinstitutional challenges to find the best course of action.

In addition to legitimising issues, power must be usedto complete the leadership process by effectively rallyingsupport and commitment to successfully raise andexecute an initiative.

Power in business schools is based on personal sourcessuch as expertise professional reputation personal

ABOUT THE AUTHORSFernando Fragueiro is Professor of General Management and Director of ENOVAThinking, Research Centre on Emerging Markets, at IAE Business School, AustraUniversity, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was Dean of IAE 1995-2007 and VicePresident of Austral University 1998-2007.

Howard Thomas is LKCSB Chair of Strategic Management and Dean of Singapore’Lee Kong Chiang School of Business and former Dean of Warwick Business Schooin Britain from 2000 - 2010.

FURTHER INFORMATION Keeping One Step Ahead: Strategic Leadership in Business Schools by FernandoFragueiro and Howard Thomas is published by Cambridge University Press, 2011

The Deans mission is to shape their schoolsstrategy and to make it work in a way thatbold breakthrough initiatives, when needed

can be pursued and effectively execute

prestige, ability to deliver results, integrity, commitment,interpersonal skills and other traits.

This does not mean that deans have no impact or influencebut positional power is just a starting point – not a “blankcheque”. Indeed, deans need to legitimise themselves,proving their worth, courage and effectiveness, before theycan legitimise their initiatives.

In short, deans are responsible for setting their schools’direction. Indeed, their mission is to shape their schools’strategy and to make it work in a way that bold breakthroughinitiatives, when needed, can be pursued and effectivelyexecuted.

Now is clearly a time for boldness, decisiveness andcreativity, both to spot opportunities for business schoolenhancement and to respond to growing, changingmanagement and social demands.

Deans can step up to the plate by playing this manifoldrole, engaging their schools’ key constituencies –businessleaders, leading competitors, board, faculty and staff- inthe process, actively heeding their respective needs andinterests to drive an effective and well-rounded strategic

agenda for their institutions.

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Nadine Lemaitre has headed GDF SUEZ University, oneof the world’s leading corporate universities, for the pastdecade, a time of growth and change for the giant energy

group. She talks to George Bickerstaffe

Nadine Lemaitre has been president (head) of GDF SUEZUniversity since its inception in 1999 (it opened in 2000and was then known as SUEZ University).

Although Ms Lemaitre took her first degree in business

engineering and later completed a PhD in appliedeconomics, her career has been largely in humanresources, including senior posts at Bull Europe andGénérale de Banque. Her responsibilities have includeddesigning human resources, labour/managementrelations, development and succession planning.

She is also a professor at the Solvay Business School ofthe University of Brussels in Belgium.

GDF SUEZ University plays a key role in the developmentand training of the Group’s executives and managers. Itsmissions align with the Group’s strategic priorities and it

regards itself as a genuine tool for integration, cohesionand expertise-sharing and models itself as a laboratoryfor ideas and strategic planning within the company.

Since its creation, over 30,000 managers have receivedtraining from the University. In 2009, close to 6,000participants attended some 200 sessions organised in 15countries. GDF SUEZ University has taken a consciousdecision not to outsource its programmes. In addition tothe regular participation of over 200 group experts andexecutives, the University’s 22 staff members work inclose collaboration with some 40 outside partners in thedesign and implementation of in-house programmes.

Generating

leadership

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1EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Generating leadership: Nadine Lem aitre interview by George Bickerstaffe

30kSince its creation, over

30,000 managers have

received training from

the University

6000In 2009, close to 6,000

participants attended

some 200 sessions...

15...which were organised

across 15 countries

The University regards itself asa genuine tool for integration,

cohesion and expertise-sharingand models itself as a laboratory

for ideas and strategic planningwithin the company

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GDF SUEZ University received CLIP (CorporateLearning Improvement Process) accreditationfrom EFMD in May 2010. CLIP accreditationrecognises the high standards and quality oflearning programmes offered and dispensedby corporate in-house universities andcorporate learning functions for trainingand individual and group development.

The France-based global company GDF SUEZis the world's second-largest utility companyafter Electricité de France. It was created in2008 through the merger of Gaz de Franceand SUEZ and is active across the entireenergy value chain. The company employsover 200,000 people worldwide and postedrevenues of nearly 1 80 billion in 2009. Mostrecently, GDF SUEZ took over the Britishenergy company International Power.

You are very much a part of the corporate world

but are also a faculty member at Solvay BusinessSchool. What do you enjoy most of thesetwo different sides of your professional life?

What I enjoy most is to be in both worlds.There is a saying that there is nothing aspractical as a good model of reality and thatpractice is the best way to build a robust andrelevant model.

I have been involved in both the corporateand academic sides for many years andfeel that having a foot in both is a veryprivileged position.

I don’t know that I would say that I enjoy onemore than the other but being active in thecorporate world allows you to really extend thescope of what you are doing. But I also enjoythinking and building models.

What were the motives to create what wasthen SUEZ University a decade ago? And what were your experiences in the initial stages?

The University opened its doors in April 2000.First of all, you should know that it was the

conception of the CEO and Chairman [thenand now],Gerard Mestrallet. SUEZ had justmerged with Lyonnaise des Eaux, and MrMestrallet believed that a corporate universitycould be a force to bring the differentcomponents of the Group together, andhelp create a common culture. It was atool for integration really.

We have been through even more mergerssince then, right up to the big one in 2008,which brought together 160,000 employeesfrom SUEZ and 40,000 from Gaz de France.

Obviously that intensified the need forintegration

In the early years of the University, essentiallythe Group was operating as a holdingcompany with a set of different businessesthat really didn’t think they had anything todo with each other.

So the University has increasingly acted as aplace where people can come to explore anddiscover what they do share with each other.The University isn’t really a teachingexperience; it’s a learning experience. Peopleare really teaching each other. We have a lotof group work and peer coaching for example.

What have been the challenges for the corporateuniversity in the subsequent merger with Gaz deFrance?

We had to adapt the content of allprogrammes, of course. In Gaz de France,there was not really anything like a CorporateUniversity. Gaz de France and Electricité de

France used to be one group and when theysplit most of the training function went withEDF. SUEZ University transformed itself intoGDF SUEZ University, carrying on most of itsinitial mission of being a tool for integratingthe Group, but on a larger scale, with newcontents and for an enlarged audience.

How has the mission of GDF SUEZ Universityevolved over the years?

I think the mission of the University hassimply been reinforced. After the merger

this mission is stronger and this is againthe case with the upcoming merger withInternational Power. The University will bethe place where executives and managersof different origins, different geographies,will meet, share what they have in commonfrom a business perspective, and preparethe future of the Group. I’ve always said thatthe University, right from the beginning, wasnot just about building competences withinthe Group. It was a tool for integration. Andthat has not changed.

What do you see as the main challenges forthe corporate learning function in the future?

To go back to basics, I would say that themain purpose of a corporate learningfunction is to help the social and businesssystems of a company to evolve from wherethey are at a given moment to where theyneed to be to meet the challenges of theworld around them.

It’s a question of taking a company whereit is when you start and giving it – through

individuals and groups – the competenciesit needs to evolve and mature to a situation

200kGDF SUEZ employs over

200,000 people worldwide..

¤80bn... and posted revenues of

nearly €80 billion in 2009

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2EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Generating leadership: Nadine Lem aitre interview by George Bickerstaffe

where it is better prepared to face thecompetition.

Now that depends where the company isat that certain time. What are the externalchallenges it faces? How are we going toadapt to face those challenges? How big is thecompany? How international is it? What is itsrelationship with its customers?

There are so many differing factors involved.It is very hard to come down to a standarddefinition of what a corporate university ora corporate learning function actually does.

GDF SUEZ University received CLIPaccreditation earlier this year. What were your reasons for undertaking this processand what did the experience bring?

Well, you cannot forget that we had just gonethrough a merger. And it was a merger ofequals, not a takeover. And people will tellyou that mergers of equals are the hardestmergers.

So when we decided to go for CLIP we werestill in a post-merger phase where we needed

to re-establish – not our mission becauseI think we had a strong sense of what ourmission was – but rather our identity andour role and what should be our strategyfor the future in this new group.

So I would say that CLIP accreditation wasa very interesting exercise.

And for me the really interesting part is whathas happened since. Because the wholeaccreditation process was really the start ofa period of reflection. And the question was:

our mission is clear; but what is the strategyto achieve our mission? That was not so clear

I’ve always said that theUniversity, right from thebeginning, was not just

about building competenceswithin the Group. It wasa tool for integration. Andthat has not changed

And we are now at the stage where we haveworked on a number of scenarios regarding

the size and scope of the University and areready to talk about them to the chairman andthen we will know how to proceed.

I think accreditation gave us the opportunityto think about how we can go forward.

The peer reviewers were particularly impressed by the role of your programmes for top executivesand the way they link into t he creation of astrategic direction for the Group. Could youelaborate on that?

It may sound a little arrogant but I think wedo have a very original programme for seniorexecutives in terms of participating in theelaboration of the Group strategy.

We have been running this programmefor the last ten years, working with groupsof 30 senior executives from differentbusiness areas. They work on a series ofstrategic issues with the aim of makingrecommendations on actions to be takenin the future. It’s very interesting for theexecutives because it allows them to

withdraw a little from their normal dailyactivity. In the past they have produced somevery fruitful and useful recommendationsthat have been put into practice by the board

The programme also positions theUniversity at a very strategic level withinthe Goup in the sense that we are closelyinvolved in its future strategic direction.It also works into other programmesbecause we are aware of what might beahead in terms of business challenges.

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Peter Drucker is most commonly thought of as amanagement theoretician and undoubtedly this is themost well known dimension of his work. However,Drucker’s aim was also to write about man in his social

context. In his book Managing People and Organisations: Peter Drucker's Legacy, an extract from which follows,Guido Stein elucidates Drucker's thinking in a waythat emphasises its relevance for today and tomorrow

Peter Drucker's Legacy

Management of Knowledge in the New EconomyThe new management paradigms

We live in the Internet age, the fruit born of the confluence of newinformation technologies and telecommunications. The Internet isnow fashionable, even ubiquitous in some parts of the world, and hastriggered an intense speculative fever. But the Internet is more than

just a fad. As happened with radio or television, the Internet is hereto stay. Its impact on the economy and society is of such magnitudethat we now speak and write of a new economy. Today we can learnfrom successes in this new field and, above all, the failures1.

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2EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Managing People and Organisations: Peter Drucker's Legacy by Guido Stein

In every organisation –- business or non-business alike – only the last 10% of management

has to be fitted to the organisation’s specificmission, its specific culture, its specific historyand its specific vocabulary

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Is there a new economy or is it the traditional economytransformed by new telecommunications technologies and IT?For Peter Drucker, and for entrepreneurs and executives, theanswer has no bearing on what really matters: leading in theInternet age is a work of synthesis and character, intelligenceand will. The development of the knowledge society ischaracterised by its swiftness. Knowing how to orient oneselfwith speed and flexibility is as difficult as it is indispensable.

Not surprisingly, life is lived forward but understoodbackward. History gives us wise examples:

"As the century closed, the world becomes smaller. Thepublic rapidly gained access to new and dramaticallyfaster communications technologies. Entrepreneurs,able to draw on unprecedented scale economies, builtvast empires. Great fortunes were made. The governmentdemanded that these powerful new monopolists be heldaccountable under antitrust law. Every day brought forthnew technological advances to which the old businessmodels seemed no longer to apply. Yet, somehow, thebasic laws of economics asserted themselves. Those who

mastered these laws survived in the new environment.Those who did not, failed”2.

research to test them? And finally, the wealth of informationleads to a corresponding poverty of attention.

In any case, what has really changed from what was going onuntil the early nineties is the technological infrastructure:today information is more accessible and therefore morevaluable; nevertheless it does not change the total amount ofinformation available. What is truly new is the ability of modercompanies to make new orders based on the exchange of

electronic data, which allow the analysis of orders in allbranches under different pricing and promotion policies, andthe speed with which they introduce discounts on productsthat are not selling well. And all of this with minimal humanintervention.

How does Peter Drucker see these sweeping changes?What is their effect on the management of companies andindividuals? For our author, the psychological effect of theinformation revolution, as with the Industrial Revolution, hasbeen enormous: Electronic commerce is to the informationrevolution what the railroad was to the Industrial Revolution:a completely new event unprecedented and completelyunexpected. As with the railroad 170 years ago, electroniccommerce is creating a radically different economic boom tha

Although it might only be a rough description of what ishappening now in the economic world, these lines areintended to outline the situation of a century ago whentechnological innovations in rail or communications causedupheaval in business and social attitudes.

It is obvious that information and knowledge have always beenfactors which influenced the economic future of humanity;however, it is this increased presence of technology thathas played an almost exclusive role in wealth creation. Ifwe add to this the ability to digitise information and thusenable instantaneous and nearly free transmission, we findourselves facing the core of the economic, and perhapsalso social, paradigm shift.

Technology changes, but the laws of the economy remain. Theinformation economy is characterised by several well-definedfeatures: information is expensive to produce but cheap toreproduce; that is, it has high fixed costs and low marginalcosts; also, information is a good, an asset, of experience– it has to be tested once to be evaluated; nevertheless,information as such is an asset of experience every time it is

consumed. Before buying shoes, the client tests them; butwhat would happen if you read a newspaper book or market

is rapidly changing the economy, society and politics3. Therailroad changed people's "mental geography" and physicahorizon; electronic commerce not only overcomes distance– in the case of purely informational products, it removes it.

As our author likes to point out, the largest e-commercegrowth is occurring in a sector which until now had notrade: the labour exchanges. The Internet has become amacro-labour exchange with millions of digitised résumésflowing through it. The result is a renewed labour market.

Time is relentless and more so when it comes to practicalaction; what was true yesterday may be wrong tomorrow;therefore, to speak of absolute and immutable truths inmanagement requires prudence to stay within limits whichmake a useful tool ineffective or useless, precisely becauseany institution - whether a commercial enterprise, a publicservice, a university, a church or a large military organisation– is evaluated by its capability of producing results outside ofitself.

In this sense it is a theoretical and practical mistake to arguethat there is an organisation par excellence or one right way

to manage people. But not everything is subject to a blind,random relativism in the art of management can be found

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2EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201The corporate education iceberg by Lindsay Ryan

During the global financial crisis many organisations reduced, or insome cases slashed, their corporate education and training budgets.For most, this meant reducing their overall activity in employee trainingand development without considering the implications on the organisationbeyond the financial crisis or exploring other options to stretch theircorporate education budgets further.

Organisations that maintained a consistent level of investment in employeeeducation and training or found more effective ways of increasing the impactfrom their corporate education and training are more likely to emerge from

the financial crisis with a competitive edge over those who slashed theirbudgets.

In my new book Corporate Education – A Practical Guide to Effective CorporateLearning, I introduce the corporate education “iceberg” as an holisticapproach that organisations can use to consider and plan corporateeducation and training programmes and improve the impact of theseprogrammes.

In the figure below the tip of the iceberg above the “water line” representsformal education and training, which includes such things as:

– vocational and technical training programmes

– university and higher education programmes

– short courses

– executive education programmes

– conferences and seminars

Below the water line informal and workplace learning includes a diverserange of dynamic learning approaches such as mentor support, work-based projects, coaching, buddy systems, job shadowing, job rotation,work-team projects and social interaction among employees. An effectiveand well-organised employee induction programme is another example ofinformal learning.

Formal education Above the water line

Below the water line

Informal and workplace learning

The Corporate Education ‘Iceberg’

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The corporate education iceberg approach also recognisesa “shallow” area around the water line that includes practical/life skills training programmes that help in developing anemployee’s everyday skills and practical business expertise.These types of programmes include time management, publicspeaking, presentation skills and basic budgeting as well asstrategies and techniques for developing an effective work-lifebalance.

Organisations that only see the tip of the iceberg and treatcorporate education and training as a function or businessexpense are missing the opportunity to enhance the levelof understanding and application of what their employeeslearn and to embed that learning within the organisation.

There is emerging research that suggests around 20% ofemployee learning and development occurs through formal,structured corporate education and training programmeswhile some 80% of employee learning occurs throughinformal and workplace learning.

The corporate education iceberg model visually depicts

the integrated nature of formal education and trainingwith informal and workplace learning.

Another important attribute of informal and workplacelearning is that it generally consumes less than 20%of the training and development budget and plays acomplementary role for employees to practise and applytheir learning to enhance their level of understandinggained from formal education and training programmes.

Informal and workplace learning allows employees to apply,contextualise and reflect on their learning, which stretchesthe value and impact derived from the training budget.

Part of the process of developing an employee’sunderstanding of the implication and application of their newknowledge and skills might also involve discussions withwork colleagues, a discussion with a mentor, or some trialand error as they start to use their new knowledge and skills.

These are examples where informal and workplacelearning complements formal learning to build the levelof understanding, confidence and application of newknowledge and skills. However, most organisations do notconsider how they can integrate the use of informal andworkplace learning to increase the impact and value fromtheir corporate education and training programmes.

Another approach in providing structure to informal andworkplace learning could be to involve employees in work-based projects. Employees can undertake work-basedprojects individually, although greater learning occurswhen employees work as part of a team to apply their newknowledge and skills to a real workplace concern. Theprojects could be focused on issues or opportunities identifiedby senior management that might have previously beenundertaken by a senior manager or an external consultant.

Work-based projects provide a mechanism that allowsemployees who have participated in formal corporate

education or training programmes to apply their knowledge,explore the implementation of their knowledge or adapt

generic concepts to the context of their workplace usingthe information, methods and tools presented in the formalprogrammes. They can enhance the learning experience ofparticipants, transform theory into application and increasethe level of understanding of the topic by employees.

Such projects undertaken by teams of employees have otherlearning and development potential as well. The projects caneasily be designed to facilitate the development of such skillsas leadership, project scoping, negotiation, projectmanagement, report writing and presentation, and deliveringprogress reports on the findings or recommendations from aproject.

Work based projects can be undertaken by employees from

20% An important attribute of informal and

workplace learning is that it generally

consumes less than 20% of the training

and development budget

Most organisations do not consider howthey can integrate the use of informal andworkplace learning to increase the impactand value from their corporate educationand training programmes

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a particular unit or business discipline or with employeesfrom different disciplines within an organisation to pool

their expertise, challenge assumptions and develop a moreholistic understanding of their organisation.

For corporate education and training to have any real impacton an organisation, formal learning needs to be integratedwith informal and workplace learning that allows andencourages employees to reflect on their learning and applytheir new knowledge to their workplace.

The purpose of the iceberg model is to highlight that factinstead of assuming, or hoping, that the learning presentedin a formal corporate education and training programmewill automatically be adopted by employees and transferredto the workplace.

The application and context needs to be considered duringthe planning stage of a formal programme. Planning needsto consider how concepts, tools and methods presentedduring a formal programme can be understood and embracedby employees to sustain the new ideas, changes, toolsor methods. Ideally, organisations should approach allcorporate education and training using an iceberg approach.

The book also emphasises the role of the chief executive incorporate education. The chief executive not only needs to becommitted to corporate education and training of employeesbut visibly demonstrate this commitment. The attitude of the

chief executive directly influences other senior managersand flows through to all areas of an organisation

Where there is a lack of senior management commitment, thechance of any corporate education and training programmebeing sustained and implemented effectively is significantlyreduced.

There is a difference between senior management sayingthey are committed and their actual demonstration ofcommitment. This is particularly important in corporateeducation given the intangible nature of education and

the fact that the real benefits of a corporate educationprogramme accrue over time.

Those organisations where the chief executive visiblydemonstrates his or her commitment to corporate educationand training, whether as a role model by participatingin certain corporate education programmes, deliveringcomponents of particular programmes or as a guest speakein selected programmes, have a higher level of innovationoperational performance, financial performance, andemployee attraction and retention compared to competitors.

A recurring message in the book is the need to align all

corporate education and training with the strategic goalsof the organisation at all levels.

Most organisations have strategic plans outlining its purpose,strategic direction and broad goals. By aligning corporateeducation with the strategic goals, an organisation is betterplaced to retain good employees as they are engaged in anoverall learning programme that has structure and that alignswith the organisation’s strategic plan. This provides employeewith a sense of direction and a feeling they are valued.

Organisations with a strategic approach to corporateeducation that invest in the learning and skills developmen

of their employees find their investment increases over timeCorporate education can also play an integral role insuccession planning, leadership development, buildingorganisation capability and capacity, and facilitatinginnovation programmes to generate new products andservices and identifying new markets and customers.

FURTHER INFORMATIONCorporate Education: A Practical Guide to Effective Corporate Learning

by Lindsay Ryan is published by Griffin Press, Australia, 2010.ISBN 978-0-646-52812-0

ABOUT THE AUTHORDr Lindsay Ryan is Director of Corporate Education Advisers, an Australia-

based corporate learning consultancy. He was previously Director of StrategicPartnerships, the corporate education unit of the University of South [email protected]

The corporate education iceberg by Lindsay Ryan

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Management education in the Middle East and North Africa facesmany challenges. In the run-up to a major EFMD conference in

this important region, Ananth Rao outlines some of the key issues

The challenge of change

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3EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201The challenge of change by Ananth Rao

The countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region share manycommon features, notably Islam as the main religion and Arabic as a commonlanguage. However, they differ in ethnicity, traditions, history and spokendialects of Arabic. Economic development strategies also vary between the oil-producing states such as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates and the non-oilproducing countries such as Tunisia and Jordan.

According to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2002 ArabHuman Development Report, MENA countries need higher education to:

— Provide increasing numbers of students, especially those from disadvantagedbackgrounds, with specialised skills because specialists are increasingly in demand

in all sectors of the economy

— Teach students not just what is currently known but also how to keep theirknowledge up to date so that they will be able to refresh their skills as the economicenvironment changes

— Increase the amount and quality of in-country research, thus allowing the MENAregion to select, absorb and create new knowledge more efficiently and rapidly than itcurrently does

A worrisome point about education systems in MENA is the lower reliance placed onthe inculcation of cognitive problem-solving skills. Students are, rather, encouraged tomemorise answers to a limited number of problems in order to pass one exam afteranother.

As a result, students are rewarded for being passive rather than active learners butgraduate into a job-market that values creativity and problem solving. There is thusa mismatch between what was learned and job relevancy.

MENA countries need to educate more of their young people to a higher standard.

A worrisome point about education systems in MENA

is the lower reliance placed on the inculcation of cognitive problem-solving skills. Students are, rather, encouraged

to memorise answers to a limited number of problemsin order to pass one exam after another

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That involves problem solving, criticalthinking and analysis through a

structured industry-relevantcurriculum. The quality of knowledgegenerated within higher educationinstitutions, and its availability tothe MENA economy, is critical tothe competitiveness of countriesin the region.

It is our sincere hope that the 2010EFMD conference being held in Dubai(and hosted by the University of Dubai)on November 28/30 2010 will addresssome of the following higher education

issues for promoting managementeducation in the MENA region.

Faculty qualityHigher education institutions clearly

need well-designed academicprogrammes and a clear mission.Most important to their success,however, are high-quality faculty,committed and well-preparedstudents, and sufficient resources.

A more enlightened view of learningis also urgently needed, emphasisingactive intellectual engagement,participation and discovery ratherthan passive absorption of facts.

While pay disparities make it difficultto attract talented faculty, recruitmentprocedures are often found to hinderintellectual growth. Further, a facultythat is consistently present and availableto students and colleagues has anenormous influence in creating anatmosphere that encourages learning.

Yet many faculty work part-timeat several institutions, devote littleattention to research or to improvingtheir teaching, and play little or no role

in the life of the institutions employingthem. Faculty members are often moreinterested in teaching another course– often at an unaccredited school –than in increasing their presence andcommitment to the main institutionwith which they are affiliated.

StudentsSeverely overcrowded classes,

inadequate library facilities and fewstudent services (if any) are the normMany students start their studiesacademically unprepared for highereducation. Poor basic and secondaryeducation, combined with a lack ofselection in the academic system, lieat the root of this problem. Very fewinstitutions of higher education areselective in the quality of students theyadmit. Rarely does an institution responby creating remedial programmes

for inadequately prepared students.

28/11/10The 2010 EFMD is conference being

held at Dubai , and hosted by the

University of Dubai, from 28 to 30

November 2010 and will address

education issues facing MENA

A more enlightened view

of learning is also urgentlyneeded, emphasising activeintellectual engagement,

participation and discoveryrather than passiveabsorption of facts

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3EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201The challenge of change by Ananth Rao

ResearchThe role of research derives from

a unique capacity to combine thegeneration of new knowledge with thetransmission of existing knowledge.Ironically, the research agenda is scantyin universities, leaving scholars unableto keep up with developments in theirown fields. Support for faculty researchis scarce, with few internationallyaccredited institutions providing lowerfaculty teaching loads, emphasisingresearch accomplishments in recruitingand promotion decisions, and adopting

international standards for awardingdegrees.

As universities lose their ability to actas reference points for the rest of theeducation system, MENA countries findit harder to make key decisions aboutthe international issues affecting them.

Knowledge has become a springboardfor economic growth and development,making the promotion of a culture thatsupports its creation and disseminationa vital task. Administrators of highereducation institutions and highereducation policymakers must keepa number of considerations in mind:

— Students must learn not only what isknown now but also how to keep their

knowledge up to date. Curricula shouldbe designed so that students learn howto learn

— Specialisation is increasinglyimportant. Institutions of highereducation will need to provideopportunities for in-depth studyof particular fields

— Knowledge is being producedthroughout the world and activeengagement with scholars in other

countries is crucial for developingand maintaining a lively intellectualcommunity. MENA countries thatallow information to flow freely willbenefit more

— The extent of student achievementof the learning outcomes of degreeprogrammes should be regularlyassessed and the learning outcomescontinuously improved/elevated. Lackof information about the quality ofhigher educational institutions makes

it difficult for students to make choicesabout their education, making it hardto enlist consumer demand in thebattle to raise standards.

ConferenceGiven this background of key issues,

the theme of the 2010 EFMD Conferencin the MENA Region – CreatingInternational Impact with ProgrammesManagement Education in the MENARegion – is quite apt. Distinguishedfaculty members from reputableuniversities in both the developed andMENA region countries together withpractitioners will participate to discussand shed light on some of the highereducation issues raised above.

With concerted efforts by all, it is our

earnest hope that the higher educationscene in the MENA region will improvein coming years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ananth Rao is Professor and Chief AcademicOfficer (formerly the Dean of College of Business

Administration at University of Dubai), Universityof Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

MENAMiddle East & North Africa

The MENA region comprises:Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti,Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan,Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya,Malta, Mauritania, Morocco,Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey,the United Arab Emirates (UAE),West Bank and Ghaza (Palestine)and Yemen

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Merging business schools is a complex anddifficult business. Michel Kalika details oneexample of how it can be done successfully

How tomerge

businessschools

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3EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201How to merge business schools by Michel Kalika

Successfully completing a merger is as difficult a challengefor business schools as it is for companies. The success ofany merger depends on the context, the compatibility of thepotential partners and the management of the union (bothpre- and post-merger). And there is no reason to believethat the failure rates may be incomparable, except toconsider that the deans of business schools may usetheir knowledge to be better managers (a fact still to beascertained). In October 2007, IECS, a French Grande Écolefounded in 1919 in Strasbourg, merged with IAE (Institute ofBusiness Administration), also in Strasbourg and foundedin 1957, to form the EM Strasbourg Business School.

This merged school became part of the University ofStrasbourg, which was itself the result of three separateuniversities in Strasbourg coming together in January2009. The merger between IECS and IAE came as

something of a surprise in France since each institutionbelonged to one of two different types of educationalinstitutions that are generally seen as competitors.

The merger between IECS and IAE cameas something of asurprise in Francesince each institutionbelonged to one of

two different typesof educationalinstitutions thatare generally seenas competitors

Indeed, management education in France is structuredaround two types of schools, business schools (like IECS),which are usually attached to Chambers of Commerce;and institutions such as IAE, which are incorporated intouniversities.

Why did the merger occur?The merger was strongly encouraged by institutionalstakeholders (the Chamber of Commerce, the RegionalAuthorities, the Alumni Association and the University).Their idea was to create a business school in Strasbourgthat would be significant enough to allow the implementationof an expansion strategy. The stakeholders felt that a businessschool located in Strasbourg, the self-styled “capital” ofEurope, in the affluent Alsace region and supported by apowerful Chamber of Commerce would be in a very goodposition for future growth.

How was the merger carried out?The philosophy at EM Strasbourg was to get staff and facultiesfrom the two merging institutions to work together from thebeginning (proposed by the consultant who piloted and

followed through the work).

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36

www.efmd.org/globalfocus

Group projects were launched in July 2007 on different topicsincluding:

–Governance, organisation and budgeting

–Programme and activity portfolio

–Research and expertise; faculty management

– Identity, marketing and communication (including

corporate relations)–International relations and partnerships

Each group included members from different areas as wellas people from external organisations if needed. Each groupleader reported to a Strategic Steering Committee, heldevery month, gathering group work, discussing issues andproposing agendas for the next meeting. A general assemblyof both institutions’ staff and faculty was held regularly toinform members of developments and a project managementschedule was set up with deadlines. Each group had to meetbetween six or seven times before delivering its report.

At the beginning of 2008 an “acting” Board of Trustees decidedto launch the recruitment of a Dean for the next academicyear. In the meantime, discussions with potential boardmembers were also held.

In March 2008, a new governance structure was implementedfor the new EM Strasbourg Business School with theappointment of a new Dean (a professor from Paris-Dauphine University) and a new Chairman, a prominent localfigure and former Minister of Industry and Trade.

A five-year strategic plan was approved in April 2008. Theplan provided for an expansion of the school based on twomajor strategic pillars, quality and quantity. Although the

business school had gained a reputable image based onits incorporation into the University, it had never beenthrough an accreditation process.

The strategic plan provided for the acquisition of internationalaccreditations (EPAS, AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA) as wellas various national labels and certifications.

In terms of size it was envisaged that the number of studentswould increase from 1,400 to 2,500 and staff from 40 to 80.From a competitive standpoint, the rationale for such growthwas that, despite the merger, the business school remainedsmaller than its competitors and fell short of the needs ofcompanies seeking young multicultural managers (35% to

40% of Programme Grande Ecole (PGE) students find theirfirst jobs abroad)

In addition, an internal agreement giving the school fullautonomy to carry out its expansion strategy was signedwith the Chancellor of the University and approved by theBoard of Trustees.

Why is the merger regarded as a success?

Internally, all faculty members and administrative staff

from the two institutions decided to remain with the schoolfollowing the merger. Three years later, the merger hasbeen totally accepted and any problems remain an exceptionAs Dean, I can only mention the need to harmoniseremuneration policies.

Externally, the business school has seen its rankingimprove in all league tables (a 10-point rise in the mainranking conducted by L’Etudiant/L’Express) while itsreputation has also been enhanced. This led in 2010 to thenumber of applicants to the PGE increasing by almost 70%

The fact that the Chairman and the Deanwere new to the school helped the rapidadoption of an ambitious expansion

project, which was looking to the futureand purposely oblivious to the historiesof the two former institutions

2500The stratgeic Plan envisaged student numbers wouldincrease from 1,400 to 2,500...

80...and that staff numbers would rise from 40 to 80

70% As a direct result of improvements to the business school’srankings and reputation 2010 saw an increase of almost70% in student applications

PICTURED ABOVE: MICHEL KALIKA

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Why was the merger successful?The situation before the merger was a determinant inensuring success since both institutions formed part ofthe same university and shared close legal statutes (theformer business school, IECS, which had been created bythe Chamber of Commerce, joined the university in 1956).

In addition, both schools had been housed in the samebuilding since 1999. Although their institutional cultureswere different with respect to international orientation andcompetition, all faculty members shared a commonbusiness school culture in terms of student employabilityand corporate links. Furthermore, the two institutions’programmes were complementary and did not overlap.

On a managerial level, the fact that the Chairman and theDean were new to the school helped the rapid adoption ofan ambitious expansion project, which was looking to thefuture and purposely oblivious to the histories of the twoformer institutions. The emergence of a new governance

system and the fact that the Dean had had prior experiencein both educational environments prevented the mergerfrom being perceived as a unification by absorption.

The expansion plan (communication, programme design,recruitment, accreditations and so on) introduced bymanagement was soon put in place. In the weeks thatfollowed, the establishment of the new governance system,EPAS accreditation was launched and several innovativedegree programmes (Executive MBA in SustainableDevelopment, University Degree in Islamic Finance forexample) were developed. The pace of change left no timefor nostalgia.

The unfailing support of stakeholders, especially theStrasbourg Chamber of Commerce, which increased itsfinancial contribution, has been decisive. Such support hasenabled the school to recruit staff, to put into place a facultyaffiliation policy and to increase the number of academicsfrom 40 to 90 in two years. Expansion has meant opportunitiesfor the administrative staff to acquire new skills and for thefaculty to rise to fulfilling new challenges.

As a result of the expansion strategy, new faculty membersfrom the university joined the business school, as well asrecruits from outside. A research laboratory specialising in

banking and finance requested to be attached to the school,thus transforming a merger of two-into-one into the quasi-

merger of three-into-one. Consequently, the more seniormembers of staff soon became part of the influx ofnewcomers.

Since gaining quality recognition through internationalaccreditations and national certification and recognition wasone of the mainstays of the strategic plan, we can speak here

of management through accreditations and change.Indeed, from the moment the strategic plan was adopted, itsimplementation has been a major goal for the entire school.Compliance with accreditation, certification and label criteriahas been an extremely powerful tool for the managementteam – and so have the first external evaluation reports, inparticular EPAS, which have helped the School to grow. Theneed to abide by criteria and standards has played a decisiverole in terms of creating an organisation and a commonculture integrating the two former institutions.

At an external level, the EM Strasbourg Business Schoolcontinues to operate within its two original networks, theGrande École and the IAE systems, and in September 2010the school organised the national congress of IAEs.

After two years, the implementation of the expansionplan has enabled the merger to be a success and the earlyachievements (growth in the number of candidates, EPASaccreditation, acquisition of the targeted certifications andrecognitions, progress in the rankings, commitment frompartners and alumni, and so on) have helped initiate a positivespiral facilitating the pursuit of change.

In sum, the success of the merger depended on a sharedcommon vision by the stakeholders, the growth potential

for the school and in the managerial impact ofaccreditations used as a lever for change.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michel Kalika is Dean of EM Strasbourg Business School

How to merge business schools by Michel Kalika

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West that can help to throw light on and address today’sshared global problems.

The global economic crisis has taught us that materialgrowth and wealth creation by and for a few nations,

without close attention to the interconnected nature ofour world and the growing number of interdependencieswithin it, is not sustainable.

The exclusive focus by a corporation on the creation ofshareholder value, for example, without acknowledgingor attending to the impact of its actions on the societies,environments and cultures of the economies in which itoperates, is increasingly deprecated.

Christopher Meyer and Julia Kirby in the Harvard BusinessReview (April, 2010) have called for more transparency in acorporation’s external impact on societies, their so-called

“externalities”.We agree; but would go further. We believe that it is onlythrough tapping into the wisdoms of societies beyond theWest that we will find real solutions to the cumulativeimpact of these externalities.

At The Leadership Trust we have been researchingnon-Western, Eastern and indigenous leadership wisdomssince 2008. Our research has been exploring questionshitherto unexplored in the leadership field.

We have asked, for example, what wisdoms beyond theWest are currently lost or hidden from mainstream view

as a result of focusing on a knowledge base that ispredominantly derived from one part of the world.

Our research has focused on what insights non-Westerntraditions can offer to organisations grappling with thechallenges facing the world as a result of rapid globalisationand the continually changing digital economy. We have alsoexplored how the leadership wisdoms contained withinancient texts might be brought into focus to help us toaddress these apparently intractable problems.

For this leadership research we adopted the term“worldly”, influenced by Henry Mintzberg and JonathanGosling’s Harvard Business Review article “The Five

We have asked what wisdoms beyond theWest are currently lost or hidden frommainstream view as a result of focusingon a knowledge base that is predominantlyderived from one part of the world

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Mindsets of a Manager” (2003), which argued for a shiftfrom a global to a “worldly” mindset.

Instead of looking at the world from a distance, they proposeda focus from close-up on the many different worlds withinworlds that make up our globe. Furthermore, they arguedthat adopting a worldly mindset is not simply about

observation; it is also about the way that we engage withand act within and across the world(s). Subscribing to thisview, we decided to apply the worldly mindset to the studyof leadership.

Our “Worldly Leadership” research initiative has sought todeepen understanding of leadership wisdoms from manydifferent cultures and societies around the world. We havediscovered that leadership wisdoms beyond Western-centricperspectives are a highly dispersed body of knowledge,which can best be researched in context via a networkedresearch approach.

This has meant bringing together multiple researchers

Looking beyond the West for leadership by Sharon Turnbull

We have discovered that leadershipwisdoms beyond Western-centric

perspectives are a highly dispersed body ofknowledge, which can best be researched incontext via a networked research approach

applying multiple lenses to understanding, interpretingand applying the leadership knowledge or “knowing”found in these cultures (which is transmitted by wordof mouth and remains undocumented).

Our research aim has been to engage particularly withthose involved in “close up insider” research into leadershipin non-Western societies and to build a network of worldlyleadership scholars, thereby avoiding as far as possible thetrap of attempting to conduct non-Western leadershipresearch through a Western leadership lens.

A Worldly Leadership symposium was convened in spring2009 in which papers were presented primarily by indigenouscholars on a range of studies including insights into Maasaleadership wisdoms; women leaders in public administrationin Libya; Arab leadership and its distinctive differences; anda variety of studies into leadership theory and practice in

counties as widespread as China, Turkey, Iran, Germanyand Nigeria.

We followed this later the same year with the firstinternational Worldly Leadership Summit, hosted inconjunction with partners GRLI (a partnership of EFMD/UN Global Compact) and Ashridge Business Schoolbringing together 100 leaders, including indigenousleaders, from all corners of the globe and many sectors,including business education.

Two specific projects have also been conducted in orderto develop our ideas further.

The first has focused on the nature of sustainable leadershipby conducting interviews with NGO and community leadersworking in Africa and Asia about the nature of theirleadership. The focus was on how they have learned theirleadership practices, their role models and teachers, theirhabits and expectations, the influence of their societal,family and religious beliefs on their leadership decisions,their relationship with followers, their ethical frames andthe leadership process as a whole.

The second project was a qualitative study of Indianbusiness leaders conducted together with an indigenousIndian researcher about their leadership journeys, their

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values and beliefs as well as their role models and othersocietal influences.

A project on Russian leadership in the post-Soviet era iscurrently underway.

One of our important findings is that the relational andcollective nature of leadership appears to be strongerand more intuitive in indigenous and Eastern communitiesthan in the developed world.

For example, in Kenya’s long history of surviving even theworst challenges dealt to it by political and climaticupheaval, the Maasai people have demonstrated a deepunderstanding of leadership that dates back many yearsand is embedded in their traditions.

One of our interviewees, Emmanuel, a young Maasai leader,explained:

“Within all the community, everybody is trained to be a leaderbecause everybody should be a leader in our community. Wefeel a sense of responsibility by being in the same age-set.We feel a sense of responsibility… by being of the same clan.We feel a sense of responsibility…by speaking one language.And that’s how we come together and we are proud to be theMaasai.”

Through these words, he indicates that group membershipis very important but that this membership can be extendedoutwards in concentric circles from age-set to clan to tribe.Emmanuel also reveals that the Maasai’s understanding of

leadership is a shared and collective process:“We don’t have a king; we don’t have a great leader whodictates things. But the community, the elders, will sitdown, will talk and will judge everything.”

In the Maasai, a sense of responsibility is purposefullydeveloped from the earliest age.

Every youth learns leadership skills that focus on collectiveresponsibility, securing the community’s future and onits protection. There is a long-term sense of buildingthe leadership capacity of future generations in order to

ensure its continuity that is rarely articulated in Western

leadership narratives.

WORLDLY LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

The second international Worldly Leadership Summit took place atThe Leadership Trust, Ross-on-Wye, UK from 6-7 September 2010.The Leadership Trust’s partners for the Summit are GRLI, AshridgeBusiness School and the British Council. D etails can be found at:

www.worldlyleadership.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Sharon Turnbull is Director of the Centre for Applied LeadershipResearch at The Leadership Trust.

Researching leadership in cultures where the collectiveor the community has been a key to its survival andsustainability may, we believe, hold some of the keys tofinding new ways to conceptualise leadership and leadingin this post-crisis and inter-connected world. Many of theancient philosophical texts also support these ideas.

The findings of these pilot studies are important andthese, together with the research findings of our partnersin the project convince us to continue the research andextend it to other parts of the globe.

Within all the community, everybody istrained to be a leader because everybodyshould be a leader in our community.We feel a sense of responsibility...

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The current economic and financial crisishas illustrated the increased complexity ofthe world and means that companies mustre-assess their operational agility and explorenew ways of coping with change. KennethMikkelsen details some likely responses

Witnessing how his theory of the origin of species is beingplayed out in today’s business world would probably havefascinated Charles Darwin if he had been alive today.

Evolution is just one way of describing how companiesstruggle to create a competitive advantage and increasetheir market share.

But, as Darwin stated, it is not the strongest of the speciesthat survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the onethat is most adaptable to change. In view of the past fewyears’ economic turmoil, nothing seems more accurate.Constant change calls for adaptive organisations andleaders who are able to embrace a high level of uncertaintyand make swift and wise deviations from their plans.

Jorgen Thorsell, vice-president of international leadershipdevelopment institute Mannaz, points out that many

companies are being forced to reshape their strategiesin response to the new economic landscape and that thisshould include an adjustment of the leadership behaviourexercised before the current crisis. Thorsell believes thatthe old idea that a leader should have all the answers isnot only unrealistic but also potentially dangerous.

“One of the major challenges that lies ahead of us isaccepting the fact that leaders may be just as much in thedark as those around them. Leaders should be bringing updifficult questions and then having their team experimentwith solutions and move forwards on a trial-and-errorbasis,” he says.

In February and March 2010 Mannaz in partnership with

Leadershipat a crossroads

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4EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Leadership at a crossroads by Kenneth Mikkelsen

Constant change calls for adaptiveorganisations and leaders who are ableto embrace a high level of uncertaintyand make swift and wise deviations

from the plan as they go along

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EFMD and two hi-tech multinationals, Canon and Alcatel-Lucent, brought together representatives of more than25 international companies to explore and share views,experiences and international best practice concerningadaptive leadership. The main question was how to identifyand develop an adaptive approach, in organisations andamong leaders, that would enable them to thrive in acomplex and interdependent world.

During the two events in Paris and London, Canon,Alcatel-Lucent, and international cement group Lafargehighlighted their approaches. A series of workshopsfacilitated the dialogue among participants and enabledthe sharing of experiences. The sessions focused onoutlining the future of organisational design, leadershipbehaviour and knowledge sharing in a global context.

The input from participants provided a glimpse into the futureand generated a series of scenarios that organisationsand leaders must relate to if they do not want to proveDarwin’s theory right and end up like the dinosaurs –extinct and out of business.

The future scenarios that were suggested are:

The future of organisational design

Big is n ot always better

The predominant business ideology still supports a directrelationship between company size and competitiveness.However, many companies have paid dearly to find out thatthis logic has its flaws. Most mergers and acquisitions arebased on this presumption however experts estimate thatat least half of them fail.

There is a growing concern that some organisations maybe too complex to run effectively. Instead of multi-level,centralised hierarchies, modern, organisational structuremust become loose, diversified systems with numerousalliances. More ad-hoc projects will emerge and exist onlyas long as required. The benefits of enhanced agility includehigher revenues, more satisfied customers and employees,improved operational efficiency, and a faster time to market.

A revers e stream of k nowledge, in novation an d values

R&D, innovation and design activities carried out in formerlow-wage countries such as India and China have already led

to a reverse flow of knowledge. This is a game-changer thachallenges the dominance of the American managementapproach in the global business environment.

Going global

One of the consequences of globalisation and the currentcrisis has been an increased level of anxiety in society. Thishas led to a renaissance in the value of relationships andloyalty. Companies that either operate locally or that havea global strategy are winners. Consumers wish to dobusiness with a familiar face. Companies with a profoundknowledge of their local market will benefit from developinregional variations of standard products and services.

Looking ahead, more multinationals will operate with dualheadquarters, one in the West and one in Asia.

Mind the public

Increased government involvement in business is one of themost striking features of the crisis. Governments aroundthe world have enacted massive stimulus packages andbailed out numerous faltering companies.

Inevitably, policy makers will end up making, or heavilyinfluencing, decisions that were once the province of topexecutives and boards, forcing companies, especially withinthe financial system, to build response units and form newtypes of collaborative relationships with public partners.

25Earlier this year Mannaz and EFMD brought togetherrepresentatives of more than 25 international companiesto explore and share views, experiences and international best practice concerning adaptive leadership

One consequence of globalisation and thecurrent crisis has been an increased level

of anxiety in society. This has led to arenaissance in the value of relationshipsand loyalty

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Leadership behaviour in the future From heroic lead ers to o rdinary her oes

Top-down leadership, in which heroic individuals orcharismatic icons play the dominant role in shaping anorganisation is no longer adequate or suitable. Instead ofacting as the captain of a ship, leaders must serve as thedesigners of the ship. This also involves recognising that aleader does not always have all the answers.

Support people who question the way business is done

Too often, adaptive leaders are marginalised and their goodideas are not adopted because they represent a challengeto standard procedures or traditional ways of doing business.The workshop participants in Paris suggested thatorganisations should pay more attention to dissonanceas a fertile ground for creativity.

More leaders should challenge assumptions and encouragerisk taking as this is likely to reinforce innovation. One way toestablish an inquisitive organisation is to ask new employeestheir opinion about “how things are done” after their first

90 days on the job.Securing stability and a sense of meaning

Employees expect leaders to create stability in a world that isconstantly in motion. In order to address changes in the worldon both a global and local level, leaders need to exhibit ageneral interest in society and incorporate knowledge froma broader variety of sources into their daily operations.

In the Western world, especially among young people,employees are expressing a growing interest in whether their

job provides them with a sense of meaning or serves a higherpurpose. Future leaders should be prepared to address theseissues.

Distributed leadershi p in high demand

When organisations are faced with complex problems anddispersed resources leadership needs to be distributedacross many players, both within and across organisationsand throughout the hierarchy – wherever information,expertise, vision, new ways of working together andcommitment reside.

If employees are to exercise autonomy and innovation, ordersand rigid hierarchies will not do the trick. If a large proportionof those who contribute to creating value are placed outsidethe company, leaders cannot solely look inward and expectcommands to be followed. What is needed is an internal focuscombined with an external approach. Leaders should striveto mobilise and focus efforts by creating new forms ofmotivation and relationships.

Take risks and give up power

Fast and careful reflection is in high demand. The participantsemphasised a greater need for establishing smaller and moreagile teams that are allowed to make mistakes and operatein a more risk-free setting. The purpose of these agile teamswould be to break ground faster and bring in diverseperspectives to challenge “rational” thinking. This would,

undoubtedly, challenge some of the basic elements ofan organisation such as power, control and authority.

Knowledge sharing and networking in a global context Rehearsing the future

Scenario planning will be further integrated into the strategicprocess. By constructing scenarios companies build acommon language and a common understanding of thedriving forces and uncertainties that shape the future.Developing a basic understanding of scenario thinking withian organisation is crucial to systematically testing strategies

against unexpected developments.Complexity calls for co-operation

Products and services are becoming increasingly complex.A single company may not have all the skills required todeliver a competitive product. Organisations mustco-operate, find common interests, create commonplatforms with others and learn to handle a growinginterdependence. The value of a product or service willlargely depend on how well it interacts with other productsand services.

Creating new business

Large companies need internal entrepreneurs who canensure that declining business areas are replaced. Researchshows that companies and individuals who successfully andcontinuously develop new business areas use managementtechniques that are fundamentally different from thewell-known management principles which prevail in moreestablished business areas.

Individual learning versus o rganisati onal lear ning

Learning is surrounded by an inherent paradox: anxietyinhibits learning but anxiety is necessary if learning is totake place. Learning anxiety comes from being afraid to trysomething new out of fear that it will be too difficult, that

we will look stupid in the attempt or that we will have topart with old habits that have worked well for us in the past

There will always be learning anxiety but if an employeeacknowledges the need to learn then the process can begreatly facilitated by good training, coaching, group support,feedback and positive incentives.

Leadership at a crossroads by Kenneth Mikkelsen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kenneth Mikkelsen is a Danish journalist and writer based in Paris. He is thefounding director of Controverse, a Scandinavian communications consultancyspecialising in cultivating and promoting stories about leadership, management and

strategy.

Learning anxiety comes from being afraidto try something new out of fear that it willbe too difficult or that we will look stupidin the attempt

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4EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201HR and the new world business order by Ken Moore

The world has changed and is changing even more. Thisis placing tremendous pressures on employees and theHR function needs to respond to help them. Ken Moore offers some suggestions on how it might do so

What in the world is going on here? In July 2008 oil prices were hitting$150 a barrel with economists confidently predicting $200+ barrelsbefore the end of the year. In January 2009 it was around $40 a barrel.In April 2010 it was hovering around $85 a barrel.

The American stock market has lost almost half its value during the past18 months with a 52-week spread falling between a high of 13,780 to a lowof 7,449.

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler go to Washington and beg for moneyto stay afloat while closing plants and laying off thousands of people andcontinuing to operate with an apparently flawed and restrictive business

plan. Chrysler is then bought by Fiat.

Meanwhile, financial companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,ostensibly backed by the American government, imploded. And blue-chipstocks such as American Express and General Electric each dropped invalue by more than 50%.

Citibank, once thought of as too big to fail, is failing. American labour laws,created during the 1930s and only slightly modified since, seem anachronisticin today’s globally wired, 24/7 world of intense, nay ruthless, global competitionon a very uneven playing field.

What is the human resources community to do? A lot, actually.

Despite all of the gloomy forecasts by the media, there is optimism thatthe American economy and its people will battle this storm and emerge

HR and thenew world

business order

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from it much stronger, wiser and smarter. We always have. But not withouta lot of blood, toil, sweat and tears – and a complete re-evaluation of howwe conduct business in today’s world.

David Ulrich, a professor at the University of Michigan, is a leading proponentof progressive human capital management.

He states: “The new human resources is not defined by what it does but bywhat it delivers – results that enrich the organisation’s value to customers,investors and employees”. Dr Ulrich’s thesis is that human resources workdoes not begin with HR. It begins with knowing the business.

Herein lays the crux of the problem and the seeds of its solutions.

The problem

For years we have developed our professional skills into disciplines thatfit nicely into a variety of silos such as marketing, finance, HR, operations,purchasing and so on. Our organisations and universities have developedworld-class experts in each of those disciplines. As long as a company

was healthy, those disciplines could exist side by side and everyone wentabout his or her happy business.

But then the world economic order changed and a lot of specialists losttheir jobs to competing entities and technological advancements.

Transactional work was digitised and outsourced. Sales people werereplaced by online marketing and re-supply software. Payroll and benefitsadministration were outsourced to other companies across the street,across the country and across the oceans. R&D centres were establishedin India, China and other countries in order to tap into those burgeoningeconomies and talent pools.

As a result of this downsizing of individual and local silos of expertise,

the remaining employees had to do more work in areas unrelated to theirparticular professional discipline. Suddenly, HR managers and otherdepartment executives found themselves in decision-making positions inwhich they did not have the standard training, background or experience.

As competition for above-average employees increased, organisationsand government employers began clamouring for people who could thinkacross functional lines and who possessed a sharp knowledge of multipledisciplines. They began to ask for graduates and experienced people whopossessed world-class business skills first and who also possessed anexpertise in one or more of the subordinate functions.

In one example, corporate recruiters at the State University of New Yorkat Albany routinely ask the candidates to describe how they would helpthe company and its clients solve complex problems in multi-disciplinaryteams and in multi-cultural settings.

CEOs began asking their subordinate leaders to revise their work strategiesso that their work more directly contributed to the performance metrics ofthe organisation. In the HR field, in addition to their traditional employeefocus, executives began to consider the needs of the investors in thecompany and the customers who bought their products or services and keptthe company in business.

This is a huge departure from the norm. Investor relations used to be confinedto the finance and executive departments. Customer relations issues used tobe confined to the customer service departments. Not anymore.

Employees in other functionaldisciplines began to developexpertise in additional businessskills that improved the valueof their own work

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ABOUT THE AUTHORKen Moore is President of Ken Moore Associates, a management consulting group

based in Schenectady, NY, and a member of the Society for Human ResourcesManagement and its local chapter CRHRA.

He is also an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Albany andat the Union Graduate College where he teaches graduate and undergraduate

business courses in strategic management. He may be reached at:[email protected]

www.kenmooreassociates.com.

HR and the new world business order by Ken Moore

The solution

As a result, training programmes began to proliferate asnon-financial people began to see the need to understandhow corporate finance works and to relate their work directlyto the ability of their employer to stay in and grow the

business.

Concurrently, employees in other functional disciplinessuch as marketing and procurement began to developexpertise in additional business skills that improved thevalue of their own work.

In a regional bank headquartered in upstate New York,for example, branch managers are not selected for branchbanking duties until they have completed a series ofassignments in several departments such as trust, HR,loan operations and finance.

Organisations began to realise the need for professional

development beyond the normal scope of responsibilities.Business literacy has become a focus of strategic thinking.Breaking out of individual silos of expertise and cross-training in other functional areas is a key step to improvedperformance, opportunity and job security.

Here are just a few tactics that we have suggested to clientsso that they may survive and prosper in the new world order:

Make business literacy of all your employees a priorit y.Teach your employees about your business:

How does your company make money?

Who are your customers and why do they buy from you?

Why do they buy from your competitors?

What pressures are your customers facing and how canyou help them address their needs?

Map the linkage between each employee’s work discipline(for example HR or logistics) to the performance metricsestablished for the company

Teach your employees to develop their competitiveintelligence analysis skills

Define and understand your firm’s industry

Identify the critical elements affecting your industry. In theautomobile industry, for example, critical elements mayinclude petrol prices, environmental requirements, designfeatures, the availability of alternate forms of transportationand credit accessibility

Recognise and acknowledge the strengths and weaknessesof your competitors and how they are responding to the criticalelements that they have defined

Require every functional leader to conduct a SWOT analysisof their department. (This is usually easier said than done)

What are the Strengths of my department versus thestrengths of my competitors in the same field – and whydoes it matter?

What are the Weaknesses of my department versus mycompetitors – and why does it matter?

What are the Opportunities that we can exploit to improveour competitive advantage and positively impact ourfinancial condition?

What are the Threats affecting not only my company but theindustry as a whole, for example energy costs, political/legalrequirements, credit, job security and so on

Examine yo ur business world from alternative perspectives Identify the commonalit y of the problems and seek out th e

best solutions from multiple sources.

Just because you work for an airline does not mean that youare restricted to the airline industry for possible solutions.

A bank in suburban New York once hired the top salesmanfrom a nearby K-mart store to be its branch manager. Withina year that branch was out-performing the company’s othebranches in the area.

Kodak, a manufacturer of cameras and photo equipment,examined the distribution processes of LL Bean, a world-class mail-order catalogue company, to solve a distributionproblem.

When you describe your situation, you will be amazed at howmany people have similar problems in totally non-relatedbusinesses.

Share best practices with everyone. Lunchtime programmescan be good opportunities to share information and presennew concepts for discussion. Make a game of it.

Teach your people the fundamentals of your business andthen ask them for their recommendations on how to improvethe condition of the company.

The more you endow your employees with upgraded skills

and abilities, the more passionate they will become abouttheir work and creating opportunities for advancementand enhanced job security.

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A matterof degrees

A doctoral programmefor the 21st century

Sue Newell describes a new doctoral programmethat attempts to use the best of both American andEuropean approaches

Back in 2002, it was predicted that within five years there would be a dire

shortage of business faculty. This prediction was based on an analysis ofestimates of retirement and growth in business education that identifiedan expected gap between the number of business PhDs being producedin doctoral programmes and the need for PhD professors.

While the recession and the use of cheaper adjunct faculty may havemitigated the shortage in the short term, it is still the case that shortages arelikely because of the fact that there is such a wide gap between the numbersof universities and colleges who recruit PhD business faculty and the muchsmaller numbers of these same institutions with doctoral programmes. Thismay come as a surprise in Europe or Australia/Asia where most universitieswith business or management schools also have a doctoral programme.

This is not at all the case in America, where the majority of accredited businessschools do not have an associated doctoral programme, largely because ofthe cost of such programme.

In Europe (and perhaps Asia) a doctoral programme is not necessarilyconsidered a cost and may even be seen as an income-generator. Part of thereason for this difference is related to the rather different approach to doctoraleducation evident in America compared to much of the rest of the world.

In America, a doctoral programme in a business area typically funds students(most covering tuition costs and many also offering living stipends that comewith greater or lesser expectations of teaching/research assistance in return).It also typically involves two years of a taught programme before a studenteven begins his or her dissertation research.

This accounts for the fact that so many students (estimates of up to 80% have

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5EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201 A matte r of de grees: A doctor al prog ramme for the 21st centu ry by Sue Ne well

Until relatively recently, manyentering a doctoral programmewere given very little guidance,even in methodologicalunderstandings, and instead wereexpected to DIY their research

been suggested although it is difficult to get exact figures) inAmerica are ABD (all-but-dissertation), a designation that

probably means very little to the rest of the world where thedissertation is the PhD.

In America, however, it means that the student hassuccessfully completed the course work (and probably alsopassed a comprehensive exam at the end of the course workperiod) but has not subsequently successfully defended adissertation (and probably not even a dissertation proposal).

This difficulty should be put in the context of the totaleducation experience in many American universities. Manyundergraduate and graduate students are not required tocomplete a dissertation as part of their degree and insteadtake a diet of courses where assignments are fairly tightlyprescribed.

Many students entering a doctoral programme in America,therefore, have never before been expected to identifytheir own research agenda, conduct their own independentresearch and then write a substantial thesis. Little wonderperhaps that so many do not make it, especially when this lackof experience is coupled with the need to find a supervisorin the post-coursework stage (supervisors are typically notassigned until the dissertation stage). Supervisors will beinterested in students with some good ideas about a researchagenda (that is to say, ideas related to their own interests) butstudents may flounder to create these ideas in the absence ofsupervision, creating a vicious circle.

Europe, and perhaps other parts of the world, on the otherhand, does not necessarily have it right either. True, mostprogrammes will only admit a student where there is asupervisor identified who they will be assigned to. But thedevelopment of the student’s academic knowledge and skillsis often rather precarious.

Until relatively recently, many entering a doctoral programmewere given very little guidance, even in methodologicalunderstandings, and instead were expected to DIY theirresearch. More recently, many universities have now

introduced a year of coursework, largely focusing on researchmethods and the philosophy of social science issues.

But this seems to vary quite a lot and there are few discipline-based courses included. This seems to be based on thepresumption that disciplinary knowledge has either alreadybeen acquired in a masters programme or can be acquired byself-study. The self-study option ignores the importance ofhaving broad knowledge within one’s discipline (whether it bemarketing, management, IS, accounting, strategy or whatever)since a student will focus on reading related to their specificdissertation topic.

Knowledge acquired at the masters level is perhaps morerelevant especially where masters programmes are

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theoretically oriented; but not all students have a mastersin the specific discipline area where they are taking their PhDnor are all masters programmes very academically focused.

With this background in mind, we decided at Bentley Universitythat we would create a new doctoral programme that took

what we considered the best ideas from both camps andthen added some of our own unique features.

We wanted to combine the best features of Europeandoctoral programmes, which stress mentoring relationshipswith faculty and independent research, with the best featuresof American doctoral programmes, which emphasise theacquisition of subject-based and methodological knowledge.

To these we added two new elements.

First, since we recognised that business problems do notusually come in tightly defined disciplinary chunks we decidedto create a programme that combined the analytical,

communicative, creative, technological and problem-solvingstrengths of the business disciplines and the arts and sciencesthrough an inter-disciplinary curriculum.

We were able to do this because Bentley University is actuallya university within a business school since we have arts andsocial science departments. This is because of the need fora general education requirement at the undergraduate level(another distinction between American higher educationand many other parts of the world where specialisationhappens much earlier).

Second, we identified what we considered a weakness on

both sides of the Atlantic in relation to teaching preparation.We provide a teaching workshop covering pedagogical andclassroom management issues for the first two years, followedby actual teaching experience (students are on a 1-1 loadafter their second year) that is developmentally reviewedto facilitate continuous improvement.

In terms of the doctoral programme itself, we have twodistinct PhD degrees – a PhD in Business and a PhD inAccountancy. The two degrees share common methodologycourses but each has a unique core of subject-basedknowledge. The two degrees also share a thematic focuson business, technology and society – which broadly defines

Bentley’s research strengths.

This theme recognises that rapid technological change isthe hallmark of 21st century society. The effects of thesechanges on both business and society are immense, withconsequences difficult to predict in advance and oftenunintended. The PhD at Bentley encourages students toengage in rigorous research that critically examines the

complex relationships of reciprocal causality amongtechnology and business and society.

The programme is designed to ensure that students gainan in-depth understanding of their chosen discipline/subject area but in addition it provides students with abroad educational base through our thematic courses aswell as equipping them with the philosophical underpinningand the tools and techniques to conduct quality business-relevant research. The doctoral programme thus consistsof courses outlined in the table opposite.

While the doctoral programme is new and we are still

tweaking things as we learn, we have been encouraged bythe response from our students, our potential students andby our colleagues when we have described the programme

We have managed to attract students from a wide range ofcountries and with good academic backgrounds, creating anice cohort feel to our PhD group. Our students have spentsemesters at universities in other countries (IE in Spain, forexample, and the University of New South Wales in Australiaand we host a variety of PhD visitors who help to ensurethat we maintain a vibrant international PhD community.

Moreover, we were recently admitted into the European

Doctoral Programmes Association in Management andBusiness Administration (EDAMBA) community (the firstAmerican doctoral programme to do so). We sought thismembership in order to provide an even wider range ofinternational opportunities for our students.

I am sure that there will continue to be many doctoralprogramme variants in the future. But identifying differenaspects of these that can then be tailored to the unique contexof any given university that is thinking about either startingor modifying a doctoral programme is hopefully helpful.

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FURTHER INFORMATIONFor more information about the doctoral programme atBentley University please visit:

www.bentley.edu/phd

or contact Sue Newell at:

[email protected]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sue Newell is Director, PhD Programs, and CammarataProfessor of Management at Bentley University, Waltham,Massachusetts, USA

A matte r of de grees: A doctor al prog ramme for the 21st centu ry by Sue Ne well

Type of Course Accountancy PhD Business PhD

Core subject-base courses Managerial Control Organisation Theory

Auditing and Assurance Economic Theory

Financial Accounting Information Systems

Judgement and Decision-Making

Economic Theory Plus two additional courses in a specialised disciplinary area

such as marketing or strategy

Thematic courses Globalisation

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Methods & philosophy courses Philosophy of the Social Sciences Quantitative Research Methods

Qualitative Research Methods

Quantitative Analysis 1

Quantitative Analysis 2

Quantitative Analysis 3 or Qualitative Analysis

Teaching seminars Teaching Workshop (first 2 years) followed by teaching 1-1 load

Dissertation work Specialised research focus

We have managed to attractstudents from a wide range ofcountries and with good academic

backgrounds, creating a nicecohort feel to our PhD group

The two degrees sharecommon methodology

courses but each has aunique core of subjectbased knowledge

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The image of management accountants and controllers hasundergone major change. Credibility, prudence and theobligation to ask questions have been replaced by initiative,drive and ‘full-speed ahead’, according to Hanne Nørreklit

From dull& geeky to sexy &extreme?

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5EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201From dull and geeky to sexy and extreme? by Hanne Nørreklit

The advertisement features a scantily clad dominatrixin red leather and black boots biting a leather whipunder the heading ‘Whip your expenses into shape’. Theadvertisement – from the British software firm Requisoft– ran in Britain’s leading magazine for managementaccountants and controllers Financial Management.

This is just one of many examples of how managementaccountants and controllers are being presented as havingescaped the oppressive dullness traditionally associated withtheir profession. But are they also in the process of throwingthe credibility that is so important to the profession out the

window?Seen in light of the financial crisis and the many scandalsinvolving irresponsible accounting practices and lack offinancial control, it is striking that the image of accounts andfinance departments has become so extreme.

Our paper for Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal (see box on the following page) analysed softwareadvertisement in Financial Management from 1970 up tothe present day to assess how the image of managementaccountants and controllers has changed over time. Wefound that in the 1970s and 1980s the dominant imagewas of the responsible and rational controller; today the

controller is portrayed as a hedonist and extreme personin search of the limelight.

We examined how the advertisers communicate to people inthe profession. While we do not know how many managementaccountants and controllers actually display extremeand hedonistic behaviour we do know that they are beingencouraged to do so and that this encouragement is partof the practice of the profession. And this concerns us.

In addition to the above example, other advertisements speakto hedonistic desires, suggesting that a controller can pursuerewards and achieve success without having to sacrifice

anything. One example is a large carrot featured in an

In light of the financial crisis it is strikingthat the image of accounts and financedepartments has become so extreme

70s+80sIn the 1970s and 1980s the dominant

image was of the responsible and rational

controller; today the controller is portrayed

as a hedonist and extreme person

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advertisement for a software system that claims to improveearnings by 50% without anyone having to do anything apartfrom install the software in question. Other advertisementsshow people (presumably controllers) parachuting out ofplanes and off mountaintops on skis – encouraging themto “open up and let loose”.

The advertisements encourage the reader to put his or herown pleasure first instead of the long-term survival of thecompany. And they are not alone but are just part of ahypermodern social trend that glorifies extreme pleasureand narcissism.

Encouraging this new image is problematic because itmakes it difficult for companies to depend on their controllerand the braking function that traditionally accompanies sucha position in the form of questioning what is really possible.

Another aspect of this social trend is the idea that action ishypermodern while reflection is passé. But there is a seriousneed for both action and someone to ask questions. The

financial crisis has brought to light innumerable examplesof the consequences of not questioning whether peoplereally can do what they claim.

In Iceland especially, but also in Denmark and othercountries, the inability of economists to be persistent and askquestions has had fatal consequences. Icelandic KaupthingBank and IT Factory are examples.

Even though companies have reason to be concerned aboutan “alpha-male” controller – especially today – there is alsoreason to be pleased on behalf of the profession. This newimage is also an indication of the fact that the finance and

accounting profession are more involved at managementlevel. More controllers are part of top management and havea say in strategic decisions.

This is a good thing if it can attract new talent and give theprofession greater authority. The problem is if people, in theirdesire for influence and to be heard, put their credibility onthe line in the process.

There are indications thatqualities such as humility,

personal integrity and theability to admit mistakesare gaining traction

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I have taught financial management to students at AarhusSchool of Busines for three years and understand perfectlywell the desire many have to escape the image of thecontroller sitting in the corner crunching numbers andnot being heard.

The longing to be heard and to have influence is a part ofpost-modern society. You see it all over, and it is notnecessarily problematic in itself. In fact, it is very importantthat the accounting and finance function also sits at the toptable. It becomes a problem when responsibility and

credibility are suddenly no longer valued in an accountingand finance function, where these qualities are particularlyimportant. It is also true that the financial crisis has madesome of the traditional values more fashionable again.

There are indications that qualities such as humility, personalintegrity and the ability to admit mistakes are gaining traction.If these values can be linked with the more active role of themanagement accountant and controller it would be a hugeboon for the profession – and for the business community.It is possible to be both geeky and sexy.

The financial crisis has brought

to light innumerable examplesof the consequences of notquestioning whether peoplereally can do what they claim

From dull and geeky to sexy and extreme? by Hanne Nørreklit

THE RESEARCH

This article is based on “The image of

accountants: from bean counters to extreme

accountants” published in Account ing, Auditin g

& Accountability Journal and “Professional

accounting media - accountants handingover control to the system” published in

Qualitative Research in Accounting and

Manag ement . They were co-written by

Gudrun Baldvinsdottir from Göteborg

University, John Burns from the University

of Exeter, Hanne N ørreklit, Aarhus School

of Business, Aarhus University and Robert

W Scapens from the University of Groningen

in the Netherlands and the University of

Manchester.

The researchers ploughed through every issue

of Financia l Ma nagem ent from 1970 until 2008

and selected eight advertisements for further

analysis. The article presents the discourse

analyses of four advertisements – one from

each decade.

The Chartered Institute of Management

Accountants (CIMA), which funded the study,

supports a new trend within management

accounting known as “extreme accounting”.

The trend – which encourages management

accountants to go to extremes to challenge

themselves and their profession – began inBritain but has followers all over the world.

On the website extreme-accounting.com,

CIMA writes that they support the movement

because “it’s time people stopped pigeonholing

accountants as ‘speccy’” and because CIMA

“likes to show them in a truer light”.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Hanne Nørreklit works in the Department ofBusiness Economics, Aarhus School of Business, AarhusUniversity, +45 8948 6377 or email: [email protected]

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Tadao Onaka believes that three dilemmas facing business schools and business graduates in Japan may threaten the future of the MBA degree

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6EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 03 201Can the MBA survive? by Tadoa Onaka

For more than half a century Japanese business has laggedway behind other countries inutilising MBA graduates ascore management resources

Can the MBA survive? An answer to this vital questioncan be found in three dilemmas business schools inJapan currently face. These dilemmas indicate that thesetbacks to its reputation suffered recently by the MBAdegree result largely from its own DNA, the result of itsbirth in America in the early 20th century.

The first dilemma is apparent from this comment by aJapanese MBA graduate: “The more I try to implement whatI have learned, the more I feel isolated within my organisationand company.”

For more than half a century Japanese business has laggeway behind other countries in utilising MBA graduates ascore management resources. While Japanese companiesare rather aggressive in sending their young employees andmiddle managers to overseas business schools, the main

purpose has been so that they learn foreign competitors’ways of thinking and develop information networks inforeign business communities.

Those who return to Japan find they have lost two years interms of becoming a core member of their company. Thishappens similarly for MBA graduates of schools in Japan.

Is this just a simple cultural difference? Yes it is. But it hasmultiple aspects. This is more than just a conflict betweenindividualism and collectivism; it is a conflict between anindependent relationship and an inter-dependent relationshipit is also a conflict between profit-maximising for investors

and value-dedicating for societies.The second dilemma MBA graduates and business schoolsin Japan generally experience can be understood from thequestions asked by the CEOs of Japanese companies: “Whydo so many CEOs with an MBA – and their companies –fail in America?”

The third dilemma comes from American and Europeanbusiness schools’ own criticism and alarm over the value othe MBA: “What has gone wrong to cause such complianceand governance problems by CEOs?”

The MBAs 20th century DNA and its influence

The DNA extracted from the above three dilemmas can beclassified as follows:

DNA 1: The MBA is based on a culture of individualism

The first dilemma indicates that the origin and root of businesschools’ mission, programmes and operation is the cultureof individualism dominant in America and other Westerncountries.

The MBA methodology developed in this culture.Consciously or unconsciously it prioritises independenceover inter-dependence, prefers high return on investment(ROI) to low ROI if the risk is the same.

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Learning is complementary toadministrating in that whileadministrating is about controlling

the external with internal information,learning is about growing theinternal with external information

DNA 2: The MBA assumes a high-growth economy not

a sustainable one

The “scientific management” approach developedby American engineer Frederick W Taylor early inthe 20th century (effectively the MBA’s “operating

system”) assumes a high-growth economy. It focuseson pursuing ROI and tends to postpone creating value.

Especially, it avoids long-term investment if the ROIis too long to secure harvesting based on scientificcalculation and logical evaluation.

A good example is a clear trend that shows that, forthe most part, the research and development effortsof American corporations have been shrinkingcontinuously since the late 1990s when they wereforced by Wall Street to focus more on return onequity (ROE).

Moreover, the MBA’s DNA of scientific and logicalrationalisation has overlooked and forgotten theimportance of motivating the emotions of peopleand organisations.

Certainly during the 20th century America developeda tremendous number of theories of organisationalbehaviour and leadership, culminating in DanielGoleman’s concept of emotional intelligence.

However, in a sustainable growth economy, DNA 2– the lack of both long-term investment and failureto motivate people – is enough to kill corporations.

DNA 3: Excessive desire for financial welfareThis DNA has been particularly exposed since thelate 20th century. Since then, not a few AmericanCEOs and managers with MBA degrees haveturned to the pursuit of financial welfare. The word“greed” has become widely used.

Not just administering but learning

In post high-growth economies, new competenciesfor creating value and motivating people beyondfinancial welfare should be the first priority. Butthey have not been built into the MBA’s administratingcompetency.

The reason for this is because during the period ofhigh economic growth, organisations and societiesdid not need them. The high-growth economicenvironment alone was enough to motivate people.

And worse still, administrating methods, by nature oftheir controlling, ruling and standardising tendencies,will often work against creating change and motivatingpeople and make people in post high-growtheconomies rather conservative and discouraged.

So has the role of the MBA and business schoolscome to an end in a time of sustainable growth

economies?

The answer is no. There is still a jewel within the MBAand business schools. It is the learning competency.Now is the time for all MBA holders to recogniseand consciously exercise the implicit competency oflearning that has steadily grown behind the explicitcompetency of administrating at business schools.

MBA schools have always been learning organisationsand can be even more so if they wish. MBA studentsat business school learn shared vision, personalmastery, mental models, team learning and, PeterSenge’s “fifth discipline” in his model of the learningorganisation, systems thinking.

So, according to Dr Senge’s definition, MBA schoolsare learning organisations. They offer precious andrare learning opportunities in the current world where,especially in corporations, administrative cultureoverwhelmingly dominates and pushes out learningopportunities.

To summarise, MBA students consciously masteradministrating competency but also, unconsciously,learning competency within the learning environmentand culture of business schools.

New frontier MBA competencies by learning

Learning is complementary to administrating in thatwhile administrating is about controlling the externalwith internal information, learning is about growingthe internal with external information.

Creative envisioning and long-term investing

Learning new demands from changes that threatenpast success develops creative visions whileadministrating eliminates those threats and avoidschanges.

Administrative problem solving will never go beyondthis limit as long as it keeps filling the gap betweenthe new reality and the past success.

Also, learning the needs of future societies will makepossible long-term investments as shown by GE’sEcomagination, the Obama Administration’s GreenNew Deal and various technology innovations atmedium-sized and small manufacturing companies

in Japan.

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EQ based empathy communication and empowering

Learning the emotional needs of peopleand organisations makes possible empathycommunication and empowering whileadministrating risks weakening them.

Learning the emotions of others makes possibleEQ communications while administrating reliesonly on IQ-based logical ones.

Learning inter-dependence among members oforganisations and societies, which is exactly whatDr Senge calls “systems thinking”, goes beyondthe limit of the administrative thinking of “problemsare out there and not mine” and brings harmoniousrelationships to organisations and societies.

New global leadership mission and new capitalism

Learning global diversity enlarges the possibilities

of synthesising mutual dedication and harmoniousrelationships with diversified wisdom and value whileadministrating tends to utilise global diversity tomaximise the consolidated bottom line of financialreports.

Also learning the current reality that the monetaryeconomy diminishes the actual economy wouldopen many peoples’ eyes and stimluate calls fora new capitalism system.

Course examples for learning

In NGS, the Graduate School of Nagoya University

of Commerce and Business Administration in Japan,three courses on organisational behaviour andleadership have been introduced since April 2009in order to let students recognise the limits ofadministrating and also to realise specific actionsof learning to overcome those limits: ExecutiveLeadership, Innovation of Learning Organisationsand Global Leadership. The content of these coursesis discussed below.

Executive Leadership

This course is designed to learn the leadership modeland its utilisation in order to solve the dilemmas

middle and executive management currently face.The pedagogical model is:

— First understand that administrative competencyalone cannot respond to all the expectations ofmanagement in the 21st century

— Then, learn, through examining participants' realcases, the necessary conditions to develop theother competencies: Change Envisioning,Empathy Communication and Supportive Coachingfor the next generation of corporate leaders

— Finally, learn the cause and origin of the problemscurrently besetting stock market capitalism. Alsodiscuss solutions to allow the manufacturingsector and society to realise the need for long-term investment for technology innovation and

R&D caused by the 20th century's eccentricmonetary capitalism.

Innovation of L earning Organisati ons

This course is to learn the requirements for corporateleadership and learning organisations to pursueinnovation.

— First, with the “Apple Computer 2006” case,participants analyse the requirements for corporateleadership to pursue innovation. Also, with casesof medium to small company innovations inJapan, the major enablers to allow leadership and

organisations to learn and innovate are learned— Then, with the “3M Profile of Innovative

Organisation” case, learn requirements to developlearning organisations with Clayton Christensen's"Innovator's Dilemma", observe internal barriersto innovation and discuss necessary leadership andorganisation solutions to those barriers

— Finally, analyse the origin and history of monetarycapitalism, discuss external barriers to innovationand necessary solutions to them. Specifically,discuss what large and medium to smallcompanies should do as well as what the

government of Japan and the central bank ofJapan should do in order to remove those barriers

Global Leadership

Through case studies of Toyota USA, Johnson& Johnson and Nissan, together with Hofstede‘smodel, the first half of the course is designed todiscuss requirements for global leaders to learnflexibly and empathise with globally diversifiedcultures and organisations.

Then, with two US Presidents' historical speechessome excerpts from Japan’s Prime Minister Ikeda's

paper on Japan’s economic development andJ K Galbraith’s papers, discuss the missions andhistorical perspectives required for global leadersto utilise money and not to be utilised by money.

Finally, discuss requirements for Japanese societyand companies to dedicate to the global world throughtechnology innovation.

Can the MBA survive? by Tadoa Onaka

ABOUT THE AUTHORProfessor Tadao Onaka is a faculty member of NUCB Graduate School,Nagoya University of Commerce and Business Administration, Japan

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64 www.efmd.org/globalf ocus

Upcoming events

EFMD 2010 | www.efmd.org/conferences

October 2010

2010 EFMD Executive

Education Meeting

DATES / VENUE

10-12 October

Berkhamsted, UK

THEME

The Role of ExecutiveEducation in Developing

and Inspiring Leaders

for the Future

HOST

Ashridge

EPAS Accreditation

Seminar

DATES / VENUE

15 October

Athens, Greece

THEME

Interpretation and practicalapplication of the EPAS

Standards and Criteria

HOST

ALBA Graduate Business

School

Sharing Best Practice

CLIP Workshop

DATES / VENUE

21-22 October

Dusseldorf, Germany

THEME

L&D Programmes as anEngine for Innovation and

Change – Project Based

Learning, and the use of

Real Cases

HOST

ERGO

Versicherungsgruppe AG

October 2010

EFMD-EURAM Research

Leadership Programme

– Cycle 2

DATES / VENUE

28-29 October

Brussels, Belgium

THEMECreating Research

Leadership in Europe

–Module 1

HOST

EFMD

EFMD Advisory Seminar

DATES / VENUE

26 October

Brussels, Belgium

THEME

Internationalisation

of Business SchoolsHOST

EFMD

November 2010

Corporate Advisory

Seminar

DATES / VENUE

16 November

Brussels, Belgium

THEME

Engaging Managers inEmployee Development

in the workplace

HOST

EFMD

EFMD Advisory Seminar

DATES / VENUE

23 November

Brussels, Belgium

THEME

Intercultural

Management:

International Cooperationand Project Management

in Business Schools

HOST

EFMD

2010 EFMD Conference

in the MENA Region

DATES / VENUE

28-30 November

Dubai, U.A.E.

THEME

Creating InternationalImpact with Programmes:

Management Education

in the MENA Region

followed by EPAS and

EQUIS Accreditation

Seminars

HOST

University of Dubai

December 2010

EFMD-EURAM Research


– Cycle 2

DATES / VENUE

09-10 December

Brussels, Belgium

THEMECreating Research

Leadership in Europe

– Module 2

HOST

EFMD

2010 EFMD Conference

on Master Programmes

DATES / VENUE

13-15 December

Barcelona, Spain

THEME

The MSC Lifecycle

HOST

EADA Business School

January 2011

Meeting of Deans &

Directors-General

DATES / VENUE

27-28 January 2011

Lyon, France

THEME

What Deans AreInterested In...

HOST

EM Lyon Business Schoo

February 2011

EFMD-EURAM Research


– Cycle 2

DATES / VENUE

16-18 February

Brussels, Belgium

THEME

Creating Research

Leadership in Europe –

Module 3 + Alumni Day

HOST

EFMD

For more detailed information, please visit our website www.efmd.org

under conferences and learning groups or email [email protected]

7/24/2019 Volume 04 _ Issue 03 2010


7/24/2019 Volume 04 _ Issue 03 2010


R u e G a c h ar d 8 8 –B ox 3

1 0 5 0 B r u s s el s ,B el gi um

F ax:

+ 3 2 2 6 2 9 0 8 1 1

E m ai l :

i nf o @ ef m d . or g

“HEC Paris has always placed selectivity at the forefront of its mission.

High selectivity means high quality for an institution where graduate

management education rhymes with leadership, integrity, fortitude

and effectiveness. The GMAT is the perfect tool to help HEC Paris

achieve this mission. We select MBA candidates from more than 70

countries for whom the GMAT creates a fair and balanced measure

of potential achievement and success in our MBA programme.

Combined with interviews and a detailed analysis of the candidate’s

achievements, the GMAT offers a means of both effective selection

and solid prediction of success in academic courses.

Dean Bernard Ramanantsoa on

selecting quality student applicants:

DEAN BERNARD RAMANANTSOA, HEC BUSINESS SCHOOL, PARIS

Volume 04 _ Issue 03 2010

Documents

Transcript of Volume 04 _ Issue 03 2010