The ‘New’ MBA Programs
Many graduate programs are taking a practice-based approach to business education.

By O. Homer Erekson

Why would a specialist in a field such as engineering, or a small business owner, decide to pursue an MBA? One might argue that it is to get a firm grounding in areas such as finance, marketing, organization theory or managerial economics and acquire the tools needed to become a successful manager. Indeed, good MBA programs provide these tools. But increasingly, MBA programs are refocusing, moving well beyond basic disciplinary concepts and providing a much more applied and experiential learning context.

In a recent U.S. News & World Report article, Justin Ewers calls for a reorientation of MBA education toward more practice-based education.

”Most people would never trust someone without an M.D. to do surgery or someone without a law degree to defend them in court…  while there are plenty of thriving companies, not to mention entire countries, that have done just fine without large numbers of business school graduates,” he said.

Replacing Silos with Soft Skills
Critics of MBA programs argue that “soft skills” such as teamwork, communication and leadership should be given a much more prominent place in business education (rather than silo-based functional education), along with significant opportunities for students to practice their trade.

Graduates of MBA programs across the country are echoing this sentiment. In a September 2004 report from the Graduate Management Admission Council, more than 30 percent of survey respondents pointed to networking skills as the second most important area in which they wish they had more education and training while completing their MBA. Only 15 percent pointed to technical skills for their specialty. And in a survey of deans and other academic leaders at a recent national American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International conference, one of the five most important characteristics that indicated a high-quality MBA program was the extent to which instruction has a pragmatic focus.

To provide a more contemporary and relevant MBA program, top business programs are increasingly adapting the structure and delivery of the education. Although these adaptations take many forms, three are especially significant—market-needs specific programs, integrated curricula and field-based education.

Customized Education
Business schools are developing programs that respond to particular market needs. AACSB International Vice President Dan LeClair points out that there is a veritable “alphabet soup” of business masters programs being offered—EMBA, MM, MSC, PMBA, IMBA, CHEMBA, CIAMBA, FIAMBA, JEMBA, VEMBA—and many “adjective” MBAs—High Tech MBA, Green MBA, Presidential MBA, Biotech MBA. Although you might have fun guessing the meaning of these abbreviations, you also might be skeptical as to whether they are fundamentally different from traditional programs. In many cases, they are quite different, responding to very specific market needs, such as a special program for health care providers, engineers or emerging leaders.

Integrated Education
Even within traditional programs, considerable attention is being given to boundary-expanding, integrated education. Although inter-disciplinary case analysis has long been a hallmark of premium MBA education, faculty in core functional areas are increasingly working together to create learning modules that integrate perspectives from the different areas, rather than teaching concepts, such as pricing, in a repetitive and often incomplete manner.

Instead of taking separate courses in marketing, organizational behavior, management information systems and finance, MBA students at top schools will encounter integrated, team-taught courses, such as “Creating Value in an Enterprise,” that encompass many disciplines.

In a very resource-constrained higher education industry, it can be financially challenging to have several professors jointly plan and teach a course. However, because businesses and organizations are organized into cross-functional teams, and effective management requires the ability to work across areas within a business, it can be much more costly not to provide integrated MBA education.

Practical Experience
Perhaps the most striking change in MBA programs is the increasing dependence on moving learning from the classroom to the field. That is, MBA students are involved in practical, experiential learning activities applying principles from the classroom. Student teams are actively involved in working with companies and non-profit organizations, providing consulting services or managing student-run investment portfolios.

There is no question that MBA students need to master technical skills—the basic tools of business. But the real value proposition for an MBA program is to be market-responsive and to provide students with an integrated educational experience with significant field-based learning.

O. Homer Erekson is dean and Harzfeld Professor of Economics and Business Policy at the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He can be reached at (816) 235-2204 or .