No longer business as usual, says Professor Walter Baets
Considering carefully the causes of the current financial crisis, "business as
usual" is no longer the way to achieve sustainable success. The classical
approach to business that we have seen over the past few decades does not appear
to work.
Managers need an expanded skills set that creates new models of business. In
turn, business schools must be self-critical and rethink what they offer the
world. It is a viewpoint that has begun to permeate the corridors of business
schools globally.
Managers need an expanded skills set that creates new models of business. In
turn, business schools
must be self-critical and rethink what they offer the world. It is a viewpoint
that has begun to
permeate the corridors of business schools globally.
David Schmittlein, dean of the Sloan School of Management in the US, said
recently that the financial
crisis should be an opportunity to change the behaviour of managers, and help
them to be more
courageous. For him, that means implementing long-term strategies and not
focusing on short-term
gain. His speech went against what is classically heard in business schools.
He stated that business has thought for decades that the goal of good managers
is to maximise
shareholder value. Shareholders, of course, are often in it for short-term
profit. If we want to avoid
the next crisis, we need to produce courageous managers and leaders, individuals
who think longterm.
Schmittlein added that if the crisis invites business schools to teach new
strategies, it will equally
change teaching practices, encouraging us to embrace real openness and take a
holistic approach to
the world. In short, he encourages us to lay a more values-based foundation.
This may not be the perspective you'd expect from the head of a business school,
but in light of the
economic turmoil, values are the only sure foundation to build on.
Walter Baets is director of the Graduate School of Business
This article appeared in the Financial Mail on 18 September
Posted 21/09/2009 by Carolyn McGibbon
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