2 Minute MBA!

[Ruprect]

Indeed. In essence, that’s actually correct, but making money continually over a period of many years involves a more developed way of thinking, involving an understanding of technology, the outside world, human relationships, social expectations and norms, political developments and so on and so on. A business which loses the goodwill of society is on the wrong course. ‘Society’ includes the customers of a business and the regulatory bodies who can wield power over a business and threaten it’s ability to earn profits.

I’ve started reading ‘The Puritan Gift’. It’s not about religion, but a fantastic book about the puritans who arrived in North America and built up their villages and businesses into highly successful organisations. The puritans believed that to be successful, a business should serve a useful purpose in society, should have and follow ideals, should involve skilled craftsmanship and should place decision making at the lowest possible level where people are qualified to make a judgment.

http://www.puritangift.com/book.html

The decline of this puritan organisational method came in the 50s and 60s with ‘scientific management’ and the rise of the MBAs; professional ‘managers’ who jump from one sector to another applying their primarily financial and statistical methods while having no knowledge of the sector or business concerned. The idea came about that someone who ran a biscuit manufacturer successfully would be just as successful at running a publisher or a bank.

Contrast this with the Rhineland style of management which involves many stakeholders in decision making; derided by US businesspeople for so long, but actually very successful in the long run.

Sod it, this is turning into one of those essays I wrote for my PGDip.

Hugh F-W's program on Tesco chickens the other day was a good example of this. He presented a damning case which I'm sure would have turned a lot of people off tesco. The fact that he managed to get almost 20% shareholder support for his motion at the AGM showed that this sort of publicity is noticed by the shareholders and its potential to lose custom.

[Mich the Tester]

Some of them are (were) too scared too particularly if they worked for Richard Fuld - so I have read in the press. Being a senior manager doesn't give you the authority to actually do what you want to - you still have to convince the guys (idiots?) at the top.

Somebody appointed Fuld. Somebody appointed Fred Goodwin. I see lots of these psychos around in businesses, especially banking. Somehow we need a mechanism to keep them out because the damage they are doing to our economies is quite literally immeasurable.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Somebody appointed Fuld. Somebody appointed Fred Goodwin. I see lots of these psychos around in businesses, especially banking. Somehow we need a mechanism to keep them out because the damage they are doing to our economies is quite literally immeasurable.

I would agree but its the old boy's network isn't it - there are too many "somebodies" who are dipping their hands into the pot sharing amongst themselves when the going is good.

[Mich the Tester]

Hugh F-W's program on Tesco chickens the other day was a good example of this. He presented a damning case which I'm sure would have turned a lot of people off tesco. The fact that he managed to get almost 20% shareholder support for his motion at the AGM showed that this sort of publicity is noticed by the shareholders and its potential to lose custom.

That’s right, and had the board or the senior management demonstrated any understanding of changing social norms or cultural values, let alone such elevated feelings like empathy, they wouldn’t have ended up in the position of being humiliated at an AGM. It comes back to ideals and considering a business’s place in society and not simply aiming to ‘make money’ at all cost.

[PM-Junkie]

Fair comments. It's simply that when I look at the people I meet who have MBA's I struggle to believe that they have had to apply the same academic rigour as I apply to getting an MSc. As I say, perhaps there are clever people with MBAs, and perhaps the people I deal with are clever, but so arrogant that they've lost the ability to question their own ideas. Surely part of the point of postgraduate study is the ability to view one's own ideas critically and take account of the objections others might raise, and not to simply follow the latest management orthodoxy or fad? How about the ability to seek out creative approaches to solving problems instead of the knee-jerk approaches that too many senior managers take?

Maybe the MBA could be more credible if it was turned into a professional qualification with a continuous education requirement, so that the idiots who give it a bad name can be weeded out?

I really think the MBA is in danger of losing credibility among highly educated people. That would not be a good thing; I think it's important to have management education, but perhaps it's time to take some new steps beyond the conventional MBA.

I like the continuous education idea - but I think getting back to exams rather than focussing on a thesis would help. I'm a huge fan of exams...my MBA is based purely on nine three hour exams on subjects ranging from accountancy to marketing. You have to answer everything they throw at you, so you have to know the material cold. And of course, it being postgrad stuff, you have to know how to apply the material not just know the material itself (interestingly, something American students seem to struggle with).

So I am in the fortunate position of holding an MBA who's stock is going up partly because many others are going down. Gives me a slightly different perspective. As I said before, I think the main problem is that people get an MBA and then think they know everything, and that they are god's gift. They don't, and they aren't.

Also, teaching an element of humility and even a touch of diffidence might go a long way to curbing the egos.

[Mich the Tester]

I like the continuous education idea - but I think getting back to exams rather than focussing on a thesis would help. I'm a huge fan of exams...my MBA is based purely on nine three hour exams on subjects ranging from accountancy to marketing. You have to answer everything they throw at you, so you have to know the material cold. And of course, it being postgrad stuff, you have to know how to apply the material not just know the material itself (interestingly, something American students seem to struggle with).

So I am in the fortunate position of holding an MBA who's stock is going up partly because many others are going down. Gives me a slightly different perspective. As I said before, I think the main problem is that people get an MBA and then think they know everything, and that they are god's gift. They don't, and they aren't.

Also, teaching an element of humility and even a touch of diffidence might go a long way to curbing the egos.

I did a PGDip in Management of Manufacturing and Technology. It was mostly exam based with several hefty essays that I had to send in on pretty tough deadlines. One of the subjects I had to do was ‘Industrial History’. I was sceptical at first, but it turned out to provide perhaps the most useful lessons of all. Particulary the bit about the rise of Taylorism and the ‘ blue collar blues’ of the 70’s. I recently suggested to an MBA that his rigid application of process discipline to developers and testers was reminiscent of Taylorism and was part of a rising problem of ‘white collar blues’. Expecting an angry but educated answer, I was rather disappointed when he said ‘what’s Taylorism?’ He gets an MBA without knowing that?

[MPwannadecentincome]

I’m a tester with an education instead of an MBA.

you could change your forum name to "Mich the educated Tester"!

[Mich the Tester]

you could change your forum name to "Mich the educated Tester"!

No, that would be immodest.

[PM-Junkie]

I did a PGDip in Management of Manufacturing and Technology. It was mostly exam based with several hefty essays that I had to send in on pretty tough deadlines. One of the subjects I had to do was ‘Industrial History’. I was sceptical at first, but it turned out to provide perhaps the most useful lessons of all. Particulary the bit about the rise of Taylorism and the ‘ blue collar blues’ of the 70’s. I recently suggested to an MBA that his rigid application of process discipline to developers and testers was reminiscent of Taylorism and was part of a rising problem of ‘white collar blues’. Expecting an angry but educated answer, I was rather disappointed when he said ‘what’s Taylorism?’ He gets an MBA without knowing that?

...I expect Daddy did his thesis for him

[Ruprect]

...I expect Daddy did his thesis for him

marked