A comparative study of the MBA/MBL Programmes in the important global regions

Abstract

In the United States of America and in Europe, many questions are being posed concerning the effectiveness and relevance of management education, particularly the Master of Business Administration/Master of Business Leadership programmes. The main criticism facing the MBA/MBL programme include: • it is too analytical m its orientation and out of touch with the needs of the business world; • insufficient attention is being paid to areas such as people skills, leadership and ethics; and • it is seen as being out of touch with current trends in business such as internationalisation of business, the trend towards an information/service society and the renewed interest in organisational culture and participative management. The objective of this study is to analyse the MBA curricula in the important global regions so as to identify common elements which can be used to determine focus areas in management education, particularly the MBL programme. Based on these research findings, the following recommendations are made: • South African business schools need to introduce pre-term courses so as to provide previously disadvantaged students the opportunity to develop the necessary quantitative and qualitative skills. Emphasis should move towards developing skills for managerial decision-making. Success in the pre-term courses can serve to measure reasoning abilities, interpersonal and communication skills which job experience, the interview process and the GMA T serve to measure. The Unisa business school has introduced the Programme in Business Leadership which, to a large extent, has addressed the above comments. However, the PBL could be extended to include courses in computing, communication skills and English language use. • the core courses of the MBA programmes evaluated in this report are being taught at South African business schools. Although the functional courses are taught from an international perspective, these courses should be more closely tied to the South African context. Case studies must be linked to local constraints and opportunities. This would serve to "contextualise" and to universalise the MBN MBL programmes; • South African business schools must place more emphasis on entrepreneurship and cross-cultural management. These courses are popular options at European and Asian-Pacific business schools. The importance of these courses is highlighted in Chapter four; • South African business schools should make the business project mandatory in the MBA curricula. The business project serves as an integrating mechanism and is important to develop leadership skills which are crucial for the national and international business environment; and • there is a trend at North American business schools to offer specialised/joint degree MBA programmes. This serves to internationalise the MBA programme and to address cross-cultural issues. South African business schools and especially the Unisa business school should consider this option. South African business schools need to develop an appropriate vision and values for South Africa in the twenty-first century and to translate them into practice. If business schools are driven by a relevant mission, it will be strategically positioned in a changing society. The challenge facing management education is to develop an adequate supply of competent managers to take South Africa into the twenty-first century.