Rethinking Business Schools

J. Sulej

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781137404459
• eBook ISBN: 9781137404473
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Business generale

How do we create the business school and managers of the future? Rethinking Business Schools draws upon extensive case study evidence from both Russell Group and Non-Russell Group University Business Schools in the UK to answer some of these questions from a European perspective and stimulate a wider debate.

1

The Starting Point

Introduction

The management guru Peter Drucker said, ‘the only thing we know about the future is that it will be different’. In recent times there has been a great deal of debate regarding what universities and their business schools should look like in the future. Much of this debate has centred on ‘what’ needs to be changed rather than ‘how’ things can be changed, given the current reality of university and business-school structures here in the UK. A great deal of this debate has also come from the USA, where there is increasing concern regarding issues related to funding for students and the perspectives of business schools. Many (Mintzberg, 2004; Bennis & Toole, 2005; Christensen & Eyring, 2011) have argued that change is needed vis-à-vis the focus of business schools and what they provide in terms of their education programmes and overall benefits to society. Many of the researchers feel that business schools have in some senses lost their way. The work presented in this book attempts to provide a UK-based perspective of how business schools and their universities need to change in order to meet ongoing challenges in the following areas: online technology; social media; the potential impact of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses); changing student demands regarding value for money, employability and employer demands concerning the level of engagement that business schools and universities have with their organizations. In addition, this book explores the implications for the nature of faculty and the skills that may be needed in the future, given all the challenges mentioned above. All of these elements are then placed within the context of an increasing call for responsible, sustainable leadership, wherein businesses and their leaders work for the good of society. This contextual focus is based on the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative and the work of researchers such as Muff et al. (2013) in suggesting new structures, content and approaches in management education, in order to meet the challenges of the UN PRME initiative and the global challenges related to sustainability and responsible leadership. A key issue here is that there are many innovative individual initiatives within business schools and universities; there is also much in the way of restrictive dogma and focus on arguably inappropriate outcomes: for example, research excellence as opposed to the development of ‘practice intelligence’ (Sternberg & Wagner, 1991) and related employability skills.

Other areas of concern are the development of appropriate programme content and the modes of delivery as well as the teaching focus: that is, teacher-led versus student-led approaches. Other issues are related to differing forms of scholarship and the relative emphasis placed on research versus teaching and the focus of research; that is, whether it is applied research aimed at working with business and solving real-life practical problems or academically focused, knowledge-building research that is unrelated to actual business practice.

In Part I there is an exploration of different factors and challenges already mentioned – for example, employability issues, new technologies, pedagogy, research, financing and student demand – that are currently facing business schools and their universities as the 21st century progresses. These factors will be explored via a series of case studies featuring two Tier 1 universities (Russell Group, research-intensive institutions) and two Tier 2 or non-Russell Group universities that have an arguably stronger teaching rather than research focus, although all four institutions maintain some level of research to underpin teaching. The Tier 1 universities represent somewhat older institutions than the more recent Tier 2 universities, and this book therefore includes an exploration of how these institutions were formed and what their past history contributes to their current situation in terms of primary vision, mission, structure and processes. Each of the case studies explores issues at the environmental, organizational and individual levels and outcomes are compared with separate potential theoretical interpretations. This entails an underlying theory and two rival theories using the case-study approach of Yin (1994).

Part I presents a detailed consideration of the situation within the case-study universities in terms of ‘Where are they now?’ in relation to the challenges outlined earlier. Each example university is taken in turn and the issues identified by leaders and senior professors within the chosen business schools as being of importance to them based on their interpretation of the current university and higher-education environment are presented. Additional information for each university is obtained from secondary sources at the university involved and interpretations are made in terms of their stated vision, mission and various other factors related to the business school.

Part II explores the question ‘Where are we going?’ Based on the case-study evidence obtained and the work of other researchers, the question ‘What is the perceived and likely future of universities?’ is posed. These particular questions are explored with the intention of identifying consistent themes between the two tiers of universities and their business schools before comparing and contrasting the different viewpoints obtained. For example, do their leaders have consistent institutional goals? The intention here is to identify areas of mismatch and use these as signposts for changes that arguably need to be made in taking business schools into the future. Key areas that are explored include: the design and structures related to processes in business schools and universities; the administration and management of business schools and universities; financing business schools and universities and implications for faculties, plus the impact of student perspectives in terms of value for money and employability issues.

In Part III there is an exploration of what future universities or business schools might look like based on the case-study findings and evidence from other researchers. The main areas explored include: shapes and structures in terms of university and business-school models; the implications of new technologies; the impact on pedagogy and programme content; the impact of lifelong learning and the nature of scholarship.

In the final part of the book (Part IV, The Final Destination), there is an attempt to draw together the various elements identified in the earlier stages of the book by exploring the following questions: How can the issue of ‘administrative heritage’ (Chandler, 1962) be overcome? Why are business schools needed? What future directions should business schools travel in? How do we improve the effectiveness of individuals within business schools?

Throughout the research and arguments presented in this book, the overarching lens is the belief that business schools in the UK require radical rethinking and major evolutionary change. In addition, there is an urgent need to rethink the focal purpose of business schools, move away from the current focus on research and establish a different focus.

Part I

Where Are We Now? The Current Reality

2

Tier 1 – Traditional/Elite Universities: Case Studies

Background

In this part of the book an attempt will be made to examine the current attitudes of university business-school leaders and senior academics towards the current challenges identified in Chapter 1, which include the changing demands from students, employers and governments, the impact of new technology and the availability of resources. In addition, how do these leaders drive business schools – and indeed, their universities as institutions – forward in responding to these challenges? Other elements that provide the underlying framework to the case-study protocol and the overall focus of the research include the following:

• The origins of the university and its associated business school. What drove their formation and how has this influenced the underlying traditions, focus and processes of the university? For example: research focus versus teaching; research application and employability; applied problem-solving.

• What are the potential barriers to innovation and change?

• What are the key drivers and future opportunities as seen by the leaders of the university and its business school?

However, before exploring the individual case studies in detail over the next few chapters, there is a need to discuss the method and approach used in this book, that is, the case-study approach. This methodology is particularly useful for exploring ‘How’ and ‘Why’ questions. The methodological approach used is based on the work of Yin (1994) and involves the creation of a case-study protocol as well as the creation of an underlying theory to drive the focus of the protocol. There have been a number of criticisms related to the use of case-study research including the focus or unit of the analysis and the related criteria that are used for the interpretation of any data obtained (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 1994; Chetty, 1997).

Another key issue in conducting case-study research is the need for the unit of analysis to be related to that used in prior research (Yin, 1994). In the case studies used in this book, the ‘unit of analysis’ is the university business school in terms of influences and responses related to environmental (PESTE model) factors; organizational factors, for example, vision, mission and the implementation of strategy as influenced by environmental factors; and individual level factors related to leadership approach and the quality of academic staff. Such factors were identified using primary information obtained through semi-structured interviews, plus the use of multiple sources of evidence derived from secondary sources provided by the institutions concerned, together with a consistent case-study protocol. All the individuals interviewed had professorial status and were leaders in their respective business schools.

Interviews were recorded with the permission of those taking part and the recordings were then transcribed and cross-referenced with handwritten notes taken at the time of the interview. All interviews took place at the respective university premises and the outcomes were reported anonymously in accordance with the confidentiality agreement formed as a condition of participation. The basic structure and flow of the interview was guided by a semi-structured questionnaire created as part of the case-study protocol in order to aid consistency in the approach to each participant and facilitate comparisons regarding the opinions expressed.

The semi-structured questionnaire was aimed at pursuing the following areas of potential importance: changes in learning technologies (MOOCs, for instance); changing student and employer demands (issues of employability, training versus education, value for money); and other related issues such as university engagement with the business community. Additional areas were related to the focus of the business schools, for example, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), skills needed by the faculty regarding learning technologies and the approach to engagement with the business community. An underlying framework to these specific areas of concern was that of issues coming from the general economic and government plus global environment. In addition, there were issues related to the organization and other factors affecting individuals within universities and business schools. Broadly speaking, these issues were defined by the well-known PESTE model, encompassing political, economic, socio-cultural, technological and environmental factors (for example, green and other sustainability issues), which are likely to affect the role and conduct of UK business schools. These areas were defined by prior research on recent reports and commentary in academic journals related to issues and challenges facing UK universities and by implication their business schools (Cyert & Goodman, 1997; Mintzberg, 2004; CBI, 2012; Mcluskey, 2012; Barber, et al., 2013; NCUB, 2014; NMC, 2014).

In recent years there have also been a number of publications related to the strategic and organizational development of business schools as well as universities in general (Thomas, et al., 2004; Mintzberg, 2004; Starkey & Tiratsoo, 2007; Arum & Roksa, 2010; Christensen & Eyring, 2011; Lorange & Sheth, 2013). It should be noted that several of the authors mentioned here are writing about the business school and institutional context in the USA rather than the UK. However, what this means is that the observations and research presented in this book, in terms of the unit of analysis, are related to prior research and findings related to focus and exploration.

The approach used in this book is essentially exploratory in nature and seeks to identify key issues. It also attempts to go some way towards providing answers to ‘How’ and ‘Why’ questions. This is in contrast to the focus in prior research on identifying ‘what’ needs to be changed rather than ‘how’ change might be achieved.

In addition, the analytical approach used to integrate data and interpretation with a view to developing a practical approach later in the book is that of ‘analytical generalization’ rather than ‘statistical generalization’ (Yin, 1994). The analytical generalization approach uses a previously developed theory as a pattern or template against which data is compared. In the cases presented in this book, patterns related to overall perspectives, approach and implementation are being sought in the institutions concerned. This has been done in order to provide a focus for answering the ‘How’ and ‘What’ in terms of changing the current approach in UK business schools. However, a consistent approach was applied in developing the interviews and data using the case-study protocol in order to make the identification of potentially relevant patterns and factors possible. Where two or more cases support the underlying theory or pattern, in Yin’s (1994) terms, it can be argued that replication has taken place; this approach is in strong contrast to statistical generalization based on the use of statistics and large numerical data samples.

An additional element that is often criticized in case-study research is that of construct validity, which is the establishment of appropriate operational measures for the elements being studied. In the examples used in this research, this issue was dealt with by obtaining multiple sources of evidence, both primary and secondary, which included personal interviews, strategy-related documents and other published material related to the individual institutions and the general UK university and business-school environment. Admittedly, the author was only able to obtain personal interviews with single respondents in the institutions studied. However, these were key individuals such as deans of business schools and senior professors, who are arguably likely to have a good overview of their business school and the challenges currently being faced. In addition, as key members of the executive management group within the university, they also contribute to the overall strategy of the university as a whole. These individuals and the universities involved provided access to a wide range of secondary sources that served to reinforce the validity of the information obtained as well as contributing additional details regarding the context of each university and its accompanying business school.

Other issues that are important from a case-study perspective are the issues of internal/external validity and reliability. Internal/external validity is concerned with the concept of potentially identifying causal links between elements. Certain conditions, as influenced by a variety of factors, generate other conditions which can be separated from non-causal relationships. The use of a case-study protocol and multiple sources of evidence help to limit issues related to internal/external validity and the issue of reliability. It facilitates replication by other researchers and potentially provides for repeatable results (Yin, 1994).

Underlying theory (UT)

As mentioned, the focus of the research presented in this book is essentially exploratory in nature. However, the underlying premise or theory is that:

UK university business schools need to radically change their approach in terms of strategy, structure, resource usage, teaching/learning, technology use, research focus and consultancy plus employment-related issues in order to successfully meet the challenges being faced by business schools, both now and into the future.

Rival theories (RT)

Yin (1994) has argued that in order to further the validity or otherwise of the UT there ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• 1. The Starting Point
• Part I: Where Are We Now? The Current Reality
• Part II: Where Are We Going?
• Part III: Brave New World
• Part IV: The Final Destination – Conclusions
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index