Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63913
PATRICK HARKER The Whar ton School Universi ty of Pennsylvania, Phi ladelphia Fighting for Faculty The most plagu ing issue for business schools appears to be the faculty shortage—deans and administrators alike recognize that attracting and retaining the best faculty is critical. Robert L. Joss, dean of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in Stanford, California, says, "I worry that an academic career may not be as attractive to the best minds as it was a generation or two ago. Intellectually gifted people have many more opportunities today. On the other hand, the need for management skill has never been greater in our society, and the impact that good man- agement practice can make on the world has never been greater." Joseph Alutto, dean of Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University, Columbus, worries about a faculty roster that is stretched too thin. "In too many areas we think of ourselves as 'one deep.' That is, we may have multiple faculty in an area, but a program is really carried by one or two faculty members; and if they leave there are severe programmatic impacts. We are invest- ing heavily in faculty development for senior and junior faculty, and we're recruiting to achieve a level of redundancy that mini- mizes disruptions due to departures of faculty." Even so, many deans believe a crisis is ahead. "We are not cre- Ontario, agrees that current graduates from Ph.D. programs are "absolutely not going to meet the demand." As a result, she is con- vinced that "we're going to be looking for different kinds of pro- fessors to fill different kinds of needs." She adds, "The void won't be filled simply with business professionals because you obviously need theoretical grounding and research. But I think you will find increasing importance placed on what people call adjuncts, and I believe they will have a major role in the management of schools." ating enough doctoral candidates worldwide to replace ourselves, let alone fuel the growth in management education in the world," says Patrick Harker, dean of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "In Asia, Europe, and Africa, we're going to see more and more business schools emerge; and they're going to be desperate for management talent." Margot Northey of Queen's School of Business, Kingston, Funding the Future For many, how to find money to pay for new faculty—as well as new facilities, new programs, and financial aid—is the real ques- tion. At Arizona State University in Tempe, Philip M.J. Reckers, the director of the School of Accountancy & Information Management, is concerned about the "high and rising costs of technology in business; high faculty costs; high costs of distance education; and revenue bases that are not rising—that is, state tuitions and state taxes." The results, he says, "are pressures to adopt program up- PATRICK HARKER DOESN'T FOOL HIMSELF. He knows that he has to reinvent himself and his school continuously. Quoting commencement speaker Narayana Murthy, he says, "There are two things I always keep at the back of my mind as a dean and as a school. Our best assets walk out the door every night. And when we start the day every morning, our market capital- ization is zero. In other words, every day we've got to fig- ure out what we're going to do to make a difference." Wharton's most recent efforts have resulted in three far-reaching initiatives launched in the past year. One is Wharton West, a comprehensive school opening in San Francisco. Another is a recent alliance with INSEAD in France, and the third is a new "laboratory for learning" that reflects Wharton's passionate commitment to technology. Leadership and teamwork are essential parts of the learning experience at Wharton, says Harker. "For exam- ple, we did an experiment this year and sent 80 of our MBAs down to Quantico to U.S. Marine Corps Officer Training, where they went through a leadership training exercise. We have to do more of that sort of experimentation." Under this model, teamwork is essential because, in Harker's view, "nobody's interdisciplinary. Teams are inter- disciplinary." He adds, "The world is so complex that you can't know enough about everything to succeed. People still must have expertise, but it's the ability to bring that expert- ise together in a team that will make a difference." Whether working with student teams or developing a new faculty mix, Harker is optimistic about what lies ahead. "There are signs that groups that have been underrepresented in the academic community are being attracted to it, particularly women and minorities. We're seeing an uptick with both," he says. This is "a very good sign," because it will lead to a diverse faculty in the future. What makes him most hopeful about the future, however, is the students. "Despite all the gyrations in the world, our students are immensely talented and energetic and ready to take on the world," he says. "Their enthusiasm and their desire to make a difference in the world are just infectious." BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 19