Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58060
Companies want their new hires to possess intangible skills that require practical application. Theory alone isn't good enough. something of value to the hiring companies who are our part- ners? Does this candidate have the appropriate academic and industry experience to meet the needs of specific partners? It's likely that, within three years, our recruitment process will be even more finely tuned. We'll be able to say, for exam- ple, that we want 20 percent of our class composed of students who are interested in nonprofit work, and we'll know how to match our graduating class to our other partners as well. When students graduate from our program, they'll have a solid foundation of business experience. When they inter- view for jobs, they'll be able to point to the portfolio of projects they completed for existing companies—and they'll have a rich understanding of essential business tools. The Obstacles We believe that designing an MBA program around partner corporations is an excellent way for any business school to differentiate itself from the pack. But it's not easy to retool a program. Schools must be realistic about their chances for success in two key areas: Student placement. Schools must take a clear-eyed look at which industries they will focus on and which companies they are going to serve, which means honestly assessing where they can place students upon graduation. It can be a painful process to drill down and get a true perspective on the needs of these customers as well as the core competencies of the school. Administrators might be forced to acknowledge that their school is not going to produce Wall Street money managers. At that point, they need to take a closer look at who they do serve. Keeping in mind that they should target markets that will offer attractive salaries to their graduates, they should analyze their capabilities and the strength of their particular brands. Then they should prepare their graduates for work in those markets. Some administrators might worry about the possibility of tailoring their classes too closely to one client or one indus- try. Industry can be fickle, and no one wants to craft a pro- gram that's faddish or suited to only one partner. However, if schools talk to 25 or more companies, we believe they will find what we found: Companies might be looking for students with different backgrounds, but the skill sets they want are very close. If all of a school's partners say they want to hire MBAs with specific strengths, administrators can rest assured that they're not just pandering to a particular indus- try group or employer by focusing on that skill. Faculty acceptance. Convincing the faculty to make some tough, even ground-breaking, decisions will be a challenge. Nobody in the faculty wants to be perceived as outside the 56 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2007 focus area when a school is deciding on career paths or electives to offer. Choosing specialties early in the process helps narrow the focus and makes the difficult decisions less personal and more practical. Faculty also might be resistant to the idea that outside companies will play a large role in program and curriculum development. In such a partnership, the school is essentially saying, "Tell us what you mean by business analysis or project management. Tell us what tools and executive development programs you use. Help us co-teach some of these topics." Faculty might find this approach too radically different to accept easily. They might say, "Business partners are too practical and applied. They will teach gimmicks and fads. Our job is to teach students to understand theory and think long-term, preparing them for a career, not a job." But we believe the message is clear. Companies want their new hires to possess intangible skills that require prac- tical application. Theory alone isn't good enough. Faculty need to understand that the school has real-world customers facing real-world challenges. These companies need to hire graduates with practical, real-world skills. Fine-Tuning for the Future We are now through the first year of our revised program, and we're very pleased with the results. Students have embraced the new program, and our partner companies have become very involved. Our hiring partners were very excited about the students participating in corporate resi- dencies this summer. We do see areas where we can make improvements. While the workshops have been successful, there have been periods where the workload was so heavy the students found it gruel- ing. We need to level out the requirements in the future, and we will look to improve the delivery of a few workshops. Overhauling an MBA program is a definite challenge. The self-reflection required is often painful, and implementing new systems is time-consuming. But we believe it pays off in the end for a business school to take a business-oriented approach to defining its market and refining its products. Once a school distills all the information on its compe- tencies, customers, and partners, it can retool its program to meet customer needs. This revamped program will be so tailored to the school's specific market that the natural end result will be differentiation—a school that stands out from all the rest in a crowded and homogenous market. n z Thomas E. Moore is dean of the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.