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INDEFENSE MBA THE OF Recent critics of the MBA are quick to point out the MBA's shortcomings. Nonetheless, the real problem with business education may not be a lack of relevance, but a lack of recognition for what it's getting right. L by James M. Danko and Bethanie L. Anderson 24 ike most management educators, we're passionate about business school education. But lately we've been faced with one article after another by esteemed colleagues who ques- tion the relevance of the MBA. First, it was Henry Mintzberg. Then, it was Sumantra Ghoshal. Then, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Christina Fong. And now a new round of writ- ers has published articles critical of the MBA. It's difficult to read these arti- cles without suffering an overdose of academic and market idealism. In "How Business Schools Lost Their Way," published in the May 2005 Harvard Business Review, Warren Bennis and James O'Toole of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles criticize business schools for being too narrowly focused on scientific research. In "What's Really Wrong with U.S. Business Schools?," Harry and Linda DeAngelo of USC and Jerold Zimmerman of the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business Administration in New York fault business schools for allocating too many resources to improve their rankings. The authors argue for fundamental changes in the rankings process and an overhaul of faculty hiring and tenure systems. These articles are thoughtful, well-reasoned pieces—but some of the solutions they offer may be unrealistic. These authors forget that the majority of management education is not occurring at schools that rank in BusinessWeek's top 30. The majority of management education does not occur at the MBA level. It occurs at the undergraduate level at a wide variety of institutions. In such a broad setting, we need to balance a range of conflicting interests. We need to bring about strategic change without committing political or financial suicide. BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005