Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63446
Cornell. "It takes more faculty members to run these cours- es. In terms of our program, it takes time to set up 20 plant visits, organize buses, and arrange schedules." Resource allocation and curriculum flexibility are both "There is a cost in terms of resources," explains Bradley of with each other for student numbers," Law explains. In addition, although students downsides to an integrated approach, agrees Law of CUHK. Both must be addressed in the planning stages. "Here, the majority of funding allocated to departments is based on stu- dent numbers. Hence, departments are sometimes competing tion occurs throughout all course delivery. The CILs help recruit colleagues who share the program's vision and have the capabilities to teach consistently with that vision. To achieve success, they avoid faculty members who have low needs for inclusion and high needs for control. Most important, CILs are committed to viewing an integrat- ed curriculum, such as Villanova's EMBA program, as a learn- ing organization. The mindset is not to "get it right once and for all." Rather, it is to offer a pedagogically sound, career- enhancing educational process that requires ongoing re- examination and revision as our learning and business envi- ronments evolve. The CIL's ongoing objective is to "improve as we go to keep the curriculum current and relevant." Reinforcing the norm of collaboration and mutual support among both faculty and students is key to an exciting, enjoy- able, and effective experience in an integrated program. The success of an integrated curriculum is measured by how well it prepares business leaders for cross-functional and systemwide challenges, and by the level of satisfaction it gen- erates among students, business sponsors, faculty, staff, accreditation bodies, alumni, advisory groups, and society at large. Faculty who have explored integrated methods in the Villanova EMBA program have moved out of their functionally focused comfort zones to connect across disciplines. Conse - quently, they are better able to develop leaders who are adaptive problem solvers, and who are prepared to face issues that break traditional boundaries. Stephen A. Stumpf, formerly dean of professional develop- ment at Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc., is professor and chair of the Management Department at Villanova University's College of Commerce and Finance. Walter G. Tymon Jr. is associate professor of management at Villanova University. with cross-disciplinary experience often outperform their more special- ized counterparts in competitions, and are readily hired after their edu- cation is complete, there is another piece of the puzzle to consider. Business schools are treading care- fully, fearing that following the trend toward integration too completely may leave students' understanding of individual top- ics lacking. Before schools jump on the integrated bandwag- on, they must consider whether a conversion to cross-disciplinary approaches, at the expense of func- tional specialization, may produce students big on perspective but small in their attention to detail. Students who follow a broad-based curriculum, and so, lack affiliation with a single department might suf- fer what Law terms "minor identity crises." In the end, teaching—and learning—across disci- plines should not mean sacrificing specialized knowl- edge, believes Stumpf, but enhancing it. "Offering an 'integrated' program does not mean that specific top- ics are not covered. What it means to us is that when you cover a specific topic, you do it in such a way that it relates to what will follow and links to what has come before." "All of us face a marketplace in which students want to prepare for their careers effectively, and recruiters want to bring people into their organiza- tions who pass the test," observes Elliott of Cornell. "We all face this historic pendulum swing between an intellectual, academic approach to knowledge and an applied, practice-based approach to knowledge. We're at a point where we would like to think we are effectively integrating the two." Addressing concerns and walking a tightrope between functional silos and cross-disciplinary meth- ods are part and parcel of building an effective inte- grated program, one that produces the students that will meet the needs of employers. The next few years, administrators believe, will tell just how well business schools manage to prepare students for what promise to be wide-ranging careers in complex, ever-changing models of business. ■ z BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2002 45