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An interview with Henry Mintzberg

  • 1.  An interview with Henry Mintzberg

    Posted 11-17-2001 06:33
    From: Robert Gately [mailto:gately@compuserve.com]

    I enjoyed the Mintzberg interview but I'm not surprised. Those of us who
    help employers use the job fit method for employee selection have known
    for a long time that having an MBA just means you have passed a serious
    of tests. I suggest business school professors should stop telling their
    students and the business community that "our graduates make good
    employees." The best a school can say is "our graduates are
    well-educated."

    Have you read the book "First, Break All the Rules: What the World's
    Greatest Managers Do Differently" [by Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman,
    1999]? Job success is about talent and talent cannot be acquired in
    business school. This is why managers are so successful using the job
    fit method, they hire the qualified job applicants who also have a
    talent for the job. Of course, I realize that this may not sit well with
    educators, but it does explain why so many executives complain about
    MBAs not becoming successful employees. It isn't a secret. When business
    schools realize that only the employer can know if a job applicant will
    be successful they will feel much better about themselves. Employers are
    responsible for their own bad hires not the bad hires' Alma Mater.

    Bob

    Robert F. Gately, PE, MBA
    gately@compuserve.com
    508-634-7748
    508-634-0670 Fax
    http://go.ourworld.nu/gately
    The free Job Fit Job Board web site address is
    <http://go.ourworld.nu/gately/jobfit.htm>.