Dutch Driver <
ddriver@CS1.MCM.EDU> wrote:
>>... Otherwise, B-school would be waste
of time because there would be born leaders
and no ghost of a chance at training anyone
to be a leader...<<
If B-Schools created leaders, the US would be overstocked with great
leaders with MBAs (70,000+/- graduate per year). Is anyone willing to
assert that we have an over abundance of MBAs who are effective leaders?
Seems to me the employers of MBA's argue just the opposite. I would
argue that B-Schools do not turn non-leaders into leaders, but rather
they educate leaders and non-leaders alike. Both groups, leaders and
non-leaders, need to have the same business knowledge and skills and
to confuse knowledge and skill with leadership is to devalue leadership.
Many B-School students should be described as managers, not leaders.
Employers ought to hire job applicants with leadership abilities if
they want leaders. Some MBA's are leaders, but like most of the
working population most are not.
Dr. Zaleznik, former Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership at the
Harvard Business School and is a clinical psychoanalyst, asserts in
"The Managerial Mystique: Restoring Leadership in Business" that managers,
by their very nature, thrive on control, therefore anything that they
perceive as costing them control is unsettling and is to be avoided.
Managers do not allow themselves the luxury of failure whereas a leader
will try, fail and try again all the while learning new and valuable
lessons. The manager on the other hand learns only one lesson in
life--don't fail--and to ensure non-failure managers seldom take risks.
On page 23 of Dr. Zaleznik's book he writes:
"Whereas managers focus of process, leaders
focus on imaginative ideas. Leaders are not
only dreamers, but stimulate and drive other
people to work hard and create reality out of ideas...
...In comparison to visionary leaders such as...Sam
Walton, managers are practical people. Typically
they are hard working, intelligent, analytical
and tolerant of others. Because they hold few
convictions with passion, except perhaps the
need to extract order out of potential chaos,
they exhibit a high degree of fair-mindedness
in dealing with people.
Leaders are more dramatic in style and
unpredictable behavior. They seem to overcome
the conflict between order and chaos with an
authority legitimized by personal magnetism
and a commitment to their own undertakings
and destinies."
>>... So the hiring managers are to
have a standard but the schools are not? ...<<
Close. A hiring manager's job is different from that of a school.
Schools prepare students for a universe of job opportunities and
challenges, whereas a hiring manager only needs one person, doing
one job, working for a particular manager/supervisor. There is no
possibility of schools knowing what a particular manager needs,
therefore schools ought to do their best to educate their students
the best they can in the areas in which they educate.
>>... As a student of communication, feedback
is an appropriate part of the process. I think
that standards prevent the kind of lecturing
that I sense is being advocated here. Just
preach the knowledge and forget the teaching...<<
I agree with you that teaching is important, but we must differentiate
between teaching the students so they can learn and preparing students
for success in all jobs. You can do the former, but you cannot do the
later. Why must B-Schools believe that each student will be a good
employee for all employers? If schools educated their students and
the public in the concept of job fit the schools would go along way
to defusing the problem. Since no school has ever prepared all its
graduates to be successful in all jobs it seems logical that schools
would not want to encourage the public to think otherwise. A piece of
paper from a university is not a guarantee of success on the job. We
all know too many arrogant, insensitive, me first, loners with MBA's
to think that B-schools always turnout great employees.
An poorly performing employee who earns an MBA is likely to be a poorly
performing employee with an MBA, unless of course the MBA provided the
skills and knowledge the employee needed to perform the job well.
There is more to success than knowledge and skills.
Bob
+----------------------------+
| Robert F. Gately, PE, MBA |
+----------------------------+-----------------------+
| GATELY CONSULTING (508) 473-0955 |
| 115 Dutcher Street Fax (508) 634-0670 |
| Hopedale, MA 01747-1006 Toll Free (800) 478-8117 |
|
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gately/ |
+----------------------------------------------------+