Jack Ring <
jring@AMUG.ORG> wrote:
>>... In my experience they evaluate
behavioral characteristics but they
also evaluate rate of learning ...<<
Yes, that is true and measurable. When managers learn that
their top performers are not always their quickest learners
they are really surprised. Quite often the most troublesome
employees are the quickest learners.
>>...While I do not disagree, my point
is that MBA schools could expose them to
new experiences and encourage new traits...<<
I agree, but how hard it is for you to change your own behavior? Most
of us do not change our behaviors easily or quickly.
>>... one Whack on the Side of
the Head in only eight weeks...<<
I got one of them during my training in the USAF.
>>... Why can't B schools do the same? ...<<
It is one thing to have students "see the light" and recognize there
is a better way to manage, it is quite another to get them to change
their behavior accordingly. The way we behave when stressed is our most
important behavior. When we mistreat others when we are stressed it
won't take them long to realize that we cannot be trusted to treat
them with respect. Some of us have a low tolerance of abuse while
others seem to be immune and the rest of us fall somewhere in
the middle.
>>... should management development be
the province only of B Schools? ...<<
Employers ought to do it themselves.
>>... We have a fundamental difference in view, here...<<
We are closer than you may think.
>>... I believe that a person's vistas are
practically unlimited and, then, only self limited...<<
I can do anything I want to do as long as it is within my capabilities.
However, that does not mean an employer can send employees to training
so that the employee becomes what the employer wants or needs.
>>... suppose that the reason business seems
to be populated by employees who exhibit signs
of incompetence is that we all rise to a level
of where, eventually, no one is capable of
(or cares to help) increase our competence...<<
Yes, I agree, our supervisors are not doing their job hence they are
incompetent.
>>... we depend on others to feed us "learning"
then we will eventually hit a limit...<<
Again, I agree, we are responsible for ourselves but managers
should be responsible for helping their people achieve the goals
of the organization.
>>.... alternative Corollary: In time, every
post tends to be occupied by an employee who
did not have and did not construct an adequate
learning environment...<<
But whose responsible for that? Certainly not the employee.
>>... If we had a few good men (and women),
we would need only about 7,000....<<
Let's do the arithmetic.
Graduates per year = 7,000
Average Age = 26 years
Average Work Life = 40 years
Total Active MBAs = 280,000
No. of Businesses = 5,000,000
No. of Employees = 120,000,000
This tells me that 1 MBA will be shared by 18 business.
Yikes, the MBAs will be in big demand. Stated another way,
1 MBA will be responsible for 421 employees which may be a
good ratio?
>>... Egad, all my exhortations were for naught...<<
I just don't see myself as a teacher. My wife, the second grade
teacher, says I could never teach. <vbg>
Bob