What Is Wrong with Most MBA Programmes?

Paul Kedrosky has several recent interesting postings at Infectious Greed about the lack of hands-on knowledge among most biz skool profs and how that lack affects their courses. In one, he opines, Time to Fire a Few MBA Professors. Commenting on remarks by Yale School of Management Dean, Jeff Garten, Paul says

I couldn't agree more strongly that a root of the problem is that almost all business school professors have no business experience. And the incentive system is completely cock-eyed, with it being an embarassment that business schools treat promotion & tenure decisions as if biz school profs are lab physicists. Then again, all Garten's twin-track approach [some profs do practical teaching; others do research] will likely do is create a caste system inside schools, with the insiders hoarding power and control over the "mere" clinical faculty who, the dumb bastards, actually know what they are talking about. Craziness.

The comments and his responses make for good reading. In another piece, Paul links to this quote from Jeffrey Pfeffer:

There is little evidence that mastery of the knowledge acquired in business schools enhances people’s careers, or that even attaining the MBA credential itself has much effect on graduates’ salaries or career attainment.

In many respects, Kedrosky provides some useful insights. One reason the case-teaching method still has strong proponents in some of the better bizskools is that profs who use the case method typically have had at least some decision-making experience.

If you get a chance, ask Paul about his DBA dissertation.