讀MBA到底有什么用?
???? ????上世紀(jì)50年代是美國經(jīng)濟(jì)的全盛時(shí)期。二戰(zhàn)的陰云已經(jīng)散去,不斷發(fā)展壯大的公司意識(shí)到,他們需要一批新的管理者,來管理橫跨多個(gè)國家和擁有幾十個(gè)品牌的綜合性大公司。 ????不過,美國的公司并沒有選擇自己培養(yǎng)人才,而是向各大院校發(fā)展迅速的管理學(xué)課程尋求幫助——也就是授予工商管理學(xué)碩士(MBA)學(xué)位的專業(yè)。 ????這一點(diǎn)很容易理解。既然大學(xué)已經(jīng)進(jìn)入這個(gè)領(lǐng)域,公司為什么還要去投資培養(yǎng)年輕的商業(yè)人士?然而,MBA的出現(xiàn)還是引起了許多人的擔(dān)憂。管理學(xué)大師彼得?德魯克在1950年的一期《財(cái)富》雜志(Fortune )中對此有過描述,文章的標(biāo)題是《商學(xué)院》(The Graduate Business School)。 ????有批評者認(rèn)為:學(xué)會(huì)管理要靠實(shí)踐,而不能靠課堂學(xué)習(xí)。MBA課程培養(yǎng)出來的是脫離實(shí)戰(zhàn)的“皇太子”,雖然理論高深,但他們對將要經(jīng)營的公司卻一無所知。社會(huì)上真正需要的是靠實(shí)踐成長起來的企業(yè)家,而不是靠書本理論培養(yǎng)出來的專業(yè)經(jīng)理人。那么,MBA專業(yè)的目的到底是什么? ????這樣的問題并不會(huì)讓高等院校放棄商業(yè)課程——畢竟,學(xué)??梢越宕双@得大筆收入,但德魯克寫道:“毫不夸張地說,商學(xué)院雖然在論戰(zhàn)中占據(jù)了上風(fēng),但他們并不知道該如何對待所取得的勝利。商學(xué)院并不清楚他們的職責(zé)是什么,也不知道如何完成自己的職責(zé)?!?/p> ????德魯克曾質(zhì)疑,“如果專業(yè)的商學(xué)院都不明白那些商業(yè)人士在社會(huì)中的職能”,那么這些商業(yè)人士自己又怎么可能清楚呢? ????六十年后,許多事情發(fā)生了改變。首先,在德魯克的文章中只字未提女性,而通用汽車(GE)的管理者們也只是說“來自哈佛商學(xué)院(Harvard Business School)的那些聰明的小伙子們”。但如今,在哈佛商學(xué)院2015屆學(xué)生中,女性比例占到41%。過去幾年,賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)沃頓商學(xué)院(University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School)的女性學(xué)生比例也一直保持在40%以上。 ????此外,如今MBA學(xué)生比20世紀(jì)50年代的學(xué)生更年長。德魯克寫道,當(dāng)時(shí),“研究生通常直接來自大學(xué)。就算他們有工作經(jīng)驗(yàn),也只不過是在夏令營當(dāng)過顧問;或者賣過訂閱的《周六晚郵報(bào)》(Saturday Evening Post)。他們從未像成年人一樣在成年人的世界里生活過,也從未獨(dú)立過,總之他們?nèi)狈ι虡I(yè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)?!钡卖斂藢Υ瞬⒉粷M意。 ????六十年后,大多數(shù)商業(yè)課程都牢記他的觀點(diǎn),現(xiàn)在都要求學(xué)生有幾年(三至五年)工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)。福爾德基金(Forte Foundation)的執(zhí)行董事愛麗莎?埃利斯-桑斯特說:“公司開始提出工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)方面的要求。有工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)會(huì)讓他們更加成熟?!备柕禄鹋c各大商學(xué)院和公司合作,以提高商業(yè)職業(yè)中的女性比例。 ????但其他問題仍存在爭議。德魯克對“皇太子”問題的解釋是,在商學(xué)院“有一種內(nèi)在的傾向,即商學(xué)院培養(yǎng)出的人才目的是避開競爭,直接進(jìn)入大公司的高層,而不是在與公司其他人的競爭中證明自己的能力和資質(zhì)?!?/p> ????這種說法很有道理。畢竟,除非你認(rèn)為讀商學(xué)院可以比熬資歷獲得更多,否則誰會(huì)愿意拿出工作時(shí)間去上學(xué)呢?而且,對于那些被打上卓越標(biāo)簽的人,其他同事很自然會(huì)心懷怨恨。而這種情況會(huì)大大降低士氣。 ????總之,埃利斯-桑斯特堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為,如今女性MBA學(xué)生身上并沒有那種“皇太子”的光環(huán)?!八齻円邮苤笇?dǎo)和建議,才能知道如何提升自己?!?/p> ???? |
????The 1950s were a heady time for the American economy. The grim years of World War II were fading in the rearview mirror, and growing corporations realized they needed a new breed of manager who could oversee conglomerates spanning borders and dozens of brands. ????But rather than cultivate their own talent, companies looked to the burgeoning academic programs in management -- those granting a Master of Business Administration (MBA) -- for help. ????It was a straightforward idea. Why invest in training young, budding businessmen when universities were already in that space? Still, the rise of the MBA inspired handwringing, which was chronicled in a 1950 Fortune feature by management guru Peter Drucker called "The Graduate Business School." ????Among the critiques: Management was about doing, not academic study. MBA programs created "crown princes" marked for the top who knew little about the businesses they would run. Society needed entrepreneurs, not business administrators. What was the purpose of an MBA, anyway? ????Such questions no longer made universities shy from business programs -- money poured into them after all -- but Drucker wrote that "It would be no exaggeration to say that the business schools, while they have won the war, do not know what to do with their victory. The business schools have 'arrived' without quite knowing what their job is, or how to accomplish it." ????How can the businessman know his function in society, Drucker wondered, "if their own professional schools do not know what it is?" ????Sixty-three years later, some things have changed. For starters, women -- completely absent in Drucker's piece, where GE (GE) managers talked of the "bright lads from the Harvard Business School" -- comprised 41% of HBS's class of 2015. Women have made up north of 40% of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School for the past few years. ????MBA students are also generally older than they were in 1950. Then, "The typical graduate student comes directly from college," Drucker wrote. "If he has any work experience at all it is as a counselor in a summer camp; or maybe he has sold subscriptions to the Saturday Evening Post. He has never lived as an adult in an adult world, has never been on his own, and, above all, he lacks business experience." Drucker was not pleased. ????Six decades later, most programs take his point to heart and now require a few (two-five) years of work experience. "Companies started asking for it. Companies started demanding it," says Elissa Ellis-Sangster, executive director of the Forte Foundation, which works with business schools and corporations to increase the representation of women in business careers. "Having that work experience matures them a little more." ????Other questions, though, are still being debated. Drucker explained the "crown prince" problem by noting that at business schools, "there is an inherent tendency toward the turning out of men who aim at making an end run around a large organization directly to the top, rather than proving their abilities and qualities in working their way up in competition with the rest of the organization." ????This makes sense. After all, why take time off work to go to school unless you think you'll gain more than those years of seniority? Nonetheless, other employees naturally resented these men marked for greatness. And that undermined morale. ????In general, today's female MBA students don't have a "crown princess" aura, Ellis-Sangster insists; "They have to be coached and advised on how to promote themselves."? |
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