The document discusses the need for MBA programs to rethink their approach and value proposition in order to better prepare students for today's complex business environment. It outlines several challenges facing MBA programs, including declining enrollment, lack of student engagement, and questions around their value added. The author argues that programs need to rebalance their curricula to focus more on developing skills ("doing") and professional identities ("being") in addition to knowledge ("knowing"). Eight specific areas are identified where programs could innovate, such as gaining a global perspective, developing leadership skills, and understanding the limits of models and markets. The author advocates for experimenting with new pedagogies like experiential learning and recruiting more practitioners to enrich

1. Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads
By Professor Srikant Datar, Harvard University
Professor Datar presented at the Future of Management Education Forums March 2012
In today’s rapidly changing environment, MBA programs are the subject of growing scrutiny
as they wrestle with how to prepare students for increasingly complex organizations and careers.
The demands on MBA programs have brought them to a crossroads at which they will have to
reconsider their value proposition. Business schools will need to take a broader view of their
graduates’ responsibilities to multiple stakeholders, and to provide their students with a deeper
understanding of such phenomena as globalization, leadership, and innovation, as well as the
ability to think critically, decide wisely, communicate clearly, and implement effectively.
Imperative for Change
The research we did for our book on Rethinking the MBA shows that business schools
face important challenges such as declining enrolments in full time MBA programs, lack of
student engagement, and questions about the value-added of MBA programs. As one dean put it,
“Good, often proud, schools are having trouble building a class.” The students that do come
spend increasing amounts of time networking, attending recruiting events, planning club
activities, and pursuing the best possible job as opposed to academics. Schools are wrestling with
basic questions of purpose, positioning, and program design. A number of business schools have
already begun the process of adopting new approaches to maintain their relevance in a rapidly
changing business environment.
One major concern for the health of MBA programs is the “two cultures” problem that
has resulted in questions about the relevance of business school research to business practice.
The teaching and research undertaken at business schools, heavily influenced by the
recommendations of the Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation reports of 1959, led to a rise
in analytical courses, an increase in the research orientation of business school faculty, a tighter
alignment with traditional academic disciplines such as applied mathematics, economics,
statistics, and social psychology, and a greater commitment to rigorous, theory-based
scholarship. Over time, the result of these reforms, according to critics, is a growing “gap
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2. between theory and practice,” and the coexistence of two largely separate, independent
communities –- academics and practitioners.
Rebalancing MBA Education
Business schools have reached a crossroads and need to take a hard look at their value
propositions. The core of our conclusion is that business schools need to do two things: reassess
the facts, frameworks, and theories that they teach (the “knowing” component), while at the
same time rebalancing their curricula so that more attention is paid to developing the skills,
capabilities, and techniques that lie at the heart of the practice of management (the “doing”
component) and the values, attitudes, and beliefs that form managers’ world views and
professional identities (the “being” component). Rebalancing MBA education towards “doing”
and “being” aims to reduce the knowing-doing gap that results from these deficiencies in skills,
attitudes, and beliefs. Without “doing” skills, knowledge is of little value. Without “being” skills,
it is often hard to act ethically or professionally.
Looking across MBA programs, we identify eight unmet needs, many of them related to
“doing” and “being.” The leading edge of change to address these needs is already visible at
some schools. Each presents an opportunity for MBA programs to innovate and change.

Gaining a global perspective: identifying, analyzing, and practicing how best to manage
when faced with economic, institutional, and cultural differences across countries.

Developing leadership skills: understanding the responsibilities of leadership; developing
alternative approaches to inspiring, influencing, and guiding others; learning such skills
as conducting a performance review and giving critical feedback; and recognizing the
impact of one’s actions and behaviors on others.

Honing integration skills: thinking about issues from diverse, shifting angles to frame
problems holistically; learning to make decisions based on multiple, often conflicting,
functional perspectives; and building judgment and intuition into messy, unstructured
situations. Business schools need to equip students with the tools to analyze problems
holistically, see the value in opposing models, and synthesize competing perspectives.

Understanding the role, responsibilities, and purpose of business: balancing financial and
nonfinancial objectives while simultaneously juggling the demands of diverse
constituencies such as shareholders, employees, customers, regulators, and society.
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3. 
Recognizing organizational realities and the challenges of implementation: influencing
others and getting things done in the context of hidden agendas, unwritten rules, political
coalitions, and competing points of view.

Thinking creatively and innovatively: finding and framing problems; collecting,
synthesizing, and distilling large volumes of ambiguous data; engaging in generative and
lateral thinking; and constantly experimenting and learning.

Thinking critically and communicating clearly: developing and articulating logical,
coherent, and persuasive arguments; marshalling supporting evidence; and distinguishing
fact from opinion. Students are taught how to approach questions by using deductive
arguments, causative reasoning, inductive arguments, and analogical reasoning.

Understanding the limits of models and markets: asking tough questions about risk by
questioning underlying assumptions and emerging patterns and seeking to understand
what might go wrong; learning about the sources of errors that lead to flawed decision
making and the organizational safeguards that reduce these risks; understanding the
tension between regulatory activities aimed at preventing social harm and market-based
incentives designed to encourage innovation and efficiency; and teaching students
recognizing the imperfections of models and frameworks
Implementing change
We do not believe that every MBA program should be moving simultaneously on all of
these fronts, nor that every school should be making the same changes or teaching the very same
courses. Some degree of specialization is certain to be beneficial. After all, schools differ
dramatically in their resources and capabilities, as well as their underlying philosophies. There is
no single, best way to proceed.
Schools need to continue to experiment with new pedagogies. Many of the most
innovative courses today employ some type of experiential or active learning, often involving
team projects or group exercises. To resolve the staffing challenges imposed by a proliferation of
small group activities, a number of schools are experimenting with combinations of faculty,
alumni, and second-year students to oversee these projects. Many schools, in fact, have already
recruited distinguished executives to fill full-time senior lecturer and professor of management
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4. practice positions. Faculty members from practice bring a wealth of business experience that
enriches both faculty research and classroom learning. Given the current shortage of business
school faculty, we expect these trends to intensify, particularly because clinical faculty have the
talent and experience to help students develop “doing” and “being” skills.
But curriculum changes cannot be limited to the first year. The second year affords a
great opportunity to supplement the “knowing” that dominates first year classes with even more
exposure to “doing” and “being.” Schools might, for example, focus on improving students’
leadership skills by combining coursework and reflective exercises with job shadowing and realtime observation, develop more global mindsets in students by coupling international work
experiences with the opportunity to take classes on partners’ overseas campuses, or acquaint
students with implementation challenges by linking development projects aimed at
commercializing cutting-edge technologies with class discussions that teased out differing
perspectives from each team’s MBAs, scientists, lawyers, and designers.
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