The Education of Practicing Managers

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AGENDA

The authors argue that contemporary management education does a disservice by standardizing content, focusing on business functions (instead of managing practices) and training specialists (rather than general managers). Working with several major international universities, the authors have developed a vision of management education that grounds MBA programs in practical experiences, shared insights and reflection.

They suggest that management education be limited to working managers nominated by their companies, thus allowing them to apply their knowledge directly and immediately to actual management practice. They assert that business schools must make management education more directly applicable to a manager's own experiences, shaping the curriculum through interaction between instructor and student. They also recommend that managers be encouraged to share with their work colleagues specific lessons derived from their education. The goal of this reshaping of management education, say the authors, is for business schools to fully integrate experience, theory and reflection, encouraging managers to incorporate this philosophy directly into the daily functioning of their workplaces.

Jonathan Gosling is the director of the Center for Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. Henry Mintzberg is the John Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montreal and author of Managers Not MBAs (Berrett-Koehler, 2004). Contact them at jonathan.gosling@exeter.ac.uk and henry.mintzberg@mcgill.ca. For more information on the International Masters Program in Practicing Management or the Advanced Leadership Program, visit http://www.impm.org/ or http://www.alp-impm.com.

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