ARE BUSINESS SCHOOLS PRODUCING 21ST CENTURY MANAGERS Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 28, 2001 ARE BUSINESS SCHOOLS PRODUCING 21ST CENTURY MANAGERS? Paul Moschella, University of Hartford Mosch@mail.hartford.edu Sandra Morgan, University of Hartford Morgan@mail.hartford.edu ABSTRACT This interactive discussion focuses on the business school "product" and engages participants in sharing their views and experience. INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION SESSION Many business publications, including Business Week (8/28/00), stress that the corporate world has changed its rules; now “many companies will be intentionally ephemeral…” (86) and will require different management skills to “manage this intricate network of partners, spin-off enterprises, contractors, and freelancers” (87). The 21st Century corporation is knowledge-based, networked, flexible, global, real-time and employs mobile or geographically dispersed workers and freelancers; therefore business schools are challenged to produce graduates who can “manage information, not physical assets” (88). USA Today (5/23/00) reports that the business schools are likely victims of corporate training and distance learning that will “ ‘wipe out’ many of the 700 MBA programs in the country” (1B). The New York Times (10/1/00) reports that consulting firms are now turning away from hiring MBA’s in favor of Ph.D.’s, lawyers, engineers, and MD’s. Can business schools still educate graduates to manage (and lead) successfully in this new corporate world? The predictions are depressing. Ever since the Porter and McKibbin report in 1988, business schools have been under fire for a wide variety of failings, from maintaining the “functional silos” to omitting “soft skills,” critical thinking, and multidisciplinary problem-framing from their curriculum. In this discussion session, we plan to lead the group in exploring how we can better prepare managers for the 21st Century corporation within the structural constraints of our business schools. We will share what we do do, could do, and should do. Ideally, participants will leave the session with an idea or two they can apply in their own teaching that will help students learn to ask better questions, frame problems well, anticipate chaos and complexity, and lead and motivate others to do the same, REFERENCES Byrne, J. A. (2000). Management by web. Business Week, August 28, 84-96. Jones, D. (2000). Will business schools go out of business? E-learning, corporate academies change the rules. USA Today, May 23, 1B. Leonhardt, D. (2000). A matter of degree? Not for consultants. The New York Times, October 1, Section 3, 1, 18. Porter, L. W., & McKibbin, L. E. (1988), Management education and development: Drift or thrust into the 21st Century? New York: McGraw-Hill. 160 Table of Contents Volume 28, 2001 Using A Web Based Tutorial Program To Enhance Student Learning Reflecting On Reflection: An Examination Of Reflective Learning And Assessing Outcomes Overcoming Obstacles To A Cross-Global Collaborative Classroom Panel Discussion On Building And Maintaining Trust In The Abselesque Classroom Cosmopolitan-Based Cross National Segmentation In Global Marketing Simulations Strategic Management And The Case Method: Survey And Evaluation In Hong Kong Designing Interactive Self-Learning Modules Using Macromedia Director Teaching Financial Markets Using The Wall Street Journal Core Course Outcomes Assessment And Program Continuous Improvement Using An Integrative Business Plan Œ An Empirical Evaluation Using A Mock Trial Activity For Interdisciplinary Learning Fidelity, Verifiability, And Validity Of Simulation: Constructs For Evaluation 2001 International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition: 37 Years Of Collegiate Competition Motivating Students: An Initial Attempt To Operationalize The Curiosity Gap Model E-Learning: The Next Wave Of Experiential Learning Helping New Game Adopters: Four Perspectives An Initial Validity Invesitigaion of A Test Assessing Total Enterprise Simulation Learning Administering A Marketing Simulation - Common And Varied Practices Among Instructors Issues In Case Method Instruction: Class Discussion Leadership Sex Composition, Cohesion, Consensus, Potency And Performance Of Simulation Teams Integrating Management Curriculum: Linking Courses With Frontpage Absel: The Way We Talk! Teaching Strategic Management: A Case Study In The Diffusion Of Innovation In Education A Demonstration Of Bussim Strategy A Total Enterprise Simulation Teaching Methods: Etic Or Emic Antecedents Of Work Team Performance In A Business Simulation: Personality And Group Interaction When Experiential Educators Reflect Upon Their Craft: A Qualitative Research Report Strategic Sensemaking In Organizations: Model Formulation And Operationalization Panel Discussion: A Model For Initiative Development: Discussion And Ideas Of Individual Spirit Harmonics Assessing The Efficacy Of Experiential Learning In A Multicultural Environment Are Business Schools Producing 21st Century Managers? Blue Horizon Cruises: An International Simulation Exercise To Illustrate Conflicting Economic And Cultural Models Different Perceptions Of The Same Thing: An Experiential Exercise Current Use Of Agribusiness Simulation Games: Survey Results Of University Agribusiness And Agricultural Economics Programs Team Building 101 For Accountants An Online Evaluation Of The Compete Online Decision Entry System (Codes) Total Enterprise Simulation Winners And Losers: A Preliminary Study Gilding The Lily, Enhancing The Pedagogical Experience, Or Fixing What Isn™t Broke: The Dilemma Of New Simulation Versions The Absel Endnote Database: The Perfect Tool For The Bernie Keys Library Decision-Making Exercises (A), (B), And (C): Examining The Role Of Conflict In Group Decision-Making Group Decision Simulation (A)-(F): Examining Procedural Justice In Group Decision-Making Processes Evaluation Of Performance In Business Games: Financial And Non Financial Approaches A Framework For Evaluating Simulations As Educational Tools Congruence II™: A Strategic Business Board Game The Tournament Concept: Extending The Idea Of Using Simulations As Instruments Of Assessment The Economic And Political Transition Of The Mexican State In The Threshold Of Twenty First Century: From The Entrepreneurial State To The State Of Entrepreneurs. Experiential Learning For Accountants: The Not For Profit Project An Investigation Of The Environmental Awareness Attained In A Simple Business Simulation Game A Daily Exercise In Theory Application: Is This Why I Had To Take Marketing, Management, Finance –? An Alternative View to Scoring Selected Simulation Games and Experiential Exercises