Teaching future CEOs

By Lisa Maddux

Mike Knetter hears a lot about what business schools are doing wrong. In fact, he's currently reading a book by a Harvard business professor that highlights the failings of business schools.

But Knetter, dean of UW-Madison's School of Business, doesn't necessarily believe all the hype. Knetter said a lot of business schools are doing a lot of things right -- ethically, socially and globally.

"There's always a big academic debate about whether business schools are teaching the right stuff," Knetter said. But those debates tend to focus on management and overlook the complexity of what schools such as the University of Wisconsin are really addressing, he said. "A lot of that is irrelevant to us."

Knetter is one of three local college leaders who feel area business schools are meeting the practical demands of preparing today's students for tomorrow's business environment.

Emphasis on partnering

Chris Clements, dean of UW-Whitewater's College of Business and Economics, said her college has always had an emphasis on partnering with industry. The college wants students to hear more than just theory "so that their education is both current and relevant," she said.

"A school like UW-Whitewater has always had a very applied emphasis," Clements said. In addition to internships, the college routinely is involved in projects with businesses that might otherwise have limited resources. UW-Whitewater can provide consulting teams consisting of students under the direction of faculty.

Any discussion of business education eventually turns to ethics, something local college leaders say is a crucial, if difficult, part of the curriculum.

At Edgewood College, part of the mission is to produce ethical leaders in whatever field is being addressed.

"We feel that it's important to educate the entire person," said Anita Matcha, director of Edgewood's MBA program. The Madison college's Dominican base puts an emphasis on ethics in all aspects of student life.

"We teach them to think," she said. "We consider ourselves a value-based education, not a faith-based (education)."

Knetter said it's very difficult to actually teach ethics, given that college students come into school already on the edge of adulthood.

"I would say the jury is still out on how do you do that" he said. "There's a limited amount that you can do to change someone's makeup."

UW's honor code

Knetter said UW has things in place such as an honor code and student-run judicial board that oversees such matters, but a lot of a person's success is going to depend on how they handle things that come up in the real world.

"They sort of have to learn it through their own practice," he said.

Knetter pointed out that the corporate greed and lack of ethics in the upper echelons of business that have come to light in the last few years are not indicative of what business schools are teaching.

If anything, he said, they are the results of a bygone era where such ethical matters were not as openly debated.

Clements believes the influence of the students learning business today cannot be underestimated. And that influence must not be about greed or just the bottom line.

"That isn't who we are," she said. "The ability to impact the future of our world is in a huge way a part of business."

Social conscience needed

Developing a social conscience is something UW-Whitewater takes very seriously, she said. Green projects and microfinance are some of the initiatives widely discussed in business schools and increasingly accepted as integral parts of the equation, she said.

Business school educators agree that the ability to operate in a global, entrepreneurial environment is one of the most important trends.

"All business is global business," Clements said. "Businesses just can't be stodgy anymore. The world won't stand for it."

Edgewood's Matcha said the school offers plenty of international speakers and a trip to China as well as instruction with a global mindset.

Speaking specifically about MBA degrees, Matcha said there has been a national trend toward the commoditization of the MBA -- making if fast, easy and cheap. In many instances, students are buying a degree in name, but not true knowledge.

Edgewood strives to make sure its MBA students don't fall victim to the "silos of knowledge" syndrome, where they do not have an ability to work or understand other business disciplines.

Curriculum review

Edgewood currently is performing an outside curriculum review with members of the business community.

Knetter also highlighted UW-Madison's MBA model in which about 50 percent of students take some sort of foreign study trip or internship. About 35 percent of undergraduates have some global experience, something he would like every student to do.

The globalization of business not only affects how American business students must study, but impacts the resources available to the schools.

Knetter said he sees a much greater competition for quality faculty because countries such as China and India are now recruiting those positions. Ten years ago, they didn't have business schools, he said.

Another impact of increased globalization, Clements said, is a greater emphasis on qualitative analytical skills. The ability to manipulate large databases and analyze them is increasingly important, she said.

The technical aspects of using all the information available is important in all business fields, even the "softer" majors like marketing.

"There's an expectation that our graduates will know what to do with that information," she said.

Courses are changing

Business schools are not only expanding their thinking to a global model, but expanding their programming to meet the needs of modern students.

Knetter said he's seen an increase in demand for nondegree classes, short courses and one-week courses that fit into business peoples' schedules. Online courses and part-time programs are increasingly popular at all local business colleges.

All this work takes money, of course. And UW-Madison's School of Business will have some help from a recent $85 million gift from a small group of alumni.

The gift specifies that the college keep its name as it is for the next 20 years, resisting any corporate or personal naming rights.

Knetter said the largest single gift given to the university will be spent largely on people -- about 90 percent on faculty, students, instructional staff.

"That was a huge deal for us," he said of the gift. The money helps, of course, but it doesn't necessarily make managing a modern business school easy.

"It's challenging," Knetter said.

Lisa Maddux is a Portage freelance writer.

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