Challenging existing
business school paradigms
business school paradigms
For a school to truly make a mark upon the broad arena of the business and management discipline, it has to maintain its relevance to the community that it is serving, cultivate the respect of not only other academics, but those in the corporate field and even your everyday Joe, as well as act as a focal point where questions pertaining to issues in business and management can be referred to in full confidence.
Hence, a business school is not merely a building where students come to study and then graduate from within a few years, but is instead a symbol of an organic ethos, a set of principles that form the backbone of both the school and its students, and permeate thinking and practices long after students have graduated and programmes have ended. In short, it shapes society at the core by nurturing future leaders through relevant curriculum as well as influencing business practices through meaningful consultancy and research work by faculties.
It is the concept of a business school that fuels Professor Arfah Salleh, dean of Universiti Putra Malaysia's Graduate School of Management, to strive for the evolution of GSM itself into an entity based on the tenets of human governance and ethical processes.
This transformation entails a holistic approach not only from the philosophical stand point but also the processes and methodology with which the school is managed, including the manner a faculty's performance is appraised, "explains Professor Arfah. "Benchmarking to the criteria of research universities may prove inappropriate since business schools do not share the same contextual teleology for existence with research universities. But many local business schools are part of the larger research universities setup and are subject to this dilemma."
Appreciating the need to provide the right signal to faculties in terms of the expectations that management has of them has made Professor Arfah resolute to resolve the matter and institutionalise it. To her, unless this impasse is addressed, GSM, like many other business schools can be trapped between aspiring to achieve prominence as a business school relevant to the community, yet having to comply with some of the requirements of research universities' criteria that are not congruent. " For instance, the focus of business schools to bridge theory and practice through having industry-experienced faculties will be difficult to materialise. While a doctorate is a beneficial tenure prerequisite for research universities, many business practitioners do not find such academic standing a must-have, "Professor Arfah points out.
"Likewise, research findings by business schools' faculties must transcend the realm of academic publications to reach the Malaysian business community too, and for that, these works must display business relevance. Evaluation criteria that give weightage to high impact journals as measured solely by academic peer references should be questioned. In addition to that, the focus of research also should be realigned to capture the needs of the country's community of business practitioners apart from advancing the theoretical aspect of the discipline."
It is with all these in mind that GSM is hopeful that a new governance structure can be set up - one that permits GSM to not only set its criteria for assessing its faculties' performance and for staff appointment but also to chart its overall direction and the manner of reaching it.
AN INDEPENDENT ENTITY
While the idea of being an independent entity within a university establishment may sound unconventional, GSM has fortunately received strong support and positive feedback from the university leadership and Senate members to move in this direction.
The vision of a business school that possesses the liberty to fully focus on providing scholars with quality education without the fumbling of impeding institutional performance indicators is what GSM is setting its sights on right now.
GSM hopes to be able to move to the next phase of governance structure in the form of a non-profit foundation governed by a board of trustees and governors," Professor Arfah elucidates on GSM's game plan. "This would allow GSM to operate as an autonomous entity in terms of direction and strategy."
Despite the intention for GSM to become an independent entity, it will still maintain its role as the sole entity for UPM to advance the business management discipline at the postgraduate level.
"We will certainly be continuing UPM's role in contributing to the country's human potential development, by nuturing human leaders to spearhead organisations from the prospective of Eastern traditions," assures Professor Arfah.
"This business school will be a realisation of the philosophies that we have been trying to push through - GSM's core of human governance and respect towards every human, no matter the position in an organisation."
LOOKING EAST
One of the misconceptions that Professor Arfah is eager to correct with the inception of GSM's new model of a business school is the low regard of eastern practices within the business field. "Currently the existing business school curriculum is drawn from a single Western-constructed worldview," maintains Professor Arfah. "Our eastern values are hardly considered in business practices, yet I believe that we should look at ourselves - our culture and our values - to rediscover the pathway to a more spiritually-based system, as opposed to the current system that ignores this in the pursuit of profit and material possessions."
Acknowledging that going against a pre-existing system is a daunting task, Professor Arfah nevertheless believes that GSM is up for the challenge with a teaching staff who is 100 per cent behind her efforts, and programmes that will introduce the new generation of students to holistic learning that includes experiential learning, human governance and a strong ethical component embedded within every subject. And in light of the never-ending list of corporate misdeeds including the more recent Olympus accounting reporting fiasco, she has every reason to stick by her belief.
"It is important for us to maintain our relevance to the industry while slowly changing mindsets," says Professor Arfah. "We understand that change will not occur overnight." Professor Arfah knows that this change is necessary for the local business industry, and if she must forge forward as the pioneer, than it is more of a compliment rather than a burden. "We have received support from the industry players who have come to us for training programmes. It is uplifting to have the opportunity to begin spreading human governance. It is something that is exigent for our economy, and as potential students broaden their mindsets, we will stand as the business school with something fundamental to offer."
Appreciating the need to provide the right signal to faculties in terms of the expectations that management has of them has made Professor Arfah resolute to resolve the matter and institutionalise it. To her, unless this impasse is addressed, GSM, like many other business schools can be trapped between aspiring to achieve prominence as a business school relevant to the community, yet having to comply with some of the requirements of research universities' criteria that are not congruent. " For instance, the focus of business schools to bridge theory and practice through having industry-experienced faculties will be difficult to materialise. While a doctorate is a beneficial tenure prerequisite for research universities, many business practitioners do not find such academic standing a must-have, "Professor Arfah points out.
"Likewise, research findings by business schools' faculties must transcend the realm of academic publications to reach the Malaysian business community too, and for that, these works must display business relevance. Evaluation criteria that give weightage to high impact journals as measured solely by academic peer references should be questioned. In addition to that, the focus of research also should be realigned to capture the needs of the country's community of business practitioners apart from advancing the theoretical aspect of the discipline."
It is with all these in mind that GSM is hopeful that a new governance structure can be set up - one that permits GSM to not only set its criteria for assessing its faculties' performance and for staff appointment but also to chart its overall direction and the manner of reaching it.
AN INDEPENDENT ENTITY
While the idea of being an independent entity within a university establishment may sound unconventional, GSM has fortunately received strong support and positive feedback from the university leadership and Senate members to move in this direction.
The vision of a business school that possesses the liberty to fully focus on providing scholars with quality education without the fumbling of impeding institutional performance indicators is what GSM is setting its sights on right now.
GSM hopes to be able to move to the next phase of governance structure in the form of a non-profit foundation governed by a board of trustees and governors," Professor Arfah elucidates on GSM's game plan. "This would allow GSM to operate as an autonomous entity in terms of direction and strategy."
Despite the intention for GSM to become an independent entity, it will still maintain its role as the sole entity for UPM to advance the business management discipline at the postgraduate level.
"We will certainly be continuing UPM's role in contributing to the country's human potential development, by nuturing human leaders to spearhead organisations from the prospective of Eastern traditions," assures Professor Arfah.
"This business school will be a realisation of the philosophies that we have been trying to push through - GSM's core of human governance and respect towards every human, no matter the position in an organisation."
LOOKING EAST
One of the misconceptions that Professor Arfah is eager to correct with the inception of GSM's new model of a business school is the low regard of eastern practices within the business field. "Currently the existing business school curriculum is drawn from a single Western-constructed worldview," maintains Professor Arfah. "Our eastern values are hardly considered in business practices, yet I believe that we should look at ourselves - our culture and our values - to rediscover the pathway to a more spiritually-based system, as opposed to the current system that ignores this in the pursuit of profit and material possessions."
Acknowledging that going against a pre-existing system is a daunting task, Professor Arfah nevertheless believes that GSM is up for the challenge with a teaching staff who is 100 per cent behind her efforts, and programmes that will introduce the new generation of students to holistic learning that includes experiential learning, human governance and a strong ethical component embedded within every subject. And in light of the never-ending list of corporate misdeeds including the more recent Olympus accounting reporting fiasco, she has every reason to stick by her belief.
"It is important for us to maintain our relevance to the industry while slowly changing mindsets," says Professor Arfah. "We understand that change will not occur overnight." Professor Arfah knows that this change is necessary for the local business industry, and if she must forge forward as the pioneer, than it is more of a compliment rather than a burden. "We have received support from the industry players who have come to us for training programmes. It is uplifting to have the opportunity to begin spreading human governance. It is something that is exigent for our economy, and as potential students broaden their mindsets, we will stand as the business school with something fundamental to offer."
New Straits Times, | Tuesday | December 15, 2011
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing such a nice topic on "business school paradigms", really helpful for me.
I completely agree, changing mind sets in business schools is essential. I studied an undergraduate accounting degree in London a few years back and I found that it helped install the ethos and values that I have today.
Thanks your site is very informative for us.
WLCI is one of the largest Professional education institutions in India. Our business management courses primarily focus on how organizations work systems and processes in organizations and changing trends in the business environment.
To know more about Business Courses please visit –
Professional Management Programs | School of Business
It would also be interesting to know how challenging it is to have a graduate degree in business.
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