A truly ‘transformative’ MBA: executive education for the fourth Industrial Revolution
Authors
Barber, StephenAffiliation
University of BedfordshireIssue Date
2018-08Subjects
meta-skillsmanagement and leadership
work
business schools
X342 Academic studies in Higher Education
MBA
fourth Industrial Revolution
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The world over, universities describe their Masters of Business Administrations as ‘transformative’ but so many rely on traditional retrospective curriculums, structures and assessment. The suspicion in some quarters is that the MBA badge has sometimes become more about prestige than transformation; inputs rather than outputs. Yet it is increasingly clear that the global economy is at a turning point with the World Economic Forum going as far as describing the advent of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Technology in particular is changing the nature of work and the role of managers while the nature of jobs and the skills that will be needed in the near future is in flux. Organisational success increasingly relies on creative and adaptable colleagues able to lead and shape change; here innovative executive education has an essential role to play. A discussion paper centred on these topics, this article makes the case for MBAs to be truly transformative by shifting the emphasis firmly towards intellectual creativity and problem solving, together with innovative assessment regimes which challenge mid‐career professionals to be adaptable and able to take managed risks supportive of professional innovation. It argues the case for a breed of MBAs that are not retrospective and elitist but rather are driven by the transformative ambition of developing participants’ cognitive powers.Citation
Barber, S. (2018) 'A truly ‘transformative’ MBA: executive education for the fourth Industrial Revolution', Journal of pedagogic development 8 (2) 44-55Publisher
University of BedfordshireJournal
Journal of pedagogic developmentAdditional Links
https://journals.beds.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/jpd/article/view/457Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
2047-3265Collections
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