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Financial Times Best world 57 LLM (Master of Law) 2009

http://rankings.ft.com/lawschools/llm-2009-listing

Santiago Iñiguez de Ozoño, dean of IE Business School, tells WSJ why he's seeing more American students at his school.

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Venture day on the test blog

Video - Santiago Iniguez interviews X Y, chairman of the Canadian Bschool Assoc

Professor mixing business with education

On the occasion of a conference, Martin Varsavsky, a renowned entrepreneur and associate-professor of entrepreneurship at IE Business School, responds to questions posed by Santiago Iñiguez (dean of IE Business School). He speaks of how Fon, his latest company, collaborates with educational establishements, how he hopes to bring wifi to Harlem and has advice to students regarding the creation of blogs.          4.3 Mb / 5.5 mins

Tags(clickable): Podcast, FON, Varsavsky, MBA, Business School

What do executive education institutions really have to offer?

David L. Dinwoodie, Deputy General Director, EADA.

There is nothing like a visit to a top-notch, friendly competitor to spark reflection regarding one’s own organization and that of the entire industry that one competes in. My visit last week to Instituto de Empresa in Madrid has left me with this tormenting question, "What do executive education institutions really have to offer to the corporate world and in what format can it be delivered?"

As traditional MBA enrolments dip we search for new formulas to deliver lengthy, solid, value packed programmes rich in cases, projects and competency building. In short, excellent masters programmes that to my mind are getting better and better across the board. My corporate clients seem to be quite positive about the new and improved programmes while at the same time they seem be shouting for something radically new and different to "top-up" their executives with doses of THEIR corporate reality.

We recently went to our main corporate clients to flush out the elements that they feel their managers needed "topping-up" in: leadership, change, transformation, flexibility, leadership, culture, complication, diversity, differences, leadership, turbulence, leadership, innovation and leadership....

....Not courses in these topics, rather, a transformation process. An individual transformation that builds their ability to steer the course. To operate across hierarchy, across functions, across organizations, across sectors, across borders, across cultures, across identities. To lead across a myriad of differences.

I would suggest that universities must be excellent transmitters of information for young, inexperienced minds. Business schools must be excellent at developing programmes to train strategic thinkers with solid managerial competencies and skills. Executive education institutions must be excellent providers of a transformation process; a very up-close and personal facilitation of growth.

It has been interesting to watch over the last 10-15 years how training institutions have been drawn together to collaborate on programme design and delivery. Globalization gave birth to joint programmes, joint activities and joint degrees. A positive step for the world of business education, I think.

I now look forward to seeing how we come together to jointly provide and facilitate the executive transformation process.

Tags(clickable): Executive Education, Business Education, Leadership, Business School

What an excellent quote!

Della Bradshaw, The Financial Times Business Education editor.

What an excellent quote! Darwin, as many people may know, was a Cambridge man. In the Financial Times on Monday January 30 there will be an excellent article from Sandra Dawson, dean of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, explaining why she believes managers and business schools alike can learn much from the work of Charles Darwin.

Business and adaptation?

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)

Tags(clickable): Quotes, Darwin

Genius and Work

An Homage to W.A.Mozart on the 250 Anniversary of His Birth

People make a mistake who think my art has come easily to me. Nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not studied over and over."

(attributed to W.A. Mozart)

Tags(clickable): Quotes, Mozart, Genius, Work

A Community of Constructive Criticism

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

One of those precious occasions that academics value and enjoy most is when they are lucky to find sharp and intelligent critics. Acute and smart criticism is what has fostered the progress of human thinking in all fields from philosophy to the sciences and the arts. Criticising and questioning lies also at the basis of the methodology used at the fundamental stages of professional academic life, such as the defence of PhD dissertations or the publication of papers and books.

Ronald Dworkin, a renowned philosopher who I was fortunate to have as tutor during my doctoral years -and whose work was the object of my dissertation-, used to say that he considered himself an extremely lucky person because he had many detractors. He even recognised that his most productive work were his replies to critics (1). Certainly, his publications had an apologetic character and he built up his law theory on the basis of comments, criticisms, replies and refutations. He was praised -and at the same time rejected- for making philosophy a profitable task, due to the many papers, articles and books published by and about him. Indeed, Dworkin was, and still is, a controversial and prolific academic example (a recent contribution), two attributes that I really admire.

Dworkin would be delighted to surf the blogosphere since it brings the opportunity of finding many potential critics of the highest calibre, like Daniel M. Harrison who, in his blog "The Global Perspective" reviews my previous contribution, "Management education in 2006: Anticipating some trends"

Mr. Harrison's blog is an interesting, inspiring and excellently written collection of opinions and experiences, whose author is currently studying for his MBA at BI, the prestigious Norwegian business school. He holds a romantic vision of education (see his post "The MBA Conundrum"), something poignant that many of us respect and even share.

Mr. Harrison argues that the trends for management education in 2006 I cover in my post could be hardly considered as predictions. I agree with him. I do not possess Delphic-like powers but in fact I refer to anticipated trends, not to predictions. Trends are anchored in past patterns and consolidated over months or years. They are not formed overnight but rather take some time to develop and cannot be introduced or changed just by decree. My purpose thus was not to fortune-tell, but rather to confirm patterns and to suggest some of their consequences.

Predicting is something different. For example, if we go back to 1996 and we look at the book "Mega-universities and Knowledge Media", written by John Daniel -the then Vice-Chancellor of UK's Open University- we could find valuable predictions on management education that are even applicable a decade later. He anticipated that some of the future things to occur included:

- "Emphasis on learning productivity in the route to more effective teaching...

- As the habit of lifelong learning spreads ...the majority of students will combine study and teaching

- The notion of academic community will have to be conceived with less emphasis on physical campus as a common focal point...

- Universities will become increasingly adept at managing collaborative ventures...

- Public funds will constitute a decreasing proportion of financial support for higher education..."

These predictions have proved to be true prophecies. In fact, they could still be considered anticipatory in many places where management education is still in the process of becoming truly global.

I believe that Mr. Harrison simplifies the list of trends anticipated in my post, but I would like to focus on his most serious criticism. He raises the question of whether business schools are really leading the transformation of management and society or whether they have lost the innovative track. His basic tenet is that, if the anticipated trends for management education are the ones I mention, b-schools are definitely lagging behind their customers students and corporate clients. Is his criticism sound? I do not believe so.

Take for example his sentence "the embracing of globalisation and information technologies are hardly the likely steps of change for 2006 in any thriving organisation today: companies have been reliant upon computers, software and technology to encompass a wider spectrum of international communication for decades now". Nobody could reasonably deny this but business schools have also made a very intense use of IT in the past decades. In my post I refer to the progressive integration of new technologies -all those derived from Web 2.0- to the learning process. Here, I believe, educational institutions still need to grow considerably but so do business organisations. How many CEOs of the Financial Times 500 run their own blogs?

Some business schools are becoming real icebreakers regarding the use of new technologies in the learning process. Interestingly, you would be surprised to discover how reluctant many companies can be when business schools offered them e-learning or blended (combinations of face-to-face with on-line modules) solutions. There are still many prejudices about the effectiveness of e-learning and many people still think that the "animal feedback" experienced in a traditional class has no substitute. I believe they are wrong. At our school, for example, we run an Executive MBA programme that blends short face-to-face modules (less than 20% of the programme) with intense on-line sessions. It is, according to the questionnaires completed by participants, the programme with the highest degree of satisfaction at the school. We are impressed by this phenomenon, worth analysing indeed.

Again, let me thank Mr. Harrison for his comments. I hope he is joined by many other bloggers to expand this community of constructive criticism.

(1) Ronald Dworkin, "Law's Empire", 1986, p. x.

Tags(clickable): Ronald Dworkin, Web2.0, MBA, Business School

Not Bosses but Leaders

You can be appointed a manager, but you are not a leader until your appointment is ratified in the hearts and minds of those who work with you".

John Adair, from his book "Not Bosses but Leaders", 1987.

(Does this still apply in 2006; or did it ever apply?)

Tags(clickable): John Adair, Quotes

"US to ease obstacles for foreign visitors"

Among the initiatives announced by Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday 17th were: (as published by the Financial Times)

● "Students can now receive visas up to 120 days in advance of their studies, up from 90 days now, and can come to the US 45 days before their programme begins, up from 30 days;"

Mistakes

When people make mistakes, the last thing they need is discipline. It's time for encouragement and confidence building. The job at this point is to restore self-confidence. I think "piling on" when someone is down is one of the worst things any of us can do"

Jack Welch: “Jack: Straight From The Gut” (with John A. Byrne; Warner Books, 2001; p.29)

Tags(clickable): Jack Welch, Quotes

A Brave New World for Management Education

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

Next week, coinciding with the Davos Forum, will take place the EFMD Deans & Directors Annual Conference.

This is an annual event that gathers the largest international representation of business school deans. On this occasion the host is the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University, Netherlands). Certainly, it is an conference that should not be missed by the chief executives of management education institutions.

This year, the theme of the conference is "Facing Strategic Options". The rationale behind this theme is that strategy is about choosing between the different available options and rejecting those opportunities that are not consistent with each business school’s mission and resources. This topic was discussed previously in an exchange between Peter Lorange, President of IMD, and I in this blog.

I have the honour of speaking at the opening plenary session of the conference jointly with my colleague Ted Snyder, Dean of the Chicago Graduate School of Management. We will be talking about what choices are available for business schools in an increasingly global education sector. The major tenet of my presentation is that management education is changing in terms of its business model, not undergoing a change of cycle. This, I believe, has decisive consequences for the strategies of business schools and for the decisions that deans have to make in the future.

Tags(clickable): EFMD, RSM, GSM, Business School

Online Education

Knowledge becomes obsolete incredibly fast. The continuing professional education of adults is the No. 1 industry in the next 30 years … mostly on line."

- Peter Drucker (1909-2005), Business 2.0 (22th August 2000)

The relationship between ethical programs and higher profits at companies

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

I agree with Dean Danos with the need to contemplate CSR (corporate social responsibility) in the context of the complexity of contemporary corporations and their environments. This sophisticated approach needs to take into account many dimensions, but basically the “rightness” of managerial decisions from the perspective of the individual –the executive who takes a singular decision- as well as the adequacy of its potential impact and effects. In addition, it seems that the cultural dimension is also very relevant.

Let me refer to an article written by Thomas Donaldson, Professor of Legal Studies at Wharton, first published by the Financial Times and subsequently by Wharton at knowledge some years ago. It is a very good compendium of the state of the art of CSR at business schools and the reasons behind its élan.

The article refers to a study developed by the Conference Board, in 1999. According to this report

Tags(clickable): Corporate Social Responsibility, Morals, business school, management education

Is Corporate Responsibility Governed by an “Invisible Hand?”

Paul Danos, Dean Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Dean Iniguez introduces the very important subject of corporate responsibility in his recent entry. I would like to touch on the relationship between the “right” individual actions and the “right” corporation actions; and how we as educators of principled leaders should approach the coverage of this in our programs.

Some see a simple rule—just do the “right” thing as an individual. In my view that is necessary but not sufficient, because I do not believe that there is an “invisible hand” that adds up all the “right” individual-level decisions and ensures “good” corporate outcomes. Leaders of corporations must be knowledgeable about the complexities of their organizations, and how all the pieces fit internally and affect society, if they are to ensure that the corporation is making ethical decisions in the overall sense.

Business schools therefore must make students sensitive to the consequences of decisions—not only of personal decisions, but also in terms of the awesome responsibility of making the complex systems of interactions (which is the modern business) work to the advantage of all of the business’s constituents.

I am not against emphasizing personal morals in business contexts. I believe that adhering to a personal code of conduct is essential for any leader. In addition, students often must see business decisions in personal terms in order to be fully engaged in the learning process. But a sophisticated understanding of business procedures, processes, theories, practices, the regulatory structure, the investment regimes, the industrial organization, and a myriad of other contexts are crucial before a leader can be truly principled in his/her decisions, because even a personally ethical, but not fully informed, individual can make decisions that do unintended harm.

Tags(clickable): CSR,  Corporate Social Responsibility, Morals, business school, management education

Does Corporate Responsibility Pay Its Dividends?(1)

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility.

A recurrent debate today is whether there exists a causal relationship between economic growth and the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). If the answer to this question is inthe affirmative, a second question raised promptly is: which is the cause and which the effect. There may be different answers to both questions.

Some people believe in the idea of "Moral Progress", which supports that, in line with the evolution of knowledge, technology and social institutions over time, human beings have experienced a parallel progress in morals. Today, for example, most countries are signatories of human rights’ conventions, something that could not have been imaginable two centuries ago. The idea of "moral progress" entails that evolution and growth results in wealth, better standards of living and, consequently, brings higher grounds of liberty, recognition of rights and fairer social schemes than before. According to this perspective, social justice presupposes some prior economic growth: poor countries should first get richer and then think about justice and rights since the other way round does not work. This conception could be named as the "Libertarian" approach. The direct application of this approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) is sharp: a company can only afford the duties of CSR if it generates enough profits and serves it shareholders. A good exponent of this conception is Milton Friedman who stated that "the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits".

Tags(clickable): CSR,  Corporate Social Responsibility, Morals, business school, management education