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Farewell to my graduating MBA 2007 year

Graduation Address by prof. santiago iniguez de onzono, dean, ie business school

(december 21, 2007)

 

Dear Members of the IE Business School Community, Dear Families and friends,

 

Welcome to the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2007. It is an honour for me to make the opening address of a ceremony that is so important for you, for your families and for our school.

 

On behalf of the entire IE Business School community I offer our warmest congratulations.

 

Allow me to travel backwards in time to one of the most fascinating cultural revolutions in contemporary history. I refer to the intense change in the arts and the sciences that occurred in Vienna, Austria, in the early twentieth century. At that time, Vienna concentrated a formidable amalgam of architects, artists, musicians, philosophers and scientists. I am sure that the names of Otto Wagner, Gustav Klimt, Arnold Schoenberg or Sigmund Freud sound very familiar to you. However, they were but just some of the eminent personalities that coincided at the same place and time, changing the way we see the world today.

 

One of the nicest buildings constructed during those days was the Secession Pavilion, a jewel of modern architecture. On the frontispiece of its main façade, the designers decided to engrave a text, which later became a widely popular motto. The text says in German:

 

"Der Zeit Ihre Kunst

Der Kunst Ihre Freiheit"

 

Which in English means:

 

"To Each time Its Art

To Each Art Its Freedom"

 

This text was a demand for innovation in the arts, a call to depart from classic and traditional styles and also an embracement of change, creativity and freedom.

 

I believe that this text is particularly applicable to You today. You represent the new generation of managers and entrepreneurs. This is your time and you are called on to produce your own works of art in the world of business.

 

As Graduates of IE Business School, You are called to become the architects of the future global society, you will make business relations with people from different cultures not only possible but fruitful, And you will feel yourselves citizens of the world, committed to the creation of wealth beyond frontiers.

 

Business is one of the noblest activities that humans can develop since it promotes common understanding, wealth and convergence across continents. Let me recall here one of my favourite maxims: good business is the best antidote to bad international politics. As graduates of IE you are encouraged to set up your own companies, to develop the entrepreneurial verve in large corporations, in your family business or in social or public organizations. I can bet that your performance as excellent managers and entrepreneurs will be the best antidote to many of the world's illnesses.

 

Indeed, the master you just completed has been an opportunity to learn many different things and to make friendships that will last for life.

 

Your master has also been a chance to think beyond a single vision and an opportunity to experience and learn from diversity, a deeply cherished value in our institution.

 

We believe that a cross-cultural environment, like the one you have enjoyed at our school, is the best breeding ground to develop cosmopolitan managers. Currently, for example, there are over one hundred different nationalities on our physical and virtual campus. At the same time, we have one of the widest student diversity among business schools in terms of background, origin, ethnicity, gender or vision of the world.

 

Allow me now to congratulate you for the unprecedented number of prizes and awards that your class has achieved this year.

 

- The First Prize at the Infocom Future Leadership Award

- The 2007 Thunderbird Global Championship of Sustainable Innovation

- The Social Benefit Award and Winner of the Trade Show Exhibit at the HKUST Business Plan Competition

- The First Prize at the "Certamen Financiero CFA Banco Santander"

- The First Prize at the JP Morgan Good Venture Competition

- Two of five top positions at the Ashridge MBA Essay Award

- One of the three Finalists at the AMBA Student of the Year Award

- One of the three finalists at the Global Sourcing and Innovation Award

 

To the winners, and to the entire class, congratulations for raising the IE flag so high.

 

Let me also thank you for your support to the existing Ie communities and clubs and for the new initiatives launched this year, namely, EcologIE, IE Out and IE Forward.

 

But, let's now be entirely fair

 

Looking back at your enormous efforts this year, Dear soon-to-be graduates, you know better than anyone that you didn't do it alone. We have to praise the efforts of those who have stood by you throughout the years and who are with you today, in person or in spirit, your loving family members and dear friends. To all of them our heartfelt thanks and a warm applause.

 

Let me now ask two things of you as graduates of our school.

 

The first is that your personal and professional performance continues to adhere to the same standards of excellence in the future. As IE graduates, you are called on to create businesses, and to make management a recognised and respected activity. In this increasingly globalised and interconnected world, our mission is to improve our environment, to create sustainable value and wealth, and to assume a commitment to social responsibility.

 

You are not alone in this task. You have the support of the whole IE community.

 

My second request is that you maintain your link with IE Business School and talk about your experience on your master programme. Your example will give encouragement to future generations of students. The world needs references for good management practices, and how to be a good entrepreneur. And I am sure that your performance as competent and responsible managers will play an exemplary role in society.

 

For our part, we promise to support your efforts in this important task.

 

IE is a relatively young school that in few years has gained a position among the most prestigious institutions in the world.

 

The underlying reason for this achievement is you: Yes, You people sitting out there and those who have sat there before you over the last three decades. Our challenge for the future is to consolidate this prestige and to foster new initiatives that further strengthen our international position. This whole effort will translate into adding value to your master's title.

 

IE is one of the most dynamic and innovative schools in the world. It is a place where things happen fast in response to constant changes taking place in the corporate landscape, and that's why we are working to offer the best training programmes, and to serve as a forum for debate on the latest trends in business, and to be there for you throughout your careers.

 

We want to follow your professional progress closely. Moreover, we need you. Your advice and your support will help us to improve our activities, to put into practice new projects and to bring the members of our network closer together.

 

Next year will mark a milestone for our institution since, as you already know, IE will create a new university after the purchase of an existing university in Spain. We plan to develop a world class higher education centre modelled on our experience from IE. This university will be international in scope, focused mainly on postgraduate programmes, with an intense activity in high quality on-line educational offerings and with the study of humanities as a core subject of all its programmes.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to participate actively in this initiative, probably the most exciting project in the world's university environment nowadays. We want to create a similar environment to the cultural atmosphere of the described Vienna Circle.

 

We will need you support in many different ways: as associate professors, advisors, donors and ambassadors of this newly created university: You can become part of its history.

 

In closing my speech, I would like to wish that each of you live a life that becomes a supreme work of art.

 

Let me end by quoting the verse of Ronsard, the French Poet:

 

 

"Cueillez dès aujourd´hui les roses de la vie"

 

"Take, today, the roses that life brings you".

 

 

Once again, Congratulations to you and your families. My best wishes for the future, and remember "this is not an adios but just un hasta

Face and Tail Winds

I am on a flight to London, where I will be attending a meeting of AMBA (Association of MBAs) to discuss about new educational ways for improving interpersonal skills in students. Conveniently, London and Madrid are the two European capitals connected with the highest frequency of flights per day. Today, the Captain is announcing, our flight will take longer than expected due to "face winds".

Here there is a suitable analogy applicable to relations in business and the importance of so called interpersonal skills. Face winds are similar to those circumstances that may make managing people a further complicated task, like the size of organizations, cultural diversity or a company crisis. When pilots encounter face winds, they increase the power or move to a different altitude to keep the same ground speed. In management, adverse circumstances may be faced by employing good interpersonal skills: for example, good communication may help to ease a company crisis and cross-cultural skills certainly favor the entrance in a foreign market.

On the other hand, "tail winds" may be comparable to those natural or acquired talents that managers practice in their daily interaction with others. I will leave aside those innate talents that people are born with since there is not much room for learning here: the decisive thing is how to profit from them. Having a potent voice with a nice timbre, for example, can be an asset in teamwork, meetings and negotiations, if used properly, but it can also represent a setback if abused. On the other hand, acquired talents --those skills that managers have exercised for years and that become routines in their dealing with others- are a true source of "tail winds" for making the best business out of relations. I believe that almost all interpersonal skills can be categorized as acquired talents. This includes both analytical and emotional skills as well as other technical abilities such as communication, managing teams effectively or diplomacy, an important skill in the increasingly diverse global scenario. The worst naturally gifted for verbal communication, for instance, can evolve into effective orators provided the appropriate training schemes and perseverance. Remember Demostenes, the prominent speaker of Ancient Greece, who learnt his speech skills after carrying little stones in his mouth for an unbearable time.

I enclose a map of the skills more demanded by recruiters, according to a survey published by GMAC.

EFMD – Business School Job Oportunities

The EFMD job posting service is free of charge to all EFMD members. If you have a position that you would like to advertise please contact Matthew Wood.

 

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Merit and Age

Some days ago I was invited to speak at the conference of The Aspen Institute Italy under the topic "Merit, Not Age as a Discriminating factor", jointly organized with the Agnelli Foundation at their headquarters in Torino, Italy. The conference was preceded on the eve by an interview in the Financial Times with Mr. John Elkann, Vice-Chairman of the Fiat Group, who in fact co-chaired the plenary sessions with Mr. Mario Monti, President of Bocconi University and former Commissioner of Competition of the European Union.

When I was invited to contribute at the conference I believed that the main theme was the consequences of the ageing population phenomenon for European business. Consequently, my presentation dealt with some foreseeable measures, such as postponing the time of compulsory retirement, and some solutions from educational institutions, for example promoting entrepreneurship programs for the elderly people, since this segment of populations is experienced, skilled and in many cases have the resources to pilot new start-ups. Actually, Peter Drucker affirmed in one of his latest contributions that the fastest growing segment of future education will be programs for the mature and aged people.

However, upon discussion with my table neighbors at the starting dinner I realized that the crux of the conference centered on how to ease the access of young people to key positions at Italian institutions. Interestingly, gerontocracy is the prevalent regime at most Italian organizations, from business to politics and academia. This is largely due to traditions and culture, but is also caused by strict labor laws, lack of real internal competition and the dominant systems for selecting and promoting people at the top. Indeed, Italy has one of the highest average age ratios of leaders across the board although there are some other countries in the same cluster, like Japan.

Back at my hotel, located in the superbly restored Centro Histórico Fiat, once the reference of futuristic architecture, I redid my presentation to cover some topics related to the net generation and include some suggestions for promoting the advance of young leaders to management (see presentation attached). My main proposal was to foster the implementation of the Bologna Process at Italian universities. I believe that if Italy opens up to the cross-border movement of students, faculty and knowledge, the benign winds of international competition and global convergence will facilitate the access of young generations, Italian and foreign, to many of its institutions, thus promoting meritocracy over gerontocracy. "Non habete paura" and open your doors to true competition.

Test 3

the news

Santiago Iniguez: Blogs, Photos, Videos and more on Technorati

There are no posts with some authority tagged Santiago Iniguez . Search in blogs with any authority » · Return to the search page » ... technorati.com/tag/Santiago+Iniguez - 18k

Top Companies for Leaders 2007 - Methodology | Fortune Magazine

Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño Jürgen Wegge Anthony Willoughby, Global Panel ... Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño is Dean of Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, ... money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/leadership/2007/methodology/index.html - 49k - Santiago Iñiguez (Instituto de Empresa) : "L'Europe doit améliorer ...- [ Translate this page ] "L'Europe doit améliorer le marketing de sa formation continue" www.journaldunet.com/management/0606/0606141-mba-iniguez.shtml - 41k - Which MBA According to the dean of Spain's Instituto de Empresas, Santiago Iniguez de Onzono, there are very few management professors that combine all the skills ... mba.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=view_article&eiu_article_id=782290463 - 63k -

Un máster para 57 países
El Norte de Castilla - Nov 12, 2007
El decano del IE, Santiago Íñiguez, destacó la vertiente práctica de estos estudios. Sus destinatarios son personas que ya poseen una cierta experiencia en puestos de responsabilidad directiva y ejecutiva, a pesar de su juventud, ya que la edad media ...

Segovia acoge mañana la inauguración del Internacional MBA del ...
Terra España - Nov 11, 2007
En la sesión inaugural participarán el Decano del IE, Santiago Íñiguez, varios directores y profesores del IE y David Sifry, fundador de Technorati, uno de los buscadores más importante de Internet en la actualidad. Sifry impartirá la conferencia ...

Sapiens Tribune - blog of liberal arts: Santiago Iñiguez

Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño is the Dean of IE Business School. He studied at Madrid's Complutense University and Oxford University, UK. ... www.sapienstribune.net/santiago-iniguez.html - 24k

LES BLOGS 2 - Paris December 5-6th 2005: Speaker : Santiago ...

Santiago Iñiguez Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño studied at Madrid~s ... Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Speaker : Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño: ... lesblogs.typepad.com/blog/2005/10/speaker_santiag.html - 18k FT.com / Business education / Deans' columns - Santiago Iñiguez ... Santiago Iñiguez, Instituto de Empresa, on Baltasar Gracián. By Santiago Iñiguez ... Santiago Iñiguez, dean of the Instituto de Empresa ... www.ft.com/cms/s/ebd27eca-01dd-11db-a141-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=ff580540-01cf-11db-a141-0000779e2340.html - 41k FT.com / Business education - Audio: Deans' roundtable Santiago Iniguez, dean of IE Business School (Spain); Arnoud De Meyer, director of the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge (UK); Edward Snyder, ... www.ft.com/cms/s/1fddfdfc-3153-11dc-891f-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=02e16f4a-46f9-11da-b8e5-00000e2511c8.html - 39k Loic Le Meur Blog: Why should deans blog ? Santiago Iniguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa, answers on BizDeansTalk, an excellent collaborative blog by a business school. ... loiclemeur.com/english/2006/03/why_should_dean.html - 17k a href="http://www.consultoras.org/frontend/plantillaAEC/noticia.php?id_noticia=4458&PHPSESSID=964">The Rich Experience of Sophisticated Online Education. Santiago ... Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa. Yesterday, the Financial Times published an extremely interesting survey on the latest developments of ... www.consultoras.org/frontend/plantillaAEC/noticia.php?id_noticia=4458&PHPSESSID=964 - 55k [PDF]  Education and training: Providing Women with management skills and ... File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML and competencies. ARAB INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FORUM. 2005 Programme. Prof. Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño. Dean, IE-Instituto de Empresa ... www.aiwfonline.co.uk/downloads/Dr%20Santiago%20Iniguez%207%20April%202005.pdf - Speakers | IE Santiago Iñiguez Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of the Instituto de Empresa Business ... Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño studied at Madrid´s Complutense University and ... netimpact.ie.edu/?q=speakers - 26k PDF] kangaroos to Ancient Greece: File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML SANTIAGO IñIGUEz DE ONzOñO IS AMONG EUROPE'S MOST ... kangaroos to Ancient Greece: Santiago Iñiguez by George Bickerstaffe. pages 34_35 ... www.efmd.org/attachments//tmpl_1_art_041102upwc_att_070626tovb.pdf Business Alliances As A Winning Strategy File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint - View as HTML Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño. Dean, IE-Instituto de Empresa. AACSB Deans Conference, 2006 ... Santiago Iniguez, Dean IEBS-Instituto de Empresa ... www.aacsb.edu/handouts/DC06/A1-%20Iniguez.ppt Beyond Grey Pinstripes The professionalism and dedication of the Aspen Institute team deserves recognition here." Santiago Iñiguez Dean of Instituto de Empresa Business School ... www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/about/saying.cfm - 29k [PPT] Diapositiva 1 File Format: Microsoft Powerpoint - View as HTML Kokkalis Foundation Athens, 12 October 06 The Future of Management Education in Europe. Santiago Iniguez de Onzono. Dean, IE-Instituto de Empresa ... www.ait.edu.gr/IE-Dean.pps A Gathering of Deans May 29 - Dean Santiago Iniguez talks about the Bologna Accord, incorporating the humanities into B-school education, and a meeting in London this summer ... www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/video/bschools/8bdb86e088223f4d9dbfe84f13963b56245ebefe.html - 29k Instituto de Empresa: Instituto de Empresa - 2004 Full-Time MBA ... Dean, Santiago Íñiguez. Hired as of, May 2004. Program director, Camino de Paz. Admissions director, Julian Trigo. Financial aid director, Fernando Fontes ... www.businessweek.com/bschools/04/full_time_profiles/empresa.htm - 57k - The Global Perspective - Market Leading Commentary On The World ... -Professor Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of IE Business School, BizDeansTalk ..... Santiago Iñiguez, dean of the Instituto de Empresa and blogger over at ... www.harrisontalk.com/my_weblog/academia/index.html - 93k para pdf File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Dean, IE Business School. Fernando Meirelles, President, Sumaq Alliance and Dean, FGV-EAESP. 9:20-9:30 am ... www.sumaq.org/sumaq_summit_2007/pdf/SumaqSummit%2007_program.pdf Sumaq Summit 2007 - Instituto de Empresa Business School Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Dean, IE Business School Fernando Meirelles, President, Sumaq Alliance and Dean, FGV-EAESP. 9:20 – 9:30 am ... www.sumaq.org/sumaq_summit_2007/outline.asp - 25k » Google Gears - the game has changed | Office Evolution | ZDNet.com Santiago Iñiguez, Dean and Professor of Strategy. ... Santiago Iniguez, Dean of IE Business School. Here is an initiative from Google that might usher in a ... blogs.zdnet.com/Orchant/?p=455 - 64k Broad Seminar on Education for a Global Economy Santiago Iniguez, Instituto de Empresa Business School (Madrid). Moderated by Louis Goodman of American University. 12:30 pm. Buffet Lunch ... hechinger.tc.columbia.edu/default.aspx?pageid=1323 - PDF] The place to go with your bright ideas File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat defining traits, IE dean Santiago Iñiguez says: "IE was. founded by a group of entrepreneurs and this ... Santiago Iñiguez, Dean, Instituto de Empresa ... timeinc.net/fortune/services/sections/customprojects/sections/060724_Spain2.pdf - PDF] EQUAL File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML Dr. Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño, Dean, Instituto de Empresa, E. Vice-Chairman ... more internationalised and global in the past decades. Santiago Iniguez ... www.bologna-bergen2005.no/b/BFUG_Meetings/050412-13Mondorf/BFUG5_6c.pdf - [PDF]  BALAS Program File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML Message from Dean Santiago Iñiguez. Instituto de Empresa – Business School ..... D. Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Decano del INSTITUTO DE EMPRESA ... www.balas.org/annual_post_images/final%20program%202005.pdf Santa Maria Times Santiago Iniguez Cervantes, left, and Jose Jesus Cabrera, both suspected of ... Jose Jesus Cabrera, 38, of Santa Ynez, Santiago Iniguez Cervantes, 46, ... www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2007/09/21/news/featurednews/news01.txt - 37k - Emerald: Journal Issue Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño, Salvador Carmona (pp. 22-32). Keywords: Business environment, Business schools, Competitive advantage. ArticleType:Viewpoint ... www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContainer.do?containerType=Issue&containerId=24496 orgtheory.net @ deanstalk.net « orgtheory.net Santiago Iniguez (Dean of Instituto de Empresa Business School) partially disagrees with my previous post on executive and practitioner teaching in business ... orgtheory.wordpress.com/2006/07/03/orgtheorynet-deanstalknet/ - 28k - orgtheory.net @ deanstalk.net « orgtheory.net Santiago Iniguez (Dean of Instituto de Empresa Business School) partially disagrees with my previous post on executive and practitioner teaching in business ... orgtheory.wordpress.com/2006/07/03/orgtheorynet-deanstalknet/ - 28k - Global news, business news, management thinking, expert opinions ... "I really believe in lifelong learning," says Santiago Iniguez de Onzono, dean of Instituto de Empresa. "The market doesn't differentiate between the ... www.worldbusinesslive.com/education/article/661538/country-profile-spain-lesson-business/ - 29k - Santiago Iñiguez del Instituto de Empresa director de EQUAL ...- [ Translate this page ] Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, decano del Instituto de Empresa recientemente nombrado, ha sido también elegido como Presidente de EQUAL (European Quality Link) ... www.aprendemas.com/Reportajes/P1.asp?Reportaje=350 - 55k EUROPA - Audiovisual Service - Photo Group photo of the participants, from left to right: 1st row: Santiago Iñiguez de Ozoño, Dean of the IE Business School, Madrid; Rafael Miranda, ... ec.europa.eu/avservices/photo/photo_thematic_en.cfm?th=9 - 77k Association of MBAs: The Association provides a network for MBAs ... Prof Santiago Iniguez, Dean, Instituto de Empresa. Mary Jo Jacobi Jephson, Former Vice President Group External Affairs, Shell International Limited ... www.mbaworld.com/page/international-advisory-council/index.html - 16k - The Global Perspective - Market Leading Commentary On The World ... -Professor Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of IE Business School, BizDeansTalk. "Well written ... please continue your good thinking. ... www.danielmarkharrison.blogs.com/ Instituto de Empresa Business School - Wikipedia, the free ... IE Business School. Established, 1973. President, Diego del Alcázar. Dean, Santiago Iñiguez. Students, 1500. Alumni, 35000. Location, Madrid, Spain ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instituto_de_Empresa_Business_School - 38k PDF] Paris Roundtable File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML Santiago Iniguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa in Madrid. H. Fenwick Huss, Dean of the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State. University ... www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/ParisRoundtableSynopsis.pdf Instituto De Empresa - Independent Online Edition > Business Schools The dean, Santiago Iñiguez De Onzoño is also chairman of EQUAL, the think tank for the European Quality Improvement Scheme (EQUIS). ... student.independent.co.uk/graduate_options/business_schools/article2084601.ece - Currency of an MBA increases in value | Special Reports ... Santiago Iniguez of Instituto de Empresa comments that "skilled labour is more willing to move to projects outside their home country, for short periods, ... education.guardian.co.uk/mbas/comment/0,,668174,00.html - 45k Can executive education grow through the recession? | Special ... Santiago Iniguez, of Instituto de Empresa, predicts growth in excess of 20% across all executive education programmes in 2002 which cost 28000 euros. ... education.guardian.co.uk/mbas/story/0,,650823,00.html - 51k In many business schools, the bottom line is in English ... Santiago Iñiguez, dean of the Instituto de Empresa, argues that the trend is a natural consequence of globalization, with English functioning as Latin did ... www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/10/europe/engbiz.php - 50k QS Top MBA: Instituto de Empresa: The role of MBAs in Global Growth Instituto de Empresa: The role of MBAs in Global Growth. Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño Dean, Instituto de Empresa Business School ... www.topmba.com/about_mba/voices/article/instituto_de_empresa_the_role_of_mbas_in_global_growth/ - 27k stuartbruce - @ 20six.co.uk Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa, has an interesting post on BizDeansTalk about the Top 50 business thinkers of 2005. ... www.20six.co.uk/stuartbruce - 23k BAWB Global Forum - Chairs & Advisory Board ... Professor and Director, ERB Institute, University of Michigan; Stuart Hart, Professor, Cornell University; Santiago Iniguez, Dean, Instituto de Empresa ... www.bawbglobalforum.org/about/advisory Special Advertising Feature: Quality business - Career - World ... ... to aid them in making what can be a life-changing decision," says Santiago Iniguez de Onzono, dean of Instituto de Empresa business school in Madrid. ... www.worldbusinesslive.com/Career/Article/655160/special-advertising-feature-quality-business Special Advertising Feature: Quality business - Career - World ... ... to aid them in making what can be a life-changing decision," says Santiago Iniguez de Onzono, dean of Instituto de Empresa business school in Madrid. ... www.worldbusinesslive.com/Career/Article/655160/special-advertising-feature-quality-business/ - 28k NYU Stern ... the stakeholder culture is more the rule, compared to the shareholder culture that is prevalent in the U.S.,'' says Empresas Dean Santiago Iniguez. ... w4.stern.nyu.edu/news/news.cfm?doc_id=3223 - 19k MBA Channel - Our knowledge. Your profit. "We need initiatives like MBA Channel to expand the best practices of management education in Europe." Santiago Iñiguez, Dean, Instituto de Empresa in ... www.mba-channel.com/News/News/index.html?new_language=2 - 61k Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Decano del Instituto de Empresa: «La ...- [ Translate this page ] La agenda de Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño (Madrid, 1963) no le da un respiro. Uno se imagina alguno de esos aparatos electrónicos con una memoria de ... firgoa.usc.es/drupal/node/32046 - 54k -

World Economic Forum - Global Gender Gap

Hablando de temas legales recomiendo echar un vistazo a la ponente de 11.15 hoy que nos di muchos consejos valiosos

World Economic Forum - Global Gender Gap

v

En estos días de sombras políticas nacionales e internacionales me viene a la memoria la figura de Bernard de Mandeville médico y filósofo de origen holandés y su gran obra" La Fábula de las Abejas" situada en la Inglaterra de principios del siglo XVIII.

Ese contexto histórico convulso, marcado por el destronamiento de Jacobo II de Inglaterra por Guillermo de Nassau en la revolución de 1688, la inquietud causada por la muerte de Ana Estuardo, hija de Jacobo II, el ascenso al trono de la Casa de Hannover en 1714, la fuerza cada vez mayor adquirida por los jacobitas que parecía amenazar la estabilidad de Inglaterra, y la quiebra de las legitimidades religiosas desde el siglo XVII, renovaron la insistencia de las fuerzas conservadoras y moralistas de la época en la importancia de la virtud y el espíritu cívico para conservar la cohesión de la sociedad. Una sociedad en fuerte cambio, con crecimiento acelerados de los centros urbanos y condiciones de vida precarias de las clases humildes. En esta inestabilidad tanto política como económica, se consideró la necesidad de instruir moralmente a la sociedad dando paso a lo que se llamó el Humanismo cívico basado en la creencia de la necesidad pública de controlar la inmoralidad privada.

Mandeville se opuso a esta corriente y, por lo tanto, a la idea de la necesidad de reprimir el vicio privado en beneficio del bienestar público de la Nación. Rechazó la interpretación moral de la vida pública achacándole que no entendía al Hombre, y que la verdadera fuerza que lo impulsa no es otra que el interés propio o el egoísmo. Elabora una teoría del progreso y del funcionamiento de la sociedad basada en los actos de interés propio al individuo en la que sustituye virtud y civismo por egoísmo y riqueza comercial. Para Mandeville aquellas cosas que los moralistas del XVIII consideraban viciosas eran precisamente las pasiones que contribuían a la prosperidad material. Por lo tanto, el Hombre debía aceptar su egoísmo natural y hacer uso adecuado de él convirtiendo el vicio en virtud. La cohesión social se basaba en la mutua necesidad y no en la virtud religiosa. El progreso social surgía de las pasiones y los vicios de los hombres, y sus pasiones, estaban compensadas por el interés, permitiéndoles vivir en paz.

Nos recuerda que las demandas de reforma moral están a menudo suscitadas por el egoísmo, la hipocresía o el orgullo e insiste en que, en toda sociedad compleja, el vicio se mezcla con la virtud, que nunca es nexo de unión social.

La Fábula de las abejas habla de las complejas relaciones entre el bien y el mal, o entre virtudes y vicios, o de la certeza de la difícil transformación de los intereses personales en la vida económica en una función del bienestar colectivo. La formula "vicios privados, virtudes públicas" es esa "fuerza que quiere crear el mal y siempre crea el bien" como diría el Mefistófeles de Goethe. Es la idea de la "insociable sociabilidad" kantiana o la de la "mano invisible" de Adam Smith. Es la idea liberal, según la cual, el bien común o el interés de la colectividad, sólo es posible a través de la búsqueda individual del propio interés o beneficio. Es el afán de todo hombre por conseguir más, y el eterno sentimiento de insatisfacción que le lleva a hacer cualquier cosa por obtener lo deseado. Es, como diría Max Weber, el paso de la búsqueda del daimon al pacto con el diablo: mi próximo tema.

 

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"El fuego quema ta"El fuego quema tanto en Grecia como en Persia, pero las ideas de la gente acerca de lo bueno y lo malo varían de un lugar a otro", escribió Aristóteles en su Ética a Nicómaco. Difícilmente se podría acusar al Gran Filósofo de ser exponente del relativismo moral, pero los defensores de esta corriente filosófica han utilizado este pasaje con frecuencia para ilustrar su tesis básica: que los principios morales tienen un fundamento cultural y, por lo tanto, varían de una cultura a otra. Desde esta observación descriptiva, los relativistas saltan a la esfera normativa y afirman que debemos respetar las costumbres de otras culturas, tanto si nos parecen correctas o incorrectas.

1. Ayer recordaba esta cita de Aristóteles durante una conversación sobre los códigos de ética (o códigos de conducta de alumnos) en escuelas de negocios con representantes de Sumaq, la alianza de las escuelas líderes de América Latina. Algo reconfortante fue comprobar que otros decanos y directores reconocen enfrentarse a los mismos retos que yo me encuentro en el diseño e implementación de códigos éticos en programas MBA con un perfil de alumnos marcadamente cross-cultural. El reto es cómo hacer compatible que todos los alumnos respeten un conjunto definido de reglas comunes –una suerte de decálogo global o mínimo común denominador moral- con el respeto a la diversidad cultural y a la divergencia de costumbres.

En nuestro International MBA –con participantes de más de 40 nacionalidades distintas y sin una cultura dominante- se producen múltiples choques culturales entre los alumnos todos los años. Esto es normal, y refleja lo que sucede en el mundo real. Lo importante es saber cómo resolver estos choques y aprender de la experiencia. Ciertamente, algo que nuestros alumnos deberían aprender durante el programa es cómo resolver efectiva y respetuosamente estos conflictos.

Me opongo personalmente al relativismo moral. Debemos respetar la diversidad cultural pero no podemos admitir, por ejemplo, que se produzcan prejuicios sexistas en nuestras clases, aunque desgraciadamente puedan ser prácticas comunes en otras culturas. Pienso que los códigos de conducta en los programas MBA funcionan como "igualadores" morales. Son parte del aprendizaje global que adquieren nuestros estudiantes.

Aristotle’s quote came to my mind yesterday over a discussion on moral codes at business schools with representatives of the Sumaq, the alliance of the leading business schools in Latin America. Something very solacing is that the attending deans and programme managers said that they encounter similar challenges when designing and implementing moral codes (students’ codes of conduct) in MBA programmes with varied student cultural profiles. The challenge is how to balance respect by all students for a clear and defined set of rules –a sort of global Decalogue or minimal moral denominator- and at the same time leave room for cultural diversity and divergence in customs.

Fire burns both in Hellas and in Persia, but men's ideas of right and wrong vary from place to place

", stated Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics. The great philosopher could hardly be accused of moral relativism but supporters of this philosophical stream have frequently used that passage to illustrate their basic tenet: that moral principles are culturally based and, consequently, vary across the board. From this descriptive observation, moral relativists jump into the normative sphere: we should respect the customs of other cultures, whether we believe they are right or wrong.

In our International MBA programme -with participants from over different nationalities and no dominant culture- there occur multiple cultural clashes among students every year. This is normal, and reflects what happens in the real world. The important thing is how to solve those clashes and learn from the experience. Certainly, dealing effectively and respectfully with cultural difference is something our students should learn.

En nuestro International MBA –con participantes de más de 40 nacionalidades distintas y sin una cultura dominante- se producen múltiples choques culturales entre los alumnos todos los años. Esto es normal, y refleja lo que sucede en el mundo real. Lo importante es saber cómo resolver estos choques y aprender de la experiencia. Ciertamente, algo que nuestros alumnos deberían aprender durante el programa es cómo resolver efectiva y respetuosamente estos conflictos.

I very much oppose moral relativism. We should respect cultural difference but we can not admit, for example, sexist prejudices in our classrooms, despite they may be, unfortunately, common practices in other cultures. I suppose that codes of conduct in MBA programmes act as moral equalizers. It is part of the global learning our students can achieve.

Me opongo personalmente al relativismo moral. Debemos respetar la diversidad cultural pero no podemos admitir, por ejemplo, que se produzcan prejuicios sexistas en nuestras clases, aunque desgraciadamente puedan ser prácticas comunes en otras culturas. Pienso que los códigos de conducta en los programas MBA funcionan como "igualadores" morales. Son parte del aprendizaje global que adquieren nuestros estudiantes.

nto en Grecia como en Persia, pero las ideas de la gente acerca de lo bueno y lo malo varían de un lugar a otro", escribió Aristóteles en su Ética a Nicómaco. Difícilmente se podría acusar al Gran Filósofo de ser exponente del relativismo moral, pero los defensores de esta corriente filosófica han utilizado este pasaje con frecuencia para ilustrar su tesis básica: que los principios morales tienen un fundamento cultural y, por lo tanto, varían de una cultura a otra. Desde esta observación descriptiva, los relativistas saltan a la esfera normativa y afirman que debemos respetar las costumbres de otras culturas, tanto si nos parecen correctas o incorrectas.

1. Ayer recordaba esta cita de Aristóteles durante una conversación sobre los códigos de ética (o códigos de conducta de alumnos) en escuelas de negocios con representantes de Sumaq, la alianza de las escuelas líderes de América Latina. Algo reconfortante fue comprobar que otros decanos y directores reconocen enfrentarse a los mismos retos que yo me encuentro en el diseño e implementación de códigos éticos en programas MBA con un perfil de alumnos marcadamente cross-cultural. El reto es cómo hacer compatible que todos los alumnos respeten un conjunto definido de reglas comunes –una suerte de decálogo global o mínimo común denominador moral- con el respeto a la diversidad cultural y a la divergencia de costumbres.

En nuestro International MBA –con participantes de más de 40 nacionalidades distintas y sin una cultura dominante- se producen múltiples choques culturales entre los alumnos todos los años. Esto es normal, y refleja lo que sucede en el mundo real. Lo importante es saber cómo resolver estos choques y aprender de la experiencia. Ciertamente, algo que nuestros alumnos deberían aprender durante el programa es cómo resolver efectiva y respetuosamente estos conflictos.

Me opongo personalmente al relativismo moral. Debemos respetar la diversidad cultural pero no podemos admitir, por ejemplo, que se produzcan prejuicios sexistas en nuestras clases, aunque desgraciadamente puedan ser prácticas comunes en otras culturas. Pienso que los códigos de conducta en los programas MBA funcionan como "igualadores" morales. Son parte del aprendizaje global que adquieren nuestros estudiantes.

Aristotle’s quote came to my mind yesterday over a discussion on moral codes at business schools with representatives of the Sumaq, the alliance of the leading business schools in Latin America. Something very solacing is that the attending deans and programme managers said that they encounter similar challenges when designing and implementing moral codes (students’ codes of conduct) in MBA programmes with varied student cultural profiles. The challenge is how to balance respect by all students for a clear and defined set of rules –a sort of global Decalogue or minimal moral denominator- and at the same time leave room for cultural diversity and divergence in customs.

Fire burns both in Hellas and in Persia, but men's ideas of right and wrong vary from place to place

", stated Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics. The great philosopher could hardly be accused of moral relativism but supporters of this philosophical stream have frequently used that passage to illustrate their basic tenet: that moral principles are culturally based and, consequently, vary across the board. From this descriptive observation, moral relativists jump into the normative sphere: we should respect the customs of other cultures, whether we believe they are right or wrong.

In our International MBA programme -with participants from over different nationalities and no dominant culture- there occur multiple cultural clashes among students every year. This is normal, and reflects what happens in the real world. The important thing is how to solve those clashes and learn from the experience. Certainly, dealing effectively and respectfully with cultural difference is something our students should learn.

En nuestro International MBA –con participantes de más de 40 nacionalidades distintas y sin una cultura dominante- se producen múltiples choques culturales entre los alumnos todos los años. Esto es normal, y refleja lo que sucede en el mundo real. Lo importante es saber cómo resolver estos choques y aprender de la experiencia. Ciertamente, algo que nuestros alumnos deberían aprender durante el programa es cómo resolver efectiva y respetuosamente estos conflictos.

I very much oppose moral relativism. We should respect cultural difference but we can not admit, for example, sexist prejudices in our classrooms, despite they may be, unfortunately, common practices in other cultures. I suppose that codes of conduct in MBA programmes act as moral equalizers. It is part of the global learning our students can achieve.

Me opongo personalmente al relativismo moral. Debemos respetar la diversidad cultural pero no podemos admitir, por ejemplo, que se produzcan prejuicios sexistas en nuestras clases, aunque desgraciadamente puedan ser prácticas comunes en otras culturas. Pienso que los códigos de conducta en los programas MBA funcionan como "igualadores" morales. Son parte del aprendizaje global que adquieren nuestros estudiantes.

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

Quality approval shift – initial steps in Denmark

Povl Tiedemann, Head of Department, Association of Danish Business Economists.

Quality approval shift – initial steps in Denmark from local or national public authority signatories to international assessment and accreditation

The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has – till now – been responsible for issuing approvals of study lines offered by Danish universities and business schools – thus linking authority and responsibility directly to Parliament.

For obvious reasons the ministry is currently challenged by the increasing complexity and volume of the initiatives launched – especially when taking into consideration international demands from the future globalisation, requiring first-hand update on performance, content and quality.

Consequently, the Minister recently disclosed the initial step towards relaying the approval of general study lines (non-authorisation-lines) to international accreditation processes. By doing so, future access to collect public funding for universities and business schools will be subject to quality standards set and supervised by international accreditation agencies.

The implementation of above approval shift implies that the Danish universities are well under way to meet the GATS – globalisation demands, under guidance by the business school community, which is already in compliance with the international EQUIS accreditation standards.

This is a clear signal to authorities, universities and business schools, depending on traditional public / ministerial based approval systems, to make a move for the future by adapting to the conditions of the market for research based education: - identify relevant internationally operating accreditation agencies, and get going…

For further information it is recommended to check the EQUIS schedule, and definitely the European University Association, as will the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Management education in 2006: Anticipating some trends

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

Business schools are a very dynamic segment of education and in 2006 they will continue to transform management practices through the creation and diffusion of knowledge and the preparation of executives and entrepreneurs. Indeed, management education is changing more quickly than ever before and, although there is a high degree of uncertainty about the forms of its future evolution, it is still possible to anticipate some of the facts and trends that may shape its development in 2006.

I will mention some of them:

Tags(clickable): Bologna Accord,  2006, Education, Business School, Technology, Management Education

How will the Bologna Accord evolve in 2006?

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

2006 will be a decisive year for the implementation of the Bologna Accord. As commented in a previous post, the implementation of this accord is delegated mainly to the member states and the European institutions –the Parliament and the Commission- just play a subsidiary role. However, the Presidency of the European Union has the leading role and it may take the opportunity to boost the whole process. Is it reasonable to expect so?

As readers may know, ...

Tags(clickable): Bologna Accord,  2006, Education, European Union, EU Presidency

Farewell 2005

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

As the beginning of 2006 approaches, I would like to take this opportunity to wish the readers of this blog, and the members of the management education community, a new year that brings peace, love and happiness to all.

Many people take this time as an opportunity to review the year about to end, to examine the goals achieved and, at the same time, to set objectives for the one about to start. The change of the calendar has some curious psychological effects in the minds of many people who see it as a sound reason to renew their commitments, rethink new goals and refresh attitudes. I consider myself optimistic by nature and believe that the start of a new year is a chance to give another turn to one’s personal history. I also adhere to those who, in line with the title of the popular song, feel that "the best is yet to come".

Tags(clickable): new year,  2005, education, business school, management education

Knowledge and Education: Wikipedia and Wikiversity

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

Wikipedia, the free Web encyclopaedia that anyone can edit, is one of the cultural phenomena of our times. Classical encyclopaedias used to have two basic attributes: (i) they were compendiums of the most relevant accumulated knowledge at any given time; and (ii) they were a true representation of reality, based traditionally on the intellectual expertise of its authors. In fact, the “authority” of the knowledge published in encyclopaedias derived from the pedigree of its authors, most of them renowned scholars.

Wikipedia, however, has..

Tags(clickable): mba,  wikipedia, education, business school, management education

On a plane back from Italy

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

I am writing this post on a bumpy flight back to Madrid from Milano, where I spoke on the Bologna Accord at ASFOR’s Annual Conference this morning, The captain explains that the winds over the Alps and in Southern France are very strong today. Years ago I read somewhere that the two things executives fear most are speaking in public and taking planes, in this order. If it’s of any consolation for someone, my experience is that both fears can be overcome by frequent practice.

ASFOR, Asociazione per la Formazione Aziendale, is the major association of Italian business schools and corporate universities, currently comprising 72 partners...

Ranking Management Thinkers

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

Almost everything could be subject to a ranking. Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove, well-known writers specialised in management, in association with EFMD have recently published the 2005 list of the top 50 business thinkers that I have placed below:

Top 50 Thinkers, 2005
(2003 ranking in brackets)

1. Michael PORTER (2)
2. Bill GATES (20)
3. CK PRAHALAD (12)
4. Click below "Continue

Tags(clickable): mba,  management, ceo, leadership, management education

Deans' Pressures

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

The role of the Dean at a business school is tantamount to the responsibilities of a CEO in a company. Or so it is becoming, given the increasing expectations that different stakeholders of business schools have about their respective dean’s performance. A significant fact is, for example, that the descriptions of the intended profile in recent dean’s job vacancies emphasize managerial components over those traditional academic qualities. But do b-school deans actually distribute their time in analogous ways as CEOs do?

An interesting article ("Three-Year Forecast") published this year in Biz Ed states what b-school deans consider their strategic challenges for the future in parallel with their predictions about the future evolution of management education. The article includes an intriguing chart with data about what deans consider their three major pressures which they are facing as heads of their business schools. The results are the following:

Pressures on the Dean

Managing Faculty Issues 74%

Identifying and Pursuing New Funding Sources 45%

Distinguishing the Business School from Competitors 24%

Managing University/Business Schools Relations 22%

Managing Enrolments and Program Emphases 21%

Dealing with Accreditation Issues 12%

(Source: 2004 AACSB International Strategic Management Survey)

From this chart it could be deduced that, on average, deans devote most of their time dealing with their faculty members. They also dedicate a significant slot of time to the search of new income for their schools: probably dealing with program managers, potential donors and public institutions –in those cases where the school is a recipient of subsidies. What surprises me is the uneven distribution of the reviewed deans’ time between the different internal and external stakeholders of the school. It is significant, for example, the weight given to the management of the external relations of the school. Would this be comparable to the priorities of CEOs?

Most of the opportunities for b-schools lie beyond their ivy-covered walls. This should have consequences in how deans deal with their pressures.

"Best group blog" nomination, Global Edublog Awards 2005

Thank you to our readers for last Tuesday's nomination, we greatly appreciate it.

       Please vote for us here!

"Voting is open from 5 December to 17 December. When you have decided on your nominations for all of the categories, make your selection using the radio buttons! One vote per category please.

Winners will be announced live at a special broadcast awards ceremony held on 18 December 1500 GMT".

Les Blogs 2.0, Paris

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

I attended “Les Blogs 2.0” conference in Paris last Monday.  Loic LeMeur, the host, was able to gather a wide group of diverse people that discussed openly the different applications of blogs to business, politics, communication, journalism, education and other fields. The event was exciting and very interactive and furthermore some participants were blogging at the same time as speakers were delivering their presentations. This fact would have been disturbing for a traditional speaker who expects that the audience just pays attention to what is being addressed. But we live in the age of polychronic use of time, don’t we?
I participated in a panel on blogs and education along with Eric Briys, Ewan McIntosh and Carl-Frederic De Celles. I took the opportunity to introduce BizDeansTalk to the audience as a platform for the generation and diffusion of ideas and best practices on management education in the Blogosphere. I hope we now have more readers and contributors.
My presentation dealt with the potential uses of blogs at business schools. Blogs are conceived mainly as tools that can improve the learning process since they are excellent complements to both face-to-face educational offerings as well as e-learning. They promote interactivity between professors and students, provide opportunities for active learning and develop thinking skills. However they can also be used in many other activities, such as marketing and admissions for the school’s programmes, communication within campus and the fostering of relationships among alumni. There are examples of these alternative uses of blogs at an increasing number of business schools.
Indeed, blogs provide an immense opportunity for business schools and I invite readers and authors here to share their best practices in the field to improve the quality of our educational offerings.

Tags(clickable): mba,  lesblogs, education, business school, management education

Rankings | - "Should journalists become members..."

Della Bradshaw, The Financial Times Business Education editor.

Should journalists become members of industry organisations such as Equal? It is a very interesting question - though I think you would have to create a new category for us!

As an aside, I do know that the Financial Times is a corporate member of EMBAC, the EMBA Council.

Rankings | - "Top 52 - And Proud of it?"

David L. Dinwoodie, Deputy General Director, EADA.

I just had coffee with a terribly depressed, apparently suicidal MBA director who kept repeating, “if only the response rate had been higher, if only the response rate had been higher…..”  Obviously we just received the press release about the Financial Times European Business School Rankings and missed the top 50 ranking by two places.

“With great pride”, I told him.  “We have just been recognized by the leading financial newspaper in the world as being in the top 7% amongst over 700 European MBA programmes.”

“Yes, but the world may never know!” he whimpered as he re-read the email, “We hope this news is not too disappointing and hope you continue to participate in the Financial Times rankings.”  I imagine the scene was repeated in cities through out the world yesterday afternoon and would raise a few issues for reflection in this forum. 

Firstly, recognize the bold stance taken by Santiago Iñiguez when he has publically stated amongst other business school deans that the ranking process is a positive element in helping MBA candidates differentiate between programmes and make informed decisions.  The fact that some outstanding MBA programmes do not fit well into the specific criteria selected for this ranking does not negate the fact that there is great confusion in consumer perception.  Thus the ranking process does aid young professional when trying to make a decision that will have a fundamental impact on their professional career.  “Will a degree from this institution be recognized by the market?”  Well, if the FT says it’s ok, that’s a good start.

Secondly,  a concern.  I deeply believe that responsible business schools have an obligation to contribute not only to the professional advancement of MBA participants but equally to their personal development and commitment to creating a sustainable corporate fabric that benefits society at large.   These factors are noticeably absent in the ranking criteria and thus penalized by the market at crucial decision making moments:  Do I choose this programme or that one?  Do I recruit from this school or that one?

Thirdly, what role do or should the accreditation agencies play in the ranking game? A fundamental one I would suggest.  In addition to pure market perception there should be an independent, external evaluator of academic quality introduced solidly into the informed decision making process.  The fact that highly subsidized institutions can outspend smaller competitors in brand building efforts and thus influence market perception should be balanced to some extent by the institutional commitment to quality and attention to the transformation process of MBA participants while on the programme. 

Surely factoring in academic accreditations from well established independent agencies could aid in balancing the effect of business school investment in “ranking spend” with investment in developing responsible business leaders.

Edublog awards.

Today is the last day to vote in the Edublog awards: http://incsub.org/awards/. Being a relatively newly created blog a vote would be greatly appreciated for the "Best Group blog" section, as to be even nominated would allow us to make some contacts with fellow education bloggers. An email to 2005awards@googlemail.com is all that is needed.

Rankings | - "Keeping Things in Proportion"

Paul Danos, Dean Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

I was talking to John Fernandez who heads up the AACSB recently, and he said that he estimates that there are over 8,000 "business schools" worldwide of which perhaps about six or seven hundred are accredited by major accreditation groups.  The popular rankings concentrate on, at most, the top one  hundred schools, or less than 2% of all the schools.  It is obvious therefore that the vast majority of business school students in the world have little  comparative and independent evaluations of their schools, certainly far less than is readily available for those that are ranked.  When looked at in this perspective, the current system gives a great deal of information for a small percentage  of schools with neither accreditations nor the rankings having much to say about the vast majority of schools. 

The top business schools will continue to command attention from the press and from accreditation agencies, but the massive and growing numbers of  other schools will command attention too and their sheer numbers will make  them more and more important in the future.

Rankings | - "EQUAL's document on Rankings: Some Clarifications"

Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.

In a previous post I referred to the document approved by EQUAL "Rankings-Guide for the media" and given some subsequent commentaries by Della Bradshaw perhaps further clarifications are needed.

EQUAL is a consortium that comprises quality assessment and accreditation agencies in the field of management education as well as national or regional associations of universities, business schools or graduates in Business Administration. It currently has 21 members representing different continents and aims at attracting even more partners in the future. Its membership’s composition and profile goes far beyond the mere representation of business schools and so does its mission.

As Chairman of EQUAL, one of my goals is to transform the consortium into a wide and legitimate body representing the major stakeholders of management education. We are approaching, for example, students', professors' and employers' associations. The recent posts by Della Bradshaw make me think that we may have missed the opportunity of inviting another major stakeholder group: the specialised media in business education. Would their representatives be interested in becoming members of EQUAL in the future?

The aforementioned document was prepared and published six years ago and has been available since at EFMD’s website. To put things in context, it was a response to an alarming proliferation at that time of rankings that were spurious in terms of methodology, transparency, authorship and unsolicited information. As far as I know, the document was distributed in different countries through the respective members of EQUAL but, unfortunately, it seems that it did not reach many of its intended targets: bad marketing indeed by EQUAL. Well, better late than never.

Having said this, according to my interpretation, the rankings produced by the major international newspapers and magazines today –BusinessWeek, Financial Times, Forbes and The Economist- fulfil the basic requirements stated in the document. The virtue of the document is that it allows to distinguish those rankings that respect the basic principles of transparency, consistency and impartiality from those that don’t. Can the document serve as a reference for the rules to be observed in ranking activities?

Rankings | - "Comments on Prof Policano's comment"

Della Bradshaw, The Financial Times Business Education editor.

I think I have to take issue with Prof Policano's comment that there is a "trade off between making more money and reporting more accurately".

At the FT - and I'm absolutely certain this is true at other publications which rank business schools - reporting accuracy is NEVER compromised in order to make money, be that selling advertising or newspapers. Indeed, anyone can view all our rankings on ft.com completely free of charge - it is a non-subscription service.

At the FT we have spent years trying to make our rankings more stable, not less stable. We compile salary data and alumni opinion over three years, for example. And when a ranking has been running for more than three years, we introduce a three year average score, which we tell our readers is a better indicator for schools, especially ESTABLISHED schools, notably those in the US.

We also "band" schools, into four bands for our MBA rankings - equivalent to the ratings Prof Policano is looking for - and point out in the footnotes that schools are ranked in these clusters.

Because the FT is a global ranking - not a US one - we include very fast-growing schools, in both Europe and Asia. Just to give you one specific example, the FT ranks the University of Oxford's MBA at number 25 in the world. Ten years ago this programme did not exist.

Prof Policano's argument that that top 50 US schools are much the same schools, year in, year out, has some validity. But the top 50 or 100 global schools are certainly not!

Prof Policano notes that at his previous school, the MBA programme did not change much from year to year. But there are schools where the programmes do change, and the schools involved want that recorded through the rankings. A rating system may not achieve this.

For every dean that wants more stability in the rankings there is one that doesn't..... one complaint I often hear is that our three-year weighting system penalises innovative schools. This is particularly true in our executive education rankings where these shorter programmes are revamped on a near-annual basis - or even replaced completely.

On a final note, one often-voiced complaint is that rankings should be more transparent. Wouldn't a move from rankings to ratings make them less transparent?

Rankings | - "What Price Rankings?"

Andy Policano, Dean of The Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine

In my recent article “What Price Rankings?” in BizEd, I examine a number of the items that are discussed by Della Bradshaw, Howard Thomas and Santiago Iniguez.  Let me comment on just one of those points which my good friend Howard Thomas alluded to in his comments.

I am sure that Howard would agree with Della Bradshaw that the media should make money.  The disagreement comes from the trade off between making more money and reporting more accurately.  Let me provide an example. A major point of my BizEd article is that the set of the top twenty schools has not changed significantly in the last 18 years and that the numerical scores that the media compute for these schools show little statistical difference between them.  All of these programs are excellent and all provide a top notch environment.  Still, there are more complex differences across these programs than reflected in the rankings that might cause a prospective student to choose one over another.  Because there is little statistical difference in the numbers computed by the media for these schools, one of the least important determinants of that decision should be the media ranking. The same conclusion can be reached for the schools that fall in the next group of say 30 schools.  These observations suggest that a more accurate way to portray the quality of business schools is to “rate” not “rank” them.  Schools in the first tier receive an "A"; schools in the next tier a "B" and so on.  Students would then investigate the important differences between schools based on a deeper comparison of the specific attributes of the schools and their own preferences.

So, why don’t the media simply report the raw data for each school and then rate and not rank schools? The stark reality is that there would be little new in the ratings from one year to the next—thus, no news.  If the media adopted this strategy, which would avoid creating the misperception that there are sharp differences between schools with the same rating, much of the hype of the rankings would diminish and rankings issues would be less popular.

While there is nothing wrong in the concept that the media should make money, there is something wrong in the concept that the media are inventing news that really isn’t there.  For example, I began my investigation of the rankings while I was Dean at Wisconsin when in one year the US News ranking of the MBA program rose 20 places.  We had done nothing different in that year.  It was then that I discovered that the schools are so closely bunched together that a minor blip in one component of the ranking can cause major changes in the school’s relative position.  The truth was that there was no substantial change in the quality of the program. If the media had rated rather than ranked programs, a more accurate portrayal would have been relayed to the public.

In sum, the media should rate, not rank schools. In fact, Business Week does this for their 30 – 50 group and their 50+ group. They list these schools alphabetically, most likely because they find it difficult to draw distinctions between these schools.  The rest of the media should move in this direction.