Disrupt or Be Disrupted

Compiled by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and with contributions by administrators and professors from the top global MBA programs, this book provides business school decision-makers with an evidence-based approach to improving the practice of graduate management education. The book is designed to help navigate the pressures and create revolutionary platforms that leverage a school's unique competitive advantage in a design distinctly tailored for today's business realities.

• Offers a unique handbook for improving graduate management education
• Contains contributions from an international group of deans and professors that lead MBA programs
• Sponsored by GMAC, owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) exam used by over 5,000 programs worldwide

This important resource gives academics a proven approach for improving graduate-level management programs.

Foreword vii

George S. Yip

Introduction: The Change Imperative 1
Brooks C. Holtom and Lyman W. Porter

Chapter 1 Ensuring and Enhancing Future Value 21
Erich C. Dierdorff, Denis J. Nayden, Dipak C. Jain, and Subhash C. Jain

Chapter 2 Framing and Making Strategic Choices 57
Michael Hay

Chapter 3 Managing Aspirations, Resources, and Cost Structures 95
Jikyeong Kang and Andrew W. Stark

Chapter 4 Intellectual Signatures: Impact on Relevance and Doctoral Programs 131
JC Spender and Rakesh Khurana

Chapter 5 Curriculum Matters: Toward a More Holistic Graduate Management Education 179
Sara L. Rynes and Jean M. Bartunek

Chapter 6 Overlooked and Unappreciated: What Research Tells Us About How Teaching Must Change 219
Kenneth G. Brown, J. Ben Arbaugh, George Hrivnak, and Amy Kenworthy

Chapter 7 Student Engagement: Selection, Management, and Outcomes 259
Daniel C. Feldman

Chapter 8 Reclaiming Quality in Graduate Management Education 297
Robert S. Rubin and Frederick P. Morgeson

Epilogue 347
Erich C. Dierdorff and Brooks C. Holtom

Acknowledgments 373

About the Contributors 375

Name Index 395

Subject Index 405

"... an interesting book which deserves to be read by all of us involved with management of any description.... A thoroughly recommended read." (Project, July 2014)

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Founded in 1953 by the deans and admissions officers of leading schools of business and management, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is owner and administrator of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT)—the most widely adopted and trusted admissions exam of its kind. More than 2,000 schools in 110 countries today use the GMAT exam to assess applicants to more than 6,000 graduate business and management programs. With its vision of being the leader in connecting talent and aspiration to opportunity, GMAC has expanded its business and staff—as well as its membership—internationally and has adapted its role in graduate management education to include professional development, industry-wide conferences, world-class research, product development, and the global promotion of management education. Today, the not-for-profit Council continues in its mission to improve the discovery and evaluation of talent and deliver on its core belief that business and management—and the teaching of both– are critical to the economic, social, and financial well-being of people worldwide.

THE EDITORS
Brooks C. Holtom is associate professor of management at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Erich C. Dierdorff is associate professor of management at the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University in Chicago.

In the past twenty-five years, dramatic marketplace transformation, technological advances, and globalization have led to completely new ways of interacting, sharing, learning, and doing that challenge the very core of graduate management education. Responding to today's challenges while balancing relevance, value, and reputation will require business school administrators to engage in unprecedented amounts of strategic thinking, creativity, stakeholder engagement, and interpersonal effectiveness. But to a troubling degree, some business school activities still seem relatively impervious to change. Disrupt or Be Disrupted: A Blueprint for Change in Management Education describes the diverse ways in which schools can meet the challenges confronting graduate management education.

Disrupt or Be Disrupted outlines the formidable challenges that face the leaders of graduate management education—including financial pressures, shifts in student origin and age, and more—offering evidence-based solutions designed to help position graduate business schools for the future. The authors look, for instance, at specific examples of different business schools' financial models and discuss how a school might be able to change its financial model, and what the advantages might or might not be. And they attempt to answer such key questions as: Is the typical curriculum of today's MBA programs meeting the needs of organizations and society as we move further into the 21st century? How much and what kinds of engagement does a management school want to encourage? And why does this type of education even matter?

Since the 1960s, business schools and graduate management education have made impressive advances overall and have introduced many constructive changes. Despite these accomplishments, critics abound, and the need to make fundamental changes in graduate management education is the central theme in these critiques. How to get from here to the future is the overriding issue and is addressed throughout this book.

Praise for Disrupt or Be Disrupted

"All those charged with leading schools of business, both academics and external advisory board members, should read this book."
—Robert E. Witt, chancellor, the University of Alabama System

"If you believe, as I do, that business schools are vital to the economy and at an inflection point, then Disrupt or Be Disrupted: A Blueprint for Change in Management Education is a must-read. Packed with insight, challenges, and options from internationally renowned business school thought-leaders, this is a call to arms for everyone—academics, employers, or students—who wants to engage in this important transformation."
—Rona Fairhead, CBE; MA (Law), Cantab; and Honorable Fellow, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge

"Anyone in a position of leadership in the world of management education—indeed, anyone with any interest in the subject—needs to read this book. The rules of engagement in the business of business education are changing by the minute. This GMAC-sponsored book, written by some of the leading figures in the field, offers a retrospective on how we got here and—more importantly—a survival handbook for the turbulent future ahead. It is also a suitable reminder of the outstanding contribution GMAC's president and CEO Dave Wilson has made to the industry as his nineteen-year tenure draws to a close."
—Eric Cornuel, CEO and director general, EFMD

"This book does a great job of tackling the many different issues facing graduate business schools today. The authors represent a wide range of schools and perspectives. It is essential reading for all those involved in the leadership of business schools, not just faculty but also those executives who sit on advisory boards and governing bodies. I recommend that deans give copies of this book to all their board members."
—George Yip, professor, China Europe International Business School

"This book is a comprehensive and stimulating assessment of the world of management education. All stakeholders of business schools would profit from its insights and wisdom."
—Robert F. Bruner, dean and Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia