Recently I read an article posted by The Economist titled The Insidious MBAs.(http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2008/12/insidious_mbas.cfm)
I think we confuse managers with MBAs. I do not believe the MBAs are the responsible for the crisis. I think the responsibility belongs to the CEOs. It´s not necessary to be a MBA to be a CEO.
The MBAs are valuable professionals, but they are more technicians. They have great knowledge to be real managers once they succeed in the company career. MBS is the language for managers and it is more profound than MBA. I think CEOs or future managers must “speak MBS”. The MBS inside the organizations will of course need many MBAs.
The crisis came because probably some MBAs developed toxic products, but the real responsible were the CEOs which did not practice MBS in their organizations.
In “Managers not MBAs”, Mintzberg moved on to another recurring theme of his—that the MBA, the bread-and-butter course of many business schools and the sine qua non of fast-track management careers, “prepares people to manage nothing”. Synthesis, not analysis, he said, “is the very essence of management”, and the MBA course teaches only analysis. (Henry Mintzberg Jan 16th 2009 From Economist.com)
I always thought there is a confusion. MBA courses are not for managers.MBA courses produce highly skilled professionals,analysts as Mintzberg says. MBAs has been not and will be not required to be a good manager. It may be that many and good MBAs become great CEOs. Actually a good CEO can be compared with the Director of the Orchestra.MBAs with the musicians, who dominates the instrument.I agree with Mintzberg,the adhocracy probably will be the structure for the future.Efficient organizations will look like reputates orchestras.Director does not play any instrument but know the score and dominates the music as science and art.The score is the key.Everyone read his score,but the director knows who is out of his score and is playing badly.MBS is the score for CEOs and managers. We need probably several or many MBAs, depending on the size of the organization. When the MBA master, not just his instrument, but how to drive the orchestra, it is time probably to become a good manager or CEO because can read all score and can lead the orchestra to yield a good sound.
MBS in www.fivestarmanger.com
