What is an MBA worth today? Last month, after extensive discussion around this question, the Academy of Management concluded, "Not much." Research argues that there is little evidence that an MBA has much impact on one's career attainment or salary. Meanwhile, in the wake of corporate scandals, people are questioning how adequately business schools are preparing graduates to handle complex ethical dilemmas. Furthermore, in the current economic climate, fewer jobs exist for the increasing pool of MBAs in the marketplace.

Now that an MBA no longer opens doors to senior executive positions as quickly as before, the MIT Sloan School of Management is redesigning its curriculum to focus on educating people to effectively lead innovation. According to Dean Richard Schmalensee, one of Sloan's approaches is to bridge the gap between research and hands-on learning experiences. For instance, current Sloan initiatives include the Global E-Lab ("E" for entrepreneurial), in which students attend two six-week sessions before and after a lengthy residency at a company in a foreign country, and the Medical Innovations program, a cross-MIT collaboration with local research hospitals to develop breakthrough innovations.

Many students are excited about the prospect of engaging in practical, innovation-oriented experiences. Even though the pilot programs are experimental, they believe that immersing themselves in business environments will help them better integrate theory with industry practices. And Sloan hopes to lead the way in improving how business schools educate the leaders of tomorrow.
—KS

Source: D.C. Denison, "Sloan School Rethinks Its Mission," Boston Globe, October 7, 2002

IN THE NEWS
Lessons Learned from the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

Last weekend, United States, Soviet, and Cuban officials and military officers who were involved in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis attended a three-day conference in Havana, Cuba, to discuss newly declassified documents and share insights. This was the sixth such conversation in the last 40 years. This time, part of the participants' hope was to apply lessons learned to the present-day Iraq crisis in order to prevent another showdown with potentially catastrophic consequences.

By bringing three sets of participants to the table, the group has been able to get a better sense of the "system" as a whole and realize just how close the two sides were to nuclear war. For example, participants discovered that President Kennedy did not know the Soviets had already put tactical nuclear weapons on Cuba when he quarantined the island. If the U.S. had attacked Cuba to force the Soviets to remove their missiles, it would have almost certainly unleashed a nuclear war.

Through new insights gained from the conversations, the group has identified some learnings that might be applicable to current and future international conflicts. For example, when President Bush recently invoked Kennedy's actions during the Cuban missile crisis to justify a preemptive strike on Iraq, Robert McNamara, a conference participant and Kennedy's former defense secretary, emphasized that Kennedy's approach was not preemptive. Rather, he purposely chose to "quarantine" Cuba—a defensive move—rather than "blockade" it—a military action. What these conferences highlight is the importance of ongoing discussions, prudent language, and cautious actions to defuse highly charged political situations.
—KS

Sources: Marion Lloyd, "Caution Called Lesson of Cuban Missile Crisis," Boston Globe, October 12, 2002; and Anthony Boadle, "Cuba Missile-Crisis Veterans Fault Bush on Iraq," The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 11, 2002

Over the past several years, coaching has emerged as a powerful new model for leadership and management. Coaching focuses less on telling employees how to complete a task than on asking them good questions to lead them to discover their own answers. It also centers more on the follower than on the leader. The following four coaching models illustrate how each can facilitate organizational learning.

Expert coaching focuses on delivering knowledge and information quickly and accurately, for example, classroom training centered on a dynamic presentation or lecture.

Facilitator coaching involves helping teams and individuals manage processes—such as meetings—more effectively. It can also help groups learn to question their assumptions and develop team-learning capacity.

Mentor coaching occurs when a mentor trains, develops, and promotes a learner who, in return, works on the mentor's projects. The mentee gains valuable experience while the mentor's projects move ahead.

Generative coaching requires a coach to act as a "steward" in service of the coachee's goals, completely independent of the coach's immediate interests and projects. It focuses on developing the employee's creative abilities and giving him or her tools to initiate innovative organizational change.

While each method does have drawbacks, expert and facilitative coaching can be low-cost and time-effective methods of promoting short-term organizational learning. For the long term, however, mentor and generative coaching provide more effective tools for creating an organizational culture in which learning forms the basis for work and relationships.

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