Identity and challenges for business schools in the 21 st century David Tranfield Professor of Management Director of R

1. Identity and challenges for business schools in the 21st century David Tranfield Professor of Management Director of Research and Faculty Development Cranfield University SIAF Inauguration Day 23 October 2006

2. The History of Business Schools…. • Trade Schools – Harvard Business School (1908) vision that it ‘would soon demonstrate a great capacity for public usefulness’ (President Eliot) • Search for academic respectability (1950’s and 60’s) – Ford and Carnegie reports : the ‘scientization’ of business schools using faculty from associated disciplines. • Dislocation from practice – ‘What if the Academy actually mattered’?(Hambrick 1993) and other debates

3. Business Schools with an identity crisis …. STRENGTHS CHALLENGES • Educating Students • Single product - MBA • Narrow thinkers lacking leadership ability – ethically questionable • Strong business networks • Lacks design science orientation • Social science base • Methodologically sound • Lacks relevance • Unable to build knowledge stocks • Academically inclusive

4. Starkey et al (2006) – positioning the Business School …. • Social science model • Professional school • Value adding in the knowledge economy • The humanities led school

5. Social science model …. • The dominant model • ‘….accomplished peers and a faculty known for its Nobel Prizes’ – Chicago GSB • Offers clarity for moments of truth • Expects the power of knowledge to triumph BUT • Often diverges from practice – strange lack of impactful contributions

6. Professional School …. • ‘…. to train for the practice of management as a profession and develop knowledge relevant to improving operations’ • Focused on change – a clinical approach • Dual role – pursues knowledge both for its own sake and for application BUT • Is it possible to achieve both goals?

7. Value adder in the knowledge economy …. • Has ‘servicing’ role with other parts of the University (Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine) • Offers both general management (conversion) and specialised training for technical experts • Focused research agenda heavily context specific BUT • Is this a viable operation both in a business sense and academically?

8. Humanities led School …. • Management as a liberal art : • ‘liberal’ – deals with knowledge, wisdom, leadership. • ‘art’ – concerned with practice and application. • Reflexivity as a central tenet – ‘it would be catastrophic to become a nation of technically competent people who have lost their ability to think critically, examine themselves and respect humanity and the diversity of others’(Martha Nussbaum) • Design and creativity – a reaction to ‘technique driven’ MBAs? BUT • Is this a distinct role for the business school or a signal to link with departments in the humanities?

9. A time for remaking? What will knowledge spaces look like in the future? • Time to question ‘market-smart, mission-centred’? • A place of public purpose or an agency of personal advantage? • Back to the future? – combinations of the four models to move from ‘market-smart, mission-centred’ to ‘knowledge-centred, learning driven?’