How Katz Is Changing The MBA Experience

 

We have a broad series of experiences. Some students are involved in global challenges where we might go to another country to work on a problem, so they’re exposed to a completely different business environment. Some are challenges that we set up here, in terms of case competitions or similar events where there’s a competitive element. One example is the Katz Invitational, where 12 different business school teams compete. And those settings challenge our students, for example in the case competition, to not only work on an interesting case but also give them a glimpse of what other schools doing and how they may solve problems differently. We have specific projects in classes that challenge them in new ways because we present new material to them that goes way beyond what you can find in books to keep things fresh. Along with a variety of activities, there is a constant emphasis on teamwork, working together to maximize the power of the team.

On top of that, we have a smaller program, which allows us to do more of these additional experiences beyond the coursework and challenge our students to do more. Although we’re small, we are quite diverse in terms of student background, whether it’s educational, [students’] global location, or where and how they’ve worked in the global business arena. And that diversity also applies in terms of the gender and ethnicity. We’re more diverse than other comparable programs. For example, on the proportion of women, we’ve exceeded the national average of comparable programs. Even though we have a small program, we have a very inclusive program in getting different viewpoints and notions about business reflected in what the program does.

You’ve been the dean for over six months now. How did you spend your early days? Tell us about some of the new programs and initiatives that you’re either developing or have launched recently?

One of the advantages that I had was being a dean somewhere else. I had to go through those first six months – or your proverbial first 100 days – when I was at Buffalo. I had some takeaways from that as far as what I wanted to do during that period and what I actually got to do. So I did use my past experience.

One of the things I really wanted to do at Katz was make sure I connected with the faculty and staff and get a quick read of where they think the school is going, to hear from them in their language (as opposed to my language as dean). That is a form of communication that I care about. Similarly, I wanted to see where the school stands in the eyes of the broader university leadership team – and quickly understand how they viewed us as fitting with the broader university agenda, That is very important for the business school. I think business schools should no longer be isolated and [instead be] integrated into the university mission in a very real way. And this has not taken place in every place that I’ve been. So I wanted to see the potential for more integration in that regard.

Beyond that, I evaluated what the school was good at and what could be made better and what were perhaps a couple of new opportunities that we hadn’t explored before but are really going to be at the forefront of our plan for the next 3-5 years. So I’m in the process of now finalizing essentially a strategic plan for that timeframe.

[Here are a few key points in that plain]:

Number one, we’re going to have an emphasis on health management. Our faculty has gathered significant expertise [in that area] over the years.  Some of them have worked in the health area directly. And this health experience is across all functional areas of business, from marketing to organizational behavior to supply chain. What we have not done is really galvanize all of these together into a premier program that we could offer. So we want to do a graduate education program at a very high level of quality that focuses on health and is innovative in its curriculum and design.

Second, we have started a Supply Chain Center, which has received a lot of attention from the corporate world and has been popular with our students. Correspondingly, our supply chain major has been very attractive for our undergraduates. We just launched an MS in supply chain. And I see all of these as part of one agenda of becoming a go-to place in the area of supply change management. And that’s well within the capabilities of our school.

Another large area is the area of globalization, where we’d like to increase the exposure of students to global experiences broadly defined. But we’d like that to go up to 100%, meaning every student, undergrad or graduate, would be able to point to a very meaningful and significant learning experience that is focused on the world of global business building.

One final point: We have a great school in our college of business administration. It just turned 20 years old, so we’re celebrating its anniversary. When you look at what’s been accomplished at that school, especially the last couple of years, it’s poised to become a distinctive feature of “Pitt Business.” I’m going to work very hard on that.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing the Katz MBA program and graduate business education in general?

Let’s start with the general picture. If you talk to most of the deans – and we just had a meeting of 600-700 of them with AACSB last week –  you will see some pervasive themes going around. One is, what is the new MBA going to look like? In what sense is it having an impact? How should we innovate? And what will be the demographics of who’s going to come into an MBA program? As you know, there are now lots of alternative choices for people to get exposure to business education…but not necessarily following the traditional MBA model. Many schools have responded to that, just as we have, by creating other types of programs like MS programs or certain types of joint programs. So there are just a richer number of options at the graduate level for people who want to study business.

That creates a challenge for the MBA because now it has to position itself vis-a-vis  these other possible options. And the demographics are not necessarily increasing. It’s essentially the same population that will be divided between these different programs, at least when I talk about the domestic U.S. population. So we’re all competing, essentially, for a smaller number of domestic students, which causes concerns about what is the right strategy to adopt.

At Katz, we have our own challenges. What we find is, apart from resources challenges, we need to do even more in the areas we’ve been emphasizing, especially in respect to soft skills. And we also need to innovate more in terms of the kind of courses we offer our students. Especially when it comes to electives: The name of the game is ratchet it up and essentially offer innovation at the level of MBA electives. That’s part of the game we have to play better at, I think.

As far as innovation, when it comes to the fundamental of business, one could argue those fundamentals (as defined for original MBA programs) are still very, very relevant today.  For example, what a manager needs to know about the fundamentals of microeconomics doesn’t change. [Those fundamentals] been around for long periods of time because they are essentially what makes business tick. Similarly, innovation is not taking the fundamentals and just updating the context,  like including more recent cases that illustrate the same fundamentals as the old cases.

For me, innovation needs to be in the area of ‘what is entirely new content that you wouldn’t have offered 20 years ago. One clear example is what technology has enabled us to do, which has implications in all spheres of business. For example, we didn’t have courses that focused on social media and now you have a lot of schools looking at that as areas of innovation.

Having said that, on the curriculum side, I want to say that we continue to view our advantage as what we do in the area of soft skills and outside-the-classroom learning.