The Future Of Managment Education

Prof Rahul K Mishra May 07, 2018

The future of Management Education is going to be shaped by technology. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, faster broadband, mobile internet and Mobile Apps are going to affect the future of management education. The key factor in the future of management is the emergence of technologies of Industry 4.0 which essentially will redefine the management as it is practiced and also the education which helps train managers and leaders. The digitalization of business is another factor which is reshaping the businesses. The machines are going take over a lot of basic managerial work. In this scenario, what is the future of Management education?

Given the accelerated pace of change, the future of management education should be based on dynamic capabilities of a B- School and the same goes for the company too. Dynamic capabilities, the concept defined by David Teece, Gary Pisano, and Amy Sheen, as “the firm's ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments". Peter Lorange, Jagdish Sheth and Howard Thomas wrote an article in the magazine “Global Focus” to apply this concept to B-Schools. They write “If business schools are to be persuaded to embrace the strategic management concept of dynamic capabilities (which we believe they need to do), two perspectives are involved: First, a review of the most relevant, appropriate and useful capabilities and qualities that management educators should develop in their students. These capabilities (also known as “core competencies” or “strategic assets”) represent an organization’s capability to deploy resources, usually in combination, through organizational processes to achieve superior long-term performance.

Such capabilities may include expertise in the areas of leadership, strategy, innovation, people management and delivery/customer service. These represent different kinds of skills, organizational systems, routines and so on. The management educator must make choices regarding which to focus on and nurture in their students in order to produce impactful, practical managers”.

As economic, political and technological scenario is changing very fast, the redesigning management education for executives is a must. The focus is on continuous learning with technology and leadership focus. A leadership which understands the application of technology fosters entrepreneurial skills and is high on emotional intelligence and empathy. It is a tall order but leading an organization is such a complex environment would always remain a tall order. Apart from technology, the issue of sustainability and innovation will keep forcing companies to change their business models and functions. The old business models will start fading and the new will emerge forcing managers to have new mindset and skillsets.

These challenges require reconfiguration of management education, based on skills sets required in the future. The management programme must put all learning material on a mobile app and on the portal which can be accessed by students and executives whenever they want. AI should be able to help the learner to customize the learning material and pace of learning for each of the participants. A lot of learning material should be developed with the help of augmented and virtual reality.

The face to face classroom sessions needs to utilize time for case discussions and facilitating discussions among students. Decision-making skills, connection with people (Emotional Intelligence) are going to be extremely crucial for managers in future. Machines are devoid of these skills. Managers who could demonstrate these skills could get an edge. Thought leadership and application of technology as the core of the business system and the process will make all the difference.

This is an exciting time of management education but it needs to change as the political, economic and technological environment would be changing very fast.