Reply #108: I'm not BLAMING the b-schools, at least not solely.

[Tansy_Gold]

Consider again that it was the president of the #1 ranked global business grad school who suggested maybe they'd done something wrong. I didn't start this fight! ;-)

Obviously, of course, there are other factors: the general business climate, the indoctrination in capitalist ideology that most of us get from before kindergarten, the lack of even a basic understanding of other economic systems. Our culture, based on a capitalist/mercantilist/Calvinist model, encourages the notion that wealth in and of itself is good; the means by which wealth is acquired may or may not be perfect, but wealth can and often does erase the sins committed in acquiring it.

What I'm suggesting is that the occasional required undergrad class(es) in sociology, history, race/class/gender issues, etc., may have been ignored or dismissed or insufficiently reinforced in the business schools. Their job, after all, is to train people for the business world, and that's a world dominated by the profit motive. Do they have an obligation to temper that motive so that it doesn't devolve into naked greed? :shrug: I dunno. But when the president of Thunderbird wonders if they've done something wrong that contributed to this horrendous collapse, I have the right to offer my observations, don't I?

I looked at what Thunderbird requires for its program. http://www.thunderbird.edu/prospective_students/ft_degrees/mbagm/curriculum/core_curriculum/core_desc.htm

These are the required core courses for the MBA in Global Management program:

Foundations
International Political Economy
Fundamentals of Accounting
Financial Accounting & External Reporting
Managerial Decision-making
Fundamentals of Finance
Financial Management
Global Financial Management
International Economics
Data Analysis
Global Operations Management
Managing Projects
Competing Through People
Competing Through Strategy
Global Marketing
Regional Business Environment: Asia, Europe, Latin America or North America
Cross-Cultural Communication
Global Negotiations (Traditional Program only)
Global Strategy
Global Leadership

Then I looked at the list of courses for the focus areas listed as global finance, entrepreneurship, developement, management and marketing. Of all the advanced courses, these were the only three that even remotely (IMHO, you understand; yours may be different) addressed social issues:

GF 5804 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL CHANGE
(1.5 hours) Economic development and social change can offer tremendous business opportunities for global managers. At the same time, the development process can lead to social, cultural, economic, and political conflicts. This course explores the roots of such conflicts, and methods of conflict management such as negotiations and multicultural communications. The course can also have a mediation certification component for those interested in official mediation recognition for their career options. Prerequisite: GM 4000, GM 4600/4620/4640 or 4660, and GM 4801.


GF 5806 STRATEGIES IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
(3 hours) This course examines development prospects and policy in less developed and transition economies. Issues include trade, investment, foreign aid, international debt, technology transfer, poverty, environment, social development, and sustainable development. The roles of international and regional organizations, government policy, and domestic and foreign corporations are explored. Prerequisite: GM 4000 and GM 4600/4620/4640 or 4660.


GF 5883 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ETHICS
(1.5 hours) Management of international business ethics and global corporate social responsibility is integral to the skill set of the global manager. This case-based course examines national laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; corporate codes of conduct; issues of bribery, corruption, and labor standards including with respect to global outsourcing; and the contribution of corporate ethics to brand integrity. Prerequisite: GM 4000 and GM 4600/4620/4640 or 4660.
http://www.thunderbird.edu/prospective_students/ft_degrees/mbagm/curriculum/focus_areas/focus_desc.htm


Maybe this isn't enough. Maybe I'm looking at the whole thing from the wrong perspective. Maybe the graduates from a graduate school whose primary (and maybe sole) focus is on international business aren't going to be the leaders of the economy. Maybe only those who go on for PhDs will be the leaders, and these mere MBAs don't need further education in social sciences. Maybe all they need to know is how to turn a profit.

And maybe because Thunderbird's focus is on international business, they don't need to teach anything about how the corporation's success may be the society's destruction. Maybe they don't need to know anything about labor history and peasant uprisings and how governments influence/effect revolutions in their de facto colonies. Will they see United Fruit as a successful company or a catastrophe? Will they ever ask their students to look at the world of business through another lens?

That's what I'd say to Dr. Cabrera if I had the opportunity to address him. That's not likely to happen. I finished with ASU West in 2003 and I'm nowhere near 59th & Greenway in Glendale, AZ any more.

Then again, maybe he'll read the DU journal of


Tansy Gold