INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYLance B. Eliot, Feature Editor, Eliot & Associates The Modern, Connected, Digital MBAby Lance Eliot, Eliot & Associates Suppose that you encountered a recently minted Masters of Business Administration (MBA) graduate that knew almost nothing about marketing. You would probably be surprised and disappointed to find a modern MBA who was not versed in such an essential and fundamental function of business. Now, instead of marketing, imagine that the recent grad knew very little about finance. Once again, you would probably be shocked and saddened at the omission of basic skills in financial affairs (another fundamental area of business). Suppose that the area of weakness was actually information technology, rather than marketing or finance. What is your reaction now? Hopefully, your reaction is equally one of shock and concernžthe same as your reaction to an MBA lacking knowledge about any of the other fundamentals of modern business. Unfortunately, some MBA programs are rooted in the past and fail to perceive the importance and relevance of information technology education for graduate students in business. Indeed, other than a student learning how to do word processing or knowing how to perform a calculation in a spreadsheet, many MBA programs provide scant attention to information technology. From Past To Present I recall that when I began teaching MBA students back in the late 1970's, the focus of any information technology component in an MBA program was usually on getting the students to use batch oriented computer-based business simulations so that they could "practice" running a mock business. Then, in the 1980's, I helped put together a collection of programs that could be used by business students to perform analyses in all respective functions of business, including financial models, decision tree and decision analysis tools, statistical tools, and other interactive hands-on quantitative activities. The widespread adoption of such tools in MBA curriculums helped expand the awareness and perceived value of information technology for MBAs. Gradually, in the later 1980's and now in the 1990's, especially progressive MBA programs have expanded the information technology requirements for their students from simply learning how to be a "user" of information technology, to understand and leverage information technology for strategic and tactical uses throughout an entire enterprise, within and across industries, and in all areas of organizational and societal activity. Students not only learn how to use information technology in their coursework and about its application to business, but they also learn about the role of an information systems' function in a business, how to go about designing and implementing information systems, how to think broadly about the use of information technology in the products and services of a business, and so on. MBA students need both sides of the information technology coin, namely, an appreciation for the direct hands-on use of information technology (such as word processing, e-mail, spreadsheeting, business tools), and the overarching issues of information technology strategy that can aide them in creating a sustainable competitive advantage for a business, or simply allowing a business to compete in our modern, cyberspace, modemized age. Do not misinterpret my remarksžI am not advocating the extreme viewpoint that every MBA student must be an information technology guru who can whip out program code. Though some MBA students may decide to emphasize an information technology "major" within their MBA program, I am directing my current remarks toward all MBA students, and arguing for a necessary and sufficient amount of properly targeted information technology concepts and skills that each MBA should minimally possess. Of course, similar arguments are being made for a variety of other competing topics that might occupy an MBA's educational curriculum. What about Total Quality Management? What about Reengineering? What about MS/OR? Indeed, the upcoming Annual Conference of the Decision Sciences Institute (November 20-22, 1995, in Boston, Mass.) offers a "Conference within a Conference" that will examine MBA programs and their "Curriculum in Transition" (note: the conference coordinators are Charles Bonini, Stanford University, and Rodger Collons, Drexel University). I urge academics, administrators, and industry practitioners to meet at this event and help determine the relevance and mix of all the topics that might be presented to MBA students during their brief stint in school. In particular, I urge the attendees of this important updating-MBA-programs effort to consider how information technology has beenžor has not beenžintegrated into their overall MBA program. Graduates of the 1990's must not be allowed to venture forth into the real-world without a balanced and completed understanding of information technology. By Omission or Intent As a hiring executive of MBA graduates, I often find that recent grads wanted more information technology schooling, but were either not provided such an opportunity, or were overtly swayed away from information technology. Some non-IT faculty view information technology as a grunt level topic that does not belong at the top-level management table (i.e., executive-level schooling suited for an MBA). Such MBA faculty in non-IT disciplines who refuse to consider or acknowledge the importance of information technology are sadly out-of-touch with the world around them. Every fundamental function of business is dramatically impacted by the role of information technology. Name a function and I can rattle off at least ten ways that the function could be strategically helped or hindered by information technology. Notice that I indicated "helped or hindered." MBA students must not only understand the idealistic ways that information technology might help each of the other functions of business, but they must also be taught the practical nature of how improperly applied information technology can hinder or ruin a business. Most MBAs will likely walk into a job that requires them to deal with legacy systems (information technology brought into a business that no longer is up-to-date with the needs of the business). The encountered legacy systems will undoubtedly be misaligned with the business in some crucial respects. Thus, the MBA should be schooled in how to determine where the misalignment is occurring, and have the skills necessary to avoid, fix, or otherwise overcome such information technology failings. These last few points are worthy of attention to not only all MBA faculty, but especially to IT faculty teaching in an MBA program. In order to sway your non-IT colleagues toward understanding the value of information technology in an MBA program, you must show the relevance of IT to the other functions, and demonstrate the need for students to understand and cope with the strengths and weaknesses of information technology. Emphasizing the strengths alone (a common approach) will only produce lopsided students who will be unable to cope with the real world realities of information technology. By using carefully selected case studies, guest speakers, student experiences, journal readings, and well-written textbooks, the IT faculty can bring out the weaknesses and threats that IT poses to businesses and prepare their students for the messy, chaotic world of business. I suspect that nearly all MBA programs will be pushed toward being more information technology conscious in the later 1990's and into the 2000's. The widespread use of multimedia inside and outside the classroom, the use of the information superhighway for MBA education, and other IT-related societal/business environmental changes and conditions will force IT to the forefront ž and will cause MBA programs to update their IT component and perspective, or lose students and become irrelevant. Questions, Questions, Questions If you are a prospective student looking into enrolling in an MBA program, ask the faculy how information technology is integrated into their curriculum.
If you are an MBA program director:
If you are an MBA faculty member:
If you are an industry practitioner:
Conclusion It's becoming an electronically connected, digital world. Shouldn't a modern MBA also be prepared to handle those digital connections? I say, Yes. Remember that your input is welcomed. If you have projects addressing the information technology area, and you would like to share this with readers of "Information Technology," please write to me at the address below. Dr. Lance Eliot
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