Missing Components of Management Education

The paper critically examines the standard content of management education in business schools. It is argued that the curriculum in most places is still based entirely on instrumental, scientific rationality. The non-linear is labelled as ‘out of order’, chaos, abnormal or ‘exception’. Yet when students leave academia they meet primarily exceptions. Why do we not teach how to deal with chaos; how to integrate chaos and order, and how to use them as equally important and continuously present components of our reality? The author’s interviews with young graduates reveal that students rely primarily on intrinsic personal values, on networking skills, on diplomacy, on negotiation and communication skills when they start working. This is the education that students do not necessarily acquire during their years of formal education. By including philosophy, ethics, values and wisdom into the curriculum of business education we might enable students to make the shift from competition to collaboration, from knowledge hoarding to knowledge sharing, from exploiting opportunities to contributing to the overall well being of humanity

Questions on Leadership and Organisational Culture

The paper gives an overview of the debate concerning the role of leadership in creating and changing organisational culture. Chaos and tension theory, duality and harmony, balance and system theory will form the basis of the argument for the need for a new framework. It will be argued that an open minded, multi-disciplinary approach is needed both at a theoretical and practical level. The idea of "best practice" will be challenged and a historic overview of organisational structure and culture will demonstrate the masculine nature of current organisations. Based on psychological research the observation will be made that many organisations' underlying philosophy is that 'Business is fight' and though more and more is said about people only a minority of organisations take the idea of 'business is people' truly on board. The paper will ask a series of questions about leadership and the role of a harmony based organisational culture. The author, however do not intend to provide answers. By openly expressing her personal views about these questions she would invite you to re-examine your views in an unorthodox way. She would like to open a discussion for researchers and practitioners about 'level five management' and corporations where 'the hungry spirit' can be fed

Cultural Change and Intercultural Knowledge Creation

At the beginning of the privatisation the Hungarian freezer manufacturer, Lehel, was acquired by the Swedish Global industry leader, Electrolux. The author of the paper reported on the success and the challenges of the acquisition (Illes and Clarkson, 1997 a). Electrolux is present in more than sixty countries and one of the world’s largest producers of white goods. But not everybody knows that it is a Swedish company. One of the reasons for its success is that it becomes an integral part of local and national culture all around the world. The employees of Electrolux must learn foreign languages and they must be prepared to travel and relocate. The company considers diversity as a basic strength. The Hungarian Lehel Refrigerator Company was found in 1952 and by the 1980s became Hungary’s sole manufacturer of refrigerators. Lehel was claimed to be the highest quality producer of household appliances in Eastern Europe. In 1991 Lehel was sold to Electrolux of Sweden as one of a number of key privatisations. There was uncertainty and fear in Lehel prior to during and right after the privatisation. There was a lot of mutual mistrust when the Swedes first took over, and issues of national differences started to surface. However problems were fairly quickly overcome and the merger was considered a success (Illes and Clarkson, 1997 a). The success of the take over was well documented in the press in the mid 1990s. The current research was designed to look at the changes between 1996 and 2002. Six managers were formally interviewed and four informal conversations were held with administrative staff on the 3rd of June at Jaszbereny in Hungary. Particular attention was given to the organisational culture change within the Hungarian subsidiary over the past ten years. The paper reports on the field trip and concludes that the Hungarian subsidiary has fully integrated into the global enterprise over the past ten years and makes a substantial contribution not only to the revenue but also to the knowledge based competitive advantage of Electrolux

Connecting Rationality and Spirituality in Business Education

The paper argues that there is an imbalance in business, management and leadership education between providing abstract concepts and opportunities for personal growth. Connecting rationality and spirituality in higher education is necessary if we want to prepare students for the complexities and challenges of organisations. Kopatsy’s model of Intellectual Capital illustrates how crucial it is to cultivate right morality in society. Business education has a responsibility to provide safe environments and opportunities for students to connect their rational thoughts with their conscience and embody their “true self”. The paper gives an example of how introducing techniques from voice therapy and drama enable students to look beyond the rational. By engaging with the true self students discover dormant qualities in themselves and start moving towards their purpose, meaning, universal connectedness and spirituality

Trust

The paper begins with the account of a focus group discussion of Hungarian female managers who demonstrated high level of trust. The author explores the nature of trust and looks at works and research findings in different disciplines. In psychology Erikson’s findings on human growth and development are discussed. Representatives of Eastern and Western philosophy are quoted to highlight the underlying differences of thinking in relationship to trust. The impact of cultural heritage and the influence of the environment on trust add further dimensions to the argument. In conclusion it is suggested that management education could be a platform for further research and exploration of trust in individuals and organisations