ROSE-ANNE MANNS
It’s the kind of experience that can help cement months of classroom study. Ten MBA students from the University of Queensland Business School and 10 from Philadelphia’s Wharton School team up as consultants to work on market entry strategies for Brisbane-based sports wear company Lorna Jane and OneSteel subsidiary Australian Tube Mills. Over seven months in 2010 and 2011, they collaborated and had devil’s advocates challenge their thinking, then they spent intense days working to finalise the pitch on campus in Philadelphia, meeting fellow students from around the world.
Pat Howard, chief operations officer with Cromwell Property Group, who participated in the consulting practicum, says it was a massive amount of work but invaluable experience. “You have to go from academic pieces to genuinely making it commercial and getting an outcome … It’s absolutely broadened my network at the same stage, a fantastic way to finish off the MBA.”
This is an example of the type of program Australian business schools have been developing to juice up the value of their master’s of business administration offerings. And as our 2011Financial Review BOSS MBA survey and rankings show, practical business experience and global reach are increasingly what count with students.
The biennial BOSS ranking of Australian MBA programs shows a rise in the proportion of schools offering students the chance to study or work overseas since the last survey, in 2009. Three-quarters of schools now provide this, and the remarks from graduates indicate they love it.
For Melbourne Business School, programs such as these helped it retain top billing.. Improvements at other schools also led to plenty of reshuffling.
Two northern universities have lifted their national rankings. The University of Queensland’s Business School jumped five places, coming in second. The school scored highly with alumni, is well-accredited and maintains high entry requirements for students and tough qualifications for teaching staff. It also generates a strong output of research papers per staff member, second only to Melbourne Business School.
Another good all-rounder, the Queensland University of Technology’s Graduate School of Business, rose from 10th in 2009 to fourth. QUT was the only school with three internationally recognised accreditations: EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA. Monash University dropped just one spot to third.
In at fifth spot was the Australian School of Business: AGSM. Its MBA has dropped one spot since 2009. This is largely due to a dip in satisfaction scores among alumni (55 per cent of the ranking formula). However, this year – the first time we’ve invited schools with executive MBA programs – Australian School of Business: AGSM’s EMBA ranked first.
The biggest drop was experienced by MGSM – long considered one of Australia’s top MBA providers. It slid from number three in 2009 to 12th this year. This was partially due to negative feedback from alumni after internal changes. It also lost its EQUIS accreditation after staff numbers fell briefly last year. The top five schools in 2011 have at least two international accreditations.
Increasingly, MBA programs perceived as most in touch with the real world lead the rankings. Students repeatedly expressed a desire to be taught by “pracademics” – teachers who have spent more time working in business than in academia. “We need to learn how to face real problems and make decisions; a theorist is not going to work,” one student argued.
At Melbourne Business School alumni praised faculty. “Teaching staff are well connected with industry and government and willing to offer advice. There are abundant opportunities to network with alumni, which enriches reputation,” one alumnus wrote.
The most effusive comments in this year’s survey related to action-oriented learning. Students revelled in being thrown in the deep end. “Just get us to run a company for a year under the tutelage of the school!” one alumnus suggested. “Experiential tours are fantastic,” said a Deakin University graduate. “What a great way to learn. Better than pure, cold algebra any day.”
SATISFACTION
The biggest crowd-pleaser among our 19 participants, as judged by our alumni survey, was the University of South Australia’s International Graduate School of Business, followed by Bond University’s Business School. At the same time, MGSM and Australian School of Business: AGSM suffered on the customer satisfaction score, after scuttled merger plans and internal restructuring, respectively.
BENEFITS OF DOING AN MBA
After all the hard slog of study, there is a pay-off. Almost half of all respondents said they moved to a new job with higher pay as a result of completing their studies – a particularly welcome result considering some of this cohort graduated during the financial crisis (2008 to 2010).
The main reasons people gave for going into their course were to expand their career options and obtain higher remuneration. And it seems most came out the other end satisfied they had accomplished those aims. The main benefits alumni cited afterwards were expanded career options, greater self-confidence in their work and capacity for doing their jobs more effectively. Some were more blunt about their motivation for doing an MBA. “It was a vanity project,” one graduate said. And then there were the unexpected benefits, such as the woman who said her MBA “helped me mount a successful discrimination claim against my employer following return from maternity leave demotion”.
Some respondents expressed concern that their expectations hadn’t been met with regards to content on corporate governance and ethical decision-making. At the time our surveyed cohort was graduating, business schools were scrambling to review their curricula following criticism in the wake of the GFC. And even those programs that made an early start integrating responsible management principles were still settling in, as one Griffith graduate attests: “Disappointed that I enrolled at Griffith because of its espoused ESG [environment, social, governance] values and because there was to have been a sustainable enterprises specialisation. This is now in place, but did not come online in time for me to take it. Furthermore, while the corporate level of the faculty is committed to ESG, the teaching staff were definitely not, most paying only lip service and some overtly denigrating it.”
GOOD VALUE
Price isn’t the main indicator of perceived value for money, survey results show. The two most expensive schools placed at either ends of the list for best value for money. MBS, which charged $64,000 in tuition fees in 2011, was among the top five in this category. But the Australian School of Business: AGSM, which charges an almost identical fee, placed at the bottom. Griffith Business School alumni were convinced their mid-range, $37,020 price tag represented top value for money. The most inexpensive MBA in our survey was the $19,140 distance program by Chifley Business School, which placed third in our value for money table.
COMPLAINTS
We hear the same line a lot: MBA means Marriage Breakdown Ahead (or even more brutal assignments). One third of respondents nominated their loss of work-life balance as the main negative aspect of their study. The next biggest gripe was the cost, followed by language barriers with classmates. While exposure to international students may be highly valued, it depends on the calibre of peer group. One University of Adelaide graduate said: “The huge burden carrying students whose first language was not English detracted from the learning experience. Although diversity is an admirable concept, it is hard to say it enhances a learning experience if the culture is one where speaking up or expressing an opinion is not natural for a student.”
Business schools actively chase the international student dollar, even harder now that the Aussie dollar is so strong. In some schools – such as University of Southern Queensland, Bond, Australian School of Business: AGSM and La Trobe – international students make up more than half the cohort. One respondent warned: “In high education’s race to the bottom, full-fee-paying international students are watering down the quality of the student body. Networking and peer learning is one of the most important aspects of any MBA … Money talks and therefore MBA balks.” However, Australian School of Business: AGSM, where international students make up 63 per cent of the MBA cohort (and 2 per cent of the EMBA group), got fewer such comments because its entry requirements are more rigorous: its incoming students in 2011 had, on average, seven years of experience; and foreign students’ average English literacy score was 8, higher than the minimum of 6.5.
ECONOMIC VOLATILITY
More than 90 per cent of respondents said their MBA had prepared them well to manage in a range of economic conditions, including the GFC. Perhaps this was because the cohort surveyed were living through it at the time they were studying. This was an increase from our 2009 result, where a smaller proportion, 85 per cent, felt their course had prepared them for the downturn. Even among the 10 per cent this time around who said their studies hadn’t prepared them, many didn’t blame their schools.
WHAT EMPLOYERS WANT
The assumption that employers don’t give a toss about an MBA certificate is an oft-expressed sentiment among survey respondents, but is it true? Researchers at RMIT set out to discover what MBAs are worth to employers. Their preliminary research found that unless the MBA is a certain type and has international accreditation, businesses aren’t impressed.
Braithwaite Steiner Pretty recruiter Tony Grierson says clients still take note of the big brands. Harvard is impressive on the CV, as are MBS, MGSM and AGSM, although he notes the latter lost momentum over its muddled rebranding exercise with the Australian School of Business.
The RMIT research, led by Michael Segon, also examined what qualities employers expect of managers they recruit, and how that lined up with the qualities MBA graduates possess. “Practising managers see critical interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, change management and ethics/CSR capabilities as major developmental needs in current managers,” Segon says. “Practising managers see these same critical capabilities as lacking in MBA programs. Traditional courses such as finance, economics, marketing received low scores, yet dominate MBAs.”
These findings are reflected in the global 2011 Corporate Recruiters Survey, which also showed that the most important skill employers want in MBA graduates is communications. An international survey of 1500 people in 900 companies in 51 countries, conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council, found that the top five criteria sought were, in priority order: strong communications skills, initiative, professionalism, motivation and integrity. With this in mind, BOSS asked schools to identify new subjects they had introduced that focus on interpersonal communications skills.
REPUTATION RULES
The top ranked school in our list was also the No. 1 institution nominated when we asked which Australian school respondents would attend if money and location were not issues. Perhaps more surprising was that 2.2 per cent of people named Sydney University, even though it didn’t participate in our survey because it has only just launched its MBA.
Sydney Uni’s Global Executive MBA began at the start of 2010, and is pitched at the premium market. The $84,240 fee covers tuition and materials. Another $21,000 is recommended for flights, hotels, meals and local transport, as the program includes stints in Bangalore, Silicon Valley, London and Languedoc, France.
Women not flocking to MBAs
CATHERINE FOX
There are few local MBA programs that can boast anywhere near a 50/50 split between women and men. In some cases, the number of women enrolled has gone down since 2009.
Women make up 30 per cent of full-time MBA students at MBS and 40 per cent of part-timers. The school recognises boosting numbers as a challenge. And Prior adds that the renewed focus on gender equity in business, with corporate targets driving up demand, makes this a perfect time for women to study an MBA.
Chris Styles, Australian School of Business deputy dean and Australian School of Business: AGSM director, says an alumni forum last year on why more women aren’t in MBA programs raised three main concerns: cost, lack of role models and worries about workforce re-entry.
Some schools are having more success changing the gender mix. Just over half (52 per cent) of the MBA student intake at Swinburne University of Technology is female, says Julian Lippi, director MBA at Swinburne’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship.
The school has introduced more class flexibility, broadened its catchment of students, including those without undergraduate degrees, and encouraged word-of-mouth recommendations.
Global mindset
ROSE-ANNE MANNS
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
Traditional cross-cultural training prepares individuals for working in a particular country. But MGSM’s new Global Mindset course is different because it aims to prepare students for work anywhere in the world, says subject co-ordinator and senior lecturer in management Steven Segal. “It’s a set of learning skills you can take with you to a strange or uncomfortable situation. You can pick up on where you don’t fit in.”
The subject was offered for the first time earlier this year to 65 students at MGSM’s Hong Kong campus.
They were first asked to undertake a mindset inventory of sorts. With the help of an internet-based tool, they determined their tendencies to be either individualistic or interdependent; egalitarian or status-seeking, etc.
The objective was for the students to self-assess the gaps between their own style and the style of the country they might be assigned to.
The students then undertook a series of role-plays to close those gaps – for instance, helping an Australian with a strong independent mindset who is sent to China, where interdependence is valued.
It’s a tool that works both ways, as reserved Asian students are pushed out of potential initial awkwardness when dealing with the open nature of interaction in Australia.
The subject is an elective for MBA students, but Segal says it enjoys strong support from MGSM dean Robert Widing, who brought the subject with him from his previous job as senior vice-president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management in the United States.
Audacious Leadership
ROSE-ANNE MANNS
Deakin Graduate School of Business
There’s not much pointy-headed theory spouted in Deakin University’s sailboat adventure for aspiring leaders. It’s all hands on deck – literally. Students on the Audacious Leadership course head out to sea for eight days of four hours on, eight hours off, working the 24-metre boat with pro sailors.
“The ship is a metaphor for any type of system where people work together,” senior lecturer John McWilliams says. “It only works through collaboration, timing, safety and taking responsibility for cleanliness and meals.”
At the end of each four-hour shift, teams debrief in the saloon, probing what they learned about themselves and teamwork.
“The aim is to have an adventure,” McWilliams says. “To take people beyond what they consider their normal capabilities. It’s a Napoleonic idea – that audacity in commanders. One of the qualities of leadership is doing things they wouldn’t normally think of doing.”
And what of those prone to seasickness? Not to worry. They have the option of organising their own adventure – work at an orphanage, canoe the coast of Australia, climb Mt Everest. The optimum is to work with your cohort, McWilliams says, but the important objective is to have an adventure that teaches leadership qualities.
Audacious Leadership is a core unit for students studying for a master’s of contemporary leadership, and an elective for MBA students. It was offered for the first time earlier this year. The second offering, this semester, is booked out, with a waiting list for places on the sea voyage.
The samurai game
ROSE-ANNE MANNS
Bond School of Business
Bond University students will wrap up their studies this year with a two-day workshop that will transport them back to 16th-century Japan. To be run for the first time in December, Bond will require all its MBA students to participate in the Samurai Game. It will start with instructions on the finer points of samurai philosophy: notions of nobility, falling on their swords, thinking beyond themselves.
“It’s a double-edged sword – if you’ll forgive the pun,” says subject co-ordinator and assistant professor of management Jane Murray. “It’s not just about your own survival; it’s about the team.”
During the game, students are divided into teams that wage a series of battles. Challenges range from physical tasks (such as who can endure a yoga pose the longest) to intellectual pursuits (such as a poetry competition).
Participants take on the personas of different characters. “There’s a god character whose role is to be capricious, unfair – like life sometimes,” Murray says. “Rules change. As in a real-life organisational situation, sometimes you have to adapt or die.”
The team left standing wins. But for all participants – even those who “die” during the cut and thrust of battle – the outcomes are about teamwork, decision-making and self-reflection. The stated aims of the new project reflect traditional samurai qualities, such as “remain positive and calm under pressure; manifest bold, dignified and decisive action in the face of uncertainty; evoke respectful and honourable behaviour from self and others”. All – presumably – with minimal bloodshed.
Executive MBAs ranked
This year, for the first time, Financial Review BOSS began asking business schools to decide whether they wanted their standard MBA or executive MBA programs assessed. While 11 universities in Australia offer executive MBAs, only three generated enough alumni responses to be ranked – the proportion of standard MBA students nationwide is much greater. The EMBA at Australian School of Business: AGSM was the stand-out. It had the highest proportion of teachers with PhDs and current business experience. It also had the most rigorous entry requirements for students: they have six years of management experience on average, and international students have a high average English literacy score. In 2011, 254 students enrolled, compared with 46 in the regular MBA course. The school’s EMBA alumni highly rated its reputation, alumni network, availability in other capitals and capstone final year.
UTS Business School’s EMBA alumni rated the relationships built through a smaller cohort as a strength. At RMIT, a number of alumni said they appreciated the practicality of the course.
The line between an executive MBA and a part-time MBA sometimes gets blurry. Essentially, the target student group is one of the main differences. Students enrolled in executive MBA courses are typically those who have been in the workforce for a few years.
They are an older cohort, with more experience, and there are fewer international students. Classes are smaller, with less face-to-face teaching and more time devoted to syndicate work.
How we did it
BEVERLEY UTHER
Financial Review BOSS conducts its rankings of Australian MBA programs every two years. Research for the 2011 rankings was conducted by Financial Review Business Intelligence, based on data collected from April to August 2011. Results are based on two components. An alumni survey, worth 55 per cent, is based on satisfaction, improvement and value for money. A school score accounts for the remaining 45 per cent. In keeping with other international rankings, criteria includes accreditations, entry requirements and faculty qualifications, with an emphasis on academic degrees, current business experience of faculty, and research.
In contrast to some global MBA rankings, BOSS does not award points for salary increases, due to the high variability in pay nationally.
More than 1600 alumni who completed their MBA or Executive MBA degrees in 2008, 2009 and 2010 completed the survey. EMBAs were included for the first time in 2011 (see tables, page 36).
Just over half of all respondents were in their 30s when they completed their MBA. Twenty-one schools participated; 19 made it into our rankings. An overview of all the participants can be found atwww.afrboss.com.au.
Giving Voice to Values
ROSE-ANNE MANNS
University of Western Australia Business School
Moral muteness is a condition that afflicts many people confronted with an ethical dilemma, University of Western Australia Business School assistant professor Mark Edwards says. “The major ethical issue in organisations is not that people are unaware of problems, it’s that they don’t know what to do.”
The compulsory Giving Voice to Values course for MBA students is designed to push students beyond the ‘what’ of right and wrong, into the ‘how’ of resolving issues.
“Our approach to ethics is about implemention,” Edwards says. “In the past, the usual approach was to raise awareness of issues – rules and codes. It essentially looked at a decision-making approach, whereas from the first moment of the first class [our students] have made a decision to act – what do you do from there? It’s about the how of business ethics. It’s very different in that sense.”
Example: an accountant starts work with a charity, and is disturbed to discover the organisation has not been accounting properly for the value of donations received. Students workshop the conversations the accountant must have with a variety of audiences – the CEO, staff, colleagues. The role-play focuses on the sort of obstacles to acting that often come into play: “Don’t be a troublemaker”, “We’re not here to do ethics; we’re here to do business”. Edwards says imagination in overcoming the dilemma is encouraged. Instead of taking a ‘thou shalt not’ line, the emphasis is on innovating to come up with possible solutions that improve the business, not limit it.
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