Reality Check: The Importance of Learning about “Managing the Unexpected”

11

Reality Check:The Importance of Learning about

“Managing the Unexpected”

Claudine SchWeber, Ph.D.University of Maryland University CollegeUSA: claudine.schweber@umuc.eduEDINEB 2013

22

Reality of today’s work environment

Varied business crises: natural disaster, economic competition, human error

Business continuity/ continuity of operations (coop) threatened

40% of USA companies that experienced a disaster, do not re-open (data 2000)

33

Challenges for business

“Managing the unexpected” –Weick & Sutcliffe (2007)

Leaders not equipped to deal with/ manage crises; (De Cremer, 2012)

Primary attention to coop=Emergency management and homeland security groups

44

Business education challenges

Leading in ‘unexpected’ environments not a focus Increasing adult student population: may have

experience with crisis environment Media environment today organization cannot

control the messages (internal, external) Challenge: how to prepare and educate future

leaders to deal with reality “making decisions in unfamiliar contexts” (Winter, 2007)

Business education “blind spot” (De Cremer, 2012)

55

Pilot Study: the education of MBA students

Purpose 1: examine the extent to which MBA programs in USA offer coursework in ‘managing the unexpected’– Proposition: Bus. Ed programs are not preparing

MBA students for today’s crisis environment

Purpose 2: offer content, literature suggestions

66

Pilot Study: method

1) 20 AACSB schools with MBA in USA selected: 10 private and 10 public institutions

– Selection included ‘elite’ and standard institutions, geographical diversity

2) Information about courses obtained from web: title, content, level (full-time, executive, part-time), description

3) Relevance for study based on title+course description, etc. Description needed to indicate not a routine leadership or change course, but dealt with decision uncertainty, disaster/ crisis management

4) Courses with description/ content showed crisis management orientation marked CM YES; perhaps, such as improvisational leadership marked CM Maybe; others marked CM No

Summary chart developed.

7

Harvard Business School

MIT/Sloan School of Management

Duke University Thunderbird

Tulane University University of Pennsylvania/ Wharton

Stanford University Cornell University

University of Chicago Northwestern University/ Kellogg School of Management

Pilot study: method-private institutions

8

Method: Public institutions

University of Maryland/ Smith School

University of California, Berkeley

University of Texas, Austin

University of Michigan

University of Buffalo University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of Virginia/ Darden School

Georgia State University

University of Colorado Arizona State University

99

Results: CM YES*--Private

Schools with CM-YES = 4 private and 4 public institutions

private: --Harvard, “Acting in Time”

--MIT/Sloan, “Managing in Adversity”

--NWestern/Kellogg, “Analytical Approach to Uncertainty”; “Strategic Crisis Management”

--Univ Pa/ Wharton, “Managing Organizational Change”

* Often based on course description and title—no syllabus

1010

Results: CM YES*-public

Public– Univ. Texas Austin, “ Managing Complexity”;

“Crisis Management”– Univ. Michigan, “Business Leadership in

Changing Times”– Univ. Buffalo, “Crisis Management”– Univ. Virginia/Darden, “Decision Analysis”

* Often based on course description and title—no syllabus

11

Examples of CM-Yes coursesPrivate

Harvard B.S.: “Acting in Time” --year 2, electivehttp://www.hbs.edu/coursecatalog/1518.html

“Leaders of businesses and other organizations repeatedly face a wide range of major hazards to their organizations, their business prospects, their property, their people, their communities - and to themselves…[these pose] enormous leadership challenges for companies, agencies… How do we best build strategies and organize ourselves and our enterprises to minimize and cope with the challenges and losses that might otherwise flow from events like these? …This is a strategy and leadership capstone course…for anyone who …will lead an organization that faces large-scale risks…”

12

CM YES-example/ private

MIT/Sloan School: Managing in Adversity 15.966; http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/program-components/personalized-curriculum/electives/

Elective-Special seminar subject“…Top Management Perspective. It assumes that the student is

the CEO of a going concern and is faced with a major adversity — a problem way out of the ordinary and one which takes cool judgment, hard number pushing, immediate decision making, extraordinary public relations… [using the case method], show [companies] facing extreme adversity … which require an immediate attention. Further, the company will almost always have some limited resource — time, money, or talent.”

13

CM YES-- example/private

Northwestern University, Kellogg School:Executive program --Analytical Approach to Uncertainty h

ttp://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Programs/EMBA/Courses_Curriculum/Core_Courses.aspx : Introduces fundamental probabilistic concepts that enable managers to make critical business decisions in the face of uncertainty

--strategic crisis management http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Programs/EMBA/Courses_Curriculum/Advancedcourses.aspx

Provides conceptual tools for managers in high-pressure, complex crisis situations; Topics include management and media, dealing with activists and interest groups, and surviving legal, legislative and regulatory challenges.

14

CM YES-example/private

Wharton, University of Pennsylvania: Managing Organizational Change MGMT 773 https://mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/

Full-time program

“During the last decade it has become clear that in the global economy, firms must constantly adapt to changing technological, competitive, demographic and other environmental conditions in order to survive and prosper. The importance of acquiring the knowledge and tools for changing organizations successfully cannot be overemphasized…”

15

CM YES—examples from Public institutions

University at Buffalo. Crisis Management MGB 620; http://mgt.buffalo.edu/programs/pmba/curriculum/course descriptions#gm

--professional MBA; rotating theme courses“Crises are everyday occurrences in organizations. For example,

companies deal with crises associated with defective products such as Toyota in the USA, Europe and Japan. Governments are also faced with crises such as the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks and Hurricane Katrina…this course examines the nature of crises and incorporates topic from …marketing, management, public relations…Issues [covered] include crisis management including risk assessment, crisis prevention, crisis preparation, crisis recognition, crisis containment, and post crisis assessment.”

16

CM YES-example/public instits.

University of Michigan- Business Leadership in Changing Times MO611 – elective

http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academics/Departments/MO

“The objective of this course is to develop a useful approach for recognizing and dealing with rapid change in business. This course deals with business leadership during periods of rapid change and managing a business during difficult times. It focuses on the early recognition of, methods of coping with, ways of learning from, and prevention of critically disruptive situations…”

17

CM YES—example/public instits.

University of Texas/Austin --full-time program http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/MBA/Full-time/Academics/Curriculum--Managing Complexity MIS 382N.5 – “The world and the organizations in

it are increasingly complex and the future is increasingly uncertain. Conventional management approaches are clearly not adequate to deal with these emerging realities…”

--Crisis Management MAN 385--What do Somalia, Shuttle Challenger, and 9/11 have in common? They were all unexpected crisis events that shook the nation and challenged the national policy apparatus. This course affords students the opportunity to examine and analyze policy formulation and implementation…under specialized circumstances of unforseen crises…”

18

CS YES-example/public instits.

University of Virginia/ Darden http://www.darden.virginia.edu/web/MBA

Executive program-core

Decision Analysis GBUS 735. “…framing, analyzing and proactively managing decisions involving uncertainty, whether uncertainty results from general conditions or the actions of competitors. The course focuses on making explicit the uncertainty we face so that it can be objectively analyzed…”

19

Conclusions

Study indicates that there is a beginning of work in the area of ‘managing the unexpected’ in both private and public institutions

Primarily available in part-time programs; working professionals (?)

Not consistently available: elective, rotating special topic, executive, professional MBA, full-time or part-time; found in IT or management areas

20

limitations

Used only web as a source Selection of institutions May only have title + few sentence

description Occasionally more detail and once, syllabus

(Harvard) interpretation of ‘uncertainty’ focus

21

Suggestions

Examine and apply, as appropriate, work in emergency management, homeland security

Use systemic approach to show inter-dependencies Include ‘resilience’ as a core theme—whether stand

alone course or within ‘change’ or ‘leadership’ coursework.

Themes/concepts: sensemaking, bricolage, organizational agility, making ‘decisions in unfamiliar contexts’

22

Reality check

Management students need to be prepared to manage in the real world

“Only by going forward is it possible to know what the options are for going further

forward” (Sidney Winter, p 526)

23

THANK YOU

Suggestions for further research directions, institutions, courses very

welcome

claudine.schweber@umuc.edu