Business Education - Complex Endeavour

Business Education - Complex Endeavour

What it would mean to become really interested in what happens in this world? Isn't it a basic task for an University to understand better and deeper what is this very world where we we live in? Deeper understanding is crucial because it will also open possibilities to change things when deemed necessary.

One would assume that in business education this kind of an approach is a self evident reality. Business is practical thing and thus business education examines business world and its real challenges and possibilities - so one might think. However perhaps the reality in education realm is much more complicated. In fact it is not clear that  we as business educators can look where we should look. Are the business educators like astronomers who do not dare to look at the sky? Impossible, you may think, perhaps not, bear with me for a moment.

Perhaps you might think that the point here is to ridicule business educators. However, that is not at all the goal in this blog, I wish to be absolutely clear in that respect. Instead the point is to examine why it is most challenging to assume a real life approach in Business education. It would not be an easy stance for anyone involved, as we shall see.

The goal here is not try to cover Business education in its entirety, instead only one perspective is taken under discussion. I will guarantee that already that one perspective will show why real life approach would change a lot and why it would require a lot. It is also proposed here  that this discussion could be applied more generally when Business education is evaluated.

The perspective here is to discuss how local/regional business environment could be viewed as important research topic in Business education which would focus on real world. In fact local reality could be basic starting point in business education, perhaps the curriculum would run as follows: what we have here around us in our region, how those institutions operate, where are their challenges and possibilities, who are the key people, what are the crucial linkages with wider world, which elements determine the success of our area, what kind of actions and decisions could be done to make our region more successful, etc.

It is evident that real world approach would not be a simple solution for Business educators, or for anyone involved (students, wider world). Of course these real life topics as such would be complicated but also it would be most challenging that research would really focus on real organizations and also on named individuals. And now we would not talk about "nice" cases which are brought in the classroom but we would talk about real events, real choices, real capabilities, real organizations and real people in action. Hence we would soon face very complex questions: how much we can know about organizations - how to get information in the first place, what kind of information is already a business secret etc. That kind of questions would surface. And it would be even much more complicated to try to study key players in organizations, who they are, what are their motivations, their capabilities, their plans, etc.

I think this kind of questions may sound immediately somewhat impossible and improper. And the point here is not to suggest that this kind of questions should be asked and discussed. However, at the same we certainly agree that we wish and we must to talk about real life in Business education. Hence what kind of discussions we deem as pertinent and necessary, and where we would go over the line? Quite a conundrum. These are not simple questions.

At the same time the ability to steer forward among these questions will be very important determinant in defining how the Business education will succeed.

What is immediately apparent is that when one wishes to create a world class Business education that will also mean that the key players around the University will also need to be deeply involved in the setting. Are they ready to join in the learning process in which all parties examine the world where we live in? It is so easy for astronomers, Betelgeuse, Rigel and the whole Orion belt does not care a bit of they are examined and thorougly discussed in a classroom (or at least it will take some light years before the possible grievances which they may voice arrive to our planet). Whereas, in real world Business education the setting is totally different. The trust on which any connection can be created and developed is tested continuously.

What is actually the key capability of Business educators?