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Re: The Management Myth
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Posted: Feb 19, 2010 1:30 PM
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> > And those MBA programs do > > seem to be creating people who are doing damage, not > just > > to business but to the world. > > Let's see if I can rephrase. I was born into the working > world just down Storrow Drive from The B-School, and knew > and worked with more than a few of its graduates. While > not the first B-School (Wharton, as I've mentioned > earlier), by the 1960's it earned the mantel of archetype. > (It didn't hurt that A.D. Little was just across the > e bridge.) Quantitative analysis was never the hallmark > of The B-School; that belonged to the Sloan School across > the Charles at MIT. (The B-School is in Boston.) The > B-School stressed the case study method, and its point was > that a Manager could manage any activity without regard to > subject matter expertise; which could be bought in the > form of underlings. > > This notion that management is both separate and superior > (attested to by that MBA, for sure) to all other skills in > the organization is the source of the evil. It's not > Taylor, but the psychology of entitlement. It is a fact > that the MBA, as exemplified by The B-School, was created > as an advanced degree for experienced managers without > profession, i.e. not an engineer or scientist or the like. > It was intended as a merit badge to counter the general > l lack of professional credentials of old boy network > promoted middle managers vis-a-vis the, often, highly > trained staff they were assigned to manage. > > The MBA has everything to do with face validity and > nothing whatsoever with science or psuedo-science. Think > of it as finishing school for 30-ish white guys. It was > only later, the 1970's, that one could even go to The > B-School straight away from the BA/BS; one had to *be* a > manager. > > So, you're right (in my experience) that the MBA cabal has > wreaked havoc; I'd wager that the movers and shakers of > The Great Recession were widely of that ilk. It is not > Taylor that made it happen, but rather a form of > tribalism. Those of The B-School Tribe (or fraternity) > "networked" better than the engineers and scientists. It > didn't hurt that the fundamental course work of the MBA is > accounting; always, always cry the bottom line in decision > making.
Robert, every time I read what you write, I pretty much find it very insightful (even if I don't agree). I always disliked the suggestion that Taylor was the harbringer of evil. I've read this before in books about programming, such as Naked Objects.
Separate question: Where would you say Hammer's "Re-engineering the Corporation" falls?
Today, it seems like Redmonks is also a slightly better IT thinktank than Gartner, which mostly seems to just make up B.S.
Bill Venners and Frank,
I don't know if Robert wants a soapbox ("blahg") on Artima, but give him one if he's willing!
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