Online MBA Forum

Failing Economist's comments are really interesting - and the dilema is real. There is some research to suggest that we have come to think of the MBA mentality as the only one that can work in the business environment, but that this might not be entirely true. Professor Roy Jacques suggests that there is a movement bought about through the development of the "knowledge worker" whereby control and Alpha Male tactics are not effective.

What is required is at least some degree of consensus, as the knowledge worker controls the resource they're working with - knowledge. Therefore there has to be real buy in to the business strategy, and transparency as well.

So maybe there will be a redefinition of the MBA mentality in the knowledge economy - does that sound likely?

We tend to think that the "MBA mentality" is entirely a desireable quality, and in many ways it is. However, I've been reading some articles by Professor Abraham Zaleznik, a retired member of the Harvard Business School, who's career was about the pyschology of CEO leadership, and he sounds some warning notes.

He says that power is the aim of some CEOs, and that they lead by force of their personality. They pursuade others that they should do what he instructs them to do, and is sufficiently pursuasive that they suspend their own powers of reasoning in order to please the CEO.

The CEO may then perpetrate fraud or similar crimes, suspending his own conscience, and seeing these as "victimless crimes" because the shareholders - who sacrifice returns on their investments as a result of these actions - are faceless.

I'm fascinated by this, and am going to do some more research.

It happens to be snowing here. Of course, I live in New Zealand and it's the middle of winter now, but it is very rare for it to snow - and we had around 6 inches overnight. Of course, everything ground to a halt, so I didn't go into work.

I did do some work, but most of my files weren't accessible, so I got on with some of my "interviewing" for my Russian MBA friend. Once again, I find that I really enjoy the conversations we are having. We are effectively planning the strategy for this joint venture, and it's so interesting to work with people who have real comprehension of the issues that they need to face, and of solutions that they can turn to operational advantage.