MBA scheme shadows the real world
It may come as a surprise to the senior directors of a number of big international companies to hear that in recent months each has had a shadow board, based in north east England, toiling away at improving the company's business strategy and performance.
These shadow boards of companies such as UK supermarket giant Tesco, US online retailer Amazon and South African packaging company Nampak looked at the companies in detail; asking whether Amazon's approach to advertising was appropriate for an Asia-Pacific audience and considering whether Nampak should enter emerging markets from its home base.
These companies' real senior executives are likely to have raised similar questions. If so, investors must hope they analysed them as intensely as their shadow board “directors” 61 students from 26 countries, at Durham Business School on its full-time MBA programme. It is common for employers to lament the lack among some academically qualified graduates of the practical “people skills” fundamental to business in the real world: team working, communication, managing relationships, presentation, leadership and the mundane but vital art of meetings.
The Durham Boardroom Simulation, introduced in the autumn, aims to make its MBA more relevant to the real world. During the first term it integrates five core modules dealing with finance, the competitive environment, people, the global environment and information, but in a very practical way des-igned to replicate the tensions of a real leadership challenge and to develop life skills. “This brings analytical and soft skills together,” says Durham's director Tony Antoniou.
The boardroom initiative has been led by Les Graham, deputy director of the full-time MBA. He moved to Durham from a demanding manufacturing role as director and general manager at north east-based Nissan supplier MKL. Mr Graham is sponsored by the Foundation for Management Education, which supports businesspeople moving into the academic sphere. Durham has also injected realism into the simulation thanks to the participation of external executives. Early in the autumn term these executive volunteers visited Durham to meet the “boards” of the various companies of which they were to be “chairman”. Durham supplied each with exhaustive information on their company, prepared by two PhD students.
The nine companies chosen for the exercise were Korean tyre manufacturer Hankook, Welsh auto-component manufacturer CalsonicKansei, US motor cycle maker Harley-Davidson, Chinese telecoms manufacturer Motorola China, Japanese retailer Seven Eleven Japan, Spanish fashion retailer Inditex/Zara, Tesco, Amazon and Nampak.
The teams of student directors, each six to eight strong, were designed to mix up different racial and cultural backgrounds. Weeks of discussion and intensive information-gathering by the students were complemented by e-mail and telephone contact with their “chairman”. The exercise culminated in a 90-minute board meeting, chaired by the external executive. The student “board” had to convince the chairman they had a well thought out strategy for the company and could deliver future performance effectively. Six convinced their chairman; three did not. Michael Sherwin, group finance director of Games Workshop Group and “chairman” of Amazon, was unconvinced by his “board's” strategy but remained highly impressed by their team approach and rapid personal development during the term. “The content isn't nearly as important as the process,” he says. “There was a tremendous amount of learning going on, even in the final meeting. They achieved a tremendous amount in the way the team developed.” He viewed his involvement as corporate social responsibility in action and also found it “a lot of fun”.
The students, says Mr Graham, were a very bright bunch. “The depth of the analysis they got to was pretty inspirational.” However, for some, the board meeting was nerve-wracking. During the preparation some groups had to resolve conflicts and all had to work extremely hard but the exercise generated huge enthusiasm and a sense of impetus and achievement.
“The simulation offers a good chance for students from different backgrounds to work together you should manage the culture difference, the personality difference,” says student Zhigao Liu. For the students, the experience will help in future job applications. For Durham, this business simulation is both a positive enhancement to its flagship MBA and a valuable marketing tool. “It's a very significant innovation,” says Prof Antoniou, who hopes to expand the technique into other MBA programmes. “If you have to compete in the marketplace for good students you have to show there's a difference.”
商学院设影子董事会
在最近的几个月中，许多国际大公司都在英格兰东北部成立了一个“影子董事会”(shadow board)，致力于改进公司的商业策略和业绩。这个消息对于这些公司的高级董事们来说，可能有些意外。
英国超市巨头特易购(Tesco)、美国网上零售商亚马逊(Amazon)和南非包装公司那姆派克（Nampak）等公司的“影子董事会”对公司进行仔细的观察分析。他们提出的问题包括亚马逊的广告方式是否适合亚太地区的受众；那姆派克是否应该从其大本营向新兴市场进军。
这些公司真正的高级管理人士很可能已提出过相似的问题。假如这样的话，投资者一定希望他们对于这些问题的分析能够像他们“影子董事会”的“董事们”一样深入。这些“董事”是来自26个国家的61名学生，在达勒姆商学院（Durham Business School）攻读全日制MBA课程。雇主们往往感到遗憾的是，一些成绩合格的毕业生缺乏实际的“人际关系能力”，即团队合作、沟通、处理各种关系、演讲、领导才能、以及普普通通但绝对重要的开会技巧。这些技能对于真实世界中的商务活动都是至关重要的。
为了使MBA课程更贴近真实世界，达勒姆商学院于今年秋季推出了“达勒姆模拟董事会”(Durham Boardroom Simulation)。在第一学期中，它将5个核心模块结合在一起，涉及金融、竞争环境、人、全球环境和信息，但以一种十分实用的方式进行，旨在重现领导者面临真正挑战时的紧张状态，发展学生的现实技能。“它将分析能力和软性技能合二为一，”达勒姆商学院院长托尼?安东尼奥(Tony Antoniou)说。
“影子董事会”计划的领导者是全日制MBA副院长来斯?格林海姆（Les Graham）。他在进入达勒姆商学院前担任责任繁重的制造业要职：MKL公司的总监和总经理。MKL是尼桑的供应商，位于英格兰东北部。格林海姆先生的赞助者是专门资助商业人士进入学术界的管理教育基金会。由于外部管理人士的参与，达勒姆还将现实主义注入模拟课程中。早在秋季学期，这些管理人士自发参观了达勒姆商学院，与各大公司的“董事会”见面，并成为这些公司的“董事长”。达勒姆商学院为每位“董事长”提供了由两位博士生准备的相关公司丰富详实的资料。
被达勒姆商学院选中进行模拟训练的9家公司包括韩国轮胎制造商韩泰(Hankook)、威尔士汽车配件生产商CalsonicKansei、美国摩托车制造商哈利-戴维森(Harley-Davidson)、中国电信制造商摩托罗拉中国(Motorola China)、日本零售商7-11日本公司、西班牙时装零售商Inditex/Zara、特易购、亚马逊和那姆派克。
这些由6到8名精英组成的学生董事会旨在将来自不同种族和文化背景的人聚集在一起。学生除了要进行为期几周的讨论和深入的信息搜集之外，还要通过电子邮件(e-mail)和电话方式与他们的“董事长”进行联系。模拟训练最终在由外部管理人士主持的90分钟董事会中圆满结束。学生“董事会”必须使董事长相信，他们为公司精心设计的策略能在将来有效地创造佳绩。6个小组说服了他们的董事长，另外3组没有成功。游戏工作组集团(Games Workshop Group)集团财务总监迈克尔?舍温(Michael Sherwin)担任亚马逊“董事长”，他对“董事会”提出的策略并不信服，但仍对该小组在这一学期内所表现出的团队协作和迅速的个人发展留下了深刻的印象。“内容远远没有过程重要，”他说，“大家学到了许多知识，甚至在最后一次会议上。他们在团队发展的道路上收获许多。”他把自己的参与看作是企业承担社会责任的一种实际行动，而且这种课程“充满乐趣”。
格林海姆先生说，这些学生非常聪明。“他们分析问题的深度相当令人鼓舞。”然而，对于有些学生来说，董事会极其令人神经紧张。在准备阶段，一些小组必须解决许多冲突，所有人必须极其刻苦地工作，但模拟训练令学生们热情澎湃，受到激励，并有一种成功感。
“模拟训练为不同背景的学生提供了一次很好的共同工作的机会。你需要处理文化差异和个性差异，”学生刘志高（音译）说。对于学生而言，这种经验将对未来的求职有所帮助。对于达勒姆商学院来说，这次商业模拟训练不仅有力地提高了其MBA这一旗舰课程的知名度，同时也是一种颇有价值的市场营销工具。“这是一项非常重要的创新，”安东尼奥教授说，他希望将这种教育方法延伸到其它MBA课程中去。“如果你必须去市场中争取优秀学生，那么你得展示不同之处。”
