Does business school teach people how to assert power before they're ready?

http://sachin.posterous.com/does-business-school-teach-people-how-to-asse

by a4agarwal • 16 years ago

23 11 16 years ago

sachin.posterous.com

johngalt• 16 years ago

Does tech school teach people to assert competence before they're ready?

a4agarwal• 16 years ago

you can't compare technical skills with teaching attitude

hoop2• 16 years ago

"""Business school should stick to teaching the mechanics of running a successful business as much as possible, and leave the psychology out of it."""

This is an interesting thought that I don't agree with. Management is simply the art and science of achieving results through people. If you broke management down into its major components, I believe that you would find that management is mostly rooted in psychology with a sliver of economics. If you leave the psychology out of it, there isn't much left.

(X-posted to blog comments)

fleitz• 16 years ago

Agreed, if you want to know how things really work one of the best articles I've ever read on the subject is by Venkat from ribbonfarm.com. Read the Gervais Principle it's long but well worth it, lots of fresh thinking, and if you watch the office you'll see it in a whole new light.

Part 1 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o...

Part 2 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/11/11/the-gervais-principle-i...

Part 3 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/04/14/the-gervais-principle-i...

Part 4 http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/10/14/the-gervais-principle-i...

hoop2• 16 years ago

I'll read them all over the next couple of hours. (I am sick in bed anyhow :)) Readings that I recommend are "The Great Jackass Fallacy" (I got my copy <$10 on Amazon) and "Drive" by Daniel Pink. There's also a Youtube/TED video that sums up "Drive" very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y

gregburek2• 16 years ago

I loved this series so much. It is a nice companion to this guide on creating a sick system: http://issendai.livejournal.com/572510.html

Alex3917• 16 years ago

"Business school should stick to teaching the mechanics of running a successful business as much as possible, and leave the psychology out of it."

I disagree. At least 85% of success is knowing how to put on a good show. Knowing what behaviors/signals/designs will get what reactions is key, and it's something that can really only be learned from a competent teacher.

sachinag2• 16 years ago

Sachin's conflating the teaching of techniques he finds distateful with the general notion of teaching management skills in general.

Trying to teach the mechanics of running a business without going into psychology is like trying to teach the piano with only a book and a metronome. I cannot tell you how many times an MBA2 student (I'm currently an MBA1 at Michigan, which is awesome and amazing) has made a comment like "I was in [x] situation that was eerily just like a roleplay situation in my MO class."

The mechanics of running a business are exactly the sort of thing you can learn in a book (or a blog); dealing with people to get optimal outcomes takes a classroom environment with an excellent teacher and groups of other students. You have to bang the keys to really learn how to be an effective manager of - and hopefully, leader of - people.

jallmann• 16 years ago

Weird, I always thought you were OP. Guess I should click those usernames more often.

sachinag2• 16 years ago

That pisses off the other Sachin a lot more than it bothers me. :)

gregburek2• 16 years ago

In my experience with business school and engineering school, EVERYONE asserts power before they earn it. Others may call it "fake it till you make it", but I would say that over-confidence and power games are rewarded in social constructs which make me (and other techies I know) very uncomfortable.

Does business school teach people how to assert power before they're ready?

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