Financial education - Financial Management Collection

Financial Management (Financial Management Association), Fall, 1993 by Melissa Lunt

Teaching Diversity: Business Schools Search for Model Approaches

Abstracted with permission from Newsline, AACSB, 605 Old Ballas Road, Suite 220, St. Louis, MO 63141-7077. This article originally appeared in Volume 23, Number 1, Fall 1992, pp.1-4.

Are American schools meeting the challenge to prepare students to lead and manage in an increasingly diverse world? Most experts say "no" and proclaim that it is companies who have taken the lead in diversity training and education. This is not to say that schools have made no attempt at all. In fact three basic approaches exist: 1) courses that provide an overview of diversity, 2) specific courses in race and gender, and 3) teaching students awareness of fundamental cultural differences.

Although schools are making headway, "progress in diversity education has been slowed by the lack of a clear and comprehensive agreement in defining the concept, the failure of homogeneous business school cultures to appreciate the importance of the issue, and a lack of instructors qualified to address diversity across the curriculum." According to R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., president of the American Institute for Managing Diversity and secretary of Morehouse College, traditional definitions of diversity singled-out race and gender creating a narrow focus on the topic in schools.

Nancy DiTomaso, professor at Rutgers' business school and a pioneer in the area of diversity, suggests that a realistic approach to handling diversity issues is through a course-by-course implementation. However, other experts suggest that such an approach is not sufficient and still leaves students ill-prepared for on-the-job challenges. A total integration into the entire curriculum is essential, according to David A. Thomas, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Harvard Business School. "The quick-fix classes and brief seminars might be the way you bridge the subject, but we must find ways to integrate this subject into the entire educational process." A problem occurs, according to Thomas, in that most business faculty and deans lack hands-on "diversity" experience, thus they are unable to effectively construct classroom experiences around such issues of race, gender, culture, and social class.

Universities and colleges are making attempts to treat diversity with increased importance. For example, Penn State's Smeal College of Business is reviewing its current program to incorporate diversity into every course, including finance, accounting and banking. According to Harvard's Thomas, the addition of diversity, particularly in these courses, may have the greatest impact. Another approach to better understand the diversity issue, undertaken by Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, involves a partnership with industry. In this particular case, a bank in Cleveland granted the school $750,000 to establish a cultural diversity program.

Judy B. Rosener, a professor in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Irvine, applauds schools for their efforts but notes that they must continue to make strides to go further. Rosener cautions that industry has made this a bottom-line issue and schools must make diversity a priority to meet the needs of companies.

According to Rita J. Shellenberger, manager of diversity for Dow, USA, few schools are equipped to teach students the skills to manage diverse work teams. Shellenberger states that "the reasons business schools are behind in addressing this issue are tied to their organizational cultures. Organizations reflect the values of their founders, key managers and workers. Business schools, unlike American corporations, still remain homogeneous, dominated by white males with little first-hand experience with diversity."

What is needed to change business school attitudes on diversity? According to Taylor Cox, associate professor of organizational behavior and human resource management in the University of Michigan's School of Business, "A commitment on the part of industry."

The Cultivation of Tomorrow's leaders: Industry's Fundamental Challenge to Management Education

Abstracted from Newsline, AACSB, 605 Old Ballas Road, Suite 220, St. Louis, MO 63141-7077. This article originally appeared in Volume 23, Number 3, Spring 1993, pp. 1-3.

As American businesses continue searching for ways to successfully compete in today's global environment, it is becoming more and more evident that the key to future survival lies in the hands of the people. Firms, seeking individuals who can be leaders, are only frustrated over the lack of new graduates possessing such skills. Instead, companies are finding students highly educated in business theory but without the ability to communicate, set goals and work as a team. Once again, business schools are faced with the challenge of integrating what is known as "soft skills" (i.e. leadership and the ability to work as a team) into the curriculum (not to mention global perspectives or total quality management).