The Masters of Business Administration (MBA), the best known business school label, is an introduction to general management. The traditional MBA, Harvard style, has remained largely unaltered since the 1950s, and seeks to provide a thorough knowledge of business functions through the case study—a feature incidentally borrowed from law school. In a similar fashion to law school, the graduate management programs train students to think in a particular way, ultimately teaching future business leaders how to analyze problems q9uickly and contrive(想出)concise solutions. However, business comprises more than merely manipulating numbers or sourcing rational answers to problems. Today, both companies and schools are increasingly aware that business is a human activity; it is ultimately by and about people.
John Quelch is a business school insider who detects the limitations of the traditional syllabus. According to Quelch, leadership is an area that schools have not fully addressed. 'The basic technical training managers need is more wide spread. But leadership skills are in short supply. This could become a major constraint on the speed with which multinational companies can expand', he says. Leadership is notoriously hard to teach, but programs do have the capacity to provide a grounding in non-business areas and personal growth. 'You want to produce graduates who will be effective. To do this, they need to know their own skills. Our job is not only to cram finance down their throats, but help develop them as people,' explains Leo Murray, director of Cranfield School of Management in the U. K. Cran field uses philosophy in its core, which since 1997 has offered an evening lecture series en compassing (包括) both Aristotelian and present day thinking. Self-awareness is crucial at the school, which will grant the theme even more space. 'These issues help people think,' states Murray. The better you understand yourself, goes the logic, the better you can man age others. The Said Business School (SBS) at Oxford University champions a more integrated approach. John Kay, SBS director, is keen to leverage the intellectual might of the wider university. Access to faculty from other disciplines including philosophy, politics and economics, he believes, could give SBS an edge over other school. These are surely steps in the right direction. But there is more. In future, developing a gut instinct for business may be as important as understanding the figures. To create an MBA to meet the challenges of the 21st century business schools will have to try harder, and they know it.
Which of the following is NOT true?
A．The traditional MBA has remained the same for nearly half a century.
B．Harvard style. MBA courses emphasize case study.
C．In the past MBA placeda high premium on teaching students how to analyze problems quickly and contrive concise solutions.
D．MBA is a very specialized course on business management.