38 Just as President Obama intends to make changes in Washington, b-schools are in dire need of radical change. Nearly all undergraduate business curricula in the nation were built upon an educational model that grew out of the 1950s. While this approach was acceptable within a U.S.-centric manufacturing economy, it is no longer suitable within the global knowledge-and-experience economy that students face today.
Teaching the Bigger View As part of a completely new style of teaching that we've adopted at the Villanova School of Business, students are rigorously challenged in class and presented with modern-day business quandaries. Their reasoning is pushed to the limit to make them come to terms with the full implications of their decision-making instead of a simple, superficial context. The flagship of the new curriculum is a new, team-taught freshmen course—Business Dynamics—designed around these issues. The year-long, 6-credit course emphasizes the overarching purpose of business within society. The course highlights the skills of effective leaders and underscores innovation and openness to change as fundamental business and personal skills. The rationale for the new Business Dynamics course is simple: Once students understand the overarching purpose of business in society—and start to view challenges in this context—they are on the right track. Functional knowledge not only then makes sense, it serves a larger purpose. Current conditions and the direction in which President Obama hopes to take the country show that we have to be more serious about these issues in business and higher education. Our students need to understand that as a society, we can't sell out our future for some short-term profits on a balance sheet or short-term gains by some individuals. In the end, we're not here to change unethical people. That's not our role as educators. But we do have a responsibility to educate young people on the societal value of business, not just the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Danko is dean of the Villanova School of Business. He has held leadership positions at several top business schools including those at the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College.
Villanova School of Business 2009 Media Report