professors, managers, and human resource education

Professors, Managers, and Human Resource Education • 65

PROFESSORS, MANAGERS, AND HUMANRESOURCE EDUCATION

Human Resource Management, Spring 2000, Vol. 39, No. 1, Pp. 65–78© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Mitchell Langbert

This article examines whether Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programs adequatelyprepare human resource professionals. It also compares managers’ and professors’ evaluationsof the competencies HR managers will need in the twenty-first century. It finds that bothmanagers and professors view interpersonal and problem-solving competencies and integra-tion of HR with bottom line concerns as more important than technical know-how. HRmanagers, however, are much more critical of what MBA programs are doing than are HRprofessors. HR professors may be risking complacency about their product. © 2000 JohnWiley & Sons, Inc.

Introduction

Globalization, technological change, and cor-porate restructuring have underscored humanresource management’s strategic role. Now,more than ever, firms require human resourcemanagers who can integrate human resourcemanagement with line management, can man-age change, and can communicate effectively.Yet, such competencies are elusive. Some HRmanagers have commented that Masters ofBusiness Administration (MBAs) from eventhe best business schools lack the interper-sonal and problem solving competencies thattheir firms need.

Some HR educators have been well at-tuned to corporate needs, some have not.While HR educators are committed to supply-ing firms with graduates who meet corporaterequirements, they may not always know whatis required. Gaps in MBAs’ HR training mayresult. In particular, MBA programs may some-

times fail to develop the competencies thatfirms need.

Thus, for years in the literature, bothmanagers and professors have criticized MBAprograms. For example, taking certain man-agers’ point of view, Muller, Porter, and Rehder(1988) argue that business schools encouragestudents to focus on obtaining credentials forhigh-paying jobs rather than on thinking likebroad-minded entrepreneurs. In their view, stu-dents’ narrow vocationalism parallels professors’narrow interests and impractical pedagogy.Bloom (1988), a liberal arts professor, makes asimilar point in lamenting that MBA programslead able students away from broadening edu-cation in the humanities toward businessschools’ vocationalism.

Emphasizing their lack of practical compe-tencies, Linder and Smith (1992) criticize MBAgraduates for failing to understand politics,people, and teamwork. Likewise, Livingston(1971), based on a study of 1,000 Harvard

Some HRmanagers havecommented thatMasters ofBusinessAdministration(MBAs) fromeven the bestbusiness schoolslack theinterpersonaland problemsolvingcompetenciesthat their firmsneed.

66 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2000

Business School graduates, concludes thatgrades do not predict how well a graduatewill perform in management because MBAprograms do not teach students how to de-velop requisite competencies such as usingpower, thinking broadly, and coping withemotion. Giauque and Woolsey (1981) cen-sure academic tenure and incentives thatresult in faculty and students who lack“street experience.”

To address academics’ and executives’ con-cerns, Butler (1986) argues in favor of increasedintegration of the humanities with the businesscurriculum to enhance the development of com-petencies such as written and oral communica-tion. Even Porter and McKibbon (1988), writingat the request of the American Assembly ofCollegiate Schools of Business, suggest thatbusiness professors’ research focus has had scanteffect on management practice. Like Butler, theysuggest that business schools enrich their cur-riculum with concepts from all sectors of theuniversity in order to emphasize globalization,people skills, and broad thinking.

These concerns are of importance to HRpractitioners and academics for at least threereasons. First: MBA programs directly affectthe managerial work force and so are of keyconcern to those involved with recruiting,training, and executive development. Second:HR professionals are themselves drawn fromMBA programs so that MBA programs’strengths and weaknesses will influence HRdepartments’ performance. Third: HR aca-demics, like academics in general, are deeplyconcerned with pedagogical quality, and thecharge that their product does not match theircorporate customers’ quality requirements isof serious concern.

Yet, in contrast with extensive availabledocumentation of the effects of undergradu-ate programs, surprisingly little research hasbeen done on the effects of MBA programson graduates (Van Eynde & Tucker, 1997;Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Feldman &Newcomb, 1969). This article helps to fillthat gap by reporting the results of a surveyof HR managers’ and professors’ views onboth emerging issues and competencies inHR and on how well MBA programs addressthose issues and competencies. In doing so,the survey addresses four questions:

1. How do HR educators’ evaluations ofthe emerging importance of specificHR functions compare with HR man-agers’ evaluations?

2. How do HR educators’ evaluations ofthe emerging importance of strategyand change competencies comparewith HR managers’ evaluations?

3. How do HR educators’ evaluations ofthe importance of interpersonal andmanagerial competencies comparewith HR managers’ evaluations?

4. How do HR managers and educatorsrate the quality of MBA graduates’abilities with respect to the samecompetencies?

There is a priori reason for optimism.Because HRM is interdisciplinary and prac-tice-based, human resource professors tendto be practice-oriented. Thus, Van Eynde &Tucker (1997) contrast the content of HRtextbooks with the views of 24 top humanresource executives and find that the text-books and the executives emphasize thesame functional issues. These functionalissues include the strategic role of HR, com-pensation, equal employment opportunity,performance evaluation, communication,HR planning, and selection. Van Eynde andTucker’s sample is small, however, and islimited to top managers of large firms. Also,they only focus on functional issues suchas equal employment opportunity andcompensation and do not discuss executives’and others’ views on the emerging impor-tance of managerial competencies to theHR function.

The Managerial Competency Movementand HR Education

During the past 25 years both educators andmanagers have begun to think in terms ofmanagerial competencies and skills. Thistrend gained formal attention in the mid-1970s when the Accreditation Research Com-mittee of the American Assembly of CollegiateSchools of Business initiated research intobusiness schools’ teaching of non-cognitiveskills or competencies (Porter, 1983). Com-petencies are the underlying knowledge,

Competenciesare theunderlyingknowledge, skills,abilities,personality traits,and know-howthat result ineffectivemanagementpractices.


skills, abilities, personality traits, and know-how that result in effective managementpractices (McClelland, 1973; Boyatzis,1982). In the academic sphere, the compe-tency approach to management education(Whetten & Cameron, 1983; 1998) hasemerged as a way to better focus organiza-t i ona l behav io r cour ses on use fu l ,practical skills rather than on impractical,abstract theory.1

At the same time, HR departments havedeveloped competency-based job analysistechniques. Such techniques involve analyz-ing jobs by identifying the competencies ratherthan the duties and responsibilities that theyrequire. For example, Ulrich, Brockbank, andYeung (1989a; 1989b) identify five chief cat-egories of competencies for HR managers:Goal and action management, functional andorganizational leadership, influence manage-ment, business knowledge, and HR technicalproficiencies. Similarly, Blancero, Boroski,and Dyer (1996), working with EastmanKodak’s human resource organization, identify11 core competencies, 6 leverage competen-cies, and 33 role-specific competencies thatHRM requires.2 Thus, both professors andmanagers have been improving job analysis,education, development, and selection withcompetency targets that facilitate HR qualityimprovement.

With respect to HR, one set of compe-tencies that researchers have identified isthe ability to think broadly and strategicallyand to integrate HR concerns with broadbusiness concerns (Ulrich, 1997; Alvares,1997; Beatty & Schneier, 1997). Schuler(1990) argues, therefore, that environmen-tal change is causing people issues to becomesignificant business issues and that HR man-agers need to develop new competencies toaddress them. In his view, HR managersneed to develop a bottom-line orientation;to broaden themselves to function as busi-ness executives, not personnel specialists;to anticipate change; and to develop cre-ative solutions to business problems.Schuler’s ideas dovetail well with thecompetency approach. Professors need tohelp students develop competencies to dealwith change and the interpersonal demandsthat change implies.

Methodology

In order to compare HR managers’ and pro-fessors’ views on emerging HR issues and MBAprograms’ quality, 150 professors and 150managers were contacted in 1992. To obtainthe sample of professors, graduate businessschools with HRM programs that require theGraduate Management Admissions Test(GMAT) were selected randomly from Barron’sGuide to Graduate Business Schools (Barron’s,1990). Course catalogues were obtained fromthe institutions selected, and professors teach-ing HRM were selected randomly from thecourse catalogues. Selecting respondents inthis way may have biased the sample towardbetter quality schools and faculties since theyare more likely both to be listed in Barron’sGuide and to require the GMAT examination.

The managers were selected randomlyfrom Standard and Poors’ Register of Corpora-tions, Directors and Executives (1991), andthose considered were limited to HR manag-ers of firms with at least 2,000 employees. Themanagers and professors were asked to rankthe importance of 16 HR functions and is-sues (from one to 16). The response rates forthe 1992 sample were 35.3% for the manag-ers and 34.0% for the professors.

In 1998 separate samples of 250 manag-ers and 150 professors were contacted andasked to rate the importance in 2001 of anearly identical list of 17 HR functions on ascale from one to seven, where one is mostimportant and seven is least important.3 Inaddition, the 1998 samples were asked to ratethe importance of three HR strategy andchange issues and six managerial competen-cies based on Boyatzis (1982), Ulrich, et al.(1989a; 1989b), Schuler (1990), and Whetten& Cameron (1998). The strategy and changeissues included the extent to which HR man-agers have been increasingly expected to thinkand act like line managers, to develop broadbusiness competencies, and to help employ-ees cope with change. The six managerialcompetencies included analytical and prob-lem- solving skills; proficiency with technicalHR issues; ability to integrate line and HRconcerns; interpersonal communication;conflict management; and team building.The competencies chosen were meant to be


representative rather than exhaustive. Forexample, Blancero, et al. (1996) identify 11competencies. The purpose of this study wasto compare professors’ and managers’ generalexpectations about the emerging importanceof a few representative competencies andthe extent to which MBA programs meettheir expectations.

For the 1998, sample the managers wereagain selected randomly from Standard andPoors’ Register of Corporations, Directors andExecutives (1997). Again, only firms with morethan 2,000 employees were contacted. Therewas an additional round of follow up for themanagers in the 1998 sample. The professorswere all of those listed in the Membership Di-rectory of the Industrial Relations ResearchAssociation (Industrial Relations Research As-sociation, 1994) as teaching human resourcemanagement. One hundred twenty-one man-agers and 58 professors responded. The re-sponse rates were 48.4% for the managers and38.7% for the professors. A copy of the ques-tionnaire for the managers is shown inAppendix A.

Although the response rates were healthyfor both the 1992 and the 1998 samples, bothyears’ sample sizes were small. As with any sam-pling process, bias may have arisen because ofsampling error, that is, the chance selection ofa nonrepresentative sample. Sampling error isinversely related to the square root of the samplesize. Thus, to a greater degree than with a largersample, interpretation of the findings describedherein needs to take the possibility of samplingerror into account.

Functional HR Issues

Despite professors’ tendency to be slightly moreconservative in their mean response, similari-ties outweighed differences between managersand professors in both 1992 and 1998. In 1992,the respondents were asked to rank the func-tional issues so the mean response was equal.For the 1998 sample, where a scaled responsewas used (1 = most important, 7 = least), bothmanagers and professors tended to rate all is-sues as above average in importance (Van Eynde& Tucker, 1997, had a similar result). For pro-fessors, the global mean response was 2.7 andfor managers it was 2.5. The global difference

was not statistically significant, but thedifferences within the four categories of re-sponses were all statistically significant (butoffsetting), so mean-corrected as well as rawscores are reported.4

As can be seen in Table I, both groupsviewed employee development as a key func-tional issue—though managers viewed it soto a greater degree than did professors. In 1992both groups rated training and developmentas the number two issue that would emergein 2001, while in 1998 managers rated it firstand professors third. Managers viewed the de-velopment-related issue of succession plan-ning fourth in 1998 (up from tenth in 1992)while their rating of employees’ job satisfac-tion moved to fifth place in 1998, from twelfthin 1992. The increased emphasis on employeedevelopment may reflect 1998’s tight labormarket, which also may have resulted in re-cruiting and selection’s occupying the num-ber two spot for HR managers in 1998.Professors ranked productivity and qualityhigher than did managers in both years, butin 1998 managers ranked it third, while pro-fessors ranked it first.

Sensitivity to economic trends can also beseen in the drop in managers’ ranking of healthcare cost containment from number one in 1992to ten in 1998. This drop mirrored the reducedrate of health care cost increases following theClinton health care bill’s failure in 1994. Thenumber one issue for professors in 1992, diver-sity, also fell for both groups in 1998 (tonumber eight for managers and five for profes-sors). It is possible that relatively tight labormarkets have reduced discrimination concerns,a process that might reverse itself when theeconomic cycle turns downward.

Managers’ and professors’ ratings were sig-nificantly different for both raw and mean-corrected data for only six of seventeen issuesin 1998. Rankings of only four of sixteen is-sues were significantly different in 1992. Themost important of these differences wererankings of succession planning, and in 1992,health care cost containment and weaknessin the educational system.

What emerges from this part of the surveyis that both professors and managers sawemployee development and productivity andquality as important issues for the next century.

Both groupsviewed employeedevelopment as akey functionalissue—managersto a greaterdegree thanprofessors.


There was volatility in managers’ perceptionsof importance, however, probably due to eco-nomic trends.5 Managers rated recruiting andselection fourth in 1992 but first in 1998, whilethey rated health care cost containment first in1992 but tenth in 1998. Mean ratings for em-ployee benefits (other than health care cost con-tainment), downsizing and layoffs, occupationalsafety and health, and unions were consistentlylower than for the other issues. This finding dif-fers from that of Van Eynde &Tucker (1997),possibly because they focus on textbook topicsand interview an elite group of top HR manag-ers, whose perspectives may be longer term thanthe broader range of respondents to this survey.

These findings contradict the concerns ofcritics such as Muller, Porter, & Rehder(1988), who suggest that HR and businessschool faculties are out of touch with busi-ness reality. There are only modest differencesin HR managers’ and professors’ ratings of theimportance of specific HR functional issues.

It is true that between 1992 and 1998 themanagers’ perceptions changed to a greaterdegree than did the professors’. That is prob-ably because managers regularly need tocope with economic and regulatory shifts.Professors, on the other hand, likely have alonger-term perspective. But the differencesare modest.

Strategy and Change VersusFunctional Issues

Both HR managers and HR professors viewedintegration of HR with line management, tak-ing a strategic view of HR and functioning asa broad business executive as more importantthan the most important functional issue. In1998, managers rated recruiting and selection1.9 (where 1 = most important, 7 = leastimportant) as the most important functionalissue, while professors rated productivity andquality 2.1 as the most important functional

Rank in Importance of Functional HR Issues.

1998 Sample 1992 Sample

Managers Professors Managers ProfessorsIssue (N = 121) (N = 58) (N = 53) (N = 51)

Training and Development 1a 3a 2 2Recruiting and Selection 2a 6a 4 3Productivity and Quality 3 1 6 4Succession Planning 4a 14a 10a 15a

Employee Job Satisfaction 5a 9a 12 12Compensation and Incentives 6 2 9 11Globalization/ Competition 7 4 8 7Diversity 8 5 4 1Restructuring/ Reengineering 9c 11c 4 5Health Cost Containment 10 7 1a 6a

Performance Appraisal 10 10 12 10HR Regulation 12b 8b 7 9Other Employee Benefit Issues 13 13 13a 16a

Weaknesses in EducationalSystem 14 11 16a 8a

Occupational Safetyand Health 15 16 14 14

Union Relations 16c 17c — —Downsizing and Layoffs 17b 15b 16 13

a. The difference between managers’ and professors’ mean ratings is statistically significant at the .05 level for a two-tailedtest for both raw and mean-corrected data.

b. The difference between means is significant at the .05 level for a two-tailed test for mean-adjusted but not raw data.c. The difference between means is significant for raw but not mean-adjusted data.

TABLE I


issue. But managers gave a 1.5 mean responseand professors a 2.0 mean response to the fol-lowing statement: “During the past seven yearshuman resource managers have seen the needto develop new competencies for themselves inorder to help provide corporations with leader-ship on HR issues. These new competenciesinclude functioning as a broad business execu-tive rather than a personnel specialist, actingas a change agent, and contributing cost-control ideas and programs.”

Likewise, managers gave a 1.6 mean re-sponse and professors a 2.1 mean response tothe following statement: “Compared with sevenyears ago, human resource professionals areincreasingly expected to think and act like linemanagers and to view human resource activi-ties from a strategic perspective.”

Compared with managers, however, pro-fessors rated the first as significantly lessimportant and the second as significantly lessimportant for a one-tailed test.

In addition, both managers and professorswere modest in their evaluation of how wellHR managers are accomplishing these objec-tives. In response to the statement: “Comparedwith seven years ago, line managers are more likelyto believe that human resources (i.e., people) areimportant to your firm”, the managers’ mean was2.5 and the professors’ was 2.8, about 56 % and33 % lower, respectively, than their responsesto the question on thinking like line managers.

Competencies

As with the strategy and change variables, bothmanagers and professors rated several of thesix competencies as even more important thanthe most important functional issue. The leftside of Table II shows that managers andprofessors gave similar ratings to the impor-tance of the six competencies. Managers’ andprofessors’ mean-adjusted responses were sig-nificantly different for only two of the six com-petencies: proficiency with technical HR is-sues, which professors rated as more impor-tant than managers, and ability to integrateline and HR concerns, which managers ratedas more important than professors.

Again, the similarities outweighed thedifferences. Both groups’ ratings for (1)analytical and problem solving skills, (2) abil-

ity to integrate line and HR concerns, and (3)interpersonal communication skills indicatedthat these competencies were viewed as ofequal or greater importance than the mostimportant functional issues.

These findings suggest that, as with theirperceptions of the importance of functionalissues, professors and managers share similarpoints of view about the crucial importancefor future HR managers of interpersonal andstrategic competencies. Professors tend toemphasize the importance of technical com-petencies to a slightly greater degree than domanagers, and managers tend to emphasizethe importance of interpersonal and strategiccompetencies to a slightly greater degree thando professors. Again, the differences are mod-est. Both groups see interpersonal and strate-gic competencies as more important thantechnical competencies and rate the relativeimportance of specific interpersonal compe-tencies in similar ways.

Perceptions of MBA Programs

In addition, the two groups were asked to ratethe quality of MBA programs. Managers wereasked to rate the extent to which recent MBAsdemonstrate the six competencies, and pro-fessors were asked to rate the extent to whichtheir MBA programs emphasize the six com-petencies. In Table II, both groups rated thequality measures in the middle two columnssomewhat lower than the importance measuresin the left-hand columns, but the managers weresignificantly more critical of MBA quality thanwere the professors. For all six mean-adjustedmeasures (and five of six raw measures), man-agers rated the MBAs significantly lower indemonstrating the competencies than the pro-fessors rated their programs as impartingthem. The biggest differences in perceptionof MBA quality appeared with respect to thecompetencies that both managers and profes-sors deemed most important: the ability tointegrate line and HR concerns and interper-sonal communication.

To illustrate the differences, the right-handside of Table II shows the mean of the ratio ofeach manager’s and professor’s ratings of theimportance of the six competencies to the meanMBA quality ratings. The managers’ ratios are

Managers weresignificantlymore critical ofMBA quality thanwere theprofessors.


significantly lower than are the professors’ forboth raw and mean-adjusted data.

Whereas HR managers and professors arein rough agreement about the emerging im-portance of specific functional issues and ofinterpersonal and strategic competencies, theydo not agree as to how well MBA programsare imparting the competencies. Neither groupis particularly complimentary about MBAquality, but the managers are more criticalthan are the professors.6

Table III summarizes these findings.Managers and professors gave modest butsignificantly different mean ratings to theimportance of the four broad categories. Onaverage, with respect to the competency, stra-tegic and functional issues, the managers weresomewhat more enthusiastic than were theprofessors. On the other hand, with respect

to their perceptions of MBA quality, manag-ers were less enthusiastic, the differences were15 to 30% of the managers’ ratings, and thedifferences were statistically significant forboth raw and mean-corrected data.

Discussion

It is risky for at least two reasons to draw strongconclusions from an opinion survey. First,short-term environmental factors such aseconomic trends influence opinions. Second,response biases may arise from sampling error(especially because of the small sample sizes),non-response, and differences in interpretationof the survey questions. For example, surveyquestions that refer to entire programs ratherthan specific courses may address professors’hopes rather than their experiences. Similarly,

Importance of Selected HR Competencies and the Extent to Which MBAs Demonstrate orMBA Programs Emphasize.a

Ratio of Importance ofImportance of Selected Competency to

Competencies MBA Quality MBA Quality

Mean MeanManagers: Ratio of Ratio of

Extent Professors: Managers’ Professors’Managers’ Professors’ Recent Extent MBA Ratings to Ratings to

Mean Mean MBAs Program MBA MBASelected Competency Rating Rating Demonstrate Emphasizes Quality Quality

Analytical and 1.8 1.9 2.6c 2.4c 55.8%b 70.1%b

problem solvingskills

Proficiency with 2.4c 2.1c 3.4b 2.7b 58.6 72.0technical HR issues

Ability to integrate line 1.5b 1.9b 4.2b 2.9b 29.0b 57.2b

and HR concerns

Interpersonal 1.5 1.8 3.3b 2.5 b 39.0b 58.7b

communication

Conflict management 2.1 2.2 4.0b 2.9b 42.7b 65.6b

Team building 2.1 2.4 3.8b 2.6b 44.9b 81.2b

a. Ratings are on a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is most important, 7 least important. One hundred twenty-one managersresponded and 58 professors responded.

b. The difference between managers’ and professors’ mean ratings is statistically significant at the .05 level for a two-tailedtest for both raw and mean-corrected data.

c. The difference between means is significant at the .05 level for a two-tailed test for mean-adjusted but not raw data.

TABLE II


in interviews and correspondence connectedwith this article, two professors expressedskepticism about managers’ responses to thestrategy and change variables. They arguedthat managers’ claims that HR is being in-tegrated with line management are rhetori-cal. In their view, HR jobs are still narrowlydefined and organized along traditionalscientific management lines. Rather thanbeing broadened, they argued, the HRfunction has been politicized, trivialized,and made more responsive to short-termcorporate goals.

The data developed herein do seem to in-dicate, however, that employee training anddevelopment has emerged as a crucial humanresource concern, and that productivity andquality concerns have gained in importance.Managers and professors can be expected tohave different perspectives, but their assess-ments of 17 functional HR issues were onlymoderately different. (Their mean-correctedratings are significantly different for only 6 of17 issues in 1998 and only four in 1992.) Bothgroups rated competencies such as interper-sonal skills and strategic issues such as theintegration of line with HR concerns as moreimportant than HR functional issues. Thereis considerable consistency in their views. Infact, both groups were relatively critical of thequality of MBA graduates and MBA programs,but managers were much more critical of thegraduates. The most important difference be-tween managers and professors’ views may bethat managers gave MBAs only 29% on theirability to integrate line and HR concerns whileprofessors gave MBA programs 57.2%.

Policy Implications

If, as the survey findings suggest, there is a per-ceived gap in HR competencies, the problemcan be addressed through better selection orbetter MBA education in HR. If the problem isdue to selection, responsibility can be addedto the agendas of universities’ admissionscommittees, firms’ recruiting and selectiondepartments, or both.

If HR professors are doing all they can toimpart HR competencies, but admissions crite-ria overemphasize applicants’ cognitive abilityas demonstrated in the GMAT, then MBAprograms will seem to be underemphasizingcompetencies, when the problem is really theadmissions policies. One consistent finding ofboth Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) andFeldman and Newcomb (1969) is that the bestpredictor of the quality of educational outputs(graduates) is the quality of inputs (admittedstudents). The finding is likely to apply tocompetencies such as broad thinking andinterpersonal communication.

Theoretically, admissions criteria could bebroadened to include personality and compe-tency measures, but doing so might be difficultto accomplish because the best available mea-sures, for example assessment centers, areexpensive. One suggestion might be for busi-ness schools and the corporations who hireMBAs to consider working together to financea graduate management assessment center thatwould generate a set of competency scores, likeGMAT scores, for each MBA applicant.

It may not, however, be practical to takesuch a step. Assume that business schools lack

Managers’ versus Professors’ Ratings of Importance of Competencies, Strategy and ChangeIssues, and Functional Issues.a

Managers ProfessorsMean Issue Rating N = 121 N = 58

Six Competency Variables 1.9b 2.4b

Three Strategy and Change Variables 1.9b 2.4b

17 Functional Variables 2.6b 3.0b

MBAs Demonstrate/MBA Programs Emphasize 3.6b 2.7b

a. Ratings are on a scale from 1 to 7 where 1 is most important, 7 least important.b. The difference between managers’ and professors’ mean ratings is statistically significant at the .05 level for a

two-tailed test for both raw and mean-corrected data.

TABLE III

If, as the surveyfindings suggest,there is aperceived gap inHR competen-cies, the problemcan be addressedthrough betterselection orbetter MBAeducation in HR.


the capacity to impart more than marginalimprovements in interpersonal and broadthinking competencies and that universityadministrations already “give their all” in ad-mission processes. It would then be up to thecorporations that hire MBAs to make moreaggressive use of selection methods such asassessment centers and personality tests toselect from among the MBA graduates thoseapplicants who have the competencies theyrequire. The oft-repeated complaints about thequality of MBA programs may be at least inpart the result of corporations’ less-than-state-of-the-art selection tools.

In the course of interviews held with HRmanagers as part of this research, one man-ager for a multinational natural resource firmstated that his firm uses internships as ascreening device for MBA job applicants inHR. In his firm, multiple reviewers evaluatewhether the intern/applicant has the drive,interpersonal skills, and intellectual curiosityto solve problems and to function as a broadbusiness executive. In this manager’s view, asmall proportion of HR MBA graduates havethe broad thinking, curiosity, problem solving,and relationship-building competenciesneeded to succeed in HR, so work sampling isneeded to select those who do. A variation ofthis approach would be for HR MBA programsto consider requiring an internship and otherfieldwork as part of the HR major. HR facul-ties might work with employers in developingcompetency goals for their programs.

Conclusion:Three Cheers for HR Education

HR managers might be said to owe businesseducation three cheers. The first cheer mightbe for the MBA admissions process, whichprovides recruiters with a handy cognitive andmotivational screening measure of MBA gradu-ates’ quality. The second might be for MBAprograms’ broad analytical perspective and theprofessors’ good intentions. Clearly, HR educa-tors are aware of and supportive of corporategoals. The third might be for MBA programs’low cost. Student tuition represents only 27.2%of the revenues of higher education, so even inthe relatively small percentage of cases wherefirms provide tuition assistance, government

bears much of the cost of the MBA degree(National Center for Education Statistics,1997). In most cases the student, not the firm,willingly pays tuition. Hence, MBA programsoffer, free of charge, good quality, broadlyeducated graduates demonstrably focused onbusiness careers. Firms ought not and will notforego such a product.

Three cheers, however, are not enough.Today’s heightened competitiveness requiresthat faculties continuously improve their prod-uct. True, the data discussed herein suggest thatHR professors are not so lacking in “street ex-perience” as their worst critics might contend.But the data also suggest that professors are not“in synch” with HR managers’ perceptions ofan MBA quality gap, especially with respect toHR competencies. Professors may be riskingcomplacency about their product.

Professors need to better ask and answerthe question: How do we improve our teachingof HRM competencies? Boyatzis, Cowen, &Kolb (1995) describe one approach at CaseWestern Reserve University’s WeatherheadSchool of Management. Their MBA program isbased on 22 competencies (for example,systems thinking, communication, and self-confidence) and 11 knowledge areas (forexample, accounting and HR policy) that weredeveloped through a benchmarking process. Ina managerial assessment and development class,students determine their own learning agendasthrough sophisticated assessments and feed-back, then they develop an individualizedlearning plan.

HR professors might consider integrationof competency-based instruction with moretraditional courses and with internships thatprovide the opportunity for practice. An HRcompetency course might cover key competen-cies, such as goal and action management,functional and organizational leadership, influ-ence management, business knowledge, and HRtechnical knowledge, and might follow the kindof format that Boyatzis, et al. (1995) andWhetten & Cameron (1998) have pioneered.A competency course can easily be integratedinto the traditional HR curriculum.

At the same time, HR professionals needto consider whether a strategic investment oftime and expertise in helping HR professors todesign programs is needed. Such an investment

Professors needto better askand answer thequestion: Howdo we improveour teaching ofHRMcompetencies?


might involve helping HR faculty to developcompetency targets for MBA programs, possi-bly by sharing the results of their job analysisefforts. It might also involve cooperation with

respect to development of internship programs.Universities and corporations need to better le-verage their skills and know-how in developingthe twenty-first century work force.

MITCHELL LANGBERT holds a Ph.D. from Columbia Business School, an MBA from UCLA,and an AB from Sarah Lawrence College. He has published widely on human resourceand employee benefit subjects. He is Assistant Professor of Business in the EconomicsDepartment of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. He has also taught atNew York University’s Stern School of Business and Iona College. He serves as a manage-ment consultant and is listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the World.


Appendix AQuestionnaire on Human Resource Practice and Education

Name and Address:_______________________________________________________________________

Part One. Please answer the following four questions about how human resource management has changed since 1991.The questions are on a scale from one to seven, where one indicates complete agreement and seven indicates completedisagreement.

1. Compared with seven years ago, human resource professionals are increasingly expected to think and act like linemanagers and to view human resource activities from a strategic perspective.

Circle one number 2442442442442442442one two three four five six seven

2. Compared with seven years ago, line managers are more likely to believe that human resources (i.e., people) are importantto your firm.


3. Compared with seven years ago, development of employees’ competencies and skills has become more important be-cause of technological advance, globalization, enhanced interpersonal demands and competitiveness.


4. During the past seven years, human resource managers have seen the need to develop new competencies for themselvesin order to help provide corporations with leadership on human resource issues. These new competencies (that humanresource managers have had to develop) include functioning as a broad business executive rather than a personnel special-ist, acting as change agent, and contributing cost-control ideas and programs.


Part Two. Please rate the importance of the following six competencies to success as an HR professional during the firstdecade of the new millennium where one is most important and seven is least important. Also, please rate the extent to whichrecent MBA’s entering human resource management (during the past three years) have demonstrated these competencies.

Importance to Success as HR Prof. Extent recent MBAs Demonstrate Competency (Circle one number) (Circle one number)

Analytical and 2442442442442442442 2442442442442442442Problem Solving Skill one two three four five six seven one two three four five six seven

Proficiency withtechnical HR issues 2442442442442442442 2442442442442442442

one two three four five six seven one two three four five six sevenAbility to integrateline and HR 2442442442442442442 2442442442442442442concerns one two three four five six seven one two three four five six seven

InterpersonalCommunication 2442442442442442442 2442442442442442442

one two three four five six seven one two three four five six seven

Conflict 2442442442442442442 2442442442442442442Management one two three four five six seven one two three four five six seven

Team Building 2442442442442442442 2442442442442442442one two three four five six seven one two three four five six seven


Part Three. Please rate the importance of the following 17 human resource functions and issues as they willemerge in 2001. Please circle the appropriate number, where one is most important and seven is least important.

Workplace 2442442442442442442Diversity one two three four five six seven

Compensation 2442442442442442442and Incentive Plans one two three four five six seven

Employees’ Job 2442442442442442442Satisfaction one two three four five six seven

Globalization 2442442442442442442and Competition one two three four five six seven

HR 2442442442442442442Regulation one two three four five six seven

Health Care Cost 2442442442442442442Containment one two three four five six seven

Other Employee 2442442442442442442Benefit Issues one two three four five six seven

Downsizing/ 2442442442442442442Layoffs one two three four five six seven

Occupational 2442442442442442442Safety and Health one two three four five six seven

Performance 2442442442442442442Appraisal one two three four five six seven

Productivity 2442442442442442442and Quality one two three four five six seven

Recruiting, Selection,and Employment 2442442442442442442Testing one two three four five six seven

Restructuring and 2442442442442442442Reengineering one two three four five six seven

Succession 2442442442442442442Planning one two three four five six seven

Staff Training and 2442442442442442442Development one two three four five six seven

Union Relations 2442442442442442442one two three four five six seven

Weaknessesin U.S. Education System 2442442442442442442

one two three four five six seven


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1. In the management skills teaching approach(Whetten & Cameron, 1983; 1998), studentsare asked to self-diagnose their own strengthsand weaknesses with respect to competenciessuch as verbal communication, stress manage-ment, creativity, and conflict resolution, Theyare exposed to readings on good practice, andthen practice their skills through cases androle-plays. Finally, they apply the skill throughreal-life skill application exercises.

2. For example, the 11 core competencies in-clude ethics, communication, listening,relationship-building, teamwork, quality,judgment, results orientation, initiative, self-

ENDNOTES

confidence, and commitment.3. The only difference was that unionization was

included in 1998 but not 1992.4. Mean corrected scores were obtained two

ways: First, by dividing by the mean responsefor all 34 questions (all were scaled from oneto seven) and second by dividing by the meanresponse for the 17 functional issues. Resultsfrom the two denominators were virtuallyidentical.

5. In addition, some of the volatility is likely dueto sampling error.

6. Perhaps this is not surprising since the MBAsare products of the professors' efforts!

professors, managers, and human resource education

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