Personal and Professional Development for Business Essay

Personal and Professional Development for Business - Essay Example In the recent years, MBA programs have been construed as general education in the practice of managing rather than specialized training in the functions of business; however, Henry Mintzberg, one of the leading influential teachers of business strategy argues that â€Å"Management is, above all, a practice where art, science and craft meet†. In light of this statement, this paper aims to provide a critical analysis of the value of management education from a range of perspectives. In today’s complex and highly challenging global business environment, business leaders are predominantly engaged with the task of transforming nondescript firms into a billion dollar corporations. Tough business environment conditions and emerging trends in the traditional business world have created a knowledge gap that business schools have ardently strived to fill through management education. Through management education, business schools are seriously rethinking the concept of leadership with a special focus on the need to train the next-generation managers (Uba, 2011); the training seeks to raise a breed of next-generation managers fully equipped with knowledge and skills to deal with the emerging global challenges in the business world. The need for such training is justified by the dynamic nature of modern enterprise; traditional managers rarely had to move past the basics of what was taught and even then, the scope was often limited to their immediate environment. The need to raise a breed of next generation managers who have been equipped with the necessary tools to deal with the emerging business challenges is the underlying importance of Management education. In addition to that, management education directly correlates with business and economic development because it highlights key essential areas of focus in the global business environment. For instance, corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability have been flagged as essential elements i n business management today thanks to Management education (Uba, 2011). Business management has taken on a much broader meaning in today’s workplace in response to globalization that has resulted into new complexities and interdependence between multinational corporations, the environment and society. Many companies have become multinationals and they are required to compete in environments radically different from the ones in which the managers were trained. For these reason, they must be flexible so they can tackle the new social political and legal challenges that will unequivocally come their way, such versatility can only achieved through intense and progressive training. Given the myriad complexities and interconnectivity at the workplace in response to globalization, business management in the 21st century tends to take on a multi-faceted approach that calls for integrative business tools. Management education provides an avenue for managers to adapt to the changes at the workplace by building their capacity to deal with emerging complexities and challenges of interconnectivity. Managers are put to task to meet their fiduciary responsibility to both customers and shareholders, while paying close attention to environmental, socio-cultural and political considerations at the workplace. The role of management education is to empower managers to execute these roles effectively and efficiently to lead their organizations into achieving optimum results and excellent success. Management education helps shape the attitudes and behaviour of business leaders through a number of ways; the most prominent way in which management education does this is through business education, research and management programmes. Management educ