Reference no: EM132571194
Oh, but for the good old days when everything you needed to know to be a successful business manager could be contained in one book. Such was the case in 1890 when J.L. Nichols. Principal of the North-Western Business College in Naperville, Illinois published The Business Guide; or Safe Methods of Business. He recommended his book as a cheap form of full information as to methods of doing business. Or perhaps, instead of a minimum of four years of college education, you could have educated yourself completely by studying How to Do Business. Published in the late 1990s this comprehensive text contained in one volume every topic of business considered important from banking, letter writing, grammar, and mechanic's arithmetic to business geography.
The motion of the formal study of business as a separate. Fully developed curriculum of undergraduate education began to take shape in 1881 with the formation of the Wharton School of Finance and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It was the desire of Joseph Wharton, a successful financier and iron manufacturer, that wi6th his initial $ 100,000 endowment the University of Pennsylvania develop a program of college education that would "fit for the actual duties of life...men other than lawyers, doctors and clergymen. Wharton's plan was that the $6,000 on interest earned by the $ 100,000 endowment plus $ 150 a year in tuition fees from each of 40 students would provide funds to pay the $ 3,000 salary of the dean of the business school and a $ 1,500 salary for each of five professors, with $ 1,500 left over to buy books and provide students research grants.
The school opened with 13 students enrolled in a three year program taught by one full-time and one part-time professor. Enrollment rose to 113 by 1894; and the curriculum was expande3d to four years. By 1911, all U.S. universities housed a total of 30 undergraduate business programs, and by 1925 there were 164 colleges of business. By 1960 the count was 8609, with an estimated student population of 600,000 in 1970.
When the Wharton School of Business was founded 1881, the U.S. labor force included 17 million workers, and over half of them had agriculture related jobs. Employees of that time expressed the need for employees with a little knowledge of bookkeeping, some commercial geography, mathematics, and the ability to write clearly.
World War I was a turning point for business degrees. The war created more work as well as demand for greater business acumen. The economy shifted from an agricultural base to a manufacturing one. An example of this shift is the automobile industry. Automobile production became a big industry in urban areas and caused people to leave farms for the higher paying manufacturing jobs. Consequently to handle these more complex jobs, education became more important.
After WWI emphasis shifted from basic, bottom-line ideas to overall business environment issues. Personnel practices, marketing, and the further development of accounting beyond just crunching numbers became important issues for effective managers. Schools were then forced to adjust to this shift in focus, as we as to the increase in the number of students interested in business. By 1940, there were 18, 549 undergraduate degrees awarded in business, 1,139 master's and 37 doctorates.
The makeup of students also affected what was taught in business schools. In the 1940s and 1950s, because of WWII veterans returning to the classrooms, students were older and more interested in coursed that covered more complex issues. Schools responded by hiring professors with diverse backgrounds. Business schools, striving for prestige, became broader in nature, teaching a variety of topics to attract even more students.
In 1970s brought a reversal of this trend, back to the more specific courses. Statistics, production management, and decision making were now specific tracks within the business discipline. Enrollment among the 18-to 24 years-old group increased further this time, leading schools to develop programs that covered the full range of business subjects, from the basics in economics and business law to the more advanced issues such specific courses of action for different industries.
In the 1980s and 1990s, business became the most popular degree to pursue. Forty percent of all degrees awarded were business related; M.B.A.s was turned out by the tens of thousands every year. Today, employers are once again changing their definitions of what a business degrees to change constantly. The challenge will be for industry and academic institutions to work together and be flexible so that students will know what they need to know and be able to adjust quickly once they earn that all-important degree.
Questions:
a. What do you think going back to the "good old days" when business education was less formal and more general? Have our business schools become too specialized and quantitatively oriented? Justify.
b. What changes do you think will occur within business schools in the next 10 to 20 years? What will be the basis for these changes? Discuss.
c. How are business school students of today different from those? Discuss.