The Purpose of the Business School: Alternative Views and Implications for the Future

by Edward W. Miles

Overview

In the mid-20^th century, university-based business schools re-oriented themselves to increased alignment with the preferences of the university and decreased alignment with the preferences of business. This re-alignment has caused multiple observers to question the effectiveness of current-day business schools. For example, recent discussions have lamented that business schools are engaged in research that does not influence the practice of business.

This book engages these debates, arguing that all judgments about the effectiveness of business schools are rooted in assumptions about what the purposes of the business school appropriately are and that many of those assumptions are unstated and not subjected to debate. The author weaves a unique blend of complexity theory, philosophy of science, and the nature of professions to articulate those goals and assess the effectiveness at meeting them.

The book traces parallel discussions regarding the purpose of the university in the writings of Aristotle and Wilhelm von Humboldt and ties those discussions to current debates. This book will inform business faculty and administrators of the degree to which university-based business schools are balancing multiple purposes which include discovery of knowledge, creating knowledge that informs the practice of business, training professionals, and instilling ethical principles in its training of those professionals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030157807
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	03/26/2019
Edition description:	1st ed. 2019
Pages:	147
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Edward W. Miles is Associate Professor in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University, USA. He is the author of a recent book The Past, Present, and Future of the Business School (2016).

Table of Contents

1. Let’s Don’t Start Here.- 2. Shifting Emphases among Aristotle’s Criteria: Two Key Historical Occurrences.- 3. Wissenschaft.- 4. Approaching the Study of Business and Management as Science.- 5. But Is Business Management a Science.- 6. Section II Epilogue.- 7. Approaching the Study of Business and Management as a Profession.- 8. But Is Business Management a Profession.- 9. Section III Epilogue.- 10. SWOT Analysis of Four Espoused Business School Goals.- 11. How Are We Doing 60 Years Later.