Archive for September 2010

The MBA remains the gold standard for advancement in the business world; it is one of the most storied and coveted degrees that a person in business can earn. The history of the MBA goes back to 1881 when the first business course was offered in the United States. The discipline of business studies has come a long way since the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania offered the first business courses in the U. S. all those years ago.

Since the inception of the MBA over one-hundred years ago,  the workplace environment, demographics of workers, advances in social technology, and the increasingly globalized nature of business in general have impacted the way we learn and work. The rise of social and multi-media technology has seen quality online learning transform from a synchronous, and many times one-way, to an asynchronous and interactive learning environment. With over 285 Million mobile devices (91% of Americans have them) in use by the American public, the possibilities offered by this media to educate the new knowledge worker are too important to ignore.

To meet the growing needs of the continuously evolving and technological business workplace, the Tech MBA Online program was launched in August 2010. The program includes: an international residency, professional development seminars, networking events and opportunities, a program-specific advisor, a technology specialist, and a communication coach. One of the primary goals of the Tech MBA Online program is to properly prepare a worker for the new workplace. The Tech MBA Online program is AACSB accredited (only 15% of business schools world-wide hold this level of accreditation) and utilizes the same research/teaching faculty as the on-campus Tech MBA program.

Here’s the Data

• 67% of American Workers have been engaged in virtual teams
• 91% agree that virtual work saves time and money
• 16% of workforce is hyper-connected and will increase to 40% in the next few years

There has been a significant increase in the use of virtual work teams to leverage technology, reduce travel costs, and make work teams more efficient. We live in a culture of increased connectivity where mobile devices continue to change the way we work, live, and learn. The way we consume content is changing as well: Apple has sold over 450K iPads and Amazon has sold over 3 Million Kindles.

Reasons for Re-Wiring the MBA

• Knowledge-Balanced Economy – Transactional jobs will be outsourced and tactical jobs that require workers with more tech-savvy skills will be left in the United States.

• Empowered Workplace – Workers are using technology to get their jobs done and there is an increase in online learning in the workplace that is easily accessible for a tech savvy worker.

• Work/life balance – The online program allows you to continue working full-time and balance your work responsibilities. Most people don’t have the ability to leave a job in the current work environment.

What are you doing to re-wire yourself for the changing workplace?

As an MBA student how do organize your assignments, store your thoughts and stay portable? The lifestyle of the typical MBA student requires the ability to access information from mobile devices without being nailed down to a desktop. Is there a smarter way to increase your productivity and manage your documents?

For example if you have to collaborate with team members on a group project emailing attachments can be an awkward and inefficient solution. Distant learning programs like the Tech MBA Online program require virtual interaction with team members. According to Forrester’s Workforce Technographics Survey Q3 2009, 7% of information workers use document management systems (e.g. dropbox) on the job. I believe the digital habits of current MBA students will impact the workplace.

Dropbox App features

Cloud technology is become increasingly popular way to manage and access content from any computer or mobile device anywhere. Here are some of the features:

• Versioning - Allows you to recall archived versions of a document.
• Large file transfer - Allows you to transfer large files without FTP.
• Public Files – Share and send files via email, or copy and paste links to share with another app and people.
• Syncing – The ability to share files online across computers and mobile devices from anywhere.
• Storage – 2GB of online storage for free, 10GB ($9.99), or 50GB ($19.99)

Here is a brief video by Commoncraft that explains Dropbox in plain English.

Four Reasons to Use Dropbox

The learning environment is constantly changing, MBA students must stay on the cutting edge to most effectively leverage technology to accomplish their academic goals. Below are four reasons every MBA student should consider using dropbox.

File sharing

All MBA students have group projects so sharing files is an essential part of their work process. For team projects multiple team members can upload and access team files by setting up specific folders for the team.

Supports Collaboration

It transforms the way people and teams work. The changing workplace will require workers that understand and are familiar with collaborating with the use of web based tools.

Data Backup

It is a great way to backup files. Dropbox can function as an off-site data storage service that you can access anywhere anytime.

Data Portability

If you are enrolled in an online program (Like the Tech MBA Online) or work with virtual teams Dropbox gives you the ability to access files remotely regardless of your location from your phone, mobile device, laptop or iPad.

What about Blackboard?

Blackboard is a great application that is provided by Michigan Technological University and other great institutions of higher learning around the world. Most classes give students the ability to collaborate on class assignments within this application which should be maximized. However, the ability to backup your email, data and the use of online storage are great features that should be considered for non-class related content.

I will preface the benefits with the risk that you have to consider when uploading files online if you have private documents that require security you should consider whether they should be online.

There are many cool mobile apps that are out: Evernote, Documents to Go and many others we will look at in the future that are impacting MBA students.

An MBA degree provides the fundamental building blocks for professionals at the macro level, to be effective in the workplace like project management, understanding financial statements and developing marketing plans. As the workplace changes faster than the curriculum does, individuals will have to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it to a different set of assumptions.

The new MBA graduate will be a worker that integrates social technology into his or her skill set, will be able to communicate to a multi-generational workforce and solve customer’s problems creatively with less headcount. In the short-term soft skill development will be a personal investment to develop. Soft skills will become more of a requirement to separate them from other graduates and existing workers they are competing against for jobs in the new workplace. A professional with an MBA degree is primed to be an empowered worker.

Empowered workers and technology are transforming the workplace. Organizations with bureaucratic work environments that don’t empower workers will not attract the top talent. Just last week Josh Bernoff of Forrester released a new book that he co-authored with Ted Schadler called, Empowered: Unleash your employees, energize your customers, and transform your business. In Josh’s book one of the main thesis is to let your employees be HEROes (Highly Empowered Resourceful Operatives).

Developing a HERO- powered Business

“Managing a business like this means setting up technology and management structures and creating culture that grants a lot more autonomy to the employee problem solvers.”

- Josh Bernoff, Senior Vice-President, Idea Development at Forrester Research

Empowered Workplace

The empowered workplace looks different than the one your grandfather went to, it embraces technology (smart-phones and mobile devices) and talent to solve customer problems. The new generation of worker (Millennials and Gen Y’s that have embraced social technology) will not be motivated by traditional benefits of big bonuses or big raises alone mostly because the supply is decreasing. The work they do and how they do will be just as important.

There are tangible benefits of empowering employees to utilize their creativity and to become more invested in the process: (1) better customer service, (2) non-traditional solutions to customer problems, and (3) greater use of company resources. This means shifting authority in organizations, reduced the control of managers and establish a new set of policies by which an organization operates.

Changing Workplace

• Corporate Culture: Traditional corporate culture will have to shift to becoming more autonomous and decentralize decision-making specific tasks that workers execute.

• Red Carpet vs. Red Tape: Policies have ruled the way companies operate, in the future management and technology will have to work in concert to enable employees to solve customer’s problems with less head count.

Changing Worker

• Partners vs. Assembly Line Workers: Empowered workers will seek an environment where they have more ownership over the work that they do and influence the process. The days of dictating and micro-managing workers and expecting to get the best work out of them is gone. Workers expect to participate.

• How They Work will Matter: The new worker is not a cubicle worker they want flexibility in how and where their work gets done. Workers having direct impact on their work life will produce a higher quality of work for the organization.

Empowerment can help companies and professionals with MBA’s create a competitive advantage for themselves and their organizations. However there are trade-offs, benefits, and risk that must be balanced.