Business Schools & Interpersonal Effectiveness Development
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Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 09:16:10 -0500 (EST) From: AMCarter3@aol.com Subject: Reply re: My recent OD net posting You have my permission to post the message. Thanks for asking. I want to also say that doing so makes me a bit uncomfortable. So, I reread my message to see if I would say it differently today... it's still OK. I would probably only add more of my perspective on what it means to be a fully integrated human being (ala Warren Bennis' book, "On Becoming a Leader"). I truly believe and conduct my consulting practice around the notion that our mindset and way of being in the world drives our results and sense of personal satisfaction. You may want to add those comments. I'm glad to hear that you and so many others who have also replied to my message are attempting to influence the students out there. And I'm still a bit anxious about broadcasting my message, but it needs to be said. And, I mean what I said. Thanks for the opportunity to be heard. Regards, Mac
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From: Mac Carter <mcarter@turningpoints.com> Date: Fri, 14 Feb 97 12:26:43 -0000 Subject: Re: Business Schools & Interpersonal Effectiveness Development
Hello Bob,
First, I consider this an important topic that impacts most OD consultants and worth exploring over ODNET. While I have limited experience with university programs of this nature (i.e., personal/interpersonal growth), I can speak from 10 years of consulting to one of the larger, premier internat'l strategy consulting firms based here in the U.S. This firm generally hires from the top 10% of MBA graduates from Harvard, Stanford and London School of Economics. After conducting personal growth/team-building sessions with 100's of their VP's and Managers, I'd say that while numerous individuals place genuine emphasis on humanistic values, only one of 10 offices actively supports behaviors consistent with an agreed upon set of values and interpersonal operating principles. The other offices to be appear driven largely by the economic objectives and material ambitions of the senior VP/consultants.
Another related example... Several years ago, one of the leaders of this consulting firm asked us (an OD consulting group organized around the notion that "mindset is causative") to deliver a brief (1-day) Behavioral Styles program to a class of Harvard students. While interacting with them, it became very clear that these students had strong feelings and deep concerns about the practicality of behaving in accord with their personal values in the work place. Whether it concerned interpersonal behavior or business decisions, many of them expressed great concern about whether it was realistic (vs. career limiting) to "walk their talk" out in the cold, harsh, competitive business world.
From my view, the "cognitive/analytical" education emphasized in so many B-schools prepares them very well for addressing the "harder" business issues, but grossly under-prepares them for understanding and dealing with the power and complexity of the cultural and interpersonal dimensions of organizational life. All too often these well-educated, well-meaning business consultants find themselves and their work caught up and sub-optimized in the cross-fires of organizational politics, distrust, turf-building and guarded communications that show up before, during and after processes like restructuring, downsizing and re-engineering.
I don't know if I'm being helpful here, but I wanted you to know that I support and encourage you. This kind of learning is essential for MBA students to become full, rounded human beings capable of understanding and dealing effectively with the real business world.
Best of luck,
Mac Carter
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