Abstract
COVID-19 has brought about tremendous changes in all occupations. Education in general and business education, in particular, is no exception. In the normal course, business education entailed students being on the campus as the courses are full-time residential with physical attendance to enable interaction and discussion. With COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions, the usual way of doing business is disrupted. Hence, by adopting systematic literature with grounded approach, the aim of this chapter is to understand the disruptions, faculty, and student difficulties and sketch out the future trends in business education post COVID-19.
TopIntroduction
It is a truism to say that business schools and business education are big business (Pfeffer & Fong, 2004). According to Wilson and Wilson (2012), the phenomenal expansion of business schools worldwide, is a characteristic or feature which has made business schools a business. In the first generation of business schools in the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, legitimacy could be traced to the creation of management employed by the state, industrialists, and entrepreneurs. Also, this generation saw the introduction of institutionalized management systems (such as accounting practices). Further, the second more academically rigorous generation in the seventy’s garners legitimacy from national governments, which support business schools, and from universities, which recognized the growth and financial potential schools could bring. The third generation 1980s to present see issues of image and reputation as legitimacy providers and these include research rankings, citations, global performance rankings, and international accreditation bodies (Cooke & Alcadipani, 2015; Cummings, Bridgman, Hassard & Rowlinson, 2017).
Business schools present themselves as academic institutions mimicking the more established disciplines in universities. At the same time, they are expected to demonstrate their abilities to manage themselves as businesses and conduct research and teaching, which is considered “relevant” to practitioners and funding bodies (Wilson & Thomas, 2012). Our work in business schools and universities as academic scholars, in these times, leads us to consider these as research questions:
- 1.
What are the disruptions in business education due to pandemics?
- 2.
What are the faculty, and student difficulties in these pandemic times?
- 3.
What are the future trends in business education post-pandemic?
- 4.
What will the business school profile look like in the future?
- 5.
What of research in the business school?
There is continuous questioning about the effectiveness and relevance of business education in general and MBA programs in recent years (Colby, Ehrlich, Sullivan, & Dolle, 2011; Martin, 2007; Mintzberg, 2004; Pfeffer & Fong, 2004). There are serious doubts about the business schools’ ability to provide students with the skills required to function effectively in modern organizations and to prepare them for the professional demands and challenges of globalized business in a pluralistic world and most of the business schools seems have lost their way in the current scenario (Bennis & O’Toole, 2005). The questioning of business education effectiveness and relevance is all the more significant especially now due to the global health crisis which humanity is facing and enduring due to Covid 19. Hence, by adopting systematic literature and a grounded approach this chapter aims to understand the disruptions, faculty, and student difficulties and sketch out the future trends in business education post-Covid.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Higher Education: The act or process of imparting and acquiring knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, the act and practice of imparting knowledge, especially at college, or university, the theory of teaching and learning generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.
Learning: The knowledge acquired by systematic study in any field of scholarly application and includes the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill, which generally lead to the modification of behavior through practice, training, or experience, practice, or exercise, and includes associative processes.
E-Learning: Electronic learning (or e-Learning or eLearning) is a type of education where the medium of instruction in computer technology. In some instances, no in-person interaction takes place. It can be defined as a planned teaching/learning experience that uses a wide spectrum of technologies, mainly internet or computer-based, to reach learners.
Education: The process of formal knowledge giving process. The actions in process of imparting for acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, especially at schools, generally for preparing oneself or others for mature life.
Management Education: The act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge to develop the members of the executive or administration of an organization or business, managers, or employers collectively, or train in the techniques, practice, or science of managing, controlling, or dealing, in the skillful or resourceful use of materials, time, etc.
Competence: Refers to the capacity of individuals/ employees to act in a wide variety of situations. It is their education, skills, experience, energy, and attitudes.
Challenges: Something that by its nature or character serves as a call to make a special effort, a demand to explain, justify, or difficulty in an undertaking that is stimulating to one engaged in it.
Knowledge Development: The development of knowledge includes not only processes of external knowledge procurement (i.e., through cooperative efforts, consultants, new contacts, etc.) or the creation of specific knowledge resources like research and development departments. The formation of personal and technical knowledge networks is also part of the development of knowledge.
Business: Pertains broadly to commercial, financial, and industrial activities.
Development: Means 'steady progress' and stresses effective assisting in hastening a process or bringing about the desired end, a significant consequence or event, the act or process of growing, progressing, or developing.
Sustainability: Sustainability is the ability or capacity of something to maintain or to sustain itself.
Faculty: The entire teaching and administrative force of a university, college, or school.
Impact: To affect, the effect of coming into contact with a thing or person; the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or ideology, the impression made by an idea, cultural movement, social group, it is to drive or press (an object) firmly into (another object, thing, etc.) to have an impact or strong effect (on).
Student: Pupil, a person formally engaged in learning, especially one enrolled in a school or college; any person who studies, investigates, or examines thoughtfully.