| Last month I wrote a piece titled "The MBA | | | | concerning the epistemology of Plato's phrase "Know |
| Conundrum" which has subsequently appeared on | | | | Thyself" came up when I mentioned that the truer |
| more websites than I have the time or patience to | | | | interpretation of the Greek, |
| continually check up but most of which are ironically | | | | "γνωθι |
| disguises for cheap marketing operations for | | | | σεαυτον" |
| purchasable "Online MBA's" using genuine articles on | | | | was probably "learning how to be oneself". The |
| genuine MBA programmes to give the impression of | | | | subject came up as a result of Jim Collins' attribution of |
| authenticity. | | | | the quote in his management bestseller "Good To |
| Whether purchasing an online degree is technically | | | | Great", which charts the development of organisations |
| fraud or just a misleading con is currently the subject | | | | that have consistently returned successful results over |
| of intense debate, but one thing is for certain: if it | | | | a fifteen year period and have at one point made a |
| doesn't defraud an unsuspecting employer looking to | | | | gigantic leap without using the dubious artificial |
| hire on the basis of academic qualification, it certainly | | | | processes of stock manipulation or creative |
| defrauds the purchaser of the online degree. | | | | accounting. |
| In the midst of the current workload of my MBA | | | | What makes for a great degree is much the same as |
| programme at the BI in Oslo, there has been some | | | | what makes for a great organisation: the process of |
| considerable complaint from some of my | | | | discovering oneself within the structure of the current |
| contemporaries that it is difficult to actually "learn" | | | | climate. Purchasing an online degree is akin to |
| anything when one is being required to read and write | | | | bolstering the balance sheet of a company through |
| far beyond what appears to be a rational schedule. To | | | | illegal means - such as Enron, Worldcom and |
| this criticism, the Harvard educated teacher of our | | | | numerous others in the competitive market climate of |
| Strategy class responded last week that although it | | | | the turn of the century: while there may be some |
| seems as if there is no actual process of "learning" | | | | fantastic short-term benefits, the consequence can |
| taking place, there is actually far more than if courses | | | | only ultimately end in tears. |
| were just structured in a steady, leisurely format with | | | | The confusion comes from people's inability to |
| plenty of time for analysis and interpretation of every | | | | distinguish between success and experience. Success |
| assignment. "I don't mean to be unsympathetic," she | | | | is what comes out of experience, which is ultimately, |
| announced to a belligerent ochlocracy, "but this is the | | | | what leading a full, complete existence is about, |
| way it 'goes in' best". | | | | whether one ends up with an MBA, a PhD, or host of |
| As much as I am reluctant to admit it right now, sitting | | | | stories which make for fascinating telling. It is a sad |
| up at two in the morning between three unfinished | | | | fact that a competitive society spawns such vagrant |
| assignments, there is a degree of truth to what the | | | | hoaxes in the infrastructure, for, predictably enough, it is |
| Professor says, and it is the same degree of truth that | | | | not the hoaxers who end up missing out - they usually |
| separates purchasing a title and actually earning. | | | | pay penance and end up cashing in again at some |
| In another class last week, an interesting discussion | | | | point - but those who are hoaxed. |