News Scrapbook 1984

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.I San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,32-41 (Cir. S. 339,7881 us·ness educators, executives find middle ground

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fi hcuff were to erupt between the Holiday Bowl rival Generally. there was a free- wheeling discussion among all parti - and unanimously, participants said they were delighted they had come to the event, ponsored by First National Bank. Paul H. Thompson, who got bis doctor of business administration at Harvard m 1969, is th dean of BYU's busm school. Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr., who got hi:; economics Ph.D. at th University of Wisconsin, i Uch1gan's d an. Allan R Bailey, who got hi PhD. m accounting at UCLA. represented San Diego S ate, and Jam Burns. who got his H rvard DBA. with Thompson, rep nted the t ruversity of San Diego Many tatistics came out of the

In recent years. business schools have come to the forefront of universities. Two decades ago, B schools were held in low esteem on campuses, said Whitaker, but that's no longer true. However, there are problems. One is salaries. A beginning accounting professor commands a salary of $40,000 or more for competitive reasons. By contrast, a beginning English professor gets $18,000. Such d sparities cause creative tensions on campuses. "Thank goodness for the law • school," cracked Burns of USD. Salaries there are higher. Having a medical school also takes off the heat somewhat, the deans agreed. But the inability to attract faculty - particularly in accounting - holds down enrollment in some areas. At BYU, "We hold down the

accounting admissions," said Thompson. "We could admit twice as many." In recent years, the number of accounting students has surged in all B schools, but now other disciplines, such as financial planning, management information systems and the like are coming on strong, the deans agr,!ed. It's urgently necessary that local business executives participate in the B school acllv1ties the deans agreed - and donatmg funds is only one thing. Perhaps most important, busin s executives can participate in seminars, club meetings, joint business-student sessions and the like to help show students what the "real world" i ll about.

Don Bauder

session, and perhaps the most mteresting one was that there are more undergraduate business udents at TISO tba.n there are at Michigan. There are 700 undergrad B bO<'l students and 1,500 MBA candidates at Michigan (out of a campus of 34,000) At USD, there are 950 undergrad B school students and 350 MBA candidates out of a total campus of 5,000. BYU's B school students comprise

about one-tenth of the 2,600-student campus. and SDSU has 7,000 undergrads and 900 grads out of a campus of 34,000. MBAs from Michigan and BYU generally average $35,000 a year in salary in their first job. At SDSU and USO, the figure is about $4,000 lower, largely because San Diego companies generally pay less than companies in less desirable areas of the United States.

Paul Thompson

Gilbert R. Whitaker Jr.

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Cootioucd from 1-1 One criticism that executives often aim at B ·chools is that tudents are well-trained in theory, nd in numbers. but don't understand people. Ed Cunningham, president of First National, uggested that more B schools teach ourses such as negotiation, or thers dealing with human ynamics. Often. B school grads now how to analyze problems but re poor at implementing the olutions, agreed all participants. Bailey said they teach courses in negotiation - and, indeed, Professor 1 rael Unterman's seminars in -negotiation are nationally known. Thompson noted that there are 'mismatched expectations" between tudents and businesses. Basically, he student often wants to charge nto the company and be running it n a few years. Often, impatient and brasive students, particularly MBAs, ruffle feathers within orporations. That's one reason that ome compames are said to be oving away from MBAs. Whitaker said one of the most important roles business executives n play on campus is to inform the

students of these differing expectations. He told how Burroughs Corp. has donated computers and some technical people to give Michigan a computer system. But the Burroughs employees simply cannot understand that the dean cannot order the faculty members to do something. "They have the idea that I can tell a faculty member what to do. They don't understand that I bave to negotiate, to persuade, to bribe, but not order anything," he laughed. It's this difference between the campus environment and business environment that graduating students have to bridge - and business executives can help them do it. Thompson noted that BYU tnes to hire executives to teach for a year - but often that's too long for executives to handle. Two months or four months is sometimes all they can take on campus. SDSU's Bailey pointed out that "people" skills are sometimes beyond the realm of pedagogy - it's often hard to teach human intercommumcation. He also said it's wrong to say that B school

students are narrow and unschooled in other disciplines. B school students take most of their classes outside of B school - therefore they get a more rounded education than people believe. Burns noted that when a chief executive officer come" to USO to talk with the students, he or she often tells the students to get a well- rounded education - English, philosophy, etc. But when the recruiters come, they look for specific, pragmatic courses. "I've never seen a recruiter wanting to hire a philosopher," he quipped. Similarly, Thompson noted that accounting firms and corporations are always urging BYU to install more accounting courses - several different tax acco11nting courses, accounting for both large and small businesses, etc. Thus, the deans get barraged from both sides: Some executives want students to have a broader education, others want to see a narrower education. Bailey noted that 150 SDSU students get internships with San Diego companies every semester, and that program is one of the most valuable ones in the whole

curriculum. He also said that the four most important factors at SDSU are the quality of students, quality of faculty, appropriateness of the curriculum and support of the business community. The other three deans agreed. Recently, some Harvard professors have complained that U.S. businesses focus entirely too much on the immediate future - next quarter or next year - and ignore the long-term decisions. Japanese executives are said to be better at making long-term decisions. Some blame the short- swing mentality on B school educations. The deans - rmd business executives - ir attendance agreed that this is a bun rap. If anything, the B schools try to teach students to take a longC;r view, said Whitaker. The problem is structural - for example, the capital markets, dominated by institutional money managers who behave like sheep, are totally geared to very short- swing developments.

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Meanings of Christmas Spare me the scolding for indulging the season's innocent hedonism By Tibor R.\~f han terious and it shoul_d be private, mumate. country is _most likely_ to keep up its p_ro· They are practical, pragmatic, utilitar- gain wisdom is affordable only when one But the wish for mce gifts, the desire to duct1v1ty, Its economic prudence, which tan, yet they are also generous, joyful, has some wealth.

I have th1 wish that we be spared this year all the talk nbout how Christmas ts turning mto a commercial orgy, how p pie so shamele ly indulge their de- ire , whim and matcriahst1c concerns and thu forget the true. spmtu I mean- mg of the e on When the 1rnrld 1 clnmormg for a bet- ter hf , when we are wrmgmg our hand. abou unemployment, hunger, de titution and 1ckne s, lt:r us for once admit that what we really want is for everyone to buy a great deal and pro

please, the search for a good buy - can be quite public. If there is more of 1t everywhere, the country, perhaps the world, can look forward to deflecting an Amer can have for decades been the main hope of the world. That great revo- counts on America ~o feed its people. even a 11 condemns capitalism. The rest of the world sell us cars, oil, shoes, coffee and more, while we sell them some of what we make We buy more than they do because we produce more and can afford more. Except for a few, fore1gner.s admire America, mainly because they know the value of freedom better than we do. That 1s why they wish to come here and why the dollar is so .strong- they know which these economic depression lutionary society, the _Soviet Union,

creates jobs and good investments. We should keep it up. A Christmas brimming with goodies encourages peo- pie to do more for themselves. That is how progress can be maintained. We d1s- cover more, we learn more, we want more-and better, of course. Anew piece of software, a new car, a new dress, a new All of that 1s wonderful, even though it book, even new heart and on and on. . Wis~ing to be surrounded with mterest- mg things, with sources of pleasure and i? quite what everyone would like. It 1s a matter of how much As an ex-European, I know that Amen- cans work harder more productively. They like the idea of fulfillment m life. satisfaction, folks will do about 1t. isn't all there is to life.

cheerful. Everywhere in America, one sees people walking about laughing, sit- ting about sm1lmg, kidding, showing that above all they tend to enjoy life rather than regard it a great pain. So this Christmas, Jet us relax about our interest in all the goodies people want to sell us. We should enjoy shopping, we should defy the calls for feeling guilty and We should flaunt the fact that we like life here on Earth. We should indulge, sensibly, but unashamed. We should en- joy all there is to give, to take, to play with, to use, and think of what we might That is the way the world can be better fed and housed, become more healthy and even wiser, since the time required to ashamed. have next.

Christmas could have far worse uses than running about to chase good times, good buys, good gifts and good cheer. It could pit us against one another. It could make us feel resentful, envious and jeal- ous. Isn't it far better that it prompts us to cheer, to seek pleasure? We should not be denied such innocent hedonism. We are creatures of this Earth and our nature is creative, inventive, ex- ploratory, adventurous. Why be surprised, then, that we would seek and make newer and better things' That is most human of us, indeed. . Machan teaches philosophy at the Univer- of San Di~o ,aod is a senior feli5woTThe eason Foun ation .

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