Cross over to the other side -- Arts Enterprise values creativity, artistic process in business
Jennifer Kensok
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Inside Ross
On your way to yet another finance class? Sitting through a lecture on Toyota's manufacturing processes? Or maybe you're struggling through that statistics homework-decision trees again? In any case, I doubt I'm the only one who feels that since I've entered business school, my left brain has been overloaded. Sequential analytical thinking is the name of the game here at Ross, and often I see more right-brained creative urges and holistic concepts slipping away in the face of yet another case study or accounting problem.
The core curriculum here at Ross, while providing a strong base of analytical and decision-making tools, may be a little outdated. Many academic studies on teaching methods support a "whole-brained" approach for a student's early years. Recently, some researchers suggest a similar approach would benefit graduate students as well.
The Harvard Business Review stated in 2004, "the MFA is the new MBA" (MFA is Master of Fine Arts). Companies are looking for creative thinkers that can come up with solutions to the many problems they face in our ever more quickly changing world. Globalization of white-collar jobs has changed the corporate landscape; firms like McKinsey say they can recruit MBAs outside the US for data analysis at a much lower salary. Consequently, traditional MBA programs that focus too exclusively on data analysis and decision-making guidelines are less and less useful, while the skill sets an artist uses to create, improvise, and communicate the human experience are in high demand. The "scarce resource is innovative designers, not financial analysts," says Nancy Adler, professor at The Wall Street Journal's highest ranked MBA program for Innovation, McGill University.
Arts Enterprise, a club founded last year by MBA2s Kelly Dylla and Chris Genteel, helps business school students to think like artists, and vice versa. Originally formed to join Rossers with students in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, the club has grown quickly to include members from across the University. The club's objectives are to build a diverse community dedicated to the arts, to develop entrepreneurial and business skills of students, and to encourage creative, innovative, and strategic thinking through the arts.
The core curriculum here at Ross, while providing a strong base of analytical and decision-making tools, may be a little outdated. Many academic studies on teaching methods support a "whole-brained" approach for a student's early years. Recently, some researchers suggest a similar approach would benefit graduate students as well.
The Harvard Business Review stated in 2004, "the MFA is the new MBA" (MFA is Master of Fine Arts). Companies are looking for creative thinkers that can come up with solutions to the many problems they face in our ever more quickly changing world. Globalization of white-collar jobs has changed the corporate landscape; firms like McKinsey say they can recruit MBAs outside the US for data analysis at a much lower salary. Consequently, traditional MBA programs that focus too exclusively on data analysis and decision-making guidelines are less and less useful, while the skill sets an artist uses to create, improvise, and communicate the human experience are in high demand. The "scarce resource is innovative designers, not financial analysts," says Nancy Adler, professor at The Wall Street Journal's highest ranked MBA program for Innovation, McGill University.
Arts Enterprise, a club founded last year by MBA2s Kelly Dylla and Chris Genteel, helps business school students to think like artists, and vice versa. Originally formed to join Rossers with students in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, the club has grown quickly to include members from across the University. The club's objectives are to build a diverse community dedicated to the arts, to develop entrepreneurial and business skills of students, and to encourage creative, innovative, and strategic thinking through the arts.
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seifai
posted 4/07/10 @ 7:56 AM EST
I bookmarked this article. Thank you for good job!
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