Cultivating Success
Cross-Disciplinary Education Prepares Graduates for the Global Marketplace
By Kathleen Farrell
Illustration by Barbara Hranilovich
The business world today continually evolves, but one thing is certain--team work is essential for success. The Eli Broad College of Business has long recognized the need for team-based education, and that philosophy has extended across campus to bring even more innovative programs to its students as well as business executives working today.
Nowhere can this be illustrated more clearly than at the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development, where a team of representatives from every college on campus meets six times a year to brainstorm ideas.
Program Evolution
Originally conceived in the early stages of designing the new center, this advisory board was created for two reasons: To make sure the facility was designed and built to meet long-term educational requirements from a professional and continuing education standpoint, and to help facilitate multidisciplinary education within Michigan State University.
Representatives from each college attend bi-monthly meetings where they discuss the different initiatives they are running in their own executive and professional education programs. "The reality is that Michigan State is a big place and it's hard to know everything that's going on," says David Frayer, director of the Executive Development Program (EDP). "This group just provides a forum and an opportunity for people to ask questions."
One program that evolved out of these discussions is a non-degree certificate program for public school superintendents coordinated with Michigan State's College of Education. Still in the early development stages, the program's goal is to provide business education for superintendents of school districts across the state. "These people have been trained primarily as educators and are now being asked to function more as business people managing their school districts," says Frayer.
The Practice Management Certificate Program is another collaborative effort coordinated jointly by the EDP and the College of Veterinary Medicine. The program held its first session in 1998 and is currently offering its third. The program emphasizes an MBA-like approach to the management of cutting-edge veterinary businesses, and was created after a study of the veterinary industry indicated a need for business management skills in the veterinary profession. The certificate program, held at the Henry Center, is aimed at veterinary practice owners and managers, and is presented in four, separate instructional modules over a six-month period. These modules focus on financial management, marketing professional services, human resource management, and business and practice law.
Frayer sees many possibilities for future collaborations like this. "We've dealt with it now successfully in the veterinary community. Where else does this concept apply? One place would be practicing physicians."
Filling the Gaps
The certificate program provides a unique business education for these working professionals because it is tailored to their needs. "If you were to send a veterinarian to get an MBA degree, they would understand business in that context, but some of it might not be directly applicable to what they're trying to do as a small business person trying to run a practice," says Frayer. "That's where these multi-disciplinary certificate programs really fill a neat gap because it's the application of business knowledge in a specific context that creates something new and different."
Another successful certificate program offers additional business and communication course work to graduates of the College of Natural Science. It is a cooperative effort between them, the Broad School, and the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. "This has made their graduates much more marketable to the business community and to the general job population out there," says Frayer. "They're perceived as being different and better than your average chemistry graduate student coming out of any other university."
"I think this multi-disciplinary opportunity in executive education is going to help a lot of these companies re-tool their capabilities and broaden the perspective of the people inside the organization," says Frayer. "Maybe interdisciplinary programs like these will help build a more well-rounded work force for the future."
"These efforts help the business community perceive that the Broad School is more than what they've traditionally thought of us as," he says. "We not only have all the great business knowledge and content that they're familiar with, but we bring to the table all of the other knowledge and capability of Michigan State University.
Taking Credit
The for-credit side of the Broad School also has been busy with its own multi-disciplinary efforts. The undergraduate degree program is now offering several unique opportunities to students looking to broaden their business diplomas. New to the mix is a joint program between the Broad School, Communication Arts and Sciences, and the College of Engineering. This new program offers a specialization in Information Technology to majors in each of these schools.
"This is a reflection of the market, the demand being placed on all kinds of individuals," says Mike Mazzeo, an associate professor for the Department of Finance and associate dean for undergraduate students at the Broad School. "If you look at major corporations, they do a lot more teaming. You would certainly want to hire a finance major to do a finance job, but that finance person has to understand communications and the technical aspects as well."
Business students already take some courses in this area but those classes aren't on the same level as what's offered here. "What we've tried to do is create a second level for students who are interested in computers and communication," says Roger Calantone, Eli Broad University Professor of Business whose area of expertise is technological innovation. He says that students who specialize, or "minor," in information technology would take their regular load of courses for their respective majors, but would have additional courses in system analysis and design, telecommunications, and informatics, as well as a few electives."
Creative Problem Solving In addition, students participate in a final project where they work on a team project with students from other majors such as computer science and telecommunications.
"These cross-disciplinary teams are more like what they are going to face when they go out into the business world," says Calantone. "They begin to see problems from another point of view."
Coordinators of the project say student demand for this is high, and they hope to have everything in place by the fall semester. "I think now by pushing them together we're getting the cross-trained person that businesses seek and have only been able to have through experience," says Calantone. "Experience on the job is very expensive and mistakes cost a fortune."
This course work isn't intended to make business students experts in information technology, or telecommunications students experts in business, but it serves to promote understanding and better communication between those factions once they're out in the business world working together on a common goal.
"We're each taking a piece of this based on our expertise, and I think in the end we're going to have well-educated students who get the best of everything," says Mazzeo.
"It helps the Broad School because we're partnering with expertise that we don't necessarily have in house," he says. "We combine colleges and work together to have a better student in the end."
Combining Two Skills In keeping with the Broad School's team-based philosophy, the full-time MBA program continues to offer a joint MBA/JD degree with the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University. The joint degree is structured so that students can get both an MBA and a law degree in four years--one year less than if they took both programs separately.
"It's a nice program because they save a year in getting both degrees," says Jennifer Chizuk, director of the full-time MBA program. Although the program only has two students on average enrolled per year, it is an additional option for students in either program. "It has been a great advantage to us because we can attract some students to the business school who may not have normally applied here," says Chizuk.
A graduate of this program may find work as a lawyer in the U.S. Marine Corps JAG or conducting contract evaluations for K-Mart. "To me the main benefit of this program is what it can do for the students," says Chizuk. "We are very much a team-based MBA program whereas the law school is preparing you to stand on your own. To come away having both of these skills is great."
Shawnee Vickery, professor of operations management in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management for the Broad School, says her integrated degree program with the College of Engineering has been highly successful since its inception in 1995. The school's Manufacturing and Engineering Management master's degree program allows engineering students to earn their engineering degree in four years and then earn their master's in business in an additional year.
Originally open to manufacturing engineering students only, the degree has evolved recently to include students majoring in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering.
"The program was originally designed so students could get a dual degree in manufacturing engineering over at the College of Engineering, that would be a bachelor of science degree from engineering, and a master's degree from the Broad School in manufacturing management," says Vickery, who oversees the joint program with the College of Engineering.
"The way the program was originally designed, students would begin taking their master's level courses in their senior year of their undergraduate education and they would stay for a fifth year to finish their master's classes. At that time they would be awarded both degrees. They could not get one degree without the other."
Changing with the Times Today, the structure has changed slightly in that students must now finish their undergraduate degree before entering the master's degree program, with all of the master's coursework completed in the fifth year. Specific courses related to this program are required as an undergraduate, however, and students must enter the master's program within six months of graduation to qualify.
"It's totally integrated," says Vickery. "You can't just have an engineering degree and enter our program."
The new program goes into effect in fall 2002, but the current version is running now. Forty-five to fifty students are participating at various levels now but Vickery says that will increase with new students being allowed in. "It's been so successful that we thought we ought to make this available to students in the other majors as well."
Vickery adds that this integrated degree is great for the Broad School because it provides them with outstanding students from the College of Engineering, and also prepares graduates for real-world work experience. "We've met a real demand in the market place for people who not only have the engineering expertise and skills, but also a solid knowledge and foundation in business principles with a specific focus on manufacturing."
With the focus today on teamwork, it's more important than ever that students learn what that means, and how to be effective in that role. The Broad School, along with other Michigan State colleges across campus, has made great strides in achieving this goal--in executive education as well as degree-based programs.
"Things in the business world are changing everywhere," says Chizuk. "They need leadership at all levels of any organization. We're trying to prepare our students for that as well."