On the train from Hanoi to Sapa I shared a cabin with two English women. One was completing her PhD studies in corporate social responsibility and lamented the amount of work it takes to promote.
One professor of the Graduate School of Management of La Trobe university once tried to convice some students to continue with a PhD after completing the MBA. Most of us just laughed and shaked our heads in disbelieve as every student will be happy to finish studying, at least for a while.
Later I had a discussion with him and I put the point to him that a PhD does not create better opportunities on the job market and does not make you a better manager. There is a great chasm between managerial reality and academic discourse. This is not a bad thing because academic research is essential in advancing the knowledge and practice of management.
There are, however, great differences. For example, in scientific management, every fact that has been sourced from somewhere has to be referenced. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism, the worst sin that an academic can commit. This can lead to footnote fetishism and more problematic induces a fallacy in argumentation called the fallacy of notoriety. Just because something has been published in a reputable magazine, does not mean that it should be considered true. The Fleischman-Pons announcement and the Sokal Affair are poignant illustrations of why this is so.
In managerial practice nobody ever references anything – taking somebody else’s idea is called ‘best practice’. In my experience, adding references to business reports is looked upon strangely.
Another difference is that correct argumentation, essential for academic papers, is almost never practised in business reports. Business reports are usually dotpointed and quite often lack precise argumentation and rely on rhetoric. I am not claiming that rhetoric is always bad, it is an essential part of life.
Third difference I’d like to point out is that academic management is about creating knowledge, while management practice is about achieving goals and those goals are most often not about gaining knowledge, but relate to selling goods or providing services.
There are thus enormous differences between management as a science and management practice. It is important that in an MBA a balance is achieved between the two modi operandi.
Will I ever attempt a PhD in management? I love a good academic debate and I love to research, but as a manager I have found that it is important to leave the academic method behind and translate scientific knowledge so that everybody can understand how goals can be achieved, which is what business is all about.
