While virtually everyone agrees that the newly adopted standards are a positive step for the OR/MS profession, exactly how to best capitalize on the opportunity remains a subject of considerable debate. It's important to remember that the AACSB standards do not require any specific courses. Thus, it's up to those in academia to not only make a strong case that management science belongs in the business school curricula at their school, but to help craft courses that are both rigorous and relevant while meeting the practical needs of the students who take them.

Management science lost its toehold in business schools in 1991 when the AACSB removed the management science component from its accreditation standard. That sent a powerful message to deans and program administrators. MBAs, meanwhile, had already sensed a disconnect between the rigor of the math-heavy coursework and the relevance of the subject. From the students' perspective (and that of many business school deans as well), the cost of learning the simplex method in terms of time and burnt brain cells did not justify the payoff, which was next to nil for someone destined for a managerial role.

With that in mind, we asked a panel of recognized leaders in OR/MS education to give us their "top 10" reasons why management science belongs in business schools. In order to arrive at some sort of consensus on what constitutes a rigorous, relevant, viable and value-added course, we also asked them for their "top 10" topics or skills that should be taught in an introductory management science-oriented course for business students. Finally, in order to avoid some of the mistakes of the past, we asked them to give us their "top 10" topics or skills that should NOT be taught in such a course.

"This should be an opportunity to look outward and serve the real needs of programs and students," says panelist Tom Grossman of the University of San Francisco's Masagung Graduate School of Management. "Like Tom Cook said in the June issue of OR/MS Today [1], let's make OR/MS the best course in the business school.

"The real question is what is meant by 'management science,'" Grossman continues. "If it is an algorithms course that students rarely actually use when they graduate, then there are no reasons [for management science] to be in business schools. If it is a course about the hands-on skill of thinking, communicating and inspiring using models, data and analysis, then the reasons are legion."

Mohan Sodhi of the Cass Business School in London notes that one size does not necessarily fit all when it comes to course design. "Business schools comprise different groups of people who will be going on to different careers," Sodhi says. "Management science is the only one that can address them all, albeit in different ways. Where we failed in the past was to address everyone in the same way without understanding the different audiences — would-be consultants, would-be human resource managers and would-be financial analysts.

"This is important to understand before we take up another of your questions, i.e., What should be taught? For me a more basic question would be, How do I figure out what to teach in my own business school that is useful for my school's students? Michigan's students, who are closer to manufacturing, are different from Cass' students, who are closer to the financial institutions in London."

In 1988, before OR/MS fell out of favor in business schools, Borsting et al. presented a model for a first MBA course in management science/operations research [3]. The authors wrote that the "first MS/OR course in an MBA curriculum aims to prepare all students to be consumers of MS/OR and to motivate a few to take further courses to become MS/OR producers. MS/OR is a way of perceiving, analyzing and interacting with the world, and the first course should be utilitarian. Above all, students should understand the role of modeling as managers make decisions and solve problems. They should also develop an appreciation for the entire decision-support process, understanding what MS/OR analysts do and why that work is important to an organization, and becoming excited by MS/OR. The pedagogy we propose focuses on problem formulation, on applications and on understanding what practitioners do."

The problem with the Borsting et al. model, says Grossman, is that it is anchored in what management scientists "wished" managers would do [4]. "It was inward looking, not outward-looking to the real needs of MBAs," Grossman adds. "This enshrined the notion that MBAs should be 'informed consumers' of OR consulting reports. This is a self-centered and ultimately damaging philosophy because most MBAs will never meet an OR consultant, much less consume one of their reports."

Grossman says any reasons for including OR/MS in business schools should be aimed squarely at deans, curriculum committees and students, not members of the OR/MS choir. He also argues that management science professors need to teach business students how to effectively call in and manage traditional OR/MS practitioners. "If anybody says 'teach appreciation of management science' without also indicating that the course must teach the difficult skill of creating, internally selling and managing OR/MS consultants, then hit them with a frying pan," Grossman grouses. "Appreciation of OR/MS will best generate tangible benefits for our alumni when students are taught how to convert their appreciation into an effective RFP that ultimately leads to a high-impact OR/MS consulting project."

Besides Grossman and Sodhi, the panelists include Peter Bell of the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada; Stephen Powell of the Tuck School at Dartmouth College; Art Geoffrion of the Anderson School at UCLA and Tom Cook, president and CEO of CALEB in Austin, Texas. Cook, a former college professor best known as the head of the famed OR group at American Airlines, has been a long-time champion of OR/MS in the corporate world.

The entries in the lists are, for the most part, composites, but they do not represent a consensus. One or more of the panelists probably disagree with one or more of the reasons given here.

Top 10 Reasons Why Management Science Belongs in Business Schools


1. Management science builds analytical and problem-solving skills.
"Understanding the 'management science way of thinking and managing' will improve the MBA's decision-making and help the MBA graduate make more money." — Peter Bell

"Quantitative methods and spreadsheet-based computation for numerous kinds of decisions problems [build] the kind of analytic and problem-solving skills that employers want." — Art Geoffrion

"Both the art and science of management belong in business schools. The latter is management science. It provides a foundation for abstract thinking and modeling needed for function-oriented subjects such as marketing, finance, etc." — Mohan Sodhi

2. Modeling skills provide a valuable competitive advantage.
"Edelman Prize papers document millions, and sometimes even billions, of dollars in benefits to companies and governments from modeling approaches." — Geoffrion

"Modeling is a fundamental thinking skill." — Powell

"Spreadsheet modeling is valuable to employers." — Powell

"MBAs value spreadsheet skills." — Powell

"Spreadsheet skills can lead to immediate impact on the job." — Powell

3. Management science will help MBAs in other courses.
"Knowing some management science will help students perform in other courses and allow those courses to cover more advanced materials." — Bell

"[A management science course] covers topics useful in virtually every other functional area of the school, including the economics of decisions, decision-making under uncertainty, and problem-solving by analysis, optimization and simulation. It traditionally stresses applications in finance, marketing and operations (including distribution) in its extended examples and cases." — Geoffrion

"Models are used throughout the MBA program." — Powell

4. Management science is a dominant technology.
"Supply chain optimization and revenue management are leading-edge management practices that can only be understood if you know some management science. In some industries, you simply cannot manage without management science." — Bell

5. Management science exploits the computer/communications revolution.
"Relentless advances in computers and computer-mediated communications and the availability of massive data sources make modeling increasingly practical to apply in virtually all companies, not just large ones as in the past. The improving cost/benefit ratios for modeling make it increasingly valuable to our graduates' employers." — Geoffrion

"Modern hardware and software support end-user modeling." — Powell

6. Management science puts MBAs in the "techie" loop.
"MBAs who don't understand some management science will be 'snowed' by techies." — Bell

"Knowing some management science will enable the MBA to participate in discussions where they would otherwise be excluded." — Bell

"The fusion of decision technology and information technology is a marriage made in heaven. Some knowledge of the former enables MBAs to see more deeply into how to make better use of the latter." — Geoffrion

7. All of the above
"Students will use what they learn [about OR/MS] in other courses. Graduates will use what they learn on the job. It integrates with marketing, accounting, finance and operations. [OR/MS] enables students to be more effective analysts, consultants and thinkers." — Tom Grossman

8. If not us, then who?
"No one else in the MBA program teaches modeling skills, certainly not the stat folks." — Powell

9. Management science is creative, challenging and fun.

10. The AACSB said so.

Top 10 Topics/Techniques/Skill Sets That Should be Taught in an Introductory Management Science-Oriented Course for Business Students


1. Spreadsheet engineering (how to design, build and test a model in Excel to solve a problem that real executives actually worry about) and end-user modeling (where business graduates do their modeling and analysis without the intervention of OR-specialists).

2. How to use models and analytical results to communicate and persuade.

3. How to make a good decision for a real problem.

4. How to design, internally sell and manage strategic OR projects.

5. Optimization.

6. Simulation.

7. Strategic topics, including operational risk management, strategic supply chain planning and optimization, revenue management, etc.; and how to measure and manage business risk.

8. Active learning and hands-on activities in class.

9. Skills that students and alumni believe will make them more effective in their next job.

10. Diverse, realistic cases, problems, projects and applications, including case studies where the use of optimization leads to a powerful insight, but the optimal solution itself is not used. Potential and real applications in new fields (e-commerce, m-commerce, biotechnology, etc.)

Top 10 Topics/Techniques/Skill Sets That Should NOT be Taught in an Introductory Management Science-Oriented Course for Business Students


1. The simplex method.

2. Any algorithm.

3. Anything that you cannot do without using Greek letters and/or subscripts.

4. Any approach to solving a problem if the instructor cannot name a single organization whose managers have worried about the problem.

5. Any model that cannot be built and used in Excel, unless it at least integrates well with Excel.

6. Any software that does not run as an Excel add-in, or that is not available for remote use with a Web interface via an application service provider or public Web site.

7. Lecturing, particularly any lecture that begins, "Assume that ..."

8. Any OR or statistical techniques without clear strategic or tactical decision-making implications.

9. Focus on optimal solutions. The concept of optimality is supremely important, but there is nothing sacred about optimal solutions (which often are not implemented). What is most valuable are the business insights and mindset that come from the modeling and analysis process needed to set up an optimization problem.

10. Focus on becoming an "intelligent consumer" as opposed to an "active modeler."



Side story: Petition Makes the Case

References

1. 1. Cook, T., 2003, "Revised MBA Guidelines," President's Desk, OR/MS Today, Vol. 30, No. 3, p. 6.
2. 2. Horner, P., 2003, "A Second Bite at the Biz School Apple," The Last Word, OR/MS Today, Vol. 30, No. 3, p. 72.
3. 3. Borsting, J.R., Cook, T.M., King, W.R., Rardin, R.L., Tuggle, F.D., 1988, "A Model for a First MBA Course in Management Science/Operations Research," Interfaces, September-October 1988, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 72-80.
4. 4. Grossman, T.A. Jr., 2001, "Causes of the Decline of the Business School Management Science Course," INFORMS Transactions on Education, Vol. 1, No. 2, http://ite.pubs.informs.org/Vol1No2/Grossman/.

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