The future of management education

Abstract

The neoliberal paradigm stating that maximizing profits and shareholder value is enough to fulfil the social responsibility of the management or of a company has turned out to be a misleading ideology. Many theories of the neoclassical paradigm have failed and new research on motivation, cooperation, insights from game theory, happiness research and many other fields have yielded an overwhelming evidence that the assumptions and ideas this paradigm is built upon are wrong. In specific the homo oeconomicus is not a valid model to depict human nature and explain human behaviour. Human beings and societies have to be acknowledged as open, multidimensional and purposeful systems. In addition, neoclassical theories do not provide answers to the most pressing issues of our time in particular with regards to the ecological problems we are facing. At the same time, new business paradigms are evolving, which await a rigorous review by the academic world. These developments have not been reflected to their full extent in our Business Schools. In this article I will review the prevailing paradigms of business economics in the light of scientific research from other fields and I will sketch the outlines of a new way of business education.