Who Moved Our Cheese? Reclaiming Professionalism in Business Education

Abstract

This article discusses professionalism in business education. The past year has witnessed an outpouring of concern that business education may be headed in the wrong direction. The inaugural issue of this journal also revealed clear signs of concern about the direction business education is taking. However, scholars differed widely in their analysis of the problem and what should be done about it. Various authors have presented interesting and provocative views about the nature of present challenges in business education. An examination of the history of higher education suggests that the path away from professionalism has not resulted primarily from proactive strategizing on the part of management educators. Although much of the research on organizational fields has examined processes by which organizations within fields came to resemble each other over time, observers also have noted that fields are often in flux and do not necessarily stabilize. The number of students has increased as well, with a higher percentage of the population attending post-secondary institutions than ever before.