The Hindu Business Line : `Our new programmes reflect leading-edge developments'

"In executive and leadership education, it's impossible to rest on one's laurels or stand still for any length of time. The only real constant is constant change," says Srikant M. Datar, Senior Associate Dean of Executive Education at Harvard Business School (HBS). And in keeping with this philosophy, HBS has recently revamped two if its executive education programmes — the general management programme and the leadership development programme.

The new programmes, which will be introduced later this year, make significant use of Internet-based distance learning tools, including business simulation games, which allow HBS to tailor the course to the requirements of each individual. In an e-mail interview with The New Manager, Datar dwells on the nitty-gritty of the revamp process, and also touches on some trends in executive education.

What was the impetus to revamp or perhaps improve the executive education programmes at HBS?

Harvard Business School originated the concept of executive education just after World War II, and we have been hard at work ever since developing our portfolio of programmes and making them of world-class quality in every way. That said, we are always exploring the needs of our clients.In the past few years in particular, as changes took place in workplaces around the globe, members of our faculty and staff spent considerable time talking with companies about their executive development efforts and needs and analysing their preferences in university-based programmes. We discovered a growing desire among both companies and participants for learning opportunities that

Develop leaders at three distinct levels — top-level executives; senior managers with general management, cross-functional or profit and loss responsibility; and high-potential managers.

Provide actionable strategies and tools for company-specific implementation.

Foster personal leadership development for organisation-wide impact.

Offer creative formats to maximise learning while accommodating the professional demands and schedules of executives at each of the three levels.

We also listened to feedback from current and past participants. The result is a new comprehensive set of programmes that meet these new needs and that will be formally launched in the weeks ahead.

So how different will the re-worked programmes be?

The Advanced Management Programme: `Transforming Proven Leaders into Global Executives' is the latest generation of the School's flagship general management offering. A continuous, on-campus, eight-week programme, it takes a completely integrated, corporate-level approach to prepare top-level executives to excel in the highest position of leadership in the multinational firm. The programme has a strong focus on individual and leadership development and action planning. The goal is to provide participants with a transformational experience that will help them to think and manage differently.

The General Management Programme: `Creating Outstanding Business Leaders' is a new two-part offering for men and women who run divisions. Participants are senior managers with general management, cross-functional, or profit and loss responsibility. It begins with a four-week session on our campus in Boston, followed by a four-six week break when participants return to their home countries and companies to apply their newly-acquired skills and knowledge. It then concludes with a three-week session back at Harvard Business School. This programme provides managers with 15 or more years of experience with the skills and vision they need to run their units in an organisation.

The Leadership Development Programme: `Accelerating the Careers of High-Potential Leaders' immerses high-potential managers — men and women of about 30 years of age, with 10 years of experience — in core business functions and enables them to understand how these functions are interrelated across an organisation. It is taught in five modules, so that participants don't have to be away from home or office for one long stretch of time. There are two two-week modules on our campus and three home-based modules that make use of distance and applied learning.

Could you give us an idea of the highlights of the revamped courses?

We've developed some very sophisticated, very effective Internet-based distance learning tools focusing on accounting, finance and quantitative methods. These products add considerable value because they allow us to tailor the learning experience to individuals — they can go faster or slower, check out supporting materials or not, depending on how much they know about a particular topic. Another exciting facet of our distance learning approach is a computerised business simulation game that participants in the General Management Programme and the Leadership Development Programme play in their home countries after the first module has been completed at HBS. The game is played by virtual teams around the globe that are connected by the Internet. One player might be in Mumbai, another in Singapore, another in Buenos Aires and so on. But they have to work together to make decisions about running a business as they compete against other virtual teams from their respective programmes.

We've also worked very hard to integrate courses across the curriculum. For example, rather than do accounting and finance in two separate courses with two different professors, we'll have one faculty member show how both these subjects complement each other. Knowledge of financial reporting goes hand in hand with knowledge of the capital markets. We also use a unique strategy exercise that draws on the work of all our senior faculty members in this area. It consists of a DVD and a workbook, and the lessons and exercises can be applied to the real problems and issues that participants are facing in their own companies. Finally, we give participants the opportunity to assess their strengths, their weaknesses and their career paths through an instrument that provides them with their own leadership profile. After they've completed the questions, they work with personal coaches who can help them with their leadership development.

All these pedagogical elements make for a unique and very exciting experience that we believe has a transformational impact on all those who go through it.

Participants in the revamped course will spend less time on campus and the focus on distance learning will increase. Does this increase in distance learning pose any challenges?

We think the modular approach provides the kind of flexibility and individualised learning that younger participants want, especially since they feel they can't be away from the office for more than a couple of weeks at a time. One challenge in distance learning, of course, is to make certain things actually get done. To assure that, we give online tests participants have to complete, and we monitor everything very closely. Even when the participants are thousands of miles away from HBS, our faculty are working with them, helping and advising them, and checking on their progress.

What are some of the current trends/ thinking in executive education at b-schools?

I think that our new programmes and structures reflect the leading-edge developments in executive education — from modules and Web-based assignments to knowledge- and skill-building and personalised coaching that provide an immediate `return on investment' when participants graduate from the programme. The goal is action-oriented learning that helps participants build real frameworks and action plans to implement change in organisations.

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