This post is the diversity of thoughts and ideas that I have seen from MBA’s and Engineers and what I believe is one of the root causes of that.
I have interacted with many fresh out of school MBA’s and Engineers in Tech companies. Most MBA’s will only talk about $$ (many models), how to go faster and get things done now espousing the ‘time is money’ concept. I do not see them coming up with creative options to solve the problem quickly. To do that requires some level of knowledge of how things are done (be it software engineering or another field). Engineers with the right mindset of bias for action can do this very quickly. They can come up with options, pros/cons and can be delivered quickly without incurring long term technical debt.
Why is that the case? I believe there are a couple of reasons. First, it is the training, rigor and the logical thinking expected from Engineers as part of their course work. Second, I am beginning to think that the Financial Corporate world heavily influences the teachings in MBA. They want MBA graduates coming out of college molded to fit their needs.
Why does the second reason above not apply to Engineers? It actually does, however the focus of Engineering is to solve broader problems as opposed to catering to the needs of a specific corporate lobby (i.e the Finance lobby). Lobbying is a practice pervasive in the political world and we are witnessing how it is going for the people. Business schools is where it is seeping into Academia. The question is are we doing to do anything to prevent that spreading or we accept that it eventually seep into every aspect of our children’s education.