The New Paradigm of Management Education Revolution and Counter-Revolution

Abstract

In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Kuhn (1962) outlines the central role which paradigms play in the development of scientific disciplines, and the revolutionary process by which paradigms may eventually be challenged and replaced by new paradigms. This revolutionary model of paradigmatic change may well describe the process by which the new paradigm of management education will become established. There is, of course, no guarantee that the /revolution' will be successful and that the new paradigm will supplant the old. The forces of counter-revolution, with interests vested in the old paradigm, can be strong and may hold off the challenge of the new, for the establishment of paradigmatic dominance is not only an intellectual and conceptual process, but also a social and political one. This situation is evident in the case of the development of a part-time MBA course at an institution in the Far East. Although the program design seemed to embody many of the principles espoused in a new paradigm of management education, revisions have been proposed for the course which may turn it back into a more traditional model of an MBA programme. The case raises the question of institutional readiness for a new paradigm of management education. It also highlights the need for institutional leadership in the process of questioning assumptions, practices and values as MBA programmes are challenged to meet the demands and opportunities of the 21st century.