News

Better management a matter of degree

Universities offer a variety of industry-specific business programs for
executives

GREATER METROPLEX — As executives move up the corporate ladder,
they often feel the need to enhance their skills and qualifications to be fully
effective in their new roles.

Sandra Zaragoza Staff Writer American City Business Journals Inc

Frequently, those
necessary management
and financial skills are
learned on the job. Or, if
time and resources permit,
executives may juggle an
MBA course with career
and family.

Most universities,
however, recognize that
while an MBA may be
appropriate for some, not
all executives need to
acquire the complete body of knowledge such courses encompass.

With this in mind, several local universities are providing executives with
options that knit business or leadership training with other disciplines.

At Southern Methodist University, for example, the engineering department
recently launched an executive master of science in engineering program aimed
at providing engineering graduates with management skills and keeping them
abreast of technology.

"About 80% of engineering students are in
managerial positions within five years," said
Stephen Szygenda, dean of SMU’s School
of Engineering." But they don’t have the
tools they need so they have to learn by trial
and error — and that is not cost efficient."

There are two similar programs in the
nation, one at the University of Alabama
and one at the University of Texas. Both
were set up by Szygenda.

An engineer-turned-entrepreneur, Szygenda began combining engineering and
management studies after recognizing that engineers often lack the people and
business skills required in managerial roles.

"I think it is essential that engineers and engineering graduates realize they have
to broaden experience into the business side and the entrepreneurial side," he
said. "We know that virtually every engineer going out there in a very short
amount of time is going to be faced with a budget and budgeting process."

Many engineers choose to undertake MBAs, but this program gives them
options, Szygenda said.

"In many cases, (an engineering background) makes them better managers,"
he said. "I’ve found it’s been easier to manage technology-type ventures when
you understand the technology."

Gaining a firmer grasp of engineering management is why Seth Pickett enrolled
in the SMU program. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from SMU’s Cox
School of Business, Pickett began a career in marketing, which led him into
the field of engineering and technology. As a Dallas-based manager of optical
strategy for San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco Systems Inc., he has been involved
in virtually every aspect of product marketing and management — except one.

"(With the degree) I will have the ability to run an engineering development
branch of a company," Pickett said. "I will draw from experiences that allow
for product management that, quite frankly, I’ve never owned. I can have
direct responsibility for overseeing scientists and engineers. I can wear all the
hats."

Pickett attends the two-year program two days a week. One challenge, he
says, is coordinating schedules with other busy executives when group
assignments are required.

The program’s inaugural class focused on engineering management and the
program eventually will include management plus specialization, including
information engineering, telecommunications, software engineering, systems
engineering and manufacturing systems management. The relative emphasis
placed on engineering and business courses varies between specializations.

Other fields are also recognizing the value of combining a business education
with their own area of interest. Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, for
example, plans to offer a degree that links business with environmental studies.

"We think there is increasing demand for people with this unique background,"
said Bob Greer, associate dean for graduate programs at the university’s M.J.
Neeley School of Business.

"There is a need to be trained in both disciplines — trained in science and the
economics or financial perspectives," Greer said. "I think people responsible
for (environmental issues) for companies typically don’t have a budgetary
background in project management. They are at a bit of a disadvantage when
trying to weigh the benefits of pursuing one course of action. Having a
business perspective is enormously helpful for them."

Graduate students taking the program will be able to complete both an MBA
and master’s of environmental science degree within a two-year period. They
must be accepted to both the business school and the science department to
enroll in the program.

"Going back to graduate school is always a hardship. It is unrealistic to go
back for one degree and then go back for another. In this program they get a
second master’s degree concurrently," Greer said.

The program is awaiting approval this fall, but there is no set date for it to be
launched.

Meanwhile, leadership is the main focus of a new program at The University
of Texas at Dallas, where a doctor of executive leadership degree will be
introduced this fall.

Initially developed with the Dallas Independent School District as a way of
providing in-depth leadership training to management-level public school
professionals, the target market has expanded.

"The broader mission now is to establish world-class leaders who work in all
sectors from private to nonprofit to public," said L. Douglas Kiel, director of
the new program.

"The crux is to establish more deeply trained leadership — far beyond what
you get from an MBA," he said. "An MBA is a technical degree. While our
students get some technique, they move beyond the technical into big issues of
organizational change."

Among those enrolled on the course are DISD principals, a former KPMG
consultant and a nonprofit professional. The program also hopes to attract
health care executives, Kiel said.

Though little marketing has been done for the inaugural course, enrollment
already stands at 20 students.

"That tells me there is a demand," Kiel said.

The program will draw students from different sectors, with the goal of training
leaders who can cross boundaries, he said.

"Any business leader should have an understanding of how a bill becomes a
law, and an executive should understand the effects a bilingual market has on
an organization," Kiel said.

Contact DBJ writer Sandra Zaragoza at [email protected] or
(214) 706-7113.

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/high_tech/e_commerce/2002/07/29/dallas_focus3.html

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