Study Management in AustraliaManagement at RMIT: Professor Peter Sheldrake At first glance, it would seem not. Australian universities offer
courses that may to be similar to those found in leading universities in
many other countries of the world - MBAs and MBUs, DBAs and Bachelor's
degrees. The subjects are familiar: management development,
organisational theory, strategy, marketing, corporate law, finance, and
so on. The structures of these courses have a familiarity about them
too, in terminology, the sequence of subjects, and even the broad areas
of emphasis for focus and attention. This is not just a matter of
similarity - there is also a concern for quality deriving from the UK
sources of the university system in Australia. A degree from a leading
Australian university is as good as a degree from a leading university
anywhere in the world, and international criteria are central to our
measures of quality and outcome. However, if you look more closely, you will find there is a
difference between courses in Australia and those in the UK and an
important one. This is not because Australia is a land of beaches,
barbecues, beautiful sunshine, and fine wines, although it is all of
these things! Rather it is because Australia is uniquely placed, both
geographically and historically, to be at the confluence of three
different approaches to management and management education. It sits at
the intersection of the European tradition (especially the UK university
approach), the American tradition, and the Asian tradition. Our courses
and students draw on these three rich traditions, and are forced to
confront both their commonalties and their differences. In part, this is made clear by the Australian attitude to management.
If the primary models of management and management education are
inherited from the UK, so the influence of the American way of doing
business - and the 'case study' approach - are equally evident. However,
we also draw on a quite different tradition, one built around Asian
business and family companies, extensive networks and
inter-connectedness. It makes for a heady brew - ideas that jostle
against each other to create something distinctive and exciting - in a
way, rather like the better Australian beers! Indeed, this is not just an intellectual issue. Australian
universities draw students from around the world, but many in particular
from South-East Asia; some take a further step, and include study and
work placements in this region as an optional part of their courses. Australians see and talk about the practice of leadership in a
variety of cultural contexts, observe and participate in the management
of a truly multicultural workforce, and confront the ethical and
practical dilemmas of undertaking business in developed and developing
countries, as well as in Christian, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian
and Shinto cultures. Finally, as a country small in population and large
in area on the edge of the world's largest concentration of people,
Australians confront the dilemmas of markets, logistics and risk in ways
that are hard to appreciate in the European environment. Study at an Australian university is an opportunity to learn in an
environment with a 'life course' in diversity and difference. You will
sit alongside students from every imaginable culture, whose values,
concerns and priorities are often radically different from your own.
Your own teachers may have studied and worked on several different
continents. You will also simultaneously be learning about management,
leadership and the successful operation of business in a framework that
emphasises alternative approaches and cultural sensitivity. It is an
approach to management that is well worth considering carefully. Of course, I don't want to suggest that studying management in
Australia is all about multiculturalism and the Asian approach (as if
there were 'one' Asian approach!). It is also an opportunity to develop
the same rigour and understanding that you would get out of similar
courses anywhere in the world. You still learn the fundamentals of
reading a balance sheet and constructing a discounted cash flow, how to
construct a marketing plan, and the strengths and weaknesses of
contemporary approaches to performance management; and you still study
the esoteric world of strategic intent, core competencies and business
positioning. On top of all this, you have the opportunity to live and study in
Western Australia, a land of everlasting sunshine and beaches: the
Northern Territory or Queensland, characterised by sub-tropical climates
and rain forests, or the Eastern seaboard, containing the arch rivals of
Melbourne and Sydney (both of whom are at pains to point out there is no
rivalry at all, but that's because they secretly consider that they are
clearly better than the other). Perhaps I should rephrase the question:
'Why wouldn't you want to study management in Australia?'. I can't think
of a convincing argument Author
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