EMBA Plagiarism: Do the Right Thing

If you’re old enough to read this then you’re old enough to know that cheating at school is wrong. Period.

Despite how obvious that should be, in my administrative roles at more than one university, I have had to face the heartbreaking issue of plagiarism by EMBA students several times. In each case, the initial response of the EMBA student when confronted with the evidence was to claim surprise that his or her actions constituted plagiarism. It would be easy to chalk-up this sort of denial as simply a defensive instinct in dealing with a serious charge but there may be more to it than that.

Plagiarism, submitting the work of someone else as your own, is the cardinal sin of academic integrity. Copying material from online sources is by far the most common form of plagiarism instructors encounter today. Academic integrity is at the heart of every reputable academic institution and central to everything we honor and respect as academics. Of course, every stakeholder in the academy - including students - would not have it any other way.

The first time I ever faced an EMBA student who claimed surprise about what constituted plagiarism, my gut reaction was, “Really?” After all, we were all taught back in elementary school what cheating is and that it’s wrong. We all knew in high school that if you looked at the paper of the person sitting next to you in class during a quiz that you were cheating. We knew that copying was cheating, too, if we chose to write out passages from books in assignments we handed-in as our own work in our undergraduate studies. Accordingly, it should not come as a surprise to any Executive MBA student that copying and pasting text from a web page (or any source) and inserting it into an assignment without an appropriate citation is unacceptable.

To move beyond that first reaction and be more analytical, I have to note that EMBA students face a double-barreled hurdle in avoiding plagiarism: (1) a possible lack of familiarity with using the World Wide Web in an academic setting and (2) established familiarity with using this resource in a business setting.

Academic work submitted for evaluation and grading is expected to be original while a business report submitted for analysis and decision-making is expected to be useful. Copy-and-paste some great information from a web site into a report for your boss and you’re likely to be congratulated; do the same for an assignment in an EMBA program and you’re likely to be expelled.

EMBA students have, on average, 10-15 years of organizational experience prior to starting a program and many have been out of school much longer. In other words, as I write this in 2014, the World Wide Web was less sophisticated than it is today when many EMBA students were last in school. Because of this, some EMBA students have limited or no experience in using the World Wide Web to research academic topics, collect information via this resource for academic assignments, and include the data collected from web sites in academic documents.

For EMBA participants, the use of the World Wide Web with which they are more familiar is a business application or project. It is not necessary for a business report to be an entirely original work in order to maximize its usefulness. Indeed, collecting particularly useful information from other sources may enhance the value placed on a business report and earn someone kudos. (Of course, in a business setting as well, no one should submit the work of others as his or her own.)

These observations are not offered to excuse plagiarism by EMBA students. Indeed, I still find it difficult to believe that anyone in a graduate university degree program can be uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism. I offer these observations as a cautionary tale for EMBA students: plagiarism is easy and tempting and, as inconsequential as it might be at work, it can end your EMBA dreams in a swift and embarrassing manner. So, do the right thing when preparing an academic submission: be original (professors want to evaluate what you’ve learned) and cite the work of other people when you use it.

Applying to MBA Programs: The School’s Perspective

There are many great resources available for people thinking about applying to MBA programs. In addition to many web sites with helpful, general advice, there is also an industry of application advisors who offer one-on-one consultation to assist candidates in putting together a strong application.

I’d like to add a few of my own observations to this topic as a business school insider. Over the past 18 years I have chaired or sat on Admissions Committees for eight MBA and EMBA programs at five universities in three countries. I have had the chance to look at several thousand applications and speak with even more people who are interested in applying to an MBA program. Specifically, I’d like to share the perspective of how a school looks at the overall pool of applicants, not simply one application.

Anyone applying to an MBA program at a “top” school is facing a situation where that school is over-subscribed with applicants (i.e., there are more qualified applicants than available seats). While admissions decisions are made, by definition, one at a time, the Admissions Committees are also actively shaping the overall profile of the class with these decisions. In fact, this is why many MBA programs administer the admission process in rounds (rather than a rolling basis) so that the overall characteristics of the class can be managed.

The target profile of a class will be considered across a number of criteria in order to meet the expectations of the program stakeholders. This includes, for example: the school looking at a class profile that will lead to strong rankings; the faculty preferences for the students they teach; employer preferences for specific hires. Admission Committees are actively tracking class demographics across dimensions such as: domestic/international; male/female; STEM/non-STEM backgrounds; GMAT; undergraduate GPA; work experience; ethnicity; stated career path. A school’s MBA admissions process is strategically aimed at balancing these criteria to achieve a target class profile that is optimal in meeting the program’s need to meet the stakeholder expectations.

The takeaway from this observation is that an applicant must consider how his or her admission to an MBA program will contribute to the class profile the Admissions Committee is trying to craft. To put that another way, an insightful applicant will be able to make the point (subtlety but clearly) that his or her admission is good for the program. This is certainly the case if an applicant falls into a particularly oversubscribed category for top US full-time MBA programs (e.g., international students).

Applying to MBA programs is high-stake endeavor and the more informed an applicant is about all of the considerations in this process the better the chances of being successful.

EMBA Career Support: 5 Ways to Avoid Disappointment

Recently, BloombergBusinessweek ranked Executive MBA programs, and some of the EMBA students’ comments were recapped in an article on the Poets & Quants for Executive web site. A common disappointment expressed by many EMBA students was a lack of career management support from their programs. For example, some students were unhappy that their schools did not bring employers on-campus to interview EMBA students in a similar process to what these schools do for their full-time MBA students.

Based on my experience (I have been an administrator and teacher in Executive MBA programs for 18 years at five business schools in three countries), I believe there are five ways that anyone considering joining an EMBA program (or current EMBA students) can avoid disappointment with the career support provided by the program.

No. 1: Match Your Career Goals to the MBA Program

Are you a “career switcher” or someone interested in the advancement of your current career? Career switching is not simply looking for a new job - it’s about a whole new career path. Career switching is never easy. Moreover, the farther you are into your career the more difficult it is to switch careers.

If your goal is to switch career paths then you may be better off in a full-time MBA program rather than an EMBA. Full-time MBA programs typically include the opportunity for elective courses that allow students to study the field into which they’re hoping to switch. EMBA programs, in contrast, have relatively few elective courses as they’re intended for experienced managers who want a general management MBA experience. That makes sense for anyone hoping to remain in their industry but move into a more senior role.

A classic example of a career switcher is someone who finished an engineering undergraduate degree 3-5 years ago and joins a full-time MBA program in order to get a job on Wall Street. The good news is that full-time MBA programs are well suited for career switchers. The engineer in this example could probably enroll in 6-10 finance courses in his or her full-time MBA program. The companies attracted to business schools for recruiting don’t come looking for candidates who already possess deep and extensive expertise in their industries. Instead, recruiters are typically interested in people with the right training (both MBA and pre-MBA) and the potential to be successful: engineers do well on Wall Street thanks to their comfort with quantitative models.

No. 2: Understand Hiring Practices

As mentioned above, employers do not come to university campuses looking for experienced managers and professionals to fill senior positions that require extensive industry experience. Instead, they come looking for large pools of similarly qualified candidates who are early in their careers to fill entry-level roles in management.

Read just about any description of the average amount of work experience that full-time MBA students bring into their studies and you will see that number falls in the 3-5 year range (e.g, US News). That translates to an average age of students at the start of full-time MBA studies of 26-28 years. This is no accident: these demographics are entirely a function of the profile of the candidates that on-campus recruiters find ideal.

On average, students in Executive MBA programs have racked-up about 10 more years of organizational experience than their counterparts in full-time MBA programs. This leaves EMBA students over-qualified and ill suited for the kinds of positions that on-campus recruiters want to fill. The “want-to-be” career switchers in EMBA programs usually respond to this observation by saying they are willing to take a step backwards in seniority and salary in order to compete for these jobs. As sincere as anyone making such a claim may be, it is wishful thinking to believe that employers will expect an over-qualified employee to be as happy and productive as one better suited for an entry-level role.

Employers looking for experienced hires look first within their industries. For these roles, it is the previous experience that is of primary importance. Once a short-list of candidates with the right experience is assembled, those who have also earned an MBA will likely stand out. For example, it’s more efficient for an insurance company looking to fill a position that requires 10-15 years of industry experience and an MBA to look within the insurance industry for ideal candidates rather than start looking through EMBA program rosters for the students with insurance industry experience.

Of course, EMBA students know this already. In conversations with EMBA students over the years, I have asked how often they have hired over-qualified candidates for a job or why their employers have chosen executive search firms to help fill senior roles rather than on-campus recruiting in EMBA programs. The same observations about fit and efficiency that I have mentioned above come out of their mouths too. That’s why I call hoping for different hiring practices wishful thinking.

No. 3: Do Your Homework

EMBA students have the right to be disappointed in program career support if they are not provided what they were promised. Research the program’s track record in delivering what it promises and understand what is not included in career support before you enroll.

EMBA students who are disappointed about a lack of on-campus recruiting targeted to their programs may not have done their homework. Anyone looking at an EMBA program as a vehicle for career switching need only ask program staff to find out about career support and on-campus recruiting. The observations I shared above regarding hiring practices and on-campus recruiting are not dirty little secrets: EMBA programs are keen to share these observations in order to manage expectations.

Several of the comments reported by BloombergBusinessweek from EMBA students specifically address the lack of on-campus recruiting for EMBA students. I’m willing to bet that the programs being criticized for this would be happy to tell any applicant that on-campus recruiting is not part (or, at best, a limited part) of EMBA career support because employers do not regularly use this channel for experienced hires.

No. 4: Use the Services You are Provided

Some years ago, while I was the director of an EMBA program, we often observed a strange outcome when we polled the EMBA students about career support services: a greater percentage of students expressed some disappointment with these services than had actually used them. In other words, there were students who had never contacted the career support staff who were nonetheless disappointed with career support services.

Good business schools hire smart and enthusiastic career support staff who are dedicated to helping EMBA students be successful. Don’t let their skills and resources go unused or even underutilized. Everything from help with résumé writing, developing interview skills, and understanding how to use your networks for career opportunities are available in good EMBA programs. Take advantage of the resources you have and you’ll be better informed to provide feedback to EMBA programs on opportunities for enhancing these services.

No. 5: Accept that You Own Your Career

No one but you is responsible for your achievement of your career goals.

Owning you own career means understanding where you want to go and what’s required to get there. The new skills you learn in EMBA classes and the resources you can access in EMBA programs outside of class are tools that support your career advancement efforts. The EMBA experience is not a “magic bullet” that will create the career results your looking for without that work.

EMBA career support services are just that: support services. They are intended to support your efforts to achieve your goals. Of course, that doesn’t mean that every EMBA program has all of the career support services right or has delivered what it promised. Good EMBA programs will continue to seek feedback from EMBA students to improve. As an EMBA applicant or student, if you follow the advice in these five observations you’ll improve the chances that you will be able to identify and utilize the resources you need to achieve your career goals.

The Cost of Scholarship at Business Schools

In a recent article looking the challenges facing business schools today, two Wharton professors - Karl Ulrich and Christian Terwiesch - estimate that cost of each article published in a top-tiered academic journal by business schools is $400,000. I believe this is a conservative estimate. It’s likely that the "full cost” for business schools for each article published by its faculty in a top-tier academic journal is probably closer to $2M - $3M.

Let’s use two Ivy League business schools as examples: Harvard and Cornell. These are convenient samples because each school publishes financial statements that can be used for this analysis, but it isn’t hard to assume that the results are generalizable.

For both HBS and Johnson, operating expenses for the academic year ending in 2013 can be broken down approximately as follows: salaries and employee benefits = 50%; student financial aid = 10%; other operating expenses = 40%. If we set aside the portion of the budget used for student financial aid then that leaves 90% of operating expenses supporting the two activities that form the core of the mission of business schools: research and teaching.

Let’s use the 50/50 split suggested by the authors in their analysis with regard to the resources devoted to each activity. This leaves us observing that 45% of the operating expenses of these business schools are devoted to research. In the case of HBS that came to $244M and the case of Johnson that was $35M. Okay - we’ve got the numerators in calculating our cost per article.

To get the denominators let’s go back to the authors’ original calculations. They estimate that the typical article is co-authored and the typical rate of publication is 0.75 times per year. Accordingly to HBS, it had approximately 220 research-active faculty members during this period. That would lead to (220 / 2 * 0.75 =) 82 top-tier papers. At Johnson, the approximately 60 full-time research-active faculty members should have produced (60 / 2 * 0.75 =) 22 top-tier papers.

Okay - let’s do the math. The full cost per top-tier article at HBS comes to ($244M / 82 =) $3M and the full cost at Johnson comes to ($35M / 22 =) $1.75M

While this is very much a back-of-the-envelope approach, I think it highlights that the cost of top-tiered academic articles is much higher than the authors suggest. One might argue that while 50% of faculty time is allocated to research, perhaps more that 50% of the other operating costs and staff salaries are actually allocated to the teaching activities of the school. That may be true, but it doesn’t matter: the schools wouldn’t exist without students so the 50/50 split of allocating costs between research and teaching is an accurate reflection of the mission of the schools and how bound together these two components really are. Similarly, one might argue that counting publications in top-tiered academic journals as the sole form of scholarly output is too limited. Perhaps, but since this is the basis on which most business schools grant tenure to professors, it seems that the business schools don't place the same emphasis on other forms of scholarly work.

As much as anyone can argue with any attempt to calculate the cost of scholarship, don’t look for business schools, or universities, to step-up and offer their own calculation. In most business schools the full cost of research activities are hidden or buried in budgets and certainly not labeled as “research”. I had the opportunity to chair the Senate Budget Review Committee at Queen's University in Canada for a few years. I can say from personal experience / observation that this budgeting shortcoming is also generalizable outside of business schools.

The standard budgeting process is typically to allocate 100% of faculty salaries and other operating expenses (e.g., facilities overhead, most staff salaries) to programs (e.g., MBA, EMBA, PhD, etc...). The only items classified as research-related are typically directs costs (e.g., databases, research assistants). This budgeting treatment was the case while I was an administrator at the business schools at both Queen's University in Canada and Cornell. Putting on my hat as an accounting professor, I pointed out to the business managers at both schools that the budgeting systems could not answer what is the full cost of research - rather ironic given that the mission of both schools included the creation of new knowledge. In both conversations, years apart, each replied that no one ever asked that question!

Students' tuition fees are used to fund all of the operations of a business school, and that includes research. I believe that business schools should be more comprehensive and transparent regarding disclosure about their research activities, the resources devoted to these activities, and the results. The students asked to fund these activities deserve to know.

Executive MBA - The Case for Sponsorship

The Case for Sponsorship:

Seeking Support from Your Employer for Executive MBA Studies

Joining an Executive MBA program should be a game-changer for your career. The significant investment in time, effort, and money to complete an Executive MBA program can be daunting and many managers considering this step in their personal development seek support from their employers.

I have put together this guide to help anyone thinking about how to approach an employer and seek this support. I hope you find it helpful.

Preparation

The likelihood of success for any initiative is improved with careful planning. The same holds true for your efforts to secure sponsorship from your employer in an Executive MBA program.

Before you can craft and present a compelling case for sponsorship you have to consider and collect the relevant data you need. This information can be divided into the following categories:

Executive MBA Programs: The starting point for your planning is to ensure that you understand Executive MBA programs. The MBA landscape includes various options, each targeted at managers with different needs. You must understand how Executive MBA programs fit into this portfolio, who they are intended for, and the outcomes associated with this path to an MBA degree. The second part of this initial step is to identify the specific Executive MBA program for which you are seeking sponsorship. The more concrete and you can make your case for sponsorship (e.g., focusing on a specific program and its characteristics), the more convincing your proposal. This means connecting the benefits for your employer with the proven outcomes for graduates from a particular Executive MBA program.

Policies & Practice: A thorough understanding of your organization’s past practice and current policies can help you create a stronger case for sponsorship. If your proposal represents the first time your employer has been asked to consider supporting a manager through an Executive MBA or just the latest in a setting where other managers have already received such support presents different challenges and different resources for you address in your case.

The Investment: It is critical to position your case for sponsorship as an investment opportunity for your employer rather than simply a perquisite or benefit for you. This begins by making sure you can accurately describe what you are asking the organization to invest. Critically, you must also describe what you are preparing to invest as well. The basic forms of investment by both you and your employer in your successful completion of an Executive MBA program are time and money.

The Return: This is really the most important part of any convincing case for sponsorship. All of the steps leading to this part of your proposal are intended to strengthen your case that your employer’s sponsorship constitutes a real capital investment with real returns. A strong case for sponsorship identifies and, wherever possible, quantifies the expected outcomes that an employer making this commitment will experience and how these results will benefit the organization. A frank discussion of returns should also address the outcomes you expect based on the personal commitment you are making to the Executive MBA experience. The goal for this part of your case for sponsorship is to make explicit what both you and your employer expect from this joint investment of time, effort, and money.

Thinking through these four parts of a case for sponsorship will serve to strengthen your proposal and improve the likelihood of receiving support from your employer.

Research, Part 1 - Choosing a Program

The Executive MBA Experience

It is very likely that many of the people in your organization who will be involved in reviewing your case for sponsorship in an Executive MBA program will not be graduates of an EMBA or even MBA holders. For this reason you must consider any preconceived ideas that decision-makers may hold about MBA programs in general and the Executive MBA experience specifically and address these in your case for sponsorship. This begins by ensuring that you have a clear understanding of the design of Executive MBA programs.

While a comprehensive Executive MBA program includes courses focused on some technical disciplines of management, it is inappropriate to believe that the primary benefit or focus of an Executive MBA program is to simply equip managers with a set of technical skills. Since Executive MBA programs are targeted at mid-career managers and professionals, a well-designed EMBA experience includes two major design components.

The experienced participants in Executive MBA programs typically bring advanced expertise in a specific field of management with them into the program. Many participants already hold mid-level or senior positions in functional areas of business such as finance, marketing, operations, IT, or HR. The common goal for these participants is to broaden their understanding of management beyond their familiar disciplines. For this reason, one aspect of a well-designed Executive MBA program is to provide a broad and integrated foundation across the disciplines of management.

Given the established roles and positions typical of participants, the second design component of Executive MBA programs is to develop advanced leadership skills. This is actually what distinguishes the Executive MBA from other paths to an MBA degree: the focus on leadership that is aimed to prepare mid-career managers for senior and general management roles. A well-designed Executive MBA program will not only have courses specifically on the topic of leadership, but also include related topics such as communication, team management, change management, strategy, and personal development.

Your appreciation for these key characteristics of the Executive MBA experience, and where they lead, should be threaded through your case for sponsorship. In particular, if you must respond to decision-makers in your organization who react to you seeking sponsorship for this process by suggesting there are simpler or more efficient ways to provide you with technical skills you desire, then you should explain the full range of the EMBA design and benefits.

The “Where?” Question

Ask anyone who has an MBA what is the first question they receive when someone learns they have that degree and you will hear the same thing: “Where?” This alone is strong evidence that is does indeed matter where you earn your MBA. Before making your case for sponsorship with your employer, you should be sure in your own mind where you want to earn your MBA and why.

The decision-makers in your organization may inquire if there is some way to reduce the level of their sponsorship by having you attend a less expensive Executive MBA program or perhaps one that is shorter or requires less study time or fewer days away from the office. Such an inquiry should not come as a surprise - in fact, you should count on it and be prepared for it. The implicit assumption behind this inquiry is that there are little or no differences between Executive MBA experiences so why not find the cheapest/shortest/fastest program? The shortsightedness of this assumption is simple to rebut: all Executive MBA programs (like virtually every other product or service in the world) are not the same and do not lead to the same benefits. That’s why people always ask “Where?” you earned your MBA degree: it matters.

Your goals for making your case for sponsorship are to (1) identify the Executive MBA program you want join and (2) make a clear and compelling case why that is the right program for you and your employer.

Analyzing Executive MBA Programs

The complexity of analyzing different Executive MBA programs can be simplified by considering three basic aspects of any program: inputs, process, and outcomes. As you consider these characteristics, you should put them in the context of what would make the greatest contribution to your Executive MBA experience and lead to the greatest benefits for your employer.

Inputs: You want the Executive MBA program you join to attract high-quality, experienced managers from diverse backgrounds with respect to functions, industries, and regions. This is very important because one of the wonderful opportunities in an Executive MBA is peer-to-peer learning. You should highlight this characteristic of your chosen Executive MBA program for your employer by ensuring that decision-makers appreciate how the interactive and participative nature of learning in an MBA means that your classmates can make a significant contribution to your development. You should ask the following questions about any Executive MBA program you are considering:

• What are the academic admission standards (e.g., are all participants required to hold an accredited undergraduate degree; what proportion of the participants already hold graduate degrees)?

• What are the functional backgrounds of the participants (e.g., what proportion of the class typically comes from finance, marketing, IT, human resources, etc.)?

• What are the industry backgrounds of the participants (e.g., what proportion of the class typically comes from financial services, manufacturing, public sector, technology sector, etc.)?

• What is the seniority of the participants (e.g., what is the average amount and range of both organizational and managerial experience)?

• What is the international diversity of the class (e.g., from how many different countries or regions do the students in a typical class come from)?

Business schools that are committed to the excellence of their Executive MBA programs understand the importance of their admissions standards and the role of peer-to-peer learning in the experience of their students. Accordingly, good schools will already have prepared this information in anticipation of kinds of questions that strong candidates will pose.

Process: There are two elements to the process of an Executive MBA experience that you should analyze: academic and logistic. With respect to the latter, anyone considering an Executive MBA program must identify the option that offers a schedule and geographic location(s) that make sense with respect to his or her job and family commitments. There is no such thing as a generally better or worse schedule or geographic location - only the ideal schedule and location for you. Before creating your case for sponsorship you must be confident that your chosen program offers a schedule and location that will leave your employer confident that you will be able to meet your job responsibilities.

With respect to the academic process, you should certainly have your priorities in place when analyzing Executive MBA options. Well-designed Executive MBA programs will have professors, learning methods, a curriculum, and facilities that are selected with the specific needs of Executive MBA participants in mind. These are different than the needs of undergraduate students or even full-time MBA program participants. You should ask the following questions about any Executive MBA program you are considering with respect to the academics:

• What are the backgrounds, experience, and credentials of the faculty who teach in the program (e.g., where did they study and earn their degrees; what organizational experience do they have outside of an academic setting; how long have they been teaching in an executive education setting)?

• What are the learning methods used in the courses (e.g., what portion of courses use lectures / case study / simulations)?

• What is the design of the curriculum (e.g., is there a broad an integrated foundation across the disciplines of management; is there an appropriate focus on leadership skills; how well does the curriculum match my needs with respect to the skills I need to advance my career)?

• In what sort of setting / facilities do classes take place (e.g., is the facility designed for executive / interactive learning; is the setting appropriate to facilitate a focus on learning and networking)?

Some further consideration with respect to learning methods is important. A very effective learning method used extensively by the world’s leading business schools is called the case method. The case method requires students to prepare an analysis of a real business situation that is focused on the application of specific managerial tools and concepts. The classroom experience using the case method requires professors to facilitate a class discussion rather than simply lecture to the class. The case method is interactive and creates an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning that is not possible in a traditional lecture approach. This should be of particular interest to anyone considering an Executive MBA program because part of the value proposition for this path to the MBA degree is peer-to-peer learning. In many business programs, however, the professors are more familiar with teaching undergraduates rather than experienced managers and professionals and, as a result, utilize lectures rather than facilitate class discussions. This is a characteristic of the academic process that you should investigate fully. If you wish to highlight and reinforce the benefits of peer-to-peer learning in your case for sponsorship then selecting an Executive MBA program that makes extensive use of this learning method is critical.

Price versus Value

A focus solely on what something costs rather than considering the value of a purchase is misguided and, inevitably, leads to disappointment. Regardless of the sponsorship you are seeking from your employer for your Executive MBA studies, the experience, and the degree you earn will be yours and will affect the rest of your career. You have to be confident that the specific MBA for which you are seeking sponsorship is the choice that will create the greatest value for and your employer.

This position is easier to support when you are focused on a specific Executive MBA program, its features, and its results, rather than addressing Executive MBA as a general category. Do not allow a discussion of finding the least expensive path to any MBA degree derail or distract from your request for support. Focusing on a specific program and making concrete links between the results of that program and how you will be able to enhance your contributions to your organization’s success is the foundation of a compelling case for sponsorship.

You are Your Best Advocate

Presumably you are reading this document specifically because you need to make a case for sponsorship with your employer for support in an Executive MBA program. In that effort you are your best advocate and must prepare the most thorough and convincing case as possible.

Earning your MBA degree in an Executive MBA program represents a significant investment in time, effort, and money by both you and, hopefully, your employer. If you wish to seek sponsorship from your employer to contribute to this investment then you must have a deep understanding of the Executive MBA experience and how it will lead to benefits for your organization in order to advocate for this support. That understanding begins with thorough research about Executive MBA programs and that explains why we begin this document with this topic.

Research, Part 2 - Past Practice & Policies

Perhaps your organization has a long history of grooming high-potential managers through sponsorship in Executive MBA programs. Or, perhaps you may be the first person in your organization that has ever sought sponsorship for this undertaking. Either way, you need to understand the environment in which you find yourself as you create your case for sponsorship. Familiarizing yourself with precedents and past practice as well as current policies is a critical part of your research.

The Internal Environment

Here is a list of the questions you should be asking about precedents, policies, and practices in your organization regarding management development in general and sponsorship in Executive MBA programs specifically:

·      Does your organization have formal policies on management development? If so:

• What are the policies (e.g., financial limits, time limitations, geographic constraints)?

• Do these policies specifically address MBA sponsorship?

• Who is responsible for the creation and management of these policies (e.g., Human Resources Department)?

• Who is (are) the decision-maker(s) for applying these policies (e.g., HR, your immediate superior, CEO)?

• On what basis are these decisions made (e.g., results of annual reviews, personal decision of the top manager)?

The presence or absence of formal policies does not necessarily create any advantages or disadvantages for you as you seek sponsorship. While it is true that having policies in place may provide you with a starting point, sometimes they also present constraints if your are asking for some form of support that might be outside of the policies. The important consideration here is to understand your environment and adapt your case for sponsorship accordingly.

Another part of your research should be to investigate past practice, or precedent, with respect to sponsoring managers in Executive MBA programs. You should inquire if this kind of sponsorship has ever been provided to a manager in the past. If so, then try to discover the answers to the following questions:

• How frequently is this kind of sponsorship offered?

• How long has it been since the last time this kind of sponsorship was provided to a manager?

• How large / significant was the sponsorship for Executive MBA programs in the past?

• Which schools have the sponsored managers attended? Have any gone to the school to which I wish to apply?

• Have the managers sponsored in Executive MBA programs come from specific divisions or functional areas within the organization?

Once again, these questions are intended to supply you with important contextual information in crafting your case for sponsorship. Understanding past practice provides a stronger foundation for your request, especially if there are precedents for sponsoring managers in Executive MBA programs.

Researching policies and past practice allow you to understand some of the formal processes in your organization. This perspective can be complemented by learning more about some of the less formal conditions in your organization. Other questions you should be investigating include:

• What is the general impression of top management regarding the benefits of management development?

• What is the general impression of top management regarding the value of supporting managers in Executive MBA programs?

• What is the general impression of top management regarding graduates of the Executive MBA program to which I wish to apply?

• Are their any managers in the company now who are MBA holders and/or alumni of the school to which I want to apply? If so, how can I get their support in this process?

These questions will help you understand the culture and attitude in your organization regarding support for management development. Hopefully, your organization understands the value of this practice and has a strong tradition of grooming high-potential managers for senior roles.

There is one question that you will face when presenting a case for sponsorship for which you have to be ready - retention. A common concern about investing in management development for many organizations is the possibility that after making the investment in training and growing managers these individuals may leave the organization. This sort of concern is often presented to managers seeking sponsorship in an Executive MBA program as the scale of the support, both in time and money, can represent the most significant investment an organization can make in the development of a single manager. In some cases, top management in an organization may even believe that the completion of an Executive MBA program will lead normally to a manager seeking new opportunities outside the organization.

In constructing your case for sponsorship you should pre-emptively address this concern. Include a discussion of your interests and targeted goals for your contribution while you enrolled in an Executive MBA program and after you graduate. Encourage any decision maker in this process to talk about how the organization will utilize your new skills and knowledge in the years to come. The more you can explicitly address your post-graduate career intentions and encourage your employer to discuss your post-graduate career opportunities the more effectively you can eliminate an employer’s concerns regarding retention.

The External Environment

 

A case for sponsorship in an Executive MBA program can be strengthened with data from outside your organization.

For example, analyze the management of your main competitors and the organizations recognized as leaders in your industry. In fact, analyze the management of any organization respected by the top management at your employer. Do key leaders in those organizations have an MBA? The possibility of using precedent from outside of your organization can underscore why your employer should follow that example.

Next Steps

With the research in place, you are now ready to move to building your case for sponsorship in the most informed and convincing manner. The next steps are to focus on describing the investment you are asking for and the return that you can offer.

Building Your Case for Sponsorship: Investment & Return

If you have done the research described above then you are now ready to start building your case for sponsorship. The main focus of this request for support should be to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) your employer can expect thanks to sponsorship. In this section of this document we will address both parts of this analysis: investment and return.

Investment - Time Commitments

The investment portion of the ROI analysis is more straightforward than the return analysis. In general, your employer’s investment takes two forms: time and money.

An important theme that runs through the analysis of the investment of time to earn an MBA degree in an Executive MBA program is that while you are asking for your employer’s support for time away from the workplace you are also prepared to make a significant commitment of your own time. Most Executive MBA programs include residential sessions away from your workplace where a classroom experience is the venue for learning. That said, a great deal of the time commitment to earn an MBA degree is outside of the classroom as well. This includes, for example, reading, preparing for classes and case discussions, preparing for examinations, working on projects, and team meetings. When discussing your commitment to devoting the time necessary to be successful in an Executive MBA program you should ensure that your case for sponsorship highlights (a) that you are prepared to make that commitment of your time and that (b) aside from the residential sessions you will use your personal time for these activities without requiring more time away from the workplace. This point highlights your investment and commitment to the process.

What will likely be a more focused area of the discussion regarding time commitments is the time you will need away from the workplace to attend the residential sessions. These immersive experiences, where program participants can focus on the courses and the learning process, are a critical part of the Executive MBA process. Providing you with this time off clearly represents a significant investment by your employer. In preparing your case for sponsorship you should address this aspect of your request by showing you have considered the impact of your absence from the workplace for these sessions and you have identified various ways in which your work responsibilities can be addressed while you are away.

Of course, this does not mean you can commit to the same activities and the same deadlines as when you are in your workplace - that’s simply not possible while attending an Executive MBA residential session. But it does mean that you have to plan ahead. Considering the following:

• What projects or deliverables can you accomplish before departing for a residential session? 
• What specific tasks or deliverables can you advance to a point where a colleague or team member can complete that work without your continued participation? 
• What (limited) work might you still be able to do while attending a residential session (e.g., conference calls, selected deliverables)?

When discussing these time commitments with your employer, the three main messages in your case for sponsorship should be:

1.   There will be time away from the workplace required (be specific: how many weeks; which specific weeks?),

2.   While you are asking your employer for this time, you are also prepared to make a significant commitment of your own time to this process (e.g., devoting a portion of your holiday time to cover the residential sessions, working in the evening), and

3.   You have planned ahead to try to make your absence from the workplace as smooth as possible with respect to activities and deliverables.

Investment - Financial Commitments

In general, the financial commitments for completing an Executive MBA program include: tuition fees, living expenses during residential sessions, and travel-related costs. Tuition fees are known in advance and the other costs can be reasonably estimated before the start of a program. You should collect this information and prepare a budget, including the timing, for the financial commitment necessary to complete an Executive MBA program.

Earlier, document addressed the necessity to identify a specific Executive MBA program for which you will seek sponsorship. In the event that your employer poses the question regarding a less expensive program you should be prepared to address that by speaking to the value and outcomes of your preferred program. We will discuss this more in the section on returns below.

Of course, the ideal situation would be if your employer agrees to financially support you for 100% of all of the costs associated with your preferred program. However, you should prepare for a different response based on analysis of your own ability and willingness to make a financial contribution to earning an MBA degree.

Unarguably, there are benefits for an employer to invest in developing managers to enhance their skills and abilities to contribute to the success of the organization. At the same time, a manager who acquires these new skills and abilities will also enjoy the associated benefits through accelerated career advancement. Be honest with yourself: your interest in earning an MBA is driven in part by your own career goals and aspirations. If you are prepared to agree that the benefits of having an MBA are shared between you and your employer than you must consider if you are also willing to share some of the costs. The discussion of a shared financial commitment parallels the shared time commitment mentioned above.

Of course, the opportunity to personally commit to some portion of the cost of earning an MBA depends not simply on your willingness but also on your financial ability to do so. As you create your case for sponsorship you should be prepared for this possibility. In other words, you should be prepared for the possibility of making a financial commitment to this process along with your employer. You should analyze what portion of your personal savings, loans from family members, or loans from financial institutions you can access if necessary to make this personal commitment. It is possible that without some personal financial commitment that, at best, your opportunity to join your preferred Executive MBA program may be limited or, at worst, you will not be able to join an Executive MBA program at all.

There are some specific financial arrangements that could be offered by you, or be part of the offer by your organization, that you should consider and prepare for:

• You might initially cover the costs of the program and then receive a refund from your employer upon your successful completion (this could be at specific milestones, like after each half of the program, or a delayed refund until the program is completed),

• You might agree to a “retention” clause where you will personally refund your employer’s investment if you leave the organization before a certain amount of time after finishing the program (e.g., 1-3 years).

To summarize, when analyzing the financial commitments necessary to complete an Executive MBA program and incorporating this analysis in your case for sponsorship consider the following:

• Create a detailed budget showing the amount and timing of the financial commitments for completing the Executive MBA program,

• Be prepared (whether as part of the initial request or as part of the negotiations) to discuss a personal financial commitment to the Executive MBA process,

• Be prepared to address your employer’s financial risk with various conditions around financial support (e.g., refunds, retention contract).

Returns - The Heart of Your case for Sponsorship

All of the work you have done to research the Executive MBA space and analyze the investment necessary for you to earn an MBA has been to make an informed case for the ROI your employer will enjoy thanks to sponsoring you. Accordingly, articulating the returns is truly the “heart” of your case for sponsorship.

The most compelling returns you can offer your employer will be those directly linked to the needs of your employer. In this way, you can tailor your case for sponsorship by linking the outcomes of an Executive MBA program with the specific contributions you can make to address your employer’s needs.

While you can likely list several challenges facing your organization today off the top of your head, a more structured analysis will be helpful in putting these challenges in context. One popular method to examine an organization is called a SWAT analysis. The acronym stands for: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. You should begin thinking about your organization’s needs through the lens of this sort of analytical framework. Specifically, try to identify:

• What current Strengths of your organization (e.g., corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making) can be bolstered or complemented with the skills and abilities you can acquire through an Executive MBA experience,

• What Weaknesses does your organization face today (e.g., leadership skills, employee evaluation and motivation, strategic thinking) that could be eliminated with the skills and abilities you can acquire through an Executive MBA experience,

• What new Opportunities could your organization pursue more effectively (e.g., international expansion, diversification, partnerships, acquisitions) if you had the additional skills and abilities that can be acquired through an Executive MBA experience, and

• What Threats does your organization face today, and in the future (e.g., new market entrants, new product introductions, competitive pressures) that could be more effectively countered thanks to the skills and abilities that you can acquire through an Executive MBA experience.

(Note: In applying SWOT analysis it is appropriate to consider how your organization’s strengths can create opportunities and, similarly, how your organization’s weaknesses can lead to threats.)

Once you go through the process of carefully analyzing your organization you should have a list of what your organization needs right now and in the immediate future in order to be successful. Ideally, you should be able to prioritize these observations in a manner that the senior management of your organization would find insightful.

The next step in identifying the ROI for your employer is to demonstrate how specific characteristics of the Executive MBA experience will leave you prepared to address the issues you raised in your SWOT analysis. The following is a list of the benefits and outcomes of sponsoring a manager in an Executive MBA program from an employer’s perspective. You must find those that are strongly linked with your analysis:

Develop General Management Insights

    Most managers begin their careers by specializing in a topic. That could be a technical topic, like engineering or IT, or it could be a functional specialization, like finance, marketing, or human resources. A distinguishing feature of senior management, however, is a general management perspective. It is critical for senior managers to understand the “big picture” of an organization and how every decision will impact or involve every part of the organization. A well-designed Executive MBA experience includes a strong core of courses across the fundamental business disciplines. In this way, an Executive MBA program graduate is exposed to an integrated and balanced view of how all of the parts of an organization should interact. Your case for sponsorship should highlight how your decision-making responsibilities and abilities will be enhanced through the Executive MBA experience thanks to this general management perspective.

  

    Develop Leaders

One challenge that all organizations face is developing strong leaders. This is not meant to refer solely to the person in the top role, but to the entire senior leadership team. A well-designed Executive MBA experience has a strong focus on developing leadership skills and insights. Leadership is a complex topic yet the principles of leadership can be learned if carefully and thoughtfully incorporated into the Executive MBA experience. Your case for sponsorship should highlight how the future success of your organization depends on excellence in leadership skills and demonstrate how that is a specific outcome of your preferred Executive MBA program.

    Practical and Immediately Applicable Skills

Often, people refer to the outcomes of a management training process by considering what happens after a manager completes the training. While that is a fine perspective, it overlooks the fact that practicing managers and professionals in an Executive MBA program bring new skills and abilities to their organization everyday while the program is underway. In other words, the returns to an employer begin immediately, not just after a sponsored manager completes an Executive MBA program. In addition, many Executive MBA programs include required projects for the application of management principles and techniques. By selecting your employer as the focus for such projects you can offer another form of payback before a program is complete. Your case for sponsorship should highlight that after every course, after each residential session, you will return to your role with new abilities and enhanced decision-making skills.

          Best Practices from Peer-to-Peer Learning

Great business practices and ideas exist everywhere. When managers spend all of their time speaking with colleagues inside their organizations then it is difficult to learn about best practices that exist in other organizations, other industries, and other regions. A great Executive MBA program will attract a diverse set of participants. As a student in such a program, you will be able to learn from counterparts from other settings whom you simply would be unable to meet otherwise. In this way, a great Executive MBA program becomes an incubator for new ideas from new sources. Your case for sponsorship should highlight the unique opportunity for cross-pollination that a program provides and the opportunities it presents.

    Internal Development versus Hiring from Outside

As organizations grow they need new managers and leaders. The choice that growing organizations face is whether to develop current managers or hire from the outside to fill this need. The search process in latter path is time consuming involves. Moreover, hiring from outside means a learning curve (and it’s associated inefficiency) for these new managers. In contrast, developing current managers for senior roles means working with people that already have a successful track record in the organization, have proven their fit with the organizational culture, and a very small learning curve to climb in order to be effective in a new role. Your case for sponsorship should highlight the added efficiency and speed an organization can enjoy when developing current managers.

 Send a Positive Message - Retaining Talented Managers

All managers want to work in an environment where they are valued. The best managers can move to organizations where they can find that support and commitment. Your case for sponsorship should highlight that by supporting you in an Executive MBA program your employer sends an encouraging message to all managers. No organization wants to lose talented people and by demonstrating a willingness to invest in talented and deserving managers your employer should be more effective in retaining - and attracting - the best people.

    An Environment Designed for Experienced Managers

By definition, an Executive MBA program is designed for experienced managers and professionals. If you are well suited for that environment then other setting or development programs that would ask you to learn with junior managers or inexperienced classmates would not be focused on the best form of learning for you. Your case for sponsorship should highlight that the Executive MBA experienced is specifically designed for managers at same point as you in their careers.

    Networking Benefits

Your time in great Executive MBA program will be spent in the company of managers from other forward-thinking organizations. The contacts you make should translate to real opportunities for your employer. New partnerships, new markets, and new ideas can all be formalized thanks to the network you forge through the process. Your case for sponsorship should highlight how real opportunities for your employer can have their start with the network of classmates, alumni, and faculty you will meet in your Executive MBA experience. Given that the largest of these three groups should be alumni, this heightens the need to select an established, highly-regarded program that includes a large pool of well-paced alumni.

    Forging a Partnership with a Leading Business School

As your employer learns more about the Executive MBA experience at your preferred program that opens the door to other forms of cooperation with your chosen business school. An organization committed to developing managers can also identify targeted topics where training is required. A leading business school will be able to partner with your employer to assist with development needs broadly. Your case for sponsorship should highlight the opportunities that developing a partnership with the right business school can serve.

As you go through this list of potential benefits for your employer, you should be identifying those that most clearly connect with the results of your SWOT analysis.

One final comment regarding benefits: you should enlist the staff of your preferred Executive MBA program to help you with constructing your case for sponsorship. One great input into this preparation is the concrete examples and evidence they have collected regarding the success that graduates and their employers have experienced in the past. Supplementing any statement you make regarding program outcomes and benefits with facts supplied from the program can only serve to strengthen your case for sponsorship.

Financial Analysis of Returns

This document has made the point several times that you should consider your case for sponsorship as an investment opportunity for your employer. Essentially, you are asking your organization to invest resources today in order to experience benefits - a return on that investment - in the future.

Organizations make investment decisions all the time. In fact, it is highly likely that your organization has a standard process for the financial analysis of investment opportunities. The common type of financial metrics for capital investment opportunities includes indicators called Payback, Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Net Present Value (NPV). All of these techniques compare an investment of capital today against the expected future returns in order to see if the investment is worth making. In crafting your case for sponsorship you should consider using the same capital investment analysis tools and techniques already used by your employer to reinforce that your request is an investment opportunity.

Of course, all capital investment analyses are based on expected future benefits. In other words, there is always a need to estimate what those financial benefits might look like. While such forecasts are not simple and always involve uncertainty, one approach is to determine a break-even point where an investment pays for itself. This is likely the most straightforward way to include financial analysis in your case for sponsorship.

The quantitative techniques in IRR and NPV calculations are beyond the scope of this document. Payback, however, is the most common and widely used form of financial analysis for capital investments and is also a simple calculation. Payback is an estimate of the amount of time the incremental cash inflows (e.g., net incremental revenue, net incremental cost savings) from an investment takes to equal the amount invested. Typically, organizations that use Payback to evaluate capital investment opportunities establish a threshold time period under which investments look appealing. Here is a basic example of applying Payback analysis for sponsorship in an Executive MBA program:

         EMBA Investment                                            $80,000

         Target Payback Period                                     4 years

        

Required Annual Incremental Benefits

         ($80,000 / 4 years =)                                      $20,000

What this simple calculation indicates that your organization would have a 4-year payback period if the new skills and abilities you can bring back to your organization thanks to an Executive MBA experience could generate an incremental $20,000 of benefits annually. In other words, sponsorship in an Executive MBA program would pay for itself in 4-years if this sort of incremental benefit was realized.

The next step in your financial analysis of Payback is to put this incremental annual benefit in context. For example, if you are responsible for an operating budget of $1,000,000 in your current managerial role then finding new opportunities through an Executive MBA program to reduce operating costs by just @% per year for four years would lead to the target Payback. Similarly, if you are in a sales position and responsible for a $1,000,000 sales budget then an increase in net revenues of just 2% per year for 4-years would lead to the same Payback period. Of course, incremental cost savings or net revenues of just 4% per year would cut the Payback period in half to 2-years.

Obviously you need to adopt this Payback calculation to your setting and use the numbers that make sense. In general, the result of incorporating a simple financial calculation in your case for sponsorship can serve to demonstrate to your employer that their investment in you will generate great financial returns quickly.

Making your Case

While your case for sponsorship must include a discussion of the ROI for your employer, any description of the future is going to be based on estimates and forecasts. This is unavoidable, but you should strive to make your forecasts of the benefits for your employer plausible and comprehensive. To summarize, the ROI section of your case for sponsorship should include the following:

• A comprehensive description of the time commitments and financial commitments for the successful completion of the Executive MBA program (detailing what you are requesting in terms of time and money and what you are willing to invest in terms of time and money,

• An analysis of your organization’s needs based on a thorough examination of the internal (strengths, weaknesses) and external (opportunities, threats) that your organization is facing,

• A thorough explanation of the many different benefits that sponsoring you in an Executive MBA program creates for your employer and linking these to the needs previously listed,

• A financial analysis of the time required for the organization’s investment in you to pay for itself and then begin generating positive returns.

Summary

An Executive MBA program is a transformative process that leaves every successful graduate changed. In speaking with EMBA alumni, the word they use all the time to describe how their Executive MBA experienced changed them is, “confidence.” Earning an MBA is a challenging process and meeting that challenge does indeed create a sense of confidence in one’s ability to meet all other career challenges and opportunities. I encourage you to pursue your aspirations for new knowledge and career advancement through an Executive MBA program.

I hope that this document can serve as a useful guide in composing an effective case for sponsorship. We believe that the ideas and steps shared in this document can contribute to your success in seeking sponsorship.

Remember, you will never know if you don’t try!

Good luck!

Danny Szpiro (dszpiro@gmail.com) - Please feel free to share this document and/or links to this document as long as the full attribution of it's authorship is retained.