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The Messy Business of Management

September 18, 2012 | Ian I. Mitroff , Can M. Alpaslan , Richard O. Mason | Strategy
Author Mitroff opens his opinion piece with the question "Are you prepared to handle a mess?" In a period of rapid technological and business change, successful executives particularly need the ability to think critically--and to be aware that some of their most cherished assumptions may, at any point, be challenged or invalidated by changing events.

Mitroff particularly focuses in his opinion piece on how business schools excel at teaching young managers well-structured models, theories and frameworks but need to spend more time helping their students surface, debate and test the assumptions underlying each model, theory or framework they are learning about. In this way, by developing students' critical thinking skills, universities would prepare young business leaders to succeed in a messy, uncertain world.
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