93-12-10 Grayson Hopes His Book and Visit Will Stimulate Management Education in Central Eastern Europe

GRAYSON HOPES HIS BOOK AND VISIT
WILL STIMULATE MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
IN CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE

     CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Dec. 10--There is a management crisis in
central Eastern Europe, according to Leslie E. Grayson, a professor
at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business
Administration.
     Businesses in the region have a pressing need to provide
managers with skills for competing successfully in the new-market
economies, says Grayson, author of the recently published book,
"Paving the Road to Prosperity--Management Education in the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland." 
     After meeting with educators and business leaders in the Czech
Republic, Budapest, Warsaw, Prague and Bratislava, he is convinced
that "economic reforms and management education must go hand-in-
hand."
     Chief among his recommendations is that an accreditation
process be instituted to guide students, faculties, education
ministries and funding agencies in supporting management education
programs.  
     He says that since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, business and
management education centers have mushroomed, reflecting the urgent
need to acquire and disseminate business skills.   For example,
Poland has about 300 centers, and in Hungary and the Czech and
Slovak Republics, there are approximately 150 centers.  Most of
these have been in existence for only a few years.
     The speed with which these institutions were founded has led
to a situation where "management education is characterized by
extreme proliferation of effort.  It is `cowboy capitalism' at its
best--or worst," Grayson said. He says quality-control methods are
needed to assure proper support and financing of programs.
     A professor of international business economics, Grayson
believes management education should proceed simultaneously on
three levels:  undergraduate education for entry-level positions,
MBA programs for middle management and continuing education for
executives.  
     However, he thinks steps should be taken to expedite the
executive education process.  "Since the management problem is
occurring now, there should be short-term courses, compact MBA
programs and an effort to offer classes where managers work and
live," he said.
     One strategy he advocates is the development of international
internships for students and faculty.  He said internships are
particularly important as the small countries in the region must
depend on the rest of the world for their economic growth. He also
suggests a "partnering system" that would match central Eastern
European schools with comparable institutions in Western Europe and
North America.
     A second recommendation Grayson proposes is the development of
appropriate pedagogy and the case method of teaching and writing
about the region.  "The prevailing lecturing style is not adequate
for management education; a more interactive methodology is," said
Grayson, who advocates workshops for training faculty in case
teaching.
     Grayson views his book, supported by grants from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as a
springboard for enhancing management education in central Eastern
Europe.  His study was sponsored by the International Institute for
Applied Systems Analysis, located in Laxenburg, Austria.
                               ###
                                                 December 9, 1993

For more information, Grayson can be reached at (804) 924-7491.
 
Karen Castle, Office Services Specialist, University News Office
P.O. Box 9018, Booker House, Charlottesville, VA  22906
(804) 924-7116, kac@virginia.edu

[Submitted by: Karen A. Castle  (kac@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu)
               Fri, 10 Dec 93 10:02:17 EST]