By all accounts the paper look fine; it’s clear and complete and would appear to fulfill all of the requirements of the assigned project . . . except for the minimum page count. I recommended that she fill the remaining pages with a case study on the effects of requiring minimum page lengths for papers in an MBA program; I recommended she title the essay “Indoctrinated Waste”.

After she stopped laughing at me, she declined my advise citing her impending failure on the final project . . . we agree to disagree

Seriously, why would an MBA program worth anything require minimum document lengths for a final project (or any project for that matter)?  It’s like rewarding a project lead for coming in at or over budget, while penalizing a project lead that delivers a project under budget. This lesson reinforces the wrong goals for an effective business person . . . efficiency should be the goal of any project.

Scores are not calculated (in a properly run business) by the length of your documentation, rather you’re measured on speed of delivery, completeness and accuracy of the final product. Business communications should be made as clearly and succinctly as possible . . . any more is waste and is a distraction to the business goal.

Business reality dictates that this MBA project should be scored based on the minimum number of pages required to effectively and accurately communicate the intended message. Additional scoring should be based on the speed at which the project is completed, with the lowest positive score for speed being assigned to a project turned in on the actual due date.  Alas, this would require the faculty to think critically about the project scoring process, and spend time actually grading the project objectively based on real world business goals.

One more illustration of what is wrong with higher education today; the collective “Institution” continues to turn out college grads that are ill equipped to handle today’s business world . . . and in a large number of cases, actually present a liability to the company that hires them.

business, efficiency, mba, higher education