Hyundai Business Monthly interview, SKKU Business School Dean, S. Ghon Rhee
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- 2013-11-25
“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
It will be said that there was someone’s brave decision behind the success of SKKU’s MBA programs, which is rapidly turning into a global business school. That “someone” is Rhee Sang Ghon, the dean of SKKU Business School. Dean Rhee is bringing together an excellent faculty and innovative curricula to enable SKKU business students to gain global competence. The dean, who once worked at International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank and served as chair professor at the University of Hawaii, described the vision of the SKKU MBA. SKKU MBA competes with the world’s best “A big frog in small pond cannot be accepted. It should jump out of the pond so that it can compete with the world.” Dean Rhee has been working at Sungkyunkwan University since 2008 and he stressed the need for autonomy in human resources and budgeting as most important to increasing the global competence of Korean business schools. Due to centralized governance, professor employment, promotion, retirement, and research decisions are decided by university headquarters and not by individual schools. It is additionally problematic that the government regulates universities under a variety of financial supports. Unless these problems are solved, there will be no future for Korean business schools. Under this limited system, competition among Korean MBA programs is useless. “When there’s no autonomy, there is no uniqueness and no distinction in quality. When such competence is lacking, a lack of the international competence follows.” Dean Rhee believes that education in Korean universities has a similar structure as that of schools in Japan and China and that this structure blocks the creative development.
From wide and shallow to narrow and deep What would work-focused and reputable MBA look like? The dean described a specialized MBA that teaches applicable skills in-depth, unlike today’s wide yet shallow content. “CEOs’ still tend to prefer overseas MBA program graduates. Currently, many Korean MBAs with well-developed programs are producing talented people just as good as foreign MBAs do. SKKU is nurturing future business people who are strong at practice by getting out of routine, strengthening practice and opening useful courses for later.”
SKK MBA is differentiating itself in various ways and has bolstered its globalization effort by inviting global experts to come and lecture. Dean Rhee invited OECD Senior Economist Hans Blumenstein, Latin America expert Fausto Lopez and M&A expert Jerry Bauman from the University of Queensland in Australia and the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Students are enthusiastic about the lively global business discussions and experiential learning of the lectures. Dean Rhee has also invited David Day, an expert in international negotiation and a professor of the University of Hawaii. David Day received a standing ovation at every lecture and received many appreciative letters for providing practical and active classes covering negotiation and debate, not just one-way lecture. “Outstanding faculty equals to the competence of the university. The School will not compete with domestic universities anymore. It will strive to compete with global universities.” The SKKU MBA is recruiting foreign faculty members with global competences to perform lectures in English. It is also cooperating with famous universities like University of Cambridge, Peking University, and Waseda University.
Business defined Dean Rhee explained his definition of business within the corporate culture of Korea.
“Business is communication person to person. However, it is sad that even the most globalized company in Korea has a highly hierarchical culture and lacks the efficient modes of communication.” Dean Rhee mentioned that the organizational culture of Korea works effectively when there is a clear target, but when creativity and reform is necessary, Korean organizations do not know what to do. He added that this needs to be changed. Dean Rhee is making an effort to improve this culture by reforming the MBA system at SKKU and by emphasizing global communication systems, business debate and autonomous business styles.
Reported by | Lee Yang Eun
「Source – Monthly Hyundai Business 2010 Feb Edition」
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