管理不是专业.doc

管理是不是专业 网络所得、内容完整、译文未校对、谨慎参考 经院四少No, Management Is Not a Profession管理不是(高等教育)专业Some business skills cant be taught in a classroom. They have to be learned through experience.有些商业技巧课堂中教不了，必须通过经验习得。It is natural to view management as a profession. Managers status is similar to that of doctors or lawyers, as is their obligation to contribute to the well-being of society. Managers can also be formally trained and qualified, notably by earning an MBA. If management is a profession, the business school is a professional school.把管理看做是一项职业是很自然的事情。经理人的地位与医生或律师的地位相似，因为向社会福祉贡献自己的力量是他们的责任。经理人也会受到正式的训练，有严格的要求，尤其是要获得一个工商管理学硕士（以下简称MBA译者）学位。如果管理是一项专业，商学院就是专业培训学校。That perception has fueled criticism of business schools during the recent economic crisis. They have come under fire for allegedly failing in their obligation to educate socially responsible business leaders. The same perception has informed the schools response, which has been to work toward greater professionalism. Writing in the June 2009 issue of Harvard Business Review Joel Podolny, a former dean of the Yale School of Management, argued, “An occupation earns the right to be a profession only when some ideals, such as being an impartial counsel, doing no harm, or serving the greater good, are infused into the conduct of people in that occupation. In like vein, a school becomes a professional school only when it infuses those ideals into its graduates.”在最近的经济危机中，商学院备受指责，此概念推波助澜。按照批评者的说法，他们没有尽到责任，培养有社会责任的商业领袖，因此而大受挞伐。此类观点激起了日加专业化的商学院的回应。耶鲁大学管理学院前院长，乔尔波多尼（Joel Podolny），曾经在2009年哈佛商业评论（以下简称评论译者）第六期中著文进行辩解，“只有当诸如成为一位主持正义的律师，不为祸，或者说为更大的善服务这样的理想融入从事某项专业的人的行为之中，这种专业才可以称得上是职业。一所商学院只有把这些理想注入到其毕业生的内心，才可以称之为一所专业学校。”Podolny is in sympathy with Harvard Business School professors Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria, who argued in the October 2008 issue of HBR that it was time to make management a true profession. In their view, “True professions have codes of conduct, and the meaning and consequences of those codes are taught as part of the formal education of their members.” Yet, they wrote, “unlike doctors and lawyers,” managers dont “adhere to a universal and Enforceable code of conduct.”波多尼与哈佛商学院的拉凯什库拉纳（Rakesh Khurana）和尼汀诺瑞亚（Nitin Nohria）两位教授站在同一阵线。这两位在哈佛商业评论2008年第十期中署名文章中提出，现在是让管理成为职业的时候了。以他们的观点，“真正的职业具有行业规范，这些规范准则的意义以及重要性，应当成为该专业教育中的一部分，深入骨髓。”他们还写道，“与医生或者律师不同”，经理人不“受一般的普世行为规范的约束。”These calls to professionalism are hardly new. Writing in the very first issue of HBR, in 1922, HBS professor John Gurney Callan claimed, “Business.may be thought of as a profession and we may profitably spend a good deal of time in considering what is the best professional training for those who are to take important executive positions in the coming generation.”这些职业化的呼声并不是什么新鲜事儿。最早在1922年的一期评论中，哈佛商学院的约翰格尼卡伦（John Gurney Callan）教授就提出，“商业人们或许不认为是一种职业,而且我们花了大量时间，考虑对下一代人中，即将接受重要行政管理职务的那些人来说，什么是最好的职业教育，这将大有裨益。”A. Lawrence Lowell, the president of Harvard University, was even more assertive in his 1923HBR essay “The Profession of Business” (adapted from his address to the in coming class at HBS the previous September). He attributed the very creation of HBS to the emergence of business management as a distinct profession.当时的哈佛大学校长A.劳伦斯洛厄尔（A. Lawrence Lowell）是更加积极。1923年，在评论中发表文章商业职业化（本文选自其1922年9月对哈佛商学院新生的演讲）。他把哈佛商学院的创立归因于企业管理成为一份与众不同的职业。In contrast with these views, I will argue that management is not a profession at all and can never be one. Therefore, business schools are not professional schools. Moreover, laudable and Beguiling though professional standards and ethics may be, and however appealing professional status is, hanging the mantle “professional” on business education fosters inappropriate analysis and misguided prescriptions.我的观点正好相反，我将会说，根本就不是职业，而且永远不会。那么，商学院也就不能称之为职业学校了。此外，尽管职业标准与职业道德广受称道，极具魅惑力，但是，给商业教育披上“职业化”的外衣，会助长分析混乱，误导规划。Lets begin by examining what actually constitutes profession.让我们开始考核，专业真正由什么构成。What Is a Profession?何为专业？Professions are made up of particular categories of people from whom we seek advice and services because they have knowledge and skills that we do not. A doctor, for example, can recommend a course of treatment for an illness; a lawyer can advise us on a course of legal action. We cannot make these judgments ourselvesand often we cannot judge the quality of the advice we receive. The Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow wrote about the medical profession, “The value of information is frequently not known in any meaningful sense to the buyer; if, indeed, he knew enough to measure the value of information, he would know the information itself. But information, in the form of skilled care, is precisely what is being bought from most physicians, and, indeed, from most professionals.”职业是由特定类别的人组成。由于他们掌握我们所没有的知识，具备我们所不具备的技能，我们要从他们那里获得建议与服务。比如，医生会针对一种疾病建议我们进行一个疗程的治疗；律师为我们的法律诉讼提供建议。我们自己不能对这些问题做出判断而且我们常常也判断不出自己所接受建议的质量。诺贝尔和平奖得主肯尼斯阿罗（Kenneth Arrow）就曾经这样谈到医疗事业，“信息的价值到底有多少意义，常常不为消费者所知；事实上，如果一个人掌握足够衡量信息的价值的知识，就会知道信息本身的意义。但是专业护理型的信息，完全就是从大多数医生，而且事实上就是从大多数专业人员那里买来的信息。”It is true, of course, that most nonprofessional providers of goods and services also have knowledge that we dont. We cannot, for instance, manufacture a computer or operate a train service. Nevertheless, we can judge whether or not our demand has been met: We know what to expect from our computer, and we know if our train is delayed. The difference is that we might act on a lawyers advice and not know its quality, even after the case has been completed. Perhaps she gave us good advice but the case was lost, or vice versa. The outcome might have been more or less favorable had her advice been different. We are in no position to know, because the professional is the expert and we are not. There is an asymmetry of knowledge.诚然，许多提供商品与服务的人并非职业人，但是确实也有我们我没有的知识。例如，我们不能生产电脑或开火车外出。不过，我们可以判断我们的需求是否得以满足：我们确定要用电脑做什么，知道火车是否会延误。其间的区别就是，我们或许会遵照律师的建议行事，甚至直到案子了解，也不知如此行事是好是坏。也有可能她为我们提出的建议是好的，但是官司还是最终失败了，反之亦然。建议迥异，结果利与弊或许亦会相甚。In some cases the knowledge asymmetry is relatively transient. Ataxic driver in a foreign town provides us with a service, using his knowledge of the local geography. Once we arrive at our destination, however, we can ask a local whether the drivers route was the most direct, and thus reduce the asymmetry. But who evaluates legal advice for us? Although we could ask another lawyer, he couldnt offer a second opinion without being informed of the details of our casewhich would amount to hiring two lawyers to do the work of one. Furthermore, the two lawyers might advise us differently, and wed be unable to distinguish the better advice.一些情况下，知识不对称只是暂时现象。在一个外国城市，一位出租车司机会利用自己对当地地理的知识为我们提供服务。但是，我们一到目的地，就可以询问当地人，这位司机所走的路线是否绕路，那么不对称也就降低。但是，谁会为我们评估法律意见呢？尽管可以再去咨询另一位律师，但是假如没有了解案子细节，他就不会给出第二项建议。此外，两位律师的建议或许会大相径庭，我们也无从判断孰优孰劣。In practice, our lawyer herself implicitly assures us that we can rely on the legal advice she is giving. This relatively permanent knowledge asymmetry is the mark of the true profession; as consumers, we have no option but to trust the professionals with whom we transact. Nevertheless, we might be unwilling to transact at all without some guarantee that the services we receive meet a minimum quality threshold. That requires the existence of professional bodies, whose regulatory role enables consumers to trust their advisers, thereby making a market for professional services feasible.实际情况中，我们的律师自己会含蓄地让我们相信，可以依赖她所提出的建议。真正职业的标志就是知识的不对称性相对持久；作为消费者，除了遵从我们与之交易的职业人员，别无选择。不过，假如没有保证我们所接受的服务满足最低质量要求，我们或许就根本不愿做交易了。这就催生专业就够的出现，使其担当起监管者的角色，使消费者可以相信其建议。从而，专业服务的市场就具有可行性。For a professional body in any given field to function, a discrete body of knowledge for that field must be defined, and the fields boundaries must be established: When, for example, is something medical or legal issue, and when is it not? There must also be a reasonable consensus within the field as to what the knowledge should consist of: If physicians cannot agree on how the human body functions or lawyers on the nature of a contract, no discrete body of knowledge can be said to exist. The boundaries and consensus for any profession will evolve over time, but at any given moment they can be definedwhich is what enables formal training and certification. Certification signals competence to consumers who would benefit from it.对于一个在任何特定领域起到作用的职业机构来说，必须界定该领域内的知识结构，而且要为领域范围划定界限：例如，什么时候是法律问题或医疗问题，什么时候不是？在该领域内，应该包含哪些知识，必须有一个合理的共识：如果医生对人类机体如何运作意见不一，或者律师对合同的本质没有共识，那就可以说没有独立的知识结构存在。Professional bodies hold a trusted position. They have, in effect, a contract with society at large: They control membership in the professions through examination and certification, maintain the quality of certified members through ongoing training and the enforcement of ethical standards, and may exclude anyone who fails to meet those standards. Society is rewarded for its trust with a professional quality that it would otherwise be unable to ensure. This is the model for the legal and medical professions and others, including accounting, architecture, and engineering.专业化机构所处的位置受到信任。实质上，它与整个社会有一个协议：他们通过考试与验证，控制各自行业内的从业者；通过持续培训与强化道德标准来维持认证从业者的能力；并且可能会剔除任何不能满足这些标准的人员。社会由其对专业素质的信任而获益，否则将无法保证。这就是法律与医疗行业以及包括财务、建筑和工程在内的其他行业的模式。As I will argue, neither the boundaries of the discipline of management nor a consensus on the requisite body of knowledge exists. No professional body is granted control, no formal entry or certification is required, no ethical standards are enforced, and no mechanism can exclude someone from practice. In short, management is not a profession. Moreover, management can never be a profession, and policies predicated on the assumption that it can are inherently flawed.正如我所阐明的，商业管理中，既不存在分明的管理原则界限，对于必要的知识结构也没有统一的共识。一言以蔽之，管理不是一份职业。此外，管理绝不会成为专业，那种基于可以称其为专业的假设本身即是漏洞百出。Why Not Management?为何拒之门外？One might ask, if medicine can reach agreement on the requisite body of knowledge for becoming a physician, why cant business do the same for management? After all, isnt the MBA a general-management qualification, and isnt there a reasonable consensus on MBA curriculum content? It is generally agreed that nobody should be allowed to practice medicine without schooling and certification; is society not also at risk from a business leader with no license to operate? Moreover, dont several organizations, including the Graduate Management Admission Council and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, play roles similar to those of established professional bodies? And why shouldnt we introduce and enforce ethical standards?可能有人会问，医学界可以为成为一位医生所应具备的必要知识结构达成一致，那商界为什么就不能在管理方面也达成一致呢？毕竟，工商管理硕士不是一个行政管理资格证吗？MBA的课程内容里就没有适当的共识吗？一般人都会认为，没有教育经历与学位，就不可以行医；一个商业领袖没有资格证书就经营企业，社会就不会也有风险吗？此外，包括研究生入学管理委员会（Graduate Management AdmissionCouncil）以及商管学院促进协会（Association to AdvanceCollegiate Schools of Business）在内的几个组织所起到的作用与那些建立的专业机构不同吗？而且为什么我们不应该引进、推行道德标准？Asking whether a consensus can be reached on the body of knowledge that qualifies someone to be a manageron the basis of which society would delegate control of the training for, certification in, and practice of management to a professional bodyis not the same as asking whether consensus is possible on the MBA curriculum. That is a narrower question of whether business schools can agree on what they should teach. The real issue is whether what the schools do teach qualifies students to manage, in the way that an MD qualifies someone to practice medicine. I will argue that the answer is no, and that therefore management cannot become a profession.问一个人有资格成为管理者所具备的知识结构是否可以达成一致基于社会委托专业机构于培养管理人才，管理验证以及管理实践，与问MBA课程内容是否一致不是一回事。商学院对于它们教授什么内容，意见是否一致这样的问题比较片面。问题关键是，商学院所教授的，是否像医学博士证明一个人有资格行医那样，可以使学生有资格进行管理。我的答案是，不。因此管理也就不是专业。Consider the nature of a business contract, which in its narrowest form is a detailed, precisely worded document, drafted by a professional lawyer and specifying the terms of an agreement, including prescribed remedies in the event of certain outcomes. The contract is the result of a professional service delivered to managers. Managers also seek the services of accounting firms for internal audits, of engineering consultancies for capital expenditure projects, and so on. Each transaction requires the specialized skills of professional. Each is also an output from the professionals perspective and an input from the managers perspective.考虑下一份商业合同的本质，以最精确的形式来说，这就是一份由职业律师起草并规定协议条款，内容严谨、措辞缜密的文件，其中包括万一出现某些情况指定的补救措施。合同是递交到经理人手上的一项职业服务的规约。经理人也找会计事务所进行内部审计，找工程顾问公司预算工程基建费用等等。每一项交易都需要专业人员的特别技能，从专业人员的角度来看是产出，从经理人的角度来看是投入。The manager, however, is responsible for bringing together many inputs. The lawyer is always concerned with matters of law, whereas the managers focus may change significantly and unpredictably from one day to the next. In general, the professional is an expert, whereas the manager is a jack-of-all-trades and master of nonethe antithesis of the professional.然而，经理人负责汇集多种投入。律师始终关注法律事务，而经理人的关注点会大大不同，今天的是这个，明天的不可预料。大体来说，专业人员是专家，而经理人是万事通，杂而不精与专业人员正好相反。The argument can be taken further. The lawyer writes a contract andcharges for her time; her work is finite. Even when she has an ongoingrelationship with a corporate client her contribution is always a specialized input, measurable in terms of the amount billed. But the manager is responsible for the combined value generated by all inputs to the firm. Inputs are managed at varying stages in a products life cycle, and at any given time products are at different stages in that lifecyclemeaning the managers job is never done. The managers contribution is inherently difficult to measure and has an indeterminable impact on a variety of outcomes. The difference between the lawyers world and the managers is rather like that between the value of a single revenue transaction and the value of a company as a whole. As a completed output with a monetary value, the revenue transaction is relatively objective. A companys share price is subjectivedependent on imprecise assumptions concerning a range of inputs, and ultimately a best guess about the future.该论点可以进一步阐释。律师制定合同，为她所消耗的时间收取费用；其工作是有限的。即使其与企业客户的业务关系持续不变，她的贡献一直都是专业投入，以获得的薪酬来衡量。但是，经理人负责融合由向公司内的所有投入产生的价值。在一个产品的生命周期内不同阶段，针对投入进行管理，并且在任何特定时间内，产品处于该生命周期内不同阶段。经理人的贡献本身很难衡量，对各种不同结果产生的影响也不可确定。律师界与经理人界之间的差别，就像单笔交易收入的价值与公司整体价值之间的区别。当完成一项由货币价值的产出，交易收入相对客观。公司的股价是主观的决定于对一系列产出的模糊猜测，根本上是对未来的最美好猜测。All this accords, of course, with the reality that no true professional bodies have emerged in the field of management. Consider again an analogy with medicine: Although we cannot expect an unqualified person to successfully conduct brain surgery, successful businesses are frequently run by people without MBAs. It is unthinkable that society would allow an unqualified person to even attempt brain surgery, but nobody would seriously suggest that an MBA be required for entry to management. We can, of course, offer business education, including certification in the form of MBAs and other degrees, and such education can reasonably be assumed to generate better managers. Yet the difference between a business education and a professional education is stark and fundamental: The former may help individuals improve their performance, but it cannot certify their expertise. The role of the manager is inherently general, variable, and indefinable.当然，所有这一切都与这样一个事实相辅相成。即，在管理领域，并不存在一个专业机构。再来与医疗进行比较：尽管我们不能指望一位不具职业资格的人成功完成脑外科手术，但是没有MBA学位的人成功经营企业的现象层出不穷。社会是不会允许不具职业资格的人胆敢进行脑外科手术，想都不用想。而会很认真地提出，只有具备MBA学位才可以进入管理层。当然，我们可以提供商业教育，其中包括以MBA学位以及其他学位形式的认证。并且猜测这样的教育形式会产生比较优秀的经理人，也是合情合理。然而，商业教育与专业教育的区别鲜明而且有本质的不同：前者帮助个人提高自身素质、能力，但是不能保证他们的专业技能。经理人的角色本身具有普遍性，多变难测，模糊难以界定。Business Education商业教育The inherent differences between the professions and management have direct implications for the design of education in each. Professional education enables an individual to master the body of knowledge deemed requisite for practice. It comprises three stages: admission, during which potential entrants are screened for intellectual ability and aptitude; a taught program, during which educators impart knowledge of the subject; and formal assessment, which leads to certification. Business education also involves admission, a taught program, and assessment, but the similarity is superficial only. If business educators, imbued with notions of professionalism, fail to recognize the fundamental differences, flaws in the business education model will inevitably result.专业与管理之间的内在区别，对于各自的教育设计有直接的影响。职业教育使个人掌握实践所必须的知识结构。其包含三个阶段：入学，潜在进入者会接受智力与能力测试；授课计划，教育工作者传授专业知识；正式评估，这决定是否获得证书。商业教育也涉及到入学，授课计划以及评估，但是相似的只是表面。如果教育工作者浸淫于职业概念，而没有认识到根本差别，此种教育模式中暴露缺陷将不可避免。Admission.入学Professional education is about taking a given individual on the journey from having little or no knowledge or experience to becoming qualified. But business education is typically post-experience, meaning that participants are not novices. An MBA program offers them an opportunity to share, conceptualize, and better understand workplace experiences; to build on the skill of working with others; and to open up new career opportunities. To admit only students with little or no work experience, as the professions normally do, would be to misunderstand the nature and purpose of the learning experience.专业教育是要把某个人带上行程，从只有一点或没有知识或经验走向合格。但是商业教育的特点是经验之后的教育，意味着学员并非新手。MBA课程给予他们机会，分享工作经验，把经验概念化，并且加深理解；加强与他人合作的技巧；以及打开新的就业机会。像专业通常所做的那样，仅仅吸纳没有经验或只有零星见识的学员，只会偏离学习经验的本质与目的，走向歧途.A second difference is that although professional education is concerned exclusively with the individual, a quality business education depends in a distinctive way on the peer group. Thus no given candidate can be effectively evaluated independent of all the other candidates.第二个不同点是，尽管专业教育仅仅于个人有关，但是高质量的商业教育以一种独特的方式依赖于朋辈。因此，不可能独立于其他候选人之外，来有效评估某个候选人。Suppose you wanted to provide a course in international business. Most people would probably agree that learning international business is not about the textbook acqui