Open Access

Andre Perusso

• There seems to be a strong distinction between what most business schools prepare their students for and what practicing managers actually do in their professional life [1]. Business education, in general, sees management as analytical and scientific, when empirical evidences indicate that the practicing manager repertoire is comprised not only of analysis but mainly of the development of solutions to illdefined problems [2]. Moreover, the globalization of the economy and the shift from a manufacturing to an informationbased society have led to significant changes in the conditions of work; with post-industrial economies living an era of continuous market change and creative destruction [3], [4]. This scenario increases the array of responsibilities of higher education institutions which, in addition to providing disciplinary knowledge, should develop in students non-disciplinary competences such as decision-making, problem-solving, interpersonal communication, etc. As argued by Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, et al. [5], the development of such competences - sometimes referred as transversal or generic - are increasingly relevant in a society facing constant changes, since they are adaptable to various contexts enhancing the relevancy and the employability of students. Under this perspective, a change in management education is needed. It should be oriented less on the training of business analysts and more on preparing future managers for solving the ill-designed problems of real business practice. It is suggested that the focus of business education should move from ‘simply’ providing a body of domain-specific knowledge to give students the opportunity to apply that knowledge under realistic contexts which better resembling management practice and foster the development of generic competences. In that respect, literature suggested that active-based learning methods are best fitted for the ‘task’ [6]. More specifically, it points out to a series of ‘desirable’ elements that should be present if one wants to accurately replicate a management learning environment. This author condensed those elements to form a theoretical proposition: that to build powerful management learning environments one needs to offer students the opportunity to collectively engage in a series of continuous real-world experiences in a process permeated by careful reflection in and on the action.