Together with A. Abdel-Meguid and Benjamin Stévenin, Ulrich Hommel has written a thought-provoking essay on how business schools can future-proof their faculties. Using analogies from team sports, the authors argue that a business school should build its team of players (i.e. faculty) based on synergic skills which support well-defined strategic objectives. Business schools have accepted the challenge of striving for more business relevance and societal impact. In the process, many of them are also rethinking the traditional faculty model that often sees junior research talent eventually mature into other roles, for instance as their research productivity is fading. One alternative that is often talked about is the portfolio approach whereby a business school recruits a diversity of talent who have not all jumped through the same hoops to qualify for a faculty post. In this article, the authors suggest an even more radical departure from the status quo that also leaves behind the somewhat static portfolio concept.
The article has been published in Global Focus, The EFMD Business Magazine (Vol. 15, Issue 1). Access the article here.