Another key to making progress along the learning curve is learning from the feedback given by MBA students. Some of this feedback can be pretty discouraging. MBA students certainly do not mince their words! It is said that at least one business school employs a psychotherapist to help shell-shocked academics cope with the trauma of feedback from MBA students! But while some of the feedback is tough, and occasionally it is just plain rude, there is no doubt that the much of the criticism flags real weaknesses. If you can try to cope with it positively, and change what you do to meet some of the criticisms, then things will improve.

My impression is that the propensity of MBA students to complain is highly nonlinear. They will happily put up with a few shortcomings and small mistakes, and make little of these. But when problems cross what I shall call a "good will threshold", then the floodgates open, and some students start to criticise everything. You are criticised for not allowing enough class discussion one week, but too much discussion the next; for choosing one industry rather than another in your case studies; for not using enough slides, or using too many slides; for speaking too slowly, or speaking too fast; for your choice of tie! Some of this is nonsense and should be ignored. Some of it may reflect weaknesses that you can do nothing about. But I believe one should try to respond to the rest. The aim is not zero defects: that would be impossible. But the aim is to keep safely below the "good will threshold" described above. Then MBA students will put up with a few idiosyncrasies and mistakes, and are happy to say you are doing a good job.

The MBA Student
On reading the above, some may be thinking, "why are MBA students so demanding?" and, perhaps, "should we put up with all this, or should we not teach them to be a bit less critical?" To answer these questions, we need to understand a bit more about the MBA student.

One has to accept that MBA students see themselves as customers, even if some academics are uncomfortable with that label. They pay high fees, and they are very sensitive to the high opportunity cost of their time. (Indeed, opportunity cost is one of the micro topics that MBA students learn very quickly, and remember!) They feel entitled to expect very high standards, and entitled to get angry when standards drop. But as a corollary - and this is one of the real rewards of working with MBA students - they are highly motivated and expect to work hard.

MBA students, like any other students, vary greatly, so one should be careful to avoid stereotypes. They are often portrayed as very career driven, very market oriented, and not very idealistic, but in my opinion many do not fit this stereotype. It is true that electives on mergers and acquisitions, strategy, options, advertising and marketing tend to pull in more students than electives on business ethics or environmental issues. But equally, I have been impressed by how many of them are highly critical of cynical business practice, and do not want to see themselves developing in that way.