Content area
Full Text
Introduction
We live today in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. In this world, both the nature of work and the nature of the workforce are changing rapidly. The nature of work is changing at a rapid pace due to technology being incorporated into every area of work. Thus, we have seen the emergence of big data and analytics, the Internet of things (IoT), autonomous robots, additive manufacturing, the cloud, cyber security, augmented reality and other technologies. The nature of the workforce is also changing. The future will utilize a hybrid workforce, i.e. humans and robots working together. The optimal scenario will see both humans and machines working together with humans in supervisory roles (see, for example, Agarwal et al. 2018). For anyone to compete and succeed in this kind of work or to be a successful part of the future workforce, the competencies required are completely different from those prevalent today. Some of the competencies necessary in the future will include agility, mindfulness, collaboration, co-creation and design thinking (see, for example, Babu, 2014). Infact, a more holistic model of professional competence (see, for example Cheetham and Chivers, 1996 and 1998) incorporates functional, personal, cognitive, ethical and meta-competence and affords a key role to reflection.
In between business and management lie business schools (B-schools), whose students have played a vital role in shaping today's businesses. The role of B-schools is not just to prepare students for current requirements but also to help them acquire the competencies required in the future and to prepare them to be part of the future workforce. However, academics and business practitioners have raised concerns regarding the achievement of the same. To make the business graduate more relevant, there is a need to upgrade B-School curriculum with multidisciplinary content (see, for example, Bennis and O'Toole, 2005). In an investigation of B-School curricula, it is noted that functional silos still exist in schools, even though accrediting organizations recommends the skill of the graduate in integration across business disciplines as the stamp of authenticity of a quality programme (see, for example, Navarro, 2008). But these practices are not enough. For a paradigm shift to happen and for students to acquire and assimilate the new future competencies, learning and teaching models need...