"Engineering Management Thought of the Week" Jeff Glass

Dear MEMP Students;

As you know, Duke’s MEM Program is a member of a small consortium of top-ranked universities with MEM programs dedicated to promoting these programs with our industrial partners. Consortium members include Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Northwestern and Stanford. We had our most recent semiannual meeting at Dartmouth last week and it provided me with this current “thought of the week” topic. But I am getting ahead of myself. First, I should say that the dedication consortium members have to developing the MEM brand is remarkable. An important topic which arose during our discussions was the parallel between MEM programs at the present time and MBA programs back in the 50’s and 60’s as their brand was developing. Interestingly, at that time there was no agreement or even understanding of exactly what an MBA was. An leading set of universities got together and began developing and promoting MBA programs. Of course, now MBA’s are relatively standardized and there are thousands of programs. Schools compete on relatively minor differences in curricula and on their brand. So what does all this mean for you?

The parallel is that you are early adopters of the MEM degree! As with any new product, being an early adopter has both its advantages and disadvantages. It means that the MEM degree is not as well recognized today as it will be in five or ten years. And it means that a variety of different programs will have quite different features due to the lack of standardization at the present time. But the advantages far out-weigh the disadvantages. Having a unique degree that you must explain to colleagues and employers gives you the opportunity to differentiate yourselves. It allows you stand out from more standard undergraduate and Master of Science degrees when considering career choices and employment opportunities. Of course, the bottom line is not a “piece of paper” with MEM written on it, but rather your performance once you are hired by a company. In this aspect as well, being an early adopter of the MEM degree can be a great advantage. Compared to your Bachelors or Master of Science colleagues, you will have a much better understanding of key elements of success within an organization from business fundamentals to organizational behavior to relationship building with colleagues. Although you will always find colleagues who have picked up such knowledge “on the job”, your performance should be greatly enhanced compared to how it would be without the MEM education.

The final point about the early adopter status is the ability and responsibility for developing the MEM program content and brand. Your colleagues from earlier classes have established an excellent tradition in this area by helping with the program, promoting the MEM degree within their companies and actively working to hire new MEM graduates. Please continue this tradition! Because the MEM program in such an early stage these efforts are critical. This is a major reason for the MEM Program Consortium we have developed. And to be fair, due to the efforts of previous students, the MEM program is already much better known and understood by our industrial colleagues now than it was even three or four years ago and thus, you are probably not at the very leading edge of the early adopters. So whether it is actively working on the MEMPDC here at Duke, helping to promote a program with employers and colleagues after you graduate, or working with your undergraduate institutions and potential students to describe and promote the program, we encourage, appreciate, and need your assistance. Thank you!