Integrating Theory and Practice in Business Education

Abstract

The review examines the relationship between theory and practice in business education. Using academic articles as reading materials for both undergraduate and graduate students is recommended as a way to elucidate the direct connection between theory development in academia and practice in the business world. It is concluded that the integration of theory and practice in Business education is not only necessary due to functional reasons but rather a necessity in order to foster the formation of ethical and well-rounded leaders. One of the most widespread misconceptions in the Business World is that theory and practice are inherently different and disconnected, not only in terms of form but also in essence. This is particularly surprising when popular business terms such as TQM (Total Quality Management) and Human Capital started their lives far away from the bustling of the factory floor and a great distance from the glossy clear surface of the executive desk (Stewart & Knowles, 2003). Most business terms, models, and theories start their lives in the messy desks, quiet libraries, and convoluted mental meanderings of university academics (Creswell, 2007; Jordan, 2003). If the origin of most business ideas follows the traditional path of knowledge formation, from the Ivory Tower to Main Street then what explains the collective delusion that knowledge creation in business is any different from that in other disciplines like Engineering and the natural Sciences? I tentatively posit that part of the answer resides in the relatively recent methodological divergence in terms of teaching between Business, Medicine, and other applied disciplines on one side and the Liberal Arts such as the Social and the Natural Sciences on the other hand.