Management Education makes a Difference: Enhancing German Engineering Performance

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between strategic management education, particularly within the higher education sector, and the performance of the German machinery and equipment sector. The paper draws on the results of a self-administered questionnaire, supplemented by follow-up micro case studies. Findings suggest that policies adopted by Engineering Faculties and their related institutions have resulted in the exclusion of management, particularly strategic management, from their curriculum: a worrying trend given that in the German engineering/manufacturing industries, engineers dominate the senior management positions. Further, these senior engineers possess limited management knowledge and apply relatively few strategy-related tools. There is also evidence, not necessarily causal, that links organisational performance with the application of management knowledge and tools. The study is limited to senior executives within German SMEs from the machinery and equipment sector and as such the findings and associated conclusions may lack generalisability beyond the confines of German engineering. The findings suggest, at least in part, that organisational performance and managerial educational attainment are related and that educationalists, practitioners and policymakers should encourage Engineering Faculties to embrace management education within the curriculum.