Every employer wants to hire smart people, and now there may be
even more from which to choose. It's projected that from 2000
to 2010, the number of jobs filled by people with Ph.D.s will
increase nearly 25 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Ph.D.s are valued in jobs requiring a high degree of
specialization. Computer science, health care and biotech are just
a few areas where Ph.D.s are making their mark.
But when Ph.D.s meet MBAs, watch out. "You have the
action-oriented MBA [saying] 'What's the bottom line?'
Then you have your Ph.D. who's the think tank," says
Joshua Estrin, president of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, business
consulting firm Concepts in Success. "It's a wonderful mix.
But when it doesn't work, it's like oil and
water."
Analyze This
Laura Schoppe understands the challenge of managing the highly
educated. Schoppe is president of Fuentek, an intellectual property and
technology management firm in Apex, North Carolina, with annual
sales of more than $1 million. At any given time, she oversees
seven to 12 freelancers with advanced degrees working on projects
for clients including NASA. Putting an MBA and a Ph.D. in the same
room can be like watching two people speaking different languages.
"In business school, we're trained to find the
answer," says Schoppe, 41, who once worked for GE Aerospace
and has an MBA and a master's in mechanical and aerospace
engineering. "Ph.D.s are trained to think there could be more
than one answer."
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Schoppe remembers going back and forth with a Ph.D. when she
worked at GE Aerospace. She wanted to wrap up a project while the
Ph.D. wanted time for more analysis—and around and around
they went. "Ph.D.s can postpone the need to finish things
because they want to study it. But there are diminishing returns to
this in a business environment," Schoppe says. "You need
to reign them in."
Schoppe has learned to focus Ph.D.s on pieces of a project
instead of the big picture. "The level of acceptable risk is
different between MBAs and Ph.D.s," she says. "The more I
break things down, the more comfortable they are."
Robbie Blinkoff straddles both sides as an entrepreneur with a
Ph.D. in cultural anthropology. Blinkoff, 39, is co-founder of
Context-Based Research Group, a company in Baltimore
that hires Ph.D.s on a contract basis to design, research and
analyze anthropologically based consumer research studies for
Fortune 500 firms. Ph.D.s and marketing types throw around ideas in
a room Blinkoff calls the "thinkubator." Keeping meetings
productive "takes a good facilitator, someone who can take
everyone's point of view, put it together and make a product
out of it," Blinkoff says. His company's sales exceed $1
million annually.
The challenge for the MBA is lighting a fire under the
researcher, says John Baldoni, president of Baldoni
Consulting, a leadership and communication consulting firm in
Ann Arbor, Michigan. MBAs have to be aware of what they do and
don't know when dealing with Ph.D.s."Be deferential to
their expertise," he says, "but keep a firm hand on the
direction of the enterprise."
Live and Learn
Ph.D.s who have spent years in academia—an
ultracompetitive environment where they are left to sink or swim on
a project by professors—tend to have a negative view of
management. "Their introduction to management is
horrible," Baldoni says. "In [academia,] people are
treated poorly."
Many Ph.D.s feel liberated making the switch to private
industry, but going from working solo to collaborating with others
can be tough. "The irony with Ph.D.s is we believe we're
not control freaks. [But] in reality we are," Blinkoff says,
adding that things work out well if managers are able to handle the
energy Ph.D.s bring and funnel their abstract, theorizing core
skill set into the business. Otherwise, their thinking style could
create barriers. "If you're not a person who lives in the
abstract, it can be pretty uncomfortable," Blinkoff says.
A business etiquette class that outlines how people in the
company communicate and how projects are managed is a great way to
introduce Ph.D.s to the world of quarterly goals, deadlines and
budgets. "Provide them with training about what it's like
to work in a corporate environment," says Carl Robinson,
principal of Advanced Leadership Consulting, a Seattle-based
executive coaching firm.
Finally, take advantage of a low-key event, such as a company
lunch, to start casual conversations between MBAs and Ph.D.s on
staff. What does it take to get an MBA vs. a Ph.D.? How do both
sides approach projects differently? The answers could help you run
your business even smarter.
Chris Penttila is
a freelance journalist in the Chapel Hill, North Carolina,
area.