Wharton merges Management concentration

The Wharton School recently decided to combine four undergraduate management concentrations into a single Management concentration. A concentration in Wharton is roughly equivalent to a major in other undergraduate schools. Wharton students eligible to declare a concentration have until May 30 to sign up for the existing divisions -- Entrepreneurial Management, Multinational Management, Human Resources Management and Strategic Management. After that date, all students must declare a Management concentration instead of one of the specialized ones. Management Chairperson Peter Cappelli said the new system will be more efficient. "It's simpler for the students to deal with, and it's simpler for the faculty to deal with," he said. Cappelli said the school was hard-pressed to offer every course for the four concentrations every semester. "There were a proliferation of courses we had to offer to maintain the different majors," he said. "We just couldn't keep it staffed." But several Wharton students said management is a discipline that requires specialization. "I think management as a whole has a very broad meaning," Wharton junior Tal Zamir said. "There are so many different kinds of management." Zamir, who is concentrating in Finance, said specialized degrees helps a Management student market himself, adding that such specialization is less important for Finance majors. But Cappelli maintained that a business degree with a Management concentration is already quite specialized. "Employers who hire undergraduates are not looking for incredible specialization," he said. "I'd be quite surprised if there are other programs of repute in the country that are this specialized." Wharton currently offers a "General Management" concentration. But according to the school's Undergraduate Student Handbook, "It is preferred that students follow one of the four specialized concentration plans." The handbook also emphasizes the need for specialized study. For example, it notes that the Multinational Management concentration enables students to "anticipate changes in both the macro international environment? and in the industry and competitive environments specific to companies." And the handbook says the Strategic Management concentration will "help the student understand how strategic management is different from the management of a particular part or function of an organization." Some Wharton underclassmen had not heard of the change. "I didn't know that," said Wharton and Engineering freshman Joshua Kohn, whose hallmate, Wharton freshman Esteban Rakela, had also not heard of the new system. Wharton sophomore Jason Auerbach said he first heard about the change after meeting with an academic advisor. "The Entrepreneurial Management program is one of the reasons I came to Wharton," Auerbach said, adding that he signed up for the concentration immediately in order to beat the deadline. But he said meeting with the advisor did little to convince him of the benefits of the change.