"Management is a craft, rooted in experience. But one cannot teach the craft to people who lack the experience. Those who believe they have learned management by sitting still in an MBA classroom are a menace to society"
Essay -
The argument claims that management is a skill earned through experience rather than through classroom training, it can not be taught to someone who does not have prior experience and believing in MBA training is a menace to society. Clearly, the argument manipulates facts and presents a distorted view of the situation. The conclusion has a poor backup of faith and hence the argument is unconvincing having several flaws.
First the argument readily assumes that the management is learned only through experience. It does not provide clear evidence to prove its claim and looks a stretched statement. It does not give clear picture about managers without experience intending meaning such as only those managers are skilled who have experience. In reality, for example, inexperienced manager can do better job than an experienced one.
Second, the argument claims that people who lack experience can not be taught management. This is again a very weak and unsupported claim which does not demonstrate any correlation between experience and learning capability of people. To illustrate, any experienced manager if not willing or having low grasping power may not cope with teaching of management theories whereas an fresher can quickly grasp the theories and their application in real world.
Third, the argument conveniently assumes that MBA students always sit still in classroom doing nothing and are threat to society as bad managers. This flawed claim is unable to prove its contents without any substantive evidence. For example, it is highly likely that the principles or theories of management are best taught in MBA classroom to make a strong foundation for future experiences.
Finally,
Is a good manager gets his skills ONLY through experience without having any knowledge about fundamentals of management ?
Can't a person learn management principles in a skilled way without having prior experience?
Can't a MBA holder do a better job as manager ?
Without convincing answers to these questions, one is left with the impression that the argument is just a wishful thinking rather than a substantive evidence.
In conclusion, the argument is flawed for above mentioned reasons and therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if author clearly provided all relevant evidence.