VŠE awarded an honorary doctorate to Professor Henry Mintzberg
On Thursday, 10th November, 2016, the Canadian expert in the field of management studies, Henry Mintzberg, was conferred with the honorary degree of “Doctor Oeconomiae Honoris Causa” from the Rector of the University of Economics (VŠE), prof. Ing. Hana Machková, CSc.
The degree of Doctor Honoris Causa is awarded by the VŠE to those people who have made particularly important contributions to science, both theoretically and practically, especially in the sphere of economics. Professor Henry Mintzberg became famous as a leading thinker in the field of management. He is credited with the major shift taking place in organizational theory, where he developed, inter alia, the concept of adhocracy and innovative organization (as opposed to bureaucracy). In the area of strategic planning, he stands in opposition to Professor Porter, in particular with his emphasis on the “emergent strategy” approach. This approach is based on the assumption that a quality strategy may arise “from informal discussions at various levels of the organization,” rather than from a predetermined manner “from the top”.
The Scientific Council of the VŠE decided to award the honorary degree of “Doctor Oeconomiae Honoris Causa” to Professor Mintzberg on foot of a proposal by the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Business Administration of the VŠE. The conferral ceremony was held in the Vencovského auditorium of the University of Economics. It was attended by almost 400 guests, rectors, vice-rectors and representatives of thirty Czech and Slovak, as well as French, Canadian and Liechtenstein universities. Ambassadors of several countries were also present, including Her Excellency Barbara Richardson, Canada’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic.
During the conferral ceremony Prof. Mintzberg gave a speech on the topic ‘Rebalancing Society’. In his last book from 2015 with the very same title he laments the fact that the term socialism has become a dirty word especially in the United States, leaving the impression that there is something wrong with all things social; while capitalism has come to represent all things right.
- Short video of the Ceremony
- Lecture “Rebalancing Society”
- Laudatio of the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration
Management
The field of Management Studies is focused on finding relations, principles and procedures for ensuring the effective running of an organization, leading to the fulfilment of its goals. Management endeavours to discover the best ways to increase efficiency in manufacturing, implementing new tools, procedures and knowledge into business practice. Thanks to management and its organisational methods, help in the further development of production and indeed development of the companies themselves. It could also be said that management promotes the interests of all stakeholders; from the maximization of value for shareholders, to the income and satisfaction of employees, as well as the maximum contentment of customers and even managing the firm’s social responsibility strategies, thus contributing to society in general.
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