A Conceptual Framework for Collaboration in Business Schools

Collaboration partnerships within higher education have been shown to enhance educational experiences for students and excite faculty who have the opportunity to innovative in their classrooms. Additional benefits for students include meaningful participation in group or team assignments that will prepare them for significant and successful participation as a member of a global workforce. While many organizations realize the advantages of a cross-disciplinary approach, business schools have been slow to adopt this mindset. Using the two business majors of supply chain management and computer information systems that are meeting a 21st century skillset of technology knowledge and information transfer, this paper addresses the need for collaboration in business schools and proposes a conceptual framework to assist business schools as they consider their collaboration efforts.