Challenges in the vocational qualification in Management in Brazil

Abstract

Despite the increasing number of Management courses over the last years, researches have demonstrated that Brazil has one of the worst organizational performance indexes in the world, with the vocational qualification of national managers being pointed out as a reason for this poor performance. In this scenario, this research aims to analyse the vocational qualification curriculum in Management schools of Brazilian universities, as well as their working skills, and to compare them with North American universities. For this purpose, it was carried out a study of qualitative-quantitative character, obtaining data from Management courses in Brazil and the USA. In order to assure the robustness of results, a triangulation of data was carried out from different sources. Results reveal that, although the American pedagogical model had served as the basis for the creation of national Management courses in the 1940’s, Brazilian management schools seem to have not been following evolutional progression, which resulted in a technical and instrumental application disassociated from the formation of critical and creative thinkers. Moreover, adaptations to socioeconomic reality in local context seem to have not been thoroughly assessed since the implementation of the minimum curriculum in 1993.