A New Direction For Executive Education? Certification Gets Renewed Attention

By John Kerr -- Supply Chain Management Review, 4/1/2008

Previous page: Academia Under Pressure to Deliver

Professional certification can be helpful in competing for a new job—but it doesn't grant automatic promotions. Indeed, in some cases it is used essentially as a performance incentive for employees. “It's a way to recognize key performers” remarks one long-time supply chain expert. “I don't think that management expects people to be able to come back and really do anything differently.”

As a rule, certification is valued for more function-specific roles such as project management or for individuals whose career trajectory sees them staying within one technical area, such as service parts optimization or risk management. Schools such as the University of Wisconsin's School of Business offer valuable programs such as the Supply Chain Leadership Certificate—a three-course program that can be completed in three months and that helps attendees better control everything from excessive expediting to inventory variability.

One twist is that more companies are taking the lead in seeking certification rather than leaving it up to their employees. Says Harvey Donaldson of Georgia Tech: “Increasingly, it's the company coming to me wanting to train a group of people. They want to do this not just by sending them to Georgia Tech but at other places, or through the Internet, perhaps with streaming video to other places in the world.”

Donaldson describes a rise in interest in such hybrid education models in general, where the location of the learning interactions and of faculty members is secondary to what is learned. For instance, The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute that he runs now has a formal partnership with United Technologies that sees a range of learning delivery modules bundled together and managed centrally by the company's HR and logistics leaders. “Some of the courses are on campus, with Internet courses as supplement to that, and with some of our faculty going to their facilities,” says Donaldson.

The leaning toward the company's needs is evident in, for example, the three-day collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) certification program offered by the industry group known as the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions, or VICS. The program, endorsed by CSCMP, offers a “buy three, get one free” package to companies registering at least three employees.

But there are assertive moves to weave supply chain certification more tightly into the fabric of the profession—as integral as a CPA designation is to the profession of accounting. In May 2008, the ISM launches its Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) program with the objective of making it “the essential qualification required to succeed as a supply management professional.” Indeed, the CPSM program is now one of ISM's six strategic imperatives as it works to expand the profession's sphere of influence.

A big step up from technical and function-specific certification programs, the three-exam CPSM is designed to recognize that a strategic level qualification is needed for professionals to effectively implement innovative supply strategies throughout their organizations. “Never before have these professionals been asked to do so much and take on as much responsibility as they do now,” declares ISM's site. The CPSM doesn't supplant ISM's Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) designation.

Continue to Online Education Finds Its Place

In this article:

• Introduction
• The State of the Classroom
• Academia Under Pressure to Deliver
• Certification Gets Renewed Attention
• Online Education Finds Its Place
• More Interest in Customized Programs
• Continuing Challenges for Exec Ed

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