Multidisciplinary Education - Impact on Working Career

The complex problems that occur in the current business world need multiply skilled employees to solve them. Solving complicated problems also requires scholars and researchers to collaborate with colleagues outside of their own discipline. Hence, educational institutions are constantly striving to develop study programs that aim to combine, integrate, mix or join disciplines in a successful way. In the business world the term cross-functional is typically used to describe similar kind of method of bringing people from distinct expertise to work together toward a common goal. Such study programs, or cross-functional working, are often considered to be beneficial but the empirical evidence of the advantages is somewhat limited. In this book the case program is called International Design Business Management (IDBM, which is a multidisciplinary study program in Aalto University, Finland. The combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis in the book proves that multidisciplinary skills and competence, gained from the educational life, is a remarkable asset in the working life. It is specified how businesses can benefit employees with such a competence.