The downside is that teaching schedules are much more complicated, with the faculty having to teach when required by the curriculum, not as a stand alone course. In addition, the faculty spend more time in meetings with colleagues from throughout the business school, as this type of integrated curriculum is often delivered by a faculty team. An attractive feature to many faculty is that each instructor still has considerable control over the content and delivery of material in a specific block. This is the most ambitious form of integration, requiring the complete revamping of every core course, the school's department structure, and many other aspects of the school's administrative support structure. The core is reorganized along business themes, such as High Performance Management, Positioning in the Competitive Environment, Operating the Small Business and so forth.
All traditional courses disappear and are replaced with a series of thematically integrated courses.
Thematic integration provides the greatest level of business concept integration. But it entails significant changes within the school that may require five years or longer to complete.