The two-day 'Conference on Management Education: The Road Ahead', which began at IIMA , shattered certain myths, paving the way for a clearer road ahead.
Timely introspection is always beneficial as it helps break certain myths and allows for better planning.
The two-day 'Conference on Management Education: The Road Ahead', which began at IIMA on Friday, shattered certain myths, paving the way for a clearer road ahead.
The seminar is jointly organised by IIM, Ahmedabad and IIM, Calcutta.
Comparisons between an Indian MBA against an MBA from US were made and the outcome highlighted the gloomy picture.
The management experts, professors and even recruiters made no bones about the fact that an MBA grad from USA would outscore an Indian counterpart in the current scenario.
The conference is aimed at providing a more relevant curriculum for management education in India.
Driving the seminar on the first day was Srikant Datar, professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of the book 'Rethinking the MBA', which actually led to the idea of a rethink of the curriculum. In his presentation, he observed that world's top B-schools do not focus on innovation.
"We looked at the curriculum of close to 100 top B-schools of the world and found out that no one taught innovation. Business schools are excellent functionaries but do not teach students to think innovatively."
The wide ranged audience, apart from directors and faculty members of the country's top management institutes, included some of the top recruiters too.
The recruiters let out some harsh realities.
"We have fewer capable people and the major problem is of stickiness. It is observed that Indian MBA graduates frequently change organisations," said Chetan Tolia, Director, Tata Management Training Centre.
"The MBA from US has an advantage of work experience. Indian graduates are very good at analysing but fail when they have to arrive at a conclusion," said Rajan Srivatsan, Managing Director, Bain & Co, which is one of the leading recruiting companies.
"The American graduates are good at social skills and at adaptability. They easily fit into an organization. We have to wait for some time before we can put the Indian graduate to the client," added Srivatsan.
There were more brickbats in store as a survey of recruiters carried out by professor Amit Dhiman of IIM-C and TV Rao of IIMA revealed.
"Some recruiters have said that there is no difference between an MBA from IIM and one from other leading management schools. We have also been told that many do not exhibit work ethic," said Rao.
"The MBAs fall short on emotional intelligence and oral and written communication skills," said Dhiman.
To overcome the shortcomings, Dhiman said that courses and case studies covering emerging economies needed to be included.
"More courses on self-awareness, problem solving and decision making should be introduced. Communication labs to improve communications skills can be looked at."
Shekhar Chaudhuri, director of IIM-C, said that the conference aims to bridge the wide gap.
"We are at a critical juncture. India has seen rapid growth in the last 10 years. With our growing economy, we need a large number of high quality management institutes."
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