Why IAS, IRS and IPS officers are rushing to B-schools

Like any business school alumnus, Shankhabrata Bagchi implements what he learnt on marketing, leadership and operations in his work routine. Only, unlike his peers, Bagchi uses the learnings not in some multinational company, but to motivate police constables in his capacity as a DIG of police in Andhra Pradesh.

A 1996 batch IPS officer, Bagchi joined a B-school after 12 years of service, to learn to improve systems by introducing management principles to scale up efficiency and weed out bottlenecks.

About 562 km away from Hyderabad, where Bagchi is based, Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Jahanzeb Akhtar is brimming with newfound energy and much needed managerial skills as she goes about her gruelling routine as commissioner of income tax, Bangalore.

Both Bagchi and Akhtar, fresh pass-outs from the Indian School of Business (ISB) and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) respectively, say management skills are necessary in government services for bringing a paradigm shift in the workings of various departments.

Like them, several civil servants are donning ties and suits and walking into B-school portals.

It’s also a trend that individuals join civil services after acquiring management skills, says Madhukar Shukla, professor of organisational behaviour and strategy at Xavier Labour Relations Institute in Jamshedpur. “There are people in almost every batch who become IAS officers post their courses.”

Experts say the scale of operations in government departments is becoming more and more complex, requiring mid level officers to upgrade their skills like never before.

“With several public private partnerships underway, B-school exposure is crucial,” says Akhtar.  

Praveen Sood, additional commissioner of police, traffic, Bangalore, says civil servants are feeling the need to take sabbaticals, get into a corporate environment, and absorb diverse views and perspectives. “Once back, the approach to several issues changes and we start looking at problems with a fresh look. Like managers, government officers also lead a force, and tools like motivation, emotion and incentives are imperative.”

“Even a municipal corporation handles funds to the tune of thousands of crores. Thus, officers need to know about public policy making, public system management, and prepare for senior positions involving planning, execution, etc,” says Prof G Ramesh, chairperson of the post graduate programme in public policy and management, IIMB.

Moreover, as the civil services take in people from diverse backgrounds, spanning arts to engineering, it requires constant upgradation of skills with the passage of time, says IAS officer Kalpana Gopalan, who did a public policy and management course from IIMB.

“It brings views of various stakeholders like corporates, civil society into our range of functioning. I have an arts background, thus I could learn subjects like organisational behaviour, statistics through the course,” says Gopalan.

Akhtar says officers typically enter B-schools after 8-10 years of service, which means they have the necessary field exposure and are poised for policy making.

Bagchi says management courses help the most in managing the massive human resources in departments. “How to motivate and deal with constables, how to deal with the public, what to do during a crisis, as well as how to market the good deeds of the police force to generate goodwill amongst people, are tools which I learnt.”

For all that, however, the government doesn’t yet reward officers who have undergone skill upgradation. “The government needs to give better positions to those who have passed out of B-school, so that they can actually make use of their learnings,” says a civil servant who went to a B-school three years ago.