3000+
Business Colleges (B Schools) in India pass out about 400,000 MBAs each year.
The mission of these B Schools is to create ‘leaders’. Young people flock to
these institutions, passing MAT, CAT, and XAT…all in the hope of acquiring a
(better) job. The outcome unfortunately, is that for a majority of graduates,
the jobs and salaries are hardly commensurate with the perceptions they started
out with and the cash they parted with for fees. The MBA has replaced the
Bachelor’s degree as the hygiene qualification; taking the value out of the
value add proposition.
On the other
hand, a few Elite B Schools (E Schools) continue to attract the cream of
corporates, who not only employ all those on offer, but also at high salaries
and raise that bar year in and year out.
Employers
have long ago created a tiered system where E School graduates sit on top of
the pile while their B School compatriots occupy the lower rungs. B Schools are
continuously adding numbers of pass-outs while E School output is pretty
constant. This serves to increase the earnings disparity and is a cause of
frustration. It also results in sub-optimal work output which is economically
wasteful.
Managements
of B Schools routinely (though privately) point towards their young wards, they
say that these young people assume that an MBA is a confirmed ticket for a job.
That once the students enter college, most put in only as much effort as is
required to graduate; that ‘real’ knowledge will only come on the job. It may
be so, but so is the effect of the Management’s marketing mantra which reads
“we produce leaders who are hired by the best companies”. No wonder they keep
attracting students!
At the starting
point, there is little difference between the intelligence levels of B School
and E School graduates. Discount the experience level of most E School entrants
– the young men and women are equally bright.
Students
join B Schools almost immediately post their Bachelor’s degrees. This helps to
postpone the inevitable job hunt by two years; but it also brings them into a
situation which is harshly different from the environment they are used to in
their earlier colleges. They somehow continue to yearn for the drip down
effect.
Unlike the
Sciences, Arts and Commerce – Business cannot be ‘taught’. It has to be ‘felt’.
It has to be comprehended from day one that ambiguity is the key word. That
there are necessarily no right or wrong answers; that there are only outcomes.
And to comprehend outcomes, it is necessary to develop skills such as critical
thinking, in depth analyses and hunger for information. This can only be done
by an extremely skilled faculty.
Faculty have
the hardest task of all. To rise above merely teaching the curriculum in the
prescribed manner – and to light a fire. They have to challenge students, to
prompt them to think critically, to not accept things as they are. To examine
facets and dimensions which can only come out by enquiry. To change their way
of thinking into mining for information. To rise above Google and Wikipedia cut
& paste. They have to advise and correct student examination papers with
the same critical insights as they are teaching. About the joys of courageous
decision making in hostile and unknown environments where the outcome may be
different from the one intended. To accept ambiguity and the meaning of ‘the
fog of war’. To learn business ethics and to broaden the student's mindset. To
accept the great ideas which come from the world’s greatest literature. All of
which leads the students to become productive value adders to their employers
in the shortest period of time.
This can be
accomplished when Management’s focus on the faculty by creating the right
academic ecosystem for faculty themselves to grow in. To create an environment
which encourages research, which rewards publications and encourages
participation in academic upgradation. The bottom line of the B School is
faculty dependent, not student dependent. Great faculty are rare assets – who
create great students.
Finally –
Employers do not come to Campus looking for knowledgeable candidates. They seek
young women and men who will value add to their bottom line, in the shortest
period of time. They are, after all, a Business.
So while it
is the Faculty’s job to set fire to the student’s intellect, it is the
Management’s job to create the right conditions for a great faculty. And it is
the student’s job to be open to such ideas. The formula which narrows the
difference between a B School and an E School.
Rajesh Pant
Pune
June 10,
2015
