How to Overcome Challenges in Management Education (MBA) in India?

"The foundation of wealth is humanity and moral. If the wealth is not based on true reasons, the wealth will never sustain" Eiichi Shibusawa (The father of Japanese capitalism)

The present economic meltdown has thrown several challenges to business managers and leaders across the world. Everyone started blaming business schools for the present mess. Is it justified to blame them? If not, then who is responsible for the current global mess? Is it the business schools or faculties or students or parents or all to be blamed?


Challenges in Management Education:

The current curriculum in management education does not teach students in facing the challenges in business environment. How to manage uncertainty and complexity are not taught in business schools. It merely teaches the concepts with case studies. It does not focus on the challenges arising out of rapid growing technology and the challenges involved in running an enterprise.

Unfortunately, the best talent is going to industry where salaries are lucrative. Those who come to academic area are the ones who could not be absorbed in the industry or those who come to this profession by chance or those who chose this career out of passion. However, we can count very few professors joining out of passion towards teaching profession.

The inability of AICTE to act tough with unauthorized business schools is a cause for concern. The management of business schools looks for loopholes in the existing laws and exploits the same. They believe in growing their budget rather improving the quality of business education which is very sad to note.

Most of the students pass out successfully from business schools due to their self-preparation. Students fear to give negative feedback to their teaching faculties as they fear for their internal marks which are in the hands of faculties. Everyone knows the problems but nobody is ready to address the same.


Engineering vs. Management Education:

Engineering students have the advantage of checking the theoretical concepts at laboratories through experiments. However to have the feel of the same for the management students, they have case studies where in the students get exposed to the practical problems through simulation. Academicians transfer the case studies from books to classroom which may not have the desired results. On the contrary, when academicians with industry background transfer the knowledge of case studies there will be more effect as it is based on their real life corporate experiences.


Overcoming Challenges:

Provide decent salaries and professional ambience to faculties. Send the faculties regularly for training programs to update their skills and abilities. Develop right mindset and attitude. Focus on quality of education not quantity. There has to be interactive sessions for the students rather than mere preaching what is mentioned in the books. You cannot become a crack shot unless you lose some ammunition. The students have to be exposed to the industry through interface so that they understand the practical problems in corporate world. This boosts more confidence among the students.

It is essential to have more visiting faculties with diversified and rich industry experience. It is like having diversified menu on a platter. It should be made mandatory for every business school to have a fulltime faculty for each functional specialization like Human Resources, Marketing, Finance, Production, etc., Besides, they can have visiting faculties who are passionate towards teaching for every specialized functional skill.

Look for the professors who are passionate in teaching rather than who pass their time in classrooms. The passionate professors would love to share their knowledge, experience, expertise with students to take on the real corporate battles. Take the professors with research, consultancy, and industry and also with teaching experience as it enriches the teaching process. Blending all these ingredients would make a faculty as outstanding.

You cannot make a successful manager in classrooms. What is needed is the industry interface which builds confidence among the students. Whatever the doubts the students posses can be clarified and verified with their exposure to corporate world. The theoretical background in the classrooms along with practical exposure in the corporate world can make successful professionals.

The project work should be contextual, relevant and should focus on the current scenarios. MBA is a professional degree and it should train and groom the students to be true professionals to take on the challenges being faced in the business environment.

Make accreditation mandatory to ensure quality of education. Take stringent action against the illegal and unauthorized MBA colleges.


Mintzberg and MBA:

Prof. Henry Mintzberg, a globally renowned management guru is a strong critic of management education. The educational institutions are damaging the management education by not focusing on action learning and practical problems. He criticizes the management programs where in students are enrolled without having any real world experience. He champions for revolutionary changes in management education. We need to take serious note of his observations and comments about MBA education to make it more meaningful and qualitative.


Conclusion:

"There is no need to reach high for the stars. They are already within you - just reach deep into yourself!"—Anonymous

There is failure in management education which is evident with the current economic downturn. The educational system failed to forecast the recession and failed to check the overheated economy.

The four pillars for effective management education are industry experience, consultancy experience, research experience and teaching experience. When faculties possess these four areas of experience and expertise, then it ensures qualitative management education.

The problem with us is to imitate the western management education blindly. By the time we take best out of them, the content and curriculum gets outdated thus resulting into obsolescence. Let us be creative and innovative in preparation of curriculum and methodology of teaching.

Educational qualification is the brick and mortar of a specific career path. Let us make Indian management education qualitative and affordable to all.


The End