What Should an Ideal B-School Student Possess?

"The function of the university is not simply to teach bread winning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools or to be a centre of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization. "-- W.E.B. Du Bois

With the current global meltdown, many doubts have been raised about the falling ethical and moral standards within the management educational system. We cannot claim that the business schools and the students alone are responsible for the present economic crisis. However, we need to set certain standards and benchmarks for the students so that they could become role models for others and also they can avert such economic crises in future.


What Should an Ideal B-school Student Possess?

Management students should be equipped with knowledge about management in general with special emphasis on a particular functional skill. It is vital to know the basic jargon about management, how a company is run and what it takes a company successful. They should know about various skills such as soft skills apart from hard skills. They should learn to live with uncertainty and complexity which are the hallmarks in this century.

An ideal B-school student should possess several skills such as hard skills, soft skills like communication skills, interpersonal skills, entrepreneurial skills, leadership skills, team building skills, presentation skills, conceptual, critical and analytical thinking skills, business skills, conflict management skills, decision making skills, visioning skills, risk taking skills, right attitude and aptitude, ethical and moral values, and learn to live with uncertainty and complexity.


How Should The Teaching Process Be?

Explain the concept clearly from book as knowledge about the managerial jargon is necessary. Follow the concept with a relevant case study based on real life events and experiences. Ask the students how can they handle such problems through interactions? Generate multiple ideas and insights though interaction and participation and select the best and justify the same by focusing the pros and cons. Then take the students to the corporate houses and encourage them to apply what was learnt in the class to build confidence.

Brainstorming sessions among students and also between faculties and students excites the teaching process resulting into generation multiples ideas and insights. The gap between the faculties and students should be minimized to make the learning process more comfortable and meaningful. Assimilation of others’ approaches makes the teaching more meaningful and effective.

Faculties should come out with their own philosophies and principles besides the established and proven ones. They should equip their students with tools and techniques so that they could employ the same in their organizations. The curriculum should help in thinking differently. It should encourage to think globally but to act locally. There should be right mechanism and quality controls in the method of teaching.



Evaluating Students:

The present examination system is outdated and needs to be reviewed and changed with the changing times. Give practical problems to students and encourage them to think and come out with their solutions. Students should be encouraged to prepare their own case studies based on their imagination after referring several books and industry interface. This method unlocks their creativity and originality which in turn helps them when they face the real challenges.


What B-Schools Don’t Teach?

There is vast gap between the campus and the industry. The business schools don’t teach skills like risk taking, entrepreneurial skills, facing failures, managing uncertainty and complexity. There are number of areas where the business schools should focus and teach to students. The main challenge for business schools is to teach how to cope up with failures and how to pick up threads again and bounce back from failures.


Conclusion:

An ideal B-school student should be jack of all trades and master of a specific specialization. Mere having domain expertise is not adequate. There has to be focus on ethical and moral values to be inculcated among the students to eliminate white collar crimes. S/he should be person with impeccable character and integrity so that the subordinates can take as a role model. S/he should not sell soul for the sake of money.

An ideal B-school student should think globally and act locally and should be blend of both managerial and leadership qualities. To sum up, the faculties, the business schools and parents have a crucial role in shaping ideal B-school students.


The End