I often get into a discussion on Business Education System in our country with a cousin of mine who herself is an MBA.
We discuss lots of things about the management education, the career prospects for an MBA, career paths, importance of a strong curriculum during the coarse of education, how important is the brand (college) and things....
And surprisingly, most of the times the discussion boils down to a point that the BRAND of the college is the most important factor that helps students find a high place for themselves in industry.
My argument always has been that the college's brand equity can only help students to break into the corporate world but how they fair in the challenging environment and grow is just based on the skills they have acquired and how well they apply them at work!
The biggest drawback of an MBA is that it is pan-industry in its outlook. A business education course does not factor in the different challenges presented by different industries.
Most MBA courses are too broad-based to effectively prepare their students for the intense competition in today's business environment - each industry requires a different skill set, but the typical MBA programme does not equip you adequately to meet industry or sector-specific demands.
Of course, you now hear of several companies that are designing their own management education programmes. As an effort to make the white-collar workforce more relevant to the needs of a sector, it is commendable. But perhaps still more can be done to help bridge the gap between what is taught and what is required.
The other issue most B-schools overlook is working in a team. To be fair, all management institutes emphasise the importance of being a team player. But what they teach and how that learning actually manifests itself in corporate corridors are two different things.In the "real world", the roles of a leader and a team are not always cut and dried. Some times, the leader is at the forefront of the action; on other occasions, he may decide to set the tone and then sit back, while the team takes the lead.
B-schools instruct you in neither the existence of such scenarios nor how to deal with them. Other important issues of dealing with and working with teams - how to interact with and within a team, how to motivate your team members - are also inadequately addressed.
Also, management students are taught extensively about the importance of strategy. What they are not taught, however, is how to implement a strategy and make sure an idea goes the planned way.
That's important: after all, implementation accounts for about 80 per cent of job delivery. But, somewhere along the line, it gets short shrift.
Many a times, I hold a pen in my hand, take out a note pad and feel like writing... I don’t know what, but I want to write something.. Its not so that I am not good at speaking or am an introvert.. no.. not at all.. I am infact very good with expressions and verbals.. but its just that I feel comforted when I am talking to the pen and paper..
May be its because my pen doesn’t ask me questions… The paper doesn’t complain.. the ink doesn’t criticize… but all of them just be with me throughout.. stand by what I say to them.. accept that readily and gracefully and make me feel so comfortable that I feel like writing on and on…
This is the hard fact of life… We are living creatures… PEOPLE.. we dwell among them.. but are we really dwelling?? It’s a tough question for anyone to answer.. because it takes a lot of introspection, a lot of critical analysis, a lot of understanding of oneself and one’s surroundings.. a lot of study of the society and its elements…
Let’s talk about hundreds and thousand of Ants who live and DWELL together.. If you observe them carefully, you will notice an amazing characteristic of these creatures that despite of walking swiftly they never collide!!! Its because they know their job.. they know their responsibilities and work to fulfill it with complete devotion.. they never cross the way of others since they do not loose their own track…
This very characteristic is very rare in the most intelligent creature of all… HUMAN BEING… We do everything better than these tiny ants can do.. but where they supersede us is in the clarity of the vision and goal in life and the dedication to achieve it..
It may be hard to understand where am I actually coming from when I say all these things.. I am pondering upon my past experiences with people and the journey of life so far… Today, I am what time has made out of me.. I am, probably what people wanted me to be… I am liked by most, not so liked by some.. but is it what I wanted to be?? May be yes.. may be not..
In the management school, we learnt about Role Conflicts, Goal Conflicts and other kinds of Inter and Intra personal conflicts… we always applied them on the people, situations, organizations and what not… but never ever thought about it that it can be applied on ourselves the most..
And that is what I am learning with every passing by day.. the hard way… I am feeling strangled in these conceptual realities.. I want to do something because I like it, but am doing something else because others don’t like it… am following the stupid principle which says, “ If you can’t do what you like, start liking what you do”... Its not easy for me to decide that what should I actually believe in.. what I think about myself or what others believe me to be???
And the worst part of it is that more I think about this, more confusing it becomes… May be that’s why its called LIFE.. can one define it???
I often get into a discussion on Business Education System in our country with a cousin of mine who herself is an MBA.
