B-Schools : Bridging the Gaps
I chanced upon an insightful essay in Business Standard today. In it, a 1988 alumnus of IIM (A) and now Senior General Manager (ICICI Bank) – Madhabi Puri Bach – has put forth her views on what is missing in today’s business schools.
They seemed to echo my own thoughts on the subject; a subject I feel quite strongly about :
Gap 1 : The gap between Theory and Practice
While some institutes practice the "case study" methodology designed to build just this capability, the exercise tends to stop at the strategic level instead of exposing students to practical issues and tasks that need to be done at the day-to-day level. Allocating more time to guest lectures by industry practitioners and making two years of work experience mandatory are two ways to address this problem.
Gap 2 : The gap between Thinking and Doing
Most institutions tend to value high-quality thinking way above high-quality "doing" – a mindset that is perhaps responsible for more failures in the corporate world than any other single factor. Longer summer internships and informal sessions with alumni on their experiences should help considerably to change this.
Gap 3 : The gap between Functional and Organizational skills
Somehow, courses like Organizational Behaviour are treated as "fillers" and people who take them are not taken seriously, when the truth is that "people management" and working with teams is perhaps the most important skillset required in a manager.
Gap 4 : The gap between Short-Term and Long-Term thinking
Most classroom learning tends to focus on ideal long-term solutions, but managers need to learn how to effectively manage the short-term while simultaneously building for the long-term.
Gap 5 : The gap between Simple and Complex
What helps to make an effective manager is often simple things, not complex ones. Basic skills like familiarity with office software, effective communication, time management, etc. can go a long way in improving productivity for all concerned.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Suggestions to revamp the structure of the MBA Program have not come a moment too soon.There is a crying need to align the objectives of the program with the practical expectations of rookie managers at workplaces.I wonder what the rationale was for setting the duration of the program at two years ? Perhaps programs of varying duration can be offered to students of diverse levels of experience, so as to introduce customisation and benefit the various segments.as is the case with many graduate school programs in the United States and a few elite schools in india, a large selection of course offerings would be useful to the student community in terms of breadth and depth of training and exposure. A homogeneous course curriculum would not provide optimal exposure and training to a hetergeneous class. Having compartmentalised only on the basis of functional specialisations we need to go beyond these divisions and carry forward the holistic approach beyond the first year of the program.To this end,students should be allowed latitude in choosing their plan of study in consultation with an advisor. This idea begs the question “Do we have the resources to make that happen?”