Damage of the MBA education: Bliss of the present

So many students visit me to seek career advice. I invariably ask them what did they want to achieve in life. They talk about status, contributing to society, utilization of learning during MBA…

None has told me that s/he were looking for happiness in life. Are we so obsessed with objectives? This is, I think, the biggest damage of MBA education. It makes people activity oriented. They seek to achieve objectives through strategy, planning, training… Consequently, they always live in future constantly chasing the objectives, goals, targets... They miss the bliss of the present.

Activity makes them part of system. The joy of action that is finely groomed in the present is missed in the process. 

Teacher or politician

It is amazing to see so many teachers entering into politics. It made me think deeper. Are teachers similar to politicians, but scared of contesting elections? Many times teachers do believe in ruling over others. They often act like emperors in the class where students actually are made to behave like small peasant. This behavior is displayed in the class in plenty. They compete with other teachers like any politician for popularity, visibility etc.

Are they world class

There has been intense debate after Mr. Jairam Ramesh's statement about faculty at IITs and IIMs. My views on this:

a) According to the Minister the students at IITs and IIMs are world class and not the faculty. However, IIMs and IITs have nearly 25 % (my estimate) faculty who are from IIT/IIM background. At least they are world class, even by his standards. Further, rest are from top schools of US and India. All of them have high academic credentials. It is perhaps the culture, work priorities, ecosystem that does not allow them to publish as much as they would have liked.

b) According my latest study, country is facing leadership crisis. Education sector also suffers from the same. The true motivational leaders that could enthuse faculty for excellent research and other academic work could be counted on fingers in the country. This needs to be addressed, if we want many world-class institutions in India.

c) Suddenly we find that Government has completely withdrawn from the governance of IIMs and IITs. It is too risky as the checks and balances are getting adversely affected. It is essential that Government plays an active role in the governance of these places. Let us appreciate that these Institutions have reached to current level of excellence owing to active support of Government.

d) It is time that a review committee of international repute is assigned the task of studying IITs and IIMs and suggest measures. Committees of current and previous leaders of these Institutions would not be appropriate for this role.

Power of irrelevance

Most people fear "becoming irrelevant." I discovered today that one actually needs to become irrelevant to grow. Irrelevance forces the individual work harder to develop new abilities to reach to new peaks before becoming irrelevant again.

So strive to become irrelevant and grow again.

Salary raise for faculty members at IIM

This issue has been talked about in the media. One of the factors for better salary for IIM faculty relates to maintaining the differential with the pay of university faculty members. This relates to hypothesis that in money matters people feel happy when neighbours are financially worse than them.

Election results

The election results of 2009 have given new hope for the citizens. The country felt relief on the following developments:

a) Win for a stable government.

b) Concern for performance among the electorates. 

c) Defeat of candidates with criminal record.

d) Defeat of opportunists.

I wish the leaders of UPA a grand success in leading the country to the leadership position in the world and economic, social and political well being of all the citizens of out great nation.

I also wish good luck to BJP next time. If its Chief Ministers perform well and it plays the role of constructive opposition well, party will be able to fight well with Congress next time.

Credibility of Management Education

Lehman Brothers episode has generated a debate that was over-due. Most of the top level managers in this and other financial institutions belonged to the top business schools of the world. Were they taught right things? Business schools in the world are undergoing the worst credibility crisis today.

My take on this:

a) The graduates of top business schools are highly capable. They can analyse the situations well for organizations and themselves. 

b) We have always respected capability and rightly so. However, for organizations, capability is a double edged sword. Unless the energy of capable people is channelised through proper governance and systems, these people can easily compromise organizational interests for their personal gains.

c) The business schools have not paid adequate attention to these issues in their curriculum. Many courses are offered on mathematical modeling and language skills.

d) Unlike science, management education continues with undefined scope of learning. The courses are altered/changed with ease. 

e) I always wondered why do people spend huge sums of money on such management education? A fee of more than 10 Lakh for two years and Rs. 20 lakh for one year programmes make me sit and worry. Is it worth?

f) Today management schools {including almost all the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) in India} are crying about crisis of funds despite such huge fee. Are they managed well and efficiently? 

g) I hope that slowdown of economy forces the business schools to reflect deep on these issues. Harvard Business School has already started such a process.