If you are an MBA basher, you might find this article from Economic Times interesting – B-Schools mean wrong training only.
The debate on the relevance of business schools refuses to die down. In the past, various academics – including Henry Mintzberg of McGill, Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford-GSB and Warren Bennis of University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business – have trained their guns on B-schools and the value of MBAs. So far, Mintzberg has been the strongest critic. His grouse: “An MBA trains the wrong people in the wrong ways for the wrong reasons.”
I don’t know what ‘wrong training’ here means; I have no doubts about the ‘relevance’ of business schools in sharpening analyical thinking and developing managerial skills in people. However, I agree with the major point of discontent – that top B schools (especially in the West) have given in to the pressures of the ranking game. And as the article puts it, have placed style over substance – in everything from choice of curriculum to teaching professionals. For example, it translates into curriculum changes that emphasise appearance over substance, less time spent on rigorous foundational training, research,” DeAngelo said.
Thinking about it, the reason for this is obvious – top business schools vie to attract the best and sharpest brains from all over the world – and what do these brains in turn expect from a business school training? A prestigious and very well paying job. In other words high profile placements. Which in turn boost the rankings of the school… And the ranking game continues.
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On a related note, I thought of the number of business schools that have mushroomed across our country. Strictly not business schools but engineering colleges and arts colleges offering an MBA degree. In terms of sheer numbers, these ‘MBA institutes’ must rank just after private enginnering colleges and dental colleges. And they thrive on much the same basic need – a lucrative job. Except in this case, an MBA degree is seen as a quick and easy route (as opposed to a rigorous disciplined training – as MBA ideally ought to be) to a well paying job.
And as opposed to the top business schools, the institutes do not palce any premium on work experience or even educational background of the applicant. Given this, what does an individual who shells out a few lakhs for the degree -note, I say degree, not course – get from it? Just that, another degree.
And what does this mean – a future generation of MBAs from local ‘institutes’ without any claim to keen managerial skills or out-of-the-box thinking? Who do not find jobs “suitabe for their dgree? Or lucrative enough for them?
Also read Prof.Madhukar Shukla’s post MBA Education is bad for Society/Business/…. Students?!!! where he bursts the MBA bubble.
I guess every engineering college / technical institute has a management studies department and they are offering MBA courses. There is a urgent need to curtail the growth of the institutes which don’t have the necessary infrastructure or the faculty. The MBA students from these universities find it quite difficult to find jobs and they end up working as sales executives of DSA firms (often selling credit card, home loans and insurance products).
kaps, yes all this and worse – students come out of these “institutes” armed with an engineering + MBA degree and start expecting the heaven and earth in terms of a job and salary – and when this doe snot happen, they get frustrated, they refuse to take on lesser payng jobs – I have seen some kids who prefer to stay unemployed rather than take an “ordinary” job – they keep waiting for their dream job which never turns up…
Few months I had blogged on a similar story. My opionion, many of the people who comment on the MBA programme are “arm chair” intelligentsia. Economic Times seems to be a good forum for such people.
Unfortunately, there is such a demand for education in India, and such a short supply, that any one can start up a school for anything in “demand”.
A rigorous accreditation process, and minimum requirements for an institute, are absent. This is part of a major endemic problem in Indian education, and the existing University system.
As far as the system in the US goes….yes, to a large extent there has been a huge change in how business programs have evolved. But the fact remains that in US business schools, especially the good ones, the applicant needs to have work experience, and should have seen the work place. I’ve taken a few business classes in the UW school of business, and am usually amazed by the typical profiles (almost every one has at least 4 years or so of real work, often junior management, experience, or comes with a very specific purpose in mind). This is singularly absent in Indian business schools, including the top ones like the IIMs or XLRO or Narasimonji etc. This means concepts that are taught in class does not have any meaning to the student (who cannot relate to that in any way).
Well..sometimes I wonder if we expect too much out of MBA schools… I see all IITs, IIMs, reputed engineering and medical colleges primarily as screening mechanisms where a super-competitive joint entrance exam filters out a lot with certain criterion from the rest..Now, do we expect all MBA schools to churn out Jack Welch on an assembly line basis..thats too much to ask for..
Well, in the end, much of how one’s future pans out depends a lot on his inheritance and his individual build-up…to expect X will become XXXXXX just after 2-4 years of education is probably too much to ask for…
And while MBA institutes outside with their stress on experience has led out to better managers is not supported by any empirical data.. My experience suggests that an Indian manager is probably just as good or bad as a manager in the US…
By the way, US MBA schools are increasingly looking for people with less experience because they feel that they are losing the brighter ones to the industry..and at the same times many Indian B-Schools are looking for more experience.. so things are converging…
As for mushrooming B-schools with questionable quality, they shall ultimately be put in their right place by market forces…
To conclude, we put too much faith on institutions being able to shape individuals- whether its IAS, MBA, Engineering, Religious and moral fabric, Family values etc..whereas a lot of how a person evolves into is dictated by a much more complex interplay of nature and nurture
Nice post, it makes me hit “comment”.
Mintzberg and gang calling names at MBAs, well. They ma(k)de their money thanks to a field called Management education and now they say its all BS? Well…thats point one.
About MBAs in India, there are a thousand instis which offer these and it is the same if you check schools or engg colleges or dental colleges or anything else. Theres wheat and theres chaff. It is sort of like Kerala. The toddy tapper may be an MSc and the driver may be a PhD. Happens when supply exceeds demand and there is no control on quality.
Work ex, no workex all this is a big debate. There are pros and there are cons. Right now, everybody gets a job, so hop in while the sun shines.Even those who study in the US, do not go there for charity, they go there to earn dollars and convert it to rupees. This is the way of life.
I have blogrolled you, btw.
Venky K, actually this was a paper published in the US by a couple of acadmeics / professors – and this topic has been in the centre of a serious debate in the US for some time now… The ET just carried this story…
Sunil, yes, sadly there is a demand and therefore a supply. I have seen in Tamilnadu small private engineering colleges offer an MBA. Neither degree is of any ude to anyone – they are not accredited by any agency – but students spend lakhs of rupees on these degrees…
Sunil, Shivaji, the work experience v/s no work experience is a matter of debate – but I have found from my own past that having worked for some years makes a huge difference to the kind of inputs that one gets from an MBA degree – to an extent this is true of any graduate degree… Apart from actually being able to understand and relate to many concepts that are taught, the focus here is also different – it is not a “get any job” motive but a career enhancement + learning motive which makes a difference….
Shivaji, sure, a well trained Indian manager is as good any manager in the west – but I have wondered why Indians do not make it so well in corporate America as say our scientists and computer engineers do…
in India, market forces unfortunately favor such institutes – any higher degree from any place – at any price. sad…
Neelakantan, “Mintzberg and gang calling names at MBAs” – well, they have ‘been there done that’ and so now they can bash it 🙂
Also check out my next post – on ‘MBA after 10th!
Thanks for blogrolling me.
@Charu…
Indian managers dont do as well in US etc as scientists, engineers etc..because management involves a lot more dealing with other people- and there cultural and other people related challenges come in.. So in fact you will find Indians do well in areas like trading, equity research etc. which do not involve so much people interaction…
Likewise an american born and brought up in US will find it much tougher to succeed in India…
Apart from the hundreds of institutes that offer such training, what about the scores of places offering “corres” MBA courses? If we understand that the art or science of management is not just about financials/branding etc etc but fundamentally also about managing teams, often large ones, I dont see how a correspondence course can teach you teamwork. It is ofcourse a moot question whether even our prestigious courses do that, with the focus on gaining the highest CGPA rather than team work or utilising /pooling individual skills to attain common goals
apu, is “corres” correpndence? that should be interesting – MBA by email or something! teamwork? for that matter, I don’t see how correspondence courses can teach you anything about management…
Our better institutes do try to instil this sense of team work and so on but even within the framework of a team, it is each one for him/herself…
ah yes. theyve gone and invented a need. You NEED an MBA.. thats what theyve been saying.. and its catching on.. and so the professionals are scrambling to afford one.. while doing as little academic work as possible… and schools are salivating as they have another cash cow. (does that saying work in india? cash cow?)
Mark, of course ‘cash cow’ is relevant in India too (incidentally, in India, anything to do with the cow is bound to be interesting!) – there is a huuuuge demand for higher education degrees in India and schools and private institutes have sprung up all over the place – and they will milk this cow too dry. till the next one comes ambling along!