The MBA (dis?)Advantage

If you go for a drive from one end of Cochin to the other , at every bus stop or say, at every one Kilometer distance , you are sure to find a B-school.. (you get an MBA or a PGDM there!).The statistics is higher in other parts of the country, especially metros. With due respect to all the eminent management institutes (like my own SMS, CUSAT and a few other reputed ones), I take this opportunity to salute all those great business minds who have started up  their own B-schools in India. I salute them for the following factors…

One: For starting one of the most profitable business any man/ group can start.

Two: For churning out some of the most “useless” group of youth to the economy every year .

Three: For creating a “bubble” of management education, which is about to burst, just like the IT bubble!

Four: For creating a group of management faculty members, who doesn’t know the ABCs of teaching management and the required professional ethics.

Saying this, I can never ignore the fact that I am also  a Management faculty and once again ,with due respect to  all the eminent management faculty members, who have dedicated their life in the grooming of a present day manager. 

You may be wondering what makes me say all this. Well , thanks once again to some very interesting recent experiences and research. 

First, let me share the experience. A friend of mine who owns an IT company shared me a story of how his firm’s name was misused by some fraud teams. These unscrupulous guys approached some B-schools asking for resumes of girls with photographs and it seems they also conducted a written exam on their behalf, for which these guys charged some fees. The management institution’s faculty members were so ignorant (or rather careless) to check whether the guys who approached them were genuine. Even after one month of sending resumes and the written exams, not even a single placement happened and that’s when the faculty members  traced the real owners of the firm.( Well, we cannot blame the faculty for being so “careless”, considering their workload, emotional labour and the pressure of achieving the placement targets). Well, my friend at last traced out the real culprits and warned them for misusing his firm’s name.

Now, coming to the research I did. My doctoral research has just started and as part of it I am reading more about management education in India. Very interesting statistics coming up now.. 

Just three years back, can you guess the number of management institutions with AICTE approval? Well, it was around 1400 in number. Add another 300 or so without AICTE approvals. 

Do you know the present number of management education institutes in India? It has multiplied more than three times. Around 4766 institutes  are approved by AICTE , as on May 2012 (and growing day by day..).. yes..add another 1000 who claim to possess their own accreditation or International affiliation and consider that AICTE approval is not all required for Management education! 

Each institution is trying to grab the opportunity and provide seats for students even without the necessary qualification. Gone are the days, when you have to apply for an MBA seat, keep your fingers crossed and wait for the admission. Now a days, the moment you are reaching your final year  graduation, you can join for MBA course and get your MBA by the time you finish your arrears of the graduation!! But , hey, all this facility.. comes with a cost dear! There are B-schools who charge as high as 25 lakhs for an MBA degree(A real good looking degree certificate from UK /US university..! )

Now, what happens after admission? Poor guys… I didn’t mean the student here..I meant the faculty…especially those who are slightly ethical.. they are the ones who struggle a lot .. because, they are forced to give pass marks even for those who never deserve to! Otherwise.. their performance will be rated down!.. (see, its like a two-sided sword.. firstly, if you don’t give marks to students.. they will score low marks for faculty appraisal.. and secondly the management will fire the faculty for teaching badly, coz of which the students are failing! .. so, why take risk?..give them pass marks..u got it?)

What happens after MBA? The placement tension…  the tension..not just for the students..but also  the faculty… and the management in all sense.. This tension leads to several malpractices also, like the one I mentioned above!

Many students ask me, “Mam, will I get a job if I do an MBA from this or that institute?” .My answer is simple, “Your job is never dependent on 'why or where' you do your MBA, but on 'how' and 'what' you are”

Even when there are so many types of jobs and so many types of MBA, nowadays students are not getting placed in high flying jobs as their previous generation of MBAs. The logic is simple : MBA cannot be considered a special degree anymore dear!  MBA now has lots of “specializations”, but its no more “special”. Every Tom, dick and harry can get an MBA degree!

What’s wrong in it? Nothing wrong..just that,in future, when  you enter any organisation, you will find that the security guard also has an MBA degree!

Footnote 1: My advice to all MBA freshers. Don’t have too much glossy dreams-that you will get an Air conditioned cabin to sit and work in your first job. Be realistic and be ready to sweat out in jobs, which used to go to mere graduates some years back.. especially, if you have done your MBA from second and third tier institutes…

Footnote 2: My advice to all those who are planning to take an MBA degree. - Don't believe what the marketing brochure of the institute says. Believe in the degree certificate  that will be given by a valid University at the end of the course. 

Footnote 3 : If you replace the word “MBA” to “Engineering” in this article, I think its equally applicable!

Adieu..
CeeVee...