Reinvigorating, Redefining, Reinventing Management Education in India

Viresh Mathur Balkrishna Industries limited, Mumbai vpmathur@bkt-tires.com Kavaldeep Dixit International School of Informatics and Management, Jaipur kavaldixit@yahoo.com Tanjul Saxena Institute of Health Management Research, Jaipur tanjulsaxena@yahoo.com
Selective subjects enjoy timeless discussion, debate, deliberation as well as continuous evolvement, conceptualization and theoritisation. Management Education, by virtue of its ever evolving nature and uniqueness in terms of feeding to and being fed by the real life practices well qualifies on these eternal parameters. The fast changing world of management today is characterized by technology transforming at the speed of light, well time-honored practices under surveillance, new rules of game losing relevance even before they are established and the human dimension compelled by never - before-sense-of-urgency. Management Institutes should have sustainable good practices in governance and leadership, research, teaching, learning, evaluation and recruitment to achieve academic and placement excellence. Innovative pedagogy, qualified and experienced faculty, industry institute partnerships, industry mentors and state of the art fully integrated campus, have to be effectively coordinated for optimum results. There is need to professionalize management education, reinvigorate its purpose, enhance institutions accountability, re-attach theory to practice, think beyond case studies and have niche courses. With opening of more IIMs need arises to retain and sustain its brand equity.

1. Introduction
Management education in India is today at cross roads with humungous demand for MBA degree on one hand and dearth of good B-schools at the other. There are currently, over 1400 Business schools nation-wide churning out over 70,000 MBAs each year. MBA programme run by reputed B-school aims to provide the learners a plethora of skills, abilities and knowledge that empowers them to serve organizations with a high degree of professional competence. But, barring handful premium institutions most of the management institutions have failed to impart quality business education. Effective functioning of newly opened IIMs and IITs will be a daunting task considering limitations. According to a study conducted by University Grants Commission, 90 percent of the graduates passing out from Indian Universities are unemployable. Similarly, as per AICTE, 73percent of management graduates are not worth employing. Management education is viewed as the diligent application of specialized knowledge for the resolution of complex problems of great social consequence.The purpose of MBA degree is as follows: To study the macro & micro contexts, within which business organizations must operate. To prepare for a lifelong career in business management acquiring skills and experience to merge effective strategies with opportunities. To develop self-confidence and the ability to act wisely and decisively. To seek continuous improvement in individual learning skills and personal development and to work with confidence and originality so as to make a meaningful contribution to society. Thus, Management Education in India needs to have multi-fold Agenda: Contribute to National development and international recognition Foster Global competencies among future managers Develop as centers of excellence Inculcate values and sense of social responsibility among students Enrich students with emotional and intellectual intelligence Focus on entrepreneurial orientation among students Be more aligned to corporate requirements

2. Review of Literature on Management Education

Masters of Business Administration (MBA) originated in the United States at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the year 1881. The oldest Business School in the United States is at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, founded in 1900. The Graduate School of Business at Harvard University was not founded until 1908. The purpose of these early programs was to provide management training for individuals who already possessed traditional undergraduate degrees. Thus the origins of the MBA lie firmly in the academic tradition of postgraduate university degrees. The first MBA programs in Europe were started in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. As the US model MBA developed in the late 19th and early 20th century its legitimacy as a post-graduate degree and particularly the significant differences between expectations by students and actual outcomes as seen by their future employers has been controversial.

60

Eighth AIMS International Conference on Management

Business schools are beginning to move towards accepting the broader responsibilities of management in society. As one notable example, more than two hundred business schools from around the world have voluntarily endorsed the Principles of Responsible Management Education, a movement sponsored by the United Nations that promotes a view of business as contributing to a "sustainable and inclusive global economy". The mission of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative is to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally. The Six Principles are: Principle 1: To develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy. Principle 2: To incorporate into academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact. Principle 3: To create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership. Principle 4: To engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our understanding about the role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value. Principle 5: To interact with managers of business corporations to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges. Principle 6: To facilitate and support dialog and debate among educators, business, government, consumers, media, civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability. On the same lines in the manual for Self-study-Affiliated/Constituent Colleges issued by National Accreditation and assessment Council have identified the following core values for its accreditation framework for Higher Education Institutions: Contribute to National Development Foster Global Competencies among future managers Develop as centers of excellence Inculcating desirable value system among students Promoting the use of technology Prof. UK Ashoke Rao, (2009) Dean, IFIM Business School, Bangalore discusses about leveraging autonomy in B-schools to script success. Professor Rao is of the opinion that the grant of autonomy to a B-school has twin objectives: One-To build a class of outstanding, sensitive and caring professionals with a human touch. Two-To translate the vision of the B-School by playing a supportive and an enabling role rather than as an overpowering controller. Dr D. Dhanapal, (2009) Director, Sona School of Management opines that higher education institution including B-school is supposed to be strong in three areas of educationKnowledge creation, dissemination and application. Charles Gragg's famous article, "Because Wisdom Can't Be Told," argued that business cases promote independent thinking, as students inductively reason through the facts of a "real" case and gain valuable experience with the "real" business world. Rather than being "told" a preferred action alternative by the instructor, students compete to offer the most compelling view of appropriate managerial action. Barry Mitnick (2009), a professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business feels the classical case method suffers from severe limitations, at least as the primary way to deliver a course. Rita Gunther McGrath (2009), a professor of management at Columbia Business School, USA, is of the opinion that Business schools could -- and should -- play a terrific role in raising the standard of management. By doing this, they can help dig way out of the current crisis, create more globally competitive organizations and ultimately provide jobs and economic growth that all desire. In her view to do that more effectively, academics should stop playing intellectual one-up-man-ship games with each other, and pay attention to what's happening in the real world. Stacy Schmidt, Ed.D. - California State University, Bakersfield and David Ralph, Ph.D. Pepperdine University have discussed the decline in enrollment for MBA programs across the United States which demands a closer look at the curriculum of these programs. According to Jennifer Merritt (2005), applicants to Business Weeks Top 30 MBA programs have dropped almost 30% overall. Merritt found that business schools are to blame for corporate misconduct. In addition tuition fee has been soaring while salaries for MBA graduates has stagnated causing the loans accrued by MBA students to be as nearly as much as their base salary. Furthermore, managers are starting to promote from within based on performance and less on degrees possessed. Commenting about business schools in particular, Schoemaker (2008) notes that the traditional paradigm is not adequate for addressing changes in todays society. In more general terms, a special commission appointed by the U.S. Department of Education (2008) concluded that U.S. higher education needs to improve in dramatic ways; that it is time to be frank; and that [education leaders] must not be blind to the less than inspiring realities of postsecondary education in the country. Specifically related to technology and high education, Fathi & Wilson highlighted, Perhaps the largest determinant of change across higher education is the advent of new and emergent technologies. The Internet, and all other forms of electronically mediated learning, continue to thrive across all levels of higher education, and are increasing on a daily basis. This sentiment was echoed by other experts in the field (Walkemeyer; Herrity; Rohm; Kennedy; personal communication, September 2009). One question the experts were asked to consider for evaluation was: What are the top 2 or 3 trends driving the future of the higher education sector? Walkemeyer, Herrity, Rohm, and Kennedy were all quick to point out technological advances in the telecommunication industry (personal communication) as a significant trend in the external environment. Due to the advances in Internet and virtual classroom technologies Rohm and Walkemeyer predicted an increased decentralization from brick and mortar schools to more localized education through online programs (personal communication, September 2009).

Mathur, Dixit, Saxena

61

3. Accreditation
Business schools may be accredited by external bodies certifying to stakeholders an independent view of quality, and indicating that the school's educational curriculum meets specific quality standards. The three main accrediting bodies in the USA are Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which accredits research universities, the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), which accredits universities and colleges, and the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE), all of which also accredit schools outside USA. The AACSB and the ACBSP are accredited in the United States by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

Accreditation agencies outside the United States include the Association of MBAs (AMBA), a UK based organization that accredits MBA, DBA and MBM programs worldwide, the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa, the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) for mostly European and Asian schools, and the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA) in Europe. Accreditation standards are not uniform in Europe. Some countries have legal requirements for accreditation (e.g. most German states), while in some there is a legal requirement only for universities of a certain type (e.g. Austria), and others have no accreditation law at all. Even where there is no legal requirement, many business schools are accredited by independent bodies voluntarily to ensure quality standards. There are many reasons for the wide differences in the quality of management education in different institutes in India. We do have an apex body - the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), that is responsible for setting the basic framework, guidelines and standards for quality of business education, there are however many problems when it comes to implementation of these standards by MBA colleges and these problems undermine the effectiveness of these standards. It is important that AICTE brings in more stringent norms to ensure opening of quality focused B-schools. The Knowledge Commission had questioned the relevance of too many government bodies in higher education sector. It had suggested abolition of UGC, AICTE and their replacement by single, independent regulatory body. The Yashpal Committee also expressed similar views. More autonomy should be given to B-schools and Indian education sector should open doors to foreign Universities. The national accreditation of NBA and NAAC are the only two certification agencies in India for the higher education. No separate Bschool accreditation system is in place. Indian B-schools need to go in for International accreditation along with ISO certification to ensure quality.

4. Issues and Challenges

Quality of management education in India is a matter of serious concern among academicians and corporates. Proliferation of institutions since 1990s has accentuated the problem. Institutions today over-promise but under-deliver. The gap between industrys expectations and delivery from the Management institutions is widening, posing big challenge to B-schools in future. The increasingly competitive global economic environment will in future continue to bring in set of challenges like: Creation of new standards of institutional governance; Formulation of an academic delivery system that will have depth to create foresighted entrepreneurs and visionary global leaders; Designing of curriculum which could incorporate passion for learning, imbibing of conceptual skills with scope for experimentation and implementation in real life situations; Integration of best-in class management & ethical practices into academic offering; Attraction and retention of quality faculty; Leveraging of inter-institute and industry-Institute partnerships; International accreditation to bring in systems and checks to maintain quality; Focus on research as a key component of management education; Enhancing brand appeal of B-schools in India, to attract foreign students. There are hundreds of management institutions in the country where the degrees are not worth the paper they are written on. On the other hand there are at least 500 blue chip companies in India desperate for talent. In order to install quality in management education in India, MBA institutions / universities in the country have to focus on the following issues: Quality of incumbents Quality of faculty State-of-the-art Infrastructure development Accountability and National/International accreditation Quality research & consultancy

62

Eighth AIMS International Conference on Management

5. Strategies for Success

The fast changing business landscape and consequential environmental challenges poses various dilemmas along with potential to consider possibilities of engagements like, academia-academia partnerships, academia-corporate alliances, international accreditation, etc. Some strategies which can reinvigorate, redefine, reinvent management education in India in 2020 are: Curricular Reforms There is requirement of radical curricular reforms so that curriculum contents align with the emerging National and International trends. In selected B-schools, zero based budgeting approach is followed for offering courses wherein each year, the validity of every course is examined and normally 20% new courses are included to substitute obsolete courses. Extension of time frame of the duration of the programme can be considered with the third year focusing on parttime internship in the industry along with class interaction, through this students can bring forth everyday discussions on the table for everyone to contemplate upon and devise constructive solutions. In the formulation, review and redesign of curriculum feedback from academic peers, recruiters, alumni and other stakeholders should be incorporated. Curriculum needs to be updated on a continuous basis with focus on practical experience. Curriculum should have enough scope to allow students to look beyond books and think out of the box. Institutions should focus on launching sector-wise niche courses like, MBA in FMCG sector, MBA in Automobiles, etc. Many organizations like Reliance, Ranbaxy, ICICI, Gati and Pantaloon has extended their support to B-schools when they started sector specific management programs like, MBA in Banking, Insurance, Retail etc. Institutions can also offer pioneering tailor-made industry oriented programs along with MBA degree. Sustainable curricular practices are required to be in place for achieving academic excellence. Curriculum Delivery Mechanisms In the institutes experiential approaches should gain greater acceptance over predominantly teacher-centric methodologies. Institutions have to focus on learning and doing methodology where students are encouraged to showcase the application of what they have learnt through a host of activities. Due to advent of Internet and virtual classroom technologies brick and mortar B-schools have to deliver more localized education through online programs The emphasis of management education should not only be on involving the students in gaining knowledge but also helping them relate concepts and theories to business requirements. Students should be exposed to conceptual skills with ample opportunities to apply concepts to real business situations. Institutes need to work on development of the IQ and EQ level of students. Institutions need to work on making students emotionally tough with effective time, stress and change management skills. Besides imparting academic knowledge Institutions need to work on building the right attitude among students to have team working spirit and respect for the organizations culture they choose to serve. Institutes will have to think beyond case-study method of teaching to involving students on real life projects. Institutions need to teach students minimum two foreign languages to cope up with globalization. The best case in this regard is China which is focusing on English speaking and by 2015 it will have the highest English speaking population. To facilitate a complete professional grooming of the students the Wi-Fi campus and e-class rooms need to be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. ICT tools should be effectively utilized. To provide competitive edge to students institutes have to have full-fledged career-oriented vocational programmes. According to Wikipedia, soft skills refer to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, ability with language, personal habits, friendliness and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. Soft skills complement hard skills so to have all-round accomplished personalities an exclusive Communication & soft skills course need to be designed with an objective to acquaint the students with key aspects of personality development. Institutes should aim at mini-theatres, FM-Radio Station on-campus with the purpose of edutainment as well as to train students in multifarious activities. Healthy living, meditation sessions, yoga practices and Art of Living sessions should be an integral part of curriculum. Quality of Faculty Institutions need to focus on qualitative data rather than quantitative data like, an institution may have 16 faculty but what is more relevant is their National & International exposure, quality publications, consultancy & research record, etc. Faculty need to focus on knowledge creation and assimilation through conceptualizing ideas, developing feasible propositions and conducting active research. Faculty has to inculcate among students attributes of reasoning, reflection, contemplation along with developing an urge for organic growth. Faculty should focus on disseminating knowledge through effective teaching wherein, students comprehend and imbibe the concepts without mugging them. Faculty should impart learning in an interesting and innovative manner and should be open to experimentation.

Mathur, Dixit, Saxena

63

Intellectual capital can be enhanced by innovativeness in teaching andragogy. Faculty need to work on expertise in specific sector in order to facilitate consultancy. The institutes must have core faculty in main areas of management. Faculty should meet at least one of the three criteria requirements, namely - consultancy experience, research experience in management or knowledge of the latest management trends. Faculty should focus on quality research publications and participation in academic forum. International experience is must in todays globalized scenario and with most institutions opening their branches outside India; it becomes all the more relevant for faculty to have international exposure. A right balance is required between permanent and visiting faculty. Visiting faculty is must for developing a symbiotic relationship between academic knowledge and practice but at the same time permanent facultys contribution in enriching the academic environment of the institution cannot be ruled out. There has to be a perfect blend of internal faculty, senior corporate executives and eminent professors, from India and abroad, as visiting faculty.

Research & Consultancy Quality research outcome should be a focal point which should benefit society and corporates. Live research projects need to be undertaken by the student faculty dyads on behalf of the companies. Such innovative collaborative arrangements are beginning to take realistic grounds already. Many a progressive organizations (specifically Pharmaceutical Industry Companies) are approached by the Institutes and encourage live projects on a quid-pro-quo- favour of offering placements to the qualifying candidates. Faculty also needs to pro actively step out and seek corporate assignments and then transfer their learnings in writing and in the class room. In-house journals by institutions are not important but quality contributions by experts to make the journal a refereed one is more significant. Indian institutions in collaboration or individually should come up with a quality journal of Harvard Business Review repute. Theoretical and practical findings of research have to be disseminated through various media. Expertise and specific knowledge base of faculty is a major input for effective consultancy. Entrepreneurial Orientation Institutions should aim at making Genius out of Idiots (Inspiration- Blockbuster movie 3 idiots) by tapping their untapped risk-taking abilities. Students during their programme duration should come up with entrepreneurial ideas, try them out at a small scale, package them and market them. Who knows how many Kishore Biyani and Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel are in making? Thinking out of the box is more required today than ever before. Institutions should foster spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in students by organizing relevant BusinessPlan contests and organizing sessions of experts from various potential sectors to embed spirit of entrepreneurship. Institutions need to cultivate entrepreneurial orientation in students through specially designed programmes. There is need to build institutional capacity for world-class entrepreneurship programmes in order to generate more employment for the nation. Attendance & Evaluation Institutes should not have attendance monitoring systems but instead a conducive learning environment where learners are self motivated with focus on optimum utilization of academic, infrastructure and learning resources. In selected management schools in US, for assigning weight-age to each course cafeteria approach is followed wherein student select courses of his/her choice to accumulate certain given number of credits. The same approach with some modifications can be tried out in India. Evaluation procedures should be fair and transparent so that the students know their scores and the basis of scores. Evaluation sheets should be shown in the class with five best booklets displayed in the library. The incumbents should focus more on knowledge gaining rather than scoring marks. Social Connect Programmes Institutions have to be responsive to the community needs and conduct socially relevant programmes. Students are not only corporate ambassadors but also social messengers so to sensitize them on community issues; they should be actively involved in NSS and Extension activities. Students need to be encouraged to be members of Social Bodies for organizing social campaigns and spreading social messages. For effective corporate governance in the long run students have to be oriented towards Corporate Social Responsibility in the early years. Leadership & Governance The vision and mission of the institution should inspire and guide the management and staff to efficiently carry out the institutional process. The institutional leadership should provide clear vision and the organizational hierarchical structure should be conducive for effective administration, internal co-ordination and monitoring. Efficient management and retention of human resources should be given prime importance. Management should pay the faculty as per latest pay commission norms and if feasible at par with their industry counter-parts.

64

Eighth AIMS International Conference on Management

The institutions governance should be based on democratic, participative, value-oriented and humanitarian principle. The institutions should be effective in resource mobilization and planning development strategies and have visionary Governing Board comprising of senior academicians, illustrious industrialists and distinguished bureaucrats. The best practices that ensure participation and transparency like, decentralization and delegation, bottom-up planning, appropriate functioning of various statutory, non-statutory and adhoc committees, departmentalization of curricular and co-curricular activities have to be strategically conducted. Fair and expeditious grievance redressal mechanisms have to be in place for the benefit of one and all. Prudent financial management for judicious allocation and effective utilization of funds by proper budgeting system and organized auditing procedures is required for financial accountability.

Academia-Industry Partnerships B-schools need to connect with corporate to understand the various dimensions of building high performers and leaders. Institutions in collaboration with State-run government bodies can plan niche courses. For e.g. Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar which has been promoted with the initiative of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd., is preparing managerial manpower for the oil & gas sector with School of Petroleum Management, Petroleum Technology, Solar Energy, Nuclear Energy, etc. Business organizations can contribute significantly in enriching academic environment of B-schools by each industry adopting a B-school and provide training to faculty in best industry practices. Institutions in turn, can take up significant problems of the Industry to do research and come up with valuable recommendations. Institutions should aim to conduct industry specific courses in collaboration with corporates like, MBA in Insurance in tie-up with ICICI Prudential Life-Insurance, wherein, after the course few students are absorbed by the company. It will be a mutually beneficial relationship. In the specialization areas the industry can take up the responsibility of training the students in their core competency. Most institutions have faculty as student mentors but institutions should have industry mentors along with faculty mentors who from time to time acquaint the student with the nitty-gritty of the corporate world. International Affiliations To churn out truly Global Managers institutions should enter into agreements with reputed universities abroad. For global placements, Faculty exchange, student exchange etc affiliations are must. Institutions like, corporates should expand their campuses from National to international Borders. Adoption of best practices of west and broadening of knowledge horizon can happen with foreign tie-ups.

6. Future of Management Education

Management education sector is in need of reforms. Institutions need to work continuously with young aspirants to prepare them for imperative challenges, to learn to deliver in competitive ecosystems and to think out of the box to deliver solutions for businesses of tomorrow. The Mission of the Institutions in future should be: To impart education that enables students to acquire the desired skills and abilities necessary to answer the challenges of the modern world due to technological advancements. As Indian companies acquire foreign firms and have international collaborations it becomes imperative for B-schools to focus their efforts on grooming students to become global managers. To create an environment of intellectual stimulus, scientific orientation and social responsibility. To inculcate sprit of enquiry, self expression and independent judgment in the students and staff. To cherish Indian value system with focus on the Indian culture, traditions and heritage, imbibing the best of the West at the same time. To understand and appreciate human differences in culture, gender and race. To cultivate aesthetic sensibility and moral values in society at large, leading to the strengthening of the spirit of application of knowledge towards the National growth. Independent, authentic and detailed evaluation undertaken by international accreditation agencies like, AMBA, AACSB or EQUIS is the need of the hour. Institutions should undergo ISO certification to accredit quality and excellence measures. National and International accreditation compels institution to tap their priority areas and aids in strategizing as per the environmental needs.

7. Scope for Further Research

Management education is highly relevant in todays ever-evolving industry scenario, with shorter product life, innovative technological developments, enhanced competition, media proliferation and changing consumer preferences. Managing such situation calls for dexterity in overcoming challenges, value-based management and highest levels of business entrepreneurship. Further emerging economies like India, China, Brazil and Russia offers huge opportunity for reinvigorating management education which is possible by researching on the following: Delivery of curricular and extra-curricular processes, which comprehend the needs of the practitioner, as well as the learner. Development of contextual and dynamic areas of specialization keeping internationalization in mind.

Mathur, Dixit, Saxena

65

Devising strategies to focus on continual intellectual capital development. Designing ways to create strong research base. Working on strong industry interface and corporate linkages.

8. Conclusions
Remembering words of Napoleon Concentration of efforts and habit of working hard with a definite future aim are the two essential factors in success which are always found together, one leads to other Management education by institutions of higher learning should not be treated as a qualification that can be taught, but rather a value addition which empowers ordinary individuals to undertake extraordinary challenges and implement effective strategies to overcome the same. There is need for corporatization and professionalization of management education which is intensive, fast-track and fine tuned to the requirements of changing times. To be globally responsive and socially conscious, institutions have to be committed to innovation and creativity by developing and disseminating knowledge and practice for learning and resource use optimization. B-schools have to aim for optimal blend of value based growth and future preparedness, leading to prosperity of the society and nation at large.

9. References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School, The Poor as a Market, Forbes India, Volume 2, Issue 11, June 4, 2010 pp 106-107. Indias Best Business Schools Directory-2009, Dalal Street. http://www.unprme.org/the-6-principles/index.php. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Business_Administration. http://hubpages.com/hub/External-Factors-That-Could-Impact-American-Higher-Education. www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards. How To Fix Business Schools June 28, 2009http://blogs.hbr.org/how-to-fix-business-schools/2009/04/dont-blame-thebusiness-school.html.