India is
country of over 1.3 billion people, second largest with
highest demographic advantage. India is third largest economy in the world
after China and USA and an important player in G20. It is a country of diversity in many respects
like language, life style, economy, culture… Now it is celebrating ‘25 years of liberalization’ during
which GDP and per capita income has grown in many folds. About 30 million
students have been enrolled to higher education system.
Recently I was
talking to faculty members of a PU College; there I raised questions by showing
pictures of an anchored boat and boat without compass. The message here is a
boat is safe when anchored but not desirable and a boat is motion but directionless
in absence of compass. The boat is meant
for sailing but captain of the boat should have the compass to guide the boat
towards expected destination. Similarly every individual should be progressive.
Let our dreams (vision) set the direction and passion drive to the
destination. Passion towards realizing
the dreams must be persistent. This is applicable to students at all level and
disciplines and more specific to post graduation. We are witnessing the
hardship taken by the candidates appearing for CAT, GATE and the like to get
into a particular institute and specializations. The similar heat must be there
with aspirants of PG programs at different levels.
Passion must drive the students to a particular program
otherwise a “study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing
that it takes in.” (Leonardo da Vinci). Similarly a balloon can go up in any given
environment only when it filled with gas to certain level of pressure otherwise
it will not take off (excess pressure burst the balloon). Similarly whatever
may be environment, the individual’s competency and capability will make
her/him to fly high in career. This is the basic of science and hard fact of
life.
Now it is time
of admission to PG programs. Master of Business Administration (MBA) is one
among the most sought program. It is an interdisciplinary program catering to
all sectors (agriculture, manufacturing and service) and levels,
entrepreneurship and NGOs as well. Every
entity needs to be managed efficiently and effectively. It requires the human
resource equipped with skills to manage them. The profession like engineering,
paramedical, agriculture etc. are sector specific, where as management is for
all sectors. If there is slowdown in one sector, there will be boom in
other. The demand for the people with
management skills and knowledge is always there and is consistent. Also the scope for career advancement is very
high due to the knowledge across the functionalities
like HR, Marketing, Finance and Operations.
At the same time it is not bed of roses, has intrinsic challenges to
succeed. David M. Burns says “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be
wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move
forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism”.
So pursuit for success is critical and continuous.
At
this juncture, India is considered as the fastest growing in slowing (global)
economy. The new initiatives of government of India like focus on Agriculture,
Make in India, Digital India etc. and
good monsoon are the good signs of development. Further youths are orienting towards
entrepreneurship hence start up boom.
The IT companies see a big jump
in campus offers acceptance as jobs shrink with each passing year. Banks are also aggressively
recruiting. On the contrary, downsizing, right sizing and
delayed joining are happening in many places. . ET (ET June 10, 2016) reports
that India Inc. faces a dearth of talent at the middle
management level across sectors and locations that could derail the entire
country's growth prospects, a survey of 350 CXOs and business heads in Mumbai,
Bengaluru and Delhi has revealed. If
one door of opportunity closes, other definitely opens, even can create a new
door through start ups. In this scenario India is facing challenges such as skill gaps, retention of high potential employees, talent
development, communication, collaboration, leading teams and execution skills.
Innovation and strategic thinking is the most important skill gap to be
addressed nationally ((ET,
Jun 10, 2016). On one side demand for people
persists and on the other side capacity lacks, it implies that capable ones always
have immense opportunities. Task in front of MBA aspirants is to build capacity
in terms Attitude, Skills and Knowledge to combat with the said challenges. The
fundamentals to capacity building are: Hard work, Discipline, Communication,
Team work and Leadership. These in turn develop right Attitude, Skills and
Knowledge to sustain and grow in career (shown in Figure).
The aspiring students should die hard to imbibe
the bottom layer attributes. To develop these attributes, others can only guide
or assist but individual has to make deliberate attempt and convert attributes
as character. This will result into middle level which is required to build
career. The middle level includes
Attitude, Skills and Knowledge, can automatically build the top level. There is no short cut for top level. Hence get, set ready for first level.
MBA is a program which has the
scope for creating the
platform for middle level. Students who are joining B-Schools should prepare
their heart and soul to fit in middle level. They must choose B-School which is
most conducive and striving to help to students to attain middle level. The
faculty members, Infrastructure, library and laboratory facilities are the
facilitators for the students attainment. The program structure and pedagogy
must act like a compass of a boat. Students must come out of conventional
teaching learning process.
“Spoon feeding in the long
run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”(E.M. Forster). Self study and
experiential learning are the need of the hour.
The students should assess contributing factors for middle
level and decide the appropriate school for next two years their journey to
attain top level. The most common
question from the enquiries is how is placement? It is difficult to answer this
question because: i. Economy ii. Rapport of the school and iii. Students’ competency.
Alumni and faculty members are the ambassadors of the school. Faculty members’ credentials and reputation in academia, industry
and society are feathers to the rapport of the school. Since students are the largest stakeholders
in B-schools, their commitment to bottom level will be one solution to all
challenges and issues. To realize your dream, “A
STEP FORWARD TOWARDS A BETTER CAREER” through an MBA from reputed B-School.
