At a B-school gathering recently in New
Delhi, a very well-known corporate leader pointed out that if people are under
the impression that students passing out from the IITs and IIMs are going to
build the nation, they are highly mistaken. Of course, these young learners
represent the cream of our student community, but that’s not real India? A
handful of these professionals, who stay back after all the brain drain is
over, are hardly enough to manage all the enterprises we have? And, that’s
precisely why so many B-schools have come up in the last five years or so? The
nation needs more professionals, not just degree-holders, but those who will
contribute to its growth.
Every year the IITs and IIMs are churning out
intellectuals who are good at strategy and planning, but the actual
implementation is done by management trainees and executives who are fresh out
of the more than 800 odd business schools that have emerged all over the
country. Organizations are constantly searching for an army of salespeople who
can roam the streets and sell products and services. The demand is so huge that
today’s Rocket Singhs are hopping from one job to the other, bargaining for
more and more lucrative packages. Naturally, these young boys and girls are not
too concerned about employment? Rather, they are more worried about their
employability – the ability to switch jobs comfortably.
When the so-called recession hit us two years
back, companies used it as an excuse to put their hiring processes on hold.
Those in the banking sector, who were earlier known as the biggest recruiters
in B-schools, stopped hiring in bulk from these institutions. Things have
started improving, but the market clearly demonstrates that jobs are not
long-lasting. That’s because targets are so unrealistic that many employees
leave within the first one year of joining. The stress is too much for them to
bear.
Coming back to real India, most of these
B-schools have boys and girls who are neither born nor brought up in metros.
But when they migrate to places like Delhi and Bangalore, looking for an
opportunity to study in a professional institution, they probably don’t realize
it that things are not going to be very smooth. Their dreams go for a toss when
they realize that the plush air-conditioned offices in the heart of the cities
are not meant for them. Welcome, my dear Rocket Singh, to the hard Indian
market reality.
In such a scenario, there are two questions
raised. One, what should a fresh MBA expect from the employment scenario? Two,
how should Management teachers train their students to face the tough
competitive work environment? To begin with, MBA aspirants must realize that
besides sheer hard work, organizations expect them to be in sync with Indian socio-economic
and cultural realities because Indian customers are starkly different from
their global counterparts. Clearly linked to this is the answer to the second
question. Management teachers must realize that the industry is looking for
only skilled people – those who can effectively merge theory with practice. So
if a firm is hiring a salesperson, it does so on the basis of what the
candidate can do rather than what he or she has picked up from his /her books
and lectures. In other words, companies are looking for high achievers who can
sweat it out in the fields rather than armchair intellectuals who can simply
attend boardroom meetings. If that is the scenario, are these 800 odd
institutions doing anything to enhance the skills of their students?
It’s indeed an irony that while on one hand,
companies are finding it difficult to get good skilled professionals, and on
the other hand, although the recession seems to be over, bulk hirings have
completely stopped. Even banks and insurance companies are not doing it.
Organizations in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) category are hardly
looking at fresh graduates. And, every time a company comes into a campus, all
it seems to be interested in is to get in as many good salespeople as possible.
Mainstream Finance or HR jobs are hardly available. Every company is looking
for Rocket Singhs who are honest, dedicated and hard-working. So if Management
teachers are not training their students to hard sell, they are probably not
showing them the mirror.
Institutions that have understood the current
employment scenario are utilizing their resources for skills-development. The
more enterprising ones are looking at innovation, creativity and
entrepreneurship more seriously. That’s because to beat the competition, one
must come up with something different which is possible only through
innovations and creativity. And, those who have the passion have the option of
being their own boss. Entrepreneurship is, in fact, the key to our future. If
Management teachers can motivate even a fraction of their students to start
their own ventures, they will be making a great contribution to the development
of the nation.
All said and done, in the present employment
scenario, students and teachers must together try and make a difference. For
this, both have to look out of the box. Last year, when the Indian Institute of
Rural Management (IRMA) got its students placed faster that those at IIM
Ahmedabad, it revealed a lot about the future. It told us in clear-cut terms
that the niche sector is here to stay. Earlier unexplored areas like social
sector management, corporate social responsibility and rural marketing will
need good professionals to manage them effectively. Similarly, the expanding
healthcare and education sector are also going to require competent MBAs. For
all these professions, besides managerial skills, professionals need to be
socially-sensitive. Hence, B-schools will have to adopt a new curriculum that
will incorporate academic elements from humanities, social sciences, social
entrepreneurship and cultural studies, including theatre and literature.
Every one of us has the right to be properly
employed. But for that we must plan properly. Teachers have a great role to
play in this. Through continuous mentoring and counselling, students have to be
shown the mirror and then trained to take up a fruitful career. Otherwise, we
will soon be a nation of burnt-out individuals. We will lose the joys of
enjoying life. Surely, we don’t want that.
