When asked why they did not want to come back to their institute to teach, all the students felt they would have to weigh the opportunity cost of doing so a term that the author found derogatory and in almost all cases, the answer was an unequivocal no. After all, who would want to give up a starting salary of Rs 3.5 lakh a year to start life as an assistant professor at Rs 14,000 per month? The authors contention is simple: if students from IIMs dont want to come back and teach at their alma mater, shouldnt the IIMs be shut down?
It is easy to shift all the blame on to students. Instead, have premier institutions like IIMs done enough to create the right environment which attracts the best talent to academics? The answer is sadly, no. Yet, why is it that lecturerships in private management schools in the US are still coveted and considered highly prestigious?
Given the rapid mushrooming of management institutes across the country, this debate on the quality of Indian management education hasnt come a day too soon. But very often, during such debates, one simple fact tends to get ignored. As Drucker affirmed years back, management is a practice and an applied science. Therefore, management education, too, needs large doses of practicality. It cannot be a haven for academic recluses.
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Thus, Harvard professors may not get the same salaries as their corporate contemporaries, but their impact on management thinking is beyond dispute. The backbone of the US model is the dual role envisaged for management teachers who double up as consultants to industry. This ensures that professors retain a sharp industry perspective which is vital to prevent management education from becoming bookish. Today, it is no sheer coincidence that the corporatisation of B-schools is almost complete in the US. Over 40 deans of the top US B-Schools are not traditional academics, rather industry stalwarts who now want to advance business and management thinking.
But havent the IIMs picked on the same US model? So, why are they lagging behind in developing a high quality pool of instructors? There is little doubt that management curriculum and teaching methods have evolved over the years. Yet even today teaching jobs rarely figure on IIM graduates consideration set at placement time.
There is little purpose in berating students for their lack of compassion and moaning over the general decline in values. Instead, it is time that the IIMs concentrated on improving career opportunities in management education. Theres no other way to stem the tide. If a top-flight student settles for a career with McKinsey, it isnt just because of the Rs 6.25 lakh a year starting salary. With it comes an opportunity to work with the best minds, sufficient avenues to train and develop. How many IIMs offer the same opportunity?
Heres a good indicator of the strength of the faculty: If they were to go into the corporate world, how many management instructors would find work opportunities with ease? Compare that with the number of professors who cross over to the corporate world in the West. The supposed lack of mobility is bound to weigh heavily on the minds of those few IIM graduates, whove even mulled over a career in academics. Combine that with the poor compensation structure and the low regard that society has for those in academics, and youve effectively scorched all those contemplated career moves. Besides, if IIM professors were accorded the same degree of respect in society and industry, that itself would have had a powerful demonstration effect on students.
Recommending solutions is odious there arent any simple ones. But unless premier institutes like the IIMs put their house in order, the rot is likely to get worse. A very senior industry professional and an IIM post-graduate, who recently returned from a teaching stint at her alma mater, bemoaned the fact that the curriculum in her area of specialisation had simply not been attuned to new developments, since she left the institute 15 years back. The blame, she said, was entirely the core facultys, which had failed to keep pace with advancements in the field and evolve newer teaching methods. That, I felt, was a tragic comment on the most premier management institute in the country.
But if management education has to move forward, Indian organisations themselves must take more interest in learning. Much of the somnolence in management education is attributable to the fact that industry has shown little interest in fostering an environment of learning in their own organisations. Fortunately now, with the pace of competition escalating, Indian organisations are realising that they need to send back more and more managers back to school. That is the single ray of hope for B-schools to strengthen the relevance of their programmes.
To bring the same energy and vibrancy in our management campuses, it is important that the institutes are continually responsive to market forces and market needs. The best model for Indian management institutes is to maintain a fine balance between academics and consultancy, executive development and research practice, rather than retreat into a self-imposed cocoon. Blaming students for shunning what they see as a lesser and unexciting career opportunity is specious logic.