'B-school education is too broadbased'

WHAT THEY DON'T TEACH YOU AT B-SCHOOL

Alok Shanker

The biggest drawback of an MBA is that it is pan-industry in its outlook. A business education course does not factor in the different challenges presented by different industries.

Most MBA courses are too broadbased to effectively prepare their students for the intense competition in today's business environment "" each industry requires a different skill set, but the typical MBA programme does not equip you adequately to meet industry- or sector-specific demands.

Of course, you now hear of several companies that are designing their own management education programmes. As an effort to make the white collar workforce more relevant to the needs of a sector, it is commendable. But perhaps still more can be done to help bridge the gap between what is taught and what is required.

The other issue most B-schools overlook is working in a team. To be fair, all management institutes emphasise the importance of being a team player. But what they teach and how that learning actually manifests itself in corporate corridors are two different things.

In the "real world", the roles of a leader and a team are not always cut and dried. Some times, the leader is at the forefront of the action; on other occasions, he may decide to set the tone and then sit back, while the team takes the lead.

B-schools instruct you in neither the existence of such scenarios nor how to deal with them. Other important issues of dealing with and working with teams "" how to interact with and within a team, how to motivate your team members "" are also inadequately addressed.

Also, management students are taught extensively about the importance of strategy. What they are not taught, however, is how to implement a strategy and make sure an idea goes the planned way. That's important: after all, implementation accounts for about 80 per cent of job delivery. But, somewhere along the line, it gets short shrift.

Alok Shanker is managing director, Synovate India. He graduated in management from Rajasthan University (1980) and the University of Antwerp, Belgium (1982).