The Hindu Business Line : A mixed bag

Everybody agrees there is need for more interaction between B-schools and industry. But what about issues like subsidy and social responsibility? Read on...

Ramanujam Sridhar and Saroj Sridhar

Getting bracketed as the most sought after talent in the corporate world isno mean achievement. But how do MBAs from premier institutes rate themselves and to what extent do they owe their success to their alma mater? How do they cope with the demands of the course? Are they what they are because of the MBA tag they carry, or because of the special skills or training they have? Business Line talked to IIM graduates, and discovered a mixed bag of views and emotions.

Ramesh Venkateswaran, a graduate from IIM, Bangalore, says the two-year course opened up many vistas for him... both in the area of professional knowledge and in terms of his own capabilities.

"There is a lot of integration in your personality, it leads you to structured and analytical thinking," he says.

Ramesh worked in the industry before setting up his consultancy firm, Almak Consultants. He consults in the area of customer service and marketing strategy.

Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, BrandComm, a brand consultancy firm, concurs with this view. "The biggest thing about an MBA is the transformation you undergo. Engineering or commerce is just an academic course. Both he and his wife Saroj Sridhar, who is COO, Feedback, a market research firm, are alumni of IIM, Bangalore.

This is what Saroj has to say of her experience, "The course improved my analytical skills, and therefore I became more application oriented. I also got a good business perspective."

But you still cannot shrug away the basics, she insists. "The basics are still useful. But a basic degree only gives you a macro level view of the people, while here you get a micro level view." She gained a lot of confidence during the two-year stay at the institute.

"You realise that not voicing your opinion means not getting anything done. Your inadequacies disappear during the period."

Sridhar points out to another facet of the course. "When there are 60 bright people in the class, naturally you raise the bar for your performance. This is in terms of competition."

Ramesh says while MBAs tend to have higher expectations after the course, there is a flip side to it too. "I tend to believe that our tolerance levels for others come down. This is not a generalisation, but I have seen it happening in some young graduates from the IIMs."

People who have worked in the corporate sector prior to the course do not put on airs as much as the freshers do, is the general feeling.

In agreement, Saroj says, "Yes sometimes you do feel you have arrived in life after the MBA degree."

But her perspective on the course is different because when she signed up for the course nearly 20 years ago, there were hardly any women in the institute. "I also got into it because I didn't want to end up doing nothing out of my life. The course and the experience helped me decide on the career of my choice. I felt that I was reasonably good in finance and marketing and therefore chose to get into market research."

Attitudes and value systems do change during the course and it's not wrong to say that students are definitely more privileged after an MBA. But Kris Lakshmikanth, an alumnus of IIM, Kolkata, throws light on another aspect when he says, "When I joined the Institute 30 years ago, it was the civil services that was the most sought after option. My family was quite upset that I threw up an opportunity to work in State Bank of India and signed up for a management course!" Today he is the Managing Director of Headhunters, one of India's leading headhunting firm based in Bangalore, which he started several years ago.

Touching upon the industry's expectations of an MBA, he says, "My first job after I graduated from IIM was with Asian Paints. The then MD of the company insisted on recruiting MBAs from IIMs and engineers from IITs because he felt talent from these institutions has already been filtered and skills honed. And the corporate world will only gain from that experience."

Having scaled the ladder of success faster than the rest, both financially and professionally, how do these stars of the corporate world feel about raging issues such as subsidy to their education and social responsibility?

For Sridhar, "MBA meant everything . It gave me access to big brand names. Life would have been a lot less interesting if I had not been to the institute."

Wanting to give back something in return, he spends a fair amount of time teaching at IIM, Bangalore.

Ramesh who also teaches at the Institute, says he may not be doing it out of some altruistic drive. Being the President of the IIM, Bangalore Alumni Association, he feels there is a need for a more collective interaction between industry and the Institute.

However, he believes he is fulfilling his social responsibility through Vishwas, a counselling organisation he founded a few years ago.

Coming to the contentious issue of management education at the IIMs being subsidised, all of them feel that there is a need to do away with it as bank loans are available easily. "The IIMs are also looking at reducing subsidy and becoming more independent," says Lakshmikanth.

Sameer Mahandru, a second year PGDBA student at IIM, Bangalore and president of the Students' Council says he is disappointed with the course "as I had expected a lot of practical insight from the course, which I'm not getting. But the advantage is the strong brand name of IIM Bangalore." On subsidy, he says that though they are told their course fee is subsidised by "about 50 per cent, we still pay about Rs 3 lakh for the course."

Most students come to the IIMS looking for better career prospects and Varun Matta, a I Year PGDBA student at IIMB thinks this course will help him get a good job. "Personally also it has helped me. My confidence levels and interpersonal skills have improved, as also the our ability to handle stress."

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Is Brand MBA overrated?

Are MBAs delivering?

Where techies score high

Aspiring to be world class

A mixed bag

Lost in the woods...

Time for introspection