The Hindu Business Line : Setting high standards

Management is the in-thing in India. With the kind of salary scales on offer, not just for the brightest students from the top schools, but a good percentage of students from lesser-known management colleges across the country, B-Schools are a big draw for the youth.

Yet, any HR company, recruiter or top manager would tell you that there is a dearth of good managers at various levels of the corporate ladder. This is put down to low standards of education and training in a number of B-schools, besides lack of standardisation in management practices.

While lawyers need to pass the Bar exams, doctors the board, and Engineers and Accountants have to receive Professional Certification, B-School graduates land plum jobs with hardly any professional certifications to back them, says Devi Vallabhaneni, an alumni of Harvard Business School (HBS).

“For quite a few years, I thought this was perhaps not the right thing for management education, which is on the high growth path,” says Devi, who is a qualified CA.

“My stints with the consulting firm, Arthur Andersen, Internet companies and the apparel major, GAP, reinforced these views,” she adds.

The result, she says, saw her quit a lucrative management career to join her father, Satyanarayana Rao Vallabhaneni in 2001. Rao, who migrated to the US in 1970 from Eluru, a coastal town in Andhra Pradesh, has garnered 24 professional certifications, four Master’s degrees and has authored books building up a rich repertoire of management expertise.

For the next four years, the father-daughter duo worked hard to put together a curriculum, course content and procedures leading to a certification called the Certified Business Manager (CBM) at the non-profit, higher education organisation they started called the Association of Professionals in Business Management (APBM).

Since its launch in 2005, more than 3,000 professionals have taken this programme and qualified for the CBM. The 16-hour, four-stage skill test of business knowledge is gaining recognition slowly but surely, says the 37-year-old Devi, who is based in Chicago. Now on a mission to promote the concept in India, she says: “We are one of the first certification programmes for management recognised by the American Council of Education.” Currently, she says, they receive more candidates from the the corporate world as compared to the business schools.

The Tatas, HCL, Wipro and several big corporates in India have shown interest in the certification. In addition, several individuals have corresponded with them on the Net. In fact, India ranked second after the US in interest generated for the CBM, she says, which was why she was aggressively pushing the programme in New Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

While the CBM is offered for $2000 in the US, a different costing structure had been put in place for India, says Devi, who was educated in the US. “What we claim is that the CBM will give you a minimum level of proficiency in management, as the certification has established itself as a standard. However, there is scope for improvement in the evolving and globalising marketplace,” she says.

Devi is upbeat about India for several reasons. “I see globalisation of the economy and growing synergies between corporates from India and abroad. Therefore, the need for global practices, demands and standards are a top priority for professionals,” she says.

Similarly, youngsters in most Indian cities flaunted the lifestyles, attitudes, dress sense and gadgetry of their age-group in the US and Europe. Young professionals were more international, hence, management practices that would stand them in good stead were the need of the hour, she said.

APBM offers two programmes — the CBM, which is based on an MBA-level curriculum and the Certified Associate Business Manager, which is a based on a pre-MBA curriculum. “The CBM is to a business manager, what the CA/CPA is to an accountant and the CFA is to an investment analyst,” says Devi. The APBM is planning to expand its global presence with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. It is also working with Universities such as Harvard for bringing in improvements. Plans are afoot to develop a Management Index (like the US consumer confidence index) and undertake research activity, she added.

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