World Colleges Information

Indian businesses are just negotiating another mediocre year of performance. This, coupled with the sluggishness of the economy in the previous year, has put tremendous pressure on businesses to somehow bounce back. The GDP growth prediction for the coming year is only 5%. Given this scenario, one may well question the need for a business management qualification!

Prof Sridar Natarajan, Dean of Chennai Business School, feels that this is the right time for students to pursue a higher education in management! Indian businesses are poised for a surge in growth and performance - all indicators show that in the coming years, companies will put behind the years of poor performances and aggressively move ahead, almost as if to make up for the past periods of sluggishness!

A higher education in management could translate into any one of the three options – a PGDM from a B-School, an MBA from a University or a B-School or a compressed 1-Year Program in management, which is when the course runs on overdrive. The objective of any higher education in management is the same – to equip incumbents to effectively deal with business-related issues and challenges.

Managerial challenges, unlike other issues, are multi-dimensional. They invariably combine aspects of finance, human resources, legal and market-driven inputs – all of which need to be considered when addressing them. Unless one acquires these cross-functional skills, one would never be able to effectively put forth solutions to the challenges. Enter the MBA or equivalent as discussed above.

The curriculum in any management program is designed to enable incumbent managers to acquire cross-functional skills. The first 50% of the course is devoted to providing inputs on the various functions of management - accounts, finance, cost, marketing, strategy, law – all of which are internalized by analyzing numerous case studies, which are primarily business issues faced by companies.

"The first 50% of the course is devoted to providing inputs on the various functions of management - accounts, finance, cost, marketing, strategy, law."

Similarly, all management programs will have almost 50% of its syllabus dealing with numbers, data and analysis. The course hones the analytical skills of the incumbents which are necessary to obtain a deeper appreciation of the problem and consequently a more appropriate solution.

Finally, a higher education in management develops the personality of the incumbent manager. A manager cannot work in isolation – he needs to work with his team. Managing people is not at all an easy talk, because one can never predict human behavior consistently. During the course, the incumbent develops his people-management skills and acquires the confidence to lead and manage his team.

The predicted surge in business activity must be matched with a surge in business managers, who will be the champions of the growth. A qualification in management is therefore essential.

BUDDING MANAGERS

APRIL 2015 ISSUE