Fine Tuning Management Education- the Need of the Hour Essay

Getting an education is an important part of success in today’s business world. It’s competitive out there, and the more educated you are, the better your chances of landing a good job are. That’s why getting a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) is so important. As of now there are over 2,400 B- Schools in India, Karnataka has around 67, of which 46 colleges in Bangalore offer MBA programs. The MBA degree opens up worlds of opportunity for its bearers. Many business positions require an MBA for advancement. It is a fact that having an MBA degree is like having the key to the gates of opportunities in the corporate world. Like a green signal for the new business world. Hi-tech development, improvements, and the growing privatization all have completely transformed the business grounds. Along with all this, the business plans and pedagogy are also constantly changing very fast. Besides, in every phase the competition is getting more and more difficult. As the business is changing and the level of competition is also increasing the companies are forced to hire employees having done their MBA from the most competitive college. An MBA Program will give and teach all the things that are essential to make you a good manager and skills that are important to augment the efficiency and productivity of the organization. No company would like to waste their time to train people with the required skills and knowledge when they know that such candidates are already available in the form of MBA graduates. Today all organizations expect that their employees are able to give more profit to the company in a shorter span of time. An MBA student is expected to have certain level of competency which makes them different from others. The course exposes the student to the practical field helping them to perform effectively in the long run. However, it is perceived that the management education is falling short of this objective. In order to keep the MBA relevant, the colleges offering them will have to make the curriculum more responsive to the global economy. The research paper focuses on the perception of MBA graduates and their expectations towards the management education. Keywords: Management curriculum, Higher education, Management activities. Introduction The development of management education can be traced back to 18th century. From 18th century to 21st century, management education has seen lot of changes and development. Management education in India is predominately a derivative of western management thought and practice. Management education in India is not very old, after the establishment of the IITs, there was dire need for similar establishments in the field of management education. Thus came into existence Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad (IIMA), followed soon after by one in Kolkata (IIMC). Starting with the establishment of 4 Indian Institutes of Management Calcutta (1961), Ahmadabad (1962), Bangalore (1973), Lucknow (1984), now management education is being offered as full time/part time MBA programmes by some leading universities in the country. Recently and particularly during the last 4-5 years the country has witnessed a tremendous growth in the founding of management institutions most of them in private sector offering management programs in different functional areas of management. Concurrently, there is a mushrooming of B-schools in the country (over 2,500 institutes, of which about 1940 are certified by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)), leading to issues of quality. In Bangalore alone there are as many as 300 MBA colleges. Management education introduces students to a broader perspective about the role of individuals in growth of business and society, which is quite evident. Management education provides students and working professionals with an edge that enables them to strengthen the Connection between business and society. The Importance of Management Studies for a Successful Corporate Career Management studies are an important medium that facilitates improvement of leadership qualities and turns out excellent future managers. Management courses with specialization in different areas prepare students to face the constantly advancing corporate world and impart effective people-management skills. Management studies should emphasis not just in creating good managers but also on improving and enhancing existing skills while passing on managerial competence to students. Young aspiring managers equipped with a reputed management degree turn out to be survivors who are able to sustain themselves in an environment of intense competition, globalization and ever-evolving technologies. In fact, producing powerful managers is the biggest challenge that businesses worldwide face today. An accredited MBA degree from a prestigious business school certifies the managerial skills learnt during the course of the study. A well designed management training course suitably develops a talented workforce that can be expected to be efficient future leaders and successful managers who are able to tackle complex situations and relationships with clients in any organization. Review of Literature A. Gill (2003) emphasized due to globalization and advancement in information technology the role played by management education in enhancing country knowledge base has been placed under a sharper focus thus it has become imperative to look at management education from the market oriented perspective and take a strategic view to better align business education with the requirement of the global market. Basu Sharma et al(1996) pointed out that internationalization of management has been promoted along several dimensions such as curricula challenge, research activities with both contents and outlet being relevant and executive development programs. It seems that educational institutions and supplementary providers of management education have no choice but to rise to the challenge of global competition. L.R.Irala (2006) was of view that  © Research Journal of International Studies – Issue 18 (January, 2011) 17 management education in India is at cross roads with the dawn of new millennium there has been exceptional growth in management institutes, to upgrade their competencies the financial autonomy will be the key and academic autonomy the major drivers. Margaret McNamara and et al.(1990) stressed on action learning in management education as Management institutes are often criticized for focusing more on theory and on quantitative analysis while neglecting interpersonal relationship and quantitative finding. It is often stated that management education should be experience-based, active, problem oriented and modified by feedback and action learning serves the purpose. Statement of the Problem The greatest competitive challenge facing companies is said to be embracing change over the last two decades due to several factors. This includes rapid changes in market dynamics, globalization etc. Management education is supposed to prepare the candidate for managing or leading a significant activity in the organization. However, it is perceived that the management education is falling short of this objective. It requires a reassessment of traditional managerial concepts & practices. Thus the research paper focuses on the perception and expectations of management graduates towards the management education in Bangalore City. Objectives of the study 1.To study the perception of management graduates towards management education. 2.To know the satisfaction level of the graduates towards the present curriculum. 3.To understand the expectations in order to improve the MBA program. Research Design a)Type of Research: The study is Descriptive and Empirical in nature. b)Sources of Data Collection:   Primary Data has been collected from the respondents who are MBA graduates, and are professionally employed in the various companies and institutions. A specifically structured questionnaire is used for the purpose of study. The questions designed in the questionnaire aims to explore: a.The profile of respondents in terms of age, gender, marital status, length of service and designation. b.15 Variables are used for measuring the perception of MBA graduates towards management education and improvement of program curriculum. c.Secondary sources of data were also consulted for the purpose of gathering back ground information supporting the study. Data were obtained from general management education journals, Magazines and websites. c)Type of Sampling: Simple Random Sampling method is used for the study. d)Sample Size: The primary data is collected from the 100 respondents of Bangalore city e)Statistical tools for Analysis: The Percentage method is used for analyzing the study. Scope of the study The research is done to measure the perception of management graduates towards improvement in management education of various B- schools, but with the caveat that the curriculum of most programs should be revised to meet the challenges that face the next generation of business leaders. Moreover the research is restricted to Bangalore City.