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Stand: Yes, work experience
should be made mandatory for management institutes.
Defense:
An education in management has two aims. Firstly, to increase the
understanding of the factors which influence the conduct of organizations
and secondly to provide students with some tools and techniques which they
may use to influence organizational life. Most subjects that one studies
in a management programme are composed of theory and practice. Management
education emphasizes on the application of concepts in the industry.
For example, Information Systems (IS)
is the application of information and system technologies to
organizational and managerial needs. Almost every industry and field
relies upon information systems and technologies to compete in the
marketplace, to streamline current operations, and to create effective
work environments. Information systems professionals analyze, design,
develop, implement, and manage a wide range of computer-based information
systems.
Operations and Systems Management (OSM)
specialization students learn how to set standards, goals, and objectives
and measure their achievement. Continuous improvement, benchmarking, six
sigma methodology, quality management, operations research, decision
sciences, project management, technology management, operations
management, supply chain, and business process analysis are some of the
tools that OSM specialization students use for performance achievement.
After having looked at IS and OSM as subjects in a management programme,
we can safely conclude that most management subjects are application
oriented subjects which cannot be best understood by reading a text book
alone. On the contrary, an individual having adequate work experience in
the respective field can better understand the concepts and is in a far
more better position to grasp the essence of what is being ‘taught’ in the
class. The student can directly relate his/her work experience to the
theory compared to mucking up books.
A classic book on Organizational
Behaviour by Stephen Robbins defines ‘learning’ as any relatively
permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience. We
have ample research evidence to support that a ‘hands on’ or a ‘live’
experience teaches us more than what the best books can teach. The adage
– “Lessons of experience are far more trustworthy than those given by
doctors and universities” is not a waste…If all students come into
management institutes with prior work experience, this will immensely add
to the quality of inputs and discussions in class.
One important attraction of a reputed
management institute is its Placement Services. Today, there are about
857 business schools in the country providing education to at least 60,000
students. It may not be feasible for every institute to provide
placements to each n every student. If work experience is mandated in a
management programme, students can leverage their contacts with the
industry for their summer projects as well for their final placements.
Management education also harnesses live projects or concurrent projects
during the MBA programme. Students can make positive use of their
contacts with the industry for their academic assignments. They can seek
references from their previous employers and thus gain an easy access into
the corporate world, which otherwise might seem to be a mammoth task.
In business you have to DO things, take
decisions, take action, and monitor results. You cannot operate any
business by just planning what to do on paper. Planning is, of course, an
important step in the process, but there are many examples of businesses,
which have had excellent plans but failed because no one implemented the
ideas. So, isn’t the best way to learn about how to do business, to work
in a business and learn from others? NO. In the heat of battle, and
business today becomes a battle, you cannot learn to fight, there are too
many day-to-day pressures, and few people have the time (or the
capability) to explain what is happening and, more importantly for someone
trying to learn, the reason for decisions. The alternative is to mandate
relevant ‘work experience’ as an eligibility in a management programme.
At the entry level itself, if only those candidates with work experience
are admitted into the institute, one can be assured of the quality of
management education when there will be sixty individuals with sixty
diverse work experience backgrounds in the class. In the management
education programme, it is not only the faculty who teaches but more so
the discussions that students initiate and questions and answers ….There
will be a tremendous value addition to the classroom teaching with 60 +
work experiences !
Written By - Prof. Gowri Joshi
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Writer
Profile
Prof. Gowri Joshi is
a faculty for Human Resources at a premier
B-school in Mumbai. She is a graduate specializing in Human Development
and her PG specialization is Human Resource Management.
Her interest areas include Behavioural training and personal counselling.
gowrivjoshi@gmail.com
She has
successfully conducted soft skills training sessions for the insurance
sector ; have offered personal counseling services to students and
teenagers (after having topped a certificate course in personal
counselling ); conducted self development workshops for different target
groups like Mumbai police; NAB students; college students; orphan / street
children from NGOs etc.
Currently she teaches
subjects like Principles and Practices of Management, Human Resource
Management, Organizational Development among others at a management
institute in Mumbai.
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