Crafting Managers: The Role Of Business Schools!
What do managers do? The question persists and is often the subject of debate among management graduates fresh off the blocks, all excited, in a Business School. French industrialist Henri Fayol, way back in 1916, trotted out a mantra - plan, organize, coordinate, and control.
For almost a century, management students have believed this is what managers do; hence, they must learn and practice the cliche.
In the recent past, we have seen cataclysmic changes. The pandemic accelerated many of them. The increasing use of technology, the changing expectations of employers and employees, and the evolving demographics and disruptive innovation have all challenged incumbent paradigms.
Increased diversity in the workplace and wars fought in remote areas affect the world as a whole.
Managers encounter severe challenges as they need to gain more leadership ideas in a complicated world. Gaining a competitive advantage is very important. There is a great deal more to management than what we understand.
Business schools often grapple with the future, traversing like a ship in a fog. For them to stay relevant, there needs to be a serious rethink of courses offered, teaching pedagogy and student involvement.
Managers can no longer use simple solutions to solve complicated issues due to a changing world at work and in life.
Business schools must look at solutions in totality, just as champion football teams do. Segmenting a management program into silos causes a great deal of confusion in the minds of the uninitiated and inexperienced.
Excellent management programs bring together an understanding of core management concepts and an understanding of societal issues, wrapped in a real-world connection with industry. It is not just about hard skills anymore but more about navigating a complex world of people.
For too long, managers thought they could solve issues using determined frameworks and models. The best of them fail in a changed environment. For example, India's business scenario vastly differs from Europe or the United States of America. The culture change requires a deep understanding of national cultures.
How many B Schools equip their students? Experienced managers need help in a foreign environment, and young and inexperienced ones often perish.
Many young managers need better supervisory skills. Inundated with anxiety, they either overmanage or develop a hands-off, casual leadership style that leads to failure. Teaching young people to network and build support systems is crucial for their success at work. Rising cases of burnout at work among the young are because they have poor support mechanisms, and the resulting anxiety leads to stress that is not manageable.
The ability to reach out to coaches and mentors must be taught at the business school. There is no shame in displaying vulnerability and asking for help! Student centricity in a B School is of significance.
Delineating students based on their cognition, communication, and enterprise may be a sound starting point to address interventions leading to improved performance.
Business Schools need to relook at their curriculum and pedagogy and refashion them without losing the soul of the program. Differentiation for the sake of it is self-defeating, and a horse-for-course approach may yield superior results. Programmes still need public policy and quantitative methods courses and core and foundation courses.
However, they also need new-age courses like FINTECH and Blockchain and the impact of digital transformation on all walks of business. Eventually, a manager must be able to synthesize information from different areas to arrive at creative solutions for business problems.
Young managers must comprehend that problem-solving is often a process, not just a flash of brilliance. The need for young managers to internalize a sound code of ethics needs to happen in a business school. That is the most excellent service that business schools can perform for industry and society.
