‘The Pandemic Will Drive New Research, Concepts’

Has B-school education kept pace with the changing environment? 

Management education is about preparing future leaders and managers who can effectively and efficiently manage businesses in the ever changing and dynamic business environment. The curriculum and the concepts at the management schools have consistently evolved to incorporate future business environments driven by new technologies and real-life business scenarios. A management education empowers to deal with changing business landscapes and helps them adapt to the current scenario. 

How do you expect all stakeholders to reskill, reshape and re-emerge with new mindset? 

The current scenario has made everyone realign their mindset of approaching teaching, revamping curriculums and further engaging with each other. The good part is everyone across the board has shown agility and grit. Digital learning has become an integral part and is here to stay for the better. The pandemic has made us witness new business scenarios: negative price of scarce goods like crude oil; the new criteria for outsourcing is now governed by ease of availability and not just on cost competitiveness, especially is case of critical product categories like pharmaceuticals. Businesses today, are evaluating to distribute their supply chain risks and reducing their dependence on a single source. All these will drive new research, case studies and concepts that will be part of future management education. 

In the post-pandemic world, what is the role of management education? 

I don’t think the role of management education would alter much. The current scenario will add new concepts and case studies to prepare future managers and businesses to look at the core values when hit by an unprecedented scenario like now. For sure, Plan B will be as strong as Plan A. The problem-solving competencies and the ability to manage uncertainties are already embedded in B-school students.

Can there be a B-school on the cloud?

What we are currently seeing is that a lot of schools are operating online. While digital education is convenient and helps develop a very useful skill which is ‘remote working’, it cannot substitute the quality of holistic learning that a brick-and-mortar B-school provides. A structured learning environment where ideas are exchanged within the diverse student community and with faculty members, gives students an experience of teamwork and collaboration as they step into the business world. On-campus MBA programmes help students to be a part of group discussions, case studies, experiential research, role plays, live business projects that take place both in and outside the classroom. And let’s not forget relationships, the bond. Human beings need to interact, engage and bond. 

The multidimensional learning that is built through regular face-to-face interaction over two years is indispensable. The students are exposed to various group learning environment where they develop leadership skills, negotiation, human behavior management, strategic thinking and various other managerial skills to make them ready to face the real challenges of business world.  

Do you want a course on resilience to be taught in Bschools?

Resilience courses are a part of the management curriculum. Many business schools offer such courses and case studies and help educate attendees on how best to upskill and hone their scale of resilience. They empower them with the confidence and ability to deal with curveballs. 

During my time at B-school we were immersed in a practical experience wherein we had to undergo a sevenday outbound trip in the Bannerghatta forest. Each day we were given a challenging task or a complicated situation to navigate. Every task was marred by unpredictable conditions and situations which we had to endure. But those tasks taught us ways in which we could learn to remain calm and maintain composure due to the uniqueness of each challenge. Through the course of these challenges they taught us various activities such as mountain-climbing, river crossing, navigating through caves, building a stretcher in case of emergency, preparing food, and securing water while in the midst of a forest. 

We were then placed in real-life situations during which we underwent various challenges and the skills that we learnt through these trainings, helped us on our way towards our targeted goal. This was a mandatory part of our curriculum and helped open our minds and believe in our own capabilities.  

Would you rather go virtually to Harvard rather than physically to an IIM-A or MDI?

The concept of management education is not about imparting students with concepts of management but about exposing the students to various real life situations, case studies, experiential learnings, projects where the students learn to adapt, strategise, make decisions, managing inter-personal dynamics and exhibit leadership qualities. Peer-to-peer learning with students from diverse backgrounds, perspectives, skill sets and geography is an indispensable part of management education. 

A large part of management education is also about group studies. I find that is important when one is dealing with scenarios in the real world of work-life spaces wherein you must interact with people from various walks  of life every day. You learn to undertake and deal with numerous situations and behaviours. Strategising and executing decisions during such situations must be done with caution and through observance to ensure people do not feel pressurized. The idea is more about the management of human behavior. Such a learning experience requires that you undergo it with a set of people in a physical environment. It is true that on a one-on-one basis too we learn significantly. However, to me the management education is incomplete unless imbibed in the environment of a group structure. 

What are your predictions for future trends in B School education? 

One of the primar y trends that many management courses will include in their curriculum is the ways of handling a large-scale uncertainty presented by unforeseen circumstances such as the current pandemic-led scenario. These will also cover the ways in which businesses can be impacted, business plans reworked, sudden business or environmental setbacks, risk assessment and options, and managing such crises. These will be an important aspect of management education going forward.  

Secondly, although already a part of the curriculum, the courses will further stress on the importance of technology and how it will change the way businesses will operate in the future.

Another trend that will be relevant in the coming years is ways to ensure businesses are self-reliant/self-dependent. For example, the supply chain for various globally aligned companies were disrupted during the lockdown across nations from the Covid-19 pandemic. Businesses will now assess as a part of their decisions going forward with reference to supply chains which are not just about cost and quality, or the region where it is sourced from. It will become a criterion for them when making decisions on how best to manage and navigate disruptions such as the present one which may be affecting the supply chain. These will play a crucial role in influencing our decisions.