MBA INFATUATION

Do you ever wonder what an MBA degree is all about? Is it actually worth all that? Can you differentiate between what an MBA is and what it isn't?Read what a MBA student feels about these issues.

With all the intentions to make judgmental statements and express my viewpoint as an individual MBA student I am writing this piece of article. MBA has entered into the league of most sought after degrees in the recent years. To understand if it is really worth, first of all let me define what MBA is. It's a launching pad for the so called begging for a welfare job branded as “executive of a big company”. I'm not bothered about the acceptance of my definition by the B-schools or MBA aspirants, but I'm sure the existing MBA's and students pursuing it will agree with me. What do brilliant MBA students look for? A foreign placement, getting settled in abroad, getting a green card. Surely they are capable of getting all these. What they get is a fat pay cheque, what the foreign companies pay is remuneration for cheap skilled labor available in India. We are taught a wholesome lot of managerial skills to move up these corporate to a great height.

But like most other educational qualifications in India, what an MBA program is doing is producing clerks. Exceptions are always there and companies do offer good profiles also. However these offers remain constrained to premier B-schools. Total number of students passing out of all these premier B-schools is an insignificant fraction of the pool of MBA's produced every year.

By this time you must have realized that I'm talking about some problem. As an MBA I am supposed to provide solutions. So now let me present a solution to this problem. Solution lies in asking the right question. The questions, which are generally asked while opting for MBA are, should I get one? Will it be good for my career? Will it be worth the money? Is it worth the time away from the workplace to do it full time? Are part-time MBA programs too hard to do while working full time? Is it worth going back for an executive MBA once I'm already in management?

The most surprising thing is that among all the questions, few are about what an MBA is and what it isn't. Most of the discussion centers on the credential and the cost rather than the content. Few ask about what you learn or what it prepares you to do effectively. Doing the cost benefit analysis of the degree, where cost will also include the sacrifice cost, there is a surprising lack of consumer interest in the actual product.

With all the intentions to make judgmental statements and express my viewpoint as an individual MBA student I am writing this piece of article. MBA has entered into the league of most sought after degrees in the recent years. To understand if it is really worth, first of all let me define what MBA is. It's a launching pad for the so called begging for a welfare job branded as “executive of a big company”. I'm not bothered about the acceptance of my definition by the B-schools or MBA aspirants, but I'm sure the existing MBA's and students pursuing it will agree with me. What do brilliant MBA students look for? A foreign placement, getting settled in abroad, getting a green card. Surely they are capable of getting all these. What they get is a fat pay cheque, what the foreign companies pay is remuneration for cheap skilled labor available in India. We are taught a wholesome lot of managerial skills to move up these corporate to a great height.

But like most other educational qualifications in India, what an MBA program is doing is producing clerks. Exceptions are always there and companies do offer good profiles also. However these offers remain constrained to premier B-schools. Total number of students passing out of all these premier B-schools is an insignificant fraction of the pool of MBA's produced every year.

By this time you must have realized that I'm talking about some problem. As an MBA I am supposed to provide solutions. So now let me present a solution to this problem. Solution lies in asking the right question. The questions, which are generally asked while opting for MBA are, should I get one? Will it be good for my career? Will it be worth the money? Is it worth the time away from the workplace to do it full time? Are part-time MBA programs too hard to do while working full time? Is it worth going back for an executive MBA once I'm already in management?

The most surprising thing is that among all the questions, few are about what an MBA is and what it isn't. Most of the discussion centers on the credential and the cost rather than the content. Few ask about what you learn or what it prepares you to do effectively. Doing the cost benefit analysis of the degree, where cost will also include the sacrifice cost, there is a surprising lack of consumer interest in the actual product.

The answer to this question will raise many eyebrows. The answer lies in consumer awareness. So for the sake of information dissemination, MBA is not teaching us Management or leadership, it's just teaching us different functions of business in isolation. It's impossible to see the complete picture and feel being a part of the big picture once an MBA get into the corporate world. This is true with all the clerical jobs, which an MBA job is not supposed to be. Even the recruiters are only interested in the Brand name of one's institute.

Another solution lies in the change of pedagogy of the MBA course. We are taught how to work for money but not how to make money work for us. Entrepreneurship should be the biggest thrust of an MBA program. This can also help in coping up with the existing problem of faculty shortage. Entrepreneurs are everywhere - small and big. They should be called to share their experience. When Dabbawallas can deliver a lecture on Six Sigma and it's unintentional implementation, I am sure in a country of more than a billion, the B-schools can find more such people.

India needs people who can make money work for them, those who can answer all the questions erupting while starting a new venture, and those who know where to find the resources to show the world their real potential.

If I've got the Midas touch I'll make gold for myself and my country's prosperity and not for an MNC or any company who forces me to forget the real meaning of my existence. We are meant for much bigger things then merely chasing sales target. Education is imperative but not if it educates me to win a rat race.