What to Expect From an MBA and What Not To

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a reers  MBA   Education   &   C areers 

I N  F O C U S

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM AN MBA – AND WHAT NOT TO! An MBA equips you with the necessary tools to handle various business functions. However, there still remains a lack of clarity on the value addition  ad dition  that is gained by the pursuit of an MBA. To clear the haze, Mr Manek Daruvala , PGDM (IIM-A), writes on this issue.

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any myths abound about the utility of  an MBA. It is regarded by many as a veritable passport to a lucrative and successful career. This has led to a mad scramble for seats at premier management institutes and most young students would give virtually anything to gain entry into the hallowed portals of an IIM.

much as you can from all of them. Understand all points of view – even if you do not agree with them.

In the midst of all this, you would do well to understand what exactly an MBA will mean for your career. It is important to realise what is of  value in the MBA that you so dearly d early desire – and what is not. This will help you enormously in selecting the institutes you would apply to and also in what you would do once you get there.

The group learning element is largely missing in a correspondence programme and this has a serious impact on the learning that occurs.

The exposure and the peer group:   This is probably the biggest benefit that you get from a good B-School. The quality of students you will interact with will be the biggest source of  self-improvement. This is actually the reason why the best institutes, like the IIMs, give the best value addition to your career. The best students are found at the best institutes and your interaction with them, more than the institute itself, provides you with your best learning opportunities. It is therefore necessary to interact regularly with as many of your fellow students on campus as possible. All top-notch institutes try to ensure that they have a diverse group of students on campus. By mixing with this multi-skilled group from all over the country, you will be exposed to various thought processes and ideas that you may never have come across before. Absorb as  July 2006

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Since the peer group is such a vital facet of  learning at any B-School, it also stands to reason that a correspondence MBA can never match an on-campus programme in terms of learning value.

The faculty and infrastructure: It goes without saying that the faculty plays a very important role in the development of your career at a management school. However, it is extremely unlikely that you will get uniformly good faculty members even in the very best of B-Schools. Most students feel a sense of dissatisfaction with the quality of the faculty that they come across. This need not be a cause for too much concern. It is important to realise that, MBA education being largely experiential experie ntial in nature, it is difficult for even the best institutes to attract teachers who have both the necessary academic expertise and the required industry experience. You will have to make the most of what is on offer. Please make sure that you get out of the bunking mindset of your under-graduate days. The opportunity to attend classes of some star professors will never come again and missing them would be outright folly. The inputs you get from some of these classes would be invaluable at a later stage in your career.

 

a reers  MBA   Education   &   C areers 

I N  F O C U S Most management institutes these days have quality infrastructure in terms of library and computer facilities. The crucial thing is to make use of this infrastructure. You You may not n ot get access acc ess to such a vast repository of high quality data

well sound difficult to fathom but you would do well to mull over it carefully.

and journals easily in future. Even if you do not go through too much of what is there, make sure that you find out what sort of information is available – and where. Later on in your career you are bound to need matter from the journals you passed by during your institute days. You must make a conscious effort to be totally up-to-date with the latest technologies on offer. After you leave the institute your knowledge will fast become obsolete in any a ny case. You You can’t afford to be outdated even before you leave!

passport to based success youracademic c areer. You career. Ycredentials ou will get a good job oninyour and the reputation of your B-School – you won’t get your promotion because of it. In order to move on in your career you will have to prove your capability to deliver results to your organisation – over and over again. Nobody will bother about what institute you passed out from – it is only the quality of the work you do that will count.

Placements: The excellent jobs on offer to fresh MBAs is undoubtedly the primary reason for the popularity of MBA as a post-graduation option. Salaries on offer are truly mind-boggling. Without getting into the details of the exact salaries on offer, it is sufficient sufficient to say that the pay packages are indeed mouth-watering. However, there are few important things to take care of while planning for your future career. Remember that the placement that you get at the management institute is only the first job of your career. In the excited atmosphere on campus, it is easy to make the mistake of planning for your placement rather than planning for your long-term career. Many students tend to target specific organisations / sectors and select optional courses based on what they feel will help them make it to those organisations. This is a very common blunder. It may help you win the battle of placements but it may well result in your losing the larger war of your career. It is necessary to plan for placement but it should not become your overriding concern on campus. Remember that you joined the B-School to learn and add value to yourself . Placement should be the end product of your learning, not the primary reason for being at a B-School. At first glance, this advice may

Later on in life: While life: While MBA is undoubtedly a good door-opener, it is not an open-ended

Your alma mater will help h elp you in networking netwo rking with the people who matter. The alumni associations of most management institutes are active only in fits and starts. Make sure that you put in a bit of  extra effort to attend alumni meetings whenever they happen. You will do your career no harm whatsoever by meeting a group of well-connected professionals on a regular basis. Summing up: Admission to a good management institute can be an excellent springboard for your career. However, to benefit optimally from the opportunity, you would need to put in a lot of  effort both on campus and later on in your career. An MBA will not reduce the need to work hard, it will only make hard work more rewarding.

(The author  is Founder - Director, T.I.M.E. Pvt. Ltd.)  July 2006

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