The Hindu Business Line : `Work helps'

Work experience, even if it is a few months, helps makes a big difference while doing an MBA, says Manmay Madiman. Currently a consultant with Totus Consulting, a Chennai-based strategic HR consulting firm, Madiman worked in a bank for four months before his MBA from T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal. His thoughts on B-schools and management education.

On what B-school taught him

Manmay Madiman, consultant, Totus Consulting

B-school helped me hugely in two areas: Developing professional and functional skills and developing personal, life and social skills

For the functional skills, I would say that classroom learning is only one contributor. The library (which at TAPMI is excellent) and the assignments and projects that went beyond textbook learning were very useful.

In a sense, a B-school is a combination of character building and a finishing school for organisations. The constant extra-curricular activities through the year, the long hours, the community of 240 students in a beautiful place such as Manipal — all contributed to giving perspective and bringing about personal and professional learning.

On what it ought to have taught.

There is much more that B-schools could do in terms of functional skills, and the problem is the paucity of high-quality researcher-teachers. The faculty of an IIM-C or XLRI in the 1970s and 1980s included people who had worked with David McClelland, Douglas McGregor, Peter Drucker, John Powell and others. There was a lot more depth and conceptual rigour. The textbooks were the defining texts of the day. Compared to this benchmark, the quality of B-schools has definitely deteriorated. I think organisational skills such as influencing and managing people should also be covered by B-schools.

On applying what he learnt.

A lot of what is taught in B-school is not just theory, but concept. While theory might help one gain the base of knowledge, concepts are more applicable. One needs to be able to abstract an experience or situation and use concepts learnt so that structured, time-tested and logical solutions can be brought to problems.