The Hindu Business Line : In demand — specialised management courses

Pradeep Swamy is pursuing a course in marketing management at a Pune-based management school and is now interning with a media house in Mumbai, the traditional domain of mass communication or journalism students. So, why would Swamy want to work in an organisation where the skills he's being trained in may not be needed? Unusual, one would think. But, the fact is Swamy is among the new breed of management school students who are looking to specialise in niche areas — in his case, Swamy plans to hone his skills in media marketing, an emerging discipline where he could cash in the future.

Management institutes are offering subjects ranging from tourism management to wealth management. Clearly in an age where everyone seems obsessed with focused courses, are colleges equally focused in providing quality education?

Infrastructure

Moving from a core course to a specialised one could be expensive, as one needs new reference material. In most cases it is difficult to find any book on even popular subjects such as telecom management. S. Sriram, Executive Director, Great Lakes Institute of Management, says there is a lack of documentation because core skills are applied differently to every super specialisation. For example, an HR case study in the manufacturing industry is very different from that in the ITES space. "More than well-stocked libraries, exposure to the industry in the form of projects and lectures is what develops good managerial skills," he feels.

Faculty

Industry veterans double up as lecturers handling specialised modules. Classes are conducted on the basis of experience and real life case studies. In many instances a super specialisation may demand that students do live projects and share their notes daily. A.S. Srinivasan, Dean, Chennai Business School (CBS), says, "In specialisations like retail management, modules like store management require students to work in groups on the floor of the retail store."

L.S.Ganesh, HoD, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, feels faculty is more important in management education. "For our module in business consulting, we have people from the consulting industry conducting classes," he says.

A regular MBA would see about 60-odd students in one stream while a super specialised programme takes in about half that number. CBS will take in about 40 students for its one-year programme in retail management.

At Great Lakes, every student specialises in two areas called verticals to correspond with industry practices. There can be as many super specialisations as there are industry verticals. Some examples are media, telecom, IT, manufacturing, BPO and insurance.

A combination of these verticals makes a super specialisation. For example, a student studying HR opting for telecom will be a super specialist in telecom-related HR practices.

However, the fee for these super specialisations varies drastically across B-schools. While CBS charges Rs 1.5 lakh, Great Lakes charges Rs 3.75 lakh for all its streams.

Other popular institutes charge anywhere between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 14 lakh. IIT Madras that offers business consulting as a module does not charge a different fee for this elective.

"There is no difference in fees if a student pursuing a general management degree wants to super specialise during the course of his study," reinforces Ganesh of IIT Madras.

Demand

Institutes claim that demand for specialised courses is on the rise. Srinivasan of CBS says, "Retail is the second largest employer in our country and one can expect thousands of jobs being generated every year in this sector."

Ganesh of IIT Madras is cautious when he says, "There is demand for these courses. But in the long run it is advisable that people with work experience choose such super specialisations as opposed to freshers."

Placements are what drive most students today to pursue the coveted MBA degree.

Return on investment

Investment banking and portfolio management specialisations fetch an average salary of Rs 9 lakh per annum. Corporate banking fetches between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 6 lakh a year.

So, do super specialisations guarantee fatter pay packets?

CBS says pay packages for its retail management course graduates will average around Rs 4 lakh a year. The institute has an MoU with Pantaloon Retail to place 30 students.

Also, salaries differ across industries — the IT, investment banking and FMCG sectors pay the highest while manufacturing and media related sectors pay lesser. "It is irrational to expect a super specialisation in advertising to fetch the same pay packet as that in FMCG marketing because the pay scales in the media industry are not comparable with that of FMCG," says Sriram of Great Lakes.

Though placement is not the best indicator of the success of a course, Ganesh feels lateral placements (students with work experience) earn higher pay packets than freshers pursuing the same stream of study. "But if a student can convince the recruiter that he has more knowledge in a given area by virtue of super specialisation, then pay scales may rise ," he adds.

It might seem great to have a designation that reads `Relationships Manager', but is it better (read safer) to have a super specialisation in the long run? Super specialisations are for those who are very focused and certain about the industry they want to enter. However, this is no roadblock to growth. In retail management, for instance, one may diversify into different formats such as FMCG retail, industrial products retail or move to handling retail finance. But in the long run, it is difficult for an ITES manager to move into the FMCG sector, especially if he holds a degree in telecom management and not in a core subject like HR, finance, systems or marketing.

For those who want to explore the entire gamut of industries, it is best to opt for a core course. A core course also helps one pursue research in management studies in future.

IIT Madras' Ganesh feels that super specialisations must also provide a strong theoretical foundation through classroom teaching. Practical experience can be gained through projects and a full-time job. "Corporates provide enough training to recruits and focus on principles of general management as well as super specialisation. This way, all candidates recruited are on a level playing field. Super specialisation is not considered a handicap in such a case," he adds.

From the recruiter's side, however, there seems no discrimination between a person who holds a super specialisation and one who doesn't. As Sriram of Great Lakes says, "At the end of the day, super specialisation is only an added skill. It does not erode the value of basic managerial skills that all B-schools teach."

More Stories on : Education | Employment

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
B-school hiring goes deeper

Value and performance

Why groups make bad decisions

Leader Speak

In demand — specialised management courses

`One is never too old to learn soft skills'

The name board

Questions wake people up