The Hindu Business Line : The case for continuous learning

I know everything,” are the three most frightening words you could overhear in the corridors of a management college. In a fast changing dynamic world can we really say we know everything? Can we really say we have reached a stage where there is no need for us to learn or unlearn? The answer is an emphatic NO.

Today, organisations are looking for managers who have the capacity to be learning managers; who have the capacity to learn from their surroundings and continuously adapt themselves. Organisations are looking for students who are like Arjuna in the modern day corporate Mahabharata — managers who possess key skills like initiative, active learning, focus and continuous learning.

Let me use a story from the Mahabharata to provide an insight as to how continuous learning and active learning were highlighted even in some of our ancient texts. When Guru Dronacharya was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the Kuru army, he immediately announced the formation of ‘chakravyu’. While discussing the same with Duryodhana, he asked that Arjuna’s attention be diverted to another front so that he could capture Yudhistra, thus bringing the war to an end as Arjuna was the only person, apart from Ashwathama, able to enter and exit the ‘chakravyu’. On hearing this, Dushassana flew into a rage and accused Dronacharya of being partial and teaching Arjuna more than all the other pupils. The answer Guru Dronacharya gave Dusshasana is also my case for continued learning from managers and students alike. Dronacharya told Dushassana that the reason Arjuna was more capable than all the Pandavas and Kauravas alike was not because he (Dronacharya) taught him more, but because he (Arjuna) was an active learner and while everyone took his teaching as the end, Arjuna took his teaching as the beginning and continued his quest for learning and hence was the only student of his who could challenge him on the battlefield.

In order to be a good manager, one should be able to learn continuously, otherwise one may face the prospect of stagnation; one would be like a ship that has come into the harbour and the only thing that can now happen is stagnation leading to decay. Continuous learning allows one to be creative in problem-solving while active learning, a keen desire to learn something new every day, will differentiate managers and students from others.

One can do active and continuous learning if one takes the initiative and remains focused on goals like Arjuna, who was the only student who took the initiative to go to Dronacharya and ask him to teach him the skills required to enter and exit the ‘chakravyu’ and remained focused throughout on his objective of being the greatest archer in the world.

Increasingly, students are being churned out by MBA institutes without any upgradation of the skills they already possess. Students need to do a skills audit to find out what skills they had while entering the course and what skills they possess at the time of exiting the course. And when they enter the corporate arena, they must make sure they continue their quest for learning and become like Arjuna who took Guru Dronacharya’s teachings as a beginning and not the end. Otherwise the chance of being just a face in the crowd is very high.

Remember MBA is Masters in Business Administration not Mein Bhi Aaya. Thus, it is essential for students to choose only those management schools which focus on inculcating the above mentioned skills in students and prepare them for their role as corporate warriors.

Business schools that use the case studies approach to impart management education should be preferred over those that follow the traditional method of imparting management education, which only encourages learning by rote. The case studies approach inculcates logical and analytical skills in managers of the future and improves the problem-solving skills of students and allows them to logically approach practical problems faced by organisations.

(The writer is a member of the faculty of business at WLC College, Delhi Campus.)

More Stories on : Management | Education

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

Stories in this Section
The case for continuous learning

‘Management science still in its infancy’

‘Face-saving’ in cross-cultural communication

Destined for success

When downsizing looms

Begin at the very beginning

Watch your back