Role of B-schools in creating future leaders

FILLING UP THE BLANKS:These institutions are suppose to meet the needs of industry & business

The world’s greatest financial meltdown that started early 2008, brought to the fore ineptitude of many giant institutions. It was the greed of super duper top executives that doomed many large companies and with the global financial crisis at its peak the rules of the game changed completely. And so did the issues that corporate leaders needed to address.

An important question: How many of the corporate world could transform themselves to address the violent change in the system in which they had been imbued all these years, riding high all the time. None of them had witnessed the business cycle of this magnitude.

Lack of leadership: At this point, one may ponder whether leadership pertains only to industry and business. The B-Schools are supposed to meet the needs of industry and business. Are they equipped to conceive to bring about the real quality to shoulder the responsibilities of the crisis ridden scenario? Who can provide that expertise? It can only be through leadership. But most B-Schools do not have the leadership to fill the vast gap. B-schools in India have mushroomed during the hay days mostly with the main aim of making money and not for real talent building. 

Of course, there is some silver lining.  Let us now analyse: 

When we stroll into any classroom of our elite business schools, we are likely to see that it is not all that unusual from what we would come across at Harvard, Instead, Wharton, Kellogg or London Business School. There is the example of innovation. Dr Bala Balachandran of Kellogg school is advisor to a Chinese white goods manufacturer. He is so resourceful to establish a floating factory on the ship in its voyage to deliver to its customers on USA west coast. He collects major parts from Shanghai, collects parts enroute Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. By the time the ship reaches USA west coast, fully assembled products, duly tested, are ready for delivery to customers. No additional cost on transport, no inventory, no additional people. What B-schools need is that kind of leadership which will transform its wards into capable leaders to lead for the distant future. But unfortunately, there are a few B-schools where the classes, course material and even the faculty members are practically indistinguishable to the best B-Schools in other countries. Thanks to the leadership of these B schools.  There are quite a few in not so well known B-schools with real leadership qualities but these cannot blossom in the environment in which they are enmeshed.

Barring the above, majority of B-schools are without quality in terms of leadership as well as imparting of knowledge.

The role of a B-School Director is critical in the development of an institution. To recall the words of a Management Consultant—the problems faced are four fold like relevance, sustenance, balance and excellence. I consider them only as external and we need to work within or internalize our focus. What then are the qualities required of a leader in B-school?

Even before listing down the qualities required, I would prefer to mention the traits of some leaders of B schools who are in the process of making leaders of the corporate world.

They could be called in different names. Some are autocratic who never listen to anyone, some make too much of noise without substance, some are perpetually absent without leave, while some have no knowledge but become the leader because he or she is a dummy for the owners.

There are very few leaders who can do multitasking. These leaders are rare, they are genuine leaders who can do justice to the chair. In my opinion not more than 10 per cent of the leaders capable of doing several things and put their heart and soul for the cause of education. They are the ones head premier B-schools.

Management skills: A Director of a business school is just like a CEO of a company. The three skills required for a CEO holds good for them too. The skills are well known to us. They are Human skills, Conceptual skills and Technical skills. Management thinkers narrate these skills the following way:

Human skills: The heads must possess human skills because they are constantly interacting with people. Be it students, faculty members, affiliating bodies and other stake holders they need to communicate appropriately. Human skills referred to as human relation skills or interpersonal skills are one’s ability to work effectively with others on a person-to-person basis and to build up cooperative group relations to achieve specified objectives. Listening to the views of all and gauging them thoughtfully would build positive relationships.

To take right decision, advice the management and practice the norms is mandatory. Conceptual skills are defined as those which enable a person to visualise something in its entirety and identify the cause of a problem rather than just recognising the symptom.

Technical skills: Technical skills are the ability to apply specialised knowledge or expertise. Knowledge of the subject and the ability to teach is must. Some heads consider giving lecture to their own students is below par and would be willing to go around to other places to deliver lectures as guest speakers, trainers etc,. A leader must lead by example. If he /she is not a good teacher, how would he /she can be a judge to evaluate the work of others?  The actual problems facing the B-schools are lack of good leadership with vision and mission to build institution. Some of the heads do not realise that they need to be physically present in the institution rather than virtual presence. To add more to the existing problems, management insists on structured reporting as per university norms. This ends up in clashing of titans. A B-school Director is a separate head who needs the support of management to perform his duties to the best of his abilities.

Now let us look into the solutions to improve leadership skills in B Schools. When we were talking about the types of leaders we found out that a multitasking leader is the right person for the present deteriorating situation of B schools.

Management appoints the Director to execute the organisational and administrative duties essential to the successful conduct of their obligations and the welfare of the institution.

The Director enunciates a vision to cultivate the institution’s ingenious development and initiates strategic planning and setting of goals. He is responsible for the academic interests of the B School by supporting the institution’s welfare which results in  promoting the B School, its faculty and its students, both inside and outside the campus.
As BVB Marshall MBA Programme Resident DirectorDr N S Viswanath  is of the view that the Director of a B School must be an Institution Builder covering the facets of top management coordination, team building, formatting personalities and vertical and horizontal growth.

Surely, team building requires personal skills. A leader must build people for the organisation, make people feel for the work they do, take care of people who are instrumental in crafting work culture.  Similarly, Acharya’s Bangalore B School Director  Dr H R Venkatesha,  thinks that the top management has to be visionaries and they should aim at building a branded B-school. The Director should have a dream and has to work to make his B-school the best.  It is easy and always better to focus on niche segments to carve a place for any B-school to start with. May be like Supply chain Management, NGO management and the like. Then that brand has to be used to build other verticals. Otherwise it is difficult to make a mark in the tapestry of B-schools in India and elsewhere.

Finally, on the basis of vision, mission, values and strategic directions determined with faculty and staff, the director formulates and convenes regular meetings with the faculty members. He thrives only for institutional excellence at all times.

Of course, the Director is accountable for the following issues:

* Faculty issues, including recruitment, orientation and evaluation of faculty performance. 
* Student relationships, including advising, mentoring, placements and conduct of all activities  pertaining to overall development of students. 

* Course and programme review, development and execution and quality assurance.

* Promoting research and consultancy activities so as to enrich the knowledge of faculty members.

Above all a leader is a change agent who should bring in a strong sense of institutional building by demonstrating the qualities of effective and efficient leader.

Writer is  a Director at Adarsh Institute of Management and Information Technology .