Make your MBA degree count

B-schools teach you how to how to perform effectively, efficiently and intelligently. But one’s   attitude, competitive skills and personality also matter. Everyone inherits these attributes depending on their background. In a B-school, students must brace themselves for a lot of learning and unlearning.

Individual strength

Joining the best B-school cannot guarantee a placement if a student does not work hard, although the institute’s brand name may attract top companies for placement. Similarly, a student from a lesser-known institute may land a great job, if not immediately but ultimately. The three important Ds to remember are discipline, dedication and determination. An MBA institute provides a forum to inculcate these attributes.

Those pursuing an MBA must not compare themselves to IIM students.
At IIM, those selected are the best of engineers from prestigious colleges with a significant amount of work experience.    It is observed that this is not the case with other institutes.

Those who join an MBA institute have little knowledge of the corporate sector and its functional areas.  It is the job of a B-school to train and equip  them for the real world. Each student must treat an MBA degree as a level-playing field. The rules of the game change every year.

A master’s course in business administration has to teach students to keep re-inventing themselves. It has to give them the latest tools and guidelines and overcome every situation.

Maximising opportunity

MBA institutes must have an efficient faculty. One way of achieving this is to invite industry veterans to interact with students on a regular basis.

Corporate heads have the ability to effectively transmit their knowledge to students and the capacity to inspire them to learn, adopt and adapt.

Here is where the real challenge lies. No management institute is capable of teaching a student everything about the corporate sector.

If an institute provides 50 per cent of the competencies through various forms of grooming, the other 50 per cent depends on the individuals themselves. If they are willing to work hard, they can surely become winners. Try and look at problems as opportunities. Anyone can be a winner notwithstanding where he or she studied.  

All said and done, the industry is bracing for  exciting times. So nothing is impossible, and it is the duty of the B-schools  to develop and nurture this belief in its students.
Prof  A Balasubramanian