(Photo credit: Tom Taylor)

Five technology and design firms pipped finance and consulting companies to appear among the top 10 most coveted companies to work for in US business schools according to a survey reported in the Wall Street journal.

When asked to pick up to five ideal employers out of a list of 170, about 29% of students named McKinsey & Co. and some 28% named Google Inc. Of the top 10, four were technology companies.

Such companies’ popularity has risen over the past few years. For example, No. 9-ranked Amazon.com Inc., which was chosen by 10.6% of students (this year), was selected by 6% of students in 2008.

Facebook, Apple and design firm IDEO were the other three non-finance and non-business-consulting firms. However, actual recruitment patterns tend to differ from stated preferences. At Chicago-Booth last year,

Though 38 out of 155 respondents from Booth named Google as one of their top-five employers, according to Universum, fewer than four students from the class of 2010 went to work there, she said. Sixty of Booth’s students chose McKinsey, and in 2010, 24 students accepted jobs there.

(Link to complete article)

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Bangalore, Indore and Kozhikode joined IIM Ahmedabad this week in receiving full autonomy. The modified memorandum of association will pave the way for a smaller board of directors, down to 12-14 from the existing 28+ in some cases. The Indian Express reports,

As per the new amendments in the MoA in case of the four IIMs Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore and Kozhikode these can set up overseas campuses as they are now allowed to buy and sell property. But in doing so, they cant use public funds or the money they raise by selling membership of the societies, according to HRD Ministry sources.

The IIM autonomy issue has met stringent opposition from the faculty, in particular at IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore. The best way to understand the faculty’s point of view is to read this article in the Economic & Political Weekly by two IIM Bangalore professors.

While Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication in Pune restricted Internet access for its students, IIM Ahmedabad has stopped its canteen from delivering food to hostel rooms. The Times of India reports that this hasn’t gone down well with the school’s student committee which thinks that the 30-minute walk from the dorms to the canteen wastes time amidst a hectic schedule. But the institute authorities have a justification,

An administrative official at IIM-A said, “The students are getting used to a life in which they are being served. However, we believe that this is not what they should be learning. We planned to discontinue the room service as we wanted the students to face the reality and responsibilities of life by letting them handle the hygiene of their own rooms.” At least 750 PGP students stay in the 25-odd dorms at IIM-A.

IIM Indore’s 5-year PGP after class XII which has run into rough weather with the Human Resources Development Ministry has finally received minister Kapil Sibal’s nod. However, the school has had to remove the 3-year exit option altogether. Students will now have to stay put through the course for 5 years. According to The Economic Times,

In an open letter to prospective candidates to be put on IIM Indore’s website on Saturday, IIM Indore’s director is expected to make it clear that students will only get a diploma at the end of five years and there will be no exit option after three years. The institute will also issue an advertisement in leading newspapers on Monday to ensure that the message reaches candidates.

Those interested in the subject of women in management ought to http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/11/110711fa_fact_auletta#ixzz1SzgOJrSl” target=”_blank”>read this July 11 piece in The New Yorker which traces the lives of a few Silicon Valley senior women executives, in particular Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, to understand what makes them successful. At one point the article says,

Deborah Gruenfeld, a professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, and a co-director of the Executive Program for Women Leaders at Stanford, is acutely aware of the challenges confronting female executives. Women who take leadership roles, research has shown, are violating the feminine stereotype of being nurturing and supportive and helping other people succeed. This leads to a tradeoff. Women who are perceived as highly competent are evaluated as less warm and less nice. Data, in other words, back up what Sandberg first began thinking about at her Harvard graduation ceremony.

That goes against the traditionally-peddled argument about women bringing a compassionate and human perspective to the workplace. The article suggests that the most successful women managers find fitting into the female stereotype and fighting sexist behaviour at the workplace diversionary to their goal of self-improvement and being competitive.

Read the entire article, it might be the best you’ve ever read on women managers.