By Anirban Chaudhari
India as an emerging global economic power is no new news, however one of the key issues of managing this upsurge is not discussed much. It is the increasing gap in having trained manpower to fit into the ever increasing positions in a growing economy. This requirement of appropriate human resource is even more critical in the area of business management. Why do I say so? Well, at entry level, for a technical job one can easily train one on the required skills, while in case of a business management role it takes time for a management trainee to grasp the ropes of the trade.
“It is not an easy task given that management is a multidisciplinary subject. It takes a lot of real time exposure for a new entrant to turn out to be a seasoned professional. Interestingly, most of the management schools, in spite of lofty intents, end up in textbook-led teaching pedagogy and the graduates tend to be taking time before becoming productive for recruiting organisations.
But can a fast growing economy afford to offer a long gestation period?
This where the model of industrial exposure to business school graduates while still at school, come in handy. Today curriculum at every business school includes internship at industry bodies for varying length a month to two months. But that can never be enough for internalisation of business practices. One needs constant interaction with the people from the industry.
In my association with various business schools, one school that I find very active on this front is EMPI led management institutions. Conceptualised by psychologist Pankaj under the guidance of the Founder Chairman Late Mr. Ajit. N. Haksar (Chairman Emeritus ITC Ltd) EMPI has ensured constant industry engagement to grow into a distinctly different institution. EMPI has been continuously involved in job-market scan and developing befitting post graduate industrial training & skills packaged professional programs.
The result of EMPIs endeavor has been very encouraging as AICTE has given approval for conducting the PGDM program with an array of specialisations in Advertising Communication, Business Analytics, Finance, Global Business, Human Resource and Organization Development, Integrated Marketing Communication and Brand Management, Marketing, Media Marketing, Sales and Planning and Manufacturing and Quality Management. In the communication management courses, students having access to real life databases like audience measurement or target indexing are really unique.
I think EMPIs model of having a large number of industry experts and corporate leaders visiting and teaching the students makes an excellent opportunity for the students to imbibe the real life corporate culture. It allows them to move from theory to practical cases under the able guidance of the people who are currently living every moment of the business challenges day in and day out. A scope to start off with valued networks of corporate leaders, the model indeed helps cut down the gestation period for these students as they enter industry.
I am sure, there are other business schools today that are also thinking in these lines and for a management education aspirant, it is extremely important to actually check out the real scope of such industry interface before choosing the course of his/ her liking. Days of textbook pedagogy are long gone. Schools that have real time exposure to industry working processes would surely make one better equipped not just for the job market but also to pursue a fulfilling career ahead.
(The writer is Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning with an integrated marketing communications company)
(Note: This is a sponsored article and has NOT been written by the PaGaLGuY Editorial Team. It is intended from an informational perspective only and it is upto the readers to research and verify the claims and judgments in the article before reaching a conclusion.)