Advanc'edge MBA / April 2003

It is crucial on two counts:1. If you do qualify for a course and find yourself a

complete misfit for the curriculum it would mean youare actually not cut out for the management cadre inthe corporate world. So you are likely to saddleyourself with a career that makes you unhappy.

2. An MBA course is an investment both in terms of timeand money hence wasting it is an offence.

Moving on, let’s look at a few caricatures wherein an MBAdegree can be handy:4 The Anointed Heir who wants to hold the keys to

his/her kingdom. This guy is someone like anindustrialist’s son, who will have to take over therunning of an existing corporate empire.

4 The Shop Floor Enthusiast who wants to sit in thegilded corporate office This guy is typically someonewho has devoted many years on the shop floor (itcould also be in a lab..or in sales..or in data collection),mostly a technical person who executes rather thanstrategises. This guy now wants to be a part of thestrategic team.

4 The Intrepid Entrepreneur who wants to create anempire. This guy is someone who is all set to start hisor her own business and wants to know the tools ofhow to do so.

4 The Power Seeker who wants to crack themanagement ceiling he/she has hit because of a lackof an MBA degree. This person istypically someone who is a part ofmanagement but sees manypromotions pass by him/ her due to aperceived lack of managerialperspective. Most of the topmanagement believe that a person witha management degree has managerialperspective.

4 The Money Player who would like toincrease his/her pay packet. An MBAdegree immediately increases yourmarket value. If a postgraduate in

Why should you do an MBA?This is an invariable question in any MBA entrance-interview. Getting this answer

pat right is critically important because it shows how clear you are about yourexpectations from the course. It is imperative that you answer this question to

yourself before you rush to fill up forms to various MBA colleges.

economics is offered say Rs. 7000 per month as astarting salary, an MBA graduate is typically offeredat least Rs. 10000 to 12000 per month.

4 The Reluctant Graduate who believes that he/shehas learnt nothing at all that can get him/her a job.The non-professional graduate courses availabletoday are not perceived to have any marketable valueby the corporate world. These therefore need to beaugmented to make the graduate ‘market worthy’.

The underlying advantage in all the six caricatures isthat an MBA degree immediately flags you off as someonewho can be trained to take up positions of authority.

Apart from the positive boost that a person’s careergets, an MBA degree also offers three side benefits. Somemay argue that these are the main benefits ..1. An MBA course is a hothouse where you are pushed

to deliver. You are introduced to fierce competition.The conditions work on you in such a way that eitheryou breakdown and leave the course half way or youend up becoming a tough professional.

2. An MBA programme exposes you to a very wide areaof experience in terms of subjects and people. Youget exposed to varied subjects like macroeconomics,consumer behaviour, psychology, marketing, culturalheritage, communication theory, operations research,quantitative techniques, finance, HR, etc. Mostprogrammes cover over 30 subjects! Apart from

exposure to subjects, you meet peoplefrom various backgrounds and places.This really broadens your outlook!3. And last but not the least, an MBAcourse brings together impressionableyoung men and women and you may justcatch your soul mate while slogging overcase studies!

- Jaya DeshmukhVisiting Faculty, IMDR and SIMS

(Pune)Ex Associate Brand Manager,

AT&T Corp. Asia Pacific

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April 2004Advanc'edge MBA

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What does MBA have to offer you?High pay packages, lavish lifestyles, senior

positions in organisations etc are some of the commonreasons why people choose MBA as a career option.But if we were to give it a deeper thought, we wouldwonder, is this the real reason why MBA as a careeroption is so popular. There is definitely no denial inthe above-mentioned factors but well, to base yourdecisions with only these objectives in mind, wouldseem a highly blinkered attitude, don’t you agree?

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualisation comes above social needs (don’t botherif you don’t know Maslow’s law, you shall soon learnabout it in your MBA!) So in order to make thisdecision of a lifetime, you should be much moreinformed about the pros and cons (if any) of selectingMBA as a career option. This write-up, elucidating

how I made this decision of my life, is my attempt tohelp you do just that…

In the third year of my engineering, I had startedthinking seriously about the kind of career I wantedfor myself. The first step I took was honestly analysing

Why MBA?- Dhiraj Malhotra

my strengths and weaknesses and most importantlymy interests. I realised that I always appreciated a 3-dimensional object more than scaled single or double-dimensioned objects. I realised at that time that I wasa person inclined to research but still enjoyedvisualisation and understanding the BIG picture ofthe task at hand. I would adopt a modular approachin handling the task at hand and drill down and zoomin on every related aspect in the context. I was notcomfortable starting with something that I cameacross and complete it the way it is expected to bewithout thinking on the why’s and how’s and if’s ofthe subject under focus. Hence I concluded that Ineeded integrating skills in my personality as well asin the work I do. Being an engineer it was easy tofind options where I could get involved in thetechnical aspect of the project without worrying muchabout the other issues. But this as I just mentionedwould not satisfy me. Hence I looked at other optionsavailable and came across the concept of MBA.

I made a well thought-out, well-reasoned decisionof doing an MBA and have since then never lookedback. I enjoy the job I do presently and have had all

As you stand at one of the most critical crossroads of your life, there would be a millionquestions in your mind. During the last few years of your student life, you would havelooked at a number of career options and tried to gauge what it is that you would like tobecome. Eventually, what is the kind of work that you want to do for the rest of yourlife? While most of you, by now, would have an idea about your dream job, some of themore focused among you would also have an idea about your dream companies. Someprofessional qualified folks would have by now figured whether to continue in yourtechnical field or take off on a management career. As you are all set to become seriousabout your careers, lets talk about MBA as a career option, if it is what you want to do inlife.

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April 2004Advanc'edge MBA

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my needs fulfilled appropriately.Let me tell you about the kind of skills I developed

during my MBA

Integrating skillsOne of the most important skills that I developedduring my MBA was integrating skills. I learned howto work on different areas and how to manage the co-relations between different functions and verticals. Ilearned to appreciate how a change in one leads tomany changes in other units, components, entities,and developed the technique of managing thisdynamic equation. Well, some of you might bewondering what are these units, components etc thatI am talking about. I have intentionally used theseterms to make you appreciate how crucial it is for oneto develop a knack of living with abstractness andunknowns and still make them work for you. By units,functions, components etc., I mean any work area oractivity or sub process that gets modified due to somechange in the other. For example, software engineerswho work on a particular module will not be able torespond to a client’s changing needs midway duringa project. The project may not be dependant on thefact that their client is shortly planning to implementSAP. Their job is to complete the application, theyhave set to develop. Of course, their project managersand people interacting with the client at higher levelwould be handling such issues while also supervisingthe technical robustness of the project. It would bewise to remember that those at managerial levels havereached there by experience. I however, chose to learnthese skills on my way to becoming a manager. Theskill to integrate various functions helps one developa wider perspective and broadens considerably theoverall outlook towards everything.

Macro and Micro Issues of BusinessStrong business acumen is another skill set that Ideveloped. The various real life cases handled duringmy MBA made me clinically compare and analyse allthe exceptions to theory that practical life is embeddedin and how processes and people learn to live withthem and how these can be managed. For this, oneneeds to be aware of events happening in the businessworld around us. I studied various business modelsand came to appreciate how simple thought processesand innovation can be a firm foundation of some ofthe biggest organisations of the world.

People ManagementIn order to work in teams and create powerfulsolutions, one needs to develop interpersonalsensitivity. Handling people and group dynamics intoday’s competitive world is considered to be one ofthe most important challenges. I worked in multipleteams with and without the people I was comfortablewith. There were instances where I came across a teamcomprising of people who had zero overlap with myperception, point of view etc. But the challenge ofliving and working with them and still getting aquality job done in time was a lesson I can neverforget.

Street SmartnessApart from the “technical” knowledge aboutmanagement, I was also exposed to a number ofsituations where my ability to think differently and“just get the work done” was tested. This in MBAjargon is called street smartness. So while the theoriesand rules of the book are all fine, when you get going,you should know how to make rules work for yourather than the other way round. I am sure that peoplewith medical background will agree as they often say“The disease never follows the book!”

ConfidenceHaving had an exposure to a competitive, holistic anddynamic environment, one, needless to say, developsa deep-rooted confidence in one’s abilities. The feelingthat come what may, I am ready to face the challengeand face it boldly comes uniquely with this careeroption. It might sound biased, but the fact is thathundreds of MBA’s I have interacted with have that“something different” in them as far as confidence isconcerned.

The author is an MBA in Finance and consulting withone of the leading multinational consultancies in Mumbai.

IIM-A campus