Beyond B-School

It takes more than structured courses to achieve success in the workplace and happiness in life, says Shilpa Airen, Deputy Manager HR, Sadbhav Engineering Ltd. Here's a common thought in the minds of many young HR professionals: I have only worked in HR for a little over a year now, but I notice that our company cares about experience a lot more than it does about education. They also wonder whether their company finds education to be just a bonus. It's true that young MBAs in HR are full of energy. They work fast, are good computer operators and handle data efficiently. They are also confident and do not hesitate to question the instructions of experienced seniors. But what MBA institutes cannot teach them is taught in the school of corporate life. To work well is execution but to think about what to work and how to work is a step up; getting it done from your team in a tough external environment is the art of good management. Indeed, it is of utmost importance to be a leader who creates an environment of trust, sharing, development and respect. In the slow process of graduating from executer to leader, good performance always has to be supported with proper conduct, clear communication, a creative presentation of views, relationship building and self-discipline. Unfortunately, none of our educationists train young minds in these skills. For this, one can blame the curriculum, which is hardly updated, and the highly automated nature of the industry, which students are not very used to. The industry needs mostly experienced people, or at least students who have as much practical exposure as possible. As most of the curriculum is theoretical in the majority of colleges and universities, it is very tough for the corporate world to hire and train fresh graduates—it takes a long time before they become productive and start delivering results. The gaps that need to be bridged lie in the areas of technical competency; practical orientation in the area of laboratory working; manufacturing; and documentation. Though most courses in a majority of graduate and undergraduate programmes are certainly relevant to date, the main challenge is practicality. Quite a number of colleges run on low budgets and it is tough for them to provide a practical environment or come up with additional initiatives. Apart from technical skills, many young minds lack behavioural competency. Their focus is on working fast and getting recognised in a short time. Let's look at what they learn in a good B-school: ● A few fundamentals (or at least the jargon) in marketing, finance and strategy● The fact that they are in a large crowd of hugely competitive and gifted peers● That they have a skill or two in fair measure that is valuable in the workplace and the world. This learning is definitely necessary. But they don't learn what it takes to be successful or happy in life. Here are a few things that can never be taught in a B-school: Self-belief Sadly, the education system globally is built on rather dubious scaffolding called 'relative grading'. This works against enhancement of self-belief.  And not many in a competitive B-school have the innate ability to work around this institutional conspiracy. This quality is probably considered too difficult or unimportant by the gurus of the B-school. Dreaming This is considered an unthinkable part of the syllabus. Even a decade after I have graduated, I have not found any courses or mentors that allow youngsters to dream, to build fantasies of any kind, to imagine a world that they can build by not worrying about resources or limitations. Expediency, skills and 'realistic assessments' are put on a higher pedestal than dreaming. Cooperation vs competition Successes in life are built around the word 'cooperation'. Unfortunately, this is a rarely mentioned and much loathed term in a B-school system that is built on competition. Beating others to a game is a much celebrated attribute. Gifted horses get trained to do that and end up being champs in 'gaming' the whole field of performance. Looking for a win-win way of dealing with life remains a mere jargon with neither the imagination nor the belief to practice it in real life. Choosing your own path Success in life is about choosing one's path. Every happy story is an illustration of this truth. B-schools do not aim to facilitate this inside-out journey. In sum, all individuals need to look at their own way of discovering the million things that they need beyond the 36 courses delivered by a B-school. While this is a piece in the context of a B-school, the handicaps of the system do not alter with other schools or with geographies. In many ways, a new era of delivering education with allegiance singularly towards the learner is waiting to happen. In the meantime, the jobs will be back on the B-school campuses and life goes on! About the author: SHILPA AIREN, Deputy Manager HR, Sadbhav Engineering, is an MBA-HR from IMS-DAVV Indore. For the last six years, she has been engaged in both HR consulting and corporate HR. Her stint with Mafoi and Reliance exposed her to various talent engagement, acquisition and HR strategic issues.