Editor’s Note
Prof. Manas Chakravarty, teaches Human Resource Management at Globsyn Business School – which has always been considered to be one of the best MBA colleges in Kolkata. Prof. Chakravarty moved to academics following a distinguished career in the industry, culminating in leadership roles. Prior to joining the faculty team at Globsyn Business School, he was the Associate Dean at ICFAI, Hyderabad and Dean at Unitedworld School of Business, Karnavati University, Gandhinagar. In addition to administrative and professional responsibilities, Prof. Chakravarty has delivered executive learning programs at leading corporate houses across the country and has been the program director of national and international conferences. Apart from academic writing, he also has a blog page in the Economic Times.
We are at that season of the year when seeds get planted in business schools for the crop to be harvested in about two years’ time. In the first week of August, Globsyn Business School was witness to a new flock of eager minds step into its portals. As they embark on their journey of a managerial career, the cohort would do well to keep in mind that postgraduate management education is quite different from other academic programmes at the tertiary level of education.
Most postgraduate programmes are in the nature of an extension of the related undergraduate education. For example, M. Com. may be seen as an extension of B. Com. and M. Tech. of B. Tech. However, a management programme is not built upon any particular undergraduate programme. It is designed as a standalone self-complete entity where everything has to begin at the beginning and get over in just two years. Consequently, the curriculum is very dense, leaving no room for slackness. Students, therefore, have to avoid the common tendency of their undergrad days of taking it easy at the beginning of a course and then catching up; it will not work here.
Another aspect where management education is different from other domains is that it is practice-driven rather than being laboratory-driven or textbook-driven. It is unlike, say, engineering or pharmacology, where what has worked in the laboratory is taken to production and taught in academic programmes. In management education, what has actually worked in practice is studied and developed into teaching material for generalized wider application. In the corporate world, events of far-reaching consequences play out all the time, often in full public view. It is therefore possible for management students to directly observe the cause-and-effect relationships of business decisions and educate themselves even while the learning material is evolving. This scope of self-learning can be cashed in only if they take a keen interest in following business news.
More than any other profession, managers depend on the power of networking for their effectiveness at work and also for career growth. Management students should remember that the nucleus of their professional network evolves during their programme at the business school. It comprises, among others, the fellow students, professors, visiting experts and acquaintances gained during the internship. Some of them have to be cultivated as sounding boards. It is also possible to look at them to find a mentor.
As held by the famous management guru Peter Drucker, business is an organ of society. Working for social welfare is important not only to practice ethics but also as a good business strategy. Budding managers must therefore develop a strong sensitivity towards care for society. It is indeed difficult to fit this aspect into the academic curriculum of a management programme. Therefore, at Globsyn Business School, this crucial need is met by providing students with a slew of opportunities through a framework called Beyond Education. It comprises many elements that include elderly care, differently-abled care, and sharing with the underprivileged. Students should make full use of these opportunities for their personal and career growth.
The architecture of management programmes at Globsyn Business School is committed to turning out complete managers in two years’ time. However, that can fructify only when students put in their share of commitment.
Prof. Manas Chakravarty
Faculty – Human Resources Management
Globsyn Business School