Even as some of the top B schools are updating their curricula to cater to the changing needs of the industry with courses in data sciences and ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) subjects, companies flag a glaring gap between the learning and application skills of students graduating from a majority of management colleges in the country.
"While we can't paint everyone with the same brush, there are some gaps... Learning for a degree, simple and single specialisation, and fixed curriculum are all passé. There is a gap in a multi-disciplinary approach to learning," says S.V. Nathan, Deloitte India's Partner and Chief Talent Officer.
He says a marketing or HR professional can be so focussed on her specialisation that she may not understand how the larger business works. "The connectedness of it all is important. Not everybody is able to get this down. We look for plug-and-play candidates because we don't have a lot of time these days to train management graduates."
However, global executive search firm EMA Partners' K. Sudarshan disagrees. "Organisations should be patient and expect to train and invest in people, especially given that they go as much to engineering colleges as to management schools to hire fresh talent to work on areas like digital and data sciences," says Sudarshan, who is Regional Managing Partner–Asia, and Managing Director, EMA Partners India. "When we hire for senior positions, I look for the ability to unlearn and learn across levels. That's the most important thing. Of course, you have to be digitally savvy, and be able to understand how technology and digital tools can be deployed to build and grow the business."
Meanwhile, heads of institutes are almost unanimous that mastery of technical skills alone does not guarantee a job or a great career. Soft skills or life skills are equally crucial. Especially after the pandemic experience, more and more companies are particular about skills like crisis communication, virtual coordination, empathy, resilience, strategic storytelling, leadership, and the ability to work in a team as well as autonomously.
Aashish Kshetry, VP (HR & Systems) of Asian Paints, a frequent recruiter at the top B-schools, says some skills that B-schools can equip students with more strongly are management and development, collaboration across multiple functions, people skills, working styles, and thinking on one's feet. "With our focus on innovation-led leadership, resilience and lifelong learning also start becoming extremely crucial."
In fact, IIM Indore Director Himanshu Rai recommends that negotiation, an elective he has been teaching for several years, along with leadership, crisis communication, data sciences and AI, be moved to the core curriculum.
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