Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Married But Available

MARRIED BUT AVAILABLE
A 2-Pager by Ajit Chaudhuri

Are you an MBA? The correct answer to this one depends upon what MBA stands for – there are imbeciles around who claim that it is an acronym for ‘married but available’ and replying in the affirmative raises a few cackles among them. But others, who do equate it with a Masters in Business Administration, are also asking – what does an MBA stand for? Today’s economic quagmire has many villains – investment banks, big business, credit rating agencies – and one among the institutions that society has lost confidence in is the business school. Is it a mere coincidence that so many of the greedy bastards that screwed the world are products of these places, or is there something deeply flawed with the B-School as an institution of learning? What is it about management education that has led people to believe that B-Schools foster self-interested, unethical and even illegal behaviour? Why are MBAs considered part of the problem rather than the solution?

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review addresses some of these questions. Joel Podolny, its author, was the Dean at Yale School of Management and, before that, a Professor at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business – and therefore his views are those of an insider. This paper summarises his views on what is wrong and what needs to be done to address the problems at B-Schools, and then tries to apply the learnings to the Indian B-School environment.

He makes several observations. The first is that B-Schools pay little attention to ethics and to the teaching of value based leadership. The second is on the way B-Schools teach management, carving up the subject into disciplinary silos that leave MBAs without a holistic appreciation for the challenges that they will confront. The third is that many academics at B-Schools are not curious as to what really goes on in companies, and prefer to develop theoretical models that obscure rather than clarify the way organisations work.

About 50 years ago, a study of business education in the US (by, among others, the Ford Foundation) concluded that the quality of scholarship was quote terrible unquote and recommended hiring academics trained in traditional disciplines that emphasise quantitative methods. Today, faculty relying on mathematical models and whatnot outnumber those emphasising qualitative techniques. This has produced greater rigour – but also fragmented the study of management challenges as problems were carved up to fit academics’ areas of expertise. This has had two consequences –

One, B-Schools ignored the study of values and ethics. Those who do teach ethics (and there was a move towards this after the Enron and WorldCom fiascos) do so in a vacuum. And one of the consequences of this is that many MBA students regard right and wrong as defined by the norm, i.e. if many others are doing it then it is right. And yes, there are surveys to back this up.

Two, leadership and ethics courses are flawed, with faculty and students regarding them as ‘soft’ subjects that do not require detailed analysis. And the manner of teaching these subjects is such that students are allowed to regard the moral consequences of their actions as mere afterthoughts.

Doesn’t the case study methodology, with its emphasis on context, help overcome these problems? No, says Prof. Podolny! Cases can be a source of inter-disciplinary integration and a way to focus on various dimensions of leadership, but they rarely are. Faculty from the same discipline usually write a case, and the cases end up being function specific. And when students must read a dozen cases a week, they tend to believe that each one deals with an entirely separate issue. And the case methodology does not teach that being consistent in different situations and continuously paying attention to detail are among the most challenging aspects of leadership.

Another issue is rankings! These drive the competition for B-School students – not bad in itself, as market pressures should force Deans to keep improving curricula and teaching methods. But these factors influence rankings only in the long run, and curricula changes require faculty cooperation and time to iron out wrinkles. Deans therefore tend to focus on influencing the measures that change rankings quickly, such as getting graduates to place themselves in higher paying jobs. This means admitting students with more experience, who command higher starting salaries, and preparing them for higher paying industries such as consulting and financial services. It also means bringing in consultants to help students perform better at interviews, and thereby boosting the number of job offers each receives. Again, on the surface, nothing wrong! But when B-Schools use rankings and starting salaries as the basis by which to attract students, they lend credibility to students’ claims that a B-School’s primary goal is to get them a high paying job.

What do B-Schools need to do? First, accept that people don’t simply lack trust in B-Schools, they actively distrust them (and there is a huge difference). Second, show that they value what society values, that principles, ethics and attention to detail are important components of leadership, and they need to place emphasis on leaders’ responsibilities and not just their rewards. Third, foster greater integration among disciplines (possibly through the appointment of teaching teams rather than single faculty courses) and link analysis with values. Fourth, encourage qualitative research. Fifth, stop competing on rankings. Sixth, set up a code of conduct for MBAs (learn from other professions, lawyers, doctors) and revoke degrees of those who violate this.

Though obviously based upon the American experience, there is much that B-Schools in India can take from this article. We too have a mushrooming of institutions that provide an MBA, and students here too have a single expectation – that a two-year stint will increase their value in the job market by a factor of ten. Many spend a lot of money on their MBAs, and have borrowed to do so (and have to pay the money back with interest), and see the degree in pure return on investment terms – and B-Schools have cashed in on this. This is not an environment that encourages talk about ethics and values.

At the same time, the need for a focus on these matters, and on responsible leadership, is probably more in India where we see affronts in front of us every day of our lives and where the conflicts of interest that an MBA student has to deal with in the future are more basic. We do need a moral compass to guide us on difficult choices, and a B-School does need to play a role in providing us with the tools to formulate one.

I would like, at this stage, to hark back to Dr. Verghese Kurien – the founder of, among many institutions, the Institute of Rural Management in Anand (IRMA) where I did two years of swotting for an MBA back in the late 1980s and where I am privileged to occasionally visit now. I didn’t think too highly of him then – there is something off-putting about having someone’s photograph in every room while the person is still alive. But there was a sharp and clear focus on values within IRMA and a deep belief that this provided a cutting edge to its graduates. This has been eroded along with his loss of influence in the boardroom, and the absence of a vision for the institution is discernable.

There is a saying ‘never waste a disaster’! The same applies to economic downturns. This is a time for B-Schools to look at basics again – and to ask themselves a question. What does an MBA stand for?

Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Real Football Fan

THE REAL FOOTBALL FAN
By Ajit Chaudhuri

Football has become popular, and everyone and their aunts consider themselves a fan. How do you sift the genuine article from the bozos that are floating around in red t-shirts with ‘RONALDO’ emblazoned across the back? Here are some ways.

1. The real fan thinks that his/her baby’s first words were not ‘Mama’ or ‘Papa’ but a footballer’s name? Those first ‘mmmboo’s would have been mistaken for Emil Mboo Mboo, the midfielder from the Indomitable Lions of 1990 and 1994
2. The real fan does not associate the name ‘Schumacher’ with size, beauty or cars, but would instead think of a German goalkeeper who should have gone to jail for his assault on Patrick Battiston in the 1982 semi-final. Similarly, Socrates is not a philosopher, Wagner is not a musician, and Kiss is not a rock group.
3. The real fan cannot stand the German or Austrian national teams, even that winning German one of 1990 (grudging admiration, perhaps, at best). S/he always supports their opponents and is happy when they are kicked out of tournaments (Lechkov’s header in the 1994 quarter final was a particularly sweet moment, as was the ball dropping out of Kahn’s hands and on to Ronaldo’s feet in 2002). S/he would never, ever, forgive them for that fixed match they played in 1982 to keep Algeria out.
4. The real fan would associate the name ‘Bernd Schuster’ with that brilliant creative midfielder who refused to be part of the German team featured in point 3 above. Yes, he did go on to do other things.
5. The real fan knows that Diego Maradona is the best footballer that could ever have been. The mind does not change because he is not in a suit pimping for his country as a world cup destination or coaching some fancy team. He took two very ordinary teams to the world cup final (can you name any other player from either of those teams?), where he won one and lost one. Which other candidate for the ‘best ever’ tag did anything without brilliance all around in support. Pele in 1958 and 1970? Cruyff in 1974? The only one coming anywhere in the vicinity is Zidane in 2006.
6. The real fan watches women’s football for the football and not the women, and did not even consider a peek when Brandi Chastain took off her shirt to celebrate the USA’s victory in 1999. And yes, s/he loves Marta and Sun Wen.
7. The real fan follows the fortunes of teams out of the top four in the English and the top two in the Spanish leagues. S/he knows of Zenit St. Petersburg, Stadt Rennes, FC Tromso, Ruben Kazan and Almeria, and knows why teams don’t like to play away against FC Rosenborg in the Champions League in November.
8. The real fan does cry – but on select occasions such as when Cameroon lost that quarterfinal in 1990, or when Andres Escobar was murdered.
9. The real fan watches Indian football, and tries to do so in the stadium whenever possible.
10. The real fan starts smirking when the discussion turns to whether Cristiano Ronaldo has taken the best free kick ever. S/he has seen Michel Platini and Roberto Falcao take free kicks.