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The MOOLAH Mantra…?

IIM - Lucknow vs JBIMS - Mumbai

The issue "MBA aspirants in India have their eyes firmly focussed on the fat salary packages at the end of the journey; mastering business administration is hardly a priority."

FOR

Avantika Vohra (IIM-L)

The first thing that I feel everyone would agree on is that, given the skyrocketing salaries, the ROI (B-school jargon, thank you very much) of an MBA far outweighs the costs. Just this simple little fact is enough to drive people in hordes towards that ubiquitous CAT centre to try their luck at cracking the toughest aptitude test in the world.

When I speak of MBA aspirants, I include all those who want to take the CAT, as well as all those who've successfully cleared the CAT or any other B-school entrance tests.

The truth of the matter is that money is top priority for all students - some do masquerade as learners claiming that they opted for a B-school only for the education: talk to them after a couple of terms and they'll be marching to the tune of a different drummer. I do not want to adopt a condescending attitude towards these people; in fact, initially I, too, believed that I had come to an IIM primarily to master the academic basics of business, but soon learned otherwise. First of all, there are no guarantees in life and hence a B-school education does not promise one pots of gold - each one has to slog it out for his or her own benefit. Secondly, mastering just the education per se does not necessarily translate into results - you need to work on a lot of intangibles, alongside, to do well. But the crux of the matter is that the driving goal behind any MBA's toil and sweat is the lure of the glittering gold which is up for grabs at the end of the 20-month tenure.

I would say that it is somewhere down the road that the goal starts to get a bit hazy. Dreams of a refined education, which would give one the much-needed 'edge' in the corporate world, get replaced by those of hefty pay packets and ever-increasing perks. While no B-school student would refute that placement salaries are an important part of their career decision, few will admit to the fact that the focus is just on the moolah. That, however, is the honest truth and education has taken a backseat long since.

But why shouldn't pay packages be top priority for MBA aspirants? An MBA education in India starts at approximately Rs.2 lakh per annum, including living expenses. A degree from a private institute can command up to 5 times that figure - an obscene amount of money for the average 22-year-old to shell out. Given that a majority bank on their loans to fund their education, their primary concern upon graduation is repayment as soon as possible - how can fat pay packages not be their top priority?

Another case in point would be the news around placement season, which seems to focus so sharply on the average salaries, the highest salaries and the number of international offers across B-schools. The media highlights and even sensationalises the figures, making it appear that an MBA is all about the lucrative opportunities that spring up at the end of the road. This also has a significant influence on young minds. (After all, how many times do you find front pages of dailies discussing the kind of learning that goes on in B-schools?) What else can you study for two years and earn up to Rs. 15 lakh per annum as a fresher, within the country? Like it or not, an MBA has become synonymous with big pay packets and the good life and such an all-pervading impression among students, and people in general, adds to the single-minded focus towards money.

A look at the trends in the corporate world will also reflect a similar reality - management trainees frequently indulge in job-hopping leaving their current jobs for ones with more money or better perks. This is one major grouse that companies have against MBAs, as the amount of money they invest in training these fresh graduates becomes a sunk cost for them once the trainee quits.

All this isn't to say that people don't study in B-school or that there isn't any learning. On the contrary, a B-school equips you with all the soft skills you need in the corporate world. However, right from the word 'go,' MBAs look for their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the degree just becomes a means to the end.

AGAINST

Samta Lalan - JBIMS - Mumbai

The road to Truth has two aspects… the beginning and going all the way.

-Gautam Buddha

A career in the modern Corporate world, too, has two phases: one - the beginning which is primarily MBA propelled with the concomitant astronomical pay packages and two - the long arduous struggle post the package-euphoria in which one has to consistently prove her mettle in order to sustain the enormous earnings that one associates with a fast-track career. An MBA undoubtedly gives one a head start. However, fat salary packages can only be sustained if one performs on the job - and, to perform on the job, one needs to have mastered business administration.

It is said, "The finest steel has to undergo the fieriest of flames in order to emerge stronger." MBA is a rigorous, step-by-step initiation into the corporate world. The first step involves the entrance test, which sifts among 2 lakh students to select a handful, comprising less than 1% of all applicants. In the second stage, the student is put through the much talked of rigour and grind of a two year MBA course, wherein s/he gets to hone a variety of skills - be it soft skills, presentation skills or selling skills and thereby ensure the overall development of personality along with the assimilation of academic knowledge. Also, in good B-schools, students are given an opportunity to implement their academic knowledge in a practical manner by doing summer internships and other live corporate projects.

The design of the course structure and the theoretical and practical competencies of faculty members ensure that students are best prepared for the challenges of the corporate world. These students are competent problem-solvers who create value for the organisations they work in. Their pay packages are commensurate with the value that they create for their employers. Undoubtedly, it is a function of the skills garnered at B-schools.

Though there may be students who are lured to do an MBA only because of the pay packages (one does find some people saying that the top B-schools have become glorified placement agencies), the fact remains that the kind of faculty, the teaching methodology and the heritage of an institute are the factors that distinguish the cream of B-schools from the others. This distinction has a trickle down effect on the kind of placements witnessed. Placements, hence, are a by-product of the good brand name of a B-school and not vice versa.

At the end of the day, the placements of an institute are greatly driven by how the institute's alumni have been performing in the industry as that is the acid test to determine whether the institute is indeed capable of churning out future leaders for the corporate world. Hence, it would be wrong to say that the fat salary is the sole carrot for doing an MBA. It has more to do with the prestige of being attached to the same institute as the current leaders of the corporate world and going through the same learning process that they have gone through.

One needs to keep in mind that on a B-school campus, when students are choosing from a flood of offers, the profile and the growth opportunities offered by the company often take priority over salary offered. Not that one would be ready to work for peanuts, but salary does take a backseat when a decision is to be made as to which offer to accept. Had students only been focussing on the moolah such a dilemma would not arise.

Belonging to a B-school which has produced entrepreneurs and industrialists like Uday Kotak, Ajay Piramal, Sanjay Lalbhai, I strongly believe that a good MBA gives one much more than just a fat pay package, and most aspirants or students are well aware of the fact. Today, top schools are increasingly focussing more on instilling entrepreneurial spirit. Courses of entrepreneurship, formation of E-cells are some of the initiatives being taken to create not just managers but daring entrepreneurs, and the response from students to these programmes or courses speaks of their commitment to learning and acquiring business skills.

The rising trend among students opting out of campus placements in the top B-schools to start something on their own or to advance an existing business shows that there are many students who look at the education that an MBA course provides and not merely the number of zeroes in the salary package.