Future of work starts in the classroom: Preparing MBAs for a human-first workplace

Among all the postgraduate programmes, the MBA is unique in terms of its curriculum and student composition. While the curriculum draws from diverse fields such as Economics, Sociology, Mathematics, Finance, and Engineering, the MBA student composition tends to be very heterogeneous.

MBA aspirants come from varied backgrounds in graduation that include Engineering, Science, Arts, Commerce, Law, Pharma, Medical Science, and so forth. No other postgraduate program might have this kind of diversity in its curriculum and composition. Moreover, the changes in curriculum happen much faster in management education as it draws heavily from industry practices which themselves keep changing fast.

While this diversity and dynamism is a challenge for educators in the field of management, the bigger challenge is to develop the right kind of attitude and human skills among the students. Workplaces are becoming extremely people centric, and it is important to sensitize students towards the importance of working with people, being comfortable with diversity and accepting divergent viewpoints. This is much easier said than done.

Students today come mainly from nuclear families securing a lot of parental attention. While they are tech savvy, which is a good thing, they have been spending disproportionately higher time on the online space, limiting their time for social interaction in the physical world. This has resulted in a student group that is sensitive, has a high self esteem and is socially shy.

This development has not only been recognized by educators but also by recruiters. Companies appreciate the confidence the new recruits exhibit but have often pointed out lack of people skills among the MBA graduates they hire. Specifically, they mention inability or even refusal to work in teams as a major shortcoming among youngsters. The other aspects which are found to be wanting are inability to adapt and a sense of entitlement. 

This is not a healthy development as organizations are basically about people and to succeed employees have to interact and get along with peers, subordinates and superiors. People skills become even more important as one climbs up the ladder in companies, and it is MBAs who are expected to assume leadership roles as time passes.

No doubt B-Schools have been continually revamping and updating their curriculum keeping in mind the requirements of the industry, but the focus has been on the technical aspects of business. For instance, almost all B-Schools have included subjects such as Data Analytics, Artificial intelligence and Design Thinking in their curriculum but there seems to be a lack of focus on communication, conflict management, leadership and other topics concerning human relationships.

This is a wake up call for management education and it must take cognizance of this need of the hour. They must realise that in today’s world, technical knowledge has limited currency as we are living in the age of rapid obsolescence of technical knowhow. What is enduring and permanent is the foundations of managing people, managing relationships and nuances of human interaction.

The key to corporate success is people who know how to collaborate and cooperate to create surplus for nation building.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com.