"B-school grads lack communication skills"

By Ruchi Shrimali

The quality of education in some of the best Indian management institutions has come under firing line recently. Reports say that India's top B-schools such as IIMs and ISB are revamping their curriculum to make management education in India more corporate-ready. ISB is already working on realigning its curriculum to existing industry needs, which includes emphasis on communication skills and leadership traits of their students. Read more about the new syllabus of ISB.

Mr Sidharth Balakrishna, who has worked at top management and consultancy firms in the energy sector and is a member of the Interview Panel at various MBA institutes, told Shiksha.com, "In my experience as a faculty in top B-schools, I have found that communication abilities, especially writing abilities, are lacking in management graduates. Due to some extent, it is due to multiple choice questions being used for testing. Using Essay Writing as a tool of evaluation at the entrance exam stage is a good idea. The ability to write good summaries should also be taught."

Last year, Ivy League of US had revamped their MBA curriculum too. Besides IIMs and ISB, NMIMS and SPJIMR have also started working on re-aligning their curriculum to produce responsible leaders of the society and are including subjects like ethics, corporate social responsibility, mandatory internships with NGOs, and even management mantras from the Bhagavad Gita.

Mr. Balakrishna adds, "A decline in ethics among management students has become quite visible. Some graduates of top schools are perceived as arrogant and out of touch with ground realities. In such a scenario, it has become necessary to take necessary steps to inculcate responsible leadership and make them aware about their social responsibilities."

However, the corporate world is not too happy with the changes in the syllabus. The remedy to this situation, Mr. Balakrishna suggests, "Students should be assigned more projects with companies, have longer summer placements, exposed to more industry guest lectures and given an opportunity to have corporate mentors. Ideally, there should be at least two stints of corporate placements in a programme."

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