MBA or management training?
I am pursuing my Bachelor’s in English (H) through correspondence. I am also working in a hotel. After graduation, I want to pursue a career in human resources. What is beneficial: MBA or management training? What are the qualifications for becoming a management trainee? Is an IHM qualification necessary to apply for management training? To what extent is an MBA degree similar to or different from management training?
To pursue a career in HR, you need to hold an MBA degree with specialisation in HR. Human resource man
agement is an organisational function which mainly deals with recruitment, training, placement, promotion, transfer, and industrial disputes, as well as labour discipline and grievances, employee morale and organisational development.
You need to be good with people, have an understanding of human psychology, an ability to get on with all types of people regardless of their age, class, social or educational background, as well as have organisational, administrative and problem-solving skills.
Your work is training you in a career in hotel management. The management training that you mention is possibly what you would get at the hotel once you have qualified in hotel management. You, therefore, need to decide whether with your hotel experience you should continue with the training in hotel management or take up the MBA to specialise in HR.
I have scored 93 per cent in my Class XII (2010) and my AIEEE state (Chandigarh) rank is 1353 for BE/BTech and 78 for BArch. What should I go for — engineering or architecture? Please suggest some colleges to which I will be eligible to apply (in both streams)?
You have scored well. So, it is important that you take up a career for which you have the ability and interest. A BTech degree will lead you into a career where you will work with computers or tools in a technical or industrial environment. You should also have above-average numerical ability and be prepared to work wherever an engineering unit or factory may be located, sometimes in remote areas or industrial towns. There are several specialisations in engineering, such as civil, mechanical, aeronautical, electronic etc and you should have a liking for the specialisation you opt for. The scope for engineers has always been huge in India, particularly if you are interested in computer science or IT, automobile engineering as many automobile companies have opened shop, electronics and communication as the telecommunication sector has really expanded, and civil and mechanical engineering as numerous infrastructure projects come up in the country.
With the entry of many multi-national companies, India is moving out of the realms of the traditional shop floor and emerging as a specialised engineering and R&D hub, requiring large numbers of highly-qualified engineers for design, product development, process and value engineering and so on. If you are interested in engineering, this is certainly the course to take up, and you can then combine it with an MTech or MBA after a few years of work. On the other hand, if you are creative, have good sketching proficiency and imagination, a high level of practicality, skill, accuracy, understanding power, capacity to observe and conceptualise, then a career as an architect may be the preferred option. The BArch programme covers a wide area of knowledge about art and graphics, history of architecture, architectural design, architectural structures, surveying, computer applications, building construction, materials, town planning as well as interior design. Once qualified as an architect, you can work in a firm of architects, in partnership with another architect, or set up your practice. In the last five years, there has been a huge demand for good architects as India sees considerable construction activity. So, do give this some thought and take a decision. The AIEEE website provides the list of colleges depending on your rank.
I scored 94 per cent marks in my Class XII exams (commerce stream). I did not have maths in plus-two. Therefore, I cannot do a BCom (honours) course in a good Delhi University college. In top colleges, the cut off for non-maths students is very high. Can I get into BCom, which does not require maths in Class XII, in a very good college? Should I go for BCom (honours) at a low-rung college or plain BCom from a top college? Is there good scope for plain commerce graduates from a top DU college?
As you did not do maths in Class XII, it is best that you take up the BCom programme in a good college in DU, which, with 94 per cent marks, you can. The recently-revamped BCom programme is good and covers many subjects taught for the honours degree, such as business and industrial law, economics, corporate accounting and others. It also includes optional papers from which you can choose financial management, marketing, human resource management or e-commerce. With a BCom degree, you can take up any of the career options you may have wished to do after B Com (H), including MBA, chartered accountancy, company secretaryship, law and many others. So, you can certainly enrol for the BCom programme.
Author: Usha Albuquerque
Date: 30th June, 2010
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