UP YOUR SKILLS
Management studies is going beyond its limiting definition for a collaborative approach
The lines between digital and physical spheres have blurred. Future business leaders will have to go ahead within this dynamic, challenging world now that computers are able to emulate better than human thinking and performance. Progressive management education needs to provide the right melange of decision making capability and new age specialisations that could straddle both the technology and management space. A few questions that would help.
What are the current trends?
Specialisations in MBA have been increasingly focusing on the data sciences piece. This is driven by the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and greater than before digitalisation. Apart from the current subjects such as marketing, finance, human resources, operations, and international business, alternatives around AI, data engineering and analytics are becoming important. For this, MBA students would need to learn subjects such as database management, advanced statistical techniques, a deeper approach to synthesising and analysing data using programming languages such as R or Python, business intelligence tools such as Power BI, QlikView or Tableau, machine learning algorithms, predictive modelling and text analytics, and big data.
How are these changes helpful?
It enables a deeper qualitative and quantitative appreciation by the students and equips them in better decision making. Apart from this, MBA students also need to learn not just the tools but its integration and optimisation within various business contexts. Adoption of such technologies in business is a given but a competitive advantage can only be achieved if these lead to effective implementation and sustainable gains. Electives must be designed keeping this in mind.
Is knowledge of liberal arts necessary?
Successful business leaders realise that technology helps address human concerns but understanding and empathising with those concerns becomes a catalyst for positive change. This then brings us to the importance of a liberal arts orientation for MBA students. It enables students with an expanded philosophical world view and allows them to make informed value decisions. Courses such as design thinking, philosophy, psychology, sociology, political economy of trade, gender equality, ethics and public policy should find a place in the MBA curriculum. Of course, these would need to be treated and delivered differently.
What is the future for MBA?
As MBAs progress in their careers, creating new designs, business models, its effects on humans and society would need to be gauged as much as its influence on the bottom line. This tightrope walk requires educators to view the MBA in a new light.