Monday, April 05, 2010
Master of Business Administration (MBA)is a business education programme offered by Business Schools, often shortened to B-Schools. Post Graduate Diploma Programme in Management (PGDM) is another popular management programme. There are over 1600 B-Schools in the country and the number is growing. There is large unmet demand for MBA and PGDM. The demand is driven by the market. India is on a fast growth track and it is expected to grow at double digits in the next decade. It implies that the demand for MBA is set to rise faster than ever before. Hence, MBA is the most sought after educational programme in the country at present. An MBA qualification improves job prospects and compensation package for a candidate. Thus, it is seen as a passport to attractive career openings.

The programme content is designed to bring about attitudinal change, and enhance competence of candidates. The personality transformation potential of the programme is much to be appreciated. That is why it is accepted as an entry level qualification for management positions in organisations in private and public sectors. MBA curriculum mostly is oriented towards business management. It has two components: core course which every candidate has to take, that is, they are mandatory courses, and optional courses which are based on individual choices and preferences. There may be a third category of courses called audit courses. The core courses introduce the candidates to the world of business management and its functions. The optional courses deepen and sharpen one's knowledge and skills in a domain. The optional courses have to be chosen based on one's interest and career preferences.
The management profession is becoming increasingly complex. The diversity of problems and issues to be handled by a management professional entails him or her to acquire multiple area competence. Knowledge of several domains like finance, marketing, technology, human resource management etc. have become very essential. So, the programme is frequently revamped or redesigned to accommodate such dynamic industry needs in curriculum. The major specialization areas are Marketing. Finance, Human Resource Management, Operations Management and Information Technology. The number of career opportunities that open up each year is the largest in marketing. Finance and HRM follow it in that order. Hence, choice of specialization is to be done carefully.
MBA programme design and delivery is different from any other programme in many ways. One is the rich mix of pedagogy which the programme uses for its effective delivery.

The pedagogy includes case studies, role plays, group discussion, industry visit and interface, guest lectures, projects, practical assignments, seminars, debates, simulation exercises etc.

--- Dr.P.Mohan (The author is a Professor in Dept. of Commerce & Management Studies, University of Calicut)