Harish, a fresh MBA, was recently hired by a large family-run organisation. Being enthusiastic about his job, Harish worked hard and delivered on his targets. His boss was impressed with his work ethic and knowledge, but was concerned about his integration with the team. When the time came for the distribution of bonuses, Harish felt he was rewarded far less than his peers. Believing that he was new to the business, he decided to wait some time before approaching his boss. Next year, the same story repeated. His boss, whom Harish felt did not contribute much towards the goals of the team, took home the largest chunk of bonuses, while Harish being the junior-most in the team did most of the work. Other members, who were close to the boss, also received bigger bonuses than they deserved. This enraged Harish and he decided to quit.
So, is Harish the exception or the rule? Do fresh MBAs frequently switch jobs only because they seek higher pay packages or does dissatisfaction with office politics also plays a role?
To an outsider and to any other interview panel where Harish would appear for his next job, it would appear that Harish is only motivated by his desire for a larger pay package. But, in reality, Harish wants to be recognised for his hard work which contributed to the goals of the organisation.
Fresh MBAs, who go through the MBA training without prior work experience, face these issues time and again, especially in the initial phases of their professional careers. As a significant chunk of MBA students in premier Indian business schools do not have any prior work experience before joining the institute, the realities of the corporate world hit them hard when they are exposed to it. Business schools, on their part, do sensitise students to such corporate realities during their training, but need the support of corporates to do more.
Most Indian business schools expose students to the human aspect of working in organisations via core courses in the first year. Some premier business schools have a significant number of faculty with prior corporate experience. These faculty members are able to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the classrooms via various pedagogies. Simulations, role-playing and group assignments expose students to the interpersonal dynamics of working in corporates.
To further sensitise students about the corporate realities, they are sent for summer internships in various organisations for 2-3 months, especially during the months of April-June. Typically, students work individually on projects under the mentorship of a senior professional and have limited exposure to the working of teams. A proper integration with an organisation and a formal feedback-reward mechanism would make the process very robust. This generally results in a misalignment in the expectations of students. Despite the best of training provided by business schools, sometimes the expectation-reality gap leads to the fresh MBA being assessed as missing team skills. Consequently, most corporate interventions focus on working in and leading teams.
Three critical corrective measures can, in general, be taken by business schools. First, students need to be sensitised further about how to work in a team and develop interpersonal relationship skills. Group assignments should be graded on both individual as well as team components, as is generally happening. Second, more importance should be attached to execution along with the currently stressed idea-generation skills taught in many business schools. Third, the real-world power plays in organisations must be highlighted to the students. Faculty with industry involvement can develop and discuss more cases about business dynamics within organisations, as it would help students sensitise students about organisational realities.
Corporates have major responsibilities too, and should own up to them. They go to campuses and recruit students for both summer internships as well as jobs. As these students are their future employees and leaders, the role of corporates should expand to include mentoring students beyond the internship period. More and more live projects and campus visits by alumni and senior executives are a great way of sensitising students about the skills which corporates need in their future employees. Experience-sharing sessions by corporate leaders will also go a long way towards making students ready for the corporate world.
Students must focus on learning instead of just knowledge accumulation. This will only happen when they reflect and do some introspection on what works and what doesn’t work in a real-life situation outside the classroom. All learning opportunities such as organising a business school event, group assignment and peer feedback must be leveraged to the maximum. Learning often happens outside the classroom, and in the most unlikely of places.
Abinash Panda is associate professor, Organisational Behaviour, and Anshul Jain is assistant professor, Finance, MDI Gurgaon. Views are personal