Management beyond MBA

Updated on: Monday, December 21, 2009

Did you ever imagine that your analysis of Shakespearean characters during graduation days could fetch you a job in the corporate world as a human resource expert? Or did you think that your graduation or Master’s qualification in sociology or psychology could help you secure a seat in an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) without cracking the Common Admission Test (CAT)? With IIM Calcutta’s increasing interdisciplinary approach towards management, this is possible. The institute is seeking variety in terms of students with respect to its PhD programme.

“Management is not restricted to MBA. There is increasing scope for students from science and humanities backgrounds to pursue research in management,” says Bhaskar Chakrabarti, chairperson, fellow programme and research, IIM-C. “The institute wants to promote management research which is interdisciplinary in nature. For instance a person with a background of sociology can leverage his/her knowledge to pursue research in corporate social responsibility,” he says.

According to Chakrabarti, since management is an applied subject it is important to know and respond to the latest developments in the field. Managerial actions impact not just companies but the society as a whole and hence it becomes important to bring in the knowledge of other domains. It is for this reason the institute has now started reaching out to universities to attract students from various disciplines. “We were getting students from other disciplines earlier. However they were enrolling through word of mouth. But now IIM-C is going to various universities and telling about the benefits of pursuing research in management,” he says.

The institute this year went to various Indian Institutes of Technology, Madras University, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Allahabad University to attract students to its PhD programme. “We are planning to conduct information sessions at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University as well in the coming months,” informs Chakrabarti. Speaking on the benefits that would accrue to students after pursuing a PhD from IIM-C, he says, “We have a diverse faculty with expertise in topics like heritage management, regional development, history, geography and anthropology. In the second year of the research programme, we create a separate course for each research scholar that would serve the research interests of students.”

Explaining how students from various backgrounds can benefit from a management education Chakrabarti cites an example, “A student from English literature pursued a research in human resources. She leveraged her ability to analyse characters during the research. She was hired by a corporate house to help them understand people’s behaviour.” He also informs that people from biochemistry, molecular biology are coming in management research to apply their knowledge in the management of science organisations.

Timesofindia

Management beyond MBA

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