Need to Relook at MBA curriculum

The global business environment is rapidly changing, and business schools need to move fast to help organisations face these problems and exploit the opportunities.

The writer has informal discussions with MBA students, and some of the points that came up repeatedly are:

1. There are too many subjects and classes throughout the day.

2. There is too much workload for classes, quizzes, assignments, presentations, and projects.

3. With all this workload, where is the time and energy left for practical application and innovative thinking?

These three and many similar comments and observations show a fundamental problem with the current 2-year MBA programs.

The fundamental problem is: What are business schools trying to create? A product without much practical insight, deep thinking, or innovation? How long will this continue? Is it good for the cause of management education? Somewhere, the whole idea behind starting the business education discipline seems to have gotten lost in running a business school as just another educational degree-granting institution.

To solve this issue, business schools should substantially reduce the number of overall courses including traditional courses and focus on courses that really matter. Not only the number of courses but also the course duration should be examined. Not all courses need to be of equal duration and full courses. By reducing the number of overall courses including traditional courses and reducing the duration of some courses, one can create time for focusing on what really matters.

What really matters is not only theoretical knowledge but practical applications, problem-solving, and innovative thinking. The time saved can be used for hands-on live projects and real-life problems focused on the application part. These projects and problems need not be live big-company projects. These can be many minor and major problems small organisations face on and off campus.

Also Read: Need for focus on thinking in management education

This exercise of relooking at the MBA curriculum, downsizing it, creating time for what really matters, should not be a one-time exercise. It needs to be a continuous exercise, ideally every year, based on the lessons from the past year's experiences and the insights from academicians and industry practitioners.

There are already questions on the value addition by business schools and the high remuneration expectations of business school graduates. Business schools talk about innovation and need to walk the talk. By focusing on what matters and improving their practice, business schools can create a product that organisations need.