Saving Business Schools in India From Academicians: Dr. Rajesh K Pillania, Professor, MDI Gurgaon

“In business school classrooms, they construct wonderful models of a non-world.” -  Peter Drucker

This year is turning out to be one of the most difficult ever for placements at the top IIMs of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode, officials and students across institutes told ET. - The Economic Times, Jan 19, 2024.

Last academic year, many media outlets covered the problem of placements at top business schools in India, both in the public and private sectors. Is this a one-time problem, or is it an indicator of some fundamental problems in the business schools in the country?

Education, notably higher education, including business schools, is noble. Higher education aims to create new knowledge and help evolve particular disciplines, including multidisciplies. Business schools are being repeatedly questioned for their contributions. Many companies have started hiring non-MBAs for various roles where they previously hired MBAs. Are there fundamental issues with business schools, particularly in the Indian context?

Ironically, business schools try to teach, train, consult, and research how to run businesses for others, but do they apply the same principles to themselves? Out of many aspects of the problem, this article focuses on the academicians in business schools in India.

How are business school academicians created? Most academicians in business schools in India do not come with a family background in business or experience in the business world. Generally, after a master's, they go for a Ph.D. in some discipline in business management or related fields and then join business schools. This PhD degree and the research process should be used to understand the business world firsthand and try to overcome to some extent the lack of business background or experience. How many of the aspiring business school academics do that? On the contrary, some of them start believing that with a PhD in management, they have learned a lot and stop learning after joining business schools.

With an aim to improve the quality of faculty and improve rankings, some business schools made it mandatory to publish in certain quality journals. Some academicians took it seriously. Many academicians found a way around this by publishing in easier ways, such as publishing in unrelated fields and using networks to publish joint papers involving multiple authors. 

Business schools hire academicians but do not teach how to teach these academicians! These new academicians find by hit-and-trial their ways of teaching.

What do business school academicians think, and where do they spend their time?

It is natural to seek self-benefit, and politics is a part of any organisation. It is okay to seek self-benefit to some extent and maybe engage in constructive politics. However, for some business school academicians, the greed for self overtakes everything, and destructive politics becomes a way of life. One can read about various such incidents about top business schools in the media.

A business school academic should be primarily known for his/her work, and that should be the focus of academics, i.e., how to contribute through research, teaching, training, or consultancy and make a name for oneself and the organisation in the process. Is this a priority for business school academicians in India? Maybe not for some. And so, administrative positions such as Chairperson, Dean, and Director become a way to get more visibility and some ego satisfaction. It requires a lot of investment and time to create PhD academicians, and they are paid well. Is it right to waste their time and energy in such administrative positions? Alternatively, maybe this can be left to the administration. The Director can remain an academician due to some inherent job requirements.

Some other well-meaning business school academics get involved in the wrong idea of the business school business. They do what they see the seniors or peers doing without questioning what is the right thing to do!

Besides these issues, one of the main issues is whether the business school academician stays in regular touch with the practice of business. Does he/she at least once in a while try to put himself/herself in the shoes of a practitioner? Does he/she consult or get practitioner feedback while designing a course? Does he/she consult or get practitioner feedback while designing a program? Does he/she consult or get practitioner feedback while deciding on a research topic? And so on. The idea of staying in the comfort of four walls of a business school and thinking that one is an academic is fundamentally flawed! If this is the business school academician, one must save business schools from academicians!

There are still good business school academics in India who do not think and behave like typical business school academicians, sincerely trying their best to contribute to the cause of business education, but their number is small. We hope that by reading this article, at least some more business school academicians will start rethinking what they are thinking and doing and try to find their own ways to contribute to this noble field.