Added the emep in wikipedia
EMEP
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Last Class for eMEP 05
Hurray today (31st August 2006)is the last class for the course...still floating..and am going to take quiz for the last time for eMEP 05.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Work Experience and MBA
Work Experience and MBA
by Renjit George Philip & Rohit Mathur - IIMB
One statistic that stood out last year was the increased proportion of people with work experience who joined B-schools. How do B-schools manage the placement of these students? Most of the top B-schools now run a separate 'Laterals' program that provides companies with an option to hire students with work experience directly for the middle-management positions. We decided to dig deeper to find out more about the people who leave their jobs for pursuing MBA, and determine how they can leverage their experience during lateral placements.
We have categorized students with work experience into four segments:
* Switchers: This group is interested in changing their career track altogether. They want to try out something new. More often than not, they have not decided upon which functional stream they will finally select and wait until they have dipped into all the subjects to make their choice. In addition, they are willing to cast aside their experience and join as freshers.
* Climbers: Climbers are those who wish to obtain a management degree so that they can go back to the industry in which they were working. What they expect is a direct climb of two or three rungs in the hierarchical ladder when they return. An example would be that of a programmer who wants to be a Project Manager.
* Jumpers: Jumpers are an interesting lot. They look forward to jumping across streams within the same industry. A typical example would be that of a technical lead who wants to join the Marketing/Strategy/Business Development team. The Jumpers often foresee the possibility of hitting the glass ceiling in the absence of a formal management degree and pursue their MBA to fill the gap.
* Multipliers: The Multipliers join the course primarily in anticipation of future monetary benefits. This group expects their compensation to be a multiple of what they were earning before. Just like Switchers, they too are not initially clear about what function they would finally select.
A classical 'Lemons problem' exists here. A 'Lemons problem' occurs whenever information asymmetry in a market makes it impossible to determine the actual quality of the object being sold. Applying the concept to the B-school scenario, we can see that Climbers and Jumpers are the best hires for companies in the industry in which these students have worked - as compared to Switchers and Multipliers. However, the presence of the latter two segments of students during the laterals makes it very difficult for companies to differentiate. Grades, which are often touted as a signal of quality, turns out to be a non-starter as this is a competitive advantage that can be easily emulated by Switchers and Multipliers. The problem is compounded further due to the conditions in the job market that forces the students to hedge their risks by applying to almost every company that comes for campus recruitment.
Fortunately, there is a way to handle this situation. This requires a quantum shift in the strategies adopted by both the students and the companies.
Strategies for the Students
* Leverage your Technical skills: This is the most important asset for students who desire to return to the industry in which they were working. It is necessary for these students to have a holistic understanding of this industry, its structure, and revenue streams. There should be a clear pattern of competence building by selecting electives and projects relating to the industry. This, as a signal of quality, can have an immense impact. Climbers and Jumpers are the ideal candidates to exploit this opportunity. Leverage your People Management skills: The students should expect to be quizzed on peer 'networking' and people management skills. Learning ability, appreciation of new technology, international exposure/knowledge of foreign languages and ability to work in different geographies with diverse workforce are all points that will place the candidates in a favorable light.
* Leverage your Project Management skills: Climbers have a big advantage here. They are interested in this job description and have been directly/indirectly involved in it. The candidates would do well to take up leadership roles to manage clubs, events etc. during their years at B-school. These students can also take up projects during the course that reinforces this skill. The aim should be to acquire a healthy mix of 'hard' and 'soft' skills.
Strategies for the Companies
* Use the right signal of quality: Generally it has been observed that companies - in the absence of any other indicator - select grades as the most tangible signal of quality. This is often misleading, especially when it comes to laterals. For example, Climber and Jumpers are interested in a particular industry and hence spend a disproportionate amount of time researching about it. Obviously, this is a trade-off, (with grades), that they make consciously, and hence they should not be penalized for it. Thus, companies should give due consideration to this fact while selecting candidates.
* Betting it right: Climbers and Jumpers expect the companies to give due importance to their experience, not just in terms of compensation but also in terms of the designation offered. That being the case, the companies should sufficiently differentiate the offers made during the laterals to those made during the final placements.
* Changing the mindset: It is a perception that management students from the top B-schools are avid job hoppers, more so during the initial years. However, it must be recognized that students with experience have already had exposure to the industry and look forward to grow with one company rather than switch incessantly. Recently, there was a quote by a HR Manager in a leading magazine: "If they don't want us, we also don't want them". We believe this is as much a problem with the 'marketing' of the candidates by the B-schools as it is with the positioning by these companies.
Thus, we believe a qualitative shift in the way the students and companies approach laterals is required to ensure a net gain for both the stakeholders.
by Renjit George Philip & Rohit Mathur - IIMB
One statistic that stood out last year was the increased proportion of people with work experience who joined B-schools. How do B-schools manage the placement of these students? Most of the top B-schools now run a separate 'Laterals' program that provides companies with an option to hire students with work experience directly for the middle-management positions. We decided to dig deeper to find out more about the people who leave their jobs for pursuing MBA, and determine how they can leverage their experience during lateral placements.
We have categorized students with work experience into four segments:
* Switchers: This group is interested in changing their career track altogether. They want to try out something new. More often than not, they have not decided upon which functional stream they will finally select and wait until they have dipped into all the subjects to make their choice. In addition, they are willing to cast aside their experience and join as freshers.
* Climbers: Climbers are those who wish to obtain a management degree so that they can go back to the industry in which they were working. What they expect is a direct climb of two or three rungs in the hierarchical ladder when they return. An example would be that of a programmer who wants to be a Project Manager.
* Jumpers: Jumpers are an interesting lot. They look forward to jumping across streams within the same industry. A typical example would be that of a technical lead who wants to join the Marketing/Strategy/Business Development team. The Jumpers often foresee the possibility of hitting the glass ceiling in the absence of a formal management degree and pursue their MBA to fill the gap.
* Multipliers: The Multipliers join the course primarily in anticipation of future monetary benefits. This group expects their compensation to be a multiple of what they were earning before. Just like Switchers, they too are not initially clear about what function they would finally select.
A classical 'Lemons problem' exists here. A 'Lemons problem' occurs whenever information asymmetry in a market makes it impossible to determine the actual quality of the object being sold. Applying the concept to the B-school scenario, we can see that Climbers and Jumpers are the best hires for companies in the industry in which these students have worked - as compared to Switchers and Multipliers. However, the presence of the latter two segments of students during the laterals makes it very difficult for companies to differentiate. Grades, which are often touted as a signal of quality, turns out to be a non-starter as this is a competitive advantage that can be easily emulated by Switchers and Multipliers. The problem is compounded further due to the conditions in the job market that forces the students to hedge their risks by applying to almost every company that comes for campus recruitment.
Fortunately, there is a way to handle this situation. This requires a quantum shift in the strategies adopted by both the students and the companies.
Strategies for the Students
* Leverage your Technical skills: This is the most important asset for students who desire to return to the industry in which they were working. It is necessary for these students to have a holistic understanding of this industry, its structure, and revenue streams. There should be a clear pattern of competence building by selecting electives and projects relating to the industry. This, as a signal of quality, can have an immense impact. Climbers and Jumpers are the ideal candidates to exploit this opportunity. Leverage your People Management skills: The students should expect to be quizzed on peer 'networking' and people management skills. Learning ability, appreciation of new technology, international exposure/knowledge of foreign languages and ability to work in different geographies with diverse workforce are all points that will place the candidates in a favorable light.
* Leverage your Project Management skills: Climbers have a big advantage here. They are interested in this job description and have been directly/indirectly involved in it. The candidates would do well to take up leadership roles to manage clubs, events etc. during their years at B-school. These students can also take up projects during the course that reinforces this skill. The aim should be to acquire a healthy mix of 'hard' and 'soft' skills.
Strategies for the Companies
* Use the right signal of quality: Generally it has been observed that companies - in the absence of any other indicator - select grades as the most tangible signal of quality. This is often misleading, especially when it comes to laterals. For example, Climber and Jumpers are interested in a particular industry and hence spend a disproportionate amount of time researching about it. Obviously, this is a trade-off, (with grades), that they make consciously, and hence they should not be penalized for it. Thus, companies should give due consideration to this fact while selecting candidates.
* Betting it right: Climbers and Jumpers expect the companies to give due importance to their experience, not just in terms of compensation but also in terms of the designation offered. That being the case, the companies should sufficiently differentiate the offers made during the laterals to those made during the final placements.
* Changing the mindset: It is a perception that management students from the top B-schools are avid job hoppers, more so during the initial years. However, it must be recognized that students with experience have already had exposure to the industry and look forward to grow with one company rather than switch incessantly. Recently, there was a quote by a HR Manager in a leading magazine: "If they don't want us, we also don't want them". We believe this is as much a problem with the 'marketing' of the candidates by the B-schools as it is with the positioning by these companies.
Thus, we believe a qualitative shift in the way the students and companies approach laterals is required to ensure a net gain for both the stakeholders.
After a long time
Its been a long time since I wrote something here.
Its a great feeling, - attending the classes for the last course- Marketing Strategy.
Yet to decide on the topic for the final project and decide the guide. Have few things running in my head.
Market Research on Reva gave a lot of gyan on preparing the questionnaire, analyzing the collected data, interacting with the Reva heads, doing the cross analyses, factor analyses. After putting in lot of effort, the report looks great and gives a sense of satisfaction.
Thanks to all my friends who had participated in the survey.
Its a great feeling, - attending the classes for the last course- Marketing Strategy.
Yet to decide on the topic for the final project and decide the guide. Have few things running in my head.
Market Research on Reva gave a lot of gyan on preparing the questionnaire, analyzing the collected data, interacting with the Reva heads, doing the cross analyses, factor analyses. After putting in lot of effort, the report looks great and gives a sense of satisfaction.
Thanks to all my friends who had participated in the survey.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
A Recap so far
Its almost 10 months now after joining the eMEP ( PGCPM) of IIMK starting with the campus visit in June 2nd week. With a break over a month after the campus visit, the classes finally started on the platform. Now we are almost at the end of Term1.
A list of subjects we have studied so far.
BusinessMathematics
ManagementAccounting
OrganizationalBehaviour -I
ManagerialEconomics
DecisionModels
OperationsManagement
MarketingManagement
ManagementControlSystems
The courses for which exams are yet to be conducted.
FinancialManagement
CorporateStrategy
Quality Management
The journey has been good so far, except for few annoying moments after the new technology has been introduced last month. The new technology appears to be promising if everything works as expected/promised. Its a good move to introduce the new concept of two way video.
Getting ready for the hectic schedule of April.
A list of subjects we have studied so far.
BusinessMathematics
ManagementAccounting
OrganizationalBehaviour -I
ManagerialEconomics
DecisionModels
OperationsManagement
MarketingManagement
ManagementControlSystems
The courses for which exams are yet to be conducted.
FinancialManagement
CorporateStrategy
Quality Management
The journey has been good so far, except for few annoying moments after the new technology has been introduced last month. The new technology appears to be promising if everything works as expected/promised. Its a good move to introduce the new concept of two way video.
Getting ready for the hectic schedule of April.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Got the full-time/part-time MBA blues?
Got the full-time/part-time MBA blues?
- By Thor Hendrickson [Dean, Aegis School of Business, Mumbai]
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1363726,curpg-1.cms
In theory, sports cars are extremely fast. In practice, traffic and rough roads slow them down so much that you are usually better off taking an auto rickshaw. In theory, part-time business education programmes are better in almost all respects than their full-time counterparts. In practice, the choice is more difficult.
The obvious advantage to part-time programmes is that a student can continue to work. This ensures a continuous salary and reduces placement concerns. More importantly, at least to those of us on the teaching side, students get the chance to apply and examine concepts from the classroom every day at work.
Another advantage to part-time programmes is that corporations often sponsor candidates for part-time programmes. Sponsorship is currently rare for full-time programmes. Most companies view sending employees to generalised training, such as a part-time MBA, purely as a perk. Companies do not expect anything more from an employee than for the employee to appreciate the benefit and to show up to work during the time of the programme. This attitude takes pressure off the student yet it also means that a company may not be overly concerned with programme quality. Thus, you should look at company-sponsored programmes carefully.
The obvious advantage of a full-time programme is that there is more time to learn. The typical format of part-time programmes can be, unfortunately, too demanding for many students. Part-time course are usually taught every Sunday or several nights a week. Students need time to recharge, time to spend with their families, time to rest. Working every Sunday for two years does not allow much free time. For those employees on a six-day work schedule, there is no free time at all.
Professors constantly complain about students showing up unprepared for class and literally sleeping through lectures. Sleeping through lectures is often markedly worse for BPO workers as they already have to deal with high levels of sleep deprivation.
"So what?" you may assert. "Nothing comes free. It takes a great amount of effort to get an MBA and keeping a full-time job in addition is always going to be tough." Even assuming that you are tough enough to handle the workload, it is likely that your classmates will not. Learning, especially in a busines s school using case studies, has more to do with learning from your peers than from your lecturer. If the rest of your class is unprepared then you will lose out.
You should look for part-time programmes with truly dedicated students having significant work experience. A thoughtful and knowledgeable fellow student, bringing fresh experiences into the classroom, even if a little sleep deprived, can outweigh many of the drawbacks. Since most full-time programmes in India focus on inexperienced freshers, the quality of classroom discussions in part-time courses is generally better than in even the most prestigious full-time programmes. One notable exception is company-sponsored programmes for junior employees where a class of 60 students can see the same year of experience 60 times over.
Like students, professors do not readily give up their weekends or evenings. Given the chance, professors will get out of teaching p art-time courses. All too often, this means that students end up with junior lecturers. Some junior lecturers are world class. After all, even the big names had to start somewhere. However, most junior lecturers are last year's unemployable graduates from the full-time programme.
There are three ways a degree can help in your future: knowledge, networking and prestige. We have looked at knowledge so let us now look at networking and prestige.
Due to time constraints, networking in a part-time programme may be minimal as a strong community spirit may fail to develop. Another concern is that the full-time MBAs may not recognise part-time students as part of "their" network. If you attending a part-time programme in the hopes that you will tap into the full-time alumni network, then you must first find out about full-time alumni attitudes.
In terms of networking, your direct classmates are your greatest assets. You know them personally and it is in everyone's self-interest for your class to succeed. In full-time programmes we often see students forming lifetime bonds. Part-time programmes tend not to form as strong of a bond yet the quality of the network in part-time programmes tends to be superior in the short-term. In a part-time programme, your classmates will have extensive business contacts. In full-time programmes focusing on freshers, students will only know each other. It may take up to five years before a full-time network is influential.
The prestige of a full-time programme is much higher than the prestige of a part-time programme. Industry often views a part-time course as not a `real' MBA. This is due both to the limited class time and to the rather relaxed enrolment standards of some part-time courses. Distance courses, which can be dubious in all areas, tend to have no prestige va lue at all.
Full-time programmes also have an advantage in terms of changing one's career. If you plan on switching from marketing to finance, a full-time MBA will be seen as more credible.
A similar programme to a part-time course is an executive course. The word `executive', like the word `marketing', is not rigorously defined but typically it means a programme designed to meet the needs of executives. If you have ever had high-level corporate training, you are likely to have spent intensive days or weeks training.
It is much easier for an executive or a project-based employee to block off several days rather than to spend every Sunday in class. For example, IIM Indore and Aegis School of Business offer executive masters programmes. IIM Ahmedabad is introducing a similar programme. Students will spend between seven and 12 days continuously in class every few months.
There are three main advantages to an ex ecutive programme. The first advantage is that students can focus on learning. They will not have to try to study on their one day off a week. The second advantage is that the best faculty are willing to teach. For example, a school like Aegis School of Business or ISB could not possibly fly in western faculty for a Sundays-only or evenings-only programme.
The final advantage is that spending so much time with fellow students allows for much greater bonding. Obviously there are also drawbacks. Most firms will not sponsor an employee for an executive-style programme because it takes away from working time. This demands that the student allocates their vacation time to these studies. There is also theoretically less time for problem sets and homework, though in practice this is negligible.
To summarise, if you have the time and the resources, a full-time programme may be your best choice. You will have more ti me to think, to relax and to network. You will also have a degree with a higher prestige value. If you decide on a part-time programme, you can get a great education and an almost instantly useful network. Make sure it is a time commitment you can meet, that the other students are as serious as you and that you will have access to the highest level of faculty.
------------------------------
What Should I Do With My Life?
A very interesting article.. though pretty long, read it in leisure..What should I do with my life ?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)