Corporation

The business world is changing at a rate that would have been unimaginable in the past. Rapid advancements in technology, changes in customer behaviour, higher expectations from financial investors and a general sense of impatience are placing tremendous and often paradoxical demands on the top management of corporations. Dealing with such change is requiring them to change the way they organise themselves.

In today’s world, trained resources have become increasingly important. MBAs have traditionally been looked at as one such trained resource: trained in the art of analytical thinking, trained in dealing with complex issues in a structured manner, and trained to think like leaders. The first firms to think along these lines were the consulting firms, followed by those in the financial services world. This trend has now caught up with other industries, to the level that even small start-up firms recruit some MBAs to add a bit of new thinking to their operations. The results have been mixed, ranging from excellent performances to the downright mediocre. Why is that? Are MBAs not living up to their expectations in some areas, or is it that some environments aren’t suitable for MBAs? In fact, the truth lies somewhere in between these two explanations.

Firms that indicate their happiness with the whole MBA recruitment plan have many things in common. All of them, without doubt, offer extremely challenging yet relatively risk-free environments to their new recruits, providing a culture that fosters creativity and acknowledges individual initiative. Most have a clear idea of the growth path planned for the recruits, have ambitious growth plans themselves, and value new ideas that they see as a constant source of innovation. Firms that express dissatisfaction with their MBA recruitment programme, on the other hand, do at times have working environments that are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Such firms have extremely hierarchical organisation structures, with set ways of conducting business. MBAs find themselves wasted in such environments, and either choose to leave for better pastures or stay and perform in an uninspired manner. MBAs too should be blamed for some of the concerns that get expressed with regard to their suitability. Many come into their working environments with extremely rigid ideas about what a good career looks like, about the kind of responsibilities that they should be handling,