Sushobhan's Fundoo Management Section

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Sushobhan Sanyal
Hello Everyone,

This is another of my efforts to make life easy for management students. In this thread you can find lots of notes, power point presentations etc that will help you in your pursuit of management as a career. Wish you all the best in your endeavour to excel in the management world.
 
Here is the 3rd installment. It is actually a short note on E-Commerce.

What Is Electronic Commerce?

Electronic commerce is doing business online. It is about using the power of digital information to understand the needs and preferences of each customer and each partner to customize products and services for them, and then to deliver the products and services as quickly as possible. Personalized, automated services offer businesses the potential to increase revenues, lower costs, and establish and strengthen customer and partner relationships. To achieve these benefits, many companies today engage in electronic commerce for direct marketing, selling, and customer service; online banking and billing; secure distribution of information; value chain trading; and corporate purchasing.

Although the benefits of electronic commerce systems are enticing, developing, deploying, and managing these systems is not always easy. In addition to adopting new technology, many companies will need to reengineer their business processes to maximize the benefits of electronic commerce.

An electronic commerce strategy should help deliver a technology platform, a portal for online services, and a professional expertise that companies can leverage to adopt new ways of doing business. Platforms are the foundation of any computer system. An e-commerce platform should be the foundation of technologies and products that enable and support electronic commerce. With it, businesses can develop low-cost, high-value commerce systems that are easy to grow as business grows. An e-commerce platform’s breadth should also be unmatched, ranging from operating systems to application servers, to an application infrastructure and development tools, and to a development system.

Portals are the crossroads of the Internet, where consumers gather and where businesses can connect with them. Companies normally provide customers with a wide range of choices for professional implementation services and tightly integrated software for commerce solutions. Independent software vendors (ISVs) have created specialized commerce software components that extend the platform.


 
This is the 5th installment. Also this installment is HR Special since all the notes and e-books in this installment will be of immense help to HR students or students who are interested in HR subjects & people management.

1. Pocket Mentor Guide to Success

2. Mind Powers By Anthony Rrobbins

3. Power Of Will By Frank Channing Haddock

4. Power of Motivation By Michael Bolduc

[Also there are no copyright issues with these books]
 
Here is the 6th installment in the form of an extremely interesting article.

How does corrupt India grow fast​

The World Bank has suspended $ 800 m worth of loans to India 's health sector after detecting corruption in procurement. Fair enough: corruption should be checked.

Yet if corruption is really a no-no, the Bank should stop almost all lending to India , so widespread is corruption here. The Bank may have just discovered corruption, but it is no news at all to the public. Transparency International ranks India low down in 88 th position in its Corruption Perception Index. This is on par with disaster African economies like Mali , Benin , Gabon and Tanzania .

The Bank insists on international tendering, and this reduces the scope for corruption in big industrial and infrastructure projects. But not where decisions are more decentralized. Optimists think devolving power to panchayats will cut corruption. Alas, surveys suggest otherwise.

I recently got an update on corruption from a lady IAS officer from Maharashtra . This is among India 's fastest-growing states, and so (I thought) less affected by corruption. Not so, said the officer.

When handling a Zila Parishad, she was told by an Opposition politician (who had done such deals himself when in power) that all the tenders for an educational project were benami bids of a single mafia group, and the rates quoted were several times the market rate. She checked in shops, and found this to be true.

Why did rivals not quote lower prices? Because the contractor mafia had divided up territories and ensured that nobody else could bid. Why did elected politicians not intervene? Because the contractor-mafia were members of Zila Parishads and the state legislature. Why did senior bureaucrats not intervene? Because almost all of them were getting a cut from the same rigged contracts.

Indeed, her fellow officers warned her that by checking the quotations, she was taking personal responsibility for procurement, whereas corrupt officers ensured that the blame for any scam exposed by the media could be pinned on others. Her anxiety to ensure honest procurement led to delays and ruined her reputation for efficiency: word went round that Madam was an officer who kept raising queries and not taking decisions. She managed a transfer back to Mumbai, where she could deal only with policy and not actual execution.

In another case, she said, a notorious politician running a betting racket took a large bet that a Hindu-Muslim riot would occur. He then got somebody to throw a dead pig into a mosque, to spark a riot. But a local bureaucrat moved swiftly and scotched the riot. The enraged politician told the bureaucrat to leave the state or be killed. The bureaucrat scampered abroad on study leave.

Is this not very exceptional, I asked the lady officer? No, she answered, IAS officers regularly exchange horror stories in Maharashtra , and each is worse than the other. We are so deadened by corruption that we don't even get angry. Why bother when nothing can be done about it? Honest bidders kept out by the mafia have nobody to go to: the politicians and bureaucrats are part of the racket, the police will refuse to register a case, and the courts are moribund. Only the media offer some recourse.

In large contracts where rivals cannot be kept out, winning tenders can be too low, not high. No honest bidder can make a profit at such rates. Crooks put in low bids because, after getting a contract, the contractor can (through collusion) supply substandard materials, and submit bills for more materials than actually supplied.

In civil construction, all bidders quote competitive prices for the task tendered, along with very high charges for any design changes after the contract is signed. With collusion, a low, unprofitable winning bid can be converted into a gold mine by announcing later design changes, ostensibly to improve a project and serve the poor better.

We have all heard horror stories of mafia control and corruption in Bihar , and are not surprised at low economic growth there. But what does one say of horror stories from Maharashtra , one of India 's fastest growing states? Why does entrenched corruption not convert Maharashtra into another Bihar ?

The answer seems to be that democracy induces politicians in Maharashtra to ensure that public services improve even while lining their pockets. This is not always the case where caste politics determines elections ( Bihar , UP). But it is the case in most states. Politicians favour bureaucrats who are corrupt but efficient: this yields both money and votes. Thus democracy sets a ceiling on corruption, and gives an incentive for bijli-sadak-pani.

African autocrats have no need to seek votes, and so seek just money. That explains their performance.

So, perhaps democracy explains why India , despite being as corrupt as many African failures, can nevertheless register 7.5% GDP growth. Democracy is probably good enough reason for the World Bank to keep lending to corrupt India

Source - The Times of India
 
The 7th installment is in the form of an extremely insightful interview.

An interview by Dr Philip Kotler​

Companies failing to use the Internet are making a huge mistake" - Dr Philip Kotler (Industry Insider)

On a rainy Friday evening in Mumbai, a Merc carrying marketing legend Dr Philip Kotler and his eminent colleague at the Kellogg School of Management Dr Bala V Balachandran dodges the peak hour traffic from Santacruz to Colaba. Allwin Agnel occupies the third seat in the car and in an informal banter with the two gurus, takes in what the crystal ball has to show about New Age Marketing, Advertising, New Media and customer behaviour in the 21st century

Author of the 1967 classic 'Marketing Management', Dr Philip Kotler shares space with Bill Gates, Peter Drucker and Jack Welch as the world's most influential management thinkers. Currently the SC Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, USA, Dr Kotler is a consultant on marketing strategy to companies such as Microsoft, IBM, General Electric, Ford, Apple, Motorola, AT&T, and Merrill Lynch.

Dr Bala V Balachandran is the JL Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Systems at the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He is also the Founder and Honorary Dean of the Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.

The Interview

Allwin: Dr Kotler, what brings you to India?

Dr Kotler: Bala! (laughs) I love coming back to India, I’ve been here a lot and I think India is now at a tipping point where it is becoming a major force. It continues to grow in its influence and impact, starting of course with the BPO and outsourcing work. Many other things like medical tourism are going to take off and so on and so forth. I wanted to spend a week here and be in three cities, two of which I hadn’t been in before and Bala arranged a lot of programmes for meeting a lot of people who are interested in the Great Lakes Institute of Management and also from different companies. We met the CEOs of two of the biggest companies today, Wipro and Infosys.

Dr Bala: I tried to tell Phil that he should be in India. Phil was here in 1956 for nine months for a PhD in labour economics. That time he was in Mumbai, Delhi but never in Chennai and Bangalore. So I convinced him to come to Bangalore and Chennai this time.

Allwin: Dr Kotler, when you are looking at marketing in the 21st Century, what is it that you foresee in the future?

Dr Kotler: I think this is going to be a contrast between the companies that are trying to use the old marketing techniques and slowly declining as a result and companies that are practising new marketing techniques, spend less time in advertisement to the mass market and spend more time utilizing new technologies like mobile phones, Internet, blogs, podcasts and a whole bunch of other things that are now necessary to reach your message to the target audience. And also companies are going to focus more on choosing the niches and segments they are going to hold onto. Another big chance for companies is moving from transaction thinking to relationship thinking. But even that’s not enough, because smarter companies are going beyond relationship thinking to co-creation with the customer. When a company organizes a workshop for the customers to draw from it what they want, it is closely aligned to the idea of customization. Because we want to actually do more than sales, we want to delight customers and astonish them!

Allwin: How do think the Internet affects new age marketing and how will old marketers who don’t understand the concept of Internet, blogs, and various other techniques cope in the future?

Dr Kotler: We never thought that the Internet would become an advertising medium and in fact an early statement by the head of P&G said that CEOs would change and shift half of their money to the Internet if it weren’t an advertising media. What has happened of course, is it has become an advertising medium and a direct marketing tool and emails are a cheaper way to send messages to a lot of people if you have their names and it’s easy to get clicks measured. I think that any company that fails to prepare a good website for itself and utilize Google and Yahoo and the others to reach and influence target audience is making a huge mistake.

Allwin: When you talk about companies moving from the transaction model to the relationship model, how many companies do you see doing that or building it into their DNA so that they can sustain it?

Dr Kotler: I think that there is more talk than action and right now it’s not as much about relationship marketing as it is about becoming a customer centric organization. That is to say that you build from the outside in and build from the choice of the customer – whose needs you want to meet – to developing the engine for doing three things. Creating value, communicating value and delivering value. Letting the marketing department run the company is another way of putting the same thing. To let marketing department lead and put the CFO of the company under marketing is something that hasn’t really yet been done. So every company needing the two functions (needs) two leaders – Chief Revenue Officer – CRO and Chief Financial Officer – CFO and then you have a good bottom line.
 
The 9th installment is in the form of an article which explains How To Write a Company Profile

How To Write a Company Profile​

A great company profile can engage and attract the right customers or supporters for a business, or it can bore them to sleep driving them to your competitors which are easily googled in seconds.

For media attention, a business needs an intriguing profile to entice editors or reporters to gain an understanding of the company's mission, products, services, personnel and uniqueness.

To acquire financing, a comprehensive company profile should be submitted with a business plan to feature unique qualifications of the company or personnel, that aren't generally outlined in a business plan.

Without a well-crafted company profile, a company may not be attracting the best candidates when posting job descriptions,or even suppliers and vendors to help them grow.

These 3 steps will help any company craft a commendable company profile that is true to your vision, perception and even beliefs.

1. Provide useful information in lay person's terminology.

A profile should include key personnel, descriptions of the company's products or services in a manner that laypersons, as well as industry personnel, can comprehend. Why?

Because, a reporter might be looking for relevant businesses for a story they are preparing. Naturally, including your company could possibly bring great 'free exposure' to your intended market (if it's a positive story, of course). But if the reporter -- or anyone else who is googling the product/service you provide -- cannot figure out what you offer, your profile won't help sell your products, nor entice media to interview your company personnel.

This does not mean you cannot include high level industry information, just be sure to also include some easy-to-comprehend lay terminology in your description.

2. Infuse some personality. A great company profile should be filled not only with descriptions of products (or services), but also some sense or personality of the business' culture. Adding information about the company's purpose, community support or mission (not one of those trite mission statements, though) can add human personality to a profile, thus adding interest to the reader.

People relate to people. So, add something from a human perspective.

Your business could explain how profits benefit local animal shelters or homeless populations or you might even employ a humorous style in the description if it's appropriate to the company's products.

My own profile talks about my belief that 'marketing is a spiritual practice' because in my experience a company thrives the closer it matches it's values and purpose that is at the 'soul' of that company. No, it's got nothing to do with religion. But it has everything to do with marketing not being hype, but being a deeply felt expression of a company's core competency, attracting clients who are right for one's company--that's the reason to infuse personality.

I've always enjoyed the clever and silly product descriptions of Benefit Cosmetics--and I don't even wear makeup. The company's co-founders are twins who feel they 'benefit' by learning from each other. They share this love by, yes, 'benefitting' the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. Hype or personality? You be the judge. Either way, it grabs a readers attention.

3. Claim your unique assets.

By explaining a founder's uniquely circuitous route to the company's development, or stating the special awards and honors a company has garnered, the donations or volunteering it's employees provide the community, it gives the reader some grasp of how the company is unique, special or different from others in it's same category.

Elaborating a bit on the education, training, credentials or experience of personnel excites customers and helps them identify the company that fits their own beliefs and criteria.

Being generic and obtuse in your company description makes it really hard for any readers to understand why they would want to do business with a company or buy products/services that sound like any others.

Above all else, be honest and interesting, since plenty of bland, boring and hype-filled profiles already abound.
 
Here is the 11th installment in the form of an interesting article.

Improve your memory​

We remember things by association. Every piece of information in our memory is connected to other pieces in some way or another. For example, if you are given the word "apple", what do you think of? Perhaps something like this:

APPLE: red, round, sweet, teacher, tree, fruit
But it's unlikely that we might see "apple" and think of "dog" (unless you remember some funny incident in which your dog investigated an apple). And what if you were asked what the 7th letter of the alphabet was? Chances are, you wouldn't know that "G = 7," but you could easily think to yourself, "A B C D E F G," and then say "G". You used association to get to the letter G, because you knew A was the first letter, then you kept choosing the next letter in the sequence until you got to the right one.

Why do most of us have a bad memory?
Most of us don't. Most of us have a really good memory, but we just don't have practice in using it efficiently.

If the above is true, then why is it so hard for me to remember things?
As stated before, our memory works by association. If there is no obvious association between things, it's very difficult to remember them. For example, suppose you needed to remember that your plane takes off at 2 P.M. There is nothing about the plane that would suggest the number 2 more than it would any other number (at least at first glance). Therefore, 2 is easily forgotten. Likewise, how does your best friend relate to his phone number, an arbitrary string of digits? Or how does a new word, like "hypothalamus," relate to what it represents?

How can we learn to remember things better?
Simple. If memory works by association, we actively work to create an association between two bits of information. For example, for the plane that we need to catch at 2 P.M., we can imagine the plane in our mind, and notice that it has 2 wings. Two wings, 2 P.M. There's an association. We are now ten times more likely to remember the take-off time long after it has faded from our short-term memory.

Sometimes an association comes very easily. For example, suppose you are introduced to a Mr. Hill who lives on a hill at the end of town. Mr. Hill on a hill. Pretty easy, huh? Or what if you're trying to remember the classroom number for a Chemistry class, and it just so turns out that it's the same as your dorm room number. Another natural association! Do you think you'll have a problem remembering it?

When pieces of information are not obviously related in any way, however, we have to be a bit more creative in linking things together. But it isn't as hard as it seems. Most of us learned rhymes and acronyms in school that helped us remember things. Do any of the following look familiar to you?

i before e except after c, or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh (rule for remembering ei or ie)
ROY G. BIV (colors of the rainbow)
All cows eat grass; Every good boy does fine (notes of musical scale) Never eat sour watermelons (directions on a compass) Why do they work? Because they form an easy-to-remember and clever association between themselves and the information that is to be remembered.

The idea is to be creative and clever. You don't have to invent a rhyme or a poem every time you want to remember something, though -- just think of a picture in your mind that links pieces of information together, preferably something unusual or silly so it is more memorable. For example, suppose you want to remember that the football field is on Maple Street. You might imagine in your mind a burly football player eating a football for breakfast... he pours some maple syrup on the football, cuts off a chunk and eats it!

To demonstrate how effectively this works, look at the following list of words, and try to come up with an association between the left word and the right word of each row. Some will be easy; others may be harder. As an example, for the first pair, you might want to imagine a mouse that has a long, wavy tail that is in the shape of the letter S.

mouse S
fur R
train bridge
moat boat
popcorn chair
elephant pancake
toothbrush canal
umbrella triangle

After you have formed the associations (if you had trouble on one or two of them, that's okay; just skip them for now), cover up the right side of the list and then try to name the word associated with each word on the left. If you formed vivid, clear associations, you may be surprised at how quickly and easily you were able to remember everything!
 
Here is the 13th installment, a treat for the finance people. This is a report & research study on Liberalized Exchange Rate Management System (LERMS). It is very informative & to the point research.

1. Liberalized Exchange Rate Management System (LERMS)
 
Here is the 14th installment in the form of another research report on BLACK MARKET - The Parallel Economy of India. This is an extremely extensive report on the black market industry of India. An excellent report.

1. BLACK MARKET - The Parallel Economy of India
 
Here is the 15th installment in the form of an article Individual Work Vs Group Work

Individual Work Vs Group Work​

Virtually every working person I’ve ever come across believes in teamwork. At least they say they do. Sadly, a scarce few of them make teamwork a reality in their organizations; in fact, they often end up creating environments where political infighting and departmental serenity are the norm. And yet they continue to flaunt their belief in teamwork, as if that alone will somehow make it magically appear. I think that only a small minority of companies truly understand and embrace teamwork, even though, more than one in three of the Fortune 500 publicly declares it to be a core value.

“I would like to start by asking a question – What is a TEAM?
I would say it’s an ‘Allegedly Cohesive Summation’ of INDIVIDUALS”

Contrary to conventional wisdom, teamwork is not a virtue in itself. It is merely a strategic choice, not unlike adopting a specific sales model or a financial strategy. And certainly, when properly understood and implemented, it is a powerful and beneficial tool. Unfortunately, management theorists and human resources professionals have made teamwork unconditionally desirable, something akin to being a good corporate citizen.

As a result, we see many of today’s champion managers adopt this theory without actually realizing what it entails. Take them in a corner, confide them, and ask them the truth – “Why do u actually follow team work?” They would say – that’s the convention about employees in today’s organizational portfolio.

Of course, none of this is to say that teamwork is not a worthy goal. There is no disputing that it is uniquely powerful, enabling groups of people to achieve more collectively than they could have imagined doing apart. However, the requirements of teamwork cannot be over hyped. Becoming a team is not necessarily right for every group of leaders. The fact is, building a leadership team is hard. What follows is a realistic description of what a group of managerial executives must be ready to do if they undertake the nontrivial task of becoming a team.

Individual Work Vs Group Work

You might ask which one according to me is better - Group Work or Individual Work? I would say Better is a relative term and also that Work per se is a glossary in itself. Each and every type of work is unique in itself hence one can never predict or prove the magnitude of significance of either of the two. The importance of either is purely situation based. We can assume one thing safely, at least for accuracy tasks, groups perform better than individuals. The outcome of an accuracy task depends on the most competent member of the group. All it takes is one person who is correct, and the group will succeed. It follows from this idea that the more people who are working on a problem, the greater the odds are that someone will be competent enough to solve it.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the passage, group work is religiously practiced just because it is socially, politically and organizationally more famed than individualism. Being a part of the call centre industry for 2 yrs – let me quote an example which is close to my heart – A call centre typically has the following hierarchy in operations:
CCM
- TOM
- TL
- Customer Rep

Let me elaborate – it has one call centre manager (CCM) who has more than 5 Team Operation Managers (TOM) in every section. A TOM heads more than 10 TL’s each who further look after a team of at least 10 executives. Now keeping apart the organization culture and philosophy (which only sounds good in text books or countries like Japan), every executive will have his own philosophy and attitude towards work, his own objectives and his own agenda. Imagine a team which is consistently leading the floor for 6 months and in comes a new comer who is very low on job loyalty, a dimwit with a scarce motivation and stimulus to work.

Assuming that the team tries their best to get him on his feet and try every possible trick in the book to push him harder , he still keeps the team out of the top 5 for more than a quarter – what do u think happens to the loyalty and motivation of his coworkers in the team. Taking an exactly opposite scenario, muse over a very dedicated and overworking employee who gives his 200 % towards work everyday , he just gets disembarked to a team full of dimwits with an equally dimwit TL. What do u infer about his enthusiasm towards work?

This example is not only across the executive hierarchy – try and judge the above mentioned scenario among all chains of command. Can u imagine the utmost level of pandemonium, I am sure u can actually visualize this scenario in 3-D without even wearing 3D glasses. If you consider any organization – even after Democratic leadership being scribbled in bold on the Mission Statement – we all know that any leader always goes on his own gut instinct and verdict after taking a consensus from his team (this example is more inclined towards lower rungs of the hierarchy ladder). People whose opinions are slightly considered and taken into account are very happy – but what about those who views are vomited back on them with interest in front of their team mates.

Now consider a call centre with individuals working instead of a team, each individual given a certain target to meet and incentives proportional to the amount of the target mark crossed. The ones with enthusiasm will continue to work harder in order to achieve more recognition and incentive and the dimwits can be easily spotted in the stack and kicked off or retrained. Each individual responsible for his own actions and rewards instead of a dimwit getting recognition just because his team is good. The worst part is in a team you can never be your own self but adapt yourself to the majority of the subordinates if you want to be accepted. An individual will always be considered at par with his group inspite of his individual competence. Why go far, consider our own college!! Of all the group projects that I have been a part of till now – I have seen that only 2-3 of the entire 5 students work and slog to meet deadlines while the rest lay off by saying – I don’t have a PC at home or I have to participate in a fashion show. While individual projects like this one or computer assignments give you limitless boundaries to show off your ingenuity, they are even always submitted on time. I am more than content writing this blog and speaking my heart out.

I may sound like a left front leader shouting slogans against globalization, but this is just the tip of the iceberg that’s going to break our corporate titanic into half. Take an opinion poll today in college and ask their preference towards Individual Work Vs Group Work – I bet that you will unearth all Brain Child’s and sincere students asking for working individually while all dimwits insisting for group work (Activities apart from assembly line work or physical work where group working is a must)

Benefits of Team/Group Work

· In group work, you can draw on each group member's knowledge and perspectives, a better understanding of the class material for exams, labs, etc.
· You can also draw on people's different strengths. For example, you might be a great analyst while someone else is much better at organizing papers.
· Groups are great for motivation: they force you to be responsible to others and frequently, then, do more and better work on a project than you might when only responsible to yourself.
· Group work helps keep you on task. It's harder to delay when working with others.

Benefits of Individual Work:

· Main benefit is that the employee identifies himself/herself with the job and organization and this leads to improved motivation and enhanced task performance.
· It leads to reduced conflicts and thus stress, more commitment towards goals and better acceptance of change, improved communication.
· It is almost a matter of common sense that human beings will take greater pride and pleasure in their work if they are allowed individual freedom in shaping policies and decision which affect their work – as compared to team consensus.

Presume that groups do not perform better tasks than individuals – there would be little motivation to make groups at all. However people do work in groups, in fact they work in it so often that we tend to conclude that groups are a quintessential part of any organization. To give another concrete example to harden my argument, consider a group of 10 with one member making an error (atleast one) – there would be an error rate of 10 % on the whole which is obviously unacceptable. Moreover as the number of people in the group increases and the amount of work decreases – productivity decreases as well. And if the task is unexciting, their minds may wander, or perhaps they talk among themselves. If this happens, the process variables are faulty. Things do not run as smoothly as they could. Thus, actual productivity equals potential productivity minus losses due to this "faulty" process. If u make these same people work individually on a task – the summation of their individual productivity would be much higher. Just to cite one more example – imagine 5 female typists typing together in a group vs. the same typists typing alone in 5 different rooms. Given a time span of one hour, which fraction do you think will click to give maximum yield?

On account of time and page constraints – let’s summarize the topic. We can now safely presume that team/group work devours much more time and resources as compared to individual work. The former is not only less productive but also has more conflicts to be dealt with, higher communiqué hassle, and the most monotonous component is the number of meetings to be arranged for any job or discussion. Thus Group work is more pricey and less beneficial in the long run. The bottom-line on which I have stressed time and again is that team work is being brought in without reason by some managers into situations which can be more efficiently managed by individuals – just to keep up with the latest organizational trends.
 
Here is the 17th installment in the form of an extremely interesting & knowledgeable article Got the part-time MBA blues

Got the part-time MBA blues​

There are two kinds of MBA students -- those for whom the course is a dearly loved wife, and those for whom it's a secretly cherished mistress.

The first kind are devoted to their course full-time. Getting this far involved a fairly long and hard battle (entrance tests, interviews, GDs!) against thousands of other suitors. Hence the object of their desire (the coveted MBA seat) is placed on a pedestal and accorded due respect in society.

The second kind of student is already married -- to a full-time job. Yet, somehow, this individual steals precious time and energy for the course -- evening, weekends.

Like most extramarital activities, this one too arises out of certain unfulfilled needs and desires. Unlike a real wife, the Boss can't forbid the pursuit of this passion, but can and often does frown upon it. Making life all the more complicated.

The sad truth about part-time MBAs

It's sad but true -- a part-time MBA just does not command the same status as a full-time one in this country. A host of extremely respected institutes offer one-, two- and three-year part-time MBA diplomas and degrees. Yet, the students who opt for these courses do not emerge with the same halo as those who take up the two-year full-time post-graduate programmes.

The first cruel fact you have to accept if you're thinking of a part-time MBA is this: it is unlikely to swiftly and painlessly enhance your immediate job prospects. There is no lucrative placement offer waiting for you, like the proverbial 'pot of gold 'at the end of the rainbow. And this is true, even at the brand name institutes.

The B-schools justify the lack of placement opportunities by pointing out that those pursuing the part-time MBA already have jobs. In fact, the pre-requisite for practically all part-time MBA courses is two-three years of work experience, preferably in an executive or supervisory capacity. Part-time MBAs are thus positioned as career-enhancement programmes designed to make the participant more effective in his or her current organisation.

The truth, however, is that the individual who chooses to do the part-time MBA is essentially seeking better prospects. 'Better' may variously defined as a shift from a smaller company to a larger one, or from software to marketing. Essentially, there is a sense of stagnation in the current workplace/ job function and an MBA appears to be the 'way out'.

The candidate is hoping that with the part-time MBA he gets to have his cake… and eat it too. Instead of enrolling for a full-time course and forgoing two years of salary, (as well as shelling out at least Rs 4-5 lakhs as fees), why not do a part-time MBA? Especially when most institutes claim it is equivalent to the regular MBA in terms of coverage and curriculum. Well, the logic is impeccable but things don't quite work that way.

That's not to say a part-time programme adds no value. But do be realistic. You are never really going to be considered 'at par' with the full-time grads so don't expect investment banks or the Hindustan Levers of the world to welcome you on board because you've got FMS or JBIMS on your resume. The unstated assumption you will encounter: 'Only folks who couldn't make it to the (more competitive) full-time MBA join the part-time course.'

The 'children of a lesser God' theory may also manifest itself at alumni meets. It's a different thing that any Indian who attends even a one-month program at Harvard refers to himself as a Harvard 'graduate' on his biodata!

Personally, I think that if companies actually picked up part-timers they might find them to be more dedicated and a lot more street smart than regular MBA graduates. And be pleasantly surprised by the absence of 'we are the cat's whiskers' vibes. But, until they start taking that chance, the part-timer will have to view the MBA primarily as a stepping stone in the quest for self development. And the pursuit of knowledge.

What is a 'good' part-time MBA?

Separate rankings of part-time MBA programmes in India are unavailable. But I'd say generally, part-time programmes follow the same pecking order as the full-time ones. So, in Mumbai it's Bajaj, followed by S P Jain, NMIMS, Welingkar, Somaiya, Chetana (in that order). In Delhi, FMS, MDI and IIFT would be your best bets. Similarly, Loyola (Chennai), IIM B (Bangalore), IIM C (Kolkata) and so on.

This isn't a comprehensive listing. The general criteria is -- try and hitch your wagon onto a brand name school. Not only are their courses more structured, but the participants are generally more serious. And the 'chhaapa' [stamp] will add value to your CV in the long run.

The second criteria to look for is selectivity. Programmes which are more choosy (as opposed to admitting everybody who applies!) are always more respected. At JBIMS, for example, 1,000-odd students compete for the 60 available seats in the three-year part-time Masters in Information Management course. Of course, if that fact (and the course itself) was better publicised, it would boost the brand image of the part-time MBA significantly!

The next question you have to ask is -- how high is your motivation and energy level? The three-year part-time programme leading to a degree is the most rigorous and thus (generally) adds the most value. But can you spare two-three hours every evening and/ or weekends (that's just the classroom bit -- there are projects and presentations too)? Not everyone can handle the stress!

Tip: Do make sure the location and timings make sense to you. Or you'll end up missing/ reaching late for a lot of the classes.

Some institutes like XIM B and IIM Indore offer a part time 'Executive Post Graduate Programme'.

Here, you get a mix of distance and campus learning. XIM B's three-year programme requires participants to reside in the campus for 15 days at a time, thrice a year. The IIM Indore course is spread over 18 months and you will have to schedule study visits at the beginning and end of each of the six terms.

The downside: You pay almost as much as the full-timers (IIM Indore Exec PGP costs you a cool Rs 4 lakhs) but, no, you don't get to participate in the campus placements.

An option worth looking into is the satellite-aided MBA. Thanks to V SAT technology, you can attend real time, interactive classes at a DirecWay centre in your city. Classes are beamed from IIM Kozhikode, IIM Kolkata, XLRI Jamshedpur and IIFT Delhi among others. Durations vary from 10-18 months and involve campus visits. Expect to shell out between Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.5 lakhs, depending on the course and the institute.

You may be a bit taken aback by the fact that you get only a 'certificate' from IIM C, K and XLRI but there is a valid reason for it. The two-year full-time 'MBA' they award is a diploma!

If none of the above appeal to you, there are plenty of 6-12 month diplomas offered by dozens of chhotu-motu B-schools. Many of these are quite 'flexible' when it comes to exams, projects and presentations. You won't have to slog that hard but you won't learn (or add much value) either. So I'd definitely be wary of shelling out big money (Rs 30-40,000 per semester kind of fees) for an 'additional qualification' that won't be taken seriously.

The 'sponsored' MBA

Some companies actually 'go the distance' and sponsor their employees' MBA. In fact, certain institutes such as FMS Delhi take in only sponsored candidates while S P Jain prefers them, as the course is designed in a manner which requires a lot of organisational support and input. At the very least, many part-time MBAs require a 'no objection' certificate from employers!

One industry that's certainly not objecting (rather, encouraging!) is the software sector. In fact, IIM Bangalore's three-year PGP SEM (part-time post-graduate programme in Software Enterprise Management) has been specially developed, in conjunction with industry, to cater to this need.

The only downside to doing a sponsored MBA is that some companies ask you to sign a bond. It's only fair from the employer's point of view but can be a bummer if you do feel the urge to 'shop around' later.

In terms of 'rewards', there are three distinct possibilities once you complete your course:

a) Your current company is enthusiastic about your enhanced skills.

If your MBA is employer-sponsored, this is a given. You'll be seen as an investment that is bearing fruit! Improved salary, designation and a new role in the company is what you can look forward to.

b) Your current company is indifferent.

It could be your company doesn't give a damn or, perhaps the people who matter just haven't noticed. Be prepared to 'sell' yourself. If your MBA has really added value, it should soon be evident in your performance. Hopefully leading to the 'break' you were looking for.

c) You switch jobs.

A radical shift to a whole new sector is possible, though rare. A lateral jump in the industry where you actually have experience is more likely. Wondering where to begin your search? Your own classmates -- working at different companies -- could be a great source for leads.

How does a part-time MBA help?

In fact, the network of professional contacts you will establish is as (or even more valuable!) than the theories and concepts you learn. All of which should ultimately help you 'see the big picture' or what's driving the business as a whole. It's best not to expect toooo much, though. After years of actual experience, the formal study of management is not going to throw up too many of those 'a-ha' moments. If anything, part-timers might find what they study to be too theoretical and removed from reality!

So the one most important thing the programme will do is get rid of the awe with which you might currently be viewing MBAs in your company. In fact your whole 'paradigm' will shift as you 'leverage' your own 'core competency' in spouting management jargon.

On a final note, the divide between full-time and part-time is something like the erstwhile Berlin Wall. The day it is brought down (and eventually, I believe it will!), the part-time student will look the full-timer in the eye.
 
This is the 18th installment in the form of a mixed bag. This collection includes presentations, reports & notes on varying topics.

1. Capital Account Convertibility

2. Ego States in Transactional Analysis

3. Douglas McGregor

4. Report On Theories and Contribution of Chris Argyris

5. Presentation On Chris Argyris PnP

6. Presentation On Life and works of Douglaus McGregor

7. Erik Erikson PandP Report
 
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