Management studies Lessons and way forward

Management studies have been playing a huge role in dealing with the skill gap in the economy. Management courses with the help of a structured course curriculum and innovative teaching pedagogy have been able to create managers who are impactful in handling the organizations in this dynamic world. The paradigm of the workplace has shifted drastically.

The areas that were considered afresh before are considered stale in no time. It is paramount for the management professionals to update themselves to be ready to face the dynamic job market. The B-Schools in order to be abreast with the changing scenarios have been constantly upgrading curriculum and pedagogy.

Management Studies is no longer about the theoretical curriculum, it is about a curriculum that is infused with live projects, industrial training, industrial visits, certification courses, and internships. Students who are undertaking a management course get an ample amount of exposure facilitating them to understand the challenges faced by the business world today.

Domain-specific certification along with the university curriculum helps in developing expertise in the area of specialization of the students. Management education opens up multiple career options by making the students industry ready, especially for the industries that are booming and have ample employment opportunities for management graduates.

Driving business growth while working in an organization is salient, the management courses equip an individual with the right skills required to drive business growth, build a positive work environment and develop a team to attain certain goals. Management studies not only lead to the procuring an entry-level designation but also facilitate a management graduate in attaining a sustainable career.

Management studies have been endowing the young minds with numerous lessons, the way forward in this ever-shifting paradigm is not going to be a cakewalk for the budding managers, the lessons learned are to be intricately applied and a way forward is to be paved.

In order to build a way forward, management graduates must be efficient in certain facets including:

Being a Crisis Manager

As already mentioned, the industry today has become very dynamic, looking at the crisis that has emerged with certain top-notch organizations during the pandemic and after the pandemic has been overwhelming. Managers today need to pre-determine the crisis and be ready with a contingency plan. A crisis may even hit the best organizations of the world. A crisis can be internal or external. One of the major requisites in management studies now is preparing the management graduates to anticipate the changes that might happen. A manager who can foresee a crisis is a real asset to any organization and is being looked for in the industry.

Being a networker

The world is all about networking, a good network not only helps the individual but also serves the organization that an individual is working at. Management graduates must be great at networking, starting from creating networks during a management course to developing networks at the corporates. Developing a connection requires an approach that is empathetic in nature. Empathy is an art that is required to be developed irrespective of the designation and the profile an individual is handling. Future managers in order to be successful must realize the importance of networking at an initial stage in their careers. They must be brilliant in this facet.

Design thinkers for the future

The problems which the industries are facing today are wicked in nature. Only a logical mind with high emotional intelligence is able to solve the problems existing in the current paradigm. The industry has now been facing a huge number of wicked problems, a problem that does not possess a ready-made solution. The budding managers will come across many wicked problems pertaining to the industry they are working in. The customized solution for a wicked problem can only be undertaken by giving an innovative solution imbibed with creativity. Innovation and creativity is the key that managers need to employ in the current time. Management studies inculcate innovation and creative thinking ability. The way forward for the managers is to think out of the box. The times are challenging, a manager who has his contingency plan ready beforehand is always going to succeed in this dynamic environment full of challenges.

(The author is the Director at Jaipuria Institute of Management, Ghaziabad)