Industry Expectations from Fresh MBAs

Dr.D.T.Manwani Senior Professor- Management Aug 24,2012

What Experts Say?

Only about 23% of MBA pass outs in the

country are employable- Prof. R. Yadav, Chairman, AICTE Today most training Institutes focus English and Personality which is necessary but not sufficient, especially for MBAs. The reason for low placements often includes lack of real world knowledge and exposure and live role models- Dr. Pritam Singh, Former Director, IIM Lucknow & MDI Gurgaon.

Do new MBA graduates meet the expectations of their first employer?

Currently there are over 2000 MBA Institutes.

Survey conducted by MBA Universe.com-

merrytracemployability studies revealed that employability of MBA graduates have fallen over the last five years. Survey covered 2263 MBA graduates belonging to 100 business schools of 29 cities. Top 25 B.Schools were not included. Hiring companies evaluate students on reasoning ability, Verbal communications and quantitative ability on international standards . However quality of MBA graduates was found low.

Skills Gap Survey- BFSI Sector

The Higher Education Forum conducted skill

gap survey in year 2010 of recently hired MBAs in the Indian Banking, Financial services, and Insurance (BFSI ) sector. Data was collected from 113 individuals from 74 organizations. This included one HR representative from each of the organizations and 39 senior executives who directly supervise newly hired MBAs.

Research Findings Summary

Fifty- five percent of organizations who participated in

survey hired new MBAs from top 25 Indian business houses. Rest 45% hired from other institutes. This research revealed two prominent themes. 1. There are differences in Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes based on the institute fresh MBAs attended. Eighty percent of those surveyed felt that the institute mattered. 2. Industry is generally concerned with the unrealistic expectations of newly hired MBAs in term of salary, position and corporate mobility. The survey also found that industry has the highest expectations for newly hired MBAs in the area of Attitudes, followed by Skills, and finally by Knowledge. Industry Hire people for attitude and train them for the skills.

Research Findings Summary

MBAs must be committed, dedicated, self

disciplined, self motivated, showing an aptitude and willingness to learn. They must possess strong analytic, listening, and communication skills, and they must be able to work in a team and collaborate. Finally, they must come in with at least a basic knowledge of the organization and the processes within the organization and an understanding of products , solutions, and services including those of competitors- as well as consumer behavior.

Percentage of newly hired MBAs by area of specialization

Areas of Specialization Finance Marketing HR/Personnel Management IT Other areas % of organizations hiring new MBAs with specialization 80% 56% 27% 13% 11%

Skills Expectation and Scores on Scale of 5

Expectations Knowledge Skills Attitudes 4.0 4.2 4.4 Performance 2.8 3.0 3.2

Attitude Expectations & Performance Gap

Attitude
Attributes

Expectation
Attitudes are Very Important/Important

Performance Gap
Attitudes are needing improvements or lacking 27.4% 9.7% 27.4% 31.0% 17.7% 21.2%

Commitment & Dedication Aptitude & willingness to learn Self -discipline Self- motivated Ethical Behavior Creativity

93.8% 92.9% 92.9% 92% 86.7% 81.4%

Skills Expectation and Performance Skills Expectations Performance Gap Gap

Skills are very important/Important Listening Skills Communication ( Verbal/written including e-mail Team work & collaboration Analytic Skills Presentation Skills Computing including excel analysis Conflict resolution 92.9% 92.0% Skills are needing improvements or lacking 32.7% 24.8%

92.0% 90.3% 84.1% 82.3% 72.6%

26.6% 15.9% 23.9% 18.6% 49.6%

Selling Skills
Project Management

70.8%
67.3%

34.5%
38.9%

Knowledge Expectation and Performance Gap

KNOWLEDGE EXPECTATIONS PERFORMANCE GAP
Knowledge is Very Important/Important Knowledge is needing improvement or lacking

Organization & Processes within organization

77.9%

46.9%

Products/Solutions/se 77.9% rvice including those of competitors Consumer Behavior Environment 76.1% 75.2%

46.9%

45.1% 29.2%

How to bridge Gap?

Respondents believed that Educational institutions and corporations needed to, and can, take action to limit the gaps in Knowledge, Skills and attitudes and manage expectations of newly hired MBAs. Educational Institutes need to focus more on practical education, based on strong, relevant case studies and market- driven curriculum. Corporate, on the other hand, were viewed as having to assist with imparting practical knowledge by reinvesting and refocusing their summer internship programmes to make them more effective. Educational Institutions and Corporations must interact meaning fully and work together.

THANK YOU