Choosing one’s ‘Management Specialization’ – Planning one’s path-forward

Introduction

Working with young makes one come across extraordinary situations. There shall be a need to clarify many things that are neither in textbooks nor can be readily referenced. Each ‘consultancy’ becomes a unique case. One can appreciate, empathize, and be patient in explaining, if one is grounded and ‘ordinary’.

One of the common dilemmas that comes up during the end of the second trimester of PGDM is ‘what specialization’. This is the time the junior batch has to make up their minds regarding future specialization. Problem gets precipitated if the institute is introducing couple of specialization courses during the third trimester itself so that deep dive in the opted area can provide proactive readiness for summer internship. Self-learning is rare and not to be expected in many such places, and handholding beyond all levels is practiced. When one joins such places to be the esteemed faculty member, one shouldn’t be shocked if asked to share the summary notes/PPTs, question banks (QB), probable / ‘expected question list’. Finally, ‘most important questions’ a day or two before the exam is the expectation.

‘Activities’ take precedence over academics. Academic calendar may not be there or has no sanctity. There is fuss around faculty attendance. Bio-metric, register, and reporting happen at the beginning of the day. But student attendance is condoned, or a huge penalty is levied to boost the coffers. ?‘One-go’ internals is conducted to ‘clear the students’ even if students never attended any internal continual assessments. As a colleague wondered at such a place, what they needed was a high-quality printer to print…. Input is the ‘fee’, output is the ‘degree’, and in between is the flexible ‘process’.

May hundred flowers blossom is the blessing but may hundred specializations be ‘given’ is the academic curse. A case in point was, in the very first class of first trimester of such an MBA class, a student asked a valid question about his specialization subjects were missing. Upon questioning, he was granted admission into ‘Aeronautical Management’ at the generic management college. Credit goes to Admissions team. The entire management faculty had only ‘flying user’ experience, and did not know anything more about ‘Aeronautics’. The ever-willing Strategy professor offered to do ‘Industry Analysis’ of the Airline industry, but it would have filled only a class or two!

The dilemma

With the above backdrop when we work with such management college’s student batches, some are natural questions that arise but more have to be generated. These questions are planted first (even in guest speaker sessions!), and then faculty tries to answer these in the class. Many colleagues come with the pitiable situation of theirs in which case study discussion becomes “story telling”!

One of the natural questions that comes to many students’ minds is “what specialization to opt for”? The students get going by the senior batch is one dominant view. Given the developments at other Pareto colleges, the students are not sure of what to opt for and are not sure of their senior batch too! So, ‘what should I opt for’ becomes a genuine ‘doubt’! the functional specialization streams like Marketing (includes Sales that accounts for most jobs during campus placements), Finance (students are always confused about what they will do differently from CAs), Operations (can the non-Engineering background junta opt for it), HR (is it only for one gender?) or Analytics/IT/Systems (I don’t know coding!) offer lot of choice to confuse them. Often it becomes default, along the lines of I do not know W or X or Y, and hence opting for Z.

Betting on basics

MarMan course and Kotler book have been adored by many. Many jobs exist under the Marketing umbrella is the assurance given by many guest session’s faculty. Students used to take up Marketing as the specialization when they felt other streams couldn’t be cracked by them. Comparatively Finance used to get more focused students. They used to know what they were getting into! There are places where no rules exist in terms of barring students from opting for second year specialization based on first year performance. For instance, in one of the start-up institutes, a colleague was shocked to find a student who ‘failed to clear’ FinAcc, CostMan, and FinMan courses present in Finance specialization classes in the fourth trimester. Then, students skipped specialization classes to prepare/appear for Finance area ‘KT’ exams (‘back-log’, earlier failed subjects reexams!). The scene was not pleasant as faculty were getting questioned on ‘why students are failing’? It is noteworthy that the ‘showcased institute’ had ‘walk-in admissions’ policy meaning anyone who pays the high fee is admitted, and admissions team promises the ‘specialization’ at the time of admission itself, irrespective of aptitude or competence!

Duly applying due-diligence

Faculty’s role becomes more crucial in such above situations. So, students may be advised to be sure of their aptitude. Do they really like the specialization area they are opting for? How do they rate themselves in that area and topics pertaining to that area? How do they feel when they come across news about the topics belonging to that area? These shall provide honest answers for the students themselves. Prior performance in any area is a dependable indicator of performance in the second year as well. Not too drastic performance differences can be expected in few months as no ‘structural change’ would have happened.

The ‘area’ faculty can help showing the mirror to the students, if this is taken ‘kindly’ in specific academic setup. If someone would like to opt for Finance, do check whether they understand basics of WACC, cost structure, working capital issues, capital structure related nuances, financial restructuring benefits, valuation methods, evaluating projects, risk appreciation, and technology infusion in Finance domain. If one approaches the faculty for Operations area specialization, ask the students about their aptitude around production, inventory management, supply chains, project management, services operations, quality, and optimization of the relevant areas for better performance.

Similarly, HR can’t be someone’s specialization because ‘one is nice with people’! Whether team dynamics, recruitment to performance management till separation life cycle excites them? Do they would like to learn about structure, job roles, employee engagement, motivation, organizational development, compensation and benefits, and HR analytics? Unless the answer is yes, being a ‘people person’ should not qualify one for HR specialization should be the answer. Similarly, the due diligence for other areas.

On an optimistic closing note

During the last two decades information reach has increased, and asymmetry reduced is the prevailing view. ‘Information overload’ was the warning Alvin Toffler sounded even three decades before that. Full half century ago. ‘Information mislead’ is the current happening. When students are not sure, going to fundamentals should be teachers’ advice. May check using the above detailed approach. Dual specializations, cross-listed courses, changing the tracks are all applicable for top grade places. Ones that are two notches down, do not have such options. ‘Getting placed’ becomes a struggle at such places. So, instead of getting lots of data and going by the generated trends, follow the ASK framework can be the advice. ASK renewed! ASK the right questions, SEEK the clarity, and KNOW the relevant information well for any decision making.

When the students approach self for relevant advice on the topic, the same was along the following lines. At the end of the day, it is your life, and you spend 13-14 hours at work, and every working day. On other days too, you may think for hours about it. Though people articulate about work-life balance, the grind can’t be avoided. If so, then choose one that is enjoyable to YOU. You should enjoy the work you are getting into. There is a forward side to it as well. If you don’t enjoy the work, you won’t give your best. If you don’t give your best, your contribution takes a hit. If your performance suffers, your future engagement suffers as this demotivates you. So, downward spirals will be at work. Better ‘be clear’ at the beginning than being sorry later. The best answer is “Go for your best bet”. Interests may evolve as life is dynamic but go for the ‘current best’ of yours. Rest shall become very best. You can revisit a year later.