The Indian MBA
We need to revise our views on leadership, says Fr Christie

Profile
Fr Christie is an accomplished academic with several years of experience under his belt. He did his BSc in Statistics from Loyola College, Chennai in 1980, and 19 years down the line, joined LIBA as Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences. Within two years, he became the Dean and Associate Professor of Decision Sciences at LIBA. Studies, research, and gaining knowledge have been his interests, and this passion is seen in the approach he takes towards making his students understand the weight of these assets. His responsibility includes supervision, planning and directing the instructional administration of LIBA, which he devotedly does by regularly interacting with faculty, students, college leadership, and community members.

LIBA
Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), is one of the India’s premier management Institutes. The superior position stems from Jesuit culture that is known for excellence in education and values throughout the world, a powerful pedagogy, superior faculty, excellent infrastructure, deep industry interfaces, astute linkages with international B-schools, diverse Centres of Excellence, and student life that goes beyond academics.

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As the saying goes, “An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life.” With an abundance of choices, a career is not the main issue. Making life worthwhile is.

The word life has connotations larger than material possessions. It is about values; it is about moral cognition - the sense of what is right and what is wrong. A well-made and lived life is also fundamental for well-made and enduring corporations. And unfortunately, making life is neither taught in schools nor in colleges; the importance of value systems is not taught in most B-Schools either.

ETHICAL ISSUES
Across the world, most MBA and public management programmes are cast from similar moulds. They teach how to compete and win; actually, compete and win anyhow. Curricula are revised to make the students more ‘job ready’ and to cater to ‘industry needs’.

We now realise what being ‘job-ready’ or catering to ‘industry needs’ means! The curriculum revisions that focus on industry needs alone are not enough. The focal point should shift to the student per se and the larger context of society. That is possible only if the core courses or the plethora of electives offered to students are founded upon the bedrock of value systems.

The call of the day is managers who have those value systems; the change managers who will stand up and get counted for doing what is morally right. That is a challenge, thanks to the insufficient - or even missing - moral link in school education, the other compelling demands of the corporate world, and the poor immersion of B-School syllabi on ethics and corporate morality.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
Some B-Schools are taking steps to inculcate moral capacity in a person and also in business. For instance, there are a few B-Schools that offer core and elective courses in Ethics, Corporate Governance, etc. While these are important, there are several other challenges. The first is the skill to observe ethical infractions in fields of management; the second is to integrate such observations and provide relevant value-based solutions yet keeping competitiveness, growth, and profitability intact; the third is to motivate students to learn and practice.

Do we even observe ethical infractions around us? For example, in marketing, several advertisements on TV promise more and deliver less, fake brands abound, unsafe products kill, agents are exploited by firms, and consumers reel under rapacious traders. Or consider the field of Human Resources; employees can be paid less and made to work in unsafe conditions that create stress, etc. The finance field is often under the scanner for investor duping, tax evasions, etc. The observation of ethical infractions is a function of high personal moral cognition. Once we are able to observe ethical infractions, the second challenge is to integrate such observations and infuse relevant value systems in the pedagogy. I am happy to note that a few recent text-books on management are peppered with sections in each chapter debating the relevant ethical issues. Also, several good cases are being written. Perhaps it is also important for professors to be trained in moral cognition; it is quite possible that a few opine ‘ethics’ to be a standalone subject and do not deem it to concern the fields that they profess. A few B-Schools also offer specialised workshops on ethics.

However, the mightiest of the challenges is to motivate B-School students to consider ethics as a base for the decision making process. Even motivating students to enrol and learn appears to be a small problem when compared with the compulsions students will face when they join the workforce. The meaning of the word ‘competent’ appears to be very different from the ones that are based out of value systems. Being unethical appears clever! Being iniquitous appears justified.

I think it is here that we need strong change managers. And we need them in large numbers. It is these change managers who will usher in a society of equity and convert firms that pay no heed to society. Lastly, it is these change managers who will show us the way to live life - a life well-made and well-lived!