Relevance Of Bschool Education In Reengineering

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

During the past decades, many leading business schools have quietly adopted an inappropriate and ultimately self-defeating-model of academic excellence. Instead of measuring themselves in terms of the competence of their graduates, or by how well their faculties understand important drivers of business performance, schools measure themselves almost solely by the rigor of their scientific research. Re-engineering of B-school education towards excellence depends upon many qualities of its students like Openness of new ideas and possibilities & ability to challenge the conventional wisdom, Curious mind that retains a desire for a lifelong learning, self confidence and self efficiency and some qualities also apply on B schools like ability to produce good professionals, having clear vision and mission, ability to define the kind of professionals it would produce, sound system of governance, Effective teaching process. The sample size was 103 and MBA students were randomly selected . Annova one way test was used for analysis to test the hypothesis the purpose of this research is to determine if there is need for re-engineering of management education in business schools and to provide a new theory for the same. The results revealed that there was significant association between different percentages in graduation of students and their perception towards the variable related to re engineer the business school education towards excellence.

Introduction

(Evan Krafta, 2010) when a nation makes a transition from a protected economy to a market economy, there is a surge in the demand for management education. To match this demand, there is usually an increase in the number of private schools running courses in business management. (R.A Page, 2006) currently the demand for business education continues to expand worldwide, creating a market whose limits have yet to be defined. While the rapid growth of business programs began in the 1950s, they are now ubiquitous . At its heart, re-engineering is based on the century-old theory of Frederick Winslow Taylor, that variation is waste. This approach makes sense when applied to clerical, easily measured work, like insurance claims processing and call-center operations. But this process-oriented approach breaks down in cases where individuals must make decisions based on their own information, judgment, and experience. (Roger Thompson, 2008), The Harvard Business School dean, Jay Light put these words that "It was our view that you need to think about what you are doing every 100 years or so, whether you need to or not". Business schools have been using information for years to improve the efficiency of academic services and effectiveness of academic programs. As more trustees, administrators, faculty, parents, students have begun to seek better outcomes, and not surprisingly these schools are investing in technology. But these schools are finding that technology implementation does not necessarily improve decision-making nor does it necessarily improve outcomes and decision-making. An important function of business schools is to develop important, relevant knowledge, serve as a source of critical thought and inquiry about organizations and management, and thus advance the general public interest as well as the profession of management.

Objective of the study

The purpose of this research is to determine if there is need for re-engineering of management education in business schools and to provide a new theory for the same. Therefore the questions designed were related to extra values and activities that are provided in management schools towards academic excellence. In short, following three points can be considered as key points to be concluded for this research.

The value of the management schools and the extent of influence on actual management practice generated in business schools

Indentify the factors out of the six below mentioned factors that students of business school feel most required for re-engineering the management education for excellence.

The six most important factors finalized for study are as follows

Openness to new ideas and possibilities & ability to challenge the conventional wisdom

Sensitiveness towards socio-economic and natural environment

Curious mind that retains a desire for a lifelong learning

Ability of contemporary management education system to produce good professionals

Clear vision and mission of B- School

Perception about institute’s ability to define clearly the kind of product (professionals)

System of governance of institute / B-school

Effectiveness of institute’s teaching process

Self confidence and self efficiency that propel respondent to take initiative rather than being prodded to action

Review of literature

(Ajith, 2012) in his study investigated the current status and emerging trends in management education. In the current academic environment, corporate responsibility and sustainability have entered but not yet become embedded in the mainstream of business-related education. (Lavelle, 2012) identified the top undergraduate business programs, by Bloomberg Business week used a methodology that included nine measures of student satisfaction, post-graduation outcomes, and academic quality.(Paul & Pintrich, 2004) Showed conceptual framework for assessing student motivation and self-regulated learning in the college classroom is presented. The framework was based on a self-regulatory (SRL) perspective on student motivation and learning in contrast to a student approaches to learning (SAL) perspective.(Nazeer, 2012) in his paper highlighted what and how exactly there was a need to essentially recreate and restructure the blocks that built an education system and produced effective management professionals.(Chia, 2007) in his paper argued that the cultivation of the ‘entrepreneurial imagination’ was the singular most important contribution university business schools could make to the business community. Instead of the prevalent emphasis on the vocationalizing of business/management programmes in order to make them more ‘relevant’, university business schools should adopt a deliberate educational strategy that privileged the ‘weakening’ of thought processes so as to encourage and stimulate the entrepreneurial imagination.(Warhurst, 2011) concluded by developing implications for the redesign of MBA education to better enable manager-students’ identity formation. The findings contributed to resolving a key debate in the study of identity formation. Thus MBA students studied to critically examine the relationality of management, the significance of identity in the respondent managers’ day-to-day practice, and the contribution of MBA study to identity-work.(Rousseau, 2012) in his study concluded a core feature of this professionalism, the production of essential management knowledge, and the process of educating people in applying it. With Simon as a guide, this article outlined educational and research interventions to help business schools realize their founding purpose. In doing so, it addressed the distinctive knowledge products that business school research could contribute to the management profession. (Daniel, 2006) found that the actual cause of today's crisis in management education was far broader in scope than most of us want to believe, and it could be traced to a dramatic shift in the culture of business schools.

Hypothesis used for the study

Table 1

H01

There is no significant association between the different age groups of the respondents and their perception towards excellence of B-school education. (Refer table 3)

H02

There is no significant association between the different gender groups of the respondents and their perception towards excellence of B-school education. (Refer table 4)

H03

There is no significant association between the different stream in graduation groups of the respondents and their perception towards excellence of B-school education. (Refer table 5)

H04

There is no significant association between the different percentage in graduation groups of the respondents and their perception towards excellence of B-school education. (Refer table 6)

Limitations and Further Research

Firstly, this study was carried out mainly in B-schools of Udaipur therefore; the results obtained may not be Pertinent to the country as a whole. Of course, the study can be extended to other states of India. Secondly, the present study has been conducted by taking a sample of 150 students of some management schools of Udaipur, ignoring the government management schools this cannot lead to the generalizability of the findings and the results may not be implied conclusively to the whole management education. Additional studies are recommended to fill this gap. Therefore, the conceptual and methodology limitations of this study need to be considered when designing future research.

Research Methodology

Research Setting

The study was conducted in various Business schools of Rajasthan. For choosing the sample, Non Probabilistic judgment-cum-convenience sampling technique was used. The research type was Conceptual and analytical.

Participants

A sample of 150 management students was taken, some of them were approached personally at their business schools and rest were contacted electronically (through internet).Out of those, 127 questionnaires were received which gave an approximately 84 percent of response rate. Of these, 103 questionnaires completed in all respects were used for the purpose of analysis.

Measuring Instrument

A scale of 9 statements was developed on a five-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly agree’ (5) to ‘strongly disagree’ (1) to tap respondent’s perception towards relevance of B-school education in Re engineering for excellence.

Statistical analysis

Frequency test in order to generate demographic profile of respondents and ANOVA-one way test was used.

ANOVA-One Way Analysis

ANOVA-one way classification was performed to test whether any significant difference existed among the various groups of respondents across 9-item perception scale. Four groups of the respondents that are considered for ANOVA-one way analysis are age (four categories), gender (two categories), stream in graduation (four categories), and percentage in graduation (four categories). In the present study following hypothesis has been formulated and tested. For the rejection of null hypothesis it is required that p value should be less than 0.05. And therefore the null hypotheses (at 95 percent confidence level) may be accepted. It can be concluded that there is no significant difference among various groups of respondents with respect to their perception towards excellence of B-school education.

Data analysis and interpretation

(Table 2) Demographic Characteristics of Sampled students

 

Frequency

Age

< 20 years

1

20-21 years

17

21-22 years

47

> 22 years

38

Total

103

 

Gender

Male

62

Female

41

Total

103

 

Stream in graduation

Commerce

67

Arts

17

Science

12

Others

7

Total

103

 

percentage in graduation

36-50%

12

50-60%

45

60-75%

35

> 75 %

11

Total

103

The above table shows the demographic profile of respondents. Four demographic factors were used for the study namely age, gender, stream of graduation and percentage of graduation. Majority of respondents were from 21-22 years age group.60 percent of the respondents were male.67 students who contributed approx 65% of total respondents had their graduation in commerce stream and only 12 were from science and 17 respondents did their graduation in arts stream. Rest of others was put into other stream who had done graduation in some other stream.45 out of 103 respondents were found in 50 to 60 percentage slab.

Table 3 (Annova one way test )

 Age

Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

F

You have self confidence and self efficiency that propel you to take initiative rather than being prodded to action

Between Groups

1.176

3

.392

.928

Within Groups

41.815

99

.422

Total

42.990

102

You are open to new ideas and possibilities &amp; ability to challenge the conventional wisdom

Between Groups

2.430

3

.810

1.928

Within Groups

48.560

99

.491

Total

50.990

102

You are sensitive towards socio-economic and natural environment and responsiveness towards stakeholders

Between Groups

4.682

3

1.561

2.928

Within Groups

67.299

99

.680

Total

71.981

102

You have a curious mind that retains a desire for a life long learning

Between Groups

2.205

3

.735

3.928

Within Groups

103.989

99

1.050

Total

106.194

102

You think that our contemporary management education system is able to produce good professionals

Between Groups

2.079

3

.693

4.928

Within Groups

87.610

99

.885

Total

89.689

102

Your B- school has a clear vision and mission

Between Groups

3.925

3

1.308

5.928

Within Groups

75.765

99

.765

Total

79.689

102

Your institute is able to define clearly the kind of product (professionals), it would like to create

Between Groups

.742

3

.247

6.928

Within Groups

107.316

99

1.084

Total

108.058

102

Your institute is having a sound system of governance

Between Groups

4.345

3

1.448

7.928

Within Groups

81.384

99

.822

Total

85.728

102

Your institute’s teaching process is highly effective

Between Groups

4.851

3

1.617

8.928

Within Groups

114.489

99

1.156

Total

119.340

102

Interpretation : Table 3 all significant values are greater than .05 for different age groups. Thus null hypothesis is accepted. This shows there is no significant difference between the different age groups of the respondents and their perception towards excellence of B-school education.

Table 4 (Annova one way test)

Gender

Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

F

You have self confidence and self efficiency that propel you to take initiative rather than being prodded to action

Between Groups

.006

1

.006

.015

Within Groups

42.984

101

.426

Total

42.990

102

You are open to new ideas and possibilities &amp; ability to challenge the conventional wisdom

Between Groups

.079

1

.079

1.015

Within Groups

50.911

101

.504

Total

50.990

102

You are sensitive towards socio-economic and natural environment and responsiveness towards stakeholders

Between Groups

1.398

1

1.398

2.015

Within Groups

70.583

101

.699

Total

71.981

102

You have a curious mind that retains a desire for a lifelong learning

Between Groups

.062

1

.062

3.015

Within Groups

106.133

101

1.051

Total

106.194

102

 

You think that our contemporary management education system is able to produce good professionals

Between Groups

1.228

1

1.228

4.015

Within Groups

88.461

101

.876

Total

89.689

102

Your B- school has a clear vision and mission

Between Groups

3.661

1

3.661

5.015

Within Groups

76.029

101

.753

Total

79.689

102

Your institute is able to define clearly the kind of product (professionals), it would like to create

Between Groups

12.074

1

12.074

6.015

Within Groups

95.984

101

.950

Total

108.058

102

Your institute is having a sound system of governance

Between Groups

3.353

1

3.353

7.015

Within Groups

82.375

101

.816

Total

85.728

102

Your institute’s teaching process is highly effective

Between Groups

3.346

1

3.346

8.015

Within Groups

115.994

101

1.148

Total

119.340

102

In table 4 by using Annova one way test Mean squares are calculated by dividing SS (sum of squares) with DF (degree of freedom) and the significant values are calculated at 5% level of significance to test hypothesis. Results showed that there is no significant association between gender groups and these variables existed.

Table 5 (Annova one way test)

Stream in graduation 

Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

F

You have self confidence and self efficiency that propel you to take initiative rather than being prodded to action

Between Groups

1.503

3

.501

1.196

Within Groups

41.487

99

.419

Total

42.990

102

You are open to new ideas and possibilities &amp; ability to challenge the conventional wisdom

Between Groups

2.209

3

.736

2.196

Within Groups

48.781

99

.493

Total

50.990

102

You are sensitive towards socio-economic and natural environment and responsiveness towards stakeholders

Between Groups

2.366

3

.789

3.196

Within Groups

69.615

99

.703

Total

71.981

102

You have a curious mind that retains a desire for a life long learning

Between Groups

1.553

3

.518

4.196

Within Groups

104.641

99

1.057

Total

106.194

102

You think that our contemporary management education system is able to produce good professionals

Between Groups

11.551

3

3.850

5.196

Within Groups

78.138

99

.789

Total

89.689

102

Your B- school has a clear vision and mission

Between Groups

4.928

3

1.643

6.196

Within Groups

74.761

99

.755

Total

79.689

102

Your institute is able to define clearly the kind of product (professionals), it would like to create

Between Groups

7.850

3

2.617

7.196

Within Groups

100.209

99

1.012

Total

108.058

102

Your institute is having a sound system of governance

Between Groups

5.107

3

1.702

8.196

Within Groups

80.621

99

.814

Total

85.728

102

Your institute’s teaching process is highly effective

Between Groups

7.352

3

2.451

9.196

Within Groups

111.988

99

1.131

Total

119.340

102

In table 5 all significant values are greater than .05 for different age groups. Thus null hypothesis is accepted. This shows there is no significant difference between the different streams in graduation groups of the respondents and their perception towards excellence of B-school education.

Table 6 (Annova one way test)

Percentage in graduation

Sum of Squares

df

Mean Square

F

You have self confidence and self efficiency that propel you to take initiative rather than being prodded to action

Between Groups

5.461

3

1.820

4.802

Within Groups

37.530

99

.379

Total

42.990

102

You are open to new ideas and possibilities &amp; ability to challenge the conventional wisdom

Between Groups

10.502

3

3.501

5.802

Within Groups

40.488

99

.409

Total

50.990

102

You are sensitive towards socio-economic and natural environment and responsiveness towards stakeholders

Between Groups

.685

3

.228

6.802

Within Groups

71.295

99

.720

Total

71.981

102

You have a curious mind that retains a desire for a lifelong learning

Between Groups

4.796

3

1.599

7.802

Within Groups

101.398

99

1.024

Total

106.194

102

You think that our contemporary management education system is able to produce good professionals

Between Groups

3.258

3

1.086

8.802

Within Groups

86.431

99

.873

Total

89.689

102

Your B- school has a clear vision and mission

Between Groups

.241

3

.080

9.802

Within Groups

79.448

99

.803

Total

79.689

102

Your institute is able to define clearly the kind of product (professionals), it would like to create

Between Groups

3.792

3

1.264

10.802

Within Groups

104.266

99

1.053

Total

108.058

102

Your institute is having a sound system of governance

Between Groups

.185

3

.062

11.802

Within Groups

85.543

99

.864

Total

85.728

102

Your institute’s teaching process is highly effective

Between Groups

1.911

3

.637

12.802

Within Groups

117.429

99

1.186

Total

119.340

102

In table 6 all significant values (95% confidence level) are not greater than .05 for different percentage in graduation groups. Thus null hypothesis is rejected. This shows there is significant difference between the different percentage in graduation groups of the respondents and their perception towards excellence of B-school education. "Self confidence and self efficiency that propel you to take initiative rather than being prodded to action" this variable is most liable element in percentage in graduation group of respondents for rejection of null hypothesis.

Results/conclusion

There are nine factors influencing the Perception of re-engineering of B-school education towards excellence namely openness to new ideas and possibilities & ability to challenge the conventional wisdom, Sensitiveness towards socio-economic and natural environment, Curious mind that retains a desire for a lifelong learning, Ability of contemporary management education system to produce good professionals, Clear vision and mission of B- School, Perception about institute’s ability to define clearly the kind of professionals, System of governance of institute / B-school, Effectiveness of institute’s teaching process, Self confidence and self efficiency that propel respondent to take initiative rather than being prodded to action. Out of this self efficiency that propel respondent to take initiative rather than being prodded to action was found the most important factor.