Indian enterprises have made their presence felt in almost every major economic sector and have 'arrived' in every sense of the term! They are now striving to move up in the value chain. However even as they try to achieve this objective, they are faced with a shortage of talented achiever-managers who can participate in and contribute to their endeavour to be globally recognised as top-class business leaders.
One indicative reason why we fail to measure up to such demanding international standards is that in India, most people prefer to complete their education before starting their professional life and consequently, management career aspirants join management schools right after their graduation.
Since most applicants do not have the requisite work experience, it becomes difficult to evaluate applicants based only on their overall personality. Any such assessment should incorporate an objective selection process, giving due importance to key attributes like personal achievements, knowledge and professional experience.
Of course, some of these attributes are evaluated at the time of interview but because of intense competition, not many applicants get a fair opportunity to display these. The Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) addresses this lacuna holistically using wholesome evaluation criterion.
The GMAT is conducted under standard conditions across the world, with the highest level of security, to ensure that the scores are comparable across all applicants.
Another reason why most of our 'fresh from B-school' managers don't fit the global bill is because the average age of managers graduating from Indian B-schools is about 25, with an average work experience of one year. In contrast, in the US the average age is about 28 with almost none with work experience of less than 2 years.
In an increasingly global scenario where one needs to have vision, perspective, knowledge and experience, in a B-school classroom, one shares intellectual space with experienced students who help in elucidation of seemingly abstract concepts.
Suddenly the theoretical concepts get live when people share their own encounters in the real world. Anyone who has spent three years in the software industry would relate to the concept of working in a cross-cultural environment. A student who has worked for a financial firm understands better the dynamics of the markets. An experienced hand from an auto-manufacturing company would grasp better the meaning of an assembly line. A marketing firm employee could elucidate effortlessly on how to make channel-staffing work. In a class with students having no industry experience, learning is limited to abstract concepts and mind-boggling theory.
Thankfully most management schools in the country have now realised the essentiality of meshing experience with education and are encouraged by the welcome fact that professionals themselves are now willing to take breaks for management education purposes.
Premier management schools offer specific executive programmes for experienced professionals and in order to gain more international acceptability and attract international students, the selection criteria must emulate those of other leading global schools, all of which use the GMAT.
Another important aspect of the GMAT overall evaluation process is that it enables B-schools to have classrooms with a large diversity in terms of perspectives, experiences, industries, geographical locations etc.
The author is the Director - Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India.
