MBA
CAREER IN MANAGEMENT
Dear Friends,
The material posted here about a career in management is not exhaustive .The objective is to just make you aware of such a career option and to further guide you in that direction. Some of the material posted here under this section were collected from various sources and a few from the authors experience. The material here is provided in good faith and due care has been taken to keep it upto date and error free. Most of the information provided here will not be complete. You have to do a google. For any further information or clarifications or suggestions please mail the author at stevepoirot0317@yahoo.co.in or stevepoirotin@gmail.com
I think it will be better if we move on instead of bragging about the discipline of management.
Introduction:
A career in management is one among a plethora of options available today before you. The program does not discriminate people based on their disciplines. A graduate in any discipline is eligible for a career in management. Some institutes may require 55 or 60% marks in the graduating examination. They mainly lay their stress on the rigorous selection procedure.
The Programme:
MBA is a two-year course, at the end of which, one is awarded with one of the following qualifications: MBA (Master in Business Administration), PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management), PGPM (Post Graduate Programme in Management), PGDBM (Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management), etc. depending on the institute you are passing out of. According to the UGC Act, only universities are authorized to issue degree to students in India. As a result, most of the top institutes in India give diplomas, which have much more market worth as compared to even the degrees given by some universities.
The programme as stated above is of 2 year duration .The first year covers the basics in Economics, Finance & Accountancy, Marketing, Operations, Written & Communication skills, Organisational Behaviour and Statistics. At the end of the first year programme you will be required to do a Summer Internship or Project in a company or organisation.
The second year mostly concentrates on specialisations, which you may choose based on your interests. You will have a lot of electives to choose from and you have to select them based on your interests. At the end of the second year some institutes may ask you to go in for a Dissertation. The summer projects and Dissertation may or may not be paid and it depends on various factors.
Specializations:
While studying a management degree or diploma, one gets an option to choose the area one wants specialize in. Some institutes offer dual specializations. The main specializations are as follows:
Marketing:
Sales and Distribution, Product / Brand Management, Advertising, Marketing Research.
Finance:
Retail Banking, Development Banking, Merchant Banking, Investment Banking, Non-Banking Finance, Institutional Finance, Corporate Finance.
Human Resources:
Human Resources Management, Personnel Management, Industrial Relations.
Systems/IT:
Computer Manufacturing/ Marketing Organizations, Systems Consultancies.
Operations:
Productivity Improvement, Quality Control, Production Planning, Inventory Control.
NOTE:
I think a majority of people reading through these pages will be veterinarians. Under that assumption i provide some information here. Veterinarians are eligible to all management programmes. There are certain programmes in certain institutes, which prefer veterinarians. I am just providing the names of the prominent and well-known ones.
IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Lucknow. PGP ABM ( Post Graduate Programme in Agri Business Management ) Intake : 30 students per year.
FPM Programme - Students ( for vets M.V.Sc ) with a Masters degree are eligible to apply for this course. Specialisation is offered in various disciplines for FPM ( Fellow Programme in Management ). Just key in the URL for IIM A or IIM L and you will get detailed information.- Institute of Rural Management, Anand. Programme in Rural Management ( PRM ).
The entrance exam will be conducted normally in the first Sunday of December every year. The exam is slightly different in that it has a section on Social Awareness for 60 marks out of a total of 200 marks.
- Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneshwar also offers a programme in Rural Management. The selection is based on the scores obtained in the examination conducted by IRMA.
Lot of other institutes also offer programmes in rural management .The reason for not specifying all of them are firstly, I do not know. I could have done that but for lack of time. The webmaster will already have a red hot angry face like the Tom cat often shown in the Tom and Jerry show in Cartoon Network. (His anger is justified. You may accept my reason. But ask anyone of the batch 1996 - 2001 and they will vouch for my procrastination).
I have provided the respective links in this web page for your easy access or you can just google it. It is not a Herculean task to get into the above esteemed institutions ( IIMA ) but i can assure you coming out is one. Getting into the IIMs is not a difficult task at all. I have provided some jottings of the life at IIM s…….
B - Schools
The links for a few Indian Business schools are provided here. This is not an exhaustive list of all the b schools in India.
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. ( IIMA ) www.iimahd.ernet.in
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. ( IIMB ) www.iimb.ernet.in
Indian Institute of Management Kolkata. ( IIMC ) www.iimcal.ac.in
Indian Institute of Management Indore. ( IIMI ) www.iimidr.ac.in
Indian Institute of Management Lucknow. ( IIML ) www.iiml.ac.in
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. ( IIMK ) www.iimk.ac.in
Xavier Labour Relations Institute ( XLRI ) Jamshedpur. www.xlri.edu
Xavier Institute of Management Bhubneshwar. ( XIMB ) www.ximb.ac.in/start/
Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) Madras. www.liba.edu
Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) Delhi. www.fms.edu
Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon. www.mdi.ac.in
S P Jain Institute of Management and Research. www.spjimr.org
Narsee Monjee nstitute of Management studies. www.nmims.edu
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. www.jbims.edu
Indian School of Business. ( ISB ) www.isb.edu
Institute of Rural Management Anand. ( IRMA ) www.irma.ac.in
Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad. www.imt.edu
B - School Ratings
The ratings or rankings of business schools vary every year based on the performance of the particular B School in that particular year based on various criteria. The URL s for International business school ratings are provided at the end of this section.
Generally the Indian B - schools are categorized into Top 10, A+ , A , B+ , B, etc depending on the magazine conducting the survey. But the top list does not vary much. Indian B Schools are rated by business magazines and general magazines also. Every magazine conducts its own research or joins with an established research agency to provide the rankings. Some of the magazines which do them are Business Today, Business World, Outlook, Business week ,etc.
You can search their sites for the survey or just wait for the magazines to come out with the list.
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/04/index.html
Mode of entry
Entry into any B school is governed by a common selection procedure with some rare exceptions. The procedure may have few omissions and commissions according to the needs of the institute or B school. In order to make it simple the generally followed selection procedure is outlined as follows.
- Written test: Various institutes conduct different exams so as to select candidates according to their requirement .The HRD Ministry, Government of India recently gave a guideline to reduce the number of exams conducted for selection of candidates. Now only a few exams are conducted and the prominent ones are as follows: ( Most of the institutes are covered by these exams ).
- Quantitative Aptitude: ( Number System, Percentages, Profit & Loss, Interest , Simple & Compound Interest ), Speed, Time & Distance, Pipes & Cisterns, Work & Time, Races, Averages, Ratio and Proportion, Mixtures & Allegations, Arithmetic & Geometric Progression, Permutation & Combination, Probability, Geometry, Mensuration, Trigonometry, Data Sufficiency, Clocks and Calendars, Algebra, Logarithms, Binomial Expansion, Quadratic Equations, Functions, Set Theory, etc).
The above is not an exhaustive list as the MBA Entrances pattern change every year. - Group Discussion: Group Discussion ( GD ) is a logical extension of the admission tests to assess a candidate’s overall personality. His/her in-depth understanding of the topic, self-confidence, attitude
( rigid or flexible temperament ) and initiatives in the discussion, presence of mind in crisis situations and speaking etiquette are on test.
Here a topic will be given to a group of about 8 - 10 candidates and a time limit of 20 - 30 minutes will be allotted. The group has to discuss the topic and you can take sides. I can guarantee that the environment will be worse than a fish market. A panel of 2 - 3 members will be observing the discussion and your body language and communication skills and clarity of thinking, etc will be noted. I think it is early to tell you all this. Just forget all this for the time being. Concentrate on your written test preparation.
Some times Case studies may be given for you to solve. Normally IIMs give Cases for GDs.
Eg: The devil is better than the deep sea , Red pyjamas flying on the Red fort, Banning child labour is detrimental to the interest of the poor families, If you are not the lead dog, your view never changes, Let us legalise gambling ,The Wheel is Turning Round and Round, How can we have Mount Everest in India? When I woke up in the morning I saw, etc. - Personal Interview: An interview, on the other hand is an assessment of individual personality. This assessment is very crucial and vital for an institution, which is going to offer careers to prospective candidates. It needs to know what exactly a candidate is, i.e., his/her disposition, attitude, interests, personality traits etc.
The written exam is a process of elimination. The interview, on the other hand, is a process of selection. A candidate’s propensity to respond positively in any given situation, his/her ability to rise to any occasion, clarity regarding career objective, are gauged.
Eg: A interview session at the IIMs. ( I can't bear your snoring!!! ).
CAT ( Common Admission Test ): CAT is conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management for selecting candidates for the IIMs. Some institutes accept the scores obtained in CAT for selection of candidates in their institute. CAT is generally held in the 3rd or 4th Sunday of the month of November every year.
XAT ( XLRI Admission Test ): XAT is conducted by the Xavier Labour Relations Institute
(XLRI ). The XAT scores are accepted by a score of other institutes. The exam is usually conducted in the first Sunday of every year. The online applications start in the month of September or October.
JMET ( Joint Management Entrance Test ): JMET is conducted by the IITs for selecting candidates for the management programmes in all the IITs and the IISc,Bangalore.
http://www.iitk.ac.in/gate/jmet/
ATMA ( AIMS Test for Management Admissions ): The Association of Indian Management Schools ( AIMS ) was formed in 1988 as a network of management schools in the country and it conducts this exam for admissions.
www.atma-aims.org/
GMAT ( Graduate Management Aptitude Test ): GMAT is conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council. The GMAT scores are used for applying to B Schools in the USA and the scores are used in a few Indian B schools too.
http://www.gmac.com/
MAT ( Management Aptitude Test ): All India Management Aptitude Testing Service
( AIMATS ), New Delhi conducts a Management Aptitude Test (MAT) on a national basis every year in the months of May, September and December. The Government of India has approved MAT as a National Entrance Test for admission to MBA and equivalent programmes. The exam is conducted by the All India Management Association.
www.aima-ind.org / http://www.aima-ind.org/aima/cms/Mat/matgeneral.htm
SNAP ( Symbiosis National Aptitude Test ): Symbiosis has taken a step to ease admission processes in its autonomous Symbiosis institutes. It conducts a single nationwide test. Symbiosis National Aptitude ( SNAP ) Test is a common written test for the admission processes of all Symbiosis autonomous postgraduate institutes. In the Symbiosis family, 7 members are autonomous postgraduate institutes:
Symbiosis Institute for Mass Communication ( SIMC), Symbiosis Institute of International Business
( SIIB ), Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies ( SIMS ), Symbiosis Centre for Management & Human Resource Development ( SCMHRD ), Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management ( SITM ), Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology ( SCIT ) and Symbiosis Institute of Geo-informatics
( SIG ).
http://www.snaptest.org/
Common Entrance Test ( CET ): Some states conduct their own common entrance tests to select candidates for the MBA programmes. For example the state of Maharashtra conducts one every year.
Generally all these exams test your Quantitative and Verbal ability. The sections are normally Quantitative Aptitude, Reading Comprehension, Verbal Reasoning, Analytical Reasoning, Logical Reasoning, Synonyms and Antonyms, Data Interpretation, Fill up the Blanks, Odd Man out, Sentence Completion, Analogy, etc.
Interviewer said "I shall either ask you ten easy questions or one really difficult question.
Think well before you make up your mind!" A boy thought for a while and said, "my choice is one really difficult question. "Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice! Now tell me this. "What comes first, Day or Night?"
The boy was jolted into reality as his admission depends on the correctness of his answer, but he thought for a while and said, "It's the DAY sir!"
"How" the interviewer asked.
"Sorry sir, you promised me that you will not ask me a SECOND difficult question!"
He was selected for IIM!
The above two selection procedures come at a later stage after you qualify in the written exam conducted by the particular institution. Certain institutes dispense with the Group Discussion Eg: IRMA,XLRI. Certain Institutes have additional methods of selection like Extempore ( FMS ),Mathematics Aptitude Test ( IIMC for PGP in Computer Management ), etc. The selection process depends upon the institute and the type of candidates it requires.
But the preparation should be a gradual one and it cannot be done in a week .It is done to assess your personality and a lot of other ,etc. Do not get scared. It is a simple one as long as you believe in you.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act but a habit".
Normally the admission procedure starts in the month of June and that’s when the ads start trickling in. The advertisements are for the programme that starts in June/July the next year .
How early you should start preparing depends to a large extent on your background. If you are good in Maths and have been an avid reader, a six month preparation has been found to be enough. All aspirants should develop an outgoing personality as high scorers with bookish personality are usually rejected, no matter how high marks they may have.
Coaching Centres
Coaching prospective candidates for various entrance examinations is a great money spinner. Management education is no exception. The decision of joining one is purely yours. They generally give you the preparatory material required and help you in cracking the exams in exchange for a few bucks. Some of the coaching centres or institutes are as follows:
IMS: http://imsindia.com/
Career launcher: www.careerlauncher.com
Career Forum: http://cflogic.com
TCY Learning Solutions Ltd.: http://www.tcyonline.com/index.htm
Brilliant tutorials: www.brilliant-tutorials.com
Books You can use
( The list is only indicative and not exhaustive... ) Just to fill up space in the web page!!!
- Word Power Made Easy - Norman Lewis. ( Costs around Rs.100 ).
- Puzzles to Puzzle you - Shakuntala Devi. ( Priced around Rs.60 ).
- Quantitative Aptitude - RS Agarwal.
- Any standard magazine will do. Eg: The Frontline.
- Any standard newspaper will do. Eg:The Hindu.
- Browse through just like that through any standard business daily or magazine.
- Read a lot of books...
There are a lot of books to suggest to you but i am afraid that the site will overflow with all that. The books listed above are the most basic ones for preparation.
"One is not limited by choice or technology, but only by the power of one's imagination; If you can dream it you can do it."
PS.
I do not know if the above information was useful to you. You might have come here with something or nothing in your mind. If the material was capable of inducing Rapid Eye Movement Sleep within 5 minutes then I have succeeded in my objective.
( http://www.sleepstudy.org/review/sleepstage.htm#REM intro ).
Drop in with your suggestions and whatever to this mail id : stevepoirot0317@yahoo.co.in stevepoirotin@gmail.com
Ok, Good bye and good luck .
Jeya Stephen (1996 batch)