The Praxis Business School Panel debates the role B-schools should play

Kolkata witnessed the top stratum of corporate leaders and honchos in town to discuss a smoldering concern that faces management education – ‘B-schools are reducing themselves to being glorified placement agencies’ at a Panel Discussion organized by Praxis Business School on the occasion of its convocation.

The illustrious panel comprised:

Mr. Santosh Desai, MD & CEO of Future Brands Limited, Mr. K. Dasaratharaman, President of Specialities Business, Spencer’s Retail, Mr. Shankar Chatterjee, Managing Director of Bertling Logistics, Dr. Prithwis Mukerjee, Faculty, VG-SOM, IIT KGP and Praxis.

The session was moderated by Prof. Charanpreet Singh, Associate Dean of Praxis. Santosh Desai, K. Dasaratharaman and Shankar Chatterjee are all members of the Board of Governors of Praxis.

Each speaker used his distinctive approach to analyze the topic. K.Dasaratharaman made a student-centric point about destination being important – but journey being the reward. He emphasized that it’s not about the choice of ‘or’ but the tyranny of ‘and’. The discussion focused on the need for the Business Schools to execute their prime responsibility – imparting of good quality and relevant education –along with facilitating career opportunities. The trend is to measure the success of a B-school by its published placement record and the nature of the assurances it makes to the student community in this regard.

Mr. Shankar Chatterjee felt that it’s becoming increasingly important to question the business of a business school. He also felt that students today focus more on what they would get from the business and not what they can contribute to it. While there is an ever-increasing focus on immediate ROI, somewhere the fundamental function of a B-school is losing its importance.

In this context, Prof. Prithwis Mukherjee raised questions on the value addition that happens at B-Schools that themselves lack in initiatives like research –which, in his opinion, is imperative to development. He felt that the entire breed of students is reared with the purpose to mechanically follow and not create for others to follow, which is what a B-school should be encouraging.

The last speaker, Mr. Santosh Desai said that business is an amorphous body and it can’t be reduced to a model that succeeds with a certain set formulae. The industry itself does not have a homogeneous, well-recognized need, so it’s difficult for a B-school to cater accurately to it. Industry needs B-schools to act as amplifiers of unheard whispers of the customer rather than mere resource allocators. He also felt that the education system should allow the students to unleash their creativity and generate new ideas instead of pressuring them to succumb to conformity making them ‘well paid vegetables’.

The though provoking discussion was followed by a fiery round of Q&A where various questions ranging from reasons for recruiter’s being risk averse to the impact of Kapil Sibal’s proposals were raised and the panelists addressed them with elan.

As a response to a question, Mr. Santosh Desai very beautifully surmised that education system was one of the greatest social experiments.  A huge part of a person’s life is dedicated to the cause of education. One must appreciate this opportunity and prepare himself well at this stage so that he can reap its benefits for life.

The moderator, Prof Charanpreet Singh, played his part in keeping the discussion interesting and engaging.

Prof S. Govindrajan, the Dean of Praxis Business School, is an alumnus of IIM A    (1984). He worked for 6 years in the industry and embarked on a distinguished career in academics when   he joined XIM Bhubaneswar. He is a celebrated professor of marketing at Praxis and also at IIM Lucknow, IIM    Shillong, XLRI and XIM B.

Q: It is good to see a residential B-School of the quality of Praxis in Kolkata. What was the thought behind choosing Kolkata as the location? And why a residential B-School?

A: Kolkata has traditionally been an important educational hub. However, it does not have a high quality residential B-School other than IIM C. As a result, students from the east have had to migrate for education. Hence we chose Kolkata.

Almost all the faculty at Praxis is drawn from the IITS/IIMs/XLRI and are visiting faculty at leading B-Schools such as IIM, Lucknow, IIM Shillong, University of Iowa, XLRI and XIM – all residential educational institutions. Based on their own experiences (as students as well as teachers), the faculty strongly felt that a large part of the learning happens outside the classroom (in the hostel, canteen, common room and the mess). More so when you have a demographically diverse batch (which Praxis does). This is why Praxis Business School is a residential B-School – and compulsorily so.

Q: Praxis is a comparatively new B-School that has quickly become a significant name in the management education domain. How did you achieve this positioning in such a short time?

A:  Good positioning emerges out of a consistent focus on quality in all processes of the value chain. The three most important aspects of an educational institution are: (a) the quality of students who are admitted (b) the quality of education imparted and (c) the ecosystem in which this education is delivered, as that is where the soft skills are acquired and internalized.

The intake of students is through CAT/XAT/GMAT as the written test. Thereafter, selection is based on the academic career, quality of work experience and performance in the Group Discussion and Personal Interviews. Praxis encourages diversity and past students have included a nationally ranked Table Tennis player, a Go Karting champion and a Greenpeace activist.

The faculty is drawn from leading B-Schools and all have performed with distinction in the Corporate Sector. The academic and corporate pedigree of the faculty ensures that they are constantly innovating with the curriculum and pedagogy to ensure that it is contemporary.

The ecosystem at Praxis is based on the three pillars of honesty, transparency and teamwork. This manifests itself in all our processes – from the data given in the website, as well as all external and internal communication. We pride ourselves on the fact that there is no difference between our internal and external communication.

When the processes are strong, the outcome – Placement – emerges as a natural fallout. Because at Praxis we believe that Placement is the effect and not the cause of a strong branding process.

Q: You speak of innovation. Can you give us an example?

A:  One innovation which embodies the honesty, transparency and teamwork at Praxis is what we call kk – or Kollaborative Klassroom (www.kk.praxis.ac.in). This is a website – and the fulcrum around which all academic, extra curricular and co-curricular activities of Praxis revolve. Students have individual pages – much like social networking sites. All reading material, lesson plans, project submissions etc. are uploaded on this website. All communication on co-curricular and extra-curricular activity is also discussed here. Most parts are accessible to everybody (and that includes people outside Praxis). Hence, when a student uploads a project report, he/she is aware that his batchmates (and indeed the whole world can see it). And the faculty evaluating it knows that the evaluation has to be fair – as all reports are there for everyone to see.

Students upload material which they feel is important for other students. Faculty members are free to add material to those given by other faculty. This fosters a sense of sharing and teamwork. It also gives them an appreciation of the fact that in today’s world access to information is not the differentiator. The differentiator is how you convert that information into knowledge.

The other innovation embodies the contemporariness of the curriculum. Faculty members at Praxis strongly feel that it is important to teach what the Industry wants – not what the faculty knows. Hence, we chose two areas where we felt the curriculum needed to be co-designed and co-delivered with the industry. One of these areas was Treasury & Risk – where Praxis faculty partnered the L&D team at ICICI Bank to co-design a curriculum. This was subsequently co-delivered by resource persons from ICICI Bank, UBS and Axis Bank. The second was Retail where the curriculum emerged out of a workshop with senior personnel from Spencer’s, RPG Specialty Retail, Starmark, Steel Junction with inputs from Titan Industries. This curriculum has been co-delivered by resource persons from the same organizations.

Q: Most students link the quality of an institute with its placement record. How has Praxis fared on this criterion?

A: The first Batch graduated in 2009 and 43 of the 44 students seeking placement were placed. The average package was Rs. 4.19 lakhs and we had some high quality companies across various sectors – Consulting, IT, Commercial Banking, Investment Banking, Logistics, Consumer as well as Industrial products. The profiles included Brand Management, Business Analysts, Treasury Management, Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Sales & Marketing, Corporate Finance and Project Management.

Q: That seems quite an impressive profile for a First Batch. Any particular reasons?

A: The above represents the end result. It wasn’t easy getting there, given the state of the economy. It took time. And a lot of effort!

There are two reasons for this: (a) everything we do at Praxis is in alignment with our mission – to create industry-ready professionals – and this has been outlined above and (b) the tagline for our students, which is “celebrate your worth”.

The high quality and industry partnered curriculum described above is delivered with great emphasis on academic discipline and rigour. To give you an example – a deadline at Praxis is described as “you are dead if you cross the line”. All this is delivered in an ecosystem that encourages sharing and teamwork – as described above. The curriculum tests understanding and conversion of data into knowledge rather than application of rote. Hence, most examinations at Praxis are open book examinations. As a result, companies which visit Praxis find students “ready” to take on the challenges.

Given the fact that a contemporary curriculum is being delivered by high caliber faculty with an enabling ecosystem supporting it, we expect the best for our students. New B-Schools are inundated with offers from companies which essentially give jobs which can be done by an ordinary graduate. We were patient and waited for profiles which would justice to the skills, knowledge and attitude we have imparted in our students. Given the recessionary conditions, this was not easy and it took us longer to place our students. There were instances where companies who had made offers backed out (this practice was rampant across campuses). Even in such cases, Praxis ensured that we got the student another offer. Because we wanted to tell the student – we have equipped you with the tools to “celebrate your worth”.

Q: In most of its communication, Praxis talks about its faculty. We would want to know more about the faculty team at Praxis.

A: Most of our communication is about faculty is because it is the fountainhead causing change in an academic institution. More importantly, we are proud of our Faculty!

The faculty team at Praxis mirrors the positioning of industry readiness. The team comprises of people with impeccable academic pedigree (IIT/IIM/NITIE/XLRI/University of Dallas/Iowa). This academic pedigree was followed up by commendable stints in their corporate careers (in companies like HP/IBM/PwC/CTS/Tata Motors/Tata Steel/JP Morgan).

More importantly, these people took up teaching by choice because they felt they could make a difference.  The fact that our faculty team is also visiting faculty at IIM – Lucknow, IIM – Shillong, XLRI Jamshedpur and XIM Bhubaneswar gives a sense of the quality and passion they bring into teaching.

The core faculty described above is backed up by visiting faculty of equal (if not better!) pedigree. Praxis has full courses or modules taught by visiting faculty who had worked/are working in HP, IBM, PwC, Spencers, ICICI, UBS, RPG Specialty Retail and Tata Steel. These faculty members are again with strong academic credentials, for whom teaching is a passion.

Q: When you look back at your 3 year journey with Praxis, is there something you single out as your most fulfilling achievement?

A: Today, students are spoilt for choice as there are a large number of B-Schools to choose from. As a result, there is always a factor of dissonance after a student has joined a B-School (as the other B-School he/she had the option to join can look better). It’s a source of great pride for me that our students freely tell us that joining Praxis was the best decision they have taken in their lives. Visitors to our campus (recruiters, students from other B-Schools, faculty from other B-Schools) always remark that Praxis students are a very “happy bunch”. Nothing can give me and the team at Praxis more satisfaction. As it is the best vindication of the fact that we are doing the right things. And doing it well.

1. What are the things an MBA student can expect from the curriculum?

Good question, especially since most students expect a job from the curriculum – they seem to forget that the 2-years can add a lot of value to them. A good business school would ensure that the student gets a strong grounding in fundamentals. In addition, the program would be designed to increase the student’s capacity to think and to integrate the learning in the different functional areas. And finally, the student should be able to learn to work in teams and apply what he has learnt to business situations.

2. How is your curriculum different from what other institutes have to offer?

I have already articulated the kind of value a good business school should add to a student. So it’s more about understanding what a business school needs to impart and then going ahead and ensuring that you impart it well. The keys to this are the quality of the faculty and the extent of industry interface the school is able to build. I believe that Praxis is able to differentiate itself from most B-schools on both these parameters – we are lucky to have a team of very high pedigree faculty and we collaborate actively with the industry in curriculum design and delivery. The fact that we are a residential, 24*7 wi-fi campus ensures that the curriculum is delivered anytime, anywhere and there is an enormous amount of collaboration among the different stakeholders of Praxis.

3. How important is it to acquire an academic qualification to sharpen managerial skills?

An MBA program is more about perspective than about knowledge and skills. While there are definite additions to knowledge, the real advancement comes in perspective. The qualification is thus important as it enhances the individual’s ability to look at business from a holistic viewpoint. The other important value-addition comes from the rich interaction with a vibrant student community and a strong faculty team.

4 . Does a qualification in management teach anything that pure experience can’t?

As they say, there’s no substitute for experience. The time spent in acquiring a qualification in management from a good institute is also part of that experience – a good B-school would create simulations of real life business situations and impart the necessary theoretical training to enable a student to understand and address these situations. I would expect a business school graduate to compress the on-the-job learning curve substantially – and to be more proactive in the way he/ she runs a business.

5. What soft skills should a good manager have in these days?

Praxis believes that the one attribute common to all successful managers is their soft-skill proficiency – their ability to communicate, handle themselves at work and relate with people within and outside the organization they work for. From listening and communicating clearly to showing empathy and optimism to extreme self-awareness to knowing what’s going on around them, these vital competencies are an integral part of a progressive manager. Managers need to improve their listening, speaking and presentation skills and have the ability to conduct themselves in formal, boardroom-like of situations, without losing sight of the virtues of empathy and team-work.

Charanpreet Singh

Associate Dean, Praxis Business School

You are welcome to contact me at charanpreet@praxis.ac.in