India Abroad - June 2009

Idecided to take up an MBA degree a year ago, to gain insight into business man- agement skills. After doing my bachelors in engineer-
ing, I worked in the information
technology industry for over three
years. My work experience gave
me good IT technical and product
knowledge. It was a very exciting
and rewarding experience. At that
stage in my career, I wanted to
move to the management position
within the IT services industry
and in the next 10 years, I wanted
to see myself in an executive role
making key decisions for the com-
pany. I did not see myself develop-
ing the required skills and per-
spective for such a career progres-
sion without a
business education.
More than a year
into my MBA pro-
gram, I have gained
presentation- and
decision-making skills. I could not
have gained these skills necessary
for my career progression other-
wise.
The current economical crisis is a
difficult time for everyone. The job
market is dull and depressing and
finding employment is very challeng-
ing. Many of the companies have
frozen recruitments and those recruit-
ing have reduced the number signifi-
cantly. With increased employee lay-
offs, fresh MBA graduates have to
compete with many experienced pro-
fessionals who have lost their jobs.
With the reduced job prospects and
difficulty in getting loans, the number
of admissions for MBA programs has
come down. So, the lure of MBA has
declined. But MBA still is a valued
qualification. There could be a short-
term decrease in MBA prospects but
when long-term career development is
considered, an MBA degree will still
add value. It empowers the individuals
with the skills and knowledge necessary
for the business world, especially for
those who are not from a business back-
ground.
UMA DOMA

A CLEAR
DISTINCTION
NEEDS TO BE MADE
BETWEEN LEGAL
AND
ETHICAL
DECISIONS. ALL
THAT IS LEGAL NEED
NOT BE ETHICAL
situation as an opportunity to better pre-
pare future MBAs to face such economic
crises. The MBA curriculum can focus
more on the financial risk management
concepts in a global perspective. This
will help future financial profes-
sionals to understand the deci-
sions leading to such economic
crises and avoid making such
decisions. Also, there is a need to
focus more on business ethics in
the curriculum. Students should
be able to understand and apply
ethics once they are in the real
world. A clear distinction needs to
be made between legal and ethical
decisions. All that is legal need
not be ethical. This will encourage
the students to reconsider the
ethical questions involved in
financial sales and understand the
fact that it is important to be
socially responsible while keeping
shareholders’ interest as the
focus.