REVIEW
 

5.1 Overall

In general, the IIM's have done well and have played a leadership role in promoting management education throughout the country. Almost every University has a School of Business Management and many private institutions dealing with business or international management have sprung up. It is estimated that about 450 institutions of management training have been established in the country. An All India Board of Management Education has also been set up to provide norms and standards to cope with this mushroom growth. The IIMs have provided special teacher training programmed and have set up a Fellow Programme for training the new generation of management teachers.

Upto 1991, IIMA had produced 3,666 PGPs, IIMC - about 2,800, IIMB - 1,431 and IIML - 217 - a total of over 8,000 management graduates. IIMA had conducted over 450 MDPs, IIMC and IIMB over 250 each, and IIML nearly 30. IIMB and IIMC head each conducted over 200 incompany programmes. In addition to the two-year PGP, IIMC has a two-year non- residential certificate programme in general management since 1981. Over 300 managers' have successfully completed this programme upto 1991. The Institutes have shared the teaching materials developed with other institutions. The IIM's have also undertaken special programmes for government officials, either as part of their own management development programmes, or in collaboration with other institutions, such as the Lal Bahadur Shastri. Academy of Adminis- tration, Mussorie, or the Management Development Institute, New Delhi. In general, they have fulfilled a role of responsibility and shared their knowledge and skills in assisting other institutions to improve their quality and standards in management education.

In general, the quality of education at the IIMs have an international reputation. Also because they attract the very best talent in the country, in an economy where jobs are difficult to find, the graduates and 'Fellows' of IIMs have an easy access to good Jobs'. In general, the students have done well in their careers.

All the Institutes of Management in varying degrees find themselves under considerable pressure to provide for the many demands made on them for research and consulting advice on a wide spectrum of national problems, probably much more than they can competently and reasonably handle.

The Review Committee does not wish to convey that all the IIMs are doing equally well or that there is no scope for improvement. There are significant differences. Some IIM's are doing better than others, but in general, it can be said that the Institutes of Management have done well especially in terms of the mission given to them, that is, providing young managers for business, commerce and industry. Management education and training can also be for young entrepreneurs but the IIMs have not catered significantly to this group. The Review Committee was aware of a good deal of scepticism about the extent that IIMs had served Indian industry, particularly Indian capital. In some ways the Committee felt that the

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scepticism was not entirely unfounded. If IIMs did not depend on public funds for their subsistence, some of the force of this criticism would disappear.

The Review Committee was critical of the fact that the IIMs have not plaid sufficient attention to developing teaching material relevant to the Indian scene. IIM-A which had a commitment to developing contextually relevant case material as a medium of teaching has also slackened its efforts over the years. Research too seemed in many cases, to be donor driven. What is required for a better understanding of managerial needs in India was research that could provide for conceptualisation and systematic search for superior practices in the Indian context. In general, the IIMs have been better at multidisciplinary teaching than multidisciplinary research. The Review Committee felt that a strategy to encourage and reward the development of teaching materials, and a policy related to excellence in research and consultancy integrated with teaching needs to be spelt Out by the different IIMs.

5.2 Public Policy and Management Efforts

Although the primary mission of the IIMs was to serve commerce and industry as mentioned in their memoranda, all these Institutes in varying degrees were concerned with strengthening some selected under- managed sector - education, health and population, agriculture, rural development, urban development, transport, energy, etc. The strategies followed and experiences gained in each case are discussed below:

5.2.1 IIM-A:

In IIM-A, as early as 1963, the Institute established a core group to conduct research in agriculture related subjects. This core group later became the Centre for Management in Agriculture (CMA). It has a faculty of 24 and 18 research staff. The research efforts of CMA cover agriculture credit, animal husbandry, rural electrification, fisheries, poultry, forestry, rural health and nutrition. The CMA has also attempted to deal with the government/cooperative sector. In general, the focus is on research and policy related analysis. CMA also provides a specialisation package to PGP students in the second year seeking specialisation in agriculture management.

The CMA also offers training programmes for Officials in development projects in agriculture, dairying, irrigation, and other related activities. They have also provided training programmes for managers in handlooms, and are preparing short-term training for development officers in irrigation and fisheries. At the request of the National Wastelands Development Board, CMA established a core group of eight faculty to study management problems related to social forestry, and helped Government of India in establishing the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), in Bhopal. Over the last 30 years, CMA has published 150 research monographs and 700 case studies.

Another effort at IIM-A is the establishing of a Public Systems Group (PSG) in 1975. The Public Systems Group unlike the CMA consists of dual membership, with one foot in the PGP, and the other foot in PSG. The PSG is the Institute's focal point for research and training relating to government and public systems, and NIGO's. Major areas which PSG members are involved in are health and population education, energy, transportation, and urban studies.

The focus and identity of this group was riot clear to the Review Committee. It seems as if the faculty uses this base for donor supported research projects, which in general cannot be integrated with either CMA or PGP programmes. The tradition of researchers searching for a base to serve their individual research interests is probably what the PSG contributes.

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5.2.2 IIM-B:

IIM-B introduced in its two year PGP, sectoral courses in education, energy, transportation, environment and agriculture besides functional courses. in management, such as finance, accounting, marketing, labour relations, production etc. The students, after graduation, were expected to take only public sector or sectoral jobs. To serve the public sector, IIM-B initially allowed only public sector enterprises facilities for campus recruitment of their students.

The integration of functional and sectoral courses format, however, has not worked out well. There are too many diverse streams and the programme suffers from lack of depth, Neither the public sector, nor enterprises in education, energy, transportation, etc were willing to hire young management graduates emerging from the PGP. Support and opportunities in career development in the public sector were inadequate. After a few years, pressures from the students forced the Institute to open its placement facilities to the private sector also.

The IIM-B also tried to launch a one-year education programme in energy management, but the response from Electricity Boards turned out to be very, low. Even in nominating their officers for short duration MDPs, the Electricity Boards were reluctant and had problems. And yet the need for better management in energy, especially Electricity Boards is critical and has often been highlighted for attention of IIMs. Transforming need into a demand is a complex problem and not entirely in the domain of an educational institution.

The faculty identified several problems in relation to the Institute's policy to serve primarily the public sector. Besides the problem of Developing an integrated curriculum, the Institute's faculty and students pointed out that although there is a need for good management in these sectors, there is no demand for its PGPs, or even MDPs from these sectors. They had to shift the focus of their PGP and student placement to sector.; that were more open and attrac- tive in terms of career development.

5.2.3 IIM-C:

The IIM-C has organised its research activities, workshops and short-term training programmes through its Centre for Management Development Studies (CMDS). This Centre plays a coordinating role for sponsored research, and, has three other Centres within it, namely, Centre for Rural Development Management Programmes, Centre for Studies in the Public Enterprise Management and Centre for Project Management.

The Centre for Rural Development Management Programmes has produced two volumes of a Directory of Organisations in Rural Development and two volumes of selected bibliography on Rural Development Management. It has also conducted short-term training programmes of one-week's duration for NGO's and has research proposals on health, rural poverty, and distance learning. These are projects sponsored by State governments as well as by foreign donors.

The Centre for Rural Development like the Public Systems group in IIM-A, is a base of a few faculty members interested in rural development. It does not leave a systematic or a sustained programme of research or teaching in this area.

The Centres at IIM-C are not formal initiatives with several faculty engaged full-time in training, research and field work in the chosen areas. They are coordinating agencies for faculty engaged in multiple and diverse activities, The activity levels vary widely with changes in faculty and the nature of finding.

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5.2.4 IIM-Lucknow:

IIM-L has identified the following thrust areas in socially relevant activities, namely, Entrepreneurship, Health Management and Rural Development. These areas seem to have largely emerged from sponsored research, consulting projects and interest of faculty. Examples of projects undertaken are Techniques of Hand-made Paper, Evaluation of Technical Training Schemes in Rural Areas, Study of Sickness in Small Scale Industries, etc. These projects were undertaken as sponsored research or consultancy.

Existing faculty of PGP are subdivided and identified as part of a given thrust area. It is not clear what is the time commitment of faculty to their given thrust areas, and on what basis they were selected and evaluated for their performance in the selected sector.

All IIM-L's Management Development Programmes are in the corporation sector, and are of only one week's duration. It is open to question as to whether these short term programmes could be given the status of management development programmes. There are no MDPs so far for the selected socially under-managed sectors.

5.2.5 Sum up:

It is seen that the Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad and Bangalore with different strategies tried to deal with public policy and management aspects, especially the under-managed sectors. Both Institutes introduced differing measures to train students in the PGP and 'managers' through their management development programmes in the selected sectors with varying degrees of success. The IIM-C has shown some interest in Rural Development, but the training of students is almost nil and of manager very limited. And in IIM-L although the Institute has expressed interest in several public management areas, the programme of work is limited to sponsored projects and consultancy.

It is clear from the Review that if socially relevant sectors are to be served, by the IIMs, it cannot be done in a 'laizze faire' manner, leaving it to the interest of individual faculty or donor driven research or available consultancies. The Institute must provide central leadership, develop a strategic plan for a programme in public management, recruit faculty especially trained in the relevant area of specialisation, and have a faculty size which is viable. Except for the CMA effort in IIM-A which also requires substantial streamlining and strategic choices formoving towards excellence, the efforts of IIMs in the public policy and public management area have been too diverse, too fragmented and faculty- centred. Some suggestions for strengthening the public management programmes in IIMs are in the next section. It is clear that a major overhaul and restructuring would be necessary if a serious effort in public management is to be pursued.