What is missing in Management Education - I ?

  Thanks to my company's sponsorship , I have undergone few management development programs ( MDP )at premier institutions like MDI Gurgaon etc. In the present week , I am undergoing a week long MDP called Transformational Management alongwith 22  colleagues at Hotel Fortune ,near Chhatarpur Temple in New Delhi , being conducted by International Management Institute , New Delhi.

    On the inaugural day, we had the priviledge of attending two  sessions conducted by  Dr. Pritam Singh , the Director General of IMI  and a renowned management guru of international stature.

   Based on my 23 years experience in Power sector after doing my engineering graduation , I have found  that there is a gross disconnect between the management education preached in the airconditioned controlled environment and the real war like situation  at site , where all this education is supposed to be practiced.

   So , when I raised this issue with Dr. Pritam Singh during tea-break , he immediately responded that it was true with any other education also, say engineering. He said that unless any training is practiced, it would not deliver. 

    To this point I retorted that engineering or technology deals with machines , whose behaviour is well established irrespective of its managers and handlers. For example , an electrical equipment does not change its behaviour for an electrical engineer or a layman and it is basically a linear system responding to a certain set of rules. So, a burnt transformer has to be repaired as per procedure and even a Prime Minister's instruction or presence cannot make it work.

   My point was that , it is easier to handle machines than human beings ( the most complicated and non-linear machine in this world). Unfortunately, in case of machines , there is no dichotomy in theory and practice. An electrical motor works everywhere  on the earth in the same fashion and as per theory written in the electrical engg. book.

    That is why, I always thought that something serious is missing in delivery of modern management education.