Business schools make merry in economic slowdown

The Indian economy has run into rough weather. B-schools, however, are not feeling the pinch, since companies are increasingly sending mid- and senior-level executives to management schools for skill enhancement programmes in a bid to increase productivity and motivate employees.

B-schools have seen an increase of 25-30 per cent in their revenues as more students take up the Management Development Programmes (MDPs) this year.

JK Organisation’s eastern division plans to send around 275 mid-level executives for training to IIM-Bangalore for these short-term MDPs. It plans to spend around Rs 4 crore on corporate training over the next two years. National Thermal Power Corporation will be sending 350 executives to B-schools against 250 last year.

GK Agarwal, executive director, human resources and Power Management Institute, National Thermal Power Corporation, says: “Training and development during a slowdown becomes even more important as an organisation needs to multiply its efforts and produce better results.”

The programmes include courses like ‘Case-Based Turnaround Management’, ‘Personality Development’, ‘Resilience Programmes’, ‘Entrepreneurial Development’, ‘Managing People’ and ‘How To Avoid Another Slowdown’.

Deepak Chandra, associate dean, Centre for Executive Education, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, says: “When the markets are down, there is a need to acquire skills. This helps companies in their talent management strategy.”

Among IT firms, the bottom line is affected the most while the mid-management gets a hit in the realty, manufacturing, automobile, investment banking, insurance and brokerage businesses.

Prakash Bhide, president, corporate human resources, JK Organisation (eastern zone), says: “Sending executives for training helps in keeping them motivated. Productivity levels are also maintained. It’s a good investment even when the market is bad.”

Ganesh Shermon, partner and head, people and change solutions (Human Capital Advisory Services), KPMG, says: “Re-skilling will definitely go up during the current economic trend. Organisations will use B-schools to polish skills of their employees.”