Management Education in India: Avoiding the Simulacra Effect
About 10 years ago, I reflected on the challenges of management education in India and argued that there was a need to protect it from the damaging effects of rankings by media (Ojha in Decision 32(2):19–33, 2005 ). A request to revisit and update the pap
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Abstract About 10 years ago, I reflected on the challenges of management education in India and argued that there was a need to protect it from the damaging effects of rankings by media (Ojha in Decision 32(2):19–33, 2005). A request to revisit and update the paper provided me a chance to examine the developments in the last decade to assess how things had evolved, and also an opportunity to anticipate some of the problems that the field might have to face in the future. I have chosen to examine the impact of accreditations of prominent management institutes in India, including the Indian Institutes of Management, by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) on management education in India. Continuing the spirit of my earlier reflections, I caution the leadership teams in management institutes to guard against losing control over the agenda and relevance of management education for India as they pursue global aspirations. Drawing on Baudrillard (Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1994), I argue that unless management educators are alert to the long-term implications of externally driven accreditations there is a real danger that management education in India may be reduced to “Simulacra” that has no relevance to the issues and problems of our society, even as attempts to mimic management education in the USA may lead to an elusive mirage. Finally, as I did a decade ago, I appeal to the prominent management institutes, including the IIMs, to work together to develop and protect management education that is relevant to India. Keywords Management education
India Simulacra IIM AACSB
A.K. Ojha (&) Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bangalore, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017 M. Thakur and R.R. Babu (eds.), Management Education in India, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-1696-7_4
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Introduction I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.1 Though we are politically free, we are barely free from the subtle domination of the West… It is to be hoped that no one contends that, because we seem to be politically free from foreign domination, the mere fact gives us freedom from the more subtle influence of the foreign language and foreign thought.2
The two quotes from the writings of Mahatma Gandhi capture the dilemma faced by members of a society that are willing to accept external influences to improve, but at the same time are worried that in the process there might also be a loss of all that is unique, special and dear. It reflects an anxiety that unthinking adoption of norms and practices from other societies may hurt the aspirations and identities of its members and ultimately destroy the society. The spirit of these quotes resonate with my emotions as I try to understand the impact of accreditation of management institutes in Ind
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