Executive MBA Programs

Posts Tagged ‘Ethics’

MBA is one of the most prestigious degrees due to the value it adds to people in administration and business. This degree holds special significance for those serving in managerial and executive positions.

Although almost every country has institutions that offer MBA programs, an MBA degree from a US institution is given special status. This becomes even more evident if a student has pursued a course from Colorado MBA programs. That is the reason why many students from different countries come to the U.S to pursue a degree in MBA.

MBA stands for Masters of Business Administration. It is a course in business communication and is pursued after graduation. An MBA program comes along with the following benefits:

1. Business Awareness

An MBA program will provide you with precious knowledge concerning businesses and make you familiar with every aspect of it. A student undergoes a mandatory training and internship which exposes him to business strategies and concepts in the real lie and not just on paper.

2. Leadership Skills

This degree equips a student with the abilities to handle real-life business situations. The constant focus of an MBA degree revolves around assignments, training, reports, group projects and presentations which inculcate leadership skills.

3. Networking

Most MBA students are of the view that their interaction with fellow MBA students and the association they created was one of the most valuable take aways from the program. These associations are deemed as invaluable and are looked upon even years after completing the course.

The Importance of Ethics

Ethics form the core of every business practice. It therefore becomes essential to choose an institution with high values and constant focus on teaching ethics. Before applying, it is a good idea to research about the institution and the prevailing teaching ethics. Some of the ethics that a student should look out for are:

1. Knowledgeable Staff

A teacher, especially the one concerned with an MBA program should have high knowledge about the subject matter and should always make certain that the current curriculum is relevant, up-to-date and in accordance with the demands of the course

2. Teaching Competence

A teacher should convey the objectives of the course to the students and should be aware of different strategies and methods of teaching. He should be able to clearly define the method best suited for a student or the subject involved.

3. Development of the Students

The primary responsibility of a teacher is to contribute towards the intellectual development of a student. The teacher should make sure that the student understands his subject and is gaining command over it.

4. Total Confidentiality

Attendance records, Grades and other private communications are kept confidential and are released only after the consent of the concerned student. They are released only for purposes which are legitimate in the eyes of the student and governing body.

5. Peer Respect

A good institution would always foster a feeling of mutual respect among students. This is necessary for building the social skills of the students. It also promotes a healthy environment which is suitable for studying.

Value of MBA

Even though an MBA degree is much sought after, it value is in accordance with the reputation of the concerned institution. Pursuing a course from a revered institution is most likely to fetch a student his dream job and career as compared to a lower ranked one. The US, especially the Colorado region has many colleges which offer MBA programs. Most of the colorado MBA programs are a unanimous choice among students as one of the best programs offering comprehensive knowledge in business administration and more.

“We don’t need no education”, sang pop-star Pink Floyd way back in the 70’s in the famous super hit album, “The Wall”. While this may sound all right for idealistic rebels, it certainly does not apply to the current education scenario.

According to the estimation, the combined market capitalization of listed private education companies in India is about US$ 40 bn market with a potential of 16% five-year CAGR. Other meaningful and fast-growing areas include vocational training at US$ 1.4 bn.

With respect to the research topic “ Innovative pedagogy in education”, I now explore the same in the B-school context.

Definitions of ‘innovative pedagogy’ and ‘curriculum’

The term ‘curriculum’ has various meanings. In relation to the term ‘qualification’, the best definition is: a document that relates to the desired implementation of an entire educational programme, leading to a diploma. The document always contains descriptions of the following: objectives – contents – educational structure – assessment/evaluation. The extent of detail can vary. The development of a curriculum is a matter for the individual B-schools within the legal frameworks as laid down in the constitution.

The term ‘innovation’ is also ambiguous: innovation as something totally new (never experienced before); because it is new to the users. Since the beginning of the decade a distinction has been made within B-school education between three renewal strategies linked to the method of financing and the character of ‘an alternative approach’:

(1) Basic strategy: involves the changes that are made to keep management education up to date and to make it attractive and more effective; ‘daily’ innovation is financed from the normal budget.

(2) Breadth strategy: implementing new working methods that have already been tested elsewhere; make locally applicable and specialist rather than just adopting innovations. Extra means have been earmarked for every institute of B-school education.

(3) Depth strategy: involves two different innovations: (a) something completely new and/or (b) something new for which the regulations can/may be set aside, and which will involve temporary additional project financing over several years, for which a critical assessment of the innovative idea will take place in advance. Only those ideas with truly innovative potential can be elaborated on in the project proposal that will be submitted for further approval.

NIIT initiatives:

NIIT has already implemented some new innovative pedagogy for educating professionals. Some of them are following:

Institute of finance, banking and insurance (IFBI):

IFBI addresses the manpower needs of financial-services space in India, where at least two million new jobs are likely to be created between now and 2012. IFBI started in september2006 and offers a postgraduate diploma in banking operations to all graduates which includes an internship and placement alliance with ICICI bank and other private and PSBs.

Evolv:

NIIT acquired English-training Company Evolv in January 2008. Evolv has a repository of 50 courses to improve soft-skills. Evolv is a communication and service delivery-based consulting, auditing and training company. The training methodology goes far beyond the classroom – it includes rigorous on-the-job monitoring, mentoring, refreshing knowledge and periodic assessments. Evolv as a Human Resource consultant is increasingly gaining involvement in their clients recruitment/selection drive as well as in the curriculum design phase.

Imperia:

Imperia provide management education for organizations and working professionals. Some of India’s leading B-schools such as IIM A and IIM C are partners and these conduct live classroom sessions for Imperia students. NIIT Imperia Centre for Advanced Learning has been specially created to provide quality management education and customized learning solutions for organizations and working professionals. Today’s professionals need to continuously build their domain-specific and managerial credentials to perform better at work and move up the growth curve. To help meet these needs, NIIT Imperia offers Executive Management Programs from the most prestigious institutions in the country.

Business school students may need training in ethics and moral reasoning more than most other students. Research found that students in business school ranked lower in moral reasoning than students in philosophy and medicine. A study of top business schools in the United States that found business school education not only fails to improve the moral character of students, but potentially weakens it. Business ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability have arguably become more important to both the business world and business schools in recent years. The Masters of Business Administration program is regarded as the premier business qualification for practicing managers with career aspirations. It would seem logical that MBA programs would address the topics of Business ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in a clear and strategic fashion.