ORGANIZATIONAL WORK-CULTURE AND EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF UNIVERSITIES

- Virender Kumar
-.-.-
The successful management of Universities and similar academic institutions requires a detailed planning, timely and appropriate decision making and skillful coordination of activities. The organizational structure of the institution, the model of governance it follows, and the work culture is the determinative factors in the successful management of academic institutions including Universities. An efficient management system, good inter-personal relationship and financial stability are pre-requisites. Broadly speaking, the term management of University per se is the art of guiding actions and controlling situations in a manner that yields results that best meet the objectives of the Universities. The manager tries to improve situations which are seen to be problematical – or at least less than perfect – and the job is never done … because as the situation develops new aspects calling for attention emerge, and yesterday’s solution may be seen as today’s problems.

The effective managerial performance depends upon the successful interplay of a number of factors including the personal competence (in terms of skills, knowledge and aptitude) of the Chief-Executive and his senior colleagues and the existence of a stable institutional frame-work in the form of policies, rules, guidelines, conventions and information. This can be enhanced by provision of opportunities and extension of support of subordinate.

The leadership provided to the University administration is a crucial factor in its management. The Executives Including the Chief-Executive needs to have, among other things, a clear perspective about the goals and objectives of the University, a yearning for success along with the willingness to accept set-backs, a confidence in colleagues and subordinates but not over dependence on them, equanimity coupled with a sensitivity to the feelings of co-workers and understanding of strengths and weaknesses of the University system, full knowledge of the functioning of all sections and units in the University, the capability of having a holistic over-view, the ability to take timely (sometimes un-pleasant) decisions and appreciation of the need to change and with it the willingness to adopt new and innovative strategies, a commitment towards quality and finally the ability to listen patiently and communicate effectively. The Chief-Executive has to be not only a leader but also a motivator, coordinator and facilitator.
_______________________________________________________________________
• Joint Controller of Examinations, Panjab University, Chandigarh.


“For the betterment of any institute of higher level good work culture is needed which enhances healthy quality, quantity, Productivity, values of hard work, success and performance etc.”

Good Work Culture-
- ensures utilization of resources effectively;
- proper work environment and workers development; and
- is essential for development of organizational work, Human values, Ethics, Skills, Education and Intellectual pursuits which enhances reputation, goodwill and image of the organization. This in turns improves the working, total perfection and specialization in the field of operation of the organization.

India is known for cultural diversity on account of variety of factors that affect attitudes towards taught and the beneficiaries of the society, define vertical and lateral interaction patterns within the institutions of higher education and incorporate concerns of various ethnic and pressure groups. Viewed in this context, it is imperative that institutions of higher education in India consciously develop a culture of excellence for their survivors and sustained growth in an increasingly turbulent and boundary-less global economic order, competitive as a result oriented research beneficial to the Indian Society free from clenches from the Western Developed World. Cultural reorganization will necessitate a paradigmatic shift in the basic assumptions governing the response pattern of the Indian organizations of higher learning. The focus in the direction of such a shift at individual and collective levels in the organizations of higher education of India will thus need to be identified and articulated free from various older pressure groups who are fully under the influence of western developed world.

Work Culture in Indian organization has assumed a far greater significance in the context or emerging efficiency scenario in view of Government’s continuing structural
reforms and in order to gain and retain competitive advantage, it is imperative for the Indian Organizations to develop a responsive work culture based on the new paradigm. In



the following paragraphs an attempt has been made here to discern direction of change, specify cultural imperative, identify dimensions of responsive work culture and highlight their implications for Indian Organizations specially institutions of higher education.
Shifts in paradigm on corresponding changes in various dimensions of work culture are suggested:
In order to develop and reinforce responsive work culture in Indian organizations, design and process imperative are also outlined in brief.
Organizational culture reflects a set of values, symbols and rituals shared by members of a certain firm, describing the way are done within the organization when solving internal managerial problems, together with those related to customers, suppliers and environment (Claver and Leopis-1998; 84). Since values underlie human decisions and actions (Breu 2001), organizational culture experts a significance influence on organizational performance, self-confidence, commitment, ethical behaviour and productivity (Ritchie 2000). Some researchers, for example, (Desh Pande and Webster 1989) have discovered that there is an important linkage between organizational culture and innovative adoption (Bolding-1981) argued that corporate culture acts as a transforming agent to ensure the survival of the organization’s system. According to Weick (1979) failure in fostering the appropriate cultural norms would impede the organization from changing or evolving itself in accordance with the external environment (Kitchell-1995) added that the adopted firm would normally enact cultural norms that are able to strengthen its ability for outreach (markets, information, innovations and so forth) and its capacity for assimilating new technologies. Several dimensions of culture that have been found to affect organizational innovativeness include learning and development, participative decision making, support of collaboration, power sharing, status differentials, communication and tolerance conflict and risk (Hurley and Hult – 1998).

Learning and Development are defined as the extent to which an organization encourages its members to learn and develop themselves (Ritchie 2000). A learning culture attaches a high value of knowledge (Pemberton and Stonehouse 2000) Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt (1999) argued for a positive association between a firm’s willingness to invest in training and development and their capability to innovate. This is because firms that are able to exploit new equipment or to produce major breakthroughs in products and services had to

rely largely on the skills and knowledge of those who produce such innovations. Those skills and knowledge, in turn, could only be acquired through learning.
There is a positive relationship between learning and organizational innovation (Cohen and Levinthal 1990, Dickson 1992). An organizational culture that emphasizes learning and development is likely to encourage members’ creativity and increases their
ability to discover new opportunities. Equipping employees with the necessary skills and knowledge via continuous training and development enhances their creativity and give
them more confidence to make full use of them (Tidd 1998). Thus, when an organization’s culture places great emphasis on learning, the greater will be the capability of its members to absorb and assimilate new knowledge and information and the greater will be the willingness of its members to embrace changes. This, in turn, reduces chances of employees resisting change, improves their problem-solving skills, and enables them to assist the firm to innovate and improve its performance (McGinnis and Ackerlsberg 1983).

PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING

Participative decision making has been viewed as a process which allows for ethical decision making by all Organizational members (Haskins 1996). These decisions may relate to goal setting, evaluating alternatives, making the final choice and solving problems. The term participative decision making has been associated with other works such as empowerment, involvement, consultation and joint decision making Empowerment in organization helps in boosting employees’ moral since it promotes better ownership of decisions which in turn increased their commitment & involvement in innovational activities. When employees are allowed to participate in decision making, their competency or achievement, feelings of self-determination and their perceived freedom to take action will be enhanced. As a result, employees become more willing and more committed to innovate. Participative decision making enhances information flow & promotes top-down communication within the organization, resulting in a favorable conciliatory environment that fosters innovative behavior. Thus participation in decision making is likely to have a positive relationship with the organizational innovation. Participation allows for greater autonomy & higher level of responsibility



among employees, which in turn encouraged the development & implementation of new ideas and behaviors.

SUPPORT AND COLLABORATION

Adequate Organization support in terms of resources like equipment, time, money & facilities are vital in encouraging innovativeness. The support need not be necessarily limited to physical resources but should also exist in the form of collective efforts among peers & superiors, which are crucial in generating new ideas (Amabile, 1996). Support & collaboration from superiors & co-worker allows for open interaction leading to fair & favorable evaluation which help boost creativity among organizational members. At such work places employees will not feel afraid of negative criticism & will tend to be motivated which will lead to encouraging risk taking and generation of unusual ideas (Pience, 1977 and Scott Bruce 1994). Thus organizational support implies that employees are highly valued by the Organization. Based on the social exchange framework such feelings will foster employees’ desire to innovate for the benefit of the organization as a means of reciprocation. Effective work teams may be one way of promoting organizational innovation (Kharbanda and Stallworthy 1990). Work teams generate positive synergy through co-ordinated efforts of its members. In high performing organizations, support and co-operation, between team members are likely to encourage creative thinking which is one of the foundations of innovativeness.

ORGANISATIONAL VARIABLES
DIMENSIONS OF WORK CULTURE
.............From ...........................................To

A: Management Philosophy

Closed System .........................................................Systemic Orientation
Corporate Vision ....................................................Shared Vision
Espoused Corporate Value System .....................Community held value system
Goal – Oriented System .......................................Purposeful System
Centralised Leadership ........................................Transformational leadership
Power/Role-oriented Ideology ..........................Task/Growth-oriented ideology
Direction and Control ...........................................Consensus and Commitment
Pragmatic emphasis towards students ................Normative student Orientation


B: Management Practices

Result Orientation .................................................Process Orientation
Single rigid structure..............................................Multiple Structures
Rigidly defined boundaries....................................Boundaryless Organisations
Localised domain of interactions..........................Global domain of Operations
Job Orientation ......................................................Employee Orientation
Tight Control..........................................................Control through shared norms
Parochial Orientation ...........................................Professional Orientation
Extrinsic Motivation..............................................Intrinsic Motivation
Communication of facts.........................................Communication of meaning
Exploitative use of power.....................................Productive use of power
Conflict as a threat.................................................Conflict as an opportunity
Relatively closed appraisal system....................Open appraisal system
Uniform reward system......................................Differential reward system


........................C: Coping with change

Managing Change.......................................Changeability
Complying with change.................................Internalization
Single loop learning..................................Generative learning



PARADIGM SHIFT


CONVENTIONAL.........................................EMERGENT


(a) Environment driven......................................Organization driven
(b) Determinism.................................................Relativism
(c) Separateness..................................................Connectedness
(d) Degenerative relationship.............................Regenerative relationship
(e) Work as a means to self-esteem..................Work as a means to self-actualisation
(f) Past/Present driven.......................................Future driven
(g) Regid boundaries............................................Permeable and shifting boundaries
(f) System as orderly arrangement of parts.... System as complex network of
................................................................................clustered components
(i) Interest/Goal Orientation Ideal seeking
(j) Limits to growth Infinite potential to growth.


ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

• Competitiveness
• Responsiveness
• Flexibility
• Efficiency
• Learning

It would not be trite to have a look as to what exactly Culture and specifically work culture means. Culture has been defined as the total social heritage of mankind: more specifically, all that a given people has created artifact and taboo, technical system and social institutions, employment of work and mode of worship. Work Culture, therefore, signifies total heritage of mankind relating to work.

Theoretically, lack of work culture at work premises indicates attitude of the workers not to exert and not to produce to the best of their ability and to ignore interest of the organization. In fine, this is the attitude of alienation of workers. There is a general feeling that the work culture has declined over the years and the workers are the worst victim of such criticism. It is normally felt that the Universities lack work culture and therefore is lagging behind in comparison to fast developing areas of higher education. The tragic part is the essence of this criticism that lack of work culture is attributed only to the workers for their lack of discipline, lack of motivation and lack of desire to achieve the best. Everybody is talking about this burning issue and is in a fix as to how work culture can be revived or brought back. Such debated ostensibly presume that there was once one work culture in India which has vanished and finally it must be restored or revived. This feeling is primarily being generated perhaps in view of organizational climate that will attribute to the employee’s fulfillment, motivation and self actualization. In the recent times, the progressive sophistication and automation, an excessive specialization and division in work in Universities have obviously created a great amount of apathy, no fulfillment and indifference among the employees. In short, employee’s alienation has become a serious and mounting problem, resulting in reduced productivity, efficiency and output. It also increases social cost to human input through several manifestations to such employee’s alienation. On the one hand, it may be expressed by
passive withdrawal, turnover, absenteeism and tardiness. On the other hand, it is also expressed by active attacks, sabotage, pilferage, assaults, gherao, violence and other disruption of work routines.

Normally people feel alienated when their jobs cease to provide any sort of creative job satisfaction and when their jobs are choked into several pieces and there is no more meaningful and purposeful work content in their jobs. This dissatisfaction is culminated by the genuine employees’ attitude and aspiration, rising educational levels and also rising expectation. As a human being one would like to carryout a more meaningful and creative type of work that would provide opportunity for self-actualization and get fulfillment. People want to be involved and they want to have a say that effect them through their works and their lives. Everybody is interested in the quality of work life.

All human needs can be divided into five categories as far as their motivation is concerned:-

1. Physiological Need-Need for food, shelter and relief from pain
2. Safety and Security – Need for freedom from threat (their two needs are designed as lower level needs).
3. Belongings- Need for affection, interaction and love.
4. Esteem Need – Need for status and recognition
5. Self-actualization – Need to fulfill oneself by maximizing the use of abilities, skills and potentiality.

The first categories are known as lower level needs while the last three as higher level needs.
According to Abraham Maslow, unless the lower level needs are satisfied, people do not thrive for higher level needs and once the needs of lower level are satisfied, further satisfaction of the lower level needs do not motivate a man to work.

In contrast to the motivational concept of Maslow, Herzberg classified the needs into two broad categories even though fulfilled is not motivator but unfulfilled lower level need which are extrinsic in nature are demotivator. Thus, getting monthly salaries or wages or bonus and other allowances will not motivate a man. But if there is lack or matching increase in the salary, wage, allowance etc. with the increased cost of living it will demotivate a man. The motivators are the fulfillment of the higher level needs which are intrinsic in nature.

However, while motivation is individualistic in nature and applicable for leaders, employee’s morale, submission of the attitude of all employees making up a group towards various aspects of their work, the job, the company, the working condition, fellow-workers, supervisors and so on is the crux of organizational success. The employee’s attitude towards some of these aspects may be positive, towards some negative. If the total of all positive attitudes exceeds the total of all the negative attitudes, the morale of the group can be said to be higher, otherwise, it is low.

Therefore, work culture depends on the motivation of the leaders i.e. attitude of the management at the same time, attitude or the morale of the workers which is also indirectly dependent on the attitude of the management and the trade union leaders. It is
unwise to bracket the workers and make only them responsible for lack of work culture. The management has to create a situation wherein the workers can feel positive about:-

1. Pride in general attitude towards organization.
2. General attitude towards supervision
3. Satisfaction with the job standards
4. Style of supervision
5. Workload and work pressure
6. Attitude towards co-workers
7. Satisfaction with salary, wage and other fringe benefits
8. Attitude towards formal communication system in the company
9. Intrinsic job satisfaction
10. Satisfaction with the progress and chances for progress
11. Quality of work life (QWL) as a whole.

Morale building is not a simple process or set of easy clear-cut steps. There are numerous complex and contradictory cause of variation in people’s attitude even may evolves pleasant feeling in one employee may have chance the opposite effect on the other. Thus any morale building programme must take into consideration the techniques which may have in general positive effect.

To improve the morale of the workers and restore work culture it needs a concerted effort of both the management and the workers to work shoulder to shoulder. In Japan, recent system of Kazen i.e. continuous development and progress through continuous suggestion from the line staff is being seriously considered by the management and same generating positive results wherein the workers have a feeling that they are the part rather very important part of the organization to reckon with. In fine, we can follow the following suggestion to improve the work culture in organization, be it industry or service organization or be it educational institution of higher level:-

1. Management’s Responsibility:

(a) Ensure proper job placement
(b) Ensure Job training and development
(c) Job rotation
(d) Introduce personnel counseling
(e) Ensure workers’ right of safety
(f) Ensure proper retirement plan
(g) Improve physical facilities
(h) Introduce alienated workers’ participation in management
(i) Introduce stable salary and wage administration policy
(j) Enforce code of conduct strictly without preference or weakness
(k) Avoid unnecessary rigidity in approach and attitude
(l) Open yourself to criticism and suggestion
(m) Take interest in worker’s family welfare activities
(n) Take interest in peripheral development
(o) Take interest in co-curricular and extra activities
(p) Imbibe the satisfaction of having quality of work life (QWL)




2. Workers’ Role to play:

(a) Be proud of the organization
(b) Accept and discharge the role of workers
(c) Avoid criticism and partisan attitude
(d) Inculcate sharing and earring with co-workers
(e) Follow the role of discipline and code of conduct
(f) Be rational to assess a particular situation
(g) Try to play a win-win game

3. Expectation from the Trade Unions;

(a) Be rational in your approach and demand
(b) Do not indulge in false promises to workers
(c) Induce the workers to follow the code of conduct.
(d) Induce the management to enforce the code of conduct without preference.
(e) Bargain on reasonable betterment and welfare of workers
(f) Allow workers to take part in management
(g) Introduce counseling for the workers as well as the management as impartial independent agency
(h) Go as in between the workers and management
(i) Extend reasonable support to the management for survival of an organization.


REFERENCES

Amabile T.M., R. Conti, H.Coon., J. Lazenby and M. Herron. 1996. ‘Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity’, Academy of Management Journal, 39(5): 1154-84
Boulding, K.E. 1981, Evolutionary Economics. Baverly Hills: Sage Publications


Breu, K.2001. ‘The Role and Relevance of Management Cultures in the Organizational Transformation Process’, International Studies of Management & Organization, 31(2):28-47
Claver, E. and J. LIopis. 1998. ‘Organizational Culture for Innovation and New Technological Behaviour’, Journal of High Technology Management Research, 9(1): 78-91
Cohen, W.M. and D.A. Levinthal. 1990.’Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1): 128-52.
Deshpande, R and F.E. Webster Jr. 1989.’Organizational Culture and Marketing. Defining Research Agenda’, Journal of Marketing, 53(1):3-15
Dickson, P.R. 1992’.Toward a General Theory of Competitive Rationality’, Journal of Marketing 56(1):69-84
Haskins, W.A. 1996,’Freedom of Speech: Construct for Creating a Culture which Empowers Organizational Members’, The Journal of Business Communication, 33(1):85-97
Hurley, R.F. and G.T. Hult. 1998. ‘ Innovation, Market Orientation and Organizational Learning: An Integration and Empirical Examination,’ Journal of Marketing, 62(3):42-54
Kitchell, S. 1995,’Corporate Culture, Environmental Adaptation, and Innovation Adoption; A Qualitative/Quantitative Approach,’ Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23(3): 195-211
McGinnis, M.A. and M.R. Ackelsberg. 1983.’Effective Innovation Management: Missing Link in Strategic Planning?,’ Journal of Business Strategy, 4(1):59-66.

Pemberton, J.D. and G.H. Stonehouse. 2000.’Organisational Learning and Knowledge Assets-An Essential Partnership’, the Learning Organization 7(4): 184-93.
Pierce, J.L. and A.L. Delbecq. 1977.’Organization Structure, Individual Attitudes, and Innovation’, Academy of Management Review, 2(1): 27-37.
Ritchie, M. 2000 ‘Organizational Culture: An Examination of its Effect on the Internalization process and Member Performance’, Southern Business Review 25(2): 1-13


Scott, S.G. and R. Bruce. 1994.’ Determinants of Innovative Behaviour: A Path Model of Individual Innovation in the Workplace’, Academy of Management Journal, 37(3):580-607
Tidd, J., J. Bessant and K. Pavitt. 1988. Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and Organizational Change. New Your: Wiley.
Weick, K. 1979. The Social Psychology of organizing (second edition). Reading:Addison-Wesley.

MANAGEMENT EDUCATION THROUGH DISTANCE MODE

Virender Kumar *



The objectives of this writing is primarily introspective in nature and aims at highlighting gap in the educational system with special reference to imparting management education through distance mode. The need for such a study was strongly felt in view of the business environment prevailing in the country, especially after the decision of the Government of India to implement the second phase of structural reforms and also the concept of globalization gaining acceptance the world-over.

Purposes of any educational system as broadly understood and practiced are:

- to provide general and specialized knowledge;

- to provide historical and cultural literacy;

- to help students prepare for mature and effective lives;

- to teach students to cope productivity with diversity and change;

- to develop the citizens of a free society;

- to study of the classics of art and literature, an emphasis on theory and reflection and development of critical thinking, imagination and expression;

- to prepare for work which is the only one among the reasons for the pursuit of education, whether that education is liberal, vocational or professional and whether it is attained through conventional methods or through distance education

The main objectives of distance learning as per the UGC document, ‘Development Assistance for Universities and Scheme of Distance Education 1993’, are:

- to provide a system of students-centre self-paced learning;

- to provide a flexible, diversified and open system of education;

- to develop by providing wider access to higher education to persons of all ages and sex particularly to working persons and to economically or otherwise handicapped and persons residing in remote areas;


* Joint Controller of Examinations, Panjab University, Chandigarh.


to provide means of upgradation of skills and qualifications and;

- to develop education as a life by activity so that the individual can refresh his knowledge in an existing discipline or acquire knowledge in new areas.


The development of self in Educational Institutions and over one’s life-time and the ability to contribute to the community and wider society have categorically been recognized as larger purposes of education.

We must search our hearts and scratch our heads to precisely examine the concept of distance education vis-à-vis the purposes of education listed above to know ourselves whether any, some or all purposes of education are being met to the entire satisfaction of the partners of distance education viz. students, teachers, administrators and society at large.

Before we do that let us examine briefly two educational models viz. the traditional model and the learning model through distance education as is summarized in the table 1.

Table 1. Comparison between Traditional teaching Model and Distance Education Model

Traditional Teaching Model -------------------------------Distance Education Model

***********************************Strategy/Vision **************

(i) Goals-----------------------------------------------Growth in Institutional facilities, .....................................................................................................faculty and financial resources

.............................. .....................................................................Empowerment of Participants

....................................................................................................Development of leaders and

..................................................................................... .............researchers needed for new,competitive

................................................................................................... non-traditional organizations

(ii) Faculty Role ------Emphasis on largely reductionist---Ongoing effort to improve the

...................................... and theoretical research.....................quality of learning opportunities

......................................Minimization of teaching ....................Balance of theory,research and

......................................responsibilities and student ................practice and all contributions valued

......................................contact in general

(iii) Applicant/ ..........Quantitative indices givenprimary...Consideration of both quantitative and

Student .................... consideration....................................... qualitative dimensions

Evaluation

...................................................................................................Motivation, maturity, judgement, inter-

...................................................................................................personal skills, experience personal

.................................................................................................. growth and career path given value etc.

(iv) Emphasis............Functional course work,...................People and process; theory and practice

................................... methodology, technology,

....................................planning, budgeting, controlling

...................................Progress measured in terms of ..........Increase of discipline, development of

...................................plant/equipment growth, pages.......... creativity

...................................of faculty publication

...................................Number of offers and starting .............Judgment,vision, ethics

...................................salaries of graduates

...................................Ranking in surveys by popular............Inter-personal skills

................................... periodicals

......................................................................................................Planning of technology and human

..................................................................................................... needs in organizational settings

......................................................................................................Progress measured in terms of human

......................................................................................................development and the motivation and

......................................................................................................ability of participants

.......................................................................................................Faculty and staff to contribute in a

.......................................................................................................variety of important ways in their

.......................................................................................................organizations and communities

Culture, Philosophy and Values

(i) Student Motivation........grades, competition, degrees,..........desire to learn, develop potential and

.......................................... job opportunities ............................contribute to organization and society

(ii)Faculty Motivation.......money, reputation, competition......in addition to traditional promotion/salary

........................................ for rank and resources .....................goals, desire to Learn, develop potential, assist
.................................................................................................Participants in developing their full potentials

.................................................................................................and contribute to society

(iii) Learning mastery .....academic performance, of facts.......... self-development, active participation

........................................and ability to recall painful, ...............and involvement judgement, common

........................................an accumulation of classroom ............sense creativity and breadth of

........................................informationdiscriminated and .......... perspective a complex, dynamic,
........................................evaluated by faculty...........................interactive process that occurs

..................................................................................................throughout life in a variety of contexts

(iv) Human .................... students, faculty and staff don’t.......... people want to grow, realize

...................................... want to work, can’t be trusted ............their potentials, assume responsibility

.......................................and require close supervision............ for their efforts, and co-operate

.......................................hierachical, adversarial relations. ......in problem in solving, decision
..................................................................................................making and implementation

Organizational Structure/Climate

Higher education........ Higher education is viewed as a life-time teaching

largely confined..........process taking place in an alliance

to the universities ..... of all stake-holders

..................................Tendency toward hierarchical ..................Flat, collegial organization with strong

...................................bureaucracy, with specialized highly....... stake-holder’s involvement in planning

..................................structured academic departments and.....decision making and implementation

..................................positions defined in writing and fixed.......Power and rewards more evenly

.................................. in time, centralized planning and ............distributed to reflect variety of contributions

..................................performance measurement, bottom line.

....................................measures of efficiency ............................information shared both verbally

...................................predominate most ...................................and in writing, communication up,

...................................communications in writing ...................... down across the organizationgoal sharing,

....................................from the top down criticism, ..................team learning and research involving

...................................competition, alienation and ....................all stake holders and cutting across

...................................adversarial relations among ...................disciplines to create a more open

...................................students, faculty, staff ............................and collaborative environment

...................................administrators and other stake-holders ..

Both the traditional teaching as well as models of distance education are engaged in enhancing the technical content of an individual in the development of his self. But the final outcomes of any educational system, more so even the distance education model is deficient on account of preparing the individual for earning a livelihood in any organization when even the employers today are generally using their own training and career development programmes to shape employees. Our graduates or even postgraduates coming out of any of the stream either through traditional model or through distance education model are not found fit to resume their responsibilities from day one onwards immediately after they are engaged for employment.

Many personnel managers believe that prior work experience of a casual or short term nature is not enough to give management students a feel for the real world of business. The statement like ‘let them learn at someone else’s expense – we will get them on rebound’ is generally heard from the majority of employers. Employers are generally using their own management training and career development programmes to shape their employees. In the light of this wider gap in management education, the out-comes of any management education programmes could be classified into the following five categories.

· Analytical Skills
· Technical Content
· Macro Business Perspective
· People’s Skills and
· A realistic view of Organizational Life

Let us discuss briefly each one of them:

Analytical Skills concern problems identification and solution, assessment, selection and use of information and critical thinking. The focus here is on ‘the general ability to sort through data and select the most useful data to solve management problems’ and on ‘ the ability to select critical points from a vast collection of data’. Other aspects of analytical skills concern ‘training in how to approach a problem’, and ‘ability to isolate problems and opportunities’.

Technical Content refers to material covered in the functional areas such as Finance, Marketing and Production. It also includes the quantitative skills gained in Statistics and Computer Courses. At a minimum, technical content entails ‘ learning the business language and knowing enough about Finance and Accounting … to work with Specialists’. Of course, technical content also includes various specialties of the functional area of production viz. different branches of engineering like mechanical, production, civil, architecture, electronics, electrical, metallurgical, aeronautical, chemical and many more.

Macro Business Perspective refers to the gaining of an appreciation of how the various business functions (such as finance, marketing and production) fit together; as well as of technical and strategic integration. It refers to gaining ‘a broad perspective’, skills in ‘developing overall business strategy’ and an understanding of ‘how the functions of an organization tie together’.

People Skills include the abilities to build effective relationships, work in groups, influence without formal authority and communicate both in person and in writing . The ability to build and maintain lateral relationships as well as relationships with superiors and subordinates is critical. The ability to influence without formal authority is necessary in both interpersonal and group contexts. ‘One thing that is not taught is how to relate to the support staff, how to ask to have done something done for you’. ‘The problem is not so much in figuring out what to do as in figuring out how to accomplish it with and through other people’. Working in groups requires the abilities to function as both a team member and to run effective meetings.

Communication skills did not emerge as a separate category. Instead, informal communications came up in the context of a particular type of relationship or task (interpersonal or group). As a result, communication skills have been considered as part of people skills rather than as abstracted from the context in which they occur. While the formal communication skills of making presentations and writing report or memos can be taught separately from people skills or informal communications, they did not emerge as a significant category.

A Realistic View of Organizational Life is the final category of any Management Educational programme’s outcomes. Let us examine this category in depth.

Overall, gaining a realistic view refers to gaining an appreciation of the rhythms and feeling of daily life in a work organization, especially as contrasted with a school environment. This category is distinct from people skills, as is clear from its themes:

(i)Uncertainty (ii) Change (iii) Nature of tasks (iv) decision-making realities and (v) culture

The first theme of organizational realism is uncertainty. Ambiguity is prevalent; often many meanings are possible, with multiple interpretations.

The second theme is change. Unplanned change is constant, planned change is slow and resistance is prevalent, if not always reasonable:’ Most managers are reluctant to change…The real world generally moves very slow’. ‘Things don’t change rapidly, and your power to change things is limited’.

The third theme concerns the nature of tasks, which are often fragmented, repetitive and boring. Time pressures are extreme and interdependency is usually given. Some sample responses given here illustrate this: ‘More boring and meaningless tasks would have better prepared me for what I do’. ‘Work is not school. Activities in a company tend to be relatively unsophisticated but they demand common sense’. ‘You have to learn to work within realistic time constraints’

A fourth theme concerns decision-making realities. Organizational rationality entails politics and history. ‘ The political aspect of the business world is very important’. ‘There needs to be more emphasis on deal making (and) on being entrepreneurial in large organization’, as well as on ‘ informal networks, how politics work, nuances of power plays’.

The final theme of organizational realism is culture. Official policies are different from standard operating procedures. Managers need to know how to read norms and interpret work group values.

Together these themes represent the content about which a realistic view is needed. Thus there is a significant gap between expectations and realities of a human organization vis-à-vis the outcomes of any management educational programme.

Industry and universities are today engaged in a wide variety of co-operative exchanges, activities and collaborative research through University Industry Interaction programmes. The Industry is making distinctions between passive training and active learning. Universities are being termed as learning organizations with emphasis on a balanced synergistic relationship between technology and people influenced by modern management practices such as total quality management which also employ a balanced human and technological systems framework.

Table 2 clearly shows some of the values of educational system vis-à-vis values of
business.

Table 2: Educational Values vis-à-vis Business Values

Educational Values------------------------------Business Values

Collegiality-------------------------------------------------------------Competitive Individualism

as sharer of circumstances with -----------------------------------self-reliance and initiative
relationships of trust and confidence

flat organizations with decision –making-------------------------entrepreneurial spirit

characterized by reason

participation of those affected -------------------------------------winning optimism

consensus building ---------------------------------------------------innovation

shared governance --------------------------------------------------freedom

sharing of individual and -------------------------------------------independence

organizational purposes and goals

Education as an end ---------------------------------------------Productivity and profits as an end

open ended, lifelong process founded upon -------------profits and productivity as measures of achievement

personal and community responsibility -----------------and means to economic gain and power

questions are as important as answers

*******************Character development *********************

independence judgement -------------------------------bottom line results
Market and Shareholder focus -------------------------Shareholder and Market Shareholder focus
principled conduct --------------------------------------creation of demand through advertising
ethics of care ----------------------------------------------technology, improvement, styling and quality

fairness---------------------------------------------------- fostering of materialism in customers

social responsibility regard for the community

***********************************Linear Rationality *********************

authenticity in self- presentation -------------------------------------quantification of progress
Critical Understanding -------------------------------------------------Specific, measurable goals
development of analytical thinking abilities -----------------------sequential and linearplanning and problem

......................................................................... ......................solving (i.e. standardise, sub-divide, specialise
reflection communication
breadth of perspectives:

holistic, cultural, historical, political, ecological

********************************Competitive activism ***************

qualitative judgment --------------------------------------------aggressive activism adversarial competitiveness

*********************************Personal and Social Liberation***********

education as the foundation of a democratic society------winning to be number one

*********************************Economies of time **********************

transcendence of habit, routine, customer, convention ---time as money
critique of authority ---------------------------------------------emphasis on short term(i.e. quick fix, fast track,

openness to challenge and change ----------------------------reduction of cycle time)

Conclusions and Policy Implications

It is well established that teaching and learning are not one and the same (Table-1). At present, higher education is premised on the simplistic belief that a student who passed a course has learnt the subject matter. The bottom-line expectations of the Educational Institution, the student and the employer have, hopefully been satisfied. But learning is much more a complex process than this. It involves, among other things, the integration of interrelated experiences and conceptualization, not to mention creative new applications.

In reality neither the educational institution nor the student and the employer are satisfied of the final outcome. If educational institutions are to compete in a world of accelerated change, they must create attitudes towards learning that reflect breadth of perspective and the long term. They should also include training and development as effectively as their course contents in the real work like situations. If our distance education institutions increasingly model themselves, their curricula and their pedagogies after traditional educational structures and values, who will prepare leaders and managers for the private and public sector organizations and scholars of the next millennium? How can students learn to be comfortable with uncertainty and diversity of viewpoint, to be undaunted by the inevitability of occasional setbacks, and to be challenged by opportunities to continue learning and collaborating? How can our industry survive for long and globally competitive without the support of indigenous scientific innovations backed by efficient innovative manpower supplied by institutions of higher learning?


There are no simple answers to these questions. However, an educational culture dominated by short-term, bottom-line values is unlikely to offer the open, nurturing environment necessary for such explorations. It is further necessary to shape our Management Educational Values to the tune of Business Values (Table-2) in order to bridge the widening gap between passive training and active learning so that fruits of scientific advancement are rapidly available to the public at large. Further, if the distance education is to continue its contribution to the development of tomorrow’s leaders, managers and scholars, the institutions imparting distance education must retain a meaningful degree of autonomy in order to provide a place where all ideas – orthodox as well as unorthodox – are assured free expression and discussion and where learning, practical training in a work-like situation and research will dominate the agenda of activities.