Why MBA education … ? An examination of the reasons for pursuing a management course

Abstract

This study tries to examine the causes which have led to the rise in the number of students pursuing an MBA in India. Qualitative methods have been used to collect the data. Data were collected via six focused group discussions with 60 postgraduate students associated with different management institutes in western India. In addition, data were obtained from 15 in-depth interviews with the parents of the participating students so as to complement the findings. Discussion with the participants led to the emergence of six reasons that explain why there has been a rise in the demand for pursuing an MBA. These were remedy for growing unemployment, advice from colleagues, creating demand in the marriage market, avoid marriage, status symbol in the society, and for a dynamic career. This study finds that Indian society is influenced and hence promotes the persuasion of such higher educational courses (like management) that are likely to provide employment opportunities. It also highlights the role that social culture plays in promoting such higher educational courses.

Keywords:

• education
• society
• culture
• students
• marriage

Notes

1. It is widely believed that the Indian economy witnessed near stagnation in real gross domestic product growth till the late 1970s. The slowdown of growth witnessed during the 1970s was reversed during the 1980s; the pick-up benefited from the initiation of some reform measures aimed at increasing domestic competitiveness. Since the early 1990s, growth impulses gathered further momentum in the aftermath of comprehensive reforms encompassing the various sectors of the economy. Since 2003–2004, there has been a distinct strengthening of the growth momentum. Restructuring measures by domestic industry, overall reduction in domestic interest rates, both nominal and real, improved corporate profitability, benign investment climate amidst strong global demand, and commitment rules-based fiscal policy have led to the real GDP growth averaging close to 9% per annum over the 4-year period ended 2006–2007; growth in the last 2 years has averaged 9.5% per annum. For the year 2008, the economy grew by 9.3% in the first quarter (April–June) and by 8.9% in the second quarter (July–September) of 2007/2008. (Source: From the keynote Address by Dr. Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India at the Conference ‘Growth and Macroeconomic Issues and Challenges in India’ organized by the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi on 14 February 2008.)

2. According to the present practice, dowry usually subsumes material gifts and cash paid to the bridegroom and his kin. The gifts are no longer a token of affection from parents to the daughter, but instead an elaborate demand from the marital family. The practice was a means of giving gifts to the daughter during the marriage, so that the couple can start a life on their own and to compensate her share of the property, as she is otherwise excluded from inheriting parental property. Dotal (dowry-giving) marriages were common in the Near East Europe, East Asia, South Asia, and pockets of the Americas. Although the custom has largely disappeared in the western world, it remains popular in some of the South Asian countries including India. Evidence shows that real dowry payments, the transfer of wealth from bridal families to grooms and their families at the time of marriage, have risen over the last five decades (see Rao 1993a, 1993b). The amounts of these dowries can be astronomical. In the sample used by Deolalikar and Rao (1998), average dowries are equal to 68% of total assets before marriage and can amount to six times the annual wealth of the bridal family.

3. Ancient Hindu religious manuals like the Manu Smriti and Grihayastra set the age of life partners at 13 for girls and 16 for boys. In the Vedic period early marriage of girls began to gain approval and it became obligatory to have a girl married before she attained puberty. The age was lowered still further in the Brahminical period, resulting in the abuse of children. The Civil Marriage Act of 1872 was passed as a result of the efforts made by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, before which a provision of the Indian Penal Code rendered the consummation of marriage before the girl attained the age of 10 punishable with life imprisonment. Social reformers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries tried to counteract child marriage as they felt it was marring child's educational, physical, and economic progress. With the codification of the Hindu Law, the Hindu Marriage Act passed in 1955 made the minimum age of marriage for girls at 15. In 1978, a further revision was made in the minimum legal age. With this last amendment, the law was finally brought nearer in line with the accumulated scientific medical evidence showing that the adolescent girl is at grave risk of her health, as also that of her children, until she has reached the age of 18 at least. Alongside, the minimum age of marriage for boys also underwent an upward revision to 21 years.