Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Responding to Incentives
Greg Mankiw talks about how American Universities respond positively to incentives, just like anybody else -
It is a widely held view that LIK (IIMs Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode for the uninitiated) often get a raw deal in the Business school rankings. The indignation is perhaps justified. But I'm not sure whether smugly not participating in surveys is the right way to go. Haven't given much thought to this. Do post your views :)
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Greg Mankiw talks about how American Universities respond positively to incentives, just like anybody else -
Looking at the new rankings reminded me of a conversation I had with a teacher at a mid-ranked university a few years. He explained to me that all classes of introductory econ at his school were, without exception, capped at 49 students. Why such an odd number?, I asked. He explained that the US News ranking penalizes schools based on the percentage of classes with 50 or more students. Deans, like all people, respond to incentives.Perhaps there's a lesson out there for Indian Business schools especially the younger IIMs.
It is a widely held view that LIK (IIMs Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode for the uninitiated) often get a raw deal in the Business school rankings. The indignation is perhaps justified. But I'm not sure whether smugly not participating in surveys is the right way to go. Haven't given much thought to this. Do post your views :)
Labels: education
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Bschool Life
A few things that distinguish academics in IIMs from what I experienced at my undergraduate institution -
- You can use a stapler to attach additional sheets in term exams. This is definitely a refreshing change for me after having used those slimy tags throughout school and UG.
- Objective questions (MCQs) in midterms and endterms. This has to be the most heartening aspect of Bschool education. It precludes the need to mug definitions, diagrams et al.
- Over half the evaluation is based on group-based assignments in some subjects...
This means that even the woresssht student will get a decent grade provided he has the requisite political skills to squeeze his way into a stud group.
- Relationships matter! Blokes with a steady intimate set of friends have it easy, since they can have the same group for all subjects. This makes it a whole lot easier to free-ride, since the course work can be apportioned amicably among the members. Guys who get into too many groups don't have that luxury.
- You're never short of an excuse to freeride, given the impressive number of engagements to keep you busy at any given point in time (interest groups/committees/ bschool competitions etc)
- Semicircular classrooms endowed with a 'slope'. The inclination ensures that the backbenchers don't indulge in nefarious activities.
- 'Soft' courses involving specious fundae where everyone starts at the same level, be it an IIT 9 pointer or an Arts graduate.
- The occasional 'open-book' exam
- Professors at IIMs wield considerable discretionary power (actually an understatement), unlike the ones at my engineering college. No complaints from my side. That's how it should be.
- Group activities compel you to interact with people whom you would otherwise have never spoken to during the course. This is again welcome as it helps you develop a threshold tolerance for temperamental incompatibilities.
- Insightful Class Participation from some of my more 'gifted' classmates, which leaves me assured after every class that the future of India is in safe hands.
What I don't like about Bschool Life -
- The soporific HBR cases, which revel in ambiguity. I'm yet to read even a single case at a stretch in the first two terms.
- 'Early to bed, early to rise' hardly finds any takers. Moi probably the only one who dozes off before midnight.
- Inordinate emphasis on presentations, which I happen to loathe. Presentations conceal more than they reveal, IMNSHO.
Added later -
Presentations were infact pretty useful as a teaching aid in some subjects, especially Macroeconomics, Operations Research and the like. Our Macro professor did a wonderful job of covering almost the whole of macroeconomic theory very succinctly in a set of six presentations! A novice can actually get a good grasp of the concepts by just going through his slides without ever having attended classes/read Dornbusch. Too good.
By the way, what I was objecting to was the indiscriminate use of presentations as an evaluation criterion in just about every subject. Because of this, the emphasis is more on preparing snazzy slides than on understanding the subject. It is all the more infuriating since majority of the class is going to be least interested in your presentation.
- Needless hype about Placements. The inter-Bschool rivalry wrt placements is unwarranted. I feel there ought to be greater stress on 'seeking jobs on one's own'.
We're a pampered lot at IIMs. Also, it will be tough for the institutes to assure 100% placements in the coming years what with the increasing batch size and OBC quotas.
|
A few things that distinguish academics in IIMs from what I experienced at my undergraduate institution -
- You can use a stapler to attach additional sheets in term exams. This is definitely a refreshing change for me after having used those slimy tags throughout school and UG.
- Objective questions (MCQs) in midterms and endterms. This has to be the most heartening aspect of Bschool education. It precludes the need to mug definitions, diagrams et al.
- Over half the evaluation is based on group-based assignments in some subjects...
This means that even the woresssht student will get a decent grade provided he has the requisite political skills to squeeze his way into a stud group.
- Relationships matter! Blokes with a steady intimate set of friends have it easy, since they can have the same group for all subjects. This makes it a whole lot easier to free-ride, since the course work can be apportioned amicably among the members. Guys who get into too many groups don't have that luxury.
- You're never short of an excuse to freeride, given the impressive number of engagements to keep you busy at any given point in time (interest groups/committees/ bschool competitions etc)
- Semicircular classrooms endowed with a 'slope'. The inclination ensures that the backbenchers don't indulge in nefarious activities.
- 'Soft' courses involving specious fundae where everyone starts at the same level, be it an IIT 9 pointer or an Arts graduate.
- The occasional 'open-book' exam
- Professors at IIMs wield considerable discretionary power (actually an understatement), unlike the ones at my engineering college. No complaints from my side. That's how it should be.
- Group activities compel you to interact with people whom you would otherwise have never spoken to during the course. This is again welcome as it helps you develop a threshold tolerance for temperamental incompatibilities.
- Insightful Class Participation from some of my more 'gifted' classmates, which leaves me assured after every class that the future of India is in safe hands.
What I don't like about Bschool Life -
- The soporific HBR cases, which revel in ambiguity. I'm yet to read even a single case at a stretch in the first two terms.
- 'Early to bed, early to rise' hardly finds any takers. Moi probably the only one who dozes off before midnight.
- Inordinate emphasis on presentations, which I happen to loathe. Presentations conceal more than they reveal, IMNSHO.
Added later -
Presentations were infact pretty useful as a teaching aid in some subjects, especially Macroeconomics, Operations Research and the like. Our Macro professor did a wonderful job of covering almost the whole of macroeconomic theory very succinctly in a set of six presentations! A novice can actually get a good grasp of the concepts by just going through his slides without ever having attended classes/read Dornbusch. Too good.
By the way, what I was objecting to was the indiscriminate use of presentations as an evaluation criterion in just about every subject. Because of this, the emphasis is more on preparing snazzy slides than on understanding the subject. It is all the more infuriating since majority of the class is going to be least interested in your presentation.
- Needless hype about Placements. The inter-Bschool rivalry wrt placements is unwarranted. I feel there ought to be greater stress on 'seeking jobs on one's own'.
We're a pampered lot at IIMs. Also, it will be tough for the institutes to assure 100% placements in the coming years what with the increasing batch size and OBC quotas.
Labels: education
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Why MBA
No...I'm not going to talk about the cliched arguments about how investment in business education from a good bschool yields a positive NPV in the long run. Nor is it about what you and I as individuals expect from an MBA education.
Was wondering why the economy needs MBAs? Will the macro-economy be worse off without business graduates? According to Solow, the growth prospects of an economy in the long run are determined by the capital stock, labour stock and productivity. The reason why the government is subsidising our education is in the hope that graduates from elite bschools will go on to run businesses more efficiently and thereby improve the productivity of the aggregate economy. In 'growth theory' jargon, they hope that MBAs will increase the rate of 'technical progress' in the economy.
After subsidising management education for over forty years, it is about time for the powers that be to ask some pertinent questions.
-Are MBAs from IIMs more efficient and productive than managers who don't have a business degree/have one from a lesser bschool?
-If yes, should we attribute the efficiency to the inherent competence of these executives or to the 'education' they received at IIM?
-Most importantly, do MBAs actually think along these lines? If I were to continue taking decisions based on gut feeling post MBA despite having learnt Linear programming at IIM, would I not be letting the tax payer down?
Food for thought. The debt that IIMites owe to society is humongous considering the largely superfluous learning we acquire at college. The Private gains of Business education ( better career prospects, brand value) outweigh whatever little benefit that accrues to the economy because of our human capital.
|
No...I'm not going to talk about the cliched arguments about how investment in business education from a good bschool yields a positive NPV in the long run. Nor is it about what you and I as individuals expect from an MBA education.
Was wondering why the economy needs MBAs? Will the macro-economy be worse off without business graduates? According to Solow, the growth prospects of an economy in the long run are determined by the capital stock, labour stock and productivity. The reason why the government is subsidising our education is in the hope that graduates from elite bschools will go on to run businesses more efficiently and thereby improve the productivity of the aggregate economy. In 'growth theory' jargon, they hope that MBAs will increase the rate of 'technical progress' in the economy.
After subsidising management education for over forty years, it is about time for the powers that be to ask some pertinent questions.
-Are MBAs from IIMs more efficient and productive than managers who don't have a business degree/have one from a lesser bschool?
-If yes, should we attribute the efficiency to the inherent competence of these executives or to the 'education' they received at IIM?
-Most importantly, do MBAs actually think along these lines? If I were to continue taking decisions based on gut feeling post MBA despite having learnt Linear programming at IIM, would I not be letting the tax payer down?
Food for thought. The debt that IIMites owe to society is humongous considering the largely superfluous learning we acquire at college. The Private gains of Business education ( better career prospects, brand value) outweigh whatever little benefit that accrues to the economy because of our human capital.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Learnings from GD Disappointments
After having fared poorly in a handful of GDs leading upto the summers process here at K, I have realized how poor I am when it comes to effective verbal and non-verbal communication.
It's actually interesting to note that many students here are probably not as good at communication as they should be. It's just that I stick out like a sore thumb in this regard, despite the general standard being not very high.
This has made me wonder why is it that students at premier Indian Bschools, who supposedly constitute the 'best and the brightest' of the country, are quite ordinary when it comes to oral and written communication skills. It has got a lot to do with the way we are taught at school. The education we receive in our public schools lays such enormous emphasis on knowledge acquisition and analytical soundness, that the inculcation of soft skills is often neglected. The curriculum doesn't provide enough avenues for self-expression, argument and debate.
As a result, we grow up oblivious of certain home truths.
- How you speak is every bit as important as what you speak.
- The way you write matters as much if not more than the actual content.
It is indeed an indictment of the Indian schooling system, that it takes a Bschool education to make the students realize these eternal truths, that should have been assimilated at primary school.
|
After having fared poorly in a handful of GDs leading upto the summers process here at K, I have realized how poor I am when it comes to effective verbal and non-verbal communication.
It's actually interesting to note that many students here are probably not as good at communication as they should be. It's just that I stick out like a sore thumb in this regard, despite the general standard being not very high.
This has made me wonder why is it that students at premier Indian Bschools, who supposedly constitute the 'best and the brightest' of the country, are quite ordinary when it comes to oral and written communication skills. It has got a lot to do with the way we are taught at school. The education we receive in our public schools lays such enormous emphasis on knowledge acquisition and analytical soundness, that the inculcation of soft skills is often neglected. The curriculum doesn't provide enough avenues for self-expression, argument and debate.
As a result, we grow up oblivious of certain home truths.
- How you speak is every bit as important as what you speak.
- The way you write matters as much if not more than the actual content.
It is indeed an indictment of the Indian schooling system, that it takes a Bschool education to make the students realize these eternal truths, that should have been assimilated at primary school.
Labels: education
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Keynes on Education
Education is the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent
So very true :(
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Education is the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent
So very true :(
Labels: education
Thursday, August 03, 2006
An Exception to the 'Golem effect'
As a part of the 'Organisational Behavior' curriculum, we've been mugging impressive, exotic sounding jargon like Pygmalion syndrome, Golem effect and all that jazz.
The Golem effect supposedly occurs when low expectations from others has a demoralising and adverse impact on a person's performance.
Specious...
I can readily recall one notable exception whose performance at the helm of the Railway Ministry has improved remarkably despite the expectations from him being at an all time low.
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As a part of the 'Organisational Behavior' curriculum, we've been mugging impressive, exotic sounding jargon like Pygmalion syndrome, Golem effect and all that jazz.
The Golem effect supposedly occurs when low expectations from others has a demoralising and adverse impact on a person's performance.
Specious...
I can readily recall one notable exception whose performance at the helm of the Railway Ministry has improved remarkably despite the expectations from him being at an all time low.
Labels: education
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
My IIMK Interview Experience
The selection procedure for full-time Management Programmes in India is weird.
Performance in an Aptitude Test is used as a criterion to shortlist two in hundred students. And then the selected guys (most of whom are 22 year old kids) are grouped into batches of ten where they are made to discuss Bertrand Russell's musings. Followed by an interview wherein one is often grilled on Bhakti/Sufi saints, English Royal family and stats related to the Indian IT industry...
Here goes my tryst with the famed GD/PI process of one of these so-called institutes of excellence.
GD : A passage from Bertrand Russell's 'Analysis of the Mind'.
It dealt with empirical/experiential learning and seemed to support the view that 'learning' has a neural basis.
Started the GD by making some arbit comment abt empirical learning.
Chipped in 3-4 times in the course of the GD. Tried to differentiate between book learning and experiential learning. At the end, we reached a consensus that 'experience' per se might be neural, but the learning that one derives from it requires the application of reasoning.
PI :
Panel 2
Two panelists
Mine was the second interview.
P1 : Dark, short guy
P2 : Well built, clean shaven guy.
M : Myself
P2 : Related to the cricketer Srikkanth?
M : nah... (we share the same surname)
P1 : What does Shrikanth mean?
M : It is one of the names of Lord Vishnu....'Shri' denotes wealth...'Shrikanth' is the possessor of wealth.
P2: Are you rich?
M : nope...
P2 : What do you do?
M : am a softie....elaborated on what my company is into...
P2 : Why didn't you join infy?
M: blah
P2: did the 'pay' influence your decision?
M: yes
P2 : How is your product different from Cisco's
M: elaborated on the difference between a services gateway and a router.
P2 : How is your gateway different from the Gateway of India? (as weird as it gets)
M: (fumbled a bit at this point)...spoke abt the symbolic significance of the monument. The fact that it was built in 1921 to commemorate the arrival of Prince of Wales.
P2: Who is the current prince of wales.
M : told
P2 : why is he not the king?
M : c'mon
P2 : Is queen elizabeth a widow?
M : no...mentioned the Duke of Edinburgh
P2: Why is he not titled 'King'?
M : because he has married into the family.
P1 broke in at this point.
P1 : Why was Diana called the Princess of Wales? She too is an outsider, right?
M: Well, dunno.... i guess she wouldn't have been called the 'Queen' if Charles had acceded the throne when she was alive...Queen Consort maybe. Not sure abt this.
P1 : ok.
P2 : name the countries in UK
M : told...england, scot, n.ireland, wales.
P1: What's the size of the Indian IT industry in terms of revenues?
M : dunno
P1 : take a guess
M : 30,000 cr ???
P1 :hmm
P1: how many people are employed by this industry?
M: around a million.(if you include BPO/ITES)
P1 : sure?
M: yes
P1 : nah.. it's closer to 7 lacs...
P2 : you've said that you're a very lazy person...(looking at the form)
(I had used the word 'laidback')
M: not exactly...working on it....i lack the killer instinct to travel the extra mile at times.
P1 : but that's a weakness that all Indians have...
M: but it's a weakness nonetheless.
P1: what are u doing to overcome it?
M: setting goals and deadlines...
P1 :what's the target for this week.
M: finish the book I'm reading.
P1: which one?
M: History of India Vol1..Romila Thapar...
P1: Is she a leftist...
M: mmm yes..but writes objectively.
P1: Tell me abt the Bhakti movement....the period..
M: 13-14th century
P1: name a few saints.
M:told
P1: ah...is kabir a bhakti poet....isn't he a sufi...
M: i'm pretty sure..
P1: name a few sufis
M: moinuddin chisti....can't recollect anybody else.
P1: name a few south indian bhakti figures...
M: Ramanuja.
P1: What!! what's his period.
M: 11th c
P1: then how can he be a bhakti figure?
M: well, he was one of the pioneers...he stressed on Bhakti as a path to salvation....
P1: well that's what even sankara said....would that make him a pioneer?
M: no...went on to highlight the differences b/w advaita and vaishnavism...
P2: do u believe in all this....
M: (actually i don't)....didn't ans this properly.
P1: subjects in final sem
M: told
P1: final yr proj
M: told
P1: Which Microprocessors have you learnt?
M: 8086/85
P1: name an advanced MP released recently
M: Itanium
P1: how is Itanium different from 8086?
M: talked about 8086 being a 16bit mp and itanium 64bit...said both are CISC...he didn't get it thankfully....(actually itanium is RISC)
P1: 16bit??8086? (seems incredulous)
M: yes...8085 is 8bit
P1: what does all this mean?
M: talked abt data and address bus lengths...virtual address space.
It went ok till here...then things turned awry.
P1: shall i ask u questions from Math?
M: i'm not in touch...but i'll try....(biggest bloomer)
P1 : explain integration in layman's terms...
M: unsatisfactory answer
P1: applications of derivatives...
M: (arrgh....donno why i said this)....i think it finds application in stock market derivatives, but not sure.
P1 & P2 : laughed aloud.
Any other application?
well, the prev qn had devastated me...kept mum...body language suffered.
P1: name 3 economists who went on to become fin-ministers...
M: manmohan singh....well john mathai--maybe....not sure
plenty of economists have become rbi governers though...
P1:stick to the point....i asked fin-min
M: can name only these two
P2: so u a quizzer, eh?
M: yes, not big time.
P2: name derek o'brein's company..
M: dunno.
P2: who produces kbc?
M: siddarth basu's 'synergy' firm.
P2: name a big-money quiz show hosted by derek of late.
M: the one that pits corporates against bschoolers?
P2: that's not big money.
M: dunno
P2: bbye
P2 was particularly unimpressed throughout the interview
Frankly, I don't care a damn.
|
The selection procedure for full-time Management Programmes in India is weird.
Performance in an Aptitude Test is used as a criterion to shortlist two in hundred students. And then the selected guys (most of whom are 22 year old kids) are grouped into batches of ten where they are made to discuss Bertrand Russell's musings. Followed by an interview wherein one is often grilled on Bhakti/Sufi saints, English Royal family and stats related to the Indian IT industry...
Here goes my tryst with the famed GD/PI process of one of these so-called institutes of excellence.
GD : A passage from Bertrand Russell's 'Analysis of the Mind'.
It dealt with empirical/experiential learning and seemed to support the view that 'learning' has a neural basis.
Started the GD by making some arbit comment abt empirical learning.
Chipped in 3-4 times in the course of the GD. Tried to differentiate between book learning and experiential learning. At the end, we reached a consensus that 'experience' per se might be neural, but the learning that one derives from it requires the application of reasoning.
PI :
Panel 2
Two panelists
Mine was the second interview.
P1 : Dark, short guy
P2 : Well built, clean shaven guy.
M : Myself
P2 : Related to the cricketer Srikkanth?
M : nah... (we share the same surname)
P1 : What does Shrikanth mean?
M : It is one of the names of Lord Vishnu....'Shri' denotes wealth...'Shrikanth' is the possessor of wealth.
P2: Are you rich?
M : nope...
P2 : What do you do?
M : am a softie....elaborated on what my company is into...
P2 : Why didn't you join infy?
M: blah
P2: did the 'pay' influence your decision?
M: yes
P2 : How is your product different from Cisco's
M: elaborated on the difference between a services gateway and a router.
P2 : How is your gateway different from the Gateway of India? (as weird as it gets)
M: (fumbled a bit at this point)...spoke abt the symbolic significance of the monument. The fact that it was built in 1921 to commemorate the arrival of Prince of Wales.
P2: Who is the current prince of wales.
M : told
P2 : why is he not the king?
M : c'mon
P2 : Is queen elizabeth a widow?
M : no...mentioned the Duke of Edinburgh
P2: Why is he not titled 'King'?
M : because he has married into the family.
P1 broke in at this point.
P1 : Why was Diana called the Princess of Wales? She too is an outsider, right?
M: Well, dunno.... i guess she wouldn't have been called the 'Queen' if Charles had acceded the throne when she was alive...Queen Consort maybe. Not sure abt this.
P1 : ok.
P2 : name the countries in UK
M : told...england, scot, n.ireland, wales.
P1: What's the size of the Indian IT industry in terms of revenues?
M : dunno
P1 : take a guess
M : 30,000 cr ???
P1 :hmm
P1: how many people are employed by this industry?
M: around a million.(if you include BPO/ITES)
P1 : sure?
M: yes
P1 : nah.. it's closer to 7 lacs...
P2 : you've said that you're a very lazy person...(looking at the form)
(I had used the word 'laidback')
M: not exactly...working on it....i lack the killer instinct to travel the extra mile at times.
P1 : but that's a weakness that all Indians have...
M: but it's a weakness nonetheless.
P1: what are u doing to overcome it?
M: setting goals and deadlines...
P1 :what's the target for this week.
M: finish the book I'm reading.
P1: which one?
M: History of India Vol1..Romila Thapar...
P1: Is she a leftist...
M: mmm yes..but writes objectively.
P1: Tell me abt the Bhakti movement....the period..
M: 13-14th century
P1: name a few saints.
M:told
P1: ah...is kabir a bhakti poet....isn't he a sufi...
M: i'm pretty sure..
P1: name a few sufis
M: moinuddin chisti....can't recollect anybody else.
P1: name a few south indian bhakti figures...
M: Ramanuja.
P1: What!! what's his period.
M: 11th c
P1: then how can he be a bhakti figure?
M: well, he was one of the pioneers...he stressed on Bhakti as a path to salvation....
P1: well that's what even sankara said....would that make him a pioneer?
M: no...went on to highlight the differences b/w advaita and vaishnavism...
P2: do u believe in all this....
M: (actually i don't)....didn't ans this properly.
P1: subjects in final sem
M: told
P1: final yr proj
M: told
P1: Which Microprocessors have you learnt?
M: 8086/85
P1: name an advanced MP released recently
M: Itanium
P1: how is Itanium different from 8086?
M: talked about 8086 being a 16bit mp and itanium 64bit...said both are CISC...he didn't get it thankfully....(actually itanium is RISC)
P1: 16bit??8086? (seems incredulous)
M: yes...8085 is 8bit
P1: what does all this mean?
M: talked abt data and address bus lengths...virtual address space.
It went ok till here...then things turned awry.
P1: shall i ask u questions from Math?
M: i'm not in touch...but i'll try....(biggest bloomer)
P1 : explain integration in layman's terms...
M: unsatisfactory answer
P1: applications of derivatives...
M: (arrgh....donno why i said this)....i think it finds application in stock market derivatives, but not sure.
P1 & P2 : laughed aloud.
Any other application?
well, the prev qn had devastated me...kept mum...body language suffered.
P1: name 3 economists who went on to become fin-ministers...
M: manmohan singh....well john mathai--maybe....not sure
plenty of economists have become rbi governers though...
P1:stick to the point....i asked fin-min
M: can name only these two
P2: so u a quizzer, eh?
M: yes, not big time.
P2: name derek o'brein's company..
M: dunno.
P2: who produces kbc?
M: siddarth basu's 'synergy' firm.
P2: name a big-money quiz show hosted by derek of late.
M: the one that pits corporates against bschoolers?
P2: that's not big money.
M: dunno
P2: bbye
P2 was particularly unimpressed throughout the interview
Frankly, I don't care a damn.
Labels: education
