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.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Mahatama Gandhi in Young India, June 1, 1921, p. 170.
- 2.
Mahatama Gandhi in Harijan, Oct 2, 1947, p. 392.
- 3.
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta; Indian School of Business, Hyderabad; and T.A. Pai Management Institute have AACSB accreditation.
- 4.
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore have EQUIS accreditation.
- 5.
Baudrillard argued that human experience in modern society can be understood through the symbols and signs that constitute the ‘hyper-reality’ with which a human being exists. Contemporary culture and media have created an artificial world that may not have anything to do with the ‘reality’ that a common person thinks he/she is experiencing. He describes the movement from ‘reality’ to ‘hyper-reality’ as a four-stage process. In the first stage, the ‘image’ created by the symbols and signs is a faithful replica of the reality it attempts to represent, even if there are some flaws. In the second stage, the ‘image’ portrayed becomes an unfaithful copy of the reality, in which deliberate distortions that obscure reality are introduced. In the third stage, the ‘image’ is quite unrelated to reality, with conscious efforts to mask reality even as there is a pretence to represent it in the images. Finally, in the fourth stage, the ‘image’ is based on pure simulation such that the ‘Simulacrum’ has no relation to reality and also there are no attempts to even pretend that there is a requirement for such a relationship.
References
Adler, N. J., & Harzing, A.-W. (2009). When knowledge wins: Transcending the sense and nonsense of academic rankings. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(1), 72–95.
Bannerjee, A. (2014). Poor management research in the India: Fault lines in the academic bulwark and ‘wayward’ priorities. Decision, 41(1), 3–10.
Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation (trans: Sheila Faria Glaser). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Bennett, R., & Kottasz, R. (2011). Strategic, competitive, and co-operative approaches to internationalisation in European business schools. Journal of Marketing Management, 27(11–12), 1087–1116.
Clinebell, S. K., & Clinebell, J. M. (2008). The tension in business education between Academic Rigor and Real-World relevance: The role of executive professors. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7(1), 99–107.
Collet, F., & Vives, L. (2013). From preeminence to prominence: The fall of U.S. business schools and the rise of European and Asian business schools in the Financial Times global MBA rankings. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(4), 540–563.
Datar, S. M., Garvin, D., & Cullen, P. (2010). Rethinking the MBA: Business education at the Crossroads. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing.
Dayal, I. (2002). Developing management education in India. Journal of Management Research, 2(2), 98–113.
DiMaggio, P., & Powell, W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
Ghosal, S. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(1), 75–91.
Goodman, P. S., & Beenen, G. (2008). Organizational learning contracts and management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7(4), 521–534.
Hedrick, D. W., Henson, S. E., Krieg, J. M., & Wassell, C. S. (2009). The effects of AACSB accreditation on faculty salaries and productivity. Journal of Education for Business, 85(284–291), 2010.
Hodgson, S., & Clausen, T. (2012). Business education accreditation in the Middle East and North Africa: An interview with John Fernandes of AACSB. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(4), 736–743.
Hunter, M. (2014). The occidental colonization of the mind: The dominance of “western” management theories in South-East Asian business schools. Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 9(2), 95–114.
Julian, S. D., & Ofori-Dankwa, J. C. (2006). Is accreditation good for the strategic decision making of traditional business schools? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5(2), 225–233.
Khatri, N., Ojha, A. K., Budhwar, P., Srinivasan, V., & Varma, A. (2012). Management research in India: Current state and future directions. IIMB Management Review, 24, 104–115.
Khurana, R., & Spender, J. C. (2012). Herbert A. Simon on what ails business schools: More than ‘a problem in organizational design’. Journal of Management Studies, 49(3), 619–639.
Khurana, R. (2007). From higher aims to hired hands: The social transformation of American business schools and the unfulfilled promise of management as a profession. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Khurana, R., & Nohria, N. (2008, October). It’s time to make management a true profession. Harvard Business Review, 70–77.
Koys, D. J. (2008, March/April). Judging academic qualifications, professional qualifications, and participation of faculty using AACSB guidelines. Journal of Education for Business, 207–213.
Lawrence, T., & Suddaby, R. (2006). Institutions and institutional work. In S. Clegg, C. Hardy, T. Lawrence, & W. Nord (Eds.), The Sage handbook of organizational studies. London: Sage.
Lightbody, M. (2010). Exacerbating staff shortages and student dissatisfaction? The impact of AACSB accreditation on faculty recruitment in Australia. Australian Accounting Finance and Business Journal, 4(2), 3–18.
Mackey, J., & Sisodia, R. (2013). Conscious capitalism. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.
Manton, E. J., & English, D. E. (2007, January/February). The trend toward multiple authorship in business journals. Journal of Education for Business, 164–168.
McKee, M. C., Mills, A. J., & Weatherbee, T. (2005). Institutional field of dreams: Exploring the AACSB and the new legitimacy of Canadian business schools. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 22(4), 288–301.
Meyer, J. W., & Brian, R. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 340–363.
Miles, M. P., Hazeldine, M. F., & Munilla, L. S. (2004, September/October). The 2003 AACSB accreditation standards and implications for business faculty: A short note. Journal of Education for Business, 29–34.
Moskal, P., Ellis, T., & Keon, T. (2008). Summary of assessment in higher education and the management of student-learning data. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7(2), 269–278.
O’Brien, J. P., Drnevich, P. L., Crook, R., & Armstrong, C. E. (2010). Does business school research add economic value for students? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9(4), 638–651.
Ojha, A. K. (2005, July–December). Management education in India: Protecting it from the rankings onslaught. Decision, 32(2), 19–33.
Oliver, C. (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16(1), 145–179
Paul, S. (1972). An application of cost-benefit analysis to management education. Journal of Political Economy, 328–346.
Pfeffer, J., & Fong, C. T. (2004). The business school ‘business’: Some lessons from the US experience. Journal of Management Studies, 41(8), 1501–1520.
Pfeffer, J., & Fong, C. T. (2002). The end of business schools? Less success than meets the Eye. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 1(1), 78–95.
Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2006, December). Strategy and society: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 78–92.
Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011, January–February). Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review, 1–17.
Pringle, C., & Michel, M. (2007, March/April) Assessment practices in AACSB-accredited business schools. Journal of Education for Business.
Ray, J. L., Baker, L. T., & Plowman, D. A. (2011). Organizational mindfulness in business schools. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(2), 188–203.
Romero, E. J. (2008). AACSB accreditation: Addressing faculty concerns. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7(2), 245–255.
Scherer, R. F., Javalgi, R. G., Bryant, M., & Tukel, O. (2005). Challenges of AACSB international accreditation for business schools in the United States and Europe. Thunderbird International Business Review, 47(6), 651–669.
Scott, W. (2001). Institutions and organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Shaftel, J., & Shaftel, T. L. (2007). Educational assessment and the AACSB. Issues in Accounting Education, 22(2), 215–232.
Smith, K. J., Rosenberg, D. L., & Haight, G. T. (2009, March/April). An examination of AACSB member school processes for evaluating intellectual contributions and academic and professional qualifications of faculty. Journal of Education for Business, 219–227.
Spender, J. C. (2008, October). Book review of ‘from higher aims to hired hands….’. Academy of Management Review, 1022–1026.
Suchman, M. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571–610.
Trifts, J. W. (2012). The direct and indirect benefits and costs of AACSB accreditation. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 20–27 (Winter).
Tullis, K. J., & Camey, J. P. (2007, September/October). Strategic implications of specialized business school accreditation: End of the line for some business education programs? Journal of Education for Business, 45–51.
Tushman, M., & O’Reilly III, C. (2007). Research and relevance: Implications of pasteur’s quandrant for doctoral programs and faculty development. Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 769–774.
Varman, R., & Saha, B. (2009). Disciplining the discipline: Understanding postcolonial epistemic ideology in marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 25(7–8), 811–824.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ojha, A.K. (2017). Management Education in India: Avoiding the Simulacra Effect. In: Thakur, M., Babu, R. (eds) Management Education in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1696-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1696-7_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-1695-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-1696-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)