MBA beyond a fat paycheck

How do you monitor where your money paid to the government as taxes, goes after the returns are filed? Neelesh Misra from the Hindustan Times (HT) proposes a plan for a monitoring network and wants to employ MBA graduates to work on it. The plan is to employ the MBA graduates for a minimum period of three years on a salary of Rs. 30,000 a month. Misra says in the article “At a time when the estimated 1,600 management colleges in India are churning out more graduates than there are job openings, these positions should be easy to fill”, putting away any questions on the availability of MBAs for the jobs. Going forward with the plan, the MBA graduate thus recruited will head a team of twelve data entry operators who will in turn be equipped with point to shoot cameras or cell phone equipped with cameras.

It is interesting to note the use of two concepts that Government-India or Public-India has preferred to stay away from always; a) the use of technology: simple tools that make your work easier and b) the use of Master of Business Administration or MBAs inside the country rather than them being trained for export. Although technology is also at its nascent stage for being used to make things work better, it is the recognition of MBA graduates as people who can actually help the country rather than just receive fat paychecks and work in air conditioned offices which is a noticeable development. Today progressive thinkers believe they can be of some use.

There is also a change on the other side as the MBAs too want to do some thing different. On the HT comments section, a volunteer has already nominated herself for the initiative. She is an MBA who has left her job with an MNC due to lack of interest in what she was doing and wants to be part of the system to monitor tax payers money. Other trends that show the changing mindset are social entrepreneurship, green management which has become a large part of the MBA curriculum. Many of the MBAs (working or studying) whom I know want to open businesses that will allow them to create jobs. MBAs are ready to change the world.

If such projects become a reality, the entry of MBAs, largely trained for the private sector (insane working hours, deadlines and stress on performance) in the public social sector will be subtle turn in terms of work culture in a place full of babus and redtapism. After public sector banks hiring MBAs in a big way in this year’s placements, the process has already been initiated. The question that remains to be answered is: Who will replace who?