Courses in IIMs, other B-schools include case studies on Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya to teach ethics

The top notch business schools in India are all set to include case studies on PNB fraud in which Nirav Modi had a huge role to play and on Uber to teach about values and ethics to students. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), XLRI Jamshedpur and SPJIMR Mumbai are reportedly redesigning their courses to include cases of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya among others, bringing in inputs from experts to educate students about ethics, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. 

We hope that various courses such as corporate governance and ethics influence students to move beyond a knowledge and skill-building objective to a more purposeful existence that can bring a positive change to the society,” Padmini Srinivasan, chairperson of two-year MBA course at IIM Bangalore told the Economic Times. 

“Furthermore, the course deals with ethical dilemmas and conflicts that managers will face in their careers and provides them with essential frameworks and processes to take the right decision,” Srinivasan said. 

Earlier this year as the news of the appointment of professor Errol D’Souza as the new director of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, spreaded, appreciation poured in from all academic circles. Applauding the Ministry of Human Resource and Development for their decision to select professor D’Souza, colleagues felt that this was the best that could have happened at this juncture. Sharing some of the key challenges that lie ahead professor D’Souza, professors who have worked with him cite global rankings, maintaining the quality of teaching, taking position, academic freedom to name a few.

Commenting on the appointment, professor Anil Gupta of IIM-A said, “I am extremely happy that our process has been respected and a judgement of our search committee has been accepted. This is the best that we could have expected. This is a good news for the institute for a larger social context and I am sure he will prove to be not only able and thinking person but also more inclusive in his approach towards all stakeholders.

Speaking about preference for a director having international exposure, Gupta said, “The institutions were built by people who grew from the ground. IIM-A’s reputation was not built in last three or four years but built over decades. The thrust that institute is placing on research is justified but maintaining the quality of teaching is equally important. Research and teaching have given us recognition.”

Speaking about challenges that IIM-A faces, Gupta said, “We need to have marathon runners, people who will pursue a particular line of inquiry for decades and institute should support such people. We need to have 10-15 people who will take a long shot and aim at cracking a problem that is unprecedented and then people in the world will take note of it. Global recognition will come when people pursue their passion for a at least a decade or two. Speaking of freedom, he said, “One has to create institutional space. I got a lot of space no matter which director was there. I wish more people get that space. There should be ten Anil Gupta’s. I was nothing without space I was given to me by IIM-A or else I would not have been able to think innovatively. I got all freedom at IIM-A as a faculty.”

“Secondly, we need good teachers. I hope that sooner or later we will realize that the need for good teachers will remain and that means we should allow people who teach well to grow. We have not given recognition that they deserve to outstanding teachers.” The most important challenge is that our engagement with policy makers and analysis has gone down in last two decades.