The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2023 report places analytical thinking, creative thinking and AI & Big Data among the most in-demand skills by 2027. These are followed by leadership & social influence and curiosity & lifelong learning as the other skills growing in demand at the workplace.
[1]The rationale, as per the report, ‘is that reasoning and decision-making are currently the least automated workplace task’.
This report can be a pointer to the significance of an MBA education in the coming years. Unlike most other professional education programs, management education places significant emphasis on developing these very skills.Good MBA programs build these into their structure and delivery, emphasizing upon the skills in every curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that an MBA student is exposed to in such institutions. If the objective of education is to fulfil the demands of the industry it caters to in terms of human resource requirements, then an MBA degree is as relevant today and, in the future, as it was when serving corporate needs in the past hundred years and more!
Critics of an MBA program point to the obsolescence in certain tasks brought about by technological developments as their argument to reconsider the efficacy of the MBA degree in the evolving future. However, what is conveniently forgotten is that the ‘least automated workplace task’ (as mentioned at the beginning of this article) are the very skillset that are emphasized in management education. Functional domain expertise is but a small part of the requirements at the workplace. Problem-solving skills, creativity and, increasingly so, leadership & entrepreneurial thinking are called upon at every level,as organizations and, indeed, entire sectors rough it out in an increasingly VUCA world. The volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity that are characteristic of the business environment of today and the foreseeable future require business leaders to be flexible, dynamic, curious and open to learning from others.
[2]A development favouring an MBA degree in the Indian context is the acknowledgement of India’s continuing economic growth at the global level.
[3]S&P Global’s Economics Associate Director, Jingyi Pan, had observed that India’s was the standout performance even as growth in ‘emerging markets slowed amid concerns over future demand and elevated costs.’ Her reportage of Aug 2024 went on to observe, “Looking at the four major emerging market economies, India retained the top spot in terms of economic growth for the twenty-fifth month in a row in July.”
S&P Global in its earlier Market Intelligence update report, published in October, 2023,
[4]had highlighted the following points in its justification of India as one of growth engines in the world economy today:
- Demographic dividend – Even as China’s population ages, India shall continue to have the advantage in terms of working age population.
- Rapid economic growth – India is currently the world's fastest-growing major economy and is projected to account for 12.9 per cent of global growth over the next five years, surpassing the United States' 11.3 per cent share.
- Overall, India is expected to continue to be one of the world's fastest growing economies over the next decade. This will make India one of the most important long-term growth markets for multinationals in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing industries such as autos, electronics and chemicals to services industries such as banking, insurance, asset management, health care and information technology.
Another recent development that merits attention here is in the field of higher education: implementation of National Education Policy (NEP 2020). With an emphasis on modularity, national and international collaborations and skill development in higher education, the Indian MBA programs too are poised to experience a sea change and compete with the best at the global level. These changes would also lead to increased interest by foreign students - both, from the developed as well as emerging economies - to seriously consider full or part of their MBA journeys in India.
All things considered, the future of Indian BSchools providing good MBA programs that are relevant to the evolving business environment and the emerging workplace dynamics is very bright indeed!
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