IIT-Madras to re-define management education for the digital era

Hyderabad: Indian Institute of Technology Madras is working to re-define Management Education to meet the challenges of the digital era. The Department of Management Studies (DOMS), IIT Madras, hosted a Business Conclave Friday, in collaboration with some of the top multinational companies in the world.

The disruptions occurring in the digital era are bringing about a paradigm shift in workplaces, and hence management education needs to be re-engineered to meet the challenges. This Conclave was conceived in this context to think through on how industry and academia can get together to co-create and redefine management education in the digital era.

Delivering the keynote Address of the Conclave, Pradeep Shilige, Executive Vice President – Digital Systems and Technology, Cognizant Technology Solutions, said, “In 2007, out of the top 10 largest companies by market capitalization, only One was a tech company. In 2012, three tech companies came in the list and in 2017, seven companies made their place in this list. AI and automation will not destroy jobs but will change the nature of jobs and many new jobs would be created.”

He also spoke about what was enabling a large scale disruption, namely:

1. Virtualization- At production and conception point
2. Platform provided by internet- We don’t need a physical platform for starting a new business
3. Change in mind set of millennial generation

The last few years have witnessed sweeping changes in business environments. Advances in, and adoption of, technology has resulted in a significant shift of business operations towards the digital space. This has important implications for a wide range of models and functions--shared economy, cloud computing, digital marketing, and data science to name a few. In this context, it is hyper-relevant that management education undergoes commensurate changes. This conclave seeks to be a step towards the effective realization of such a change.

Prof Ravindra Gettu, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras, talked about the importance of management in every aspect of life

Speaking about the importance of this Conclave, Prof L Prakash Sai, Head, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, said, “Business Schools around the world are facing existential crisis owing to cataclysmic forces, ranging from digitalization to disruption, invading industries and institutions. While the new millennial workforce wishes to pursue boundary less and protean careers, institutions imparting management education need to re-examine the curricula and reinvent their own business models.”

Further, Prof L Prakash Sai said, “It is in this context, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras is bringing academic and industry together to deliberate on emerging business imperatives and technological trends - be it Internet of Things, cloud computing, machine learning or predictive analytics that have a bearing on management thought and practice”

A panel discussion on ‘Shared Clarity: Future ready deployable talent in the digital era’ was moderated by Prof G Arun Kumar, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras. The panellists include Srinivas Ananthanarayanan, Head Human Resources, Saint Gobain Research India, Sudipto Mukherjee, MD & Head - Global Finance Services, Standard Chartered  Abhijit Phadnis, Director, Giltedge Financial Counsel Pvt. Ltd., and Anil Maddulapalli, Director, Customer & Credit Analytics, Ford Motor Company. 
Some of the important points highlighted in this session include putting emphasis on business knowledge and business decision making and making courses more experiential, co-creating course content with corporations to ensure that learning is more application based. Another panel discussion on the topic ‘Dilemma in the Digital Era: Re-engineer, Disrupt and Create’ was moderated by Prof R P Sundarraj, DoMS, and IIT Madras. The Panelists include Varun Prakash, Engagement Manager, McKinsey Consulting, Santhanakrishnan, Vice President - Analytics Consulting, Tiger Analytics, and Venkat Paruchuri, Head of Information Security, Standard Chartered Bank.