THE LOGIC BEHIND MBA ENTRANCE PROCESS
SWEN MEHTA
 

According to an eminent educationist ‘getting entry into a professional course is far more difficult than completing it’.  This holds true from MBA selection process as well.  But why this long process of written test, GD & Interview which has almost become a norm.  The logic behind this procedure can be explained in two ways.

Firstly according to Porter (author of Path breaking book “competitive strategy) the profitability & growth of any industry besides many other factors depends upon the entry barriers to this industry.  So when Top MBA institutes adopt a rigorous selection procedure it is justified as they want to maintain & improve the quality of students who enter into these institutes as it is they who are ultimately going to perform and given institution a image.

The first reason is more on a strategic level and when we go into nuts & bolts of selection process there are many sections in each step of process, which try to measure specific capabilities of a candidate. According to Prof. Dhun.S.Dastoor, faculty for communication skills at NITIE–Mumbai “A candidate should ooze out confidence. This can be seen by his/her Attitude, clarity of concepts, comprehensive capability and analytical thinking”. This sets broad guideline for what to measure. Almost 2 lakh students appear every year for management entrance test; but they are not sure of intent of each step in process and hence try to cram the skills required at each sub step in the process, but according to psychologists it is difficult for human mind to develop & retain s skill without having a comprehensive view and feeling a need for it.  So we can say this is the major reason behind the success of few and failure of rest of the candidates to secure admission in the desired institute.  Here onwards I will try to explain why there are so many sub steps and what each of them intends to measure:-

WRITTEN TEST:

The first step in any b-school selection process is written test and most of the candidates feel that it is the test of their memory.  Yes, to a smaller extent but on a larger horizon it tests the ability & skill of a candidate, which are required to a successful manager, but how?  Here I would try to explain what each section in a written test intends to measure:

Reading Comprehension: As we know that today’s world is over loaded from information and it is business manager’s responsibility to read, understand comprehend that information and apply that to business process but he cannot take large time to do all this as he has lot many routine tasks to do.  So ever wondered why NITIE test or CAT asks you to read complex passages from diverse fields, comprehend them and then answer questions based on them in less than 3 minutes per passage.  Additionally it also gauges the decision making ability of candidate to answer a few & leave the rest, as similar situation exist in daily routine of manager where he has many options in front of him and has to decide on a few depending upon the requirements & objectives of the enterprise.

Analytical Reasoning: Inevitably this section is found in every exam.
Questions Like if A is B, B is C then A is C

Are frequently appearing.  Now what do these questions force a candidate to do?  These questions ask candidate to think logically and relate unconnected things, which is an essential quality for a successful manager as   he has to constantly bring new things to his business from business, which is totally unconnected to his existing business and for this he has to connect things logically and convince management with his reasoning that this charge will bring tangible benefits to the business.

Quant Section: Every business’s performance is measured by numbers, business run  on numbers and to be successful manager one should be very good at number crunching.  He should be able to play with numbers, do fast calculation while evaluating a business proposal and calculate various ratios to evaluate the position of business, calculate effective rate of interest for a loan proposal and the annuity to be paid.  These are few examples where the quantitative methods learnt are of great help to a manager. Thus, the above mentioned logic/reasoning states that no candidate should be afraid of quantitative section.  Infact it is a challenge for him/her and as we all know that a manager’s life is full of challenges.

4)  
General & Business awareness: A manager has to be constantly aware of outside environment and keep in touch with it. Manager must always keep his/her antennas open for the change in the outside world.  He/she should be aware of who are his competitors (new & old) and what are they up to.  He/she must be close to the customers needs; their behavior and how to satisfy rather delight their customers.  So can a manager afford to be isolated from external environment, no never, it will cost him dearly and business may loose competitive edge.  And the questions that are asked are not far from this reality.

Technical Ability: Some world class institutes like NITIE - Mumbai have added this section to test the technical awareness and technical skills of a candidate.  The future lies in technology and business are going to use technology extensively thus manager should be aware of the technological changes happening in the business world.  Since these courses are Post Graduate Programme, one can’t expect a b-school entrant to start from ground zero level.  As the student can not be taught advanced concepts in a limited time, he /she could have adequate knowledge of the basics.  Hence, the questions put in the written test under this section is more or less a reality, which the student must be aware of.. Sooner or later all entrance tests will have to incorporate this section into their examination to get the right candidates in the Institutes.

GROUP DISCUSSION: