Mgmt consulting and MBA

Someone in the businessweek bschool forums had asked why mgmt consultants prefer MBAs. What started off as a small reply went on and on and on... Thought at the end, it made interesting read... here it goes...

"Before I give you my take on the issue, I must say that a better answer would probably come from someone who works in the management consulting industry or at least is gunning for a career there. I have spoken to a few friends who work in the industry and this is my take on it.

While a GAP analysis is something that everyone must do for oneself, what I do know is that, in a management consulting role, one needs all round knowledge of how a company is run and how business works, everything from the basics of financial accounting and corporate finance to economics to organizational and behavioral dynamics of a company. If you are an accountant with a degree in economics, the way you will look at a problem will be different from an engineer with marketing experience. Education in a b-school shows you the various facets of running companies. It helps you take an all round view of the problem. If tomorrow, you visit a client as a management consultant, you are not going to tackle a problem that is as specific as what you get in IT consulting (I was one before I came to ISB). Many times, it will require some out of the box thinking just to know what the problem is. When the requirement of a management consulting job is said to be "problem solving or analytical skills", what is meant is, how are you able to take into account, everything from the financial status of the company, the organizational dynamics of the company, the employee sentiment, the cultural aspects of the country you are in, the marketing strategy that has been followed to date, the operational aspects, legal issues, the nature of the top management and their style of decision making and so on. Handling clients, solving problem agreed are too generic, something many of us IT consultants have done in the past, but the nature of problems you will face as a management consultant requires all round knowledge of ALL aspects of running business. You will find yourself under situations where, one day you work for a manufacturing firm having problems with productivity in their plants and another day, you will be in an insurance company helping them develop new products or target new market segments. Of course firms like McKinsey have internal knowledge bases that will help you but most of the time, you will be on your own, expected to represent your company is the most impeccable and impressive way possible, justifying your $400/hour billing.

Coming to where MBA has a part to play in all this, the very fact that many of us have had very specialized education like accounting, medicine, law, engineering and that background means that we look at problems in a very different way from each other. I have personally seen engineers smile at anything remotely quantitative and arts graduates revel in anything that is qualitative. We have been moulded to a large extent by the way we have been taught to look at issues.

Taking ISB as an example, you are put in a group with diverse students for 4 terms (6 months). For example, my group has an entrepreneur with a degree in hotel management, one from the merchant navy with interests in the stock markets, an industrial engineer with interests in finance, a young commerce graduate, an economics graduate running his family business and myself a computer science engineer. We have varied years of experience. We have very different backgrounds. Now, every time we have had a case discussion, (a case being a real life business problem), we have had amazingly different view points. We have fought pitched battles, at 1-2AM in the morning, disagreeing on every point possible. At the end of the day, every discussion has changed the way I look at problems.

The whole idea of diversity in b-schools is to break that pattern of problem solving that has been etched inside you by your education. No problem has a set piece solution. It is important, especially for a management consultant to look at every problem in its entirety before he attempts to draft a solution that will be unique and best. There has to be an engineer, an IT consultant, an accountant, a corporate finance expert, a marketing professional and a HR manager inside you. You will be expected to debate inside you the various aspects of every recommendation of yours.

As we at ISB have gone through these core terms, we have been exposed to one aspect after another, starting with marketing, then finance, then operations and then organizational and behavioral issues. As we have discussed case after case, we have seen the way we have looked at problems change. Now, if you give me a case, I will unconsciously look at every aspect of it before I recommend a solution.

A bschool is also a place for you to learn to work with diverse people. In a way, the smart ones learn handling people as well. If you thought you are good at handling people, probably you are, but I will still suggest trying your hand at a b-school with the diversity of students you will meet. Until now, like birds have flocked together for many who come in here. In a b-school, you learn to network, accept viewpoints, argue, negotiate and accept mistakes. It’s a humbling experience in a way. The network that you will create here will go a long way in helping you in your career. Not only that, the networking skills you will learn here will probably be most crucial as you move into a management consulting role. The courses you undergo and the textbook knowledge are no doubt important, but that’s only one aspect.

Management consulting firms prefer the top graduates from top business schools because, if you are among that crowd, not only have you mastered your courses at bschool, you have also managed to work your way with teams or different people, managed your clients at the internship (or ELP at ISB) and got the work you wanted, out of people you worked with. Not all students of a bschool manage that.

I do not know if there is any place else in the world that can give you a similar experience, but I am certain that a good MBA does shape a person's all round abilities. All the mgmt consulting firms seem to agree:)"