GD Topic - Management lessons cannot be taken in Classroom
6 people are having a discussion on the topic (Anna, David, Kate, Harvey, Samantha and Michael)
Category: Social
Group Discussion Starts
Anna: Good Morning to all. Today as our topic for discussion is management lessons cannot be taken in classroom. This topic highlights the major advantages and disadvantages of learning in classroom and on other side about the learning by experience in the field or it’s something from within the person. So the house is open for all.
Harvey: Hello all! As the topic suggests that management cannot be taught in the classroom, I am not agreeing with this. Books contain all the material a person needs to know about anything and it is better way to learning while sitting in the classroom.
David: But books are just the reflection of what is happening in the real world. It cannot capture all the details and data which are required for gaining the valuable part of learning. It cannot be experienced from reading just a book.
Kate: Absolutely. Even if read a whole book on how to cook the meal, we cannot get it until we try it on our own. Similarly, management is the art of managing the situations, people and companies. It’s not very easy to learn in class what to do in real life situations by sitting in the class and solving few simple problems.
Samantha: Countering to your point, I would say that classroom not only provides simple problems on the real situations, but actually it gives the direction for proceeding when real situation is faced. It helps to even avoid the mistakes when managers have done in past.
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Michael: Yes that’s true. Adding to that, I would say that Classroom lessons are about learning from the mistakes of others and getting to know about the different ways in which a person can behave in real situation. Even in class, we get to know the different prospective of the people about the problems at hand which adds to our learning all the time. So peer learning is possible in classrooms only.
David: To some extent I agree to that but we should not forget that the experience outside the classroom can be more beneficial as the emotions play very critical role in learning. In classroom, the cases can be discussed and solutions can be thought of but applying same in the real situation is not always possible. All the conditions and situations are different for different managers in real life. As how can they apply the incomplete solutions as it is?
Michael: But classroom learning provides the simulation environment also. Classrooms are not only meant for studying from books and solving cases. It includes many other activities like group tasks and real projects which give insight to the real environment.
Harvey: Moreover, every individual is different and has different learning capacities. It takes time to absorb the depth of the situation to some managers. Further, if the situation is previously faced in classroom study then it gives wide approach to the manager for taking action as he/she gains some confidence and courage to face to situation in better way.
Kate: I am partially agreed with you. We have seen many great business tycoons who haven’t had formal education in management and still have ruled the business world. As in case of Mr.Dhirubhai Ambani, he has education till matriculation but due to his excellent leadership skills developed over time by the circumstances from which he passed, is itself an example of the fact that learning from experiences is far more valuable.
Anna: Further, even in case of Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, who is a graduate in commerce, has crossed all barriers and proved that business needs acumen to succeed in every situation, no matter how hard it is. Whatever we study in classroom is about the understanding and the decisions taken by these people. So isn’t it better to experience like them in the field itself.
Samantha: On the other side, we have well known faces who have taken their education from management schools like in case of Mrs. Chanda Kochhar. She holds the master degree in management studies and from her life in the corporate sector; we can see how she successfully climbed the ladders of success which is also the result of practicing her skills learned in classroom studies in the real environment.
David: Obviously that’s due to their application in the real life. But on the whole if we see, classroom study of few months cannot cover all the concepts of management. It gives us overview of the management world but applying the knowledge in the better possible way is only through experiences.
Harvey: Nowadays there are modern ways of learning the management lessons as through real life simulation games for management subjects provided to management students. It gives them the better experience from which they learn a lot and the best part is that even if mistake is committed then it does not reflect on the career on the person as in case of outside class learning. The career gets at stake for doing mistakes which are not acceptable.
Anna: That is valid point but learning is incomplete until a person can feel the situation. On the simulated softwares, the feelings of the person are not captured and the pressure of real life problem is not built. As in case of accident, the reactions of the person will be totally different from the solutions he might have thought to apply in classroom studies.
Michael: But as managers need to increase their knowledge and experience, it’s not possible without meeting and discussing with the similar minded people. This unique opportunity is provided by the classroom discussions and reduces the biases a person has about himself/herself.
Kate: So to conclude, from the various points raised in this discussion, we can say that classroom learning is equally important as learning outside whether by experience or observation. Management in classroom provides us with different ideas from the different individuals and by experience we learn to understand dealing with the people who have different opinion and behavior which changes with the situations.
Conclusion
Classroom learning and experience from field go hand in hand. On one side it’s important to have clear understanding of concepts and principles along with the theoretical knowledge of management and on other side, by experience we can learn to deal in real situations which have a major role of emotions.
Facts from the Topic
1 Mr.Dhirubhai Ambani has education till matriculation.
2 Mr. Lakshmi Mittal is a graduate in commerce.
3 Mrs. Chanda Kochhar holds the master degree in management studies from JBIMS.
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