Problem Identification

The excitement generated by the IIIM fee cut issue refueses to die down. Even since Murali Manhohar Joshi, the home minister of the xx th central government, decided to propose a draconian cut in the fee charged the premier management institutions in India, the story has made the headlines every time there has been a development on it. The recent decsion of the current central goverment to revert to the original fee structure was an not-so-dramatic end to the issue which had generatd reactions all acorss the country.

The IIM Fee cut issue generated the response partially because of the of the shock value of the Murali Manohar Joshi’s proposition. This was an issue which evoked the fiercest reactions from students, faculty of the Institutes and all those who aspired to be part of the elitist IIM’s. In a country such as India whsere the primary eduction progrmas have taken a beating for lack of sufficient funds for the various initiatives included as part of the eduction programs, the proposition held no rationale whatsoever behind it. The main argument against the fee cut issue was whether or not the IIM’s needed the fee cut and the impact it would have on the quality of education being imparted by the IIM’s. The reaction from the students of the institutes was very strong and there was near unanimous feeling amongst them that the fee cut was absurd as prospective IIM students did not need any financial assitance as bank loans were available a dime a dozen. Certain other key issues that have come to the fore during the course of this drama were the quality of the education being provide d by the IIM’s and the contribution of the Institutes in the creation of world class managers. The inablility of the the IIM’s to do any cutting-edge research has also invited lot of flak from critics. The opposition to the autonomy has been grounds of the argument that the objectives of the management education could not be set within the limits set by a governent. Arguments proferred against the proposed fee cut also bring light to the fact that the average household income of the students joining these institutes fall in the higher income bracket and hence the argument for fee-cut does not hold water.

What started as a seemingly innocous proposal for fee-cut ultimately snowballed into a giant of a discussion with the contribution of the IIM’s to the society being questioned on grounds of the nominal work being done by the graduates of these institues for the society as a whole.

The selection criteria of these institutes have been questioned and so has the value that is attached to a management diploma from these esteemed institutes. Critics also point to the fact that the contribtion of the IIM graduates to manufacturing companies is not much to speak about. The IIM gradudates have been accused of being wealth chasers rather than wealth creators.Further, the IIM’s have been accused of creating managers instead of leaders and entrepreneurs.The imporance of the management diploma has been undemined in wake of the accusation that exposure was not a substitute for experience.

The hidden real costs of the proposed fee-cuts have also been highlighted. It is argued that the proposed fee-cut would impact the quality of the acadmeic experience at these institutes and would ultimately impact the value created by the student during the course of his career. IIM’s have been viewed as commercial organizations selling their degrees to students who like the enlightened consumer is educated enough to make the correct decision. It has been argued the the consumer surplus is still a big enought amount for the student-consumers to be interested in pursuing a management education from the IIM’s.

Notice has also been brought to the issues related to the long term sustainablity of the institutes due to inadequate funds. The proposed fee-cut would supposedly lead to a 36 percent impact on the revenue and 233% impact at the surplus level for an institue such as IIM K.

Last but not the least, another related issue which has been debated a lot has been the autonomy that these premier institutes enjoy. It has been argued that autonomy in itself is not an end in itself. Further, it has been suggested that IIM’s have a pressing need for autonomy because they want to hide their shortcomings from the world. The faculty, in particular, has been the target of criticism for their inability to further the cause of management reserach and development. It has also been pointed out that post graduate education cannot be subsidized at the expense of primary education which is a fundamental right of every citizen of India.

Situation Analyses

The imbroglio created by the IIM fee-cut issue has created a situation which is worthy of attention. The minister seems convinced that fee-cut is the way forward to make sure that a post graduate education at these esteemed institutions does not become the prerogative of the rich and the priviledged. The media has been very harsh on the minister for proposing such a step without having conveyed the reasons supporting the cause lucidly. The stakeholders in the IIM’s and the minister have much at stake in this battle royal- the IIM’s their autonomy and a significant dent to their finances and the ministr his seat. It can be said that the minister has not been able to refute the arguments proived by the crtitics with any elan. The response from his office has not been forthcoming at the time when it was neeed the most. This isuse would have been a non-issue had the minister done his homework and proposed the issue from a rational point of view. As of now there does not seem to be any compelling reason for the IM’s to cut their fees.

The fee-cut issues The support to the minister has not been forthcoming. It can easily the proved that the minister has not played his cards well; and that too when playing the game with some of the brightest minds ( facul ties, students and future incumbents). Hence the issue has been a lop-sided affair with the minister being left to defend his turf alone.

Identitification of Enviromental Oppurtunities and Threats and Firm Strengths(SWOT Analysis)

Strengths

Weaknesses

The support for the ministers point of view not not been forthcoming. The minister has not done a through cause-effect anylaysis of the issue at hand and hence has not been convincing enough. The proposal has been met with confusion and with utter disregard at times.

Oppurtunities

The oppurtunities exist for the not so priviledged to put their best foot forward and be a part of the best-in-breed. Govermnets support to their cause will be reinforceed if the IIM feet does get to be cut.

Threats

Division amonst the IIM’s on the stand being adopted to the issue at hand.

Objectives

The objective is to ensure that the IIM education is made accessible to the all the sections of the society – including the weaker sections of the society. While doing this, it has to be ensured that the quality of education offered by the IIM’s does not take a beating.

Criteria and Priorities

The stakeholders in the IIM’s have all a big role to play in the decision that is ultimately arrived at.

Propective students of the weakers sections would have a bigger chance of availaing the oppurtunity offered by the IIM’s if they do not have any worries on account of the fees that needs to be paid for a 2 year stay at these institutes of knowledge.

The students of the institues are concerned primarily with ensuring that the quality of education offered by the IIM’s does not suffer.

The recruiters are concerened with the fact that the graduates being churned out the instititues are up to the mark- that the institutes continue to offer the graduates without any fall in the competence level of the graduates.

The IIM and their faculty are concerned with ensuring the steady flow of finances for the respective IIM’s and also ensuring that the control of the IIM’s remains in their hand. They seen reluctant to yield to another authority as this might lead to the exposure of the real reason behind the IIM’s brand name.It might also expose the IIM’s to a bigger scrutiny by the the people and lead to IIM’s shortcomings being releaved to the public.

Alternatives Development

The solutions to the IIM Fee cut, as the reactions to it, are numerous but the practical ones are few are far between.

The fees of the these esteemed institutes should be reduced so that they are supposedly more accessible to underpriveledged sections of the society.

The IIM’s fee’s should be cut and they should be brought under more direct government control.

The fees structure of the institutes should not be tampered with.

The autonomy should be curtailed so that the government can monitor their efforts towards furtherance of the cause of management education in India. The institutes should be made more acccountable to the government so that government can act as a mentor and guide to these institutes with the ultimate aim of creating world class management institutions which can further the casue of management education in India.

The IIM”s should not be brought under the direct or indirect control of the government as this would lead to several short term and long term problems and ultimately lead to the degradation of the students academic experience at these institutes. The long term value additition to the society by these students too would take a substantial hit if the fees are cut.

Evaluation of Alternatives

Fee Cut

The fees of the these esteemed institutes should be reduced so that they are supposedly more accessible to the underpriveledged sections of the society. There however is no substantial argument for towards this course of action. There does not seem to be sufficient proof towards the fact that the underpriviledged have had to forfeit their opportunity for lack of funds to pusue the course. In facts bank loans are available a dime a dozen for such educational endeavors. Further, the funds used to subsidize post graduate education could be better utilized towards other important initiatives such as primary education. The cash crunch that the IIM’s would face in eventuality of a fee cut would cripple them and stunt the growth of the institues.

The fees structure of the institutes should not be tampered with. The reduction in fee cut would severely handicap the institutes for want of funds and stunt the growth of the institutes. The quality of acadmeic experience at these institutes would also suffer as would the value added by the average value added by the IIM graduate to the society as a whole during the course of his career.

Autonomy

The autonomy should be curtailed so that the government can monitor their efforts towards furtherance of the cause of management education in India. The institutes should be made more acccountable to the government so that government can act as a mentor and guide to these institutes with the ultimate aim of creating world class management institutions which can further the casue of management education in India.

The IIM”s should not be brought under the direct or indirect control of the government as this would lead to several short term and long term problems and ultimately lead to the degradation of the students academic experience at these institutes. The objectives of the management education cannot be met withint the limits set by government babus.

Fee cut accompanied by reduction in autonomy

?

Fees not being cut but autonomy being curtailed

?

Recommendations

Considering the various alternatives, the most practicable and risk free solution seems to maintain status quo over the issue. There is no pressing need to cut the fees that the institutes charge. Further, fee cuts would definitely have an adverse impact on the quality of eduaction being imparted by the IIM’s. This would also be the most acceptable solution as the fee cut proposition has received lot of falk and has lead to tarnishing the image of the government and its agencies.

Action Plan

Mr. Murali Manohar Joshi should withdraw his proposition for reducing the fees charged by the institutes towards the pursuance of the post graduate program in management. This would help in his being portrayed as a rational being rather than a staunch bureaucrat and a politician with the malious aims which manifest themselves in such propostions which do not have the strength of logic behind them. The stakeholders, on their part, should persist and not give in easily to the the proposition of the minister. They should gather support towards their cause and create awareness amongst all stakeholders of the implications of the fees being cut. This would help create the requisite pressure and force Mr. Murali Manohar Joshi to side with the majority; we after all still live in a democracy and people do have their say in such a system.

Contingency Plan

In case the minister does not relent, the IIM’s should

Problem Identification

The excitement generated by the IIIM fee cut issue refueses to die down. Even since Murali Manhohar Joshi, the home minister of the xx th central government, decided to propose a draconian cut in the fee charged the premier management institutions in India, the story has made the headlines every time there has been a development on it. The recent decsion of the current central goverment to revert to the original fee structure was an not-so-dramatic end to the issue which had generatd reactions all acorss the country.

The IIM Fee cut issue generated the response partially because of the of the shock value of the Murali Manohar Joshi’s proposition. This was an issue which evoked the fiercest reactions from students, faculty of the Institutes and all those who aspired to be part of the elitist IIM’s. In a country such as India whsere the primary eduction progrmas have taken a beating for lack of sufficient funds for the various initiatives included as part of the eduction programs, the proposition held no rationale whatsoever behind it. The main argument against the fee cut issue was whether or not the IIM’s needed the fee cut and the impact it would have on the quality of education being imparted by the IIM’s. The reaction from the students of the institutes was very strong and there was near unanimous feeling amongst them that the fee cut was absurd as prospective IIM students did not need any financial assitance as bank loans were available a dime a dozen. Certain other key issues that have come to the fore during the course of this drama were the quality of the education being provide d by the IIM’s and the contribution of the Institutes in the creation of world class managers. The inablility of the the IIM’s to do any cutting-edge research has also invited lot of flak from critics. The opposition to the autonomy has been grounds of the argument that the objectives of the management education could not be set within the limits set by a governent. Arguments proferred against the proposed fee cut also bring light to the fact that the average household income of the students joining these institutes fall in the higher income bracket and hence the argument for fee-cut does not hold water.

What started as a seemingly innocous proposal for fee-cut ultimately snowballed into a giant of a discussion with the contribution of the IIM’s to the society being questioned on grounds of the nominal work being done by the graduates of these institues for the society as a whole.

The selection criteria of these institutes have been questioned and so has the value that is attached to a management diploma from these esteemed institutes. Critics also point to the fact that the contribtion of the IIM graduates to manufacturing companies is not much to speak about. The IIM gradudates have been accused of being wealth chasers rather than wealth creators.Further, the IIM’s have been accused of creating managers instead of leaders and entrepreneurs.The imporance of the management diploma has been undemined in wake of the accusation that exposure was not a substitute for experience.

The hidden real costs of the proposed fee-cuts have also been highlighted. It is argued that the proposed fee-cut would impact the quality of the acadmeic experience at these institutes and would ultimately impact the value created by the student during the course of his career. IIM’s have been viewed as commercial organizations selling their degrees to students who like the enlightened consumer is educated enough to make the correct decision. It has been argued the the consumer surplus is still a big enought amount for the student-consumers to be interested in pursuing a management education from the IIM’s.

Notice has also been brought to the issues related to the long term sustainablity of the institutes due to inadequate funds. The proposed fee-cut would supposedly lead to a 36 percent impact on the revenue and 233% impact at the surplus level for an institue such as IIM K.

Last but not the least, another related issue which has been debated a lot has been the autonomy that these premier institutes enjoy. It has been argued that autonomy in itself is not an end in itself. Further, it has been suggested that IIM’s have a pressing need for autonomy because they want to hide their shortcomings from the world. The faculty, in particular, has been the target of criticism for their inability to further the cause of management reserach and development. It has also been pointed out that post graduate education cannot be subsidized at the expense of primary education which is a fundamental right of every citizen of India.

Situation Analyses

The imbroglio created by the IIM fee-cut issue has created a situation which is worthy of attention. The minister seems convinced that fee-cut is the way forward to make sure that a post graduate education at these esteemed institutions does not become the prerogative of the rich and the priviledged. The media has been very harsh on the minister for proposing such a step without having conveyed the reasons supporting the cause lucidly. The stakeholders in the IIM’s and the minister have much at stake in this battle royal- the IIM’s their autonomy and a significant dent to their finances and the ministr his seat. It can be said that the minister has not been able to refute the arguments proived by the crtitics with any elan. The response from his office has not been forthcoming at the time when it was neeed the most. This isuse would have been a non-issue had the minister done his homework and proposed the issue from a rational point of view. As of now there does not seem to be any compelling reason for the IM’s to cut their fees.

The fee-cut issues The support to the minister has not been forthcoming. It can easily the proved that the minister has not played his cards well; and that too when playing the game with some of the brightest minds ( facul ties, students and future incumbents). Hence the issue has been a lop-sided affair with the minister being left to defend his turf alone.

Identitification of Enviromental Oppurtunities and Threats and Firm Strengths(SWOT Analysis)

Strengths

Weaknesses

The support for the ministers point of view not not been forthcoming. The minister has not done a through cause-effect anylaysis of the issue at hand and hence has not been convincing enough. The proposal has been met with confusion and with utter disregard at times.

Oppurtunities

The oppurtunities exist for the not so priviledged to put their best foot forward and be a part of the best-in-breed. Govermnets support to their cause will be reinforceed if the IIM feet does get to be cut.

Threats

Division amonst the IIM’s on the stand being adopted to the issue at hand.

Objectives

The objective is to ensure that the IIM education is made accessible to the all the sections of the society – including the weaker sections of the society. While doing this, it has to be ensured that the quality of education offered by the IIM’s does not take a beating.

Criteria and Priorities

The stakeholders in the IIM’s have all a big role to play in the decision that is ultimately arrived at.

Propective students of the weakers sections would have a bigger chance of availaing the oppurtunity offered by the IIM’s if they do not have any worries on account of the fees that needs to be paid for a 2 year stay at these institutes of knowledge.

The students of the institues are concerned primarily with ensuring that the quality of education offered by the IIM’s does not suffer.

The recruiters are concerened with the fact that the graduates being churned out the instititues are up to the mark- that the institutes continue to offer the graduates without any fall in the competence level of the graduates.

The IIM and their faculty are concerned with ensuring the steady flow of finances for the respective IIM’s and also ensuring that the control of the IIM’s remains in their hand. They seen reluctant to yield to another authority as this might lead to the exposure of the real reason behind the IIM’s brand name.It might also expose the IIM’s to a bigger scrutiny by the the people and lead to IIM’s shortcomings being releaved to the public.

Alternatives Development

The solutions to the IIM Fee cut, as the reactions to it, are numerous but the practical ones are few are far between.

The fees of the these esteemed institutes should be reduced so that they are supposedly more accessible to underpriveledged sections of the society.

The IIM’s fee’s should be cut and they should be brought under more direct government control.

The fees structure of the institutes should not be tampered with.

The autonomy should be curtailed so that the government can monitor their efforts towards furtherance of the cause of management education in India. The institutes should be made more acccountable to the government so that government can act as a mentor and guide to these institutes with the ultimate aim of creating world class management institutions which can further the casue of management education in India.

The IIM”s should not be brought under the direct or indirect control of the government as this would lead to several short term and long term problems and ultimately lead to the degradation of the students academic experience at these institutes. The long term value additition to the society by these students too would take a substantial hit if the fees are cut.

Evaluation of Alternatives

Fee Cut

The fees of the these esteemed institutes should be reduced so that they are supposedly more accessible to the underpriveledged sections of the society. There however is no substantial argument for towards this course of action. There does not seem to be sufficient proof towards the fact that the underpriviledged have had to forfeit their opportunity for lack of funds to pusue the course. In facts bank loans are available a dime a dozen for such educational endeavors. Further, the funds used to subsidize post graduate education could be better utilized towards other important initiatives such as primary education. The cash crunch that the IIM’s would face in eventuality of a fee cut would cripple them and stunt the growth of the institues.

The fees structure of the institutes should not be tampered with. The reduction in fee cut would severely handicap the institutes for want of funds and stunt the growth of the institutes. The quality of acadmeic experience at these institutes would also suffer as would the value added by the average value added by the IIM graduate to the society as a whole during the course of his career.

Autonomy

The autonomy should be curtailed so that the government can monitor their efforts towards furtherance of the cause of management education in India. The institutes should be made more acccountable to the government so that government can act as a mentor and guide to these institutes with the ultimate aim of creating world class management institutions which can further the casue of management education in India.

The IIM”s should not be brought under the direct or indirect control of the government as this would lead to several short term and long term problems and ultimately lead to the degradation of the students academic experience at these institutes. The objectives of the management education cannot be met withint the limits set by government babus.

Fee cut accompanied by reduction in autonomy

?

Fees not being cut but autonomy being curtailed

?

Recommendations

Considering the various alternatives, the most practicable and risk free solution seems to maintain status quo over the issue. There is no pressing need to cut the fees that the institutes charge. Further, fee cuts would definitely have an adverse impact on the quality of eduaction being imparted by the IIM’s. This would also be the most acceptable solution as the fee cut proposition has received lot of falk and has lead to tarnishing the image of the government and its agencies.

Action Plan

Mr. Murali Manohar Joshi should withdraw his proposition for reducing the fees charged by the institutes towards the pursuance of the post graduate program in management. This would help in his being portrayed as a rational being rather than a staunch bureaucrat and a politician with the malious aims which manifest themselves in such propostions which do not have the strength of logic behind them. The stakeholders, on their part, should persist and not give in easily to the the proposition of the minister. They should gather support towards their cause and create awareness amongst all stakeholders of the implications of the fees being cut. This would help create the requisite pressure and force Mr. Murali Manohar Joshi to side with the majority; we after all still live in a democracy and people do have their say in such a system.

Contingency Plan

In case the minister does not relent, the IIM’s should