Guide to Management Core Subjects

We all wonder at times about the subjects taught to us. I wondered a lot in high school and before that too. We want to know what these are useful for, or whether they are useful at all. Here is an attempt to simplify some commonly taught subjects in an MBA program.

Operations Research

OR is usually an unpopular subject, like its quantitative cousins. Why is it taught then? Because it gives us an idea of how to use resources optimally, or in a way that maximises returns. Simply put, if I have x amount of money, and I can choose to buy from among 5 goods, how many of each should I buy to maximise my happiness (in my case, usually the answer is None, I am not much of a shopper, except for a few rare goods). But businesses are always making these decisions. For an HR manager, the question may be "How many people of what quality should I be hiring" so that the company optimises its cost and output.

These days, unlike the olden days, computers do the calculations, but the managers need to spell out the question or objective in a mathematical form, and the constraints. In my simplified example, I am trying to maximise Happiness, subject to amount of money, amount of time available for shopping.

Will continue with other exciting (!) subjects like accounting and statistics...