Leadership of Educational Institutions- Actual Case Studies
These are brief case studies of different leaders that I worked
with at different B schools. Not all are great, but they illustrate different ways of working. A given
individual must work with his own traits and personality, and try to achieve
the organisation’s objectives. If there is a mis-match between a leader’s
objectives and that of the organization, it may not lead to success, in my
view.
Case Study 1
Very intelligent, articulate and with a credible track
record of having taught in a top Indian Business School for several years. He was an exacting person to work
with, and gave faculty a lot of freedom. Spent a lot on learning resources – in
those days, these were mostly Harvard Business School cases- online databases
were not yet available in India. He also
believed in paying faculty well, and this thought was supported by the
management, a well-known industrial group in India.
He was an introvert, and therefore his support staff
sometimes had no clue to his thinking process. He shared his conclusions or
decisions with the team, but not the intermediate thinking that brought him to
these conclusions.
He was good to work with, even though a little reserved at
times. But there was one definitive interest of his which brought everybody
together. That was cricket. There used to be a cricket ground on the premises
of the institution, and we all were able to play matches with our participants
(managers who came there for short term training) quite frequently. Sundays
were usually reserved for this, and since we all lived on campus, this was easy
to do.
Sports or extra-curricular activities can and do help in
team-building and boosting morale.
Case Study 2
Again, this person had a credible background, but this time
in training managers rather than teaching students. His was a good example of
how networking can be used to build institutions. He came from one of India’s
premier management development institutions located in Hyderabad. But he ended
up leading two institutions in India offering the MBA program as their
flagship. Both had an enhanced reputation after he had been there a few years.
He had two major talents. He was able to recruit large
number of faculty in a short period, despite occasional criticism that some were below
par. The other competing institutions had to battle faculty shortages because
they had set the bar too high. The large numbers also helped ramp up the
training business which he was able to get due to his previous associations.
Both the institutions he led benefited from this talent of his.
Case Study 3
This might be a case study of what not to do, in my view.
This was a person leading a major Indian B school. Though he had a credible
background as a faculty member and teacher, he had very few leadership skills.
His involvement in the institute was very limited and superficial, and he was
not an inspiration to do either research, or training or consulting, as he had
no track record in these activities. It becomes difficult to inspire your
followers if you have not been in the trenches, to use a military analogy. But
he had one major achievement to his credit. He pioneered the use of distance
learning courses through the use of technology (with a partner) at his
institute while he was heading it. This was later copied by many other
institutions, and made management education more accessible to new segments-
working executives in particular.
There is an easy way to antagonise faculty, and that is to
play politics or favourites. You may have some favourites, but they should not
get favoured treatment. Institutional interest must come first.
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