B-schools not doing enough to bridge skills gap: Survey

Most human resources (HR) professionals feel that business schools are not doing enough to address the skills gap facing organisations, a survey said.

"Only 29 per cent of the respondents felt that business schools are actually addressing the skills required at the workforce," according to a research on HR and business outlook conducted by SP Jain School of Global Management.

A total of 61 per cent of HR professionals across organisations felt that business schools were somewhat addressing the skills gap and 10 per cent felt that B-schools were doing "very little".

The survey opined that this makes a very strong case for re-imagining management education itself.

SP Jain School of Global Management conducted the research across its campuses in Dubai, Singapore, Sydney and India among professionals from various sectors, including HR executives in FMCG, pharmaceuticals, banking and financial services and hospitality sectors, among others.

The top skills identified as desirable for B-school graduates were managing complexity, innovative thinking, critical thinking and problem solving, effective communication skills, leadership and interpersonal skills, cultural sensitivity and diversity, decision making and problem solving, design thinking and dealing with ambiguity, it said.

Further, it said that promoting business growth has emerged as the top concern among HR managers across the world, followed by managing costs, enhancing employee engagement and retention, aligning business with HR strategy and attracting talent for key positions.

Clearly there is a transformation here as HR has always been seen as primarily only responsible for attracting and retaining key talent, it added.

HR managers across the world agreed that 'managing employee expectations' was one of the major concerns that they were grappling with.

This is followed by aligning business and HR strategy, developing effective HR programs, upskilling HR professionals for the future and adopting new technology, the survey said.

"The importance of HR can never be overemphasised. It is fast emerging as the bedrock on which performance of companies will be benchmarked," said Christopher Abraham, the architect of the survey and HR thought leader at the SP Jain School of Global Management.

The survey also explored the top five retention strategies. Innovative and engaging work topped the list, which spoke about how the new age workforce is keen to be involved and contribute.

This was followed by work-life balance programs, meaningful benefits and incentives, competitive remuneration options and leadership development programs.