Ever wondered why approximately 80% of the students who go to IIMs or even to other management institutes are Engineers? I was also an Engineer and then I went for my MBA. This little story might give you a prospective, why engineers go for an MBA after doing engineering. So, where Engineers can directly relate it with their own experience, even those you simply can recall their School Physics classes can also pull out a leaf or two.
Typically in Engineering, We give exams twice a Year (called Semester Exam). I was given a problem to design a joint (I don’t remember the name of the joint, but for example let’s say a cotter joint) which can buckle a rope at one end and will be bolted to an Iron Frame on the other. I was given the Load to be supported by the Joint would be around 480 Kg wt. The joint will be used in an equipment carrying Human life, which signifies a high factor of safety. As an Engineer I solved the problem like any routine text book problem and came up with numbers like the ideal number of bolts in the joint, what should be the recommended size of the bolts, what will the width and thickness of the joint to support the stress (or load)?
Sounds Geeky right? Boring? Now let me give you a perspective to the same. It was actually a joint which was supposed to be used in an Elevator where on one side it will be the elevator and one the other end would be the rope, it was designed for 6 people each having average weight of 80 Kgs, the factor of safety being 5, meaning Designed for 8 people but can survive weight of 40 people. Now, why was I made to design the joint? Because someone wanted to suspend an elevator. Why you need an elevator? Because someone wanted to create a machine to transport people to higher altitude or floors.
Lets again think the same thing all over again. There was a constructor who made a building which was 5 floors high. The construction was complete, the first three floors were sold at good price but the top two floors won’t sell. An MBA goes to him and asks: What is the problem?
Constructor: The first three floors sold quickly but the top two are not being sold. Buyers are coming enquiring and leaving.
MBA: Hmm, What are they saying?
Constructor: Flats are bought my families and typically all families have some elderly person, who won’t be able to frequently climb up 4 or 5 floors.
MBA: Ok, are there any other buyers?
Constructor: Yes, but they will pay me Rs. 50,000 less for 4th Floor and Rs. 1, 00,000 less for the 5th Floor.
MBA: Ok, so you need a solution which should cost you less than Rs. 1, 50,000 and also helps you sell the flats. How about if we can mechanize the transportation of humans to the above floors?
Constructor: I guess it will serve the purpose, but I can spare only 80 Sq. feet for it.
MBA: But the Mechanization will have a running cost, will the customer bear the running cost?
Constructor: In my last building, Customers were willing to pay Rs. 2,000 as maintenance fee. So I guess we can collect 10,000 from 5 customers per month.
So, Now the MBA calls his friend, an Engineer and says “I need a Transportation Machine which can carry a family of 6 People including Children, Men, Women and Elders from Ground Floor to any floor of the building. The Space required by the machine cannot exceed 80 Sq Ft. of floor area. The Machine should cost less than Rs. 1, 50,000 and should operate within Rs. 10,000 a Month”.
He quickly calculated that the total weight of the family of 6 people will be around 80 Kgs x 6 = 480. He will need to design
1. a Cabin to accommodate the passengers
2. a pulley system to pull the passenger up
3. a motor to automate the process
4. The joint to connect the pulley with the cabin
The purpose of the entire story is to give you the complete picture. Whenever we get a question in our exams or curriculum there are few things so striking? Firstly that we are given all the values/data which are required to solve the problem and secondly, all the data / values which are provided need to be used to solve the problem. If either of the one is not happening, 99% of times you get a zero.
But, who framed the problem? Where did the problem come from? Where did the values come from? Why you need a join to carry 480 kgs of load?
MBAs find a need, and they frame the constraints of the wants to satisfy the need. From these constraints comes a problem statement. Once they can frame a solution to the problem, they fragment it into micro solutions and then get functional experts to solve each fragment. These functional experts can be either people or software or calculators. The point is MBAs need not be able to solve a problem, but be able to break it down to solvable sets of problems and know who within their reach can solve it keeping the solution still cost effective.
Engineering teaches you to solve some given problems. MBA teaches you to find needs, and create a problem out it with the relevant parameters plucked out of the environment which will be relevant to solve the problem and that’s why an MBA after an Engineering helps you to combine both of you skill to come out with the solution.
Hope you all like the story...
-Champak
Typically in Engineering, We give exams twice a Year (called Semester Exam). I was given a problem to design a joint (I don’t remember the name of the joint, but for example let’s say a cotter joint) which can buckle a rope at one end and will be bolted to an Iron Frame on the other. I was given the Load to be supported by the Joint would be around 480 Kg wt. The joint will be used in an equipment carrying Human life, which signifies a high factor of safety. As an Engineer I solved the problem like any routine text book problem and came up with numbers like the ideal number of bolts in the joint, what should be the recommended size of the bolts, what will the width and thickness of the joint to support the stress (or load)?
Sounds Geeky right? Boring? Now let me give you a perspective to the same. It was actually a joint which was supposed to be used in an Elevator where on one side it will be the elevator and one the other end would be the rope, it was designed for 6 people each having average weight of 80 Kgs, the factor of safety being 5, meaning Designed for 8 people but can survive weight of 40 people. Now, why was I made to design the joint? Because someone wanted to suspend an elevator. Why you need an elevator? Because someone wanted to create a machine to transport people to higher altitude or floors.
Lets again think the same thing all over again. There was a constructor who made a building which was 5 floors high. The construction was complete, the first three floors were sold at good price but the top two floors won’t sell. An MBA goes to him and asks: What is the problem?
Constructor: The first three floors sold quickly but the top two are not being sold. Buyers are coming enquiring and leaving.
MBA: Hmm, What are they saying?
Constructor: Flats are bought my families and typically all families have some elderly person, who won’t be able to frequently climb up 4 or 5 floors.
MBA: Ok, are there any other buyers?
Constructor: Yes, but they will pay me Rs. 50,000 less for 4th Floor and Rs. 1, 00,000 less for the 5th Floor.
MBA: Ok, so you need a solution which should cost you less than Rs. 1, 50,000 and also helps you sell the flats. How about if we can mechanize the transportation of humans to the above floors?
Constructor: I guess it will serve the purpose, but I can spare only 80 Sq. feet for it.
MBA: But the Mechanization will have a running cost, will the customer bear the running cost?
Constructor: In my last building, Customers were willing to pay Rs. 2,000 as maintenance fee. So I guess we can collect 10,000 from 5 customers per month.
So, Now the MBA calls his friend, an Engineer and says “I need a Transportation Machine which can carry a family of 6 People including Children, Men, Women and Elders from Ground Floor to any floor of the building. The Space required by the machine cannot exceed 80 Sq Ft. of floor area. The Machine should cost less than Rs. 1, 50,000 and should operate within Rs. 10,000 a Month”.
He quickly calculated that the total weight of the family of 6 people will be around 80 Kgs x 6 = 480. He will need to design
1. a Cabin to accommodate the passengers
2. a pulley system to pull the passenger up
3. a motor to automate the process
4. The joint to connect the pulley with the cabin
The purpose of the entire story is to give you the complete picture. Whenever we get a question in our exams or curriculum there are few things so striking? Firstly that we are given all the values/data which are required to solve the problem and secondly, all the data / values which are provided need to be used to solve the problem. If either of the one is not happening, 99% of times you get a zero.
But, who framed the problem? Where did the problem come from? Where did the values come from? Why you need a join to carry 480 kgs of load?
MBAs find a need, and they frame the constraints of the wants to satisfy the need. From these constraints comes a problem statement. Once they can frame a solution to the problem, they fragment it into micro solutions and then get functional experts to solve each fragment. These functional experts can be either people or software or calculators. The point is MBAs need not be able to solve a problem, but be able to break it down to solvable sets of problems and know who within their reach can solve it keeping the solution still cost effective.
Engineering teaches you to solve some given problems. MBA teaches you to find needs, and create a problem out it with the relevant parameters plucked out of the environment which will be relevant to solve the problem and that’s why an MBA after an Engineering helps you to combine both of you skill to come out with the solution.
Hope you all like the story...
-Champak
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