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Choosing a career in management: an interdisciplinary multicultural perspective
Edited by Ayala Malach-Pines, Mustafa F. Özbilgin and Ronald Burke
Introduction
Globalization has brought about a radical transformation in what organizations need to do to maintain their competitiveness. As managerial skills become crucial for organizations to achieve success in a competitive and turbulent business environment, there has been a sharp rise in the demand for managerial professionals worldwide. [57] Sturges et al. (2003) proposed that the MBA degree imparts certain key competencies to students. These competencies may be of key significance in the career success of students as "management" has gained in importance over other forms of professions.
Industry demand for new managerial resources in India far exceeds supply. According to one estimate, the total number of entry-level managers needed by corporate India every year stands at 2,735[1] . But the best business schools in India produce about 1,740 managers in any given year. This demand-supply gap, amounting to almost 36 percent, has resulted in competition for scarce managerial talent, high levels of attrition, and an increase in the compensation levels of managerial professionals.
For a large number of students in India, a managerial career has become the most preferred career choice. The emergence of management as a formal education is fairly recent, yet the MBA degree has emerged as one of the most sought after higher educational qualifications. There was a 55 percent increase in the number of institutes imparting management education in India between 1999/2000 and 2005/2006. More than 100,000 students are studying towards an MBA degree in approximately 1,200 institutions offering MBA degrees in India. Business factors coupled with several sociocultural changes have led to changing career preferences among young people in India.
An individual's choice of career is likely to be influenced by several factors, including personal and cultural values, family background, career expectations, etc. Studies have been conducted in different cultural contexts to determine the range of factors that influenced students in making career choices ([39] Özbilgin et al. , 2005; [30] Kyriacou et al. , 2002; [40] Ozkale et al. , 2004). However, a literature review suggests that no empirical study has been conducted among management students in India in order to understand their subjective view about why they...