Free Will & Diversity in B Schools

Free will is something that we all claim to possess. There is a believe that we take our own decisions and we shape our own future.

I always doubt the concept. When people discuss on free will it reminds me Prof Cheriar's class in my IIT days. He used to say MERI MERGI is a non-existent concept.

On a panel discussion on diversity Rashmi Bansal said something on similar lines. She convyed her humble disagreeness on the thought that BSchools have lots of diversity. She was correct in saying a typical B School student is an engineer who wants to work for a reknowned company with a high pay package. So diveristy is missing in BSchools when it comes to diveristy in goal and career path.

I personally agree with Ms Bansal. B School mania is a trend. There is no free will in selecting MBA as degree. Most of the students select MBA because their friends select MBA, their parents suggests. Because MBA offers a huge pay package, a status. Then where is the freewill in selecting the career. Still most MBA students will justify that this is what they are fit for. Because....all kinds of common reasons. If there is no free-will there can't be diversity. In absence of freewill decision is taken in a programmed way. And if the decision is a programmed decision it will lack diversity. I feel the aim and aspirations of a B School student for a job in reputed company with a very high pay package is programmed and thus can't diverse. After all uniqueness of an individual mind is nowhere in picture in such programmed decisions.

When interviewers of B Schools students are asked what they look for while selecteing a batch of MBA, many say they look for diversity. Do students entering B Schools have diversity in them? Probably they have it in some extent. However, the need to payback the loan for their studies, the craze for a high salaried job among students, the outer view of a colourful corporate world forces them to think otherwise. The aura mesmerizes them.

Do they come out of this? I guess yes. They comeout of this sooner or later in their life. They dont have options to not to come out. The basic element of diversity is uniqueness. And every human being is unique. So are B School graduates. They have to be unique and thus diverse.

I am sure there are many BSchool graduate who realize that the big company or the rosy salary have failed to satisfy them. They dont want to do what they are doing. Result- they have come out of their jobs to do assignments that will satisfy their uniqueness. Some have become entreprenuer, some cricket commenters, some writers, some politicians and so on. And at the end of the day the graduates who leave B Schools as a herd lacking diversity end their careers as a beautiful mosaic of diversity.