With the highest number of business schools worldwide, India is experiencing the tumultuous challenge of sustainability. This article chronicles the story of the rise, fall, and rejuvenation of an institute ensuring sustainability in the BANI environment. During the initial years, the institute was problem-focused and socially oriented, with a formal but agile leadership and a wide and supportive clientele. In the later years, the management became casual, the long-term vision was lost, risk mitigation was unplanned, and the flight of talent began. The Board secured the rejuvenation through a corporate plan, improving the gender mix, completely involving faculty, energetic communication and autonomous finance. It is now an institution of choice for management education, training and development, consultancy, and social science research.

This article tells the story of how a Management Institute in India started off well, fell off track, and then got back on its feet to create a place for itself in the management world. It conveys key messages, tips, and best practices for sustaining the pride so well-earned.

The purpose and the take-off

The purpose makes a huge difference in a management institution’s take-off. It has to be problem-focused and socially oriented. People with impeccable expertise who contribute and network secure acceptance from others. They can be likened to a flock of birds flying at different altitudes and covering the entire spectrum. The institution was set up with a clear objective, namely, to assist in the nation’s efforts to provide quality management at the top and middle levels essential for obtaining the optimum outputs in terms of economic and social benefits from the vast public investments committed to management development in both public and private sectors. Leadership can make or mar an institution. The first board and the founding director were people of eminence with wide exposure in globally renowned higher education institutions and associated with respectable institutions. Their association created trust in the institution about its ability to deliver. The UN acknowledged and appreciated this, observing that it was the only management institute in the world devoted to the purpose for which it was set up.

The beginning and the vicissitudes

The institution started with a very wide and supportive clientele. The central and state governments engaged the institution in research, training, consulting, and management development programmes for the various levels of personnel. The institution, independently, reached out to enterprises at the central and state levels, and international assignments started flowing in from global institutions. Diploma programmes were initiated to impart knowledge and experience in the functional areas of management. A small core of faculty was set up and reinforced by resource persons from the industrial, public, and private sectors. Its location on the sprawling campus of a university provided opportunities for interface with the university’s academia. The institution started working on public policy issues, interacting with policymakers, and engaging in work on real-life problems by adopting a problem-solving approach. Its knowledge additions through publications were impactful in building up the vision and translating it into action. The basic approach was to make it a self-financing institution with a modest infrastructure.

The failing and the rejuvenation

The leadership of the institution changed. The approach to managing the institute became casual; risk mitigation was not planned; the long-term vision was lost, and the flight of talent began. The board decided to rejuvenate the institution. A new, multi-talented leader was recruited. The faculty base was strengthened, the linkages were revived, and the institute reached out to new clients. Besides setting up a long-term part-time MBA programme, many consulting assignments were awarded by the Planning Commission, the Finance Commission, the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, the World Bank, the UN Centre for Public Enterprises, the Asia and Pacific Development Centre, the UK Government, and a host of Indian organisations. The British Council, the Overseas Development Authority of the UK, and the Government of India promoted a long-term joint programme for the institute with the London School of Business. And to cap this, the Government of India approached the institution to impart management training to 1,600 civil servants.

However, once again, the situation became bleak with a change of leader at the helm. The discontinuity was prolonged, ending with a replacement not aligned with the organisation’s purpose. The organisation’s culture, values, outreach, and performance nose-dived and the institution shrank. But learning from the adverse outcomes of its decisions, the board swung into action.

Getting on its feet for a forward march

The new team prepared a corporate plan following several rounds of internal discussions, interacting with stakeholders, and reaching out to industry and government. The long-term educational portfolio added new MBA programmes, diversified training and management activities, and made forays into new areas of consulting, such as corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, climate finance, water management, and tourism. The industry set up chairs. The student strength of 30 in MBA programmes in 1995 grew to 1,100 in 2020. About 15,000 postgraduates in management have now completed an MBA programme. Novel methods of designing courses and teaching pedagogy, such as self-taught courses, cross-fertilization courses, project work, and internships with industry, as well as applications of AI, were introduced. The knowledge centre was equipped with computer facilities with up-to-date software packages, databases, e-books, and repositories. The institution published six journals devoted to management, public policy, marketing, corporate governance, and public enterprise. It was ranked as one of the top 50 management institutes by the Government.

The institution’s doctoral programme produced 95 PhDs. Doctoral work was carried out in two streams – full-time and part-time. The full-time scholars were awarded the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Government of India, and institutional fellowships.

The faculty recruitment was thrown open to promote gender diversity, multi-disciplinarity, and a wide variety of specialisations. The gender mix touched 50:50. The institution became a faculty-led entity with full operational freedom to the director, ensuring complete involvement of faculty on policy issues through energetic communication. The faculty was encouraged to participate in seminars, conferences, round tables, visit institutions abroad, present papers, and promote joint studies. Liberal financial incentives, allowances, and perquisites were extended to faculty and staff. The age for superannuation was extended to 70 years. The faculty responded to the motivation more than could have been anticipated, as its publications and citations increased substantially. The full-time faculty strength shot up from four in 2002 to 50 in 2020. The Government grants increased manifold. The institute played the role of a think tank to ventilate its views on policy issues. It threw open its doors to welcome people of thought from various sections of society, industry, government, and international scholars and organisations.

To give a fillip to the research and management teaching, the institution has set up centres on corporate governance, social responsibility, public policy, and sustainable development. The institution has forged collaborations with international institutions like the Commonwealth Secretariat, the United Nations, the World Bank, the British Council, the Department for International Development (UK), the International Center for Promotional Enterprises, the European Foundation for Management Development, and the International Association of Schools and Institutes in Administration, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The Government of India, in consultation with the World Bank, enforced its ministries to comply with the Result Framework Documentation to reveal the gap between targets and outcomes. The institution was nominated to be part of the team to execute this exercise. Over six years, the institution has evaluated 69 ministries of the government. It offers a wide variety of management development programmes and has trained about 50,000 managerial personnel.

The institution’s new lush green campus became another feather in its cap. A $3.5 million new campus was developed on 22 acres of land with the most up-to-date facilities, including hostels, faculty cabins, a huge auditorium, a gym, a food court, and sports facilities. The new campus was funded by loans from financial institutions, which have been fully paid out.

The institution stands on a sound financial footing. The eight principles that guide the institution concerning financial management are self-sustenance, accountable leadership, finance through networking, diversifying sources of finance, transparency, appropriate financial controls, motivation, and incentivisation. It has become an institution of choice for management education and social science research, and contributes to the excellence of organisations and the wider society by nurturing the following values:

• Strive for continuous improvement with a focus on individuals, leading to ultimate social transformation.
• Value individual satisfaction and the personal growth of faculty and staff.
• Nurture and reinforce academic freedom and the autonomy of its faculty.
• Promote customer-centric development of its clientele/ stakeholders.
• Promote a culture of informal relations, mutual trust, fairness, tolerance, and positive orientation.
• Inculcate an environment for generating, acquiring, assimilating, and exchanging knowledge.
• Constantly strive to retain its identity and always welcome changes that promote its growth and bring relevance to changing times.

This is the story of creating, building, and sustaining a management institution amidst the tumultuous challenges of uncertain times, technological transformation, and geopolitics. The story conveys the following key messages:

• Purpose breathes life into an institution.
• Management education can be delivered only by engaging in research, management development and training, and publications.
• Management education should align itself with industry and societal requirements.
• Scalability and autonomous finance should drive management education.
• It should be value-driven.
• Leadership matters.