The Maya of B-School Salary

- by Dr. Madhukar Shukla

Page - 1

Yesterday, I received this interesting mail from a student, who will be joining the XLRI course this June: -

"I will be joining XLRI for 2005-07 batch in PM&IR. I want to know if there is a basic difference between the salaries for BM students and PM&IR students, and if you can kindly tell me the average salaries for PM&IR, and the prominent companies coming to the campus for PM&IR."

While such a curiosity can be considered natural, there were two things about the mail which struck me:

One, the subject of the mail was "urgent"... I wondered if he needed this information to take an immediate decision - and how would this statistical information really help in taking a personal decision, and

Two, this was the only query in the mail... no other questions, e.g., about the nature of jobs one can expect, what skills would be required, or what one can expect in the two years of coursework... It was almost as if after getting the offer for admission, the only worthwhile issue to consider is the salary one can expect after two years.

This stimulated some thoughts about this obsession with salary, and salary statistics being being considered the primary criteria for ranking of education in B-schools. The summary of those reflections: -

Many companies add the induction training cost to their CTC (e.g., if part of your training includes a one month "foreign" assignment, it is bumper addition to CTC - besides, of course, adding the "foreign" glamour to the job offer); some others also add the cost of subsidised lunch in the canteen in the salary package (e.g., you pay Rs. 10, while it costs the company Rs. 150/-, and so, Rs. 140/day get added to CTC).

Next

* Contributed by -
Dr. Madhukar Shukla,
Professor (OB & Strategic Management),
XLRI Jamshedpur.