Diff between what they teach at Engg and business schools..

Often new entrants to an engineering and business school do not know how the teaching at the two institutes are different from each other and what they teach you at these institutions. This small note, I am sure, will help the student to realise the subtle differences between the two and help the student to plan his future well and lead a happy fulfilling life.

In an Engg school, one learns to use quantitative tools, looking at everything in terms of numbers, weights and measurements. In other words, quantitatively. Analysing situations by the use of numbers, drawing and capturing imagination and understanding of a topic, transferring your understanding of a part to somebody else through graphics / engg drawing are all valuable skills an engineer need to learn in life. Whenever you see anything you tend to look at it in a systems way. What it does, how it works, what are the different components, what powers the system , how it moves, how it is audible, what is it's capacity and so on.

In a business school you are trained differently - to foster an entrepreneurial spirit. When you see a part or a process, you tend to look at it with a commercial eye. How cost effectively can one manufacture it, how well can one run it Naturally such entrepreneurial thoughts are vital for the growth of the country and the economy too. The thoughts like how productive it is, whether the operation can be done any better, is it possible to reduce the manpower, can it be done at other places too come to our mind. How can the part be manufactured with other material available locally, how can the costs be reduced, what particular feature of the part makes it unique over it's competitors are important from the product life cycle view point.

A successful engineer and manager will have mastered the art of looking at any product both from the quantitative ( ie. analytical) and commercial view points. Because finally it matters how cost effective and how technically superior your item or product needs to be, to finally survive in the market. The market finally decides whether the product will survive or not and compete with other comparable products, whether customers will buy, whether the demand will sustain or not.

Any engineering or management student should try to understand this subtle difference and try to moderate his/her learning process accordingly. You can rest assured that you will become a very successful practical person, whether you are an engineer or a manager.

George