Work Environment

Working conditions vary according to the position, employer and industry. You just cannot expect any standardised pay packet or work environment or set of responsibilities. Most managers, however, work long hours and in some industries regularly work night shifts too. The pace of work also varies. In media, managers are subject to constant deadlines, in the retail trade businesses, seasonal changes in activity are pronounced. Managers are decision makers. They set goals and policies and work through other people to reach them. As a business executive or manager, you are directing others in sales, research, production, accounting, and purchasing. There is often a lot of teamwork involved.
Management consulting and financial services have always been the traditional routes to top jobs and high salaries for MBA graduates. Both these sectors have cut MBA recruitment in recent years.
Management consultants collect, review and analyse data, make recommendations and assist in the implementation of proposals. An Operations manager improves productivity and performance of an organisation. They are problem solvers, problems typically revolving around inventory control, personnel schedules, security, forecasting, resource allocation, product mix and distribution systems.
Personnel and Industrial Relations / Labour Welfare Officers / Managers deal with people, some deal with interviewing, selecting and recommending, others handle union-management relations ,some handle wage and salary administration, others specialise in training and career development on the job. Commonly know as human resource manager, they may oversee several departments, each headed by an experienced manager specialising in one of the above-mentioned activities.
Financial managers oversee the cash flow and develop information to assess the future financial status of a business.
An MBA may become a Bank manager in the private sector or in a foreign bank. Banks are in the "money" business and the bank manager is responsible for the management of the bank's business.
Market analysts use market research to plan, implement and analyse surveys to learn more about consumers' want, needs and spending patters. Marketing is a fascinating and challenging job that is attracting top MBA students because of its influence on company business strategies.

Levels of responsibility
In any business organisation there are a series of management positions from the top to the bottom. The amount of authority and status of any managerial position is determined by the level of management. Broadly, there are three levels of management -- top, middle and lower. In the top management level we have the board of directors, chief executives and the departmental heads. These people provide leadership to the organisation and establish overall long-term goals. The middle level management consists of the departmental managers who receive orders, suggestions and decisions from the top management and convey them to the lower level for implementation. The lower level management is responsible for day-to-day working of the organisations.

Education & Training
The allure and financial reward of a career in management have fuelled an unexpected boom in application to business schools/institutes from the mid-eighties and the interest is till escalating. The demand far exceeds the supply and so there is a mad scramble among students to join the business schools in the country. The candidates applying for the M.B.A. programmes in reputed business schools are too many and the seats available are too few.
The minimum educational qualification for entry into the M.B.A. programme is graduation in any stream. Some universities and business schools do lay down a minimum aggregate of 50% for being eligible to apply for their MBA programmes.
Admission notifications appear from August onwards. Another twenty business schools use the Common Admission Test being conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management as the written test for the first round of selection.