Design Thinking for Management Education

The changing environment of management education and the skill needs of the industry have been compelling management pedagog y to go through rapid changes. Even after a paradigm shift in the approach to imparting management education in view of its professional nature, it has been observed that the huge competition in this field has been leading to disruptions demanding innovative approaches by institutions to ensure sustenance. The need for innovations is felt as it is observed in various teaching pedagogical strategies. Institutions are banking upon creative and unique approaches to both developing the content or curriculum as well as the methods of teaching. This article tries to highlight the design thinking approach for management education in India to enable parity with international standards. The divergent and the convergent techniques adopted in the changed management education system have brought in innovations with the use of technology. The primary objective of this article is to study and understand the concept of design thinking approach as well as to verify the application of design thinking to management education in India. The contexts and constraints of the disruptive design thinking approach are also discussed in the article. The scope of the paper extends from discussing the evolution of management education, the disruptions and the need to search for a solution for the disruptions – applying design thinking approach by focussing on innovations in courses, curricula, pedagogy and the orientation of management education as a whole due to these changes. A small study was taken up trying to understand the perception of students and faculty on the scope of design thinking in different categories of business education institutions.