(Mis)use of Business Terms Or "MBA Jargons"

All of us who have done an MBA course, would have experienced the thrill of getting familiar with the various business terms (also referred to many a times as "MBA jargons"). These terms which were Greek to our ears till then, and used to be something which were mouthed only by presenters on various business related TV channels and by corporate honchos, suddenly becomes something we understand and use with ease. Makes many of us feel like, we are now in the big league :-).

So, is having a knowledge of these terms, really important? Yes, very much, if you have to operate smoothly in the business world. However, just like with most things in life, we need to use them correctly and in the right places (with the right people). Listing below some incidents in this context, which might help explain to some extent what prompted folks to term important business terms as MBA "jargons".

Incident(s) 1: There are more than one instance of teams from the revered "Big Four" Management Consultant Firms having been thrown out of boardrooms due to (a)Incorrect application of business terms in the context of the presentation, (b)Overdoing the usage of business terms, in front of the business world stalwarts in the audience, especially when the solution being presented in no way appears close to solving the business problem of the client.

Incident 2: While doing my MBA, my study group had to study the employee transportation system in BPOs and present the results to an automobile company. The automobile company wanted to understand which of their models in the "cab category" would meet the needs of the BPO industry. As part of this study, we got an appointment with the Head of the Employee Transportation and Security division at a leading BPO firm. We had to interview this gentleman to understand the primary needs and requirements of his team and the employees, when it comes to the kind of cabs they use for employee pick-ups and drops. My study group mate, chose to healthily intersperse his questions to the person whom we were interviewing, with the heaviest of "MBA jargons"(some of which are never heard outside the realm of a MBA classroom). As should not be a surprise, it had the Head of the Transport Division (an ex-Army man, with pure Operations experience), totally flummoxed! It took a good 5-10 minutes, for me to intervene and bring back the interview on track (without offending my study group mate, in front of everyone)!!

My MBA classmate forgot the basic principle that we were all taught in our Marketing classes: Speak in the language of your customer (or audience), or else you are doomed to lose him or her completely (and to paint yourself as a show-off)!!


Incident 3: A trend among many B-Schoolers is to come up with "business" jokes, and to use the newly learnt business terms/"MBA jargons" to describe non-business everyday scenarios. Given the already pathetic sense of humour of some of them, I do not think I need to explain how unbearable the "MBA" jokes they come up with could be :-). (Note: My apologies to those with a good sense of humour, who come up with good jokes i.e. MBA related or otherwise)

I am sure many of the readers of this blog (MBAs, current B-schoolers, and others), would have more interesting incidents and perspective to share in this context. Welcoming your thoughts and inputs.

Catch you later folks. Shall be back with some blogs on some other business-related topics.