One More Time: What Makes a Manager?(Report‪)‬

Gainers & Losers Thirty-seven years ago, I published a paper in which I tried to demonstrate how selection procedures can act as a gateway for some and a barrier for some other candidates aspiring to become the future managers of business and industry (Sharma 1972). Analysis of longitudinal data from a premier management institute revealed that the gainers were candidates from relatively well-off families of urban origin, whereas their poorer cousins from villages and small towns found it difficult even to get called for an interview. The main stumbling block for the rural poor was found to be the so-called objective test used as one of the parameters for short-listing around 10 per cent of the top-scoring candidates and rejecting the remaining 90 per cent. The findings of the 1972 study showed that even though the rich and the poor candidates had more or less similar previous school and college achievement record, the rich performed better than the poor candidates in the "objective" screening test because of which the former stood a better chance of getting short-listed for interview and getting selected for admission.