I take weekend classes on Market Research at one of the premier management institutes in Bangalore. The current batch has started their 2nd term after completing their summer internship. I was looking forward to starting the new round of classes. Teaching these bright minds tend to keep me going and freshens-up my own perspective on various issues of MR.
However, an aspect that I have been steadily observing over several batches is that students return from their summer internships somewhat more cynical and skeptical about the field of MR. This largely happens because most organizations use their summer interns to carry out “quick and cheap” market research. There is very little guidance from the organization on the correct way to carry out MR – so the summer interns basically are left to fend for themselves, and asked to produce the “results”. I was quite horrified to hear of some of the ways in which some large (and apparently MR savvy) organisations had mis-used MR through deploying poorly guided summer interns.
What is happening therefore is that the whole aura that used to exist around the hallowed MR field is rapidly getting tainted as the “to-be-managers of tomorrow” come away with the wrong impression of MR based on their summer internship experience. They come away feeling that MR is a low tech science used to interpret data collected from doing largely bogus fieldwork (with a few exceptions, most of the summer interns admitted to me that they cheated on fieldwork – and that it did not seem to have any impact on the way the findings were received by their guide in the organization).
For me therefore the task is usually difficult in the first few sessions as I need to re-establish their faith in MR and human values. I don’t know how successful I am in my attempt to change perceptions – but it certainly gives me sleepless nights thinking about what impressions the thousands of young management graduates (our future clients) will carry with them about the sanctity and rigour of the MR processes. The value and usefulness of MR has to be sown in the young manager’s minds when they begin their careers so that they will continue to be good clients who appreciate the value of MR for the rest of their professional lives. Unfortunately, at the moment young management trainees – at least quite a few of them - start off in their organizations with the wrong perceptions about the sanctity and value of MR.
As an industry we have been struggling to raise prices. I believe to succeed in this, one of the urgent steps that the MR industry needs to do is to provide some kind of support to summer intership programs in at least the larger organisations - so that the experience, and hence perceptions about MR, is correctly managed.
However, an aspect that I have been steadily observing over several batches is that students return from their summer internships somewhat more cynical and skeptical about the field of MR. This largely happens because most organizations use their summer interns to carry out “quick and cheap” market research. There is very little guidance from the organization on the correct way to carry out MR – so the summer interns basically are left to fend for themselves, and asked to produce the “results”. I was quite horrified to hear of some of the ways in which some large (and apparently MR savvy) organisations had mis-used MR through deploying poorly guided summer interns.
What is happening therefore is that the whole aura that used to exist around the hallowed MR field is rapidly getting tainted as the “to-be-managers of tomorrow” come away with the wrong impression of MR based on their summer internship experience. They come away feeling that MR is a low tech science used to interpret data collected from doing largely bogus fieldwork (with a few exceptions, most of the summer interns admitted to me that they cheated on fieldwork – and that it did not seem to have any impact on the way the findings were received by their guide in the organization).
For me therefore the task is usually difficult in the first few sessions as I need to re-establish their faith in MR and human values. I don’t know how successful I am in my attempt to change perceptions – but it certainly gives me sleepless nights thinking about what impressions the thousands of young management graduates (our future clients) will carry with them about the sanctity and rigour of the MR processes. The value and usefulness of MR has to be sown in the young manager’s minds when they begin their careers so that they will continue to be good clients who appreciate the value of MR for the rest of their professional lives. Unfortunately, at the moment young management trainees – at least quite a few of them - start off in their organizations with the wrong perceptions about the sanctity and value of MR.
As an industry we have been struggling to raise prices. I believe to succeed in this, one of the urgent steps that the MR industry needs to do is to provide some kind of support to summer intership programs in at least the larger organisations - so that the experience, and hence perceptions about MR, is correctly managed.
7 comments:
After years in the MR industry, I have been witness to this. In the earlier years, we used to have a good programme for interns and seniors used to take time out to devote to spending time with them. Today, everyone is so busy running their own lives at work, carrying frustrations on their back and generally become more inwards oriented that the seniors are not devoting enough quality time with interns rather leaving it for junior level people to handle interns. No wonder they get left to their own devices very early in their induction. And hang around doing literally nothing valuable for months. My advise to newcomers, take charge and ask for work, do not sit around lamenting about things but be proactive and get involved. After all, time waits for none and these are your important months, do not waste them hanging about.
Cheers,
Gautam
Good Piece ..close observation of an quintessential MR guy...Krish
Good observation Ram and so very true... While, I observe similar thing in the field. I sent lots of MBA students to work in the field this summer, I found most of them were quite disillusioned. One is they are invariably used as good quality replacement for freelancers. Never told what is the objective of the research, can they contribute, use their intellect to add some value in the project, etc... and to top that not getting paid for close to 90 - 120 days, really takes the fun out of work, and bad publicity for students coming next summer. I am surprised at the cost of sounding cliched , that we had the best brains in MR and they chose to operate the field like a very poor cousin of researchers...is some one really working to improve this... or will continue as a necessary evil like the Indian politician, who u know is corrupt, but do not make an attempt to improve things and vote for the same blokes again and again...
These summer interns are used largely as sophisticated interviewers who can also make sense of the data that they bring in. I guess the companies know it as well. Who would trust a summer intern with the strategic intent of the project and take the trouble of infusing a sense of ownership into it? The interns know it too - after all, collecting data is not easy and is a thankless job. So it becomes a lose-lose situation for all. But watch the same guide/manager when he hires a MR agency to carry out this project!!
Vasudha
IN THE RECENT ELECTION ATLEAST, I THOUGHT THAT NDA WOULD COME OUT AHEAD BUT MAY BE QUITE CLOSE TO UPA AND LAUGHED OFF THE PREDICTION BY CNN-IBN RESEARCH TEAM THAT IT WAS THE UPA THAT WAS GOING TO WIN THE ELECTION.UPA WON THE ELECTION, NOT ONLY THAT THE CNN-IBN TEAM WERE ABLE TO PREDICT BY A VERY CLOSE MARGIN THE SEAT POSITION, TOO.
THIS PROVED TO ME THAT SURVEYS IF PROPERLY DONE COULD, MOST OF THE TIME, TELL YOU THE TRUTH.
This a very critical observation by Ram sir and being a student of sir in one of the reputed MBA college of Bangalore, I am very sad with the development. This certainly does not augur well for students like us who want to pursue career in MR. It is a fact that most of the organisations provide internships just for the sake of giving it and they find MR the most easiest option to make the students roam around without any quality guidance or output. Mr is the basic edifice of marketing based on which critical decesions are taken. Such kind of lackadaisical attitude from the organisations only dilute the strong image of MR and this would adversely impact the future marketing decesions. Hence it is necessary from the part of the organisations to provide quality time to the future managers who are really interested to give quality impetus to MR. Also the students are to be more proactive and make the things moving rather than waiting for the right things to happen to them.
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