Why does the IPM curriculum (in IIM Indore) have humanities?

IIM Indore's Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) curriculum includes Humanities as an essential discipline. The traditional mindset considers Humanities as an inferior subject, but the truth is that Humanities subjects like Sociology, Political Science, and Psychology are very useful for Managers. Studying Humanities gives a wider perspective of the world. Nearly every subject nowadays has a “behavioral” aspect to it.

For example, Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance are emerging fields where the understanding of human behavior and psychology is applied to economics and finance. 

Similarly, studying Sociology gives a perspective on how societies form and work, which might be useful in one's career. Political Science is again a very important subject as it helps understand how governments and institutions work.

It is important to understand that whatever you study might not give you immediate monetary benefit, but that doesn't mean it is not going to help in the long run. No doubt that subjects like Statistics are very important, but running and analyzing plain numbers alone isn’t the key, you always need to have a wider perspective.

The inclusion of Humanities in the IPM curriculum is indeed an advantage that IPM has over other such courses at the undergraduate level. It helps students develop a more holistic view of the world, which is essential for future managers. In nearly every subject course of Humanities, the first class is about ‘why’ managers need that particular Humanities subject. Therefore, it is clear that Humanities is an essential discipline that every aspiring manager needs to study.