THE TEACHER'S ROLE IN HAPPINESS BASED MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: A SURVEY BASED STUDY

In academic and critical quarters there is an increasing volume of research into teacher-learner relationships. Recent developments include studies involving education and happiness. This study investigates the role of the teacher in creating and maintaining happiness in management education. In course of our research we came across a number of questions regarding happiness, which especially in the Indian context become important. Is happiness a psychological or a socio-cultural concept? Is education a process of mere knowledge acquisition or posits an acculturation of value systems? In this context happiness and education, when connected, present a very interesting picture. In the domain of the classroom where, formal. education is imparted happiness becomes an inescapable ingredient to (or maybe an end-product of) the teaching-learning process. In trying to understand the teacher's role in this respect we encountered certain problem areas. In university education system should the teacher be more of a mentor than a monitor? Does the teacher play the vital part in creating a constructive and happy learning environment? Is it quintessential for a, happy. class to have a happy teacher? Does developing a happiness-education model have a profound impact on the learner's overall societal interaction? These questions reflect larger concerns about management education in the universities. Management education by and large entails the acquisition of professionalism. In such context does the teacher build the bridge between two very dilemmatic terms: happiness and professionalism? This paper considers such areas through our empirical survey of management students in a premier technical university in India.