Management & Commerce Tag

Getting Ready for Professional Life in Organisations

In late January 2020, Anahat Organisation Development Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. conducted a workshop for the students of the final year M.B.A. programme (separate sessions for women and men students) to help them recognize the options they have in their work lives and then guide them make the right choice.

The expert trainers, Sri C S Mahesh and Ms. Janaki Venkat, Founders of Anahat, and Ms. Sivakami Suryanarayan, Principal Secretary of Anahat, made all students take the internationally recognized Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a psychometric test that helps identify types of personalities and find ways to use personality differences constructively to improve personal effectiveness, team performance and manage work relationships better.

Students learnt a lot about their own personalities and strengths, and how to confidently use that knowledge to develop a career profile that matches their personality and interest.

The trainers concluded by making the students realize the importance of developing abilities in their non-preferred areas while maintaining their own preferred state. This helps in respecting the contribution of team members and considering their opinions with an understanding that each personality is valuable.

#SSSIHLManagementCommerce #SSSIHL

Redefine your model of the world!

Students of the M.B.A. programme participated in a self-analytical workshop, Mental Models, conducted by Ms. Shradha S Jaitly, GM (Finance), International Trade & Risk Management, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

They participated in two activities, left and right-hand column activity, as well as a debate between union and management, that enabled them to analyze their model of the world — thoughts, feelings, actions and results. The activities helped them identify their preconceived notions and deeply held beliefs and assumptions that come in the way of clarity, effective decision making and actions.

As a result, students gained a deeper understanding of their thoughts and feelings and learned techniques on how to release them. They were empowered to meet personal and professional challenges that come their way by adjusting the view of the problem at hand.

After all, not every dilemma is presented to us in the same way, nor can it be decided from the same vantage point. As a wise man once rightly said, two heads are better than one, and four heads are better than two.

#SSSIHLManagementCommerce #SSSIHL

A unique aspect of the SSSIHL MBA programme is to determine how the management concepts learnt in the classroom can be applied to help alleviate some of the problems that the villagers of India face in their daily lives.

On 18 December 2019, the I MBA students (Prasanthi Nilayam Campus) visited villages in the Anekal Taluk of Karnataka adopted by Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of the TVS Group.
The TVS Group has partnered with the Bosch India Foundation to enable the transformation of 5000 rural communities and urban slums by empowering people to achieve sustainable development. To this end, it has committed (at least) 2% of its yearly net profits.

Students were privy to several programmes during their visit. Some of these included the Dress Craft and embroidery design programme (which helps village folks sell their products with decent margins in the marketplace), the Self-Employment Training Programme (a three-month course for women aimed to give them financial independence by becoming entrepreneurs) and the ‘Balwadi’ programme, designed for the upkeep, education and engagement of children.

They experienced firsthand how these villages are growing in stature, the standard of living and confidence. It made them realize how we can make such a big difference in the lives of so many when we believe and take it upon ourselves to serve and give back to society.

Students also visited GE Healthcare, Times of India and TVS Motors in Bangalore, Karnataka & Hosur, Tamil Nadu, 17-18 Sep 2019.

Increasingly, in the current state-of-play, it is difficult for values-based leadership to thrive. In these challenging times, it is therefore crucial that we practise the fundamental principles of leadership.

On 17 August 2019, Mr. Gopal Rao, Managing Director (India) and Operations Manager, Landmark Education, and an alumnus of SSSIHL, conducted a one-day workshop at the Dept. of Management & Commerce, to address this.

His first observation was that whatever others throw at us, it has no impact on us unless we make it impactful. In all undertakings, more than keeping an eye on the content, it is essential to see the context, since context is the background that colours situations.

He then spoke about the importance of relationships and the human connection as a measure of the quality of one’s life. He stressed on the importance of listening as a paramount component of communication. Sadly, he said, we engage with the speaker who talks to us through agreeing or disagreeing, only to confirm our own point of view. This hinders the achievement of meaningful communication.

The most noteworthy issue that Mr. Gopal Rao touched upon was integrity. He described integrity as the state of being whole, complete and unimpaired, which is created in us when we honour our word given to ourselves and others. He said we must be willing to see that an incomplete task — even if it was left unfinished for a good excuse — is still a task not done and we must be willing to take ownership for it being so.

Finally, he encouraged students to follow three fundamental principles:

• First, if they wish to play the game (i.e., make the best of their studies here), they must decide to accept and align with every rule of the Institute.
• Secondly, they must live up to the values that define them as students of SSSIHL and identify themselves with them. They must be willing to be responsible for them.
• Thirdly, students must keep the promises that they make to themselves and others. They need to be true to themselves. “Your word is you” he quipped, “not anything else. So keep it!”

“Mastery” he added, “is being above what is occurring automatically.”

A unique aspect of the SSSIHL M.B.A. programme is to determine how the management concepts learnt in the classroom can be applied to help alleviate some of the problems that the villagers of India face in their daily lives.

Similar to the trip that the M.B.A. men students made, the I M.B.A. women students visited Anekal, Karnataka and Bangalore, 15-16 Dec 2019. The organizations visited included the Sai Vishram Business Hotel and Srinivasan Services Trust (SST). The trip included villages adopted by SST for inclusive development.

On 29 December, 2019, students also visited the Rural development and self-employment Training Institute (RUDSETI), Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.

#SSSIHL

Increasingly, spirituality and ethics play an important role in organizations worldwide. Responsible business ethics, employee job satisfaction and a wholesome approach to individual and organizational behaviour are not just presentations in classrooms and research papers, but are being actively sought by mindful organizations.

In November, the Dept. of Management & Commerce conducted a one-day Management Development Program, Excellence @ Workplace – The Indian Ethos Way, to address some of these issues.

Led by Dr. N Sivakumar (Head of the Department) and Dr. G S Srirangarajan (Associate Professor), the programme took the participants on an introspective journey though reflection, exercises, talks and discussions on the profound messages from the ancient Indian texts and scriptures that are most relevant to current business practices and how they can be disseminated to the corporate world in a suitable manner.

From Karma Yoga to Dharma, executives from leading organizations discussed how to bring about greater engagement and satisfaction at the workplace in the process of achieving business goals.

Executives included directors, consultants and managers from Hexagon Wealth Advisors, SimplyFISoftTech India, Siemens Technology and Services, Point Analytics & Business Consulting, Future Generali India Insurance, GE Health Care, Tata Consultancy Services, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Mentor Graphics, Al Shaya India Ltd., Capital One India, SimplyFISofTech India and Titan Company.

#SSSIHL #SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHLManagementCommerce#values

Honing the art of Analytical and Presentations Skills via the Union Budget.

On 13 July 2019, the teachers of the Dept. of Management & Commerce held an intensive 3-hour workshop on Analytical and Presentations Skills. They did this by dissecting the critical focus areas of the 2019/20 Union Budget (or the country’s Annual Financial Statement if you like).

These included vital parameters like cess and import duties, the interchangeable use of Aadhaar and PAN card, the allocation of funds for various sectors from defence to agriculture, the dream of a $5 trillion Indian economy, Encouragement of start-ups by the quick sanction of loans and tax deduction, etc.

Students presented the key highlights and facts via role play. They were further discussed and analyzed in a panel discussion, which comprised of students from various departments. Students then participated (with enthusiastic zeal) in a quiz, adding to the liveliness of the workshop.

The budding economists of SSSIHL learnt the nuances of micro-level budgeting, personal finance and personal budget and how to analyze these concepts in a balanced manner and also present the facts in an impactful fashion.

#SSSIHLManagementCommerce #SSSIHL

Imagine you are a marketing expert. I mean a real expert!

You are the Divisional Head of a manufacturing firm and have to make tough decisions based on the 4Ps – Product, Price, Place and Promotion – in a highly competitive marketplace and take responsibility of the outcome of these decisions!
On 29 June 2019, the II-year M.B.A. students of SSSIHL did just that, albeit through a world-class simulation game on Strategic Marketing Decision Making.

Marketplace Simulations was kind enough to provide this state-of-the-art simulation, on a free of cost basis to SSSIHL students for trial.

Dr. Ashish Sood, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of California Riverside, championed the simulation game. He used his vast industry and academic experience to provide the best hands-on experience to the students during the game.
The marketplace simulation helped to strengthen students’ understanding of the fundamental marketing concepts and taught them new data-driven skills. In this realistic international business setting, they ran the marketing division of a corporation for five quarters in compressed time (five rounds of decision-making).

It put them in the deep end of the fast-paced marketplace, where the timeliness and quality of decision-making can make or break the business. Students realized that to succeed in such an environment; academic fundamentals must be strong – not just marketing, but also operations, finance, budgeting, et al.

During the game, they had the opportunity to analyze various situations, plan a marketing strategy around them, and chose the tactical options amidst all the conflicts, tradeoffs and potential outcomes to implement and execute their plans. They also faced uncertainty from the outside environment and their own decisions.

Talk about going from 0 to 100 (read: theory to practice) in less than 60 seconds!.