B-school roundup: Leadership Development Program at IIM Indore for Senior IAS officers

• Leadership Development Program at IIM Indore for Senior IAS Officers
• Young Managers Think ‘Green’ at SDMIMD’s Naissance’10
• Padmashri Deep Joshi visits IFMR, Chennai
• School of inspired leadership hosts inspired leadership conference 2010
• JIM Lucknow hosts HR Summit 2010

Leadership Development Program at IIM Indore for Senior IAS Officers

Indian Institute of Management, Indore conducted a Leadership Development Program for in-service IAS officers from February 1 to February 5, 2010. The five-day program was sponsored by Department of Personnel & Training, New Delhi. Thirty five IAS officers from fourteen different States and various Ministries of Government of India participated in this program. The officers had 13 to 30 years of service experience. The program was designed to build an understanding of leadership and to equip the officers with necessary skills for effectiveness in their leadership roles. The program comprised of five themes: understanding leadership, leading self, leading teams, leadership skills and strategic leadership. Eight faculty members of IIM Indore were involved in this program. Yoga sessions were organized for the officers within the campus. In the inaugural speech by Dr N Ravichandran, Director of the Institute, highlighted the need of transformational leadership in social development of India. In a guest lecture, Shri Bhushan Punani, executive director of Blind People’s Association shared the leadership issues of his organization with the officers. Dr Ravichandran said, “IIM Indore feels happy about the program as this program provides the opportunity to impact the social issues in India through the senior bureaucrats.” The program was coordinated by Dr Sushanta Kumar Mishra and is first of its kind to be organized at IIM Indore.

Young Managers Think ‘Green’ at SDMIMD’s Naissance’10

Naissance, the annual management fest hosted by SDM Institute for Management Development (SDMIMD), Mysore was held on January 29 to 31, 2010 at the institute campus in Mysore. The theme for this year’s Naissance is ‘Go Green’. The three day meet saw a confluence of India’s top B-Schools on a platform to ‘think green’ and brainstorm on various ways the corporates can be more environmental friendly.

The fest kicked off with a mesmerising performance by renowned musician Raghu Dixit. C.K. Sabareesan, Chief Finance Officer, Automotive Axles Ltd., Anand Kumar, Deputy General Manager, BEML, Parameshwar P Iyer, Principal Research Scientist & Head,Placement and Industrial Liaison- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore , Vineet Monga, Content Expert, Nokia Siemens Network visited the fest and interacted with the participants.

Each event was designed to instill green business practices among future managers. Over 180 participants from leading B-Schools, including Indian Institute of Management, Khozikode, Bharathidasan Institute for Management, Trichy, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bangalore and Manipal Institute of Management, Manipal. The overall winners’ trophy was bagged by Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore

Padmashri Deep Joshi visits IFMR, Chennai

IFMR, Chennai hosted a seminar by renowned social worker and Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, Padmashri Deep Joshi on January 29, 2010. He is a postgraduate from MIT who had got back to India to work towards poverty alleviation and is the co-founder of PRADAN.

Joshi commenced his presentation on the topic Removing Poverty: Role of HR & POs. The topic adds relevance to the present Indian scenario that faces an imbalance between urban and rural development.

He defined poor people in terms of ‘Person’, ‘Place’ and ‘Position’. Talking about poor people as ‘Person’, he indicated about social groups who are historically and structurally isolated and excluded from the society. These groups lack ‘self-efficacy’ and are stranded due to structural changes in society, economy and polity. Likewise he gave similar contexts to define the poor in terms of Place and Position.

He also presented a few shocking data on poverty in India. As per the Tendulkar committee (2009), 41 percent of population in rural India lives below the poverty line. He supported the figures with more data on the poorest states in India stating that the ‘poor’ are heterogeneous and explained about the kinds which are ‘Declining poor’, ‘Coping poor’ and ‘Dynamic poor’. He outlined that by understanding the kind of poor, strategies are to be framed.

School of inspired leadership hosts inspired leadership conference 2010

School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL), Gurgaon leading business school, has concluded hosting the ‘Inspired Leadership’ conference 2010 from January 29 to 30, 2010 at their campus in Gurgaon. The theme for this year’s conference was to bring together a microcosm of country’s leaders from various areas including Business, Government and Education. The event attracted more than 100 participants from all walks of life: leading corporate firms, NGOs, students, academicians.

The Conference began with a special address by Peter Block, world renowned author and consultant and Arun Maira, Member Planning Commission who spoke of inclusive development towards a sustainable future and the role that inspired leaders can play in the changing global environment.

B Muthuraman, Vice Chairman, TATA Steel delivered the Key Note Address on the concluding day of the conference and spoke of how business schools need to focus on leadership and consciously retain a unique, industry relevant curriculum.

Speaking about the significance of the conference, Anil Sachdev, CEO and Founder SOIL, said, “SOIL is proud to host this conference, which will act as a platform for future leaders to build characters, exchange ideas and explore opportunities to work together to addressing the nation’s challenges. The world is looking at a resurgent India and there is an urgent need for business schools to understand and research these practices.”

The core objective of the conference and the workshop conducted by Peter Block focused on key themes such as:

a) What are the new conversations that we need to build in ourselves: Character, competence and the enthusiasm of inspired leadership?

b) How can we channel our own gifts to build organizations of consequence?

c) What can be done to take responsibility now?

The conference had co-conveners leading simultaneous open space workshops on various topics over the two days and discussions had participation from academia and the industry. Some of the key members leading the workshops including Bimlendra Jha, Principal Executive Officer, TATA Steel, Rajeev Dubey, President (HR, After Market and Corporate Services) M&M;, A D Burman, General Manager,(HR) Maruti, Sushanth Tharappan, AVP (Head Organization Development), Infosys, HN Srinivas, Senior VP, Taj Hotels and Anne Stadler, Founder Spirited Work.

HR Summit 2010: A JIML Initiative to promote human well being through effective management education

Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow (JIML) organized HR Summit 2010 focused on effective HR education in management at JIM campus Lucknow on January 30, 2010. The Summit was launched by the top level personalities of the Indian industry and the academia. The theme for this year was to promote human well being through effective education. The program was commenced with lightening of the lamp by Professor S R Musanna, Dean, JIML. The summit successfully provided a one to one interactive platform to MBA students who shared their doubts and fears with renowned industry leaders. The esteemed industry leaders shared their thoughts and experiences with the keen management students on opportunities in MBA.

The keynote speakers for the inaugural session were: Dr V P Singh, Executive Director (HR), Devyani International Ltd., S D Tripathi, President (HR), SRF Ltd., Vijay Rai, Group President, LE Group, Udai Upendra, Managing Director, The HR Company, Partha Das Gupta, Group Head (HR), Escorts, Sanjay Gaur, V P. (HR), Hindware Ltd, Mr.Sanjeev Sethi, Area Director (HR), The Leela.

The keynote address at the inaugural session was delivered by Professor Mussana. He started the proceeding with the theme and objective of the summit. He said that there were many ways of training, developing HR competencies.

Professor Mussana stated that there were four measurements of an organisation’s HR practices. He thanked about understanding how effective is good communication, the ability to view the larger picture, the style and ability to empower others and to make them work accordingly. He said that HR competencies made one capable of developing his subordinates.

In his keynote address, P K Sinha, Chief General Manager (Corporate HR), Escorts Ltd. brought a new perspective about the different contexts in which HR could be understood. Expressing his views on globalization he said, “Globalisation is creating a flat world, both at the micro and macro level. At the macro level, it is a frictionless flow of capital and services. It is the sharing of ideas, innovation and concern at the global level. At the micro level or the firm level talent sourcing is done at the cheapest price.”

Sinha further explained in the context of the Indian demography where the country is divided into two hubs, north and the south. The north is young while the south is getting older. He raised the question whether we were investing enough in the North to instil the right skills which would give the dividend to the current knowledge. The answer would be no! He further said, “The demographic dividend will start reducing by 2050 so we would not be able to generate income which could have helped the population aging after 40 years”. The third context was sustainability and he said that GREEN TECHNOLOGY will be the next big growth sector. He also talked about different scenarios saying that HR had to transform itself by adding value to its functions. Strategic partners need to move from being proactive to responsive. In the end, he spoke of the various critical competencies which included coaching, project management skills, political awareness, scenario planning and risk management.

Rajeev Gupta, Managing Director, Resource Development International (India) Private Ltd. said that the different roles of HR have to change from being a co-ordinator and administrator to being a planner, protector, screener and change agent.

Functions expected to be done by an HR are: Attracting talent, Screening talent, Retaining talent, Training and developing them.

Gupta then talked about HR myopia which could be overcome by being clear about the end objective of the organization. There are lot of visible gaps which can be covered by having more understanding of the human behaviour, more knowledge about the work flow, spotting correct talent and having a deeper understanding of the skill set required. Therefore one should focus on in depth learning.