GIM has been quite active and successful in training and producing socially responsible managers. The 6th United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Asia Forum, organized by Goa Institute of Management on 27-28 November, 2015 was one of the many activities that happens at GIM to promote socially responsible management education. The Forum […]
GIM has been quite active and successful in training and producing socially responsible managers. The 6th United Nations supported Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Asia Forum, organized by Goa Institute of Management on 27-28 November, 2015 was one of the many activities that happens at GIM to promote socially responsible management education. The Forum explored why and how responsible management education could be integrated into the curriculum of B-Schools. The forum also included a one-day workshop on Teaching Responsible Management. The purpose of the workshop was to provide teachers from Asian business schools with ideas about how they could inculcate sensitivity to society and environment.
The PRME Asia Forum was attended by more than 75 national and international participants. The international participations were from countries like China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, USA, Tanzania, Hong Kong etc. The forum started with the inaugural address by Mr. Jonas Haertle, head, PRME Secretariat. One of the participants, Prof June Qian from Tsinghua University, China said “I enjoyed the forum very much due to the contents of the forum as well as the friends I made during the forum. I would love to discuss how my colleagues as well as myself could engage with GIM. If GIM students like to pay a visit to Beijing, my office can help make arrangement.” The Forum concluded with the setting up of an emergent PRME chapter in India. The host of the seventh PRME Asia Forum is Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Prof Pamsy Hui from Hong Kong Polytechnic University gave the acceptance speech. We hope to establish a network with other B-Schools in Asia, and use that to improve the spread and quality of teaching and research on responsible management through joint initiatives, says Prof. Ranjini Swamy, convenor of the 6th PRME Asia Forum. The Give Goa project of GIM which was initiated in 2011 was appreciated and encouraged by all the participants of the forum.
The Give Goa project of GIM aims to help students become socially aware and responsible towards the broader good of society. Prof. Sukhathankar, Give Goa coordinator, hopes that with Give Goa, students would be better able to describe “real-world” problems and circumstances faced by the community and realize the need for engagement of business and individuals in addressing problems of the community. Prof. Manas Mayur, Give Goa coordinator, says “because business is a subset of and exerts a significant impact on society, it has the responsibility to help improve society. Since society asks no more and no less of any of its members, why should business be exempt from such responsibility? Additionally, profitability and growth go hand in hand with responsible treatment of employees, customers, and the community.”
Give Goa is a mandatory course like any other core course at GIM. The only difference is that it is a one year project where students of the first year of the Post Graduate Program are formed into groups of six to undertake a project at an organization in Goa. Each group is guided by a faculty member and by a project coordinator in the client organization. Projects are taken up broadly in the fields of Education, Social Welfare, Agriculture extension and Public Health. They are finalized, based on inputs from the Give Goa coordination team, the client organizations, and the students of GIM. In a survey of students in mid-2012, more than 75% of the 132 respondents said they got a better insight into the circumstances of less privileged people. About 65% said they felt more concerned about the less privileged sections after the projects. About 55% said they would like to take up the concerns of the less privileged sections in the future. Students appear to have become more aware of the circumstances of the underprivileged individuals. They voluntarily initiated several activities such as organization of a flash-mob- cum- street play as part of the International initiative called “One Billion Rising,” to highlight the need for women’s empowerment.
