Aspirations and Dream

My childhood dream is to come at a position from where I can influence the policies of the nation. I see a lot of political leaders who takes the decision for our country. If somebody wants to be a worker in a company, he is supposed to have a minimum education. But we don’t have any criteria related to education to be a political leader. Or for the persons who take the decision for our country. On the other hand Rule has been made that Education is a fundamental right. We say future of INDIA depends on education. Does it mean that future of INDIA not depend on its leaders or at the persons who take the decisions for our country.

After reading all these things (My Dream and thought) a lot of people would be surprised because people would think that I should go for civil services or for the politics. Why do I want to go for corporate world or for the private sector? Answer is very straight forward and simple.

There are two sectors private sector and public sector. I personally think that Private sector is a sector where we can find out more talented person as compared to the public sector. I can learn a lot of things in private sector which cannot be learned effectively in public sector like time management, professionalism, working under pressure, Etc It doesn’t mean that I don’t have all these skills (Because I am saying that I want to learn all these skills by working in the corporate world) but if I would keep on polish all these skills then they would become the key attributes of my personality. I would like to grasp all of them by working in the corporate sector.

First I would like to work for 10-15 years in the corporate world to get an immense amount of learning and then after making the brand name I would like to convert my childhood dream in to reality.

BACK TO BASICS IN MANAGEMENT (T.N.HARI,RUPA MAHANTY)

Management literature is full of new concepts, theories and the academicians and the management practitioners are blindly after them, irrespective of their relevance in a particular content and context. The book is somewhat iconoclastic as it suggests a deviation from the current thought processes. It argues powerfully that instead of running after the current and emerging management buzzwords and jargons, the managers need to seek solutions to their organizational problems by getting back to the basics. Back to Basics in Management examines how management fads come and go but the enduring and reliable way to manage organizations is by the basics or management by first principles. It advocates a basic commonsensical approach to the understanding and use of management tools and solutions. The book suggests that:

All management mantras are not new' - they are often just regurgitated Organizations need to have self-confidence and have to go back to the basics, understand the root of each problem There is no short-cut to success' You need to build your own model and advocate a unified and holistic approach to problem solving in business. Most of the management tools and techniques we studied had no direct causal relationship to superior business performance. What does matter, it turns out, is having a strong grasp of the business basics. It matters little whether you centralize or decentralize your business as long as you pay attention to simplifying the way your organization is structured.

According to the authors, there are a plethora of management theories and ideas operating in the field. Some of them are Total Quality Management (TQM), Strategic Planning, Core Competence, Economic Value Added (EVA), Learning Organization, etc. The authors feel that none of these ‘packaged solutions’ helped either to turn around organizations or provide them with sustained high level of performance. Many of these concepts suggest useful ideas but do not provide complete solutions. If managers use them to reinforce their common business logic, it is all right. But the trouble starts when organizations discard their collective common sense, shirk the tough tasks of searching for solutions to difficult problems and embrace these concepts as divine mantras for salvation like blind devotees. The authors analyze the real worth of these popular management concepts and the theories and show why several organizations have failed to derive much published “magical properties” out of this concepts. Instead of that, they argue that organizations must concentrate on developing their own fundamental capabilities, create new frameworks within the organization and continuously test their strategies, policies and decisions; the authors further suggest some guiding principles for success:

There can be no single theory or approach or even a combination of them that can succeed, if managers do not use their own thinking capability before applying them.

Managers may accept the best ideas from the existing concepts but they should do that after due scrutiny. Those approaches should be suitably modified before being applied to their own organization.Managers must have an intimate knowledge about their own organization, its needs - both short term and long term.

The theory building exercise must not become an intellectual exercise and taper off as an academic exercise. It must result in practical application grounded on the hard realities of organizational life. It must be flexible and able to adapt to the changing competitive environment. Learning about managing through the study of basic principles is not an easy task. It requires planned effort. You have to enlarge your perception, develop clarity of reason, examine your own thought processes, create a positive attitude, and give free rein to imagination and creativity. Management by basics, therefore, ultimately boils down to attitude: the more positive the attitude, the better the results. Let it be clear that there are no shortcuts. Once perception and attitude are clearly developed, the basic perspective also gets developed. Anomalies and conflict may be there. But they can be resolved. Your humility increases and in that humility you discover wisdom. Managing by basics is not an airy concept but a concrete reality. It requires courage to shun short cuts and practice inherently difficult methodology. Once adopted, the outcome starts pouring in—is enduring and rewarding. The authors claim that in the near future, they will come up with more detailed documentation dealing with ‘exact steps’ for —and ‘illustrations’ of —managing by basics. The book is well written. It sends out at least one message or caveat to those academicians, consultants and practicing managers who blindly run after untested ideas, concepts and models without evaluating their use and utility in a particular organization. It also gives much needed reminders to such people to revisit the fundamentals which are required to run the enterprise. The book provides occasion for pleasant reading as well as real and useful insights.

Some Lines Close To My Heart

First man dies to finish his high school and start college And then he dies to finish college and start working Then he dies to marry and have children And then he dies for his children to grow old enough So he could go back to work But then he dies to retire And eventually he dies and realizes he forgot to live. To make money we lose our health And then to restore our health we lose our money We live as if we are never going to die And we die as if we never lived.

Ghar Ko Aag Lagaa Dee Dekho Aaj Ghar Ke Chiraagon Ne

Aaj ke is insaan ko ye kyaa ho gayaa, iskaa puraanaa pyaar kahaan par kho gayaa,

Kaisi ye manhoos ghadi hai, bhaaiyon mei jang chidi hai,

Kahin par khoon, kahin par jwaalaa, jaane kyaa hai hone waalaa,

Sab kaa maathaa aaj jhukaa hai, aazaadi kaa juloos rukaa hai,

Chaaron ore dagaa hee dagaa hai, har chhure par khoon lagaa hai,

Aaj dukhi hai jantaa saari, rote hain laakhon nar naari,

Rote hain aangan galiyaare, rote aaj mohalle saare,

Roti Salmaa, roti hai Seeta, rote hain Quraan aur Geeta ,

Aaj Himaalay chillaataa hai, kahaan puraanaa wo naataa hai,

Das diyaa saare desh ko zehreele naagon ne,

Ghar ko lagaa dee dekho aag ghar ke chiraagon ne,

Apnaa desh wo desh thhaa bhaai, laakhon baar musibat aayee,

Insaanon ne jaan ganwaayee par bahanon ki laaj bachaayee,

Lekin ab wo baat kahaan hai, ab to kewal ghaat yahaan hai,

Chal rahee hai ultee hawaayen, kaanp rahee thhar thhar ablaayen,

Aaj har ek aanchal ko hai khatraa, aaj har ghunghat ko hai khatraa,

Khatre mei hai laaj bahan kee, khatre mei hai chudiyaan dulhan kee,

Dartee hai har paanw ki paayal, aaj kaheen ho naa jaaye ghaayal,

Aaj salaamat naa koi ghar hai, sab ko lut jaane kaa dar hai,

Humne apne watan ko dekhaa, aadmi ke patan ko dekhaa,

Aaj to bahanon par bhee humlaa hotaa hai, duur kisi kone mei majhab rotaa hai,

Kiske sar ilzaam dharen hum, aaj kahaan fariyaad karen hum?

Karte hai jo aaj ladaai, sub ke sub hain apne hee bhaai,

Sub ke sub yahaan apraadhi, haay mohabbat sub ne bhulaa dee,

Aaj bahee jo khoon ki dhaaraa, doshi uskaa samaaj hai saaraa,

Suno zara o sunne waalon, aasmaan par nazar ghumaa lo,

Ek gagan mei karoron taare, rahte hain hil mil kar saare,

Kabhi naa wo aapas mei ladte, kabhi naa dekhaa unko jhagadte,

Kabhi nahin wo chhure chalaate, kabhi nahin kisi kaa khoon bahaate,

Lekin is insaan ko dekho, dharti ki santaan ko dekho,

Kitnaa hai ye haay kameenaa, is ne laakhon kaa sukh chheenaa,

Kee hai isne aaj jo tabaahee, denge uskee ye mulk gawaahee,

Aapas kee ye dushmani kaa ye anjaam huaa, duniyaa hansne lagi desh badnaam huaa,

Kaisaa ye khatre kaa fazal hai, aaj hawaaon mei bhee zahar hai,

Kahin bhee dekho baat yahee hai, haay bhayaanak raat yahee hai,

Maut ke saaye hain ghar ghar mei, kab kya hogaa kise khabar hai,

Bund hain khidki, bund hain dwaare, baithe hain sab darr ke mare,

Kyaa hogaa in bechaaron kaa, kyaa hogaa in laachaaron kaa,

Inkaa sub kuch kho saktaa hai, in par humlaa ho saktaa hai,

Koi rakshak nazar aataa naheen, khoyaa hai aakaash mei daataa,

Ye kyaa haal huaa apne sansaar kaa, nikal rahaa hai aaj zanaazaa pyaar kaa

IWSB

MBAUniverse.com Interview: "In spite of the recent growth, India needs a lot more MBAs," says Dr Ishwar Dayal, Founding Director of IIM-L & Chairman, IWSB MBAUniverse.com News Bureau May 13, 2009

One of the pioneers in India’s management education, Professor Ishwar Dayal is currently the Chairman of the Academic Committee of Indus World School of Business (IWSB). He was the first full time Director of IIM Lucknow (1984) and has been a faculty of IIM Calcutta in 1963, and later in IIM Ahmedabad. Prof Dayal has also held several positions including the Founder Dean of International Management Institute, New Delhi and Director, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. He also served several business organizations for about 15 years in companies like Philips India and Metal Box. Prof Dayal is a mechanical engineer from University of California, and he later shifted to clinical psychology. He has published 27 books and monographs and over 240 papers in journals and periodicals in India and abroad. MBAUniverse.com, India’s leading management portal, conducted an exclusive interview with Professor Ishwar Dayal where he spoke about his life and works, current trends of MBA education domain and IWSB. Excerpts from this exclusive interview by Sreetama Datta of MBAUniverse.com: Q: You have been one of the pioneers of management education in India। You started the fourth IIM, IIM L. You started teaching at IIM C & A way back in 1960s. How has been this long journey? What were some important milestones in your journey?

A: Pioneer or not I don’t know about that but indeed it is a long journey and I had some milestones. I started in IIM Kolkata where they had collaboration with Sloan School of Management, MIT and they helped us in building up the programme. The good thing about them was they did not impose on us what they were having in Sloan School. They responded to the problems what Indian industry was having at that point of time. I think that experience of working with Sloan School of Management, MIT was a remarkable one as I was new in the industry and never thought of being a teacher; it gave me a new insight. Then I went to IIM Ahmedabad. IIM A was associated with Harvard Business School. Again that was also a rewarding experience as they never imposed. They discussed everything with us but finally any decision which had to be made regarding any of the courses, methodology etc. was taken by us. I learnt a great deal about research from them. I had experience of working with extremely competent people, like in IIM Kolkata like Prakash Tandon and Vikram Sarabhai. There was a combination of teaching, researching and consulting which according to me are very important to pursue together. When I went to Lucknow in 1980s, new programme was developed at IIM Lucknow, independent of IIM Kolkata and IIM Ahmedabad. This was based on the research we carried out to understand the industry requirements at that point in time. It was a very good learning experience. Q: Moving on to the present day, the demand for MBA study is increasing by the day। Each year the number of candidates for CAT and other competitive exams are increasing. How would you judge this phenomenon?

A: In my view, the growth has to be much faster! The current numbers are nothing compared to what is required. We need to increase the number of MBAs in India. India needs more young managers. Q: India now boosts of about 1800 MBA institutes…how do you see the MBA education domain?

A: The question is not about the growth of the number of institutions but the quality of education imparted in these institutes. The effort should be to increase the quality of education - not only within the Management schools but in the University system as well. Basically increasing the scope of Research and development in Post Graduate programmes is a key to that. The recent development by the University Grants Commission is moving in that direction. Q: What are the key challenges facing management education in India today?

A: One of the main challenges is the curriculum which is taught in the Management Institutions. It needs to be updated with time. For example, in the IIMs when the curriculums were developed, it was suitable for that particular industry situation. But updating it is also equally necessary. Secondly, the approach to management education needs to be Indian in nature. We cannot work on the knowledge that was developed in America or Europe because the context of that knowledge is directly related to their culture and tradition. If the knowledge is acquired within one’s own culture and environment, it is more applicable and produces faster results. Another aspect is that more teaching material should be developed in India. The number of Indian text books should increase and their quality has to be better. At the moment we are using text books that are based on the foreign experiences. Though the number of Indian textbooks is increasing, the quality of writing is not as good as some of the books by international authors. This should be taken care of. Another concern is the quality of research. We have very poor research going on in the field of management in India. Institutions are not trying to undertake meaningful areas of research. Without that the required result is not possible. Q: With collapse of icons like Lehman Brothers and financial sector meltdown, Western (especially US model of management education) has come under some criticism। How do you see India as the possible leader in management education space in next two decades?

A: USA faced such a situation due to lack of its regulatory system. We are safe as our system has regulation. But even our system has some problems like over-regulation and corruption. As far as our management education system is concerned, there is a problem, as we don’t have enough properly qualified teachers. This is due to lack of PhD programmes. In this context, Professor Yashpal’s report also emphasized on more focus on Post Graduate education. Until and unless this problem is solved, India cannot reach the top in management education. Q: How should MBA aspirants choose the right B School?

A: I would suggest three criteria for choosing the right B School for the MBA aspirants. Firstly, the faculty and their contribution to the institute. Secondly, the teaching material which is used to provide knowledge to the students. And last, but not the least, the students must also enquire in what manner the institute is developing knowledge. Q: CAT is going to be held in the new Computer Based Test format from this year। What is your take on that?

A: Given the increasing number of MBA applicants, sooner or later computer based testing had to come. But, in my judgment, this is not the right time. This format is going to be very difficult for candidates from distant rural locations and for those who are not very comfortable in handling computers. So this is a cause of some concern. Q: You are now associated with Indus World School of Business which focuses on Entrepreneurship Development। The focus here is on Entrepreneurship. What is the methodology of fostering the entrepreneurial spirit in the students?

A: Entrepreneurship requires knowledge of technology, markets, finance, dealing with people, exploring new markets and so on. Risk-taking and innovation are the main keys of this course. Strong focus is given on the lab-based courses. It is compulsory for all the students of this course to take up an independent project. The faculty is extremely dedicated and helpful. The institute also provides economic support to students who need it. Some of the students have already started their own business. Research is an important part of our activity. This is one institute giving continuous review for the progress of work. Q: As the Chairman of the Academic Committee at IWSB, what is your focus? A Chairman just holds the chair। But most of the thinking should be done together with faculty members and administration। My focus is on the course presentation, integration and consulting other faculty members। Most of the decision should be taken by the faculty.

Q: What are the principles instilled in the IWSB students?

A: The key principles which the institute tries to instill in its students are innovation and tolerance। People should have that self confidence and self reliance to stand on their own. They should not be dependent only on the class lectures but must have an independent thought process as well. Without innovation of new ideas and tolerance, it is not possible to succeed.