SLAP Leadership

This is dedicated to Prof. Unnikrishnan Nair, our Organizational Behavior Faculty.

I recently happened to attend a two day session titled “Leadership” by SLAP. The session was more than interesting and, like my friend sigsegv mentioned in an earlier post, it shattered all the myths about leadership. There were about 28 people in the session hailing from Japan, Korea, Australia and India. Some of these folks had travelled 12/16 hours to get to this place. You could not choose to attend this, you had to be nominated (sic) meaning your company/managers needed to see in you, a future “leader” in the making. I was fortunate to be one of those. This whole affair was pretty expensive, just figuring out that participants had flown in from Japan, Korea and Australia would kind of substantiate that fact. The facilitator flew in from California, US along with her deputy.

The session was very well conducted and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was all about what leadership meant -Values, your conviction and uncompromising attitude when your values were challenged! We were asked to chose our top 10 values and then narrow it down to 5 and then to a final 3. Believe me, it was tough! There was an emotional session about identifying how and why these 3 became our top values. This is the moment of truth.

So what about values? Why do we have values and why do we need to identify and communicate/demonstrate them? This is done because it helps in bringing the connect between a leader and his followers.

What do we know about leadership? Can we name/think of some leaders? What were their attributes? Is there one common thing that stands out when you think of leaders? Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi? Well one thing that does come out is that these leaders were not born, they were made!  They believed in their values and when it was challenged or questioned, they chose not to compromise.

Gandhiji’s core value was ”freedom” – freedom to do what he wanted, freedom to buy a ticket and travel in a first class compartment….and when this value was challenged in a train in South Africa, he did not compromise. He chose to fight it and thus Gandhiji the leader was born. So how did Gandhiji get people to follow him? His value was freedom, alright, but all his followers had different values! So how could he influence them? Well, it was the unwavering belief in his core values and his demonstration of his values. An example of the chauri chaura incident is a reinforcement of “Non-violence” as one of Gandhiji’s values. Gandhiji was able to make a leadership speech in which he was able to express his values, the moment of truth (incident in the train), express the bitter place (British ruled India) and the better place (Free India). When Gandhiji could connect with his followers by describing “What’s in it for you along the way”, he touched on the significant, self worth and belonging pieces of Abraham Maslow’s theory. He “motivated” people without telling them how to get there! This, my friends, is simple, Leadership!

This 2 day session brought in a sea change in the leadership concepts and shattered myths. My thoughts went back to Prof. Unnikrishnan Nair and his class a month back on contempory issues in management. Prof. had conducted a session at the IIMK campus for the eMEP students. This class/batch should be proud that we had the privilege to attend a great lecture on “Leadership”, a lecture/session for which corporates spend millions of rupees in training/travel budget.

Hats off to Prof. Unnikrishnan Nair! 

The Businesslawlecturer

We do not have a subject called ‘Business Law’ but only one called the ‘Vibrant Subject of Business Laws’. We do not have a professor called Sebastian Tharakan, but only ‘Our Friend and The Businesslawlecturer Sebastian Tharakan’. Advocate Sebastian has made the otherwise concluded ‘dry subject’ of Business Law, really VIBRANT. His energy is infectious. His teaching style is truly amazing. His knowledge is supreme. Something very unique to his teaching style is that his case studies have characters whose names are that of the students of the class, which brings a greater involvement of the students in the course. Many a times I have felt that a subject is made vibrant by the teacher, the subjects by themselves have no life.  Although this post is very short and has no meat as such, I thought I still should have a post on this brilliant teacher.

Just took the bold step?

“Where are you doing this course?”, “How good is the course?”, “Since you are doing, I think I can also do it”, “Send me the link to your program, let me have a look”, “Oh…I heard they select everyone who applies, so let me also try”

 

That was some select comments I have come across when my acquaintances learn about me doing an executive management education. Well, none of them have really even made an attempt to apply. To make the first step aside your regular work is easier said than done. And probably for the first time in your life you are planning to enroll for an educational program without your parent’s money or pressure. Taking the first step is not easy. It needs commitment, well in terms of effort, time and money. Learning does not happen just like that as you spend years at work.

 So if you have applied for eMEP-07, hats off to you. You have taken a bold step, which was shunned by many. Brush up some basic aptitude test questions for a few weeks before the test. All the best.  

Choosing a distance education program

Distance education has come a long way in India from the very affordable and technology independent Indira Gandhi Open University to the not-so-affordable and technology dependent oriented interactive distance education programs. If one has a quest for learning while earning long after completing one’s formal education, these distance education programs offer a variety of ways to fulfill one’s quest. However the distance education space is crowded with a variety of offerings, of really good ones and also sub-standard ones, which makes it a difficult task to choose a particular program over the other. One needs to evaluate a program on the following parameters and then make a comparison rather than going by gut feeling or word of mouth

· Rigor

A combination of assignments, quiz and exams for evaluation will enrich the learning process. While assignments will make you dig deep into subject, quiz will be a continuous feedback mechanism. When the number of components of the evaluation increases, it is an indication of the seriousness of the faculty towards the course.

· Conduct of classes

The more the hours spent in campus the better. The in campus sessions are free from all distractions and its really back to school in every sense.
For the off-campus module it is preferable to have classes during weekends as on weekdays it’s a bit strenuous. Further, attendance needs to be compulsory – lot can be learnt from classes, if a course does not require any attendance, then the learning will be less

· Certificate awarded

The certificate awarded depends on the hours of class room. The requirement for a diploma and degree should be significantly higher than a certificate. Any institute awarding a higher degree without sufficient course work will carry no value

· Duration

A typical part-time certificate course should get over in 12 to 14 months. A diploma course should take more than 2 years. If there is any significant deviation from these, one needs to investigate.

· Total hours of classroom

This is necessary to measure the rigor as well as the cost per hour of class.

· In campus module

In-campus module should have a purpose and not for the sake of it. In campus session should be at the start of the course so that the learning process is rightly set in the students. Further, it is necessary for the students to attend the professor’s class in person so that the effect continues in the online platform.

· Access to learning resources

Term papers and other assignments will need extensive review of management literature which is not available at free of cost in the internet. If the institute can provide you with remote access to the digital library, it would be the best thing you can ask for. Further one should find out if the institute has tie-ups with other libraries in various cities.

· Selection process

The selection process is important to weed out the non-serious candidates from joining the course. A weak selection policy with no written test or interview would mean entry to all and sundry and thus diluting the course effectiveness.

· Alumni network

Entry into a good institute’s regular alumni network means that the institute themselves recognize the course and its participants to be of high value. A separate alumni network or no alumni network indicates that the program needs to mature

· Distant Classroom Technology

Two-way live audio-video is the best one can get in a distant education. A one way audio would not be as effective as it would sound like a FM radio! Playing of recorded video has no much value or a class room atmosphere.

· Upgrading of the course

The value of a course increases if it has the scope of upgrading to a higher degree by the way of specialization or via extra course work. This also indicates the seriousness awarded to the course by the institute

· Reputation of the institute

The reputation of the institute granting the certificate does matter. But the caveat is that reputation does not necessarily mean that the part-time course offered is equally good as their regular course.

· Expense and availability of funding

Availability of loan from banks and tie-ups of institute with banks can be helpful for the needy.

· Availability of centers across the country

This is useful if your work demands lot of travel.

 

 

 

Gang of Five

So, we arrived!

My friend has probably given a fair indication of how and why this came along. For me it was just destiny. A chance meeting of different members of the gang at various forums led to a grand finale at the IIMK campus. – The Gang of five! They called us that.

The spirit is unbeatable. The willingness to stretch that extra mile to reach the common goal! PGCM (at least that is what it is called now.. subject to change )

My recommendation for anybody who cares – Without your own gang of five, you will find it extremely difficult to scrape through. So ensure that you get into a good group of like minded people early enough in the campus module. For me, this was the best outcome of the 5 day on campus module.

The next best was of course, my initiation into the world of management theories and professor of calculus..but I will leave that for the next one

Till then – To the indomitable spirit of the Gang of Five

PS – This was written sometime in Nov-2006. Much waters have flown down the “Kallayi” (a river near calicut/kozhikode) as they say. It is still being published because the contents are relevant.

5 myths about interactive distance learning programs

1. The ranking of the quality of part-time courses is in the same order as that of the usual flagship programs

Not necessarily. If a particular institute say ‘X’ is ranked 3^rd and another one say ‘Y’ ranked 11^th for their regular management program, the same ranking will not hold good for the part-time courses. The simple fact is that ‘Y’ could be the best one for part-time course. So far I have not come across a ranking for part-time management programs in India, some good journal should make a serious effort in coming up with one.

2. Part-time distant interactive courses are same as correspondence courses

This is the biggest myth in the minds of several people. Although the richness of communication is not same as that of an actual class room setup, the advanced technologies have made it as effective as possible with two-way audio/video. Some times it also advantageous as not many will be able to talk simultaneously and create a pandemonium as it happens in the regular class.

3. Group learning is not possible in distant education

The technology for interactive distance learning and inexpensive modern day communications has made group learning very much possible and less painful. Group assignments force you to collaborate, so it’s important to find out if the course you wish to take has group assignments.

4. Distance education is in-expensive

Not in the case of interactive distance learning programs. It is expensive, with the cost per hour of class being 400 rupees upwards. Apart from the fees, you will end up spending considerable amount on using the internet for academic purposes and a personal computer, if you do not have one already.

5. Distance education is only for a resume addition and nothing else

It is totally dependent on how one perceives it. Of course resume addition is definitely a good part of it, but the power of learning and networking should not be relegated to the background.

 

God’s Own Campus through the lens

Term-2 In-campus session starts

This post on the blog comes to you right from the campus. We are here in IIMK for the second in-campus session of the eMEP program. The batch strength has reduced by say 12-15% as some students have dropped out or taken a temporary break; well that’s an indication that part time executive courses too will have infant mortalities. So far the most interesting courses have been Quality Management (QM) and Contemporary Issues In Management (CIIM). While QM demands some good understanding of statistics, CIIM is an amalgamation of contemporary issues in various areas of management.  The professor of Marketing, Prof.Keyoor Purani was of the opinion that the area of marketing would undergo a transformation for a more customer centric approach; marketing would be dead in a few years? That should bring cheers to the face of consumers?!?  Prof.Unnikrishnan Nair, who dealt with the aspect of Organizational Behavior in CIIM, blew off the myths that students generally have about “leadership” in his unique style of eliciting the answer from the students themselves.

We have the cost accounting class starting tomorrow; with Prof.KK Ramesh handling the course, it’s going to be worth every minute in class.

We are told that this course could get upgraded to an executive management diploma with additional course work and specialization. Although this is still under consideration by the institute, the fact is that they are seriously working towards that and one can see some announcements in 2008 on this aspect.    

PS: Prof.Unnikrishnan Nair mentioned in the class that he read this blog and found out that students liked his style of teaching and the text books that he prescribed.     

eMEP-07 admission announcement

IIMK has announced admission to the seventh batch of executive management education program (eMEP-07).

http://www.iimk.ac.in/aboutidl.htm

There is no change from the present course (eMEP-06) at all, except for a 6% increase in fees.

However there are 2 more short term courses, one  in strategic management and  another in finance. Finance will be really a good one considering the faculty for that area at IIMK.

50% through!

We are already 50% through the course with the culmination of end term exams in the weekend gone by. Like before, I would say the exams were a mixed bag. Let me take a look at each paper in the order it was conducted:

1. Marketing Management: One lengthy case study on the new Twenty20 Cricket, one on BSNL’s pricing strategy and one pointed question. Open book exam with just 90 minutes. Good paper to end a good course, I should say.
2. Corporate Information Management: Two case studies (2.5 pages each) in 2 hours, which otherwise would have taken a group at least 8-10 hours to do a decent job. But we had no choice, but to answer. Again open book.
3. Operations Management: This was relatively simple considering that there was a hell lot to study and the classes actually got over just a week before, so there was very less time to at least look into the slides provided let alone the text book.
4. Financial Management: Brilliant Professor SSS Kumar’s brilliant paper. Just tests your understanding of the concepts that he taught in a marvelous manner. The professor is to take one more course for us next term, eagerly waiting for that.
5. Strategic management: Just 13 pages of case study on Bayer’s Aspirin and 3 hours for you to analyze. I have written something, which I felt was an appropriate analysis from whatever I remembered from the course; results should speak if I did a decent job.
6. Organizational behavior: No one ever would have thought that this would be the toughest paper of the term. Every objective question needed thorough reading of the text book, not once, not twice but several times. Two subjective questions for us to reflect on (well again in terms of concepts in OB); one was birth order for job fitness and another was about introversion. Good choice of articles; a bit too tough in terms of the paper for working executives.

 

Next weekend we are off to Kozhikode for 7 days of in-campus session (on students’ request it was made 7 days, initially it was 5 days). This time since the regulars are on summer internships we have the opportunity to stay in the hostels, free of cost. Just cannot wait to reach the picturesque God’s Own Campus. Will come back with a photo album for this space and a report on what happens in the seven days at campus.

 

As a closing remark for term-I, let me summarize certain points about the course apart from those on faculty, which I have been writing whenever I feel enthused by them.

 

ü The course has been following the schedule that was notified at the start of the course with out any deviation.

ü Suggestions and feedbacks are taken seriously

ü Assignments, quizzes and exams have been conducted in an effective manner

ü Responses to queries from the distance learning center has been very impressive (thanks to Mr.Murali, who is in charge of the administration at the center in IIMK)

ü Exam results are not announced in one shot for all courses and it took more than almost 6 to 10 weeks for announcement at sporadic intervals giving raise to continuous “palpitations”