Indian B-schools to challenge world's best MBA prog: Nitin Nohria

Lakshmangarh, Sikar: The idea of establishing a Harvard campus in India is perceived to boost the importance of the emerging economies. The new Indian born dean of Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria feels that in near future, it is quite possible for an Indian or Chinese business school to challenge the world's best MBA programs.

The new Harvard dean admits in an interview with Wall Street Journal that countries like India and China will emerge as competitors in the b-school field, just the way they have proved their prowess in the corporate field. "It's true for American businesses, too, that had dominated the lists of the global top 100 and 500 companies for the entire Twentieth Century. When they started seeing companies from other countries on that list they said, 'What are they doing on our list. We're supposed to own it,' he asserts. He understands that the thought process of countries like U.S. and Europe must undergo certain changes. The two countries have to hold back their domineering attitude to make themselves a part of the global competition.

Nohria believes that the most important lesson which the Western business can learn from the Indian and Chinese market is to look into the domestic market, studying the markets' inclination towards goods offered at a rate, which no one would imagine to offer in any developed nation.

‘Unfit’ Deemed univs will be given a hearing: Centre

Lakshmangarh, Sikar: A scathing report slamming the state of affairs in deemed universities and its recommendation to de-recognise 44 of them will not be implemented without giving them a fair opportunity to counter the charges, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

This response came from solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam to a query raised by a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, which was hearing a bunch of petitions by blacklisted deemed universities.

The deemed universities, through senior advocate K K Venugopal, argued that the institutions were inspected by University Grants Commission (UGC) and were allowed to continue, and the HRD ministry had no authority to constitute the Tandon committee and accept its recommendations which were contrary to that given by the regulatory body.

Subramaniam tried to narrow down the controversy by agreeing with the Bench that if the government was to take action recommended by the Tandon committee, then it was duty bound to justify it on the basis of material which clearly suggested that the deemed university no longer functioned as expected under the statute and that there had to be compliance of natural justice -- opportunity to the institutions to present their defence.

However, when the Bench asked whether the "government was empowered to appoint the Tandon committee", the SG said if the Centre had the power to notify an institution as deemed university, then as a logical corollary, it had the power to rescind the notification.

Picking the SG's argument on meeting the principles of natural justice, Venugopal said the expert committee gave just 2-3 minutes to each university seeking irrelevant details that had nothing to do with the issue of recognition or its deemed status.

"What was shocking was the clash of interest as Tandon was part of an institute in Manesar (Haryana) that was ranked high among universities found fit to be included in the deemed category," Venugopal said.

He added that though Tandon had claimed that he was not present in the room when the case of the institute (National Brain Research Centre) was taken up, it could not be accepted unless there was video proof of his claim.

Admissions to 44 Deemed Universities Allowed: SC

44 deemed universities facing de-recognition got a breather on Thursday as the Supreme Court rejected the government’s plea that they be stopped from going ahead with fresh admissions for the session starting July.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, on behalf of the Union HRD ministry, requested the court to either stop the universities from admitting new students or declare in their prospectus the ongoing case against them in the Supreme Court.

But the court said it couldn’t pass any interim order as the validity of the government-appointed Tandon Committee — which advised de-recognition of the universities for allegedly failing to meet required standards — was “under challenge”.

“The constitution of the committee is itself under challenge, it has to be adjudicated first… It would not be appropriate for us to pass any injunction,” the court said.
Subramanium then urged the court to make the fresh admissions subject to the final outcome of the case.

In the meanwhile, he said, the court could continue to hear objections against the committee. But the court rejected this too.

The universities have alleged that since Tandon himself heads a deemed university, there is a conflict of interest in his appointment as head of the committee. The next nearing in the case is on August 3.

This year, IIMs see more girls making the cut

Lakshmangarh, Rajasthan: Women power. This is the buzz word in IIMs this year.

With many IIMs commencing classes for the 2010-12 batch this week, the institutes are witnessing more women than in the previous years. The once male-dominated campuses seem to be slowly giving way to girls now.

For instance, when IIM-Kozhikode commenced classes on Monday, there were 100 women walking down its corridors. That is, more than 30% of the class is girls, against 10% last year. This may be perhaps the largest number of women inducted to any IIM in a year.

Ditto at IIM-Bangalore — there are 78 girls out of the total 375 students. While last year it was 14% of girls in a class of 350 (around 49 students), it has risen to almost 21% in a class of 350 this year.

IIM-Lucknow is yet to complete its process. But officials confirmed that on considering the number of women who were sent offer letters, there was definitely a marked increase in the number of women in the batch.

Almost 25% of candidates who apply for CAT every year are women, though many do not get through. IIM directors attribute this year's success among women to many reasons.

"IIM-K, for instance, introduced an innovative selection process this year where in addition to Common Admission Test (CAT), consistent academic performance of candidates was taken into consideration for shortlisting and final selection. Apart from numerical scores, we also looked at other intelligences," IIM-Kozhikode director Debashis Chatterjee told TOI.

Himanshu Rai of IIM Lucknow said the weightage has varied for various parameters while selecting students. "For instance, additional weightage has been given to class X marks and additional five points given to extra curricular activities. Such changes could be the possible reason for more women getting through," he said.

Whatever be the reason, IIMs are happy that there is a better gender ratio in the classes now. "Female students generally tend to bring a large repertoire of management skills such as informality and social skills. Women usually bring in an emotional understanding to the job. A manager needs to have an emotional quotient along with analytical skills," said Chatterjee.

Agrees Subhashish Gupta at IIM-Bangalore. "Girls bring more diversity to the classroom." However, IIM-Ahmedabad has seen a decline in the number of girl students. While last year it was 15% of the total intake, this year it has come down to 11%. IIM Calcutta has more or less the same percentage.

Indian employees switch jobs to advance career

Lakshmangarh, Rajasthan: An overwhelming number of Indian employees feel that they must leave their existing organisations for advancing in their careers,

a study said.

"India, as a matter of fact, is ranked the highest at 56 percent where a majority of the employees feel they have to leave their organisation to advance to a higher job," a Towers Watson's Global Workforce Study, said.

India at 56 percent is ahead of the U.S. at 43 percent, UK at 41 percent, Brazil at 39 percent, China at 38 percent and Germany at 37 percent, the study said.

"The top management in India Inc needs to review the career advancement programmes for their employees if they have to retain talent in what promises to be a prolonged growth phase of the business cycle," Towers Watson India's Managing Director, Dhritiman Chakrabarti, said.

Towers Watson conducted the global workforce study in India between November 2009 to January 2010.

It surveyed employees in the 25-35 years age-group, predominantly male, having less than five years work experience, in mid-management levels of medium-sized organisations with employees between 1,000 and 4,999, a statement issued here said.

The survey observed seven principal elements that defined career advancement.

These were making more money, acquiring skills to perform better, achieving higher status/recognition, advancing to senior leadership role, acquiring skills to be eligible for other jobs, moving up a well-defined career path and making lateral career moves, it said.

"Making more money was globally the number one element that defined career advancement except in the UK where acquiring skills to perform better topped the list," the study said.

Another interesting aspect, the study noted, was that increasingly more employees in India are taking an opportunistic attitude and are open to job shifts to advance their careers. While 32 percent of employees surveyed globally said they would work for one organisation, this number was much lower in India and China.

"Only 25 percent Indians and 23 percent of Chinese employees listed working for one organisation as their preferred career model," the study said. On the other hand, 44 percent of Indians and 39 percent of Chinese listed following opportunities as they arose as their preferred career model as opposed to a global average of 33 percent, it said.

"This trend in China and India is symptomatic of growing economies and the optimism it generates. Employees here are more bullish about the future and are willing to follow opportunities as they arise," it said.

To retain talent, India Inc will have to increasingly engage its employees in every aspect-be it competitive pay, learning opportunities, challenging work, career advancement opportunities or being an employer of choice," Chakrabarti said.

Network your way to the first job

Lakshmangarh, Rajasthan: As a fresh graduate looking for your first job, you would not want to leave any avenue unexplored that could help you land a job. Campus placement cells, job sites, newspapers are all good means that help you look for fresher jobs. However, there is one more way, which may not be as popular but it is as effective as any other means. It is networking. Networking is sometimes the best way to land your first job. In fact, at all stages of your career, especially as you move higher up the corporate ladder, you would realize that there is nothing better than networking to make a job switch. Now, the question is what is networking and how does it help one get the first job.

Networking primarily means to develop a wide ranging list of contacts. These could be your friends, your seniors, people you met at parties, or people you meet on social networking sites online. You can use this list of contacts to your advantage while looking for your first job effectively. Your college seniors and industry experts would be quite instrumental in informing you about job leads, pitching in a word for you with the employer, giving you career you advice and giving you information about a particular company or industry. It is through your network that you can meet more people and expand the list of contacts.

However, a good and effective network is not built overnight. It has to be worked at. You will not get in touch with all hot shots in one day and you have to start from your immediate circle. So, start building your network with family, neighbors and friends. Then move on to their acquaintances, their friends and their networks. You can't be quiet and introvert if you want to build a good network. Socialize, talk to people, and get to know more, be helpful towards others, attend events and show eagerness to know others. Talk to your seniors and teachers. Seek introductions and don't hesitate to get yourself introduced. With these practices, you can look forward to making a good network that will help you get your first job.

Networking is not about bombarding people with job enquiries. It has to be gradual, regular and developed with effort. If you try and contact everybody you know only when you start your job search and start asking about job openings, people might get peeved. The ideal way is to keep in touch regularly. Once you make a good rapport, job offers will come to you even without your asking. You have to build alliances that would come in handy when you are on a look out for your first job. And it could be anybody.

Networking is also beneficial because many jobs are not advertised. They are filled by word-of-mouth references and through acquaintances. Thus, you can come to know about these jobs for freshers only through insiders. And a recruiter will always prefer to hire somebody who comes through a reference as it is the first level check for the recruiter. Thus, if you have networked well and go through an internal reference, your chances of getting your first job multiply manifold. But remember one thing that networking is not about making cold calls and nagging people with job requests. This will only end up irking them and spoil your prospects. Rather, be subtle and judicious in your approach.

These days, networking online is also a very good option. However, on the net, you have to be careful about who you are networking with. There are many social and professional networking sites. You can start with your college seniors and request them to introduce you to their acquaintances. You must showcase your accomplishments in your online profile to establish your credibility. After all, nobody would want to network with you and inform you about job openings if your profile is not worth it. Once you have a decent network, be sure to communicate with them regularly. Be as much ready to help as you are eager to seek their help. Also, prepare a strong resume and circulate it within your network. Talk to your alliances on issues other than job hunting. These are the lateral means of establishing a good relationship that will eventually help you get your first job.

Careers Killed Because of English

Laxmangarh, Sikar: A recent newspaper report said that out of every hundred candidates called for job interviews, only five were found qualified for the jobs. It is not that they were technically not sound, but that they lacked in communicative skills in English. Is English killing their careers?

A business barometer study(June 2009) done by Assccham on ‘Importance of Soft Skills: Students Perspective’ shows that 89 per cent of students feel that soft skills such as oral communication, written communication and team work needs to be enhanced to become professionally successful. Assocham Research Bureau (ARB) study says that out of 15 most effective skills necessary for professionals, oral communication was rated as the most preferred soft skill and voted by 76 per cent of the students, whereas written communication (72 per cent) and team work (67 per cent) were the second and third most preferred options among the students. Then where is the loop hole? Why the students are not able to compete in professional world in spite of realizing how necessary it is to have a good command on oral communication skills? The degree to which students develop these skills, determines how well we can communicate ourselves to their prospective employers.

Corporate India has two major concerns, first to hire good employees and secondly to train them. Many a CEO would agree that it is indeed a sorry state of affairs that young men and women who walk out of colleges and universities speak little English. For us, it has been a subject to pass, not a language to master, and moreover, the focus has always revolved around technical subjects.
If things continue this way, India may lose out on the BPO and software industries.

What's Wrong?
The pressure today on youth is to complete a B.E., M.B.B.S. or an M.B.A. and become a professional. The subjects that we have to study to obtain these degrees are many and vast. We hardly find time to complete the recommended books of their subjects - forget reading general books. Reading for pleasure is becoming a rare thing. And the text-books are not a good source material for acquiring skills in spoken English.

Demographic patterns too are changing. A lot of youth from small towns and villages are moving to cities to study or work. Only when they come to a professional environment do they feel that their communicative skills in English need a total dressing up.

TV and movies offer no help. The language they dish out is Indianised English, and sometimes downright hybrid English that you find in popular music channels and typical Indian films.
With exposure to such kind of language, what kind of English can you expect from the youth?

The Ghost of 'Raj English'
English, as it is spoken and written today in India, is not free from the British who left us six decades ago. We still find phrases and usage such as 'residence', 'government servant', 'for your kind perusal' and 'my superior' in every Indian English. Surely, these are not good examples of English as it is today.

The Mother Tongue Influence
Not just in pronunciation, the mother tongue also influences the idiom of English we use. "Why do you get angry for small small things?", "I told you that day itself", and "What are you?" are examples of how we think in our mother tongue and use English to express the thoughts. As many mother tongues, so many kinds of English - no wonder that we are divided by the very English we speak.

Careers do not even take off just because of this variety of English or non-English that we youth are exposed to in colleges, universities, and the media. This is compounded by reluctance to make reading a habit.

Schools & Colleges
Teachers and lecturers are bound by the pressures of completing the syllabus, conducting revisions and preparing the students for scoring better marks. After all, it is the top marks that define a school or college as successful. Constrained by time, pressure, and rules of the management, teachers and lecturers neither have the mind nor the occasion to work on the communicative skills of the students. In some institutions, the teachers themselves need to work on their communicative skills in English.

Fluency
Many a youth who rushes to a spoken English institute at the eleventh hour wants fluency in English overnight. It must be remembered that whatever comes easily, goes away easily too. Fluency is a matter of thinking than speaking. How many of these people are fluent in their mother tongue, let alone English? For the very first question at a job interview - Tell me about yourself - you hear replies carrying erm, hmm, matlab, I mean, and so on. It is clarity of thought that brings fluency of speech, no matter which language you speak. And which school or college teaches us to think clearly and cogently?

An Aptitude for Language
In order to master a language, we must have an aptitude for the language in the first place. Many people want the benefits of speaking fluent English, but we don't want to go through the slow and tedious path of learning it. Whether it is English or any other language, we must have a love for the language. And such an aptitude does not come to order.

If we all youth today want to catch up with a fast-moving world and catch-up with what we call global English, we have to transform from inside. As we take to changing fashions in garment and style, so should we take to speaking a language the world speaks. And this means keeping abreast with the world of information and technology. An inquisitive mind, a willingness to put in extra effort, and a constant awareness of the changing world will go a long way in making we the citizen of the world. Career then will be made as if by default.

Academies and institutes that teach communicative skills in English are good as long as we youth seek their help early in their college years. Joining an institute just before the day of the interview is not going to help. And merely enrolling for a course is not enough to get us the communicative skills. Active participation, an inquisitive mind, and persistent effort are the real ingredients of success at any course, not just the one for fluency in English.