Do events like amaze (IIPM’s annual festival) or carpe-diem (IIM calcutta’s cultural festival) really help in churning out “better” managers? Angshuman Paul meets eminent alumni for answers...
1940 was the year when American psychologist David Wechsler wrote a few gritty but little noticed papers in which he summarised his research on human behavioural patterns. Wechsler argued that human “intelligent behaviour” was, in fact, dependent on factors that were not necessarily connected with how “intelligent” humans actually were. Truly unique to its times, Wechsler’s study wasn’t what anyone in that era would have imagined to lay the foundations of an area of behavioural science that, it can be said, made men of B-school boys. And that area is ‘emotional intelligence’. Events that were not of purely academic nature, were introduced into the curriculum. And now, every B-School worth its salt has an ‘inclusive’ format for its annual festivals.
The question remains that EQ apart, do B-school festivals really add to a future manager’s managerial skills? Case in point: The 2009 edition of The Indian Institute of Planning and Management’s (IIPM) annual B-school festival in New Delhi, Amaze, that saw the presence of CEOs and top dignitaries not only from the corporate sector, but even from the social sector. A senior member of the organising committee of Amaze, Alpi Jain, argues that such B-school festivals are necessary for they reflect the inseparability of managing business and managing people. Does that mean there’s more to B-school education than our good ol’ classic case studies?
“Absolutely,” answers JP Singh, the former CEO of Bausch & Lomb, “I think there are many things which books can’t teach you and you learn them only when you participate in events like business school festivals. When you participate in such events, you learn lessons like people management and even how to flow/manage a project!” JP Singh would know; he graduated from IIM Calcutta whose annual festival, Carpe Diem, increased its budget from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh this year. JP Singh says that the practical knowledge he gained from his B-school’s festival contributed significantly to his knowledge pool, especially while he set up his own business. Today’s business school ‘fests’ comprise a wide array of competitions, including events both intellectual (debate, best manager etc) and entertaining (fashion shows, choreography).
And it only gets grander. Shah Rukh Khan hosted this year’s most attended IIPM-4Ps B&M quiz competition, Dare, in Bangalore, that witnessed participation from B-schools across continents. Then, MDI Gurgaon hosted its international online B-school festival – E-Blast. Harvard Business School has even become a “cultural partner” of the Starz Denver Film Festival in Colorado!
Amit Burman, Vice Chairman of Dabur India Ltd and an MBA from the Cambridge University, remembers, “In Cambridge, there were always some events happening; and my participation in them helped me a lot to control the initial challenges that I faced after joining our family business.
Vikram Tanwar, Dean (Academics), IIPM Bangalore, adds another viewpoint, “Apart from the individual learning, the fact is that a cultural festival brings together faculties, industry experts and students from other institutes under one umbrella at an informal level – such informal interactions are very much necessary for the growth of the students and their future networking.” Agrees Govind Shrikhande – Customer Care Associate, President & CEO, Shopper’s Stop Limited, “It’s true that B-school festivals bring together students and industry experts in a sharing-of-knowledge mode and are extremely important to the students’ overall growth.”
1940 was the year when American psychologist David Wechsler wrote a few gritty but little noticed papers in which he summarised his research on human behavioural patterns. Wechsler argued that human “intelligent behaviour” was, in fact, dependent on factors that were not necessarily connected with how “intelligent” humans actually were. Truly unique to its times, Wechsler’s study wasn’t what anyone in that era would have imagined to lay the foundations of an area of behavioural science that, it can be said, made men of B-school boys. And that area is ‘emotional intelligence’. Events that were not of purely academic nature, were introduced into the curriculum. And now, every B-School worth its salt has an ‘inclusive’ format for its annual festivals.
The question remains that EQ apart, do B-school festivals really add to a future manager’s managerial skills? Case in point: The 2009 edition of The Indian Institute of Planning and Management’s (IIPM) annual B-school festival in New Delhi, Amaze, that saw the presence of CEOs and top dignitaries not only from the corporate sector, but even from the social sector. A senior member of the organising committee of Amaze, Alpi Jain, argues that such B-school festivals are necessary for they reflect the inseparability of managing business and managing people. Does that mean there’s more to B-school education than our good ol’ classic case studies?
“Absolutely,” answers JP Singh, the former CEO of Bausch & Lomb, “I think there are many things which books can’t teach you and you learn them only when you participate in events like business school festivals. When you participate in such events, you learn lessons like people management and even how to flow/manage a project!” JP Singh would know; he graduated from IIM Calcutta whose annual festival, Carpe Diem, increased its budget from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh this year. JP Singh says that the practical knowledge he gained from his B-school’s festival contributed significantly to his knowledge pool, especially while he set up his own business. Today’s business school ‘fests’ comprise a wide array of competitions, including events both intellectual (debate, best manager etc) and entertaining (fashion shows, choreography).
And it only gets grander. Shah Rukh Khan hosted this year’s most attended IIPM-4Ps B&M quiz competition, Dare, in Bangalore, that witnessed participation from B-schools across continents. Then, MDI Gurgaon hosted its international online B-school festival – E-Blast. Harvard Business School has even become a “cultural partner” of the Starz Denver Film Festival in Colorado!
Amit Burman, Vice Chairman of Dabur India Ltd and an MBA from the Cambridge University, remembers, “In Cambridge, there were always some events happening; and my participation in them helped me a lot to control the initial challenges that I faced after joining our family business.
Vikram Tanwar, Dean (Academics), IIPM Bangalore, adds another viewpoint, “Apart from the individual learning, the fact is that a cultural festival brings together faculties, industry experts and students from other institutes under one umbrella at an informal level – such informal interactions are very much necessary for the growth of the students and their future networking.” Agrees Govind Shrikhande – Customer Care Associate, President & CEO, Shopper’s Stop Limited, “It’s true that B-school festivals bring together students and industry experts in a sharing-of-knowledge mode and are extremely important to the students’ overall growth.”
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