Faculty Development Program on the topic: “Being a Teacher in 2015” was conducted by Dr. Nikhil Varghese on 22^nd May, 2015 at IILM Gurgaon. In the FDP Dr. Varghese stressed on how times have changed and how has teaching and learning changed in the 21^st There was a consensus among all faculty members present that technology has become an important enabler in education and teachers today have to quickly adapt to the latest technology in classrooms. Two short videos on innovative teaching and a talk by Bill Gates were also played during the FDP.
Faculty Development program in the area of PRME was conducted on 15th May at IILM, Gurgaon by Ms. Ritu Sharma on “Responsible Kids Marketing”. Television seems to become a growing source of parental anxiety. Parents worry most of all about the amount and kinds of program / ADs their children watch, and definitely these fears are legitimate. According to a recent survey report on Television and Society it is found that, by the time the average child (one who watches two to four hours of television daily), leaves elementary school, he or she will have witnessed at least 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 other assorted acts of violence on television. Another big question related to this issue is what’s for marketer on cartoon channels for kids? FDP was aimed at analyzing not only the impact of TV on kids but also children as a new and lucrative target for marketers. Unlike books, television programs are easily accessible to children.
Faculty Development program in the area of Operations was conducted on 24th April at IILM, Gurgaon by Ms. Maheshwari Sathyananda on “Re-thinking Supply Chain”. The program started with a discussion on how globalization has forced companies to sustain competitive advantage by reducing lead time & operating cost, ethical practices in supply chain and product returns / recall due to quality issue, etc. Faculties were taken through the process of Reverse Logistics, Green Supply Chain and Waste Management besides a video which was played on Green Supply Chain. Faculty were divided into groups and each group identified an industry and came up with the kind of reverse logistics design and how it increases customer satisfaction and reduces cost in supply chain.
Faculty Development program on “Web Life Balance” was conducted by Dr. Kiran Sakkar Sudha on 10^th April, 2015. The rush hour life was discussed through videos and narratives. Prototype life and work cycle in the digital era was carefully scrutinized. The participants learnt that how balance is a subjective notion. Benefits and harms of technology at work and home were shared. To chalk down the role of working mother and father in the Indian context were given as assessments where the participants brainstormed on numerous conflicts and whether or not it could be resolved. Real life examples and setting priorities for healthy mind at work were conclusively acknowledged. The session was interactive and lot of personal life and work deliberations were shared for the larger connect.
Faculty Development program on “innovative social campaigns” was conducted by Ms. Shweta Sharma on Friday, 27^th March, 2015 under the PRME theme. The FDP focused on the sixth principle of PRME, Which encourages dialog among educators on socially relevant topics. The FDP introduced participants to the evolution and basic concepts of social marketing. The participants analyzed successful social campaigns and discussed the underlying commonalities. The session concluded with an activity wherein the faculty had to apply the session learning at IILM.
Faculty Development program on “Service Quality – The Gap Model” was conducted by Ms. Ruchi Shah & Ms. Radhika Madaan on 27^th February, 2015. The speakers shared the importance of service quality in different contextual setting and the possible quality components that needs to be taken care of. The participants learnt how to measure the various types of gaps in service quality. The speakers broaden the perspective in multiple spheres. The concept was very relevant and can be applied in every organization. During the session, it has been discussed that how an organization can improve the quality of their services by applying Service Quality – The GAP model. Various real life examples have been discussed during the session. Overall the session was very interactive. The participants appreciated the speakers’ depth of knowledge in the field of Marketing.
Faculty Development program on “Skills for Blog Writing” was conducted by Mr. Vikram Sharma on 6th February, 2015. The speaker introduced the blogging platform of IILM to the faculty. He shared the various features of blogging and how to create and share content. Vikram guided the participants regarding issues and doubts with blog writing. The participants appreciated the speaker’s depth of knowledge in this field. The FDP session was very interactive.
Faculty Development program on “Financial Contagion in Asian Markets” was conducted by Ms. Shegorika Lalchandani on 22^nd January, 2015. The speaker shared the concept of financial interdependence and contagion. The concept of interdependence of stock markets of Asian countries with the developed nations of the world was discussed. Some recent cases about crisis in various countries were discussed. The participants appreciated the speaker’s depth of knowledge in the field of Finance. The FDP session was very interactive.

Faculty Development program conducted by International Faculty:

Faculty Development program on interweaving “Cross-Cultural Encounters and Yoga” by visiting professor Reimara Valk from Netherlands was conducted on Friday 20^th February, 2015. The theme of the session was uniting home and host country cultures in cross-cultural encounters and how it can improve mental and cross-cultural awareness and flexibility. The session also resembled the philosophy of Yoga: Improving mental and physical awareness and flexibility. The FDP concluded on experience sharing on cross-cultural encounters and practicing yoga.

Faculty Development program on “Responsible Business / Sustainability and Role in Education” was conducted by Guest Speaker Ms. Stefanie Chen on 13^th February, 2015. She is a lecturer of International Marketing Management and Corporate Strategy in University of Applied Sciences, Voralberg. The concepts of strategic thinking on sustainable issues were elaborated. Various inputs were given on how sustainability should be inculcated in education. The participants appreciated the speaker’s depth of knowledge in the field of responsible business practice and liked the vividness with which speaker has presented her arguments. The passion of the instructor was inspiring. Overall, a good perspective on sustainability as a concern across international boundaries was shared. The session was also a gentle reminder to the participants as educators about their responsibility to inculcate responsibilities in students.

Residency News

IILM’s hostel life is an experience for lifetime. Usually full of youth energy, this month was a holistic experience for faculty and administration at the Gurgaon campus. A two day workshop from 23^rd May, 2015- 24^th May, 2015 was conducted for the office bearers of the Sri Satya Sai organization in IILM’s Gurgaon Campus. The objective of the workshop was to brainstorm and identify the road ahead for the organization.

The day started with the blessings of Sri Satya Sai Baba Ji by lighting of the lamp. The chants were absorbed in the surroundings of the sphere. The aura, the enigma of the campus and hostel was submerged in the ecstasy of the spiritual souls. The campus showered its outstanding hospitality and wisdom indulgences. The management lessons were linked with contemporary issues in not-for-profit organizations and were from the vast array of topics and were put into prospective proceedings of various sessions.

The overnight stay was completely relished by the faculty who stayed at the campus. In the words of Sr. Director, Dr. Sujata Shahi, “this enriching experience is a memory for lifetime and every faculty should rejoice atleast one night at the IILM hostel”. The lush green lawns of the campus were full of positive vibrations and divinity. The spiritual experience sunk all in the Trans state. The entire exercise brought everyone together in the binding principles of: Truth, Right Conduct, Peace, Love and Non-Violence which are also the core value of the Sri Satya Sai Organisations.

The Chair, Ms. Malvika Rai applauded the efforts of administration and faculty for organizing the event with such finesse. She shared that IILM’s hospitality is of super star level where her dream is to make this experience of hostel life a beautiful memory for life time for all the resident students of the IILM campuses. Although the weekend, but the participants shared that “it felt as if they relaxed after fortune number of years”!

How are you? Well, thank you!

Uncategorized27 MayKiran Sakkar Sudha

Wellbeing at Workplace

Extravagant wellness projects are been taken at corporates so as to ensure the wellbeing of the employees. It is a fact and an observation that on average employees spends the major part of their life cycle at work. Corporate social responsibility has by and large focused on maintaining “goodness” at workplace. The way we feel is reflected in the work we do.

Be it any nature of work, it is expected that enthusiasm is transmitted to the receiver. A gentle behavior and a least smile are expected primarily and then the performance output. Wellness ensures a sense of purpose among the employees and towards the organization. It is vital to evaluate the happiness and wellness quotient at workplace. Both dispositional and contextual factors might be responsible for the goodness quotient. How the structure of this behavioral aspect works has been briefly elaborated below with intriguing questions on how it could be ensured?

A popular positive psychologist Diener has a history of working on a behavioral factor – subjective wellbeing for the past 3 decades. Subjective wellbeing is general understanding of good living factors of individuals, communities, societies and cultures. The underlying factor of this quality of life and good living factor is “happiness”, happy life is good life. The evolution of concept of subjective wellbeing can be traced back to its equivalence with happiness (however, there are many others feel that they are different as happiness is episodic and keeps on shifting while well-being is more stable. Considering with the nature of happiness as an explanation to wellbeing, it comprises of two categories: hedonic, emphasizes more on pleasant experiences and good life and eudaimonic, which has a firm focus on meaningfulness of life, fulfillment and achievement of one’s potential.

It can be understood that subjective wellbeing is often evaluated in terms of pleasantness and unpleasantness and as reactions to life stimuli encountered in various contexts (individualistic, family, work, life and other social domains). Hedonic and eudaimonic happiness are both parameters of employees who feel “well” or we can say happily involved at workplace. Organizations should focus more on developing fully functional person. , that is realizing the full potential of the person and relating it with engagement, growth and skill development

How essential it is to maintain wellbeing at workplace is a question? The wellbeing of employees is now being ensured at workplaces. Performance evaluations and commitment of the employees contribute to the larger chunk of responsible management at workplaces, which are both byproducts of wellbeing. Happiness and wellbeing are the key ingredients ensuring growth, productivity and positivity at a workplace. It is a fact that a happy employees performs better. More or less, it becomes essential to trace the contextual factors as to what contributes towards the happiness quotient of employees. The culture, diversity, hierarchy, leadership, pay, and appraisal etc. at the workplace are some of the factors contributing to wellbeing of the employees which have been linked and explored over the years globally. On the contrary, numerous researches have shown that interpersonal relationships play an equally important role in the affective component. Some of the key highlights of what the organizations are currently practicing to ensure at the wellbeing at workplace are:

The hierarchical and divisional relationship shall be closely tracked.
To ensure and appreciate the decision making role of employees at every stage.
What kinds of duties are allocated to the employees? Is there a rotational role?
Whether or not flexibility is allowed to ensure the output and quality of output
Need assessment of employees on the periodic basis
Training and development at workplace
Constructive Feedback for and by the employees
Appraisals (360 degree)
Higher empathy with the employees
Framing policies in the favor of employees health

These are some of the factors which contribute to employees’ output at work and other wellbeing factors such as motivation, commitment, engagement, citizenship behaviors etc. Wellness of the employees is more or less impacted by both tangible and intangible factors. The close monitoring in the qualitative form is an interesting assessment method where employees’ goodness quotient could be mapped. There are also demographic factors related with wellbeing such as age, gender, religion, marital status, socio economic status and intra individual factors such as personality type, traits, ability, attitude and other dispositional factors. Aforesaid factors also contribute to the wellbeing quotient. The assessment of wellbeing is essential to map so as to have more generic opinion on the same. Recent updates on popular business magazine “Forbes” quote engagement, motivation, support and strategy as key drivers of complete wellness cycle: from work style to lifestyle.

At an individual level also, well-being is extremely rewarding and self-satisfying. It contributes in holistic development of an individual and helps them thrive. It enhances the skill set and nourishes the mental, physical as well as emotional health. Some of the benefits of wellbeing at the individual level are:

Goodness factor increases the mental strength
Happy employees present and feel associated with their organizational identity
Happy employees multiply positivity at home and workplace
Happy employees motivate other employees , adds up to the positive climate of the organization
Happy employees thrive for success and target on attaining higher targets

There is a strong need to harness wellbeing at workplace. It not only adds up to the individual competency but also is in the larger benefit of the organization. It is essential to tap the facets of employee’s wellbeing categorized as: the being and belongingness as the perception of future. This end goal of happier employees adds up to the common goal of intent and future vision of every organization. So, when people respond to the largest used greeting “How are you?, by saying I am well, Thank you”, they all should semantically mean it. Hence, it could be clearly opined that there are enough evidences on importance of goodness quotient and how one shall consider it as a prime factor of assessment at workplaces.

A wonderful quote by Dr. A.P.J. Kalam states “In a democracy, the well-being, individuality and happiness of every citizen is important for the overall prosperity, peace and happiness of the nation”. And so it stands true for every context!

IILM Campuses: Learning with an experience

IILM University, Uncategorized26 MayKiran Sakkar Sudha

Welcoming new Batch: P.G. 2015-2017

IILM is among the top notch B-schools of the country. We here follow the philosophy of edutainment. The classroom holds the most essential place in one’s life memories. IILM’s classrooms are equipped with world class infrastructure and visual aids.

We ensure involvement and that the program entails live cases, activities, live projects, simulations etc. Context specific content is created for optimizing learning so that maximum can be extracted in the given time. The teaching pedagogy at IILM is student centered where each and every opinion of the student is considered.

The assessments at IILM are stringent mix of objective and subjective pool. There are components on classroom performance, midterm and end term. This aids in ensuring and scanning any biases and early intervention so that scope for improvement is maximized.

Apart from formal education, IILM much recently organized ART Camp where artists from all over world used canvas as the mode of delivering some of the most sensitive issues. Art is a contempt expression and to reflect through these set of emotions is necessary for one to feel. The sense of belief, sensitization to softer issues in society is a learning indeed. Students in larger number participated and tried to build the association between management, literal writing and canvas paints. Vocational and inter disciplinary learning is a part of IILM course curriculum.

IILM, illuminates, express and encourages students to develop holistically. Wishing and welcoming our new batch 2015-2017.

Here at IILM, we ensure holistic learning experience. Students from all fronts join the programme and are engaged in various activities throughout the year. We at IILM focus on skill enhancement and overall development. The highlights of some of the activities over the past month where students set the mood are as follows:

International student programme:

IILM quarterly organizes international students meet where students from popular internal universities along with the In-campus students had experiential learning sessions on board. The diverse culture and understanding had thought-provoking learning targets for all. The activities and academic session centered on entrepreneurship and rural marketing. Key note speakers, Industry professionals, socio political thinkers were the trainers for the sessions. The participants were oriented to the Indian culture and aspects of management were acquired via involvement in these activities. Students are seen below (in pictures) enjoying the harvest festivals (Lohri/Bihu/Pongal)- Barbeque and bonfire, enjoying Indian music and dance; cookery classes by a popular chef from seven star kitchen if the country, Hindi classes, cultural trips, visits to craft market, N.G.O. visits etc.. Learning from these sessions was later related to developing pitches for a business idea and prepare a presentation on the same.

The campus walk:

The lush green lawns of the campus are full of student engagement activities where the evenings are made entertaining. The residential stay of the students at the campus is made memorable so that an overall learning takes place. IILM ensures “Home away from home” at the residential campus. We have routine yoga, aerobics and movie sessions at the campus. The melodious tune of Osho music at the solar system area creates an aura of positivity which chimes into the students’ personal room.

The food olfaction (Healthy body and Healthy mind):

One cannot sleep well, express well, do well until one has eaten well. We have expert nutritionist on the campus where best combination of foods is served to the students. The cafeteria is one of the attraction features for the students (residential/nonresidential) where the thought development through the stomach takes place. Tuck shop (munch food) and gymnasium is an added attraction for the students.

IILM encompasses student development from every facet. Every day there is a wish fulfillment activity for students. The behavioral introspection and expansion is the USP of “IILM”.

The highlights of the events conducted in Fall Winter and Spring:

Student- Faculty relationship at IILM: We have a quo “Mentor-Mentee” at IILM. Authority can never ensure responsibility. Hence we believe in mutual learning, by keeping communications open and do an expectation setting. It is ensured that all academia and peer life correspondence is maintained. We have mentee meeting sessions and mentee profiling reports, where all emotional, educational, psychological needs are taken care of.
Placement week: An activity ladder is set up for students at IILM every quarter. Students are exposed to employability skilling workshops to have a command over language, proficiency in self-orientation/introductions and basic conduct. Intervention techniques, stimulating exercises, alumni lectures, industry experts, interview skills etc. are the elemental activities designed for student learning.
Well trained faculty: IILM has Faculty Development Programmes for the teachers as well where the faculty is updated on current trends and specificities. IILM is the member for PRME, where well trained faculty is a minimum requisite. The expert faculty conforms to the international standards where students are also equipped with the global trends and application.
Student Engagement Activities: Engagement and motivation are key happiness ingredients. There is nothing like thriving for happiness. We at IILM believe that “happy minds are creative minds”. Our students learn, in the classroom, on the field, off the classroom and in the campus. There is a need that the institute caters to everyday; “everyday” exemplifies managing work and life.

Being a part of IILM is a wholesome experience of youthfulness, learning and getting globally trained at management skills.

Fact File: IILM has produced more number of CEO’s and Entrepreneurs which contribute to the country. We create values; we teach values and make the learning experience, a complete developmental training.