The Research Mindset

 

Research in its real essence calls for unbiased analysis of problems, scenarios, and situations using scientific tools, to get answers and solutions to questions and generate perspectives. Research aids and gives direction to progress and growth. People and economies thrive when in a habit of research. The freedom to explore and analyze any topic under the sun that intrigues the human mind is essential for the growth of human intellect and human capital development. Good research is a good investment. Therefore, it is essential and wise for nations to invest in developing an atmosphere of research and analytical contributions to keep alive the discourse of development and freedom.

“Research is to see what everybody else has seen.

And to think what nobody else has thought.”- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Good research is research done in the context of a problem at hand. The research process involves observations, background study, hypothesizing alternative situations, experimentation or data collection, and analysis which brings out the results of the research to make new decisions or recommendations. Quality of any research must be maintained at every step to get useful results that can further aid policy-making and strategizing of plans.

The bounties of modern and civilized life, be it good concrete buildings to live, good food to eat and experience, clothing, transportation, education, healthcare, social work, governance, etc. have been a result of somebody’s research work at some point of time. There are many small countries like Israel, which give a lot of importance to research and development and have risen as the great economic power of influence in the world today with their products and expertise in healthcare, warfare, digital technology, and banking.

The research acumen and interest should be developed quite early, in fact from childhood itself. Children and youth should be encouraged to read, think, and question, analyze problems and think of solutions. The Indian education system is also making efforts to be research and researcher friendly and develop an ethos wherein an analytical mind thrives, but it is yet to make substantial progress in this direction. The education system should be inherently inclined towards a research mindset wherein good funding is provided to research projects and programs in schools, colleges, and universities. More and more national excellent research journals on the levels of the Management of Information System Quarterly (MIS Quarterly) should be established to aid quality research in the country. Also, educational institutions must stress on rewarding and recognizing quality doctoral degrees and research papers. This will prepare the students for the challenging job market ahead and land them their dream jobs.

IILM University is one such premier educational institution of the country that emphasizes research recognition and practice in its graduate and postgraduate programs. Research methodology subject is taught across all programs to inculcate analytical and scientific thinking in students and make them competent with research work and statistical tools that are very much in demand in jobs these days. Students read and discuss research papers, present their project thesis, give presentations of their research, etc. Students are busy with projects the year-round that involve deep analysis of case studies, products, and ideas in detail. This is one of the major reasons for IILM students always bagging top placements.  Besides the regular graduate and undergraduate programs, IILM University takes pride in its robust doctoral program that attracts candidates from across corporate and academic fields. The 6-month mandatory course work in the Ph.D. program prepares the candidates in the research process and research tools and develops their perspective in the right direction. The guidance provided to the researchers is immense and constant. The faculty, regular students, and doctoral candidates have published their research articles in top journals. IILM University International Conference held once every year is another very commendable effort by the University in its endeavour to promote a research mindset that contributes to the progress of the nation.

For all the aspiring candidates of degree programs in Management, Psychology, Law, etc., and PhD., IILM University offers a great environment to learn and grow, research, and develop. The learnings will remain with you and help you grow in your space long after one leaves the University.

The admission team or the author of this blog can be contacted freely for any queries related to admissions and programs. Let us be busy with research to always be at the front of the game.

 

P.S.: The author is a Ph.D. scholar at IILM University and can be contacted on email: Shahana.qutab.phd2019@iilm.edu

Blog on medium: https://medium.com/@shahanafatima/research-in-its-real-essence-calls-for-unbiased-analysis-of-problems-scenarios-and-situations-a108dc06fef?sk=e5295cffd3bb2800e7f62ce1f7b612e3

blog on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/research-mindset-shahana-qutab/?published=t

Dancing Market: Optimism or Insanity?

In the era of COVID-19 when WHO has declared it as a pandemic. India is under the lockdown for more than sixty days like all other nations in the world. All the economic activities were shuttered down till lockdown 3.0. The future outlook for the Indian economy is not pleasant. Analysts are expecting negative growth for Financial Year 2021. Almost all medium and small-scale businesses are in crisis. Most of them have shut their shops and laid off their employees. Big business houses have announced a salary cut for their employees. For April, the Auto industry first time have observed zero production output. The unemployment rate is at an all-time high. Scores of migrant laborers have moved back to their native places.

In this gloomy scenario across the nation stock market is dancing like anything. Though, it is not at the record height as it was during February but it is not that bad either. Eventually, soon after the announcement of the lockdown market slumped to almost half but this state did not last long. At present, the market is hovering around the level of 2017 which under the present circumstances is quite amazing.

Barometer of Economy?

It is time to evaluate the phrase ‘SENSEX is the barometer of Indian Economy‘. Is it a barometer to gauge the economic activities anymore? The stock market is considered a leading indicator of the economy. It was believed that there is a high correlation exist between the stock market and economy but this correlation does persist?

Fool’s Paradise!

Though the stock market is not a true representative of the economy nowadays it seems like the market has divorced the economy especially to all whatever is happening around us; whatever is the reality of economic activities. The stock market is not showing any concern to the more than fifty-nine lacs corona positive cases around the world and more than forty-seven hundred deaths in India. Stock market and particularly investors are living in paradise.

Future Outlook

There are various explanations for this insane behavior of stock investors. First and foremost, the explanation is that stock prices are always based on the future outlook, not the present. Present stock prices are the discounted cash flows expected from stock in the future. So, the present stock prices reflect that investors believe that economy will have a speedy recovery shortly.

Expectations from Government

Investor’s expectation of a substantially large stimulus package from the government went in vain. Investors have a strong feeling that the government will be able to overcome all difficulties in the economic front. The historic decision of reducing the corporate tax rates and conceptualizing the idea of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is giving hope to the investors.

The central government, as well as Reserve Bank, has already taken measures in terms of various fiscal and monetary policies to infuse the liquidity in the system. The financial year which generally ends on March 31 has been extended till June 30 exhibits commitment of government toward economic measures. Investors are betting on such strong interventions of government to boost the profitability of corporate houses in the future. The first year of NDA 2.0 is rated positively by various analysts which is enough to boost the confidence of investors.

Investment Options

Even more, now investors have not left with more options to invest as the prevailing interest rate on government bonds and all small saving schemes have been reduced. If we adjust the returns from these schemes with inflation, we will get negative returns for almost all investment products. So, the stock market is the only option left for investors to park their excess money with.

Optimism for Vaccine

Stock investors are at present feeling more optimistic about the future than the doctors and scientists who are working on the development of a cure for the Corona virus. Investors are expecting that soon enough a vaccine for the same will be discovered on which the whole world is working.

Black-box Theory

Another theory argues that all investors are operating as a black-box process. No one knows about the future of investments or till when this pandemic end and the road to normality be back. It is just the mere expectations which are leading the market at present. Investors are also active because they fear being left behind. New investors are considering this time as an opportunity to enter into the market at this level which may not come around again.

Parallel with Lehman Crisis

If we draw a parallel between the current crisis with the financial crisis of 2009, we get a hint from there also about this euphoria in the market. In November 2009 when the future of economies was pathetic even then the stock market across the world was mostly up by more than 50 percent from the past year while the economies were only growing by 1 percent for that particular one-year period. People were investing based on their expectations not based on ground reality. So, again history is repeating itself in the market.

Advice for Novice Investors

It can be inferred that expectation of the majority is driving the market than reality. Investors are not acting insane rather they have optimist future outlook. For investors, market timing is really important. For a novice investor, it is time to get into the market with a long horizon. If you have missed the wagon in 2017 then prices are again around that level. ‘Buy with caution’ is the mantra for success.

At IILM, students are being prepared to analyse the economic situation and to identify the trend for investments to be successful. We conduct live trading sessions for better understanding of the same. For more information on stock market one can approach at kumar.saurabh@iilmgsm.ac.in.

Youth Power

Youth is the most precious thing in life; it is too bad it has to be wasted on young folks” -George Bernard Shaw

I liked the definition of “Youth” given in Collins dictionary which is “Youth is the quality or state of being young.”  When you are a youth you are full of energy, excitement, hope and dreams.  In India 65% of the population is youth. Imagine the reservoir of youthful power India holds. The Youth is contributing   into different areas whether it is Agriculture, Art, Science and Technology, Environment Protection, Power sector, Health, Business and building the Nation into a powerful country.

Today’s youth is well informed, aware, questions dogmatic ideas and ready to initiate.

Garvita Gulhati and Pooja Tanawade were in school when a presentation from Reap Benefits, NGO brought in the attention of water wastage in Restaurants. They took initiative and started addressing restaurants and brought attention of water wastage. Many a times they were discouraged but they did not give up. Garvita Gulhati’s efforts has been recognized and has received the title of “Global Changemaker.”

Unfortunately, today’s Youth also experiences many fears which were not there earlier like cyber bullying, fear of not getting employment due to economic instability, fear of violence, discrimination, fear of conflict, War.  It is important to address your fears and voice it otherwise it can pull you down.  You become your own advocate, make efforts to resolve your fear/fears and conquer it. Speak up, have dialogue and seek support.  Don’t live in fear!!

Augustine “Og” Mandino, an American Author and write of the bestselling book, “The Greatest Salesman in the World” said, “Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. “

Recognize your fears, recognize your dreams, recognize your potential and take action now. Your life is precious and you have lot to offer to the World.

The World is waiting for you to “Rise”

Top 5 Skills You Develop While Studying BBA In Entrepreneurship

Starting your very own venture demands skills that are second to none. These distinctive skills are not acquired overnight and need to be nurtured. A BBA in Entrepreneurship provides students with the education needed to create and begin their own businesses. From learning about legal implications surrounding a business to effective operating strategies to scale-up, a BBA in Entrepreneurship gives you a jumpstart when you finally begin your journey. Below are the top skills you’ll be equipped with towards the end of the course from the undergraduate business school at IILM UBS, one of the top business schools in India:

Become A Leader:

The BBA in Entrepreneurship is a very hands-on program where students will be expected to work in numerous projects and case studies in groups. This enables the development of leadership skills and specialized competencies required to lead a new business, scale-up and adapt to changing environments.

Develop An Entrepreneurial Mindset:

Learn how to apply new ideas, methods, and perspectives to businesses and projects.

The program helps students gain confidence and certainty in their business idea and apply it in the real world with the structures and systems learned at the b-school.

Embrace Innovation:

Furthermore, the program also enables students to develop skills in innovation and creativity, helping them acquire the ability to understand consumer needs and demands and develop products and services accordingly. The ability to gauge untapped needs in the market is a skill that is developed over time through the detailed analysis of numerous case studies at the b-school.

Gain The Tools To Be Highly Competitive:

Courses in accounting, information technologies, and entrepreneurial finance help you develop invaluable hard skills, especially when procured from IILM UBS, which is amongst the best BBA colleges in India. Additionally, soft skills like leadership and people management will be obtained through group projects, giving you a firm foundation to start your own business.

Develop A Global Network:

Networking skills are crucial in the business environment. The ability to make valuable contacts, maintain contacts and know when to use them is important in the real world. Earn a BBA in Entrepreneurship from IILM UBS and take advantage of the professional relationships and connections in made at the b-school.

After the completion of the course, students will be empowered with the tools to fashion new products or services and oversee developments for existing companies the world over. Not only that, they’ll be able to make valuable contacts, further develop their skills into core competencies and deal with the pressures of a big corporate job or their own business efficiently.

4th Annual Entrepreneurship & Family Business Conference on “Changing Paradigms: Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Family Business”

IILM institute for Higher Education organized the Fourth Annual Entrepreneurship and Family Business Conference on 6th April 2018 at its Lodhi Road Campus. The conference was centered on the theme “Changing Paradigms: Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Family Business“. This conference aimed to explore the importance of innovation and sustainability for an entrepreneur and associated opportunities and risks. The conference also uncovered the key challenges faced by Family Businesses in high potential economies such as India in the era of digitization and the need for digital transformation for sustenance. The Conference was structured around three key sessions.
The conference began with the welcome remarks by Dr. Daisy Mathur Jain, Dean IILM-UBS. In her welcome address Dr. Daisy gave an overview of the Entrepreneurship focus at IILM with special focus on opportunities that students get to gain experience and hone their skills. She also spoke about the various international affiliations IILM has with Universities across the globe. IILM is also affiliated with the Family Firm Institute (FFI), Boston. This year, IILM is also introducing an M.Sc. in Family Business as a post graduate specialization in partnership with SBS Swiss Business School, Switzerland.

The Inaugural session comprised a keynote session by Ms. Sonu Bhasin, Founder, Families and Business, highlighted that family businesses are the unsung heroes of the Indian economy by citing interesting figures to support her claim. She fervently held that Entrepreneurship is a state of mind and an ability to get things done, using the analogy of a line black ants and the flow of water. She also underlines that failure does not stop entrepreneurs, rather it eggs them on, because they believe in their purpose. She added that it is important to remember and keep the focus on the family values for a family business to succeed and remain successful. She ended on a positive note that today the time is right to start and entrepreneurship because digitization has reduced capital requirements, technology is an enabler that has opened a plethora of opportunities to this generation that earlier ones did not have access to. She urged the youngsters to go ahead and start something new.

The first plenary session was entitled “Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability”wherein Ms. Guneesha Kohli, Business Head Malika International, Mr. Sameer Talwar, Founder Entrepreneur of Excellence, Mr. Raman Talwar, Founder Simulanis and Mr. Rijul Bajaj, Co-founder Samshek Foundation shared their insights. The speakers emphasized that innovation is nothing but challenging every assumption and reinventing what you do to make it faster, more efficient and better. Each of them, through personal examples, underscored the need to be open to failures, to learn from them, to stand up once again and to not give up on the dreams.
The second plenary session on the topic “Digital Transformation of Family Business Firms” was also the closing plenary. Mr. Virendra Teotia, Owner Umrao Hotels, Mr. Ridhay Khanna, Owner, HH Global and Mr. Aviral Aggarwal, Director Bikanerwala, shared their experience and paved the possible way forward.Each of them spoke about the role that technology and digitization plays in reducing costs in massive ways for marketing and for reach, for building customer relationship and branding. They also underlined the need to be flexible and adapt to technological change by transforming business and the way it is run.

Active participation from students and faculty made the conference a great success.It provided an opportunity for students and faculty to engage with and listen to new ideas and experiences from distinguished speakers and also to network with established entrepreneurs and investors.

4th Annual Entrepreneurship & Family Business Conference on “Changing Paradigms: Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Family Business”

IILM institute for Higher Education organized the Fourth Annual Entrepreneurship and Family Business Conference on 6th April 2018 at its Lodhi Road Campus.  The conference was centered on the theme “Changing Paradigms: Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Family Business”. This conference aimed to explore the importance of innovation and sustainability for an entrepreneur and associated opportunities and risks. The conference also uncovered the key challenges faced by Family Businesses in high potential economies such as India in the era of digitization and the need for digital transformation for sustenance. The Conference was structured around three key sessions.

The conference began with the welcome remarks by Dr. Daisy Mathur Jain, Dean IILM-UBS. In her welcome address Dr. Daisy gave an overview of the Entrepreneurship focus at IILM with special focus on opportunities that students get to gain experience and hone their skills. She also spoke about the various international affiliations IILM has with Universities across the globe. IILM is also affiliated with the Family Firm Institute (FFI), Boston. This year, IILM is also introducing an M.Sc. in Family Business as a post graduate specialization in partnership with SBS Swiss Business School, Switzerland.

The Inaugural session comprised a keynote session by Ms. Sonu Bhasin, Founder, Families and Business, highlighted that family businesses are the unsung heroes of the Indian economy by citing interesting figures to support her claim. She fervently held that Entrepreneurship is a state of mind and an ability to get things done, using the analogy of a line black ants and the flow of water. She also underlines that failure does not stop entrepreneurs, rather it eggs them on, because they believe in their purpose. She added that it is important to remember and keep the focus on the family values for a family business to succeed and remain successful. She ended on a positive note that today the time is right to start and entrepreneurship because digitization has reduced capital requirements, technology is an enabler that has opened a plethora of opportunities to this generation that earlier ones did not have access to. She urged the youngsters to go ahead and start something new.

The first plenary sessionwas entitled “Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability”wherein Ms. Guneesha Kohli, Business Head Malika International, Mr. Sameer Talwar, Founder Entrepreneur of Excellence, Mr. Raman Talwar, Founder Simulanis and Mr. Rijul Bajaj, Co-founder Samshek Foundation shared their insights. The speakers emphasized that innovation is nothing but challenging every assumption and reinventing what you do to make it faster, more efficient and better. Each of them, through personal examples,  underscored the need to be open to failures, to learn from them, to stand up once again and to not give up on the dreams.

The second plenary session on the topic “Digital Transformation of Family Business Firms” was also the closing plenary. Mr. Virendra Teotia, Owner Umrao Hotels, Mr. Ridhay Khanna, Owner, HH Global and Mr. Aviral Aggarwal, Director Bikanerwala, shared their experience and paved the possible way forward.Each of them spoke about the role that technology and digitization plays in reducing costs in massive ways for marketing and for reach, for building customer relationship and branding. They also underlined the need to be flexible and adapt to technological change by transforming business and the way it is run.

Active participation from students and faculty made the conference a great success.Itprovided an opportunity for students and faculty to engage with and listen to new ideas and experiences from distinguished speakers and also to network with established entrepreneurs and investors.

Embrace – Warp to Entrepreneurship: Marketing Conference

In the recent years, an invincible startup movement has unfolded within our country. India has caught the eyes of the world as it is now home to second most tech startups after China and the ranking in number of total startups puts our country in top 5, globally.
IILM Graduate School of Management and Bizzino strategist presented “EMBRACE” the Marketing Conference on 27/2/2018. The conference aimed at providing students, access world class technology veterans, startup ecosystem, startup founders and their stories and more.


INAUGRAL SESSION
After a brief introduction to the conference, the inaugural session began with inspiring words from Dr. Sanchita Ghosh, Area chair Marketing, and Prof. Arun Gupta, Area chair Entrepreneurship.
The session started with the address from our key note speakers, Mr. Anupam Saronwala and Mr. Sameep Singhania. Mr. Saronwala is an expert of Internet of Things (IOT). He emphasized on the importance of exposure to new technologies for a start up to thrive and survive. He said that convincing investors to finance the venture is very critical and is becoming difficult with each passing day. However, he considered three areas, which if given substantial thought and actions taken accordingly, funding would not be a problem. 
The first area was the team. While building the team, an entrepreneur should have people from multiple disciplines and everyone should have domain expertise. The next was that the target market size should be large enough to boil down to a good amount of target customers. 
He then introduced the audience with the third and the most important point that an entrepreneur should be aware of the fact that his product/service can be easily replicated, if not patented. So there must be a differentiator in the product/service which minimizes the chances of duplication.
The enthusiastic pace set by Mr. Anupam was followed by that of Mr. Sameep Singhania, who through his insightful explanations proved his expertise in the area of block chain development and consultant. He helped the audience understand how block chain functions. He clarified that bitcoin is just one of many applications of block chain. He further added that this is going to be the future of technology, one that will become a necessity for every business. 
As this is an area where youngsters are really interested in so the address was interactive and Mr. Singhania facilitated the understanding of all concepts that came up in the form of questions from the young minds or the future entrepreneurs who were attending the conference.


SESSION 2: PANEL DISCUSSION
The Inaugural session set the theme for the conference. The first speaker of the second session was Mr. Pranav Jha, who runs a startup community on facebook named “Startup Noida”. He emphasized on the power of digital groups, Facebook pages and communities. He added how influence marketing starts off as an activity and then it becomes a trend and that it is possibly the best way of creating awareness about the startup and captures the attention of angel investors.
This was followed by the interaction with Mr. Shashank Singhania, a digital marketing consultant. He threw light on the concept of native marketing and how its use is spreading across digital platforms. He further added that even though some digital products are free, it is difficult to get people to try them. He explained how becoming digital is important for a business as a digital technology can facilitate tracking any information. He then introduced a concept of smart marketing in which fake reviews of a product is added by the company itself to facilitate sales.
Then we had our last panelist for the conference, Mr. Harpreet Singh, who started his address by introducing the concept of startup ecosystem. Then he mentioned some of the common challenges almost every startup faces at the time of its initiation and first few months of survival. He said that it is difficult to find the right mentors and right manpower and dealing with customer non acceptance and family pressure is no easy task. He informed the audience of the A-Z list for the success of a startup where A stands for Attitude and Z stands for Zeal of the entrepreneur. He ended his address by quoting a very famous dialogue of movie 3 Idiots ‘Chase excellence, success will follow’.
This marked the end to the conference after a brisk question answer round between the panelists and the students.

Industry Academia Meet 2018

Conventionally, education is portrayed as a process of enabling learning or acquiring knowledge, habits & skills with the intention to be transformed into a socially acceptable person. Right education unbolts plethora of avenues for an individual which can be exploited to reap resounding success in life. With changing times, the education system too, has become irrevocably dynamic and hence the responsibility of educators heaves up manifold to equip future leaders with an accurate incubator for maximum mutual benefit. Evidently, organizations constantly put an employee’s mettle to a test by observing how poised he/she is in countering mundane business worries. Hence, employers incessantly hunt for people who are cognitively flexible, smart & confident to make their business grow.

As thoughtful educators, the management of IILM decided to engage in a radical discussion with established loyalists to identify the lacunae and incorporate suggestions to make the teaching model oriented towards students’ success. The objective of the Industry Academia Meet 2018 was thus boiled down to acclimatize with measures that add up in making a student fit for the corporate world. The deliberated meet also intended to probe for ways to inculcate practices that make teaching model most innovative. Restraining students to classroom teachings could be quite delirious to their careers and would eventually hamper the organizational excellency, especially in the contemporary set up because organizations are in dire need of versatile personnel.

To address & resolve this perceptible issue, eminent personalities from organizations like Future Group, IndusInd Bank, Nestle, Bata, Oracle & Marks & Spencer nodded to participate in the dialogue. The discussion peeled off with Senior Director and other Faculty Associates elaborating about the prevailing structure of education at IILM, wherein they explicitly explained all the modules across different domains of specialization, the blueprint of extra-curricular activities, management-oriented engagements & finally expressed the openness to adopt experimental learning. Post understanding the entire schema, the industry guests adorned the gathering with alluring propositions, some of which are envisaged as under:

  • Students must drive majority of functions: Borrowing cues from his alma mater, one of the guests suggested that a student would learn more by doing. A platform must be created whereby students are given lead to plan and execute events, sessions or festivals as learning does not happen in isolation. Doing so will help them learn how to tackle difficulties and think faster.
  • Clarity of thought process: This goes to explain the ambiguity that virtually no student is spared of while thinking about choosing the specialization. One way to sort this issue is by connecting every student to industry mentors over and above the faculty mentors to keep them at pace with industry expectations from different domains. Once this is achieved, the college must give all possible insights relevant to that domain.
  • Student focus is most pivotal: An important point enumerated by one of guests signaled that most students keep hopping off across different verticals that ultimately fosters job dissatisfaction and resentment. Thus, a student must investigate his/her area of interest to perform sensibly at workplace. The aim must not be to get the job but to make a career.
  • Curriculum must lay more emphasis on learning through case studies. This form of education is more practical and would enhance the attitude of brainstorming.
  • Faculty training: It meant to highlight the importance giving proper, timely inductions to faculty members so that their contribution is also improved. This would also help them understand that every student is different and needs to be developed on a case to case basis.
  • Working on soft skills: Students need to be highly polished while presenting themselves to the community. Dashing communication skills are a per-requisite to business success and must thus be given prime importance.
  • Summer Internship Program (SIP): By far one of the most influential factors in securing jobs is by demonstrating the learning acquired by a candidate during his/her apprenticeship. Most organizations welcome candidate with a good foundation and prior understanding of business know how which could be established through undergoing a good training. The guest also suggested that students must be mentally tough to advocate severe grinding during this stint as it ultimately does more good than harm. Important to mention that it also reduces organization’s cost in some cases.
  • Use of technology: Technology should be used in a wise way. It should not jeopardize the use of books that have world of wisdom and better ways to sort our queries.
  • Institutions must also give time to students to absorb huge amount of information as well as time to introspect. Some of the top colleges have molded their curriculum to match with a student’s requirements.
  • Use of LinkedIn: This undoubtedly remains an indomitable source to search numerous opportunities. Accordingly, it can induce active learning and serve to be a multipurpose source.

Delving into these suggestions would lead to rewarding outcomes, for both students and the institute. In totality, the agenda to explore and acquire progressive ideas was adequately met. It is a matter of pride and honour that these suggestions would be incorporated in IILM’s silver jubilee year of establishment coupled with its achievement to be accoladed as a University. Hoping it glorifies the education level once again and meets the expectation of its stakeholders with staggering performance in the education industry.

HR CONFERENCE 2017

HR CONFERENCE 2017

“HR & Fourth Industrial Revolution: Dealing with People in the age of Artificial Intelligence”

IILM Graduate School of Management

16, Knowledge Park II, Greater Noida-201 306

28th October, (Saturday) 2017

IILM Graduate School of Management, Greater Noida is in continuous pursuit of all-round excellence in Management Education by narrowing the gap between academia and industry. To that end, IGSM, Greater Noida organized a day-long HR Conference on the theme “HR & Fourth Industrial Revolution: Dealing with people in the age of Artificial Intelligence” on Saturday, 28th October, 2017 at its Greater Noida Campus. A dynamic era of change in the world of work has introduced Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will be shaped by a range of new technologies and innovations like virtual reality, the internet of things, smart robots and artificial intelligence. Advent of machines powered by artificial intelligence has already strongly influenced the work. There are three possibilities in future – machines will replace humans; or it can make people better in what they are doing; or it can invent entirely new jobs. The conference covered a wide range of different horizons related to AI.

Inaugural Session:

The Conference began with a Welcome Address by Dr. Taruna Gautam, Director, IGSM, followed by an introduction to the Conference theme by Dr. Shyamali Satpathy, Conference Chair. Our chief guest Dr. Kamal Singh addressed the students about the dramatically changing business environment where team members have to overcome space, time and cultural barriers to deliver and sustain in the competition. He also highlighted on new information age, internet of things and artificial intelligence are disrupting existing business models and affecting their long term feasibility.

Dr. Singh during his Inaugural session discussed about the challenges that India is facing such as, Firstly, Challenge of leadership – India faces a problem of leadership and we need to work hard to fill the deficit that we are facing today. Secondly, Challenge of Technology Innovation – Technology is changing every second, e.g.; earlier libraries were the only source of information but today google has taken over all sources of information. Thirdly, Challenge of Uncertainty – Uncertainty makes us think differently. We should be prepared for before for the uncertainty strikes us causing more adverse situations to deal. Fourthly, New Changes – Today countries like China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea are among the countries which are advancing in the technologies especially in the area of Artificial intelligence. He also mentioned that the current technological revolution need not become a race between humans and machines but rather an opportunity for work where people recognize their full potential.

The Chief Guest of the Conference Dr. Kamal Singh, Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network

The Keynote Speaker of the Conference Mr. Satyakki Bhattacharjee, Executive Council and CPO, ABP News,

Mr. Satyakki Bhattacharjee elaborated on the broad idea about Artificial Intelligence with its definition and examples. He shares the session of John McCarthy, he said that anything which is not human intelligence is Artificial Intelligence. There is a fear that things like more machines, automation and AI could lead to layoffs, and companies will restructure. These new technologies will impact all disciplines and industries, and even challenge us about what it means to be human. He threw a light on the increase in machines, or human output will decrease in the upcoming era. With growing use of use of machines and more of Artificial Intelligence coming into our lives the criteria required for jobs are changing along with a change in job roles. He also mentioned that automation and digitalization will continue to develop in developing countries like India. What is relevant for each country in this respect is the degree of its technological development and the technological skills of young people who will shape the future of the labour market. Young people in developing countries are optimistic with regard to their professional future.

Both the speakers concluded that in order to get adapted with the change of new technologies we need to explore the impact of technology and advent of machines powered by Artificial Intelligence on work. The session was very interactive and students took deep interest in exchanging ideas with the speakers.

Session 1: Digital Culture Shock: HR’s new role in the age of automation.

After the inaugural session, the conference preceded to its first technical session our 2nd year student Ms Priyanshu Baranwal, moderator of the session, introduced the panel members and gave a brief idea about the objectives of the session.

The first panel member of this session was Dr. Maninder Singh Khalsa. He started the discussion by sharing his own experience in working in different environment. He said that the digital age in context of India has started in 90’s. Then he expressed his views on changes in organization with respect to HR, liquid workforce, and various business models for example: -Uber, changes in employee and employer relationship, shifting of world with our own area of specialization.

Our Second panelist was Mr. P.K. Shrivastava, Head HR, Continental device India Pvt. Ltd. He discussed in the session about the dependence on electronics that has made our lives easier. In today’s scenario people have to learn about technology or else they will be out of touch with the fact moving pace of the world. He also shared his experience, in late 70’s there were no computers when he started working. He faced difficulties at his workplace as he was recruited in a company where computers were produced. He was coming from an Arts student background with little or no knowledge of computers. Post his selection his company guided which help get adaptive to the new technology and was able to work in the company without any difficulty.

Ms. Runa Maitra, Founder & Director, People Talent International was the last panel member of the first session. She continued the session mentioning us to be a change maker rather than a change taker and Indians have more adaptability than any other country. She talked about social entrepreneurship and technology transformations. She also added that artificial Intelligence will impact the world in a positive way more than a culture shock and AI will keep evolving and makes us be ahead of time. The new age managers would be digitally adaptive, connected with the others, will be willing to learn.

Session 2: Employment trends in the context of people and robotics

 

The second session moderated by Mr. Prakhar Rajoria, 2nd year student, introducing the panel members to the audience.

The first speaker of the second session was Mr. Harsh Raj Jain, Manager Recruitment Ebix Software India Private Ltd. He spoke about the fear about Artificial Intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution. According to him we should welcome the change with the open arms. He mentions that rise of machines has the power to break down traditional barriers in organizations by enhancing their human capital. Manpower needs to be empowered by enhancing their creativity and Emotional Intelligence rather than simply able to follow instructions.

Dr. V.P Singh, Former Advisor (Organizational Development) Patanjali was the second speaker of the session. He continued the session by sharing his own experiences. While some jobs are threatened by redundancy and others grow rapidly, existing jobs are also going through a change in the skill sets required to do them. There is a fear that things like more machines, automation and AI could lead to layoffs, and companies will restructure. He also shared that empowerment will offer all business leaders a more meaningful career and will challenge their traditional vision of leadership.

 

Ms. Shobha Krishnan, Head HR Sukam Power Systems Limited was the last speaker on this panel. She spoke about her personal experience with company Blue Chip and how she faced the shift from a not digital India to a digital India. She shared how amazed she was with the Internet getting faster or how teller clerks were replaced by ATMs. She explained that one thing that will not change in humans is undesirability and adaptability for a long time. She informed us that now people come with HR skills but will soon be emerged with Artificial Intelligence in HR’s new role.

Session 3: Empowering people with the rise of machines

The third session was moderated by Ms. Jessica Arora, 2nd year student, introducing the panel members to the audience.

The first speaker for the third session was Ms. Geetanjali Saxena, HR Consultant, Sage Global HR. She said that today’s technology is empowering us. She informed that nowadays technology shifts in every 18 months on an average. People who refuse to adopt the new technology often are the ones who loses job. Organizations in future will be very different from today. People are going to be differently managed and that everyone has to adopt the changes and use it for the required purpose. She also shared that the future of automation in the workplace will provide a scope in implementing technology platforms and processes that give employees a great experience and also empower managers to maximize employee satisfaction and performance.

The Second speaker was Ms. Anjalie Chaudhary, GM HR, Organizational effectiveness & Leadership Development, Tech Mahindra. She shared her experience in working with her first job. She mentioned that workforce is 10 lakhs spread over countries and technology plays a crucial part and it makes life easier and automatic in simpler terms. She also talked about sentimental analysis which understands the sentiments as accurately as 70 % through a software. Empowerment will also offer all business leaders a more meaningful career and will challenge their traditional vision of leadership.

Mr. Murlidhar Shyam, Sector head HR Airport, GMR Airports Ltd. was our speaker for the third session. He spoke about the age of artificially stimulated proximity and how we are going to engage our team in AS Proximity. He helped realize the question that how we are ready for the cyber-attacks. He also shared the knowledge on highest level of uncertainty and ambiguity. He mentioned that we need to prepare for ourselves for the dynamics of environment, where technology is changing so quickly.

At the end he concluded by sharing with us the take-away that we should make ourselves capable enough to deal with the changes.

Valedictory Address & Vote of Thanks

Dr. V. P. Singh gave the Valedictory Address focusing on urge to be wiser, thoughtful, and doing a lot more research, to have clear vision. Dr. Singh showed two videos on artificial intelligence and helped us realize that we should not be scared of artificial intelligence and that we should rule over the new technology rather than the technology ruling over us.

Students showed interest and responded with great enthusiasm while putting up questions to the panelists and guests’ speakers. The conference concluded with Vote of Thanks. All those who had contributed in making the conference a success have been acknowledged.

Hr Conference On Organizational Execellence Through The Power Of Human Capital

IILM INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT
HR CONFERENCE ON
ORGANIZATIONAL EXECELLENCE THROUGH THE POWER OF HUMAN CAPITAL

Date – 7th October 2017

The competitive environment of the 21 century where most competition is global and innovation is the need of the hour, change becomes the core competency of any organization Human Capital can play an important role in helping organizations achieve change. Human Resource has always been central to organization. Today, it has taken on an even more central role in building a firm’s competitive advantage. The dynamics of change becomes one of the central facets of any business where the role, function and process of Human Resource must be redefined in the context of change. Human Resource Strategies and practices explain how to manage the transition smoothly, rapidly and successfully and make the organisation competitive and reach excellence. For every organization, human resources (HR) are like their treasured assets. In order to faster the employee performances, efforts should be directed to treat them carefully and effectively. Every entity wants to attract and retain talented employees to work for them at top levels. Hence, it is very difficult to achieve organizational objectives without managing human resources effectively.

The International Conference oriented to highlight the importance of human resource management for every organization be it government or private. There is no doubt that the conference has brought out the essence of the theme “Organizational Excellence through the power of human capital” in all its aspects and that too in a brilliant manner. The theme is so relevant in today’s context especially when HR as a function is facing lot of challenges and transition.

There was a time when employee management was once referred as workforce management, and then transformed to Personnel Management. Later the same transformed into human resource management and then Human Capital. And now it is Talent Management. In some organization HR is referred as Business partner and that is more strategic in nature. No doubt, HR has now become more dynamic and crucial to the success of the organization in creating excellence. And increasingly the organizations have started realizing that any mistake on this could be a costly one.
We had many leaders from different industry giving their views and perspective on the dynamics of HR. It is very interesting to note that these views came from multiple industry right from an Aircraft manufacturing company, Consulting, Insurance, Consumer durables and to Software

IILM Institute for Business and Management,Gurgaon organised an International HR conference on the topic:“Organizational Excellence through the Power of Human Capital” on 7th October 2017.

The day of conference began with all zeal and extol by lighting the lamp in the presence of our esteemed guest, Dr. Aquil Busrai, Mr, Anshu, Mr. V.P.Singh, participants from the corporate and academic sectors along with the IILM members.

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Dr.Sujata Sahi lighting the lamp

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Dr. Aquil Busrai lighting the lamp.

Conference started with the welcome speech given by Dr.P. Mala Rvizhi, Director Academics, IILM. She extended her warm welcome towards all the respected speakers of the conference with all fervour of gratitude and gaiety.
Starting with the conference topic “Organizational Excellence through the Power of Human Capital”, Dr. Pinky Goswami briefed the objective of the conference and gave a brief recapitulation of the HR Conference of 2016. In her speech, she stressed on giving importance to the concept of collective intelligence in order to bring about organizational excellence. She also remarked the need to cultivate a strong sense of team spirit, wherein each member will complement each other for organizational success.

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Dr. Pinky Goswami addressing the audience

Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Aquil Busrai, our esteemed Key note speaker – A man with exceptional knowledge about Human Resource and having an array of experience serving in the field of HR for more than 4 decades.Today, Mr Busrai owns his own consulting firm named “Aquil Busrai Consulting”. Mr. Busrai keeping his view point stated “Improvise-Adapt-Adopt” and deal with status quo of technology advancement, keeping hands on now HR people recharge the human capital for organisation.

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Plenary session: Leading the conference ahead plenary session begins.

Mr. Paramjit Singh Lamba, AVP HR, Orient Craft Pvt. Ltd. addressed the audience in the Plenary Session about the skill sets required for the future. He discussed about work life in future in which he told about the attributes which a company would be looking in a candidate in the future including social intelligence, new media literacy, etc. He also told how the export sector is the most affected sector by recent government reforms.

Mr. Dhananjay Singh, Director General NHRDN putting his view point said that focussing on Investing in good habits and ability to work in a team is all about organizational excellence through human capital.

Mr. V.P.Singh, Advisor OD Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd , Human capital leader with proven credentials for building process driven, people centric & customer focused organisations continued the session and said that “Fanatic discipline; Monomaniacal Creativity that is empirical and Productive Paranoia are required to be great”.

Mr. Ashutosh Anshu, General Manager, Head HR, Hitachi India addressed the session and enlightened the young PGDM students with his viewpoint. He said, “You can’t do today with yesterday’s methods and be in business tomorrow”. He also spoke about how to adopt today’s changes into our everyday lives. He stressed on the point of “ASK”, Attitude, Knowledge and Skill.

Session 1: Raising the Bar of Human Resources Management

Dr. Saima Rizvi, session moderator for the session welcomed the entire respected HR professional and talked about how Humana Resources Management is raising its bar from traditional shift to Strategic shift in the modern age.

Speakers of the Session were:

Ms. Ruma Batheja: Head Human Resource Knowledgetics and she talked about “Raising the bar through Inno-Create People Management Skills; Collaborating Humanity and Technology; Emotional and Organizational wellbeing.”

Mr. Gautam Rao: AVP Max Life stated”Four pillars required to raise the HR bar

1. Build Talent Pipeline and Capability
2. Enhance Business Performance
3. Innovate HR Excellence
4. Inspire Engagement”.

Corporate Paper presenter: Ms Shefali Bahi shah, Head HR Exicom presented a paper on “Impact of Organizational competencies on organizational performances in manufacturing industry”

Student Speakers: Sefali Mittal (PG 2017-2019, IILM Gurgaon) spoke on the changes in HR from the traditional world to the world of the Millennial. Ms. Ruchi Singh (PG 2016-2018, IILM Gurgaon) spoke on how technology becomes a boon to the world of HR.

Session two: Redesigning workforce for 21st Century Manager

Dr Vidhisa Vyas, session moderator for the session briefed the session explaining the need and redesigning demand for the workforce and work culture in 21st century

The session picked up steam with the topic 21st century manager Ms. Divya Jain, Director Grant Thornton talked about the Workplace for the Human Age. She said today’s workforce is even more powerful than their company itself. They decide the fate of the company and are very keen on learning. Hence, the most required thing in today’s era is an open and honest feedback which can lead to the betterment of the workforce which in turn can increase the output.

Ms. Anju Sabhrawal, Founder and CEO, People Bridges talked about Well-developed and embedded cultures that are the key to redesigning the workforce.

Mr. Ajay Mehra, Managing Director in South Asia of Airbus. He expressed how we first need to identify ourselves and then other employees as an HR manager. First we need to follow and then only implement the rules. He also talked about the sustained expansion of the service industry in today’s era.

Paper Presenter: Ms.Monika, Junior Research fellow from Jamia Millia Islamia presented a research paper on workplace spirituality and its impact on workforce. She emphasized how employee satisfaction is more important than consumer satisfaction.

Student Speaker: Charu Goswami (PG 2016-2018, IILM Gurgaon) talked about how vision leads the company. Whatever is the employees’ vision about his life is sufficient to judge his role in the company.
International student Paper Presentation: Neil from Sweden said, “Human Resources is the most important in India as here there are too many people involved as opposed to developed lands where more machines are involved”.

Session 3: Managing People Performance through HR Analytics

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Organising Team

This session focused on people performance through analytics that is so critical in today’s competitive job market with Dr. Sona moderating the session.

Mr. Deepak explained how we are between a cusp of technology and globalization and in the middle is HR. He also said whatever was difficult for the computer to understand has been made easy by humans through emotions. Hence, it is important to understand the needs and sentiments of the employees for better performances.
Mr. Gaurav Bakshi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner explained how predictive analytics in HR is the need of the hour today. He said future skills, future needs are to be anticipated by the HR keeping in mind both inside and outside factors.

Similar views were expressed by Ms. Malabika Bose, HR Head, Blackberry. She shared a quote relating to whatever gets measured gets managed and whatever gets managed gets executed. She also gave insight about the three stages of HR analytics namely predicting, analysis and reporting.
Ms. Prerna spoke about the transparency needed in the culture of the company which can only be brought by the HR.Towards the end, Mr. Siddharth Dutta a first year PGDM student presented a paper in which he focused on the Maslow’s theory in the Indian Context.

We, at IILM consciously make an effort to bring the industry and academia together, through such conferences and we will continue to strive for the same in future. On the behalf of IILM gurgaon, Prof Siva Ram Krishna delivered the vote of thanks to all the privileged guests, corporate jargons and students of IILM for their contribution in making the conference all a grand success.

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Organising Team

Conference Patron: Dr. Sujata Shahi
Conference Chair : Dr. Pinky Goswami
Conference Scientific Committee: Dr. P.Mala and Dr. Saima
Student Core Committee Members:
PG1: Shefali Mittal, Massom Garg, Nayan Saluja, Megha Mathur, Manan Porwal,Rishabh, Chirag, Alisha Suraj Gulati, Ketan Patwari, Harshit, Aman Godaria,Venika
Social Media Team : Ruchi Singh,Sunit Raj, Harbind Singh, Priya Gupta (PG 2016-2018)
Report Compiled By : Dr. Pinky Goswami, Prof. Rachna Madaan, Ms. Manya and Ruchi Singh (PG 2016-2018).