1. Sujata Shahi is appointed as Member of the Special Task Force on Employee Relations, CII Northern Region.
2. Saima Rizvi’s interview on her recent study on “Behavioral Finance – A Study of Correlation between Personality Traits with Investment Patterns in Stock Market”, has been published in the “Think Advisor”.
3. Vidhisha Vyas published her case on The Air Asia-Tata Sons – Telestra Trade place tripartite joint venture Case Study, in Asia pacific Journal of Marketing and Management Review, vol. 4 no. 2.
4. Ritu Sharma presented her research paper on title “Growth Effect of Private Consumption and Inequality among Sectors of Indian Economy” in 18th National Conference on Input Output Research Association, (IORA) on May 2nd to 4th, 2015 at Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida (India).
5. Ritu Sharma got her research paper titled “Multiplier Effect on Growth of Income and Investment: Analysis of Sequential Rounds in Input Output Framework” Published in Indian Journal of Economics No378 January 2015, vol. XCV ISSN 0019-6170.
6. Rachna Madaan presented her research paper on ‘Regional Disparity in FDI Inflows and Inclusive Growth in India”, at a conference at Ansal University
7. Saba Jafri presented her research paper “Perception of Trade Unions by Managers From SME’S and Large sized organizations in India” presented in International Conference on Creating Opportunities in Emerging Markets-A Global Approach,13-14 February,2015 Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies, NOIDA, U.P.
8. Shuchi Parashar presented case on “Human Capital Management in Recovering Markets: A Case on Saffron Hospitality”, MDI,Gurgaon, at the Global Conference on Managing in Recovering Markets in March 2015.
9. Shuchi Parashar presented case on “Innovation and Best Pratices in Human Capital Management: A Case on a Hospitality Enterprise”, at IISWBM, Kolkata, at the 5th Annual International Conference on Innovations and Best Practices in Business, Human and Other Resources Management in January 2015.
10. Shivani Teckchandany attended national conference on Role of Career Development Centre for Employability Effectiveness, March 2015, Kolkata.
11. Nikhil Varghese attended ASSOCHAM Pharma Summit with the theme “Changing Dynamics the Road Ahead”, 18thFebruary, 2015, Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi organised in association with Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (CIPI) and Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA).
12. Nikhil Varghese attended ASSOCHAM “7th Global CSR Summit cum Responsible Organization Excellence Awards” on 20th February, 2015 at Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi.
13. Rachna Madaan published her book on “Innovative Strategies for Competitiveness and Sustainability in Global Business Environment”, Kalpaz Publications.

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”!

Ravi was leaving for the day from his office and was planning to watch a newly released blockbuster. As he was just about to log out from his system, he saw the new joinee in the next cubicle worried about something. Ravi went and spoke to him and found that the new guy has to submit his first project report the next day and is worried since this project is a vital one not only for him but also for the company. Ravi decides to postpone the movie plan to some other day and rather gets two cups of coffee and sits with the new guy and start helping him out with the project report..

 

We can look at a company like a little city. It has a mayor (typically the owner or the person highest in charge) as well as different departments (heck, we can even have the cleaning crew as the sanitation department). So if we can look at a company like a little city, we can begin to look at the employees as citizens of that city. With that perspective in mind, we can see how citizens of our little city want it to be the best city it can be. They have a stake in wanting the city to be clean, prosperous and friendly.

What we are talking about when we look at a business from a perspective of a company being a city and wanting employees to feel closely associated with the city is organizational citizenship, or a perspective that employees have whereby they extend their behaviors beyond the normal duties of their position.

Organizational citizenship behavior was first defined by Dennis Organ in 1988 as “an individual behavior which is not rewarded by a formal reward system … but that, when combined with the same behavior in a group, results in effectiveness.” In the business world, organizational citizenship behavior has been linked to work productivity, employee effectiveness, and other factors which can impact a business in the short or long term. Common examples of business organizational citizenship behavior occur when employees are grouped together, which may occur on a regular basis or a part of a special or temporary assignment. For example, employees in the marketing department will display organizational citizenship behavior on a regular basis because of they are co-workers in the same department; employees who are put together for a temporary work assignment will also display organizational citizenship behavior, albeit on a temporary basis.

Five Common Types of Organizational Citizenship Behavior:

Dennis Organ’s major 1988 study on organizational citizenship behavior defined the concept into five common behaviors. Organ’s study suggested that, when these common behaviors are exhibited in a group setting, it will lead to effectiveness. In the context of business, this means that the five most common organizational citizenship behaviors will lead to more productivity and more effective work. Although today psychologists recognize dozens of other common positive organizational citizenship behaviors, the five defined by Organ in 1988 are still considered to be the most significant. The five most common behaviors, as defined by Dennis Organ, are: altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship, conscientiousness, and civic virtue.

 

Altruism

Altruism is defined as the desire to help or otherwise assist another individual, while not expecting a reward in compensation for that assistance. A common example outside of a business setting would be someone who drives a neighbor to work when their car has broken down, while not expecting fuel money or favors in compensation. In a business setting, altruistic behavior is generally related to the work or project that the business group is working on. Someone exhibiting altruistic behavior in a group setting might volunteer to work on certain special projects, voluntarily helping or assisting other employees with their work or with other tasks, and volunteering to do additional work in order to help other employees reduce their own work load. Altruism in the workplace leads to productivity and effectiveness because it encourages good inter-employee relations; it can also reduce the stress load on other employees, such as those who are overwhelmed without a little bit of help, which will in turn increase productivity.

Courtesy

Courtesy is defined as behavior which is polite and considerate towards other people. Courtesy outside of a workplace setting includes behavior such as asking how someone’s morning has been or asking after the welfare of a neighbor’s child. In a business context, courtesy is usually exhibited through behaviors such as inquiring about personal subjects that a coworker has previously brought up, asking if a coworker is having any trouble with a certain work related project, and informing coworkers about prior commitments or any other problems that might cause them to reduce their workload or be absent from work. Courtesy not only encourages positive social interactions between employees, which improve the work environment, but they can reduce any potential stress that might occur from employees who do not have the courtesy to inform their coworkers about issues such as upcoming absences from work—and so on.

Sportsmanship

Sportsmanship is defined as exhibiting no negative behavior when something does not go as planned–or when something is being perceived as annoying, difficult, frustrating or otherwise negative. Outside of a business context, sportsmanship is most commonly associated with sports and games–poor sportsmanship, for example, might occur when a player on a soccer team swears stomps and argues when their team loses a soccer game. In the context of business, good sportsmanship is usually related to potential complaints about work or workloads in addition to negativity surrounding work-related surprises. For example: Imagine an employee who submits their proposal to their superior may be expecting it to be well-received and accepted—it is rejected, instead, and the employee displays good sportsmanship by not complaining about the situation to other coworkers or individuals who may report their behavior to others working for the business.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is defined as behavior that suggests a reasonable level of self-control and discipline, which extends beyond the minimum requirements expected in that situation. In the context of a business setting, conscientiousness is observed when an employee not only meets their employer’s requirements—such as coming into work on time and completing assignments on time—but exceeds them. Exceeding these requirements, and thereby showing conscientiousness, could be observed—for example—by an employee planning ahead to ensure that they, and their coworkers, do not become overwhelmed in their work.

 

Civic Virtue

Civic virtue is defined as behavior which exhibits how well a person represents an organization with which they are associated, and how well that person supports their organization outside of an official capacity. For example, how well someone represents their business and how they may support that business are all examples of someone’s civic virtue.

Examples of civic virtue in a business setting include speaking positively about the business to friends, family and acquaintances; signing up for business events, such as charity walking events or fundraiser parties. Civic virtue encourages a sense of community within a business setting, which has been shown to be linked to job performance and job satisfaction in employees. Employees who feel a stronger connection with their place of employment are more likely to be productive and effective workers, when compared to those who do not share a sense of community.

 

Hence, organizations want and need employees who will do those things that aren’t in any job description. Successful organizations need employees who will do more than their usual job duties and provide performance that is beyond expectations. In short, in order to reach that goal, fulfill employees’ job satisfaction, understand their motivation and create suitable work environments are most important in management reality.

 

References:

http://www.businessnlpacademy.co.uk/blog/view/6_common_types_of_organizational_citizenship_behavior/

http://www.mssanz.org.au/MODSIM03/Volume_03/B14/03_Chien_Behaviours.pdf

 

Alumni are the brand ambassadors for any educational institution and a strong alumni community is an irreplaceable asset for any organization. IILM is proud to have a alumni base of 8500+ alumni and continuously endeavours to engage them.

Year 2014 has been a good year in taking a step forward to make our alumni a part of our various events and activities. Alumni are invited for Guest Sessions, for participation in placements, Summer Internships, IILM’s internal events like Global Thinker Award, Conferences, advanced management programs that also helps our alumni to enhance their learnings. They also aid in course delivery by reviewing modules and their content. participating in Panel Discussions and empanelling the Comprehensive Viva, assist admissions by being part of GD/PI process, judges for i-fest events etc.

We introduced the Alumni Mentorship program in 2013 and this is helping our students get guidance from their experienced seniors. As part of this program we invite our alumni to deliver a session which includes their experience sharing and knowledge about their industry, tips to students for placement interviews and then on the basis of their interaction with the students, a few students are allotted as mentees to the alumni to stay in touch with them for career guidance. We have successfully organized many sessions and will continue to do so for the benefit of our students.

Profiles of some of our top alumni:

Shyamalal Agrawal ( 1994-96)

Shyamal has done graduation from Venkateshwara College, University of Delhi. He has total experience of 18 years. He is an entrepreneur and owns two companies, Director at WALKER AUTOMOTIVES Pvt Ltd, engaged in IMPORTS and TRADING of auto parts and CEO at PEE CEE ENGINEERS,  engaged in MANUFACTURING of precision auto parts.

Arti Mittal ( 1995-97)

Arti Mittal is a Science graduate from Delhi University. She completed her PGDBM in Marketing in 1997. She is a certified trainer on Keane Guide to Project Management and Productivity Management. Being a very hard working and ambitious girl, she strive to achieve high goals.  She has worked  with Innodata Isogen Pvt. Ltd, Pinaki Technologies Pte Ltd, Keane India Ltd. She has total experience of 17 years. Currently she is working with Accenture as India Lead_Global Legal Operations. She is managing Accenture’s legal operations. She has a very diversified career – Science Graduate, PGDBM in Marketing and heading the Global Legal Department of a company like Accenture.

Keshav Bajaj ( 2000-02)

Keshav Bajaj–Head E-Commerce & VP Biz Dev Nimbuzz Internet India. Has over 10 years of industry experience. Keshav is the alumnus of 2000-2002 Batch from Lodhi Road campus. He is a dedicated person and has excellent business acumen. He has worked in top brands in the industry like Aircel (Nationall Head Devices), Motorola ( Marketing Head). Bharti Airtel ( Sales Manager) and Nestle. He has been very active at mentoring our students and has proactively participated at our various events. Honors: Won three internal contests of highest redistribution, highest invoicing and  highest growth at Nestle India Ltd.

Shweta Berry ( 2004-06)

Senior Product Manager, Tech Mahindra. 15 years of experience including IT Portfolio & Product Marketing and Management, Go-to-Market and Communication, Presales, Sales & Business Development in different industry verticals like Telecommunication, Pay Media, Mobile Marketing, Software Development & Education sector. Shweta did her graduation from Delhi University in Ancient Indian history, she has a lot of certifications like JAVA Programmer from Sun microsystems and Advanced Diploma in system management from NIIT. She was given the ‘Long Service Award’-5 Years, Valuable Team player, 2013 at Tech Mahindra. Prior to Tech Mahindra, she has worked with Magna quest Technologies as Senior Consultant, Business Development, Mobile5050, as Manager-Business Development.

 

Harbinder Narula ( 1994-96)

Harbinder Narula -Business Strategist & Senior Professional with 16 yrs exp in Internet & Telecom. Harbinder, alumnus of 1994-96 Batch of Lodhi road, is a motivated Business  Development Strategist with 16 years experience with major concentrations in Internet & Mobile VAS. Harbinder has been the founding team member of Google’s business development operations in India where he headed the content  partnerships function and also doubled up for Google’s mobile partnerships initially. His self-initiative to deal with the entertainment industry led to the early launch for YouTube in India. In the past, Harbinder has also worked with companies like Data Access, Indiatimes, Buongiorno and Aryty Inc.He is currently the Director, Business Development at WonderDoctor.  Interests : Strategic planning, Photography, Professional networking, International travel.

The Convocation of IILM for the Class of 2015 was held on 5^th May 2015 at its Lodhi Road campus. His Excellency, Mr Nadir Patel, High Commissioner for Canada to India presided over the ceremony and awarded diplomas and Certificates of Merit to the students. 80 students completed their post graduate studies at IILM this year.

IILM Director Dr. Smitha Girija welcomed the Chief Guest, His Excellency, Mr Nadir Patel. Mr. Nadir Patel served as Director of ministerial services, Agency adviser to the minister and secretary to the Board of Management from 1997 to 2003. In 2003, he moved to the Privy Council Office, serving as Chief of staff to the national security advisor, Associate secretary to the Cabinet, and deputy minister to the deputy PM. From 2005 to 2006, he served as senior policy adviser to the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet. In 2006, he was appointed as Canada’s chief air negotiator. Mr. Patel served as consul general in Shanghai from 2009 to 2011. Before moving to New Delhi, Mr Patel served as assistant deputy minister for corporate planning, finance and information technology, and as chief financial officer at Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada.

Highlighting some of the achievements of IILM, Dr. Girija shared with the distinguished audience that IILM is a signatory of the UN Global Compact Initiative, PRME, since 2009. In September last year IILM was selected as a PRME champion business school. Only 30 B-schools from all over the world have been given this honor and IILM is the only one from India and Asia.

IILM was also selected in the 10 member advisory group to the PRME secretariat. With the support of UN Global Compact and PRME, IILM is actively involved in promoting the proposed Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. She further added that IILM was accorded the prestigious SAQS Accreditation by AMDISA in April 2013. Only 15 other business schools in India have received this accreditation. She also highlighted that IILM has now initiated the process of accreditation for AACSB which is the premier accreditation agency for B Schools globally.

IILM offers a wide range of Executive Education Programmes on various platforms and has completed 10 years of Training programmes for IAS and IPS officers. Almost one tenth of the IAS officers in Government of India have attended Training Programmes of IILM.

IILM has very recently signed a MoU with Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. IILM and Indian Institute for Corporate Affairs will jointly conduct programmes for Government officers and executives of PSUs and corporates. She also added that IILM has also signed a MoU with National Skill Development Corporation. The objective of this partnership is to introduce Skill Based Training  in various Colleges and Institutes of IILM to improve the employability skills of the students.

IILM’s Senior Director, Professor Rakesh Chaudhry was part of the delegation accompanying Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr Narendra  Modi on his visit  to Canada last month. During this Visit, IILM signed an MoU with the Fanshawe College, London, Ontario for Skill building and training in area of Information Technology. IILM is also finalizing Articulation Agreements with reputed Canadian universities and Colleges. These will enable IILM undergraduate students to study for first two years at IILM and final two years in Canadian Colleges and Universities for their Bachelor’s degree.

His Excellency, Mr Nadir Patel congratulated the passing out students on completion of their studies. In his address, he impressed on the students that as they enter a new phase of life, they should never forget the importance of education. He advised the students to remain grounded to their values and ethics as they move upwards on the ladder of success. In the end he also motivated the students to enjoy their jobs and never feel afraid of experimenting with their careers. His address was concluded with his blessings to the students.
Ms. Aarti Rai, President, IILM Institute for Higher Education, presented Dr. Kulwant Rai Gold and Silver medals to the meritorious students as well as to the overall performers.

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:

1. The hierarchical and divisional relationship shall be closely tracked.
2. To ensure and appreciate the decision making role of employees at every stage.
3. What kinds of duties are allocated to the employees? Is there a rotational role?
4. Whether or not flexibility is allowed to ensure the output and quality of output
5. Need assessment of employees on the periodic basis
6. Training and development at workplace
7. Constructive Feedback for and by the employees
8. Appraisals (360 degree)
9. Higher empathy with the employees
10. 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:

1. Goodness factor increases the mental strength
2. Happy employees present and feel associated with their organizational identity
3. Happy employees multiply positivity at home and workplace
4. Happy employees motivate other employees , adds up to the positive climate of the organization
5. 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!

A guest lecture was organized as part for Supply Chain Management which was taken by our alumni, Mr. Anshul Jain. Mr. Jain is an alumni of IILM Lodhi Road campus, batch 1995 – 97 and currently works with Li and Fung India as Divisional Manager. The company is a global sourcing firm, based in Hongkong and operates through three segments : Trading Network, Operations Network and Distribution Network.

The sessions revolved around the supply chain practices of the company and also of other companies related to the industry. All the concepts covered in class such as outsourcing and procurement, logistics, warehousing and inventory management  were explained with practical examples and videos by the speaker who shared his experience of working with a supply chain company.

The session was highly appreciated by the students and the speaker made the session very interactive. He also encouraged the students to take up online courses related to supply chain management in case they were interested in entering this field.