Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta PGPEX 2011-2012

ADMISSION SCHEDULE FOR PGPEX- 5th . BATCH (2011-12)

30th June , 2010 onwards
Downloading application form and brochure from IIMC website
(http://www.iimcal.ac.in)

1st July – 31st August, 2010
Submission of duly completed application form

Second half of September, 2010
Announcement of short-listed candidates

Second half of October, 2010
Interview of short listed candidates

Second half of November, 2010
Announcement of selected candidates

Second half of December 2010
Payment of 1st inslalment fees


17th Apri1, 2011
Reporting date on Campus for Participants

18th & 19th April, 2011
Registration for students – Vth Batch

20th April, 2011
Commencement of the programme for the Vth Batch

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Not happy with my performance and time management

I have been trying to spend everyday 2 - 3hours for the preps. Most of the time i am solving questions on BTG and revising concepts. At the end of day before i go to bed i feel i have not done enough.

i feel i need to take a test to check my preps and alter my schedule. going to take a mgmat test tomorrow and see how i need to improve my performance.BTG 60-Day study Guide is really going to boost the preps

Apart from this papgust notes r good in revisin basics.

Got hold of one book in office today on SC "Better Sentence Writing in 30 minutes a day" by Dianna Campbell. It is really informative and i can sit in office and read if i find time

BTW by this weekend i will be the owner of Yamaha-FZS. in my previous posts i had talked abt my NGO. Well i got soem concession for not attending mandatory trainings. Will be trained in house for the same now

Monday, June 21, 2010

some pro and con arguments of the one year alternative(Source coolavenues.com)

Pros

Opportunity Cost

The single biggest factor in favour of the one-year program has been the opportunity cost of forsaking your current career for far too long when undertaking the two-year program. The argument becomes even more powerful when the economy is performing well - why spend two years away when the going is good!

Fees & Cost of Living

This follows on the previous theme - the longer the program, the greater the actual financial cost associated with it.

Sponsorship

It is easy to convince one's employer about sponsoring him or her on a one-year program rather than on a two-year program. Not only are the costs lower, you are also away for a shorter period of time. Besides, if one isn't looking for a job, then internships don't matter either.

Cons

Limited Choice

The single biggest factor against the one-year program is that there are far fewer top-league schools offering a one-year program, and most of them are concentrated in Europe. Only a handful of schools in the US offer a shorter program than their flagship two-year MBA.

Internships / Career Change

In case one is looking for a career change of any kind, be it industry or location related, chances are that a prospective employer wants to try the candidate out unless he or she has relevant experience. While not always the case, this is often important especially for those wanting to make a directional shift in their careers.

Time Compression Diseconomies

Theorists are likely to use this argument to highlight the biggest disadvantage of compressing the program content into a shorter duration. Just like economies of scale and scope,

Friday, June 18, 2010

Heart has its reason which reason knows nothing of.

Words like ‘Heart’, ’Reasons’, ‘nothing’ etc can confuse the mind. They are all interesting but the key concept and word to focus is ‘Uncertainty’. When Abraham Lincoln said ‘Am I destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?’ he might have been in a confused state of mind or probably was uncertain about his actions.

Nevertheless, what does ‘Uncertainty’ mean? It is defined as ‘what you don’t know’. There are lots of reasons that might lead to ‘Uncertainity'. For example, something might be knowable but not by you Or not in the time frame you have to make a decision Or not at a cost you’re willing to bear Or not at all. ‘Risk’ is a word that describes how you feel about ‘Uncertainty’.

For instance, the Satyam fiasco; It can have various angles. But there are some individuals who are performing rituals or running signature campaign for supporting Mr. Raju. They do so because their heart has its own reasons to do so which might not be logical to the brain or for those who oppose him.

The heart senses what cannot be seen and thereby makes its decisions on what it feels and not on what the naked eyes see. Sometimes we are in a dilemma that requires a delicate sense of diplomacy to resolve in a moment of crisis. What should one follow, the head or the heart? It’s a dilemma for which we have no set answer and we usually follow our heart. Over time in history it has been proven again and again that human’s ultimate superiority lies in the logical thinking of the brain to make a final call.

A spiritual men will always tell that that there exists a bridge, a connector between emotion and intellect that combines the very best of both into an integrated whole. In addition, if you wish to communicate to god in moment of crisis, then in look in other areas of response. You might overhear a word that suggests a direction; you might see an image that indicates something. You might also discern within your body the difference between a simple “yes” – a strong response and a “no” – weak response. But all this is only a way of convincing our heart its reason which reason knows nothing of

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

ISB gets 541 offers; domestic salaries up 11%(source rediff)

Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business secured 541 offers, including 65 international, from 346 companies for its batch of 2010, which graduated in April.

The placement season has been extended for the batch till June as part of its rolling placement system to give more time for companies and students to find the right match.

The average domestic cost to company has reached Rs 16.7 lakh (Rs 1.67 million), up 11 per cent from Rs 15.05 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) in 2009. The average outgoing salary this year is more than double the incoming salary.

ISB usually announces the placement results in April, but for the past two years, it has been extending the placement season by about three months to let maximum number of students bag the jobs.

This year, with companies back in the hiring mode following economic recovery, the offers have increased by 35 per cent over last year.

The batch of 2010 has a strength of 579 students, their work experience ranging from 2 to 20 years.

ISB got 401 offers from 326 companies in 2009, when the class size was 437. Following a lukewarm response from the companies due to the economic slowdown last year, ISB had introduced a one-offer policy in 2009 to ensure students got fair deal.

"Companies have reposed confidence in ISB once again," said ISB Dean Ajit Rangnekar. The institute would continue RPS in future, he added.

ISB did not disclose the average international CTC offered to the students.

According to officials, the number of international locations has increased this year, which made using a standard metric to arrive at the average CTC difficult. "We are yet to pare the international CTCs," an official said.

In the words of Bhavani Shankar, who was a lieutenant colonel in the Indian Army [ Images ] before joining ISB, the placement process has been comfortable, allowing him to explore companies of his choice.

He will now join Redpinesignals, a US-based semiconductor company that has a research and development facility in Hyderabad. He will be stationed in Hyderabad and his role will be to oversee sales and business development in the Asia-Pacific region and West Asia.

Shankar, who feels the role offered is more critical than the salary, has declined the offer from a Hyderabad-based microfinance company for an annual CTC of Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million), which 0could have been the highest this year. "Salary is not the key to building a long-term career," he said.

For this year, the technology, consulting and finance sectors have been the main recruiters, with the number of offers made by top 10 companies in these sectors has risen by 116, 40 and 30 per cent, respectively, over last year.

Pharma, healthcare, infrastructure, real estate, media and energy are the other sectors that have recruited from ISB in significant numbers.

ISB vs IIMs: How they match up


ISB vs IIMs: How they match up(source rediff.com)

It's out. The results of Careers360's first-ever ranking of B-schools, which attempts to look at India's [ Images ] B-schools first hand, are out. The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad edges IIM A out to take the top position.

On examination of the rankings, it is quite clear that in terms of inputs and process, the big four are quite there with negligible differences. ISB's advantage of foreign faculty gets balanced out with IIMs' larger contingent of resident faculties. In fact, in terms of faculty-to-student ratio, the IIMs win hands down.

Even with an increased batch size and multiple programmes the average student-to-faculty ratio in IIMs are way ahead of the ISB. But as a student of IIM puts it, the faculty-to-student ratio is a misnomer. With their commitments, how much time IIM faculty spends with the students actually must be measured. Good thought, provided that information is available in the public domain.

On the contrary, a former student of IIM informs us, an ISB model is advantageous since one gets to interact with a diverse pool of faculty. And with the kind of research-intensive faculty that ISB gets, the quality of teaching would be substantially better. For want of objective measures, we could not differentiate too finely, between the teaching processes across the institutions.

In placements there is a clear gap between the institutions. The ISB's average salary of Rs 15.4 lakhs, the lowest in their bands (for those with about five years of work experience) is comparable with the IIMs. But it is still a clean 3 lakh rupeess above what an IIM graduate could expect. But once you calculate the earnings as a ratio of fee paid, IIMs edge ahead, though ROI is never calculated on a year on year basis.

The ideal methodology would be to rate alumni performance the way an FT or an Economist does. But if we were to go by media reports; we might have to wait for some time before one gets to know how they compare in terms of earning potential.

The ROI is a factor most of us take to decide on a B-school. While the ISB programme shows a marginal difference on the returns, it is the saving of one-year that some students think of.

The differentiating factor, however, for ISB seems to be the input in terms of the global diversity of students and work experience of candidates who look for lateral placements. In terms of process of learning and the output that have over the years resulted in placements it's a tad higher than what students get at the IIMs.

What stands out clearly, is the research output of ISB. A cursory glance at the research output would give you an impression that between ISB and IIMs -- at least IIMA -- has a similar quantum of knowledge production. But the point is to discount it in terms of output per faculty. And this is where ISB clearly scores, as can be clearly seen from the table on publications.

An argument could be that IIMs, especially Ahmedabad [ Images ], produce substantial work in terms of research projects. Unless they get converted to academic papers, they never get reflected as academic work anywhere in the world. But what gets one's goat is the raise in productivity of the so called Tier 1 institutions such as MDI, which are almost biting at the heels of the three big IIMs. Dr B S Sahay, director, MDI, informs us that MDI has categorised journals into A, B, C categories and those who publish in A category journals get upto Rs 5 lakhs as incentive. The results do show on their publication record.



But the IIMs just don't seem to see the urgency of providing thought leadership to the country. The IIM Lucknow [ Images ] web site has no information on faculty publications, and seems to be least interested in informing the reader as to how productive its faculty is. In an interview in this edition with Careers360, Dr Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB, asserts that a tenure-track assistantt professor at ISB would either publish or perish. Hope the system comes to effect at the IIMs, too. The IIMs even today continue to get the best students and the brand has an enviable reputation. But unless they buck up fast, the day is not far off, when the troika of ABC get dislodged from the positions it has occupied for so long and so comfortably.

It's time for the IIMs to buck up.

Strategy is defined as synergy between values and goals

I wrote this essay for Great Lakes Institute of management,Chennai,India


Strategy reminds me of Guardian article of US strategy on War against Terrorism. A country whose right said ‘America First’, has realized today that it does not work every time. A working Strategy at one time does not mean that it will work the next time. Camouflaging a strategy needs immense knowledge, which I wish to take from a general management education.

During my 5 years of work experience at various levels I had the opportunity to learn, develop and exhibit my leadership, coordination skills. In this globalized world with fierce competition all around, interaction with industry experts from across the globe is essential to broaden conceptual skills. At GLIM, I wish to broaden my horizon with a general education in Management through the new window of opportunity, by enhancing myself and equally hone my entrepreneurial potential. The most appealing about GLIM –“it values and supports individual differences and strives to create an environment that contributes to the success of both the individual and the organization”.


My goals for pursuing MBA
1. To develop my capacities and creative talents and enable them the growth
2. Understand the Industry requirement of a management graduate
3. Be a good citizen of society in aesthetic or applied pursuits
4. Learn through interaction with students who have a wide diversity of age, background, experience, interests and special needs

My Values in life are
1. To be thoughtful and caring stewards of the personal, physical and fiscal resources entrusted to us.
2. To practice social, environmental and community responsibility
3. Be a responsible and contributing citizen
4. To honor the contribution and worth of all individuals.
5. To avail a affordable cost of education


GLIM gives me
- Gurukul environment that fosters dynamic, accessible and supportive teaching and learning environment that prizes excellence and innovation and follows ethical standards
- To learn and develop under the mentorship of the noted academician, Dr. Bala Balachandran who is the founder of top class B-schools in India
- To learn the best features of the American management education with the Asian philosophy of business
- Flexibility of the program with option to choose particular course based on individual interests
- Integrated and interdisciplinary nature of the program that clubs together Academic Programs, Industry based Programs, Research and Consultancy.

These guiding principles would shape my personality and govern decision-making abilities

Monday, June 14, 2010

picking the steam

oops i just realized that the blog name that i gave in my signature in BTG is wrong. Corrected it.

I Did not have a great weekend. Could not attend the training of my NGO due to professional engagements. Hopefully i can work them. looking forward to meet the students this academic year

lets me come back to gmat now. all eyes are set on my target G date. booked the dates for it. Now i want to forget the dates and concentrate on the preps.

i have been concentrating on solving more Questions.using BTG exclusively for the same.
the tips given by papgust r good
http://www.beatthegmat.com/papgust-s-gmat-math-flashcards-directory-t58902.html
http://www.beatthegmat.com/papgust-s-gmat-sentence-correction-flashcards-directory-t58950.html

wanted to give a sample test on last weekend. i was afraid to do so. Not sure why, but one of the reason i felt is that i have not fully finished revising my basics.feeling it when i am solving Questions. This weeks focus will be it to complete my all the basics and take a test in the coming weekend

Here is another website for taking practice tests "http://litesee.com/gmat.htm"

Another update is that one of stdents from "Wharton Business School" as approached me for giving an interview to learn more about what GMAT prep students in India are looking for. looking forward for it in the comin weekend and return for the $15 Amazon Gift Card :)

Well that's it for today. in the next post i will give more updates about my profile

Friday, June 11, 2010

first weekend of preps

preps have been going on a little slower pace. to spend more time i am changing my work timings. This will help me in spending more time in the evening

Last two days i have completed revising my basics on
races-straight and circular
pipes and cistern,work and time

also i have solved one CR and SC module from kaplan verbal workbook. as of now i am only concentrating on getting my answers correct and not on the time.
apart from this whenever i find time i try to solve BTG forum questions

found an website "http://www.aspiranthunt.com/gmat/". This has some tests which can be used for practice.

this weekend is packed. got to attend the cambridge syllabulls training of 16 hours. i work for an NGO where i basis english to non-english speakers in the weekend. From this academic year we are implementing syllabuls of cambrdige hence all the volunteers are being trained. this is part of the teach india campaign. more details about my partipation can be found in
http://amarnaik.wordpress.com/category/teach-india/

Thursday, June 10, 2010

B-School students are driven by Money and Power and not Service and Sacrifice

It is alleged, that B-School students are driven by Money and Power and not Service and Sacrifice. Do you agree and if so how will you change this in Reality?


A B-School can never teach a difference or management principles for Money, Power, Service, and Sacrifice. Rather we inherit these concepts from our society and management is an implicit principle applied in everyday life, be it at home, at office, factory or the Government. Wherever a group of human beings assemble for a common purpose, management principles come into play through the management of resources, finance and planning, priorities, policies and practice.

The pillars of human relationships are love, generosity and community. These pillars have always been tested due to dependency on money. But at the same time there are people like Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who through his innovative means encourage the culture of service to society. History is evident on how emperor Ashoka used his power and money to propagate Buddhism by disseminating the teaching and principles of Buddhism across the world.

Aristotle once said, "All men seek one goal: success or happiness. The only way to achieve true success is to express you completely in service to society. First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal-a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve".
A service can be achieved
-Through the creation of more jobs and educating people so that they do not exploit each other and environment for the sake of money;
- By promoting the importance of social responsibility among corporate so that they understand that social and human capital is more important then balance sheet;
- Increasing incentives for cooperation among people and communities;
- Reward productive work and investment;

B school provides a platform to obtain a broad general education and encourages individual differences or initiatives along with professional development in a home-like environment.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

PREPARATION FOR INTERVIEWS

below is the material i have used in past for preparing for my B school interviews


How to Prepare ?

Prepare for the interview in several ways: Expect to discuss many things about yourself. Be ready to go into greater depth than you did in your essays (but don't assume the interviewer has read them). Put together two or three points about yourself that you want the interviewer to remember you by. Go in with examples, or even a portfolio of your work, to showcase your achievements. Practice speaking about your accomplishments without a lot of "I did this, I did that." Finally, be prepared to give a strong and convincing answer to the interviewer's inevitable question: "Why here?"

Some Frequently Asked Questions on Interviews :

Self Awareness

1. How would you describe yourself ?
2. Tell me about yourself ?
3. How do you think a friend or professor who knows you would describe you?
4. What motivates you to put forth your best effort ?
5. How do you determine or evaluate success ?
6. What academic subjects did you like best ? Least ?
7. What led you to choose the career for which you are preparing ?
8. What personal characteristics are necessary for succeeding in the career that you are interested in ?
9. What is your philosophy of life ?
10. Why have you switched career fields ?

Weaknesses / Negatives

1. What major problems have you encountered and how have you dealt with them ?
2. What have you learnt form your mistakes ?
3. What do you consider to be your greatest weakness ?
4. Did you ever have problems with your supervisor ?

Skills / Abilities / Qualifications

1. What do you consider to be your greatest strength ?
2. Are you creative ? Give an example.
3. What qualifications do you have that makes you think you will be successful ?
4. In what way do you think you can make a contribution to society?
5. Why should we take you ?
6. What are your own special abilities ?
7. Why should we take you over another candidate ?
8. What is your managing style ?
9. Why do you want to join this institute ?
10. What do you know about our institute ?

Values

1. What is your attitude towards working hard ?
2. What part does your family play in your life ?
3. What are the most important rewards you expect in your career ?
4. What is more important to you : money offered, or the type of job ?
5. Do you enjoy independent research ?
6. In what kind of a work environment are you most comfortable ?
7. How would you describe the ideal job for you ?
8. What two or three things are most important to you in your job ?
9. Do you prefer working with others or all by yourself ?
10. How do you like to work ?
11. Under what conditions do you work best ?
12. What is the highest form of praise ?

Experience

1. In what part-time or summer job have you been most interested ?
2. Tell me about your experience.
3. What jobs have you held ?
4. How did your previous employer treat you ?
5. What have you learnt from some of the jobs that you have held ?
6. What jobs have you enjoyed most ? Least ? Why ?
7. What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work ?
8. Describe your current job.
9. What did you like least about your last job ?
10. What did you like most about your last job ?

Goals / Objectives

1. What are your short-term and long-term goals and objectives ?
2. What specific goals other than those related to your occupation have you chosen for yourself for the next 10 years ?
3. What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now ?
4. What do you really want to do in life ?
5. How do you plan to achieve your career goals ?

Education

1. How has your education prepared you for a career ?
2. Describe your most rewarding college experience.
3. Why did you select your college or university ?
4. If you could, would you plan your academic study differently ?
5. Do you think grades are a good indication of your academic achievement ?
6. What have you learnt from participation in extracurricular activities ?
7. Do you have plans for continuing your studies ?
8. Why did you pick your programme ?
9. What courses did you like best and why ?
10. What courses did you like least and why ?
11. How has your college experience prepared you for this job ?
12. How did you pick your dissertation ?
13. Describe your dissertation process.

Salary

1. What do you expect to earn in 5 years ?
2. What did you earn in your last job ?

Interests

1. What are your outside interests ?
2. What do you do with your free time ?
3. What are your hobbies ?
4. What types of books do you read ?
5. How interested are you in sports ?
6. How did you spend your vacations in school ?

General

1. What qualities should a successful manager possess ?
2. Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and a subordinate.
3. What 3 accomplishments have given you the greatest satisfaction ?
4. If you were taking a graduate for this institute, what qualities would you look for ?
5. What can I do for you ?
6. Tell me a story.
7. Define cooperation.

Stress Questions

1. What causes you to lose your temper ?
2. How often have you been absent from school, work or training ?
3. Have you ever had trouble with other people on the job ?
4. Can you take instructions without getting upset ?
5. Don't you feel you are a little to old/young for this job ?
6. How does your family like you being away on business trips ?
7. With your background, we believe that you are overqualified to join this institute.
8. You haven't had sufficient experience in this field.
9. Our experience with women on this job has not been good.
10. What would irritate you most if I as a manager did it ?

Influencing Others

1. Tell me about the time you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas or point of view.
2. Tell me about the last time someone made an unreasonable request of you.
3. Describe the most disappointing and frustrating experience in gaining the support of others for an idea or proposal.

Interpersonal Skills

1. Describe a situation where it was most important for you to display tact and diplomacy.
2. Tell me about the last time you had a clash or disagreement with someone at school/college/workplace.
3. Tell me about a time when you felt most frustrated and disappointed at a person with whom you had worked.

Personal Adaptability

1. Tell me about the last time you were criticized by a supervisor or a professor.
2. Tell me about the time when you felt most pressured or stressed at work/ school/internship.
3. Tell me about the time when you felt most frustrated at your school/workplace.
4. In what aspects of your work/internship do you have the most confidence in your abilities.

Communication Skills

1. Tell me about the time when you felt best about your ability to draw out or solicit information from another person.
2. Tell me about the time when you had to work your hardest in order to fully understand what another person was saying to you.
3. Describe the last time when someone at school/work misunderstood what you were trying to communicate.

Motivation

1. Tell me about the most long term, sustained extra hours of effort that you put into your work/college/internship.
2. Describe a time when you felt most frustrated or discouraged in reaching your goals or objectives.
3. What do you feel has been your most significant work/school/internship related achievement within the past year or so ?
4. Describe the last time you did something well which went beyond the expectations in your work/internship.

Administrative Skills

1. Tell me how you go about organizing your work and scheduling your own time.
2. What do you do to ensure that your goals and objectives are met in a timely way ?
3. Describe the most extensive planning that you have ever done.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

1.Tell me about the most difficult problem that you faced in your work/school/internship ?
2.Tell me about the last time you made a decision that backfired.
3.Tell me about the time when you regretted most not getting advice before you went ahead ?

Conflict Management Skills

1. Tell me about the last significant crisis situation that you faced in your work.
2. Tell me about a time when you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Trying to keep up to the mark

Day 2
Got up at 7am with a good news that Nadal has won the french open

here was my today's schedule
7.30 - 9am worked out in the gym (preparing for the 28 aug marathon)
started to office by 9.30am
browsed BTG for some problems
came back home by 9.30pm(commuting to office takes almost 3 hours)
started reading for gmat at 10.30pm..
its is abt 1am IST now. will post the next update tomorrow


Task done
solved 20 problems from GMAT_Math tough problems posted by eric on BTG
solved around 20 problems(Quant+verbal) from BTG
Completed revising quants module on speed-time-distance(including boats in streams)


lessons learnt
-need to utilize my time more appropriately
-wasted a considerable amount of time reading abt why indian stock markets crashed today by 2%

Plan for tomorrow
quants module revision
....

BTW i have got jack higgins "The graveyard shift" novel. Planning to complete it in 5 days while traveling to office.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Day 1 ends with a movie

it is a nice weather in chennai today. it rained overnight and the temp is down to 30 C.

The great news for me is that i have restarted my preps on a serious note this weekend. i am targeting the first week of august for my exam. my plans for exam started from may31st but today i feel is the actual day1(i devoted considerable time) .


what i did today related to GMAT?
solved 3 RC passages. solved some questions on BTG and from 1000 DS and PS.

apart from this i have started reading material online to increase my RC speed. i will post any material that i get to read everyday in my blog

I ended my first day by watching Raajneethi in the theatre. it is a thrilling and grippling movie to watch "http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masand-raajneeti-is-thrilling-and-gripping/121986-47.html"


Action plan for tomorrow
1. compete revision of 2 quant modules

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

IIMB - Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management

The Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP) is an intensive one year program designed to enhance skills and capabilities essential for responsible positions at senior management levels. Challenging, widespread and globally oriented program's objective is to produce future leaders who can handle the dynamic corporate environment.

Designed for professionals with substantial work experience, the key attribute of this program is its focus on emerging economies. These emerging economies have enormous potential and business opportunities. Sustaining spectacular growth requires capable senior executives with diverse skills to handle numerous challenges, which is in short supply.

To meet this gap, the EPGP program has a distinct focus on leadership skills essential for senior management teams and is adapted from best-practices in industry. The interdisciplinary nature of the program will enrich your experience both inside and outside the classrooms.

Apart from the pedagogy of the course structure and regular team assignments, a comprehensive project component provides additional impetus for group interaction and peer learning.

The selection process is designed to ensure significant diversity in academic, business and cultural background. During the course of this program, interaction with your peers and faculty will augment many skills. Appreciation of differing perspectives, effective communication, conflict management, negotiation and mobilising individuals towards common goals-all essential ingredients of effective management practices



Online application is available from 07 July 2010. The Online application will close on 30th September 2010.
http://epgp.iimb.ernet.in/epgp





Sep 30, 2010

* Closing dates for Applications

Oct 15, 2010

* Sending Interview Call Letters

Oct 12, 2010

* Shortlist release /Information

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Why i want to do pursue MBA

When it comes to MBA the first thing that comes to my mind is CAT. But one of my school teachers had advised me to gain some experience before I can go for an MBA. I did so and when my friends were busy preparing for CAT exam, I was busy building my technical profile (executed engineering project to link different floors of building through audio/video/chat software, doing technical presentation) and ensuring that I get my campus placement. Things worked in my favor and I got placed into the DX technologies and then after 6 months I entered TCS looking for better growth opportunities.

One thing that has always attracted my in IT career has been then glamour that is there in IT along with global exposure that you get working in a multi culture environment (Onsite assignments). Apart from this team management, handling pressure are part and parcel but learning different processes are some of the key differentiators that you learn being in a service industry (got the gyan of process from my software engineering professor)

Over the years in I have grown from a programmer who took instruction to a project leader who is giving instruction to senior and juniors on variety of technical and domain relates issues. One basic difference between programmer and MBA

- A programmer is involved in a monotonous job of code fixing, elevated to the role of module leader, project leader and project management. He will have requirements management and business process modeling skills.

- Whereas as an MBA grads have much more business operations and financial skills and also the ability to help the business make strategic operations decisions. Some MBA grads can also have programmer knowledge but vice versa is rare

Why I can’t try change without an MBA

- Well in my organization if I wish to join consulting practice then I need to join Global Consulting practice (GCP). Most of the graduates here are from top notch MBA schools and those who are not from top notch MBA schools make it to the level of programmers.

- Most of the technical guys also make a leap to business analyst roles(most of the MBA also do the same). I have been trained on the same by giving training on IBM tools and investment banking modules. Point to note is that, though I have the practical knowledge (Subject Matter Expert) and required training, my billing rate will always be same as programmer. But when an MBA grad comes as business analyst(most probably he works for GCP), the billing rate differs. It is not about billing rate but it is about how you are treated within your organization or by clients who respect MBA grads .

- Most of the business development managers(BDM) or Business Relationship Managers(BRM) are people who have exposure to handling clients or are MBA from top notch institutes. In order to take this ladder I need to get to minimum designation (AST designation.) When I joined the organization (it had 25k employees) it used to take 6 – 7 years for reaching the AST grade, but now (>1.5 lakhs employees) it takes 9 years to reach AST grades since promotion rules are revised. With promotion freeze it is difficult to reach into that role.

- Project management role will lead to project manager, account manager, group lead. But going above this need some extra qualification. I have seen my peers doing MBA in order to be competitive with younger MBA grads who are same role is them, but their knowledge gives them upper advantage. MBA can always facilitate and act as a ticket in career progression or enable career change to general management. Well there are some exception as always.

- The advantage of BRM or BDM over project manager is that he gets a formal training

Any career shift from delivery needs an MBA given in the circumstance that I am as of now.

Why MBA

1. Success in any industry depends on the mentoring you get from senior business folks. MBA from a Premier institutes give you the visibility to business folks due to the knowledge gained. Otherwise moving from a technical role to a strategic division will take a longer time. Sometime it becomes tough because knowledgeable MBA guys are already present

2. Without the business knowledge I will try to figure things as I go around. But with the traditional MBA knowledge the path becomes more smoother and it is easy to build the rigor and depth of concepts along with guidance from senior folks

3. Learn different management concepts and tools

4. Solving the same problem or learning negotiation skills with individuals from different industries is a biggest knowledge.

5. The business strategies , various type of industries and their functioning can be better understood through case studies

6. Learning to build trust with client, political mechanics of how you sell and close a big project

Why one year program

1. One year program gives me the opportunity to learn things by saving one year in a reputed institute

2. Management education and jobs is all about networking. Great alumni strength helps a lot. In addition the network connection of experienced guys in the class is bonanza

3. Sitting in a small class room with people of 500 years experience( 50 seats * 10 avg experience)

4. Intellectual development

5. Unique blend of theoretical knowledge and case discussion that equips future managers to develop deep understanding of required skills and their application. Curriculum subjects such as Creating and Managing new ventures OR being a chief executive fits in this bill

Important Dates of One Year MBA in india(2011-12)

S. P. Jain Institute of Management(http://www.spjimr.org/pgpm/pgpm_home.asp)
PGPM (1 year Program) Batch starting Jan'11
Last date for submission of forms 30th June 2010
List of shortlisted candidates for - interview 15th July 2010
Interviews August 2010




IIMA PGPX-VI (2011-12) batch

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/pgpx/login.php
Note:
1. Last date for submmitting application with GMAT scores is August 10, 2010.
2. Applicant's DOB should be on or before March 31, 1984
3. GMAT score obtained between April 1, 2007 and August 10, 2010 is only valid. GMAT Code for IIMA PGPX is CQQ-RR-60.
4. After submitting your application form online, no additional information update would be entertained.




Indian School of Business(http://www.isb.edu)

1. Admissions Calendar - For Indian Passport Holders
Cycle 1 Cycle 2
Application Deadline August 30, 2010 November 30, 2010
Offer Date By November 15, 2010 By February 15, 2011
Acceptance Date 15 days from the date of the offer 15 days from the date of the offer

2.Admissions Calendar -For Non-Indian Passport Holders

For all international applicants there is a rolling application process. The applicant , if shortlisted is likely to be interviewed within one month of submission of a complete application. However, in exceptional situations it might take more than a month. The applicant will be informed about the decision within three weeks from the date of the interview.

International candidates may need additional time to arrange for their visas, housing, and financial aid, and to work on their English proficiency, hence they are encouraged to apply early.

Application for PGP 2011-12 is open from May 18, 2010 until January 15, 2011.