PRaMeYa

weschool.prameya prameya @prameyaWEschool

September 2013Issue Fifth

FOREWORD“Prameya” is an apt name for the voice of WeSchool Bengaluru.

It’s the official bimonthly newsletter of the students, by the

students and for the students in every true sense. WeSchool, a

premier business school has gone beyond academics and

indulges in extracurricular activities for holistic development of

the students. Prameya, a students’ platform showcases the

talent which is encouraged and nurtured under the umbrella of

activities conducted by the institute.

This issue begins with the Address’ by our Group director Prof.

Dr. Uday Salunkhe and the Dean and Director of Bengaluru

campus Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila. Foundation fortnight has always

been a productive and invigorative way of orienting new

students. As the name suggests, it is a two week long themed

session which allows the students to acclimatize with the new

environment and gives them a chance to interact with renowned

corporate speakers. This years’ theme being “Game Plan”, we

have devised the issue of magazine along the same lines.

An article by Mr. D Shivkumar(President, AIMA) follows the

theme article. It is followed by Our Guru Speaks section

featuring an interview with our Faculty Prof. Dr. Jai Raj Nair

(B.Arch,PGDBM,Phd). Post Budget Conference, India CEO

Forum, WeSchool Faculty Development Program, Faculty

Virtual Workshop, and India Destination report are also some

highlights of this issue. We have also tried to give a gist of the

WeCafe sessions which hosted three corporate guest speakers.

It is followed by Achievers wall of fame, MDC activities,

WeConnect section featuring an interview with our student

Alumni, AIMS events including Dean and Director’s Round table

and convention of Management Education, India Innovation

Summit, HR summit 2013, and WeKas and WeMitra initiative.

Under the events section, we have covered the Rotract events of

Blood donation camp, flash mob dance and the installation

ceremony of the new Rotract committee. It is followed by a

feature on the Independence Day Celebration, Farewell of the

2011-13 batch of WeSchool and the Students corner.

We have introduced a few new sections including the Innovation

of the month, Book reviews and a photography competition for

the students, which wraps up this issue.

Wish you all a happy read…….

INDEXForeword

Index

Group Director's and Dean's Address

WeSchool Achievement

Foundation Fortnight - Game Plan

Prepare, Don’t Plan by Mr D. ShivaKumar

Our Guru Speaks

Post Budget Conference

India CEO Forum

WeSchool Faculty Development Program

Faculty Virtual Workshop Wemitra and Wekas Initiative

India Destination

WeCafe Sessions

Achievers Wall of fame

Management Development Centre Activities

WeConnect with Vishwanath

The Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) events -

Dean and Director's Round table

Convention of Management Education

India Innovation Summit

HR Summit 2013

Rotract Events

Independence Day Celebrations

Farewell of batch 2011-13

Students Corner - Game Plan of Behemoths

Innovation Of The Month

Book Reviews

Photography Contest

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2

3

9

11

13

14

15

16

17

19

22

23

24

25

28

29

30

33

35

36

38

39

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Faculty EditorDr. Sonia Mehrotra

EditorV RamLakhan Annavarpu

Concept & DesignMr. William DayabaranSiddharth Gulati

On Field Team

Sagar Sheth

Manjunath S Doddamani

Gunjan Kushwah

Preeti Bisht

Ankita Banerjee

VijayaLakshmi

Coming together is beginning;

working together is progress. –

Henry Ford

At WeSchool we are deeply inspired by

these words . Today emerg ing

unarticulated needs and realities need a

new approach both in terms of thought as

well as action. Cross disciplinary

learning, discovering, scrutinizing,

prototyping, learning to create and

destroy – the mind’s eye needs to be

nurtured and differently so.

I view my job as two-fold: to provide the

means for my students to succeed,

whether that is through course offerings,

research opportunities and more

importantly to stand by them and with

them as they make this two year journey

with us.

Prameya – the students’ magazine

depicts the students campus life and the

happenings at WeSchool.

I congratulate the New Prameya

Team 2013-14 and wish them luck

for their future endeavors.

Dean & Director

Bengaluru Campus

Dr. Anil Rao PailaProfessor

In order to succeed, your desire for

success should be greater than your

fear for failure.- Bill Cosby

Today the rules of the game have

changed. We often hear about the terms

such as globalization, triple bottom line,

disruptive innovation, sustainability,

technological revolut ion, socia l

responsibility, ethics, governance and

the list goes on. To keep abreast with

these dynamic changes, there is a dire

need for the students to develop global

mindset, hone their leadership skills,

greater awareness of self and context,

holistic thinking skills, develop empathy

& ethical perspectives & soft skills. At

WeSchool all our efforts are towards

grooming our students with these

qualities and skill sets.

We have always focused to nurture our

students as Global citizen managers. Our

approach emphasizes the students to

learn through application of acquired

knowledge and as the next step delve

deeper to make the meaning of the

knowledge acquired by understanding

their individual role and responsibilities

towards business, relationships and

society.

I wish success to the new Prameya

team for the Academic year 2013-14

in all the endeavors ahead.

Professor Dr. Uday Salunkhe

Group Director - WeSchool

Dean‘sAddress

Group Director’sAddress

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2

WeSchool Achievement

Bombay Management Association (BMA) conferred Prin. L. N. Welingkar

Institute of Management Development (WeSchool) with the "Outstanding

Institute of Management of the Year" award on its 35th Award Ceremony held on 14 June

2013.This add yet another feather to WeSchool’s hat of accolades.

Under the guidance and direction of our dynamic group director Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe,

WeSchool has consistently worked towards delivering quality on par with the outside

world. . Striving for Inventive and technology driven education while keeping design

thinking and innovation as the prime focus has helped WeSchool to set a benchmark in

management education.

Commenting on the occasion Mr R Ramakrishnan, President, BMA said, "Education

plays a crucial role in a nation’s upliftment and business management is essential for the

growth of an economy. We are happy to present this award to WeSchool for their

instrumental initiatives and projects that have empowered many students to realize

their dreams. We wish them all success and offer our continued support for their future

endeavours."

Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe stated the need of futuristic global leaders to lead India

towards absolute stature. To meet this demand, WeSchool has persistently tried to

provide a complete package of innovative and tailor made course modules enunciating

the need for values and ethics. Through world class faculty, result oriented teaching

techniques and experiential learning WeSchool strives to bring out global leaders that

have a drive to work passionately in both the evolving economic and social environment.

WeSchool was previously honoured with "BMA Outstanding Institute of

Management of the Year Award" in the years 2004 and 2010.

BMA confers WeSchool with “Outstanding Institute of Management of the Year Award”

Group Director Dr Uday Salunkhe receiving the honours from the esteemed guest at the event

3

22nd July 2013, This was one of the most important day of our lives as this day would

mark the beginning of our management education program at the Welingkar Institute

of Management Education and Research and the anxiousness was evident when we all

attended the highly anticipated “Foundation Fortnight” program at the Mumbai

campus. With lot of curiosity in our eyes and heart filled with high spirits, we entered

the campus which was already buzzing with lot of activities. During the time we started

getting acquainted with those new friends and we all had the same question “What the

Foundation Fortnight is actually all about???” And soon enough we got our answers.

We were welcomed by our seniors who helped us settling down and guiding us through

the further process. Large banners were hanging on all the walls with the words written

on it in big block letters “GAMEPLAN”. Our curiosity was made to rest when we were

told that this is the theme of our Foundation Fortnight program. We were then taken to

a spectacular boardroom and the place had us completely awed. All of us curiously

observed as each faculty came in and took their seats. Then in the midst of loud cheer

and thunderous applause from the audience, we saw our respected Group Director

Prof Dr. Uday Salunkhe made his way to the dias. The warmth and graciousness with

which he welcomed us created an instant amount of charm and respect for him.

The positive energy that he channeled in each one of us was remarkable and in his

words we saw our glorious future lying ahead. The inauguration of the Foundation

Fortnight was done by Mrs. Silke Schmidt, MD of Volkswagen Financial Services Ltd.

She shared with us the GAMEPLAN she had designed for development of her

organization and also gave us valuable insights on her personal goals. She explained

the importance of having a game-plan and what difference it can bring to our lives. We

cherished the inspiring session she gave us and we were grateful to WeSchool to give

us the opportunity of being in the company of such an esteemed personality.

Foundation Fortnight Theme - Game Plan Mumbai

Students understanding the importance of the FoundationFortnight

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The program continued as we had great

insightful sessions by the highly

experienced faculty members of Mumbai

campus on different sectors of the

management education. The games and the

ET quizzes conducted for us in between the

sessions kept our spirits high. The ET

quizzes especially always put our

knowledge to test, making us realize the

importance of reading ET and there by

motivated us to read ET regularly.Prof. Dr. Githa Heggde, HOD Marketing,

addressing the students

The first half of the Foundation Fortnight came to an

end at the Mumbai campus with a very eventful day

which comprised of team events and competitions

similar a multi-level amazing race which was played

in the vast Mumbai campus itself and made an impact

on our man-management skills and team building

capabilities. The first half of this journey a truly

enriching and exciting experience for all the students

of the new batch and on the next day, we bid adieu to

Mumbai and started our journey to a place where we

all are destined spend the next two years of our life,

BANGALORE.

The Outbound trip that was planned for us was one of the best in our lives. The early

morning travel from the campus to the venue was a lot of fun and our group director

Dr. Salunkhe accompanying us and interacting with us throughout the journey was great.

We were all overjoyed as small kids would do when we reached the venue. It was almost

like a beautiful forest with huge trees everywhere around and a constant drizzle of rain

made the atmosphere even more refreshing. The inspiring words from our Group

Director Dr. Salunkhe made everyone geared up to participate in the sporting events to

be followed and we were divided into respective teams for the same. The objective of the

task was to break the ice between the students and help them understand each other and

perform under challenging circumstances. We played 3 team games which challenged us

to develop new skills and methods for problem solving and enhance our understanding

about each team member. The games also involved developing the strategy for each

game and exploiting key areas of team work and planning. The never ceasing rain and the

complete natural environment also helped us to outperform ourselves. Overall it was an

enriching experience which we will carry with us all through our lives.

The next two days were again a blend of fun and knowledge where we attended the

sessions of highly knowledgeable and experienced speakers like Anil Rao Sir, Mr. Vivek

Pandit whose enriched experience of working with an NGO and his fight against the act of

‘bonded labor’ gave us lot of insights about the social aspects of life. The Farewell party

which was arranged for us in advance became an excellent platform for many of us to

showcase their talents, mingle with each other and interact with our seniors. The

presence of our Group Director at the event was an icing on the cake.

Prof. Raghu Deshpande introducing

the CMC to the batch of 2013-15

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Foundation Fortnight @ Bengaluru

hall where the inauguration ceremony

commenced. The chief guest for the

event was Mr. Sudhesh Venkatesh , Head

of NHRD and he has also been closely

associated with the Azim Premji

foundation. Also present at the occasion

was our Dean & Director, Bengaluru

campus Dr. Anil Rao Paila and the faculty

members. The Dean welcomed the new

batch with a big smile on his face and his

words of wisdom made us realise we have

become a part of something really big

and of equal significance . The chief guest

Mr. Sudhesh Venkatesh enlightened us

with his success story and outlined the

pre-requisites, motivation factors and

the importance of self-actualization that

we are supposed to imbibe in our game

plans for the future.

After the inauguration ceremony, the

moment we all were hoping for finally

touched base, ‘Campus Tour’. We were

given a very thorough, informative tour

of the campus by our seniors and we all

were very delighted to explore our ‘new

home’.

Over the period of next five days, we

The excitement, anxiety and the

eagerness with which all of us embarked

upon the journey to Bangalore was pretty

evident on all our faces. It turned out to

be an awesome bus ride with loads of fun

and lots of ‘breaking the ice’ moments.

We were all excited to know and explore

the place where we would be spending

the next two very eventful and soul

searching years. The bus arrived at our

hostel early in the morning and the

weather out there was truly amazing. The

feeling of taking a deep breath of that

fresh air and saying it to yourself ‘This is

it...’ was like those we see in the movies.

The following day went in settling down in

the allotted rooms and exploring the

facilities, hotspots and eateries all

around the hostel premises.

The next day was supposed to be our first

day at WeSchool and the students were

all dressed up for the occasion as we

arrived at the college. Everyone had their

anxious eyes roaming around the

campus in awe and anticipation and one

adjective for the campus that would have

definitely crossed in everyone’s mind was

‘beautiful’. We were then led to a seminar

From left to right:-Prof.

Prakash Unakal (Sr.

Associate Dean Business

Design), Prof. Mohan

Chandra (HOD Business

D e s i g n ) a n d P r o f .

Deepuchandran (Asst

Prof. Business Design)

addressing the students

on Design Innovation and

creativity.

6

were in the amidst of some esteemed

personalities and bigwigs of the corporate

sector who were the invited speakers for

different sessions. They shared with us the

importance of a strategic game plan that

each one should conceive and work upon for

the aspired success. Mr. Issac George, HR

Head & Treasurer, WiproTech made us aware

about the core values that an organization

seeks in an employee and advised us to put

the company’s interest ahead of an

individual’s interest. Mrs. Sangeeta

Malkhede, Asst. V.P HRD, CSS Corp made it

very clear through her presentation that a

strong, well-conceived and adaptable

gameplan is the need of the hour in such an

ambiguous nature of corporate sector of

recent times.

Along with the dignitaries, we had faculty members sessions from every department. The

faculty members provided us with valuable insights on the various subjects that we

would be studying for the following two years. Also, we were really excited about the fact

that the campus provides us with various platforms to showcase our talents and

challenge our capabilities through its varied activities and competitions that are held both

in and out of the campus. We were also briefed about the various initiatives that have

been implemented especially for the students such as Career Management Cell (CMC)

which helps students develop corporate skills for better placements. ‘WeMitra’, another

initiative wherein a faculty member is allotted for each student for one to one interactions

and career counselling sessions.

This beautiful journey of two weeks really helped all the students to break the ice

between them, to look inside and measure their potentials and prepare themselves to

become future managers that would bring about a change in the society.

Students attending various Foundation

Fortnight sessions at Bengaluru Campus.

Students listening attentively as Prof.

Mohan Chandra( HOD Business Design)

speaks on various aspects of BD.

Prof. Madhavi Lokhande (Head ADC

Professor) clarifying the queries of

students.

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Glimpse of WeSchool

Prof. Soumya Chakraborthy addressing the students about the ‘We-Kas’ initiative at WeSchool campus.

Prof. Asha Mathew addressing the students.

Prof. Anitha Pillai giving her valuable insights on IT sector to the students.

Prof. Shekhar Prabhakar sharing his experience in marketing with the students.

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Foundation Fortnight 2013-14

Prof. Sudeshna Reddy addressing the students regarding the Green Council and its initiatives in WeSchool.

Students getting involved in various activities during the foundation week.

A group of students on way to the Mumbai Outbound session.

Students enjoying the freshers party at Chembur GymKhana, Mumbai

The MBA degree is a well

branded and differentiated degree compared to other Master’s degrees. The MBA holder is seen in a different light. MBAs tend to earn more than other professions and this draws awe and envy in equal measure.

In recent years, the MBA has

lost its shine and fewer

students are opting for the

MBA. The MBA curriculum

needs redesign and current

MBA students need to rethink

their approach. Every MBA

plans to be a CEO, plans a

certain asset base etc. I would

urge the MBA student to

prepare as opposed to

planning. Planning without

preparation is wishful thinking.

The first is prepare to be a life

long learner. The world is

changing fast and to be

successful, one needs to keep

up to date. Few MBAs read any

books or serious articles after

their degree. This forces them

to rely on old concepts to

address new problems. With

rapid change, what is learnt in

an MBA today could be

obsolete in five years.Reading

and keeping yourself up to date

will help you stand out as a

thought leader. Reading

biographies will prepare you

both for leadership nuances

and develop some instinctive

answers in tough situations.

Learn about new concepts and

t e c h n o l o g i e s t h a t a r e

reshaping society, like UID, like

wearable computers, like cloud

services as fundamental new

concepts have a way of

disrupting any business.

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Mr. D Shivakumar, President AIMA

The second is to prepare to be a good

follower. B Schools attract bright people who

have generally done well in school and

college. As a result many of them feel like

‘first amongst equals’. Many MBAs want to

become the youngest VP or the youngest

CEO or the youngest something. If you want

to be a great leader, prepare by being a great

follower. Being a supportive follower earns

you the respect of your peers, of your

subordinates and also gets you the loyalty of

your boss. Being a good follower means you

need to accept your place in the shadow till

its time for you to step on stage under the

arc lights. This will need patience and self-

confidence. The self-confidence will come

from your continuous learning and the

relationships you build at work and at home.

Prepare, don’t plan

10

The third is to prepare to accept failure.

Life will not be one easy journey. A career

is like a long distance flight, there will be

periods of turbulence where one needs to

fasten the seat belt as opposed to jumping

out of the plane. Take the turbulence,

learn from it and prepare for success

ahead. A common mistake MBAs do is to

cover up failure by blaming it on external

factors and others in the system. Owning

up for shortcomings and showing the

willingness to do something about the

shortcomings will prepare you to be a

bigger and better leader.

The fourth is to prepare to work with

diverse individuals. Strong teams are

never made of similar background people.

The ability to work with people from very

different backgrounds helps you

appreciate diversity and also helps you

understand how diversity can be

leveraged for success. The B school and

the projects you do in B school will be a

great place to practice this appreciation of

diversity. Try and form your work groups

with people unlike you and that will help

you build empathy and will also help you

relate differently. This will help you

enormously when you start you

managerial career and you will be required

to deal and talk with shop floor workers in

a factory, distributor salesmen, distributor

etc. who might not necessarily have the IQ

or the EQ to deal with complex business

situations.

The fifth is prepare to speak up, to be

Intellectually honest, the ability to tell it as

it is on behalf of the institution and the

stakeholders. Financial mismanagement

and financial corruption aren’t the key

reasons for decline in public trust of

business houses and leaders. It is more

the spin that businesses are putting out.

Being intellectually honest will always put

you in a position of strength v a v your

stakeholders. A number of people feel

that a white lie or a reasonable spin is

part of managing the ‘ system and the

boss’. I don’t fully endorse that, in a way it

is like saying it is fine for a business to be

a little corrupt in order to get its way!

The sixth is about preparing to be proud

of the institution you work for. In today’s

free information society, employees have

access to all kinds of information and

commentary about their company. It is

easy for middle and junior managers to

be swayed by some of this commentary

and hence devalue the institution they

work for. Pride in your organization is

something that you should always be

prepared to have, you are not an outsider

or a consultant to point out what’s wrong,

you are part of the institution and you

should address the issues. High IQ tends

to make people more cynical and less

positive abut their surroundings if things

don’t go their way. Prepare to be a proud

citizen, a proud company person and a

proud team member. That pride is worth

more self-esteem, than any amount of

money that people can offer you.

Planning a career makes you put artificial

deadlines and timelines. YoungMBAs plan

to be a young VP or a young CEO because

they imagine the associated financial

benefits of that position. My advise to

young MBAs – “ Aim to be good, if you are

good money will follow you, on the other

hand, if you have money, it doesn’t mean

that you are naturally good”

So, In The Final Analysis, Prepare To Be GOOD!!

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Our Guru Speaks

- A interview with Prof. Dr. Jai Raj Nair Professor - IT

Q. We understand that you did your graduation in B.Arch and then went on to do

PGDBM as well as Doctorate. Do you feel education is a continuous process in

life?What are your thoughts on this?

The amount of learning one can do, does not have an end because knowledge is sheer

power. The market needs people who are multiskilled, so gone are those days when people

say they are familiar with a specific aspect of business. Personally I have been a voracious

reader, I like reading even outside my domain. Nowadays I have been reading about

astrology, so anything that interests me I take it to the next level .That is why I kept on

changing my career but now I have got settled in the academic field. But for a student I

believe one should continue the learning process for as long as possible.

Q. You were among one of the faculty members selected for the Faculty

Development Program Harvard Business School (HBS).

We have couple of questions here on

a. What was the HBS program all about?

b. Please share your experience with all of us?

c. What according to you is so different at HBS as

compared to an Indian B- school?

The program was called GloColl i.e. Global Colloquium on Participant Centered Learning.

As we know Harvard Business School has pioneered and perfected the concept of case

studies for the past 100 years plus. The program was to provide a Harvard experience to the

faculty members from all over the world. It was a 7 day program .The infrastructure of HBS

was fantabulous. The classrooms were designed in a semicircular pattern with all the

amenities. We were given demonstration of how cases should be handled for eg: Its difficult

taking a quantitative lecture with the help of a case study, but they demonstrated us how it

can be done .They have a paper called Corporate Accountability and Leadership this showed

us how a financial case can be converted into a case based on corporate governance.

I believe I have become much more confident as a faculty after being through that course.

There were 143 participants from 29 countries .This was about case teaching methodology

and now the second phase is going to be held in Mumbai in February about case writing.

In IIM Calcutta when I was a student case studies were not so prominent. At Harvard I

12

Prof. Dr. Nair at Harvard Business School

believe the students are more serious with substantial work-experience, so teachers are

more of facilitators at HBS. At Harvard they only stimulate the students and the learning

follows on its own.

Q. Could you in detail elaborate the strategies that we as students should adopt

during our next two years of the management education so as to have a

successful career in future?

My only advice for the students would be to get a bit more serious. Do not worry much for

the placements, the company must chase you. Take it to the next level put in your efforts.

Like at Harvard for a Business Case Study a lot research is to be done before coming to

the class, they would exploit Google to understand the terms they do not understand and

find out their meanings. There is a tremendous amount of pressure that is being built-up

due to the peer group. Here, I see students have enough excuses to not to do that, but

they should understand that this is not a bed of roses. Today students need to be self

motivated, self driven, multi skilled and self disciplinary.

Q. What was your learning from the innovative teaching pedagogy adopted at

the FDP of the HBS program?

My main learning was that if we can completely move to the case study mode of teaching

which our Group Director is actually trying to do. We have a course called as Integrative

Managers, which run on case studies from Harvard which provides a very stimulating and

scintillating discussions in classes on the case studies. So we have made the beginning

but still a lot of ground is to be covered to move to the level of Harvard. We are planning to

implement case based teaching in every subject whether it be marketing or accounting

etc. because this pedagogy is much better and effective.

sectors (Energy, Transport, Rural Development, Social Services, Industry etc.) andS

economy as a whole. With this, the session commenced with Vijay Sir stating the budget

2013 as a ‘plain vanilla budget’. He showed concern about few serious issues with the

budget 2013; which were, interest on deposit in savings account being exempt earlier;

planned and non-planned expenditure; current account deficit etc.

Mr. Suchit Majumdar, the first panelist to speak stated that this was a ‘Robinhood’ budget

where the finance minister was on the track when looking towards the revenues and

promoting FDI and FII to get more foreign investment as there is a slowdown in the

growth across sectors. Another area of importance was the deferment of tax rules.

Next panellist was Mr. Bala Subramaniyam. He spoke about the manufacturing sector that

as the production has come down; excise duty is going to be difficult to pay for this sector.

He explained about the Dividend Distribution Tax and that people are not happy with tax

on small amounts of deposit in savings account. Thus, people tend to invest more in gold

deducing that this budget has not given an “investment angle” to the people. Lastly,

corporate tax and surcharge was also in talk and his point of view was that direct tax will

help the nation and not the indirect tax.

Further, the discussion was continued by Mr. Pratap Subramaniyam who felt that the

budget 2013 was more of a ‘speech’ than a ‘budget’, a story of missed opportunities. He

stated that Current account deficit is of greater concern than fiscal deficit of 5-7%, which

is manageable for an emerging country. Reform agenda could have been pushed, and bills

could have been passed to create economic space. Oil economy was also not taken into

consideration in this budget. FM should have found further new ways of taxation, instead

of taxing the same people again and again.

Finally the last panellist to speak was Mr. Bharat Rao who spoke about DTC (Direct tax

code) and brought to notice that not much has been done in this area. Adding to this, the

budget this time was not so favourable and did not widen the tax umbrella. He also said

that approx 46 per cent of corporate turnover will go into the tax.

After a great discussion and sharing of thoughts by all the panelists, there was question

and answer round to enrich the students. The session ended by greeting the panelists

with a token of appreciation by Prof. Hema D. and a vote of thanks by the students.

The round table of the finance club

“Arthakul” was organized on March

7th 2013. The session started with a

floral welcome of the esteemed

panelists by Prof. Hema D. and Prof.

Vijay Kumar. The students presented

a video on the budget to throw some

light on the Union Budget 2013-14;

adding to which was a presentation

where the audience were introduced

to the impact of budget on individuals,

Post Budget Analysis Round Table

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14

India CEO Forum

‘India CEO Forum on Business and

Human Rights Dialogue’ was held on 2nd

April 2013 at Infosys Campus, Bangalore

on the theme Growth with Dignity,

Respect and Accountability - Exploring

the implementation of the United Nations

“Protect, Respect, Remedy” Framework

for Business and Human Rights in the

Indian context. The forum was attended

by eminent personalities from business,

government, academia and civil society.

WeSchool was the academic partner of

this forum and helped Infosys document

this event.

Mr. Pooran Pandey, Executive Director,

GCN India delivered the welcome

address and Mr. Narayana Murthy, Chair

of the Indian CEO Forum, Global Compact

Network India and Founder Chairman

Emeritus, Infosys Ltd delivered the

opening remarks. Mr.Murthy appreciated

the initiatives of GCN and enlightened the

forum on the ways to implement UN

Guiding Principles in the Indian context.

Ms. Beroz Gazdar Senior VP, Group

Sustainability, Mahindra raised concerns

that the biggest challenge for Mahindra

had been their supply chain and to

overcome this Mahindra had adopted a

structured due diligence process for their

new vendors. Mr. Asim Parekh, Vice

president, Coca Cola recalled how some

of their suppliers were reluctant in

adopting the human rights standards,

however by providing education , Coco

Cola was able to convince majority of

their suppliers to adopt human rights

standards. Ms Sushma Kapoor, Deputy

Representative, UN women, spoke on

gender bias and violence against women.

She also raised the issue of women

representation at the executive board

and emphasized the need for a conducive

environment for women work force and

the need for gender equality.

Mr. Salil Tripathi deliberated that

companies must provide disclosures with

reference to human rights policies

adopted by them to ensure transparency.

Prof. Joe Philip expressed the fact that in

Industrial law there are many human

right protection clauses. The other

panelists agreed and emphasized the

need to ensure implementation of such

laws in case of human right violations

quoting Union Carbide as an example. Mr.

Joe Philip also quoted the example of

women education in Kerala which has

lead to women empowerment and

economic growth. With this the forum

was brought to a conclusion.

15

Assurance of learning sessions were

organized in WeSchool Bengaluru on 26th

april 2013. The sessions of the day

commenced with the introduction of the

speaker Dr. Arun Pereira, Clinical Associate

Professor of Management Education at ISB

by Prof V. V Raghavan and a welcome gesture

by Dr. Anil Rao. The participants were given

pre reading material which helped them in

grasping the concepts of AOL .

Dr. Pereira then explained the concepts of Rubrics

and participants were asked to solve few

examples on the concept. Each team was then

asked to design a Rubric based on the learning

objective decided by them which was then

presented to all teams and modified.

All participants were then given a feedback form

to rate their learning experience and share some

suggestions for the improvement of the session.

Dr. Anil Rao and Prof V.V Raghavan then

requested each of the programme heads to

elaborate on the road ahead for the programmes

based on the take away of this workshop thus

concluding the session.

The session started with the road map of the session plan along with the brief

introduction about AOL and its significance in the Association to Advance Collegiate

Schools of Business (AACSB) process. The whole process was explained in context with

the AOL process at ISB, Hyderabad.

The session was highly interactive with suggestions and discussions between the

speaker and the faculty members. The 1st half of the work shop was theory based where

the entire process of AOL was explained in detail with examples to illustrate the following

points

• AOL process -Introduction

• AOL & AACSB

• Steps in AOL ( Learning goal , Learning Objectives)

In the second half of the session participants were divided into three teams representing

the 3 programmes in Bangalore campus. viz PGDM , PGDM-E business and PGDM –BD.

Each team had to come up with one significant goal of their respective programmes

which was then discussed and modified based on inputs from the speaker and other

participants.The teams were asked to come up with learning objectives based on the

programme goal decided by them which was further discussed and refined.

WeSchool Faculty Development Program

Assurance of learning (AOL) session

Faculty members participating in the AOL session in the campus

Dr Arun Pereira with Dr Anil Rao along with WeSchool faculty members who participated in AOL workshop

In line with the tradition of WeSchool to experiment with innovative ways of learning,

WeSchool Management conducted a virtual workshop using the CISCO technology

platform on the subject of Applied Statistics for the WeSchool faculty members in the

month of June-July 2013. This was a 12 session workshop where in faculty members

from Mumbai and Bangalore connected virtually. The resource person for the workshop

was an international faculty Dr. Nalini Ravishankar, Professor Department of Statistics

University of Connecticut. All the three locations were connected virtually for each

session of the workshop. The workshop was attended by 34 participants. The

workshop was yet another attempt by the Management to progress with the culture of

research at the Institute. The workshop was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Sonia Mehrotra-

Associate Professor Centre of Excellence for Case Development.

Virtual Workshop on Applied Statistics for WeSchool Faculty Members

Wemitra and Wekas Initiative

16

WeKAS - This is a self directed-works team created under the guidance of Prof.Dr. Anil

Rao Paila. The team involves faculty who are directly and indirectly involved with the

various activities that students participate in, outside the purview of their academic

rigour while at We School. The primary objective of this team is to help students to get an

all-round development. By motivating and guiding the students to participate across

different event in different roles, the team will help them develop their knowledge, skills

and aptitude and thus enhance their overall competence. This would arm the students

with greater self-confidence and help them broaden their outlook. Finally, the process

would also enhance their performance during the Placement Seasons.

WeMitra - It is fundamentally a program targeted to the fresh batch joining the campus to

give them a sense of being guided and cared while they settle into their life at We School.

It involves assigning faculty who would be like a buddy to the students. The students can

approach these faculties for any support and guidance they would need. This is a

voluntary process and based on the need and comfort of the students. This initiative is a

feeder to the WeKAS program as it provides a primary insight into the existing levels of

skills and aptitude of the students.

The delegation was headed by Dr. Makarand Gulawani and Dr. Victor Bilodeau, who

have authored the book- ‘ HIGHWAY TO INDIAN MARKETS- A Guide To Doing

Business In India’. They were accompanied by another distinguished faculty

member from the Grant Mac Ewan University, Dr. Albena Pergelova. The delegates

landed in Bengaluru on 9th May, 2013. They were oriented on the cultural heritage

of India, combined with a short visit to M.G. Road, Bengaluru. The day was filled

with fun and shopping.

The next day, the delegation visited INFOSYS, Bengaluru Campus which is one of

the major IT companies in India, situated in Electronic City, Bengaluru. Following

this, they arrived at the WeSchool campus. They were then briefed about their

agenda for the next 4 days.The delegation was segregated into 4 groups,

comprising of 3-4 members each, and each group was mentored by 6 of our

WeSchool faculty members. These mentoring sessions included a lot of field

visits, where the students visited places related to their product to gain practical

knowledge and insights firsthand. The sessions were not only informative but also

fun-filled. Mentors spent maximum of their time with the students, some of them

even hosted dinner at their homes.

WeSchool, Bengaluru hosted a delegation of 14 students along with 3 faculty

members of Grant Mac Ewan University, from Edmonton, Canada, from 9th to 13th

May, 2013 as a part of their Destination India programme.

Delegation from Grant Mac Ewan University with Welingkar Bangalore faculty

DESTINATION INDIA

17

Students Tanya Tran,Tammy Tran,

Ivan Ricon & Dana Richardson with

their Mentor Dr. Githa, Dr. Anil &

Dr. Makaran

Mentors & Faculty members

listening to the presentations made

by students

Students Shahzina Kassam, Heather Ford &

Paula Srisai (Dean) with their mentor Dr.

Sonia Mehrotra.

On the 3rd day, the delegation visited

GUHRING, which is a world class

manufacturer of round shank cutting

tools for the metalworking industry; also

a provider of top quality coating,

reconditioning and tool management

services located in Bangalore.

The mentoring sessions with the 4

mentors continued there on with more

visits planned for the day. On day 4, the

delegation visited the city of Mysore

which is the cultural capital of

Karnataka located 200 km from

Bangalore.

The students were given a brief glimpse of the Indian culture by visits to the

Chamundeshwari Temple & the Mysore palace. On the 5th day, the students with

help from their respective mentors, made a short presentation to the mentors &

other senior faculty members of the Bengaluru Campus, they were rated out of

total 70 marks, out of which 40 marks were for the country report & 30 for the

business strategy that they came up with. The presentations where very well

received & the students came up with some really brilliant and innovative

strategies for their products. The day concluded with felicitating the faculty in the

delegation & the student mentors for the support extended.

18

In today’s world where everyone is busy

running the rat race, his thought was

that, we must not concentrate our

energies on being competitive but being

collaborative. He strongly propagated

working together and reinstated an

important fact, that we should not be

carried away by theory but be practical.

A touch base with values always help,

he spoke about how one should never

measure one’s worth by the salary slips

one receives . If a person is good,

money will follow them. This is a fine

thought in a world where everyone

speaks the language of packages.

A firm believer of “company comes first”

policy he said that while working your

company comes first then comes your

team and finally you yourself. Also he

said that one must never leave a

company when one is unhappy. Leave

on a high note.

He also mentioned about four vital

things in life- Health, family, Money and

Job. He said take care and hold on to the

first two and the other two will fall in

place.

The key takeaways of this session were

that in life, sometimes we keep running

in circles without really understanding

who we are and what we want. Running

behind some popular notions,

sometimes behind things we don’t even

completely understand.

What makes some people who they are

is their clarity of life. Being clear

on their values, come what may

is what defines them. It was

a session that made people

think, a session that had more

than one thought to

carry back home.

Journey of learning and experience in

Bangalore couldn’t have started off on a better

note.

“Don’t just plan...Prepare”

These are the words of the experienced,

learned and inspiring D Shivakumar Former VP

of Nokia.

In his session he shunned the conventional

idea of power point presentations and

developed a direct connect with the crowd as

he shared his beliefs and stories. He mentioned

about how you cannot control where you start

but you do control where you end. True

enough, you are born into certain

circumstances and situations but what you do

with what you have is completely in your

hands.

We Cafe Session – Mr. D Shivakumar

Series

19

targeting the different needs of the

market. Nike and Adidas were

predominately ruling the market, so

Puma came up as a fashion brand and

targeted the lifestyle of the people.

People now buy 1 pair of Adidas or Nike

and 2 or 3 pairs of colorful Puma shoes

for casual wears.

Rajiv Mehta is fair , honest , positive and

creative. He is very down to earth and

does not hesitate to change his decision

if suggested a better opinion by any

employee because he believes in

creating leaders and not followers. “

Sycophants stops a person’s growth “ is

his conviction.

Rajiv Mehta the youngest CEO always believed

in his gut feeling even if he was given no

consideration in the beginning of his career. He

earned it. Words of Rajiv Mehta would always

remain in my mind ‘I had a potential and

pedigree but no experience’. Rajiv’s mantra for

life was “go with your gut feeling” .One should

never be afraid of taking initiatives in life. But

after making mistakes, learning a lesson

should be your take for life. Keep exploring

things that increase your confidence and so as

your gut feeling.

Many people feel that marketing is the only

solution to increase sales. But premium quality

products do not need marketing for the rational

customers. The manager should reach till the

grass roots of his organization .He/She should

be aware of the outlets and the environment

and services provided at each outlet. Target

positioning of the market is must .No need to

make economical goods for the masses I

phones are the best example for the target

consumers of upper middle class rather than

Samsung .But still it is cooler to have an

iphone rather than a Samsung.

It is the sales which gives us the right to

marketing. Brand positioning can be done by

We cafe with Mr. Rajiv Mehta, CEO, PUMA

20

Mr. Gerd Hofner , MD & CEO of SIEMENS

Tecnology India enlightened us about his

life at SIEMENS. We all know that

SIEMENS operates in more than 190

countries in wide range of sectors like

power, healthcare, infrastructure, energy

e t c . M r. H o f n e r m e n t i o n s t h a t

INNOVATIONS keep them strong and they

are very crucial for any industry to survive.

He also emphasized on his belief that the

future needs curiosity, sustainability,

visionary thinking, values, openness and

finally, the future needs youth.

Mr. Hofner told that if one really got an

opportunity to work in a different culture,

it should be grabbed with both hands. One

should always keep in mind that culture

per se is not good or bad, it is simply

different. He also specifies that one should

be open minded , curious ,inquisitive and

should respect the difference of opinions.

Mr. Hofner quoted his personal philosophy

on career that “Don’t make a career plan,

always strive to be among the best and

make it a point to enjoy what you are

doing.”

For an employee to stay loyal to a

company for such long period of time (25

years with SIEMENS) one should trust

the strategy and vision of the company.

Mr. Hofner urged us to think about a long

term goal and there is no need to fall in

love with the company, you can just fall

in love with people around you.

We cafe with Mr. Gerd Hofner, MD & CEO SIEMENS Technology India

21

2. Prof. Soumya Chakraborty,

Prof. Soumya Chakraborty,

(Bangalore),was faci l i tated with

Ramaswamy P Aiyar - Best Outstanding

Young Teacher Award for 2013.

Faculty

1. Dr. Githa Heggde,

Dr. Githa Heggde,

campus) won the gold medal for “J. L.

Batra Best Research Paper Award” at the

AIMS Convention, 2013. Her paper on

“Leadership style, employee work effort

and sales job performance: The influence

of national culture - A study conducted in

India and USA".

Faculty (Bengaluru

3. Prof. Anuradha Mahesh

Prof. Anuradha Mahesh was elected as the

Executive Committee Member on the

Advisory board of the National Human

Resource and Development (NHRD) Network,

Bangalore Chapter 2013-15

Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila

Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila was elected as

Advisory Board member of NHRD Network,

Bangalore Chapter, for the year 2013-15.

Achievers Wall of Fame

22

Management Development Centre (MDC) is an ever active part of the WeSchool

Academia. It runs the Executive Management education program. Here is a gist of

initiatives conducted by MDC:

1) Workshop on "Effective Public Presentations" for Titan Industries Ltd held on 12th

June 2013.

This workshop was a 1 day program in which Executives of Titan had participated. Post

the workshop the participants were mentored for about 6 weeks by our faculty to

enhance their public presentations skills.

2) 5th NUS workshop held from 15th to 22nd May 2013.

NUS is "National University of Singapore" from which students come to India to do

Internship as a part of the NUS Overseas Colleges Program in India. This workshop is

followed by mentoring of these students to help them develop a Business Model

3) 7th batch of JMLP- Junior Management Leadership Program

It is a 16 month program for Infosys BPO which was conducted in Jaipur training about

management and leadership skills. Convocation for the same is scheduled on 18 Sep

2013 at Jaipur.

MDC - Executive

Education Workshops

Professor Dr. Anil Rao along with faculty

members with the members of executives

of TITAN

Professor Dr. Anil Rao

a l o n g w i t h f a c u l t y

members with the student

of NUS

23

1.How did the learnings at WeSchool

help shape your carrier?

The Foundation and platform that

WeSchool gave on the technical aspects

of HR is the first main thing that has

helped me start my HR career. The

emphasis on constantly learning new

things, evolving and networking with

fellow professionals has helped me to

grow in my career.

2.We understand that you have done

Engineering in Mechatronics for

graduation, also your previous work

experience has been in Testing in IT

industry; what made you choose

Human Resources as your PGDM

specialization? Any particular

planned strategy to get into this

field?

My bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics

engineering helped me understand that

any problem should be viewed as a

system; not as separate entities. When I

joined Wipro as a testing engineer, during

the initial years I had learned about the

process and importance of process

methodology. It also gave me an

opportunity to lead a team of 4. This is

when people and people management

started attracting me and I wanted to

learn more. Though I have knowledge on

systems and process’, understanding and

managing people is the most challenging

task in the world. Several years have

passed and I am still learning, unlearning

and relearning the behavior of people.

3.We know that you are the one who

came with the concept of "Prameya"

for first time in our Institute. What

was the inspiration behind it? How

were you able to visualize the

Connect With Vishwanath

magazine and then reciprocate it in

reality?

The main objective of starting “Prameya”

during our batch was to share knowledge of

the Corporate world and to know each other

within our batch. I would also want to mention

here that my roommate Devaraj, PGDM

(Retail) student was also helpful and

instrumental in bringing the concept to reality.

We envisaged it as an E-magazine which

would bring out hidden talents in our batch

and showcase it to the world. My entire batch

cooperated and my dream turned into reality.

4. How would you describe the future of

HR specialization in India, is it still

limited to playing an administrative role

or has it moved beyond the Strategic

Board room level?

Though I am not a Pro in HR, from whatever

knowledge and experience I have, I feel that it

all depends on the maturity of the organization

and the HR professional themselves. 10-15

years back, HR was playing only

administrative roles but today organizations

have matured enough to give HR the strategic

role. It also depends on the nature of the

business and the HR professional themselves.

A few HR professionals understand the need of

the business and cater to it immediately but

many of them still play an administrative role.

5.Three primary advices, that you would

like to share with us and our readers for a

promising and fruitful carrier?

Always have a goal (begin with end in mind) in

any activity you do, have a methodology

(Process or way) to achieve it and finally work

smart (learn, relearn and unlearn) to

achieve it.

24

Vishwanath SPGDM E-Biz 2008-10

25

The Assoc iat ion of Ind ian Management Schools(AIMS) events

Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management, Development and Research, Bengaluru

hosted the Association of Indian Management Schools’s Southern Regional Deans &

Directors Roundtable on the theme "Doing the Best"- Sharing Best practices in

Management Education on 16 April 2013. This was attended by the member B-schools

Dean and Directors. Dr. Joe Philips, Director, Xavier Institute of Management and

Entrepreneurship, Bengaluru was the Chief Guest for this event.

Dean and Director’s Round Table

Dean and Director’s Round Table conference held at WeSchool Bengaluru Campus in April 2013

Dr.Anil Rao Paila with Dr.Khole(Ex Vice Chancellor,Mumbai University), Dr. Joe Philip( Founder AIMS), Dr.D Y Patil( President AIMS), Dr Bala Subramanyam (Chairman, TamilNadu Chapter) lighting the lamp.

26

Convention of Management Education

The entire WeSchool team including Group Director Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Dean Prof. Dr. Anil Rao, faculty members and students at AIMS Convention Mumbai

The Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) organizes an annual management

education convention on a theme of topical interest to B-Schools every year. It is a mega

event and a flagship programme of AIMS which serves as a plat-form for academia,

industry and political leaders to share their perspectives and experiences. This year,

AIMS organized the 25th AIMS ANNUAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION CONVENTION 2013

from 22th to 24th August, 2013 at Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Management Studies

& Research, Navi Mumbai. The theme for this year was ‘Envisioning Management

Education”. The event also coincided with Bharathi Vidyapeeth’s 50 year celebration.

Students and faculty from various B-schools got a chance to interact with noted industry

professionals, International dignitaries and Dean’s on various topics.

Some of the prominent speakers who addressed the gathering were Mr.Liu Youfa, General

Consulate of People’s Republic of China, who spoke about strengthening Indo-China

relations to boost economy and education and Mr.D. Shiva Kumar (President AIMA) threw

some light on current industry perspective on MBA Grads.

The Interactive conversational presentation between Dr. Dev Dutta Patnaik(Chief belief

officer , Future group) and Mr. Sanjay Jog(Group Head HR, Reliance retail) interlinking

Indian Epic & Management was also a memorable part of this convention. It was followed

by sessions of B.R Singh(FormerDirector‐ HR, Ispat Industries Ltd.), Mr. Arup Gupta(SVP

(HR), Reliance Communication) and Dr Vijay Khole, Dr Mr Rao, Dr Devi Singh, Dr Upinder

Dhar & Dr P V Ramana.

The second day’s session was chaired by Prof.Dr. Uday Salunkhe(Group Director,

WeSchool) who commenced the session with an inspiring speech on “Leader as a Teacher

/Teacher as a leader” which was well received by the audience, especially by the faculty

members present, who raised the challenges they often face which led to a fruitful Q and A

session. This was followed by Prof.Darren Meister, (Associate Professor of Information

Systems, Ivey Business School, Western University, Canada) who addressed the

delegation on the same note. The day concluded with presentations by faculties of

different colleges on various issues.

WeSchool Bengaluru Campus student representatives with Dean and Director, Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila and Faculty member, Prof. Dr. Geetha Hegde

On the third day, Dr.Arun Pereira (Executive Director, Center of TLC, ISB) shared his view

point on current scenario of MBA and scope for improvement on the same through

various channels. This was followed by Prof. Galit Shmueli’s firsthand experience on

MOOC’s and how she practised the same. It was also a proud day for WE-School,

Bengaluru as two of our faculty members, Prof. Soumya Chakraborty and Prof.Dr. Githa

Heggde bagged two awards. This convention paved a way for WE-students to interact

and network with distinguished Corporates personailities, faculties and students. We-

School has always been an active member of AIMS, our Group Director, Prof.(Dr.)Uday

Salunkhe has been a former President (2007-2008) and has played a significant role in

expanding its horizon. Dr Anil Rao Paila is the current treasurer of AIMS and we hope to

be a part of this legacy in the upcoming years.

27

Ninth India Innovation Summit 2013

WeSchool students participated in the India Innovation Summit

Ninth India Innovation summit was held this year from 7th to 8th August at Bangalore.

The theme of the summit for this year was‘India as the Start-up nation’.The Summit

commenced with the welcome address by Mr. Soumitra Bhattacharya, Chairman CII

Karnataka State Council & Joint Managing Director Bosch Ltd followed by the opening

remarks by the Chairman of the Summit Mr. S Gopalkrishnan(Kris), Executive Vice

Chairman, Infosys Ltd. The Inaugural Address was given by the Chief Guest , Honorable

Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr. K. Siddharamaih.

The Summit involved a series of sessions, lined up on both days. The first session

commenced with the Presentation on “Innovation in Startup Ecosystem” by

Prof.Rishikesha Krishnan , Professor of Corporate Strategy & Politics, IIMB and Dr.Vinay

Dabholkar , President Catalign Innovation Consulting Pvt Ltd. The session was about

exploring different methods employed in a startup ecosystem to remain innovative on the

Leading edge while being relevant to the market price. It was then followed by a number

of sessions discussing on various important topics like the role of incubators in Enabling

start-up ecosystems, the rise of Angel funds and competition for Talent, The Incubation

by Corporation and Emerging sector of Opportunities for start-ups by prominent speakers

like Prof S.Sadagopan, Mr. C S Murali and Mr. Rishi Das

The sessions on the Second Day of the Summit focused on the areas like scaling the

idea into business, Leveraging Venture Capitals , Demand Generation through corporate

and cross border collaborations, the growth of social impact venture and also discussing

the women in Start-ups. Many speakers like Dr. Guraraj Deshpande, Ms. Shraddha

Sharma, Mr. Mukund Mohan, Mr. Vinod Keni and Ms. Kumud M. Srinivasanet were part of

the sessions. The summit concluded with closing remarks by the Chairman.

Some students of the We-School got the opportunity to attend this prestigious summit.

They had an enriching experience while gaining several insights on the Startups in India

and its future by some of the most prominent speakers of the corporate world.

28

The students of WeSchool Bengaluru campus were invited to IHRD Mumbai HR summit

held on May 24th and 25th as student volunteers and were required to render assistance

with respect to managing various aspects of the event such as reception team,

registration team and stage management.

Here are some insights and key takeaways of the students who attended the

event.

IHRD Mumbai HR Summit 2013

“It was a great opportunity for me to interact with large pool

of HR professional from diverse industry vertical. It was a

good learning experience for me and the takeaway for me

was current strategies used for Succession Planning in

different industries.”

Anand Tiwari PGDM Business Design 2012 -14

Saurabh Garg PGDM Business Design 2012 -14

Ali Asgar PGDM Business Design 2012 -14

“While I got to learn about what business leadership is, the

who's who in HR field and their insights on the theme gave a

different perspective to the working of an everyday HR

professional. For me it was a great learning and networking

opportunity.”

“The IHRD Mumbai HR summit was a great opportunity for

interaction with HR leaders from some of the biggest brands

in the market. Our participation at this event was unique in

the sense that we were able to pool student volunteers from

we school Bangalore and Mumbai, thanks to a joint effort

between me and my Mumbai counterparts, a classic example

of synergy that leads to value creation for all.”

Theme: Role of HR in Building Business Leadership

29

Donate blood and save lives

ROTARACT

Students of WeSchool participating in Blood Donation Camp

With the message of ‘Donate Blood Save Lives’, Rotaract

Club of WeSchool organized a Blood Donation Camp on 7th

August 2013 in association with We R Green Club of We

School and Red Cross Society. The event was built around

the message of lending a helping hand to those who are in

serious need of Blood. The donors were encouraged to

come forward and not only donate blood but also give a

sliver of hope to those in need. The event was publicised by

distributing bookmarks at the toll gate of Electronic City

and by inviting various Corporates in E-City. The event was

youth driven and therefore colleges from the nearby areas

were also invited.

The event saw huge participation from not only the

students of We School but from various Corporates. This

overwhelming response led to the collection of 107 units of

blood. It beat the earlier record of 67 units by Rotaract Club

of Welingkar. The event was supported by Red Cross

Society with their expertise and skill. The volunteers from

Red Cross were instrumental in the success of the event.

Certificates were awarded to the donors appreciating them

for taking time out of their busy schedules.

The event was spearheaded by Rtn. Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila,

Prof. Anita Pillai and Rtn. Lata Amashi and with their

guidance, the Rotaractors were able to motivate other

people and drive the event. After the completion of the

event, Rtn. Prof. Dr. Anil Rao presented the volunteers with

mementos for their support. Also, Rotaract Club of

Welingkar was awarded a Certified Donor Award for its

contribution towards this noble cause.

30

Flash Mob....A initiative to save lives

Rotaract members performig at the UB City mall

WeSchool students trying to garner public support for the cause by playing musical instruments and singing

The Rotaract club of Welingkar joined hands with the Rotary Club of Diamond District,

Bengaluru to spread awareness about Breast Cancer and fund treatment for under

privileged and deserving patients. The funds would be raised through a marathon known

as “5k Breast Cancer Awareness Run”. The proceeds from the Run would be used to fund

surgeries for at least 100 patients below the poverty line at the Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer

Center (MSCC) at highly subsidized rates.

In order to urge people to participate for this noble cause the students of Rotaract Club of

Welingkar, Bengaluru performed a Flash Mob at UB city mall at 5:30 pm on 18th August

2013. The final performance culminated in an impromptu jig in which the performers

were joined by many of the onlookers. The students went a step ahead in urging the

crowd to support the cause by singing tracks. There were 25 performers who took centre

stage and managed to garner a lot of attention from the bypassing crowd. Owing to the

grand success of the first performance it was decided that the flash mob be repeated

twice, once at 6:30pm and next at 7:30pm. In between the performances, the

rotaractors took up the initiative of selling bibs(tickets) for the marathon.

31

Investiture ceremony of Rotaract Club of Welingkar, was held on 15th Aug 2013. The

occasion was graced by The District Governor Rotarian. K.S. Nagendra, Rotarian

Jeetendra Aneja, Director, Youth Services, R I Dist. 3190, Rotarian. Sanjay Agarwal,

President, Rotary Bangalore Junction, R I Dist 3190, Rotarian Arihant Kumar, DRR, R I

Dist 3190, and Rotarian Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila amongst other dignitaries and vibrant

Rotaractors.

The Induction of the Board Members was commenced by Rotarian Jeetendra Aneja,

Youth Service Director, R I Dist 3190. The induction of new Rotractors was conducted by

Rotarian Sanjay Agarwal, President, Rotary Bangalore Junction & DRR Rotary. Arihant

Kumar.

DRR Rotary Arihant Kumar, Rotarian Jeetendra Aneja and District Governor Rotary. K.S

Nagendra addressed the new Rotractors and motivated them with their thought

provoking speeches for “Nation Building” initiatives. Their speeches instilled the spirit

amongst the young crowd to aspire for an enterprising future and wished them luck in all

their endeavours. As the new President of Rotaract Club of Welingkar, Rotarian Abhishek

Bhave delivered his acceptance speech emphasizing on Team Work.

A reflection of the year gone by in form of a movie and presentation encompassing all the

projects of (2012-13) was given by Rotary Neha Kandpal, Secretary (2012-13) Rotaract

Club of Welingkar.

The ceremony came to a conclusion with the vote of thanks by Rotary Pragyan Paramita,

Secretary, (2013-14), Rotaract Club of Welingkar.

Investiture ceremony of Rotaract Club

District Governor Rotarian KS Nagendra along with the newly elected Board Members of the Welingkar Rotaract Club

32

ROTARACT

Guests with Dr. Anil Rao Paila

after Flag hosting ceremony

Student choir performing the national song during the

celebrations

INDEPENDENCE DAY:

On 15th of August, We celebrated our 67th independence day and at WeSchool, the

atmosphere was filled with air of freshness, vigor and patriotism for our country that has

remained steadfast under some difficult times created by both internal and external

factors consistently over the period of 66 long years.

The new batch of 2013-15 were the chief organizers of this event and one could easily

notice the sense of responsibility and excitement on their faces to showcase their talent,

individuality and teamwork that led to grand success of this event.

The day started with the Flag Hoisting ceremony which was done by our Dean Dr. Anil

Rao Paila along with the two chief guests Mrs. Rama N S and Mrs. Revathy Ashok and all

the faculty members while the ‘Best National Anthem’ in the world was sung with great

pride and honor.

The theme of this year’s Independence Day was ‘Women Empowerment’ and rightly so

we had this two esteemed women in our midst Mrs. Rama N S and Mrs. Revathy Ashok

who are the best examples of our theme.

Mrs. Rama who previously worked with Infosys and

currently working with NCR as Head of Operations

spoke at great length about women education quota

in Indian Education System and was in favour of

atleast 50% quota for women in every education

institute around the country. She also mentioned that

women of this age need the support of men to gain

the status of equality in the society and celebrating

the success of people especially women would

help making our country a better place for them to

live in.

33

leader and held envious positions at senior management level both at the national and

international platforms and voted as one of the ten most powerful women in Indian IT

industry shared her views on the theme. She encouraged the young minds in the

audience to Vote for their future leaders, to raise their concerns about the wrongdoings

happening in their surroundings and should engage with the government to help bring

about the change in the society. She also pressed on the young minds to become holistic

leaders of an inclusive society where women can flourish with ease and can feel safe

about themselves.

After the inspiring session by the two ladies, the students of the new batch had some

very interesting performances lined up for the audience. There were variety of dance

sequences which included folk dance, western/contemporary style dance on the tunes of

some of the best patriotic songs and an intriguing dance sequence based solely on hand

movements and expressions, all of which was a treat to the audience. Also, some music

talents were also on display as the students showcased it with their group and solo

performances which were well applauded. One of the most interesting performance of

the day was a skit performed by the students depicting the real life plight and courage of

an old lady who owns a tea stall near our college and it managed to touch the hearts of all

the people in the audience.

“Respect and let the women of your country thrive and flourish and see your country rise

to greater heights...!!”

Jai Hind.

Different forms of dances being performed by students

Dr Anil Rao Paila impressing his hand print on

the women empowerment support sheet

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xxxxxxxxxxx

Farewell of Batch 2011-13

35

A Farewell Night with GD addressing the Batch followed by Music, Dance and fun

In a world crippled by economic and socio-political volatility, how does an organization

sustain its profit margin, how does it keep its diverse workforce engaged and productive

and ensure that the best-of-breed talents are hired? What should its game plan look like?

We have deliberated on the transition of HR from an organizational watch-dog and

business support function to a key business partner, ad nauseum. The focus has now

shifted to redefining strategic decisions to align to the changing needs of a global

workforce. Organizations, revered the world over, with distinct nature of businesses and

organizational structures have heralded an era of unconventional practices in HR

strategies.

IBM, Inc. has always been a market leader, be it research and development or otherwise.

The organization discarded its ‘a dark suit and a sincere tie’ dress code way back in the

mid 90s in favor of business casuals, much ahead of its peers. At a time when homosexual

preferences were spoken about in hushed whispers in organizations, IBM introduced its

welfare benefits program for the partners of its gay, lesbian and transgender employees.

HR implemented changes that allowed seamless integration across the organization

allowing almost 40 percent of IBM’s 400,000 employees to work remotely. HR’s proactive

stance during acquisitions and subsequent integration helped IBM absorb more than 125

acquisitions and save USD 6 billion since 2005. IBM’s corporate mantra of a ‘Smarter

Planet’ transcends to its organizational strategies too. Having realized the significance of

a robust learning and development architecture in an organization in such turbulent

times, IBM invests approximately USD 1700 per employee to impart new skills and

develop competencies in its workforce.

IBM encourages its employees to use social media platforms having identified the impact

social media channels have in recruitment, employee engagement and organizational

brand building. IBM has gone a step forward and defined certain best practices that it

expects its employees to follow when communicating through such social media

channels.

IBM was a front-runner in implementing business analytics to map personal goals of

employees and the business deliverable that is expected. This analysis ushered an era of

performance based culture, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of communication and

feedback.

Having introduced simple gamification(1) models in routine employee record processes

such as employee profile maintenance, IBM has upped the ante for its peers.

Human Resources – Game Plan of the Behemoths

Students Corner

36

Perhaps IBM’s feat lies in its landmark ‘Global Enablement Teams’ (GET) model. With a

vision to foster a globally integrated workforce that worked in tandem to drive growth and

progress across the organization; in 2008, IBM launched the hugely successful GET

model where key employees in mature markets like the United Kingdom were assigned to

mentor and assist employees in the growth markets. This nurtured a system of co-

learning, rendering leaders with deeper global mindsets, defined competencies in

cultural adaptability and better connected country teams to the global company agenda.

From digital stone-age tabulating machines to the intelligent Watson, IBM’s

metamorphosis has been catalyzed by its robust and proactive human resources

capabilities and this will go a long way in strengthening IBM’s position as the global

market leader.

SAS Institute, the market leader in advanced analytics reaped benefits of its ‘employee

first’ approach with a 37 consecutive years track of record earnings. Regarded as an

extraordinarily munificent employer, SAS did not retrench even a single of its 13,000

employees in the recession-hit 2009, when its competitors were busy downsizing. The

CEO, Dr. Jim Goodnight, firmly believed in constraining his short-term revenue goals in

favor of consolidating his employees’ faith in the organization’s HR culture.

With an enviable annual turnover of 2-3 percent while the industry languishes at 22

percent, SAS has proven that highly motivated and engaged employees who trust their

organization and are in turn valued for their contribution, partner in an organization’s

growth.

The leitmotif of this article was to put forth the avant-garde people strategies that

industry stalwarts have adopted to combat the effects of a dynamic and erratic industry.

It is evident that sustainability measures entail a robust framework of HR policies that

integrate a diverse workforce; a workforce that can ably partner in an organization’s

evolution.

ANKITA BANERJEE

PGDM 2012 – 14

37

A new app, “Fantex”, lets you make money in a stock market for athlete

and celebrity careers. Fantex allows celebrities and athletes to file for

initial public offerings, released a beta version earlier this last month,

followed by a prompt retraction from the App Store, according to

TechCrunch.

1.Fantex – Celebrities IPO

Weartrons, a group of New York-based developers, has come up with a solution called

Run-n-Read that lets you read text on your tablet while running.

Consisting of a tiny clip-on device that can be attached to a headband or the collar of your

shirt, the system works with an e-reader app on your tablet to track the movements of

your head and shoulders. Keeping the text bouncing in sync with your eyes, the system

essentially makes reading while running in a stationary position as easy as reading while

standing motionless. In order to turn pages, users simply tap the device once for a

forward page turn and twice to page backwards. In addition to its reader features, the

system also doubles as a fitness tracker.

2. Clip-On Device Lets You Read Your Tablet While You Run

Innovation of The Month

In an innovative move, companies may now be able to fund early stage innovations in

the communication sector as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), thanks to

a new initiative by the Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA).

Founded in 2010, Comcubator was the country's first ever communication technology -

Business Incubator - that was started with the support of Department of Science and

Technology (DST), Government of India.

Online retailer Flipkart has launched a payment gateway service called PayZippy for

Indian merchants, pushing competition in the online payments industry which has

incumbents like CCAvenue, PayTM, PayU, Citrus and others.

Besides, the payment gateway, a customer facing product is in the pipeline and will be

launched soon, the company said.

PayZippy powers card payments for websites and mobile sites. This system has been

used by Flipkart.com for an extensive period, with significantly higher success rates than

market, the company said.

3. MICA gives companies a platform to fund start-ups

4. Flipkart Launches Payment Gateway PayZippy

38

One small idea can ignite a revolution just as a single matchstick can start a fire. One such

idea—putting employees first and customers second—sparked a revolution at HCL

Technologies, the IT services giant. In this candid and personal account, Vineet

Nayar—HCLT’s celebrated CEO—recounts how he defied the conventional wisdom that

companies must put customers first, then turned the hierarchical pyramid upside down by

making management accountable to the employees, and not the other way around. The

book is a refreshing and frank look at the challenges facing leaders looking to transform

their company, culture and employees. Nayar discusses his experience leading HCLT and

its transformation from a $700 million dollar company that was losing market share to a

$2 billion dollar company at the front of their market. He explains how he succeeded in

reversing accountability which meant to get certain element of the

hierarchy to be more accountable to the value zone. This book is a

journey that continues to repeat itself time and time again because

managers are force to react to its environment and the uncertainty of

running a business.

Individuals will see an example of the actions and evolution involved

in realizing a new way of working. Just about everyone wants to

work this way and this book provides an example that can help

crystallize your thoughts and how you communicate with your peers

and management. A must read for management students and

upcoming entrepreneurs.

Book Reviews

Employees First, Customers second- turning conventional management upside downWritten by Vineet Nayar

The Art of War

Written by Sun Tzu

Translated by Thomas Cleary

This book was written in sixth century B.C by Sun Tzu, a high-ranking

military general, strategist and tactician of Chinese military. This

book contains 13 illustrious chapters all pertaining to the facet of

warfare and battle. The most fascinating aspect of the teachings

provided in this book is that it amazingly retains its full value in terms

of wisdom and acumen for the readers even in such ‘interesting’

times.

Each of the chapter emphasises on a certain specific aspect of warfare and each of them

beautifully transpires metaphorically as wisdom for our day to day life. The art and

strategy described during a warfare in this book is analogous to today’s dog-eat-dog

business environment. It completely mirrors the manner in which the businesses in

corporate world interact and compete with each other such as a strategic merger between

two organizations in which one buys out another is similar to a country conquering its

counterpart. ‘The Art of War’ provides a great read and provides management strategies

and solutions to day to day conflicts in form of ancient military warfare tactics. If you have

even a slight bend for war and history, this is the ‘management’ book for you.

39

Photography Contest

by Pragyan Parimita, PGDM 2013-15

by Prassana Sinnarkar PGDM 2013-15

40

Just

for L

aughs

Prin L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management, Development & Research.

102/103, Electronic City Phase 1, Next toTelephone Exchange,Hosur Road, Bangalore-560100

Welingkar - Electronic city campusTel : 080-42678300 (primary number)Tel : 080-28521066/28522514 (alternate number)Fax : 080-41742108www.welingkar.org