IIT Kanpur MBA Blog

The Department of Industrial Management and Engineering, IIT Kanpur hosted the 7th edition of prestigious annual management conclave, Prabandhan’18 organized by MBA students and ‘Maruti Suzuki- Way of Life!’ in association with powered by Business Standard, Insight Out, from 28th September’18 to 30th September’18. The three days comprising Prabandhan were a compilation of events ranging from fields of Marketing, HR, Finance, Analytics and Operations which provided a platform to students of numerous business schools to compete with each other in diverse fields. The days were also marked by the presence of industry bigwigs who helped guide students on manifolds of industry experiences. The event saw MBA IIT Kanpur partner with Human Capital Magazine as   ICRA Management Consulting Services and LHF as knowledge partners. Day 1 (28 th September 2018) The ball at IIT Kanpur was set rolling during the opening ceremony for Prabandhan 2018 by dignitaries from Maruti Suzuki I...

It was our privilege to invite Mr Mahipal Nair, Chief Human Resource (South Asia/India) – Nielsen, for a guest lecture on Organizational health at MBA IIT Kanpur on 3 rd August 2019. Mr Nair has been associated with Nielsen since 2006 in various HR roles of increasing responsibilities. He is responsible for all people processes including leadership & talent development, transformation & change management. Mr Nair commenced the lecture by drawing a parallel between organizational health and human health. He extended the discussion by defining the factors, which affect human health, after bifurcating them as internal and external factors. Internal factors being psychology, beliefs etc. whereas external factors being climate, demography etc. This comparison served as a base point for further lecture. He then moved the focus of lecture to analyze the qualities of a successful organization by discussing over the best team we could remember and then he made his po...

MBA IIT Kanpur community were pleased to host Mr Pradipta Sahoo for a seminar on “HR Readiness for Industry 4.0” on 7th April 2019. Mr Sahoo, CHRO, Karvy Fintech, is a seasoned HR professional with over 25 years of experience in BFSI, Retail and ITES industries. He has also been awarded as part of “30 Best HR Leaders” in 2013 by World HRD Congress. He is presently associated with Karvy Fintech Private Limited as CHRO for more than eight years now. He has also worked for organisations like Bharti AXA General Insurance, Reliance Retail, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Bank of Baroda and Vijaya Bank. Mr Sahoo started the discussion with an interactive talk with the students on Why students go for MBA. He expressed his pleasure in receiving beautiful responses from the students of MBA IIT Kanpur. Mr Sahoo then went on to discuss the technological transformation that the world is witnessing. He then emphasised how this technological advancement has played a key role in the B...

The speaker for the seminar was Satish Rajarathnam, HRBP of Cognizant . The topic for seminar was divided into three heads: Region wise analysis of the world, Political risk at present and vertical view of the financial services. Discussion started with the analysis of the economic condition of various region of the world (US, Euro, UK, Asia). Thereafter, the focus of discussion shifted to contemporary political risks (for example: Brexit, US-China trade war) occurring due to the changing economic condition in various regions and its impact on the Indian economy. Later, there was a brief discussion about various financial services and how they are impacting global economy . Speaker also enlightened us about the three types of disruptions that are essential for the overall development of a company. The three disruptions are as follows: Business Model Disruption, Operating Model Disruption and Technology Model Disruption. Learning: A company must cause disruption in a...

‘HR for Passion and Dispassion’. The Department of Industrial and Management engineering hosted Mr. Aniruddha Khekale, Group Human Resource Director, Emerson Automation Solutions India for a corporate seminar on 4 th  of August. It was an engaging session on the topic, 'HR for Passion and Dispassion'   The seminar commenced with Mr. Khekale giving us a glimpse of Emerson Automation Solutions and its journey from a start-up in mass production to building Emerson platforms, going global. He began a further discourse  on the topic with a picture of a pulse signifying upward slope as passion and downward as dispassion. Passion and dispassion is defined by business driver however compassion is a human element that we can choose to deal with them. This compassion comes from organization’s values and culture. The speaker asked us for our views on the roles and functions of various facets of a CEO, a COO and a CHRO, what we would expect a CHROs contributi...

The Department of Industrial and Management engineering played host to Mr. Sahil Nayar, the Associate Director - HR, KPMG. On 21 st January 2018, we spent an engaging and insightful Sunday morning with Sahil. It is amazing when a seminar leaves trails of thoughts which you keep churning in your mind even after it is over and this was one of those.   The seminar started off with Sahil talking about his obsession when it comes to gathering degrees and how while giving a speech in one of the B- schools in Mumbai, he realized that degrees are of no use unless the lessons from those cannot be brought to life when the hours demanded. With a blast from the past, he took us through an interweaving tale of how the primary function of a telephone, i.e. communication has seen a paradigm shift. Now, it is nearly impossible for us to stay away from our mobile phones for even a couple of hours. We feel restless and are so engrossed in it that it has become synonymous with our lives...

“Brand yourself for the career you want, not the job you have.” Dan Schawbel Gone are the days when the term branding was used with reference to companies and products, but today, even an individual has a brand identity and a brand reputation to maintain. To talk on this intangible, career deciding concept, IME invited Ms Ruchita Sharma, Head of Talent, India, Fidelity International. In today’s world, it is a natural human tendency to fulfill behavioral expectations of the people around us rather than representing our own brand. We try to be what people expect us to be rather than follow our own paths. Ruchita in her discussion touched upon a few points that would help one to build a personal brand. Build you own label Going with the flow is often easy but is not always the right path to choose. To build one’s own label, people need to stand for something, build multiple self- brands while knowing how to personify them throughout one’s career. Have ...

Organisation Culture: Acta Non Verba The Department of Industrial and Management Engineering at IIT Kanpur hosted a seminar by Mr Tojo Jose, CHRO at Muthoot Fincorp Ltd. on the topic of organization culture. Organizational culture is a guiding factor that acts as the genetic code of any organization. Mr Jose talked about how important it is for an individual to ensure that his/her values resonate with the values of the organization. The culture incompatibility can prove to be a menace for anyone working in an organization, even if the person has a good skill set. He talked about the articulated values like integrity and dignity that are implicit in nature and always keep our moral compass duly pointing north. The three C’s - Confront, Complaint and Conform - form the basis of how an employee identifies himself/herself with the organization. The confronting and complaining individuals often find it difficult to gel with the existing culture, and compromise forms the fourt...

On the bright morning of 25 th February 2017, the students of MBA, IIT Kanpur had the opportunity to interact with the HR Director at IDFC Bank – Mr. Prateek Dubey. Mr. Dubey, with his work experience in various major firms of the country – Coca-Cola, Suzlon Energy, and Jindal Saw Ltd to name a few – provided invaluable insights into the world of human relations and psychology. Sir covered a variety of topics in his talk and kept the seminar engaging with many activities and brainstorming sessions. Mr. Dubey started off with engaging the audience with a rudimentary question – what is MBA? He went on to explain that MBA can be defined as the  most beautiful attitude, as it is the attitude of the manager that makes him a leader and makes all the difference. As an example, he claimed that a Chartered Accountant would probably know much more about how the finances of any firm work than an MBA would, but it takes the decision-making ability and aptitude for quick thinking that...