CIMP held its fourth Annual Convocation For PGDM

Patna: With globalisation putting intense pressure on the Indian industry to innovate and compete with the best in the world, business managers in the country need to develop the knack and ability to keep track of best global practices and developments in areas of environment, products, markets and operations, a leading management expert said here today.

"Indian managers are yet to put their imprint on management practice and education as their counterparts in Japan did earlier," said Prof. K R S Murthy, Chairman, Board of Governors, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru while delivering the valedictory address at the 4th Annual Convocation of Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna (CIMP).

With liberalisation and globalisation, both demand and supply of management graduates have increased in quantity and variety. "At the same time, the market is increasingly discriminating in choosing talent and in rewarding potential leaders. Building a successful career in such a context has become challenging," observed Prof. Murthy, an alumnus of Harvard University and former Director of IIM Bangalore,

Calling upon the students to imbibe the characteristic features of the evolving management practice and pursue work with sincerity, he said there was an imperative need for a judicious mix of theoretical knowledge and real life experiences.

4th Annual Convocation at CIMP

"Many alumni are surprised, and sometimes frustrated, that the world of practice is quite different from what they learnt in the educational programmes...Real world situations and problems do not neatly fall under either of these groupings. They are mixed in unique ways, unique to each situation. Hence the need for learning judicious ways of mixing the hard and the soft, as appropriate to the situation and the context. This is not easy to teach and even more difficult for youngsters to learn even in a simulated class room situation. The learning comes out of learning from experience with a variety of situations and contexts," he said.

Elaborating, Prof. Murthy said there was plenty to learn from Bihar that has undergone a transformation and emerged as the fastest growing state in India. "Learning from the world at large and from personal experiences is one of the most important preparations for building your career. You have an opportunity to learn from an outstanding example of leadership and good governance," he added.

On the occasion, a total of 47 students, including 17 girls, were awarded Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) for successfully completing the two-year course, the flagship programme of CIMP. Ravi Ranjan was awarded the gold medal for being the topper of the batch while Ved Prakash received a silver medal for being the second topper. Attired in ceremonial gowns, the young students exuded a picture of confidence and exuberance as they received their degrees.

Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, in his message, said: "The CIMP during the short span of its inception has successfully contributed to the development of management education and brought laurels for the state. Its efforts on conducting training programmes for government officials, preparing students belonging to weaker sections of the society in getting success in India's premier management institutes like IIMs are laudable."

Expressing satisfaction over top Indian companies recruiting MBA graduates from CIMP, Shri Kumar appealed to the graduating students to serve the state by joining its various services. He also congratulated CIMP director Dr. V. Mukunda Das and faculty members for getting Dr J J Irani Award and TISS Award.

Mr. Amarjeet Sinha, Principal Secretary, Education Dept, Govt. of Bihar, was among those who graced the occasion with their presence.

Presiding over the function, Mr. Ashok Kumar Sinha, Chairman, Executive Committee of CIMP and Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar, said the institution was envisioned to become self-reliant in five years. "I understand it is going to be realised. The growth of CIMP through externally- funded programmes is increasing as a result of which it is generating almost as much of funds internally as provided by the government," he added.

Mr Sinha also appreciated the social perspective of CIMP, saying it has shown concern for issues affecting the larger society of Bihar. "Many social evaluators think that management education in India creates ‘robots'. Efforts of CIMP like ‘Beautiful Mind' and ‘Students Guidance Centre' (SGC) are increasingly looked upon as a source of hope for students from socially backward communities, including Mahadalits," he noted.

In particular, he lauded the commitment of faculty for their total involvement in training of government functionaries, who have attended similar programmes in other IIMs and found that CIMP training programmes are much better in terms of total involvement. "Surely these inputs are changing the attitude towards work of many government functionaries in Bihar.... I am told that all employees think themselves ‘as members of the CIMP family' and work with full involvement...And this bonding enhances productivity of the organisation."

Expressing concern over the completion of the CIMP's new campus, he assured that the government would make all possible efforts to complete the construction at the earliest. "The Chief Minister has instructed to initiate the second phase of the construction along with the present phase, which is being done," he pointed out.

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr Das recounted the challenges in setting up a premier management institute in Bihar. "CIMP was started as a one man army, all by myself, five years back. Shri Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister and Chairman of this Institute, was my only source of advice and guidance. So most of what we have achieved is because of him, who has become the synonym for good governance," he said.

Taking pride in the achievements of CIMP, he said University of Connecticut had ranked it among the top 20 Institutes in India in 2010 in terms of the quality of economic research, one rank above the 50-year-old IIM-A. CIMP is also rated as the best among the management schools promoted by state governments in India and a favoured campus for corporates such as ITC.

"Significantly, CIMP follows 50 per cent reservation for students from the SC/ST/OBC/EBC categories and most of the students are of Bihar origin," Dr Das said. He also mentioned the quality of research at CIMP, resulting in its collaborations with national and international academic institutions like Lancashire Business School, London and Stockholm Business School, Sweden. CIMP's research was showcased as one among the ten selected educational institutions in India by Harvard University recently.

Likewise, the Action Research Unit of CIMP has developed a master plan for the development of villages Dharhar Jamunia in Purnia district and Nandlal Bihga in Nawada district from a 20-year perspective. It has pioneered the use of Wi-Max and cloud technology under this village adoption programme. "This village development plan initiative is emerging as a model for India," he said.

Driven by the motto that managerial and leadership skills should not be limited to the four walls of a management institute, CIMP has conducted Management Development Programmes (MDPs) for officials of Bihar Police Academy, COMFED, BIPARD, Kilkari, JEEVika, to name a few. The subject of MDPs has been diverse - Basic Management, Leadership, Strategy, Transformation and Time Management.

"Our social responsibility quotient is also very high," he said. ‘The Beautiful Mind' is an initiative to mentor and support socially and economically backward students around the CIMP campus. These students hail from slums and 40% of them are girls. Similarly, SGC is helping students from deprived families to crack CAT exam and recruitment tests for government jobs.

"CIMP has been hand-holding graduates from such families who are talented but cannot afford the high costs of coaching classes that prepare students for the CAT exam... We are discovering social change. We are witnessing their change. This year three students got calls from six IIM's simultaneously!"
On the Occasion, Dr Murthy released a book, "Missing Engines of Management Education", jointly authored by Dr. Prasad Sundararajan of CIMP and S. Shivamayi of Genius Choice Institute, Coimbatore. It offers a radically new perspective of "engines" that are missing in management education.

The 470-page book has been designed as a sequel to a globally discussed book, ‘Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads', authored by three faculty members of Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2010.

Dr. Sundararajan is of the view that ‘if the book of HBS Faculty is thinking about taking the vehicle of business education out of crossroads, the book of CIMP is proposing an entirely new vehicle in a different path to the same goal."