Media Release
Mangalore, Oct 28: Manasamanthana 2010, the annual paper presentation competition on “Redesigning Management Education for the Next Decade,” organized by the management association of AIMIT, St Aloysius College(Autonomous), was held at AIMIT, Beeri, on Tuesday October 26.
The objective of the event was to hone the presentation and analytical skills of MBA, PGPM and PGDBA students from all over India, and also to think seriously on management education, the thrusts and directions it should take in India to form leaders for tomorrow.
The inaugural ceremony of Manasa Manthana 2010 began with invoking God’s blessing by the College choir The IT desk gave a breathtaking presentation on the St Aloysius College, followed by a video tour of AIMIT, St Aloysius College, Beeri. Another presentation on the various proble the world is facing and how management education could be a solution. The final presentation was given by Renjith Krishanan, the faculty coordinator of Manasamanthana on the relevance of MBA education, and how it needs to be changed to meet global demands, and how redesigning management education is one of the most effective way to bridge the syllabus industry gap and get recognized and be a player at a global arena.
The dignitaries present on the dais were Dr Aloysius Sequeira, former registrar, NITK and an alumnus of St Aloysius College. Fr Joseph Rodrigues, the rector of Aloysian Institutes, Fr Denzil Lobo, director, AIMIT, Dr Oswald Mascarenhas, chairman, MBA dept, Renjith Krishnan K, faculty coordinator, Ramya Uchil, the student coordinator and Govil Saldanha, the management club secretary.
Govil Saldanha welcomed the gathering and introduced the chief guest for the day. Dr Aloysius Sequeira in his inaugural address thanked St Aloysius college for the seed that was sown and that has grown into a fruitful tree. He also congratulated for organizing an event that promotes research among students. He cited the Chile miners incident which defied the traditional approach to mining, psychology and various other social sciences. Research does not need qualification, the earlier the better.
The teachers should encourage research among students. India is a fertile land for research in ter of diversity and research data is the best among all the countries for research. Research should not be for any awards, but for the thrill and happiness of the results. He concluded his address with the three concepts of 2 M’s, 2 P’s and 3 C’s, those being People rather than Profits Motivation rather than Machine and Creativity rather than Costs.
Fr Denzil Lobo, began his address on how the event Manasamanthana got its name from an insight he and some students got from the Puranas five years back. He also explained the meaning Manasa Manthana which is churning of minds. He spoke on how the theme of 5th Manasa Manthana was apt in the changing business world in ter of what kind of education needs to be imparted to students to be leaders’ not just managers. He wished that all the ideas and insights should not be lost but be shared with all to give new direction to institutions in India.
Fr Joseph Rodrigues, stated that any platform for interaction of young minds needed for revolutionizing the business through their ideas is vital. Equally important are the other burning issues such as stalemate in conflict resolution, red tape in public administration, cancer of corruption, etcetera. He posed a question to education institution and students why not create a road map to eliminate these evils. He suggested a need of multi-dimensional personality to explore new horizons because the existing system one dimension human being just be a business person excluding hi elf economic, political, charity and social activity is a hindrance to change. He concluded that education institutions create social sensitive students who can lead India to excellence.
The chief guest then released the proceedings of Manasa Manthana.
Dr Oswald Mascarenhas, began his key note address by expressing his dissatisfaction with the content, curriculum and delivery of MBA programmes and said that it is high time to change the structure without eliminating the best practices of the current system. The current MBA programmes which are mostly descriptive, could be thought in one semester Moreover he said that they deal with only certain proble with readymade solutions, which hardly consists 10 percent of the business proble whereas most of the business proble are uncertain, unstructured and sometimes even wicked. He suggested four semester integrated MBA programme with the following structure
Semester One: Simple proble with descriptive knowledge
Semester Two: Uncertain proble with analytical knowledge
Semester Three: Unstructured proble with experiential knowledge
Semester Four: Wicked proble with Sapiential knowledge
He concluded his address giving an insight on the benefits of the new MBA programme being Contemporary Problem centered MBA, integrated, skill increasing, professional updating, flexible, critical thinking and ethical reasoning.
The inaugural ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Govil Saldanha, the secretary of the Management Club. With this the a stage was set where in discussion for progressive changes in MBA programmes, its content and delivery for not just a decade but for centuries to come.
In the first session which followed the inaugural eight tea participated. Dr Sridhar ad Dhananjaya from AIMIT were the judges. “Inclusion of Green management in MBA” and “Should Green management be a core Subject In any MBA Program”. were the themes of the presentations. Global Business School, Hubli, JNN College of Engineering, Shimoga, Poornprajnya Institute of Management were the participants in the presentation. Some of the topics covered by the tea were -how to manage resources in a sustainable way, green management, how to encourage employees’ to become green and many such suggestions etc. The session concluded with a plethora of Valuable suggestion that will serve as milestones in “Redesigning Management Education for the Next Decade.”
Valedictory
The valedictory programme began with a short presentation on the day’s proceedings by the IT desk. The dignitaries on the dais were Fr Swebert D’Silva, pricipal St Aloysius College, Fr Denzil Lobo, director, AIMIT, Dr Oswald Mascarenhas, chairman, MBA, Dr Sridhar, dean, MBA and Renjith Krishnan K, faculty coordinator, Ramya Uchil, the student coordinator and Govil Saldanha, the management club secretary.
The College Choir led the gathering into prayer. Ansen welcomed the gathering and introduced the chief guest Fr Swebert D’Silva. Dr S Sridhar, dean, MBA, in his address to the audience said that the current MBA programme at AIMIT is in the state of transition, even the lecturers are in learning mode.
Dr Oswald Mascarenhas, chairman MBA, suggested four thoughts to take home
•Solution to simple proble lies in the realm of data facts and figures.
•Solution to uncertain proble lies in discerning knowledge from data mining, data, facts and figures. Knowledge explains why things they happen they do and why they don’t happen the way they don’t.
•Solution to unstructured proble lie experience that come from interactions. They cannot be solved through facts not even through knowledge.
•Solution to wicked problem lies in wisdom or sapiential knowledge. Wisdom help to differentiate good from bad., just from unjust and having known to difference to follow the right choice.
Fr Swebert D’Silva, in his address to the gathering said that he was impressed by the theme of Manasa Manthana 2010 since the management education is at a crossroad wherein people question the relevance of it in the modern world. Events such as these help to answer these questions moreover develop an attitude to be positive change. He concluded by encouraging students to take risks in a right way to achieve the best one can be.
Fr Swebert D’Silva, released the working paper series authored by the faculty of AIMIT, St Aloysius College.
Fr Swebert D’Silva, gave away certificates to the participating colleges. The winners of competition were Minole Lloyd Lobo and Lin Mariyolla Pinto from St Joseph Engineering College, Vamanjoor .The runners up were Allen Ben Pinto and Govil Dane Saldanha from AIMIT.
Milton Peres proposed the vote of thanks. The sound success of Manasa Manthana echoed through the campus and beyond.