MyTake

Having attended the conference at Bangalore, I would like to mention some of the takeaways which are purely based on my personal observation. Hence I would love to have your disagreements as well as agreements (if any). a. Excellent inaugural address (by Sri Hansraj Bharadwaj) as well as valedictory address (by Sri Veerapa Moily). I am going to cherish the memories of it for many years. I have no hesitation in saying that both were some of the best ever addresses I have ever attended. Congratulations for the organizers to have chosen these great personalities. b. Excellent cultural program by the professional dancers. It provided great relaxation after the hectic day. Thanx a lot organizers. c. Good arrangements for stay of the delegates. I did not hear anything negative about it, though some of the research scholars and young faculty members were complaining about the stay on 7th night, but somehow that was arranged by the organizers. As for my personal experience, thou

Knowledge is power said Francis Bacon. It is that strength for which others respect you, they listen to you, they consult you, they seek your advice, they believe you, they trust you. It is such a strong power. It was perhaps Michel Foucault who deliberated philosophically on the role and relationship between Power and Knowledge. He was of the view that power determines knowledge and it is powerful who take decision as to what should be considered as knowledge. There are different kinds of power and often it refers merely to positional power. Power that position gives you. If you leave that position you cease to enjoy that power. So the power is purely attached to a position. Such power dominates formal decisions as to what should be considered as knowledge, what information should be made public and what should be hidden from them. Concealing and revealing becomes the function of positional power. The flow of information is fully controlled. And as knowledge is created through or

Saket District Court is going to announce the sentence to the accused in the GangRape case which happened on 16th Dec 2012 in Delhi. It led to numerous agitations at different locations in India which also included candle march at several places showing their solidarity for the cause of a strict and stringent law which could punish the accused with the capital punishment. The agitators demanded fast action from the court. Later the parliament passed a law which made provisions of punishing the accused with death penalty. That law is in action now. The question as to whether such laws would be able to control such heinous crimes in the times to follow keeps pondering over my head and I have a different take on this. We have several laws, many of them very strict. We have several institutions, very pious in nature, very committed to the cause of welfare of people of the republic of India. We have all kinds of bureaucrats and politicians who are involved in making laws as well as

Today is teachers' day in India. On this day in 1888, Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was born, who later became the President of India. He also occupied the office of Vice President of India apart from being the chancellor of University of Delhi before taking over as President of India. He was a great educationist, philosopher and statesman. Since 1962, this day is celebrated as Teachers Day in India. Teachers play very important role in the lives of people. They make or destroy generations. They shape or spoil the future of children. And this is a reason why their role further becomes more important. Some people become teachers on their own choice and for some teaching finds them. Some teach for livelihood and satisfy their daily needs out of the consideration that they get from their job. Just like any other job. Some make rules for themselves and at times they break rules for the cause of education and improving the well being of people. They are really regarded as great souls. I

The market sentiment is the major player in the fall of the currency of any country.  US Dollar is an international currency unlike Indian Rupee, so all imports are converted into USDs and for all exports India earns USDs.  When there is favourable condition in the market, the sentiments support the home currency and vice versa. This is primary reason.  However there are other reasons as well.  In order to improve growth parameters, a country is required to spend money on the projects and sustainable endeavors.  For this there are two options available for a nation, one it can print/mint currency and another one to collect the currency from the market.  First option requires similar collateral for security, which is not the case for the second option.  US federal government announced collecting currency (USDs) from other nations, which made USD a valuable currency following Demand-Supply law of economics.  This caused the fall of rupee as well as fall of many other currencies of oth

Recently Vijay Govindrajan, Professor of strategy at Dartmouth College, USA was asked – ‘ While Innovating, whom should companies target – local consumers or global ones? ’ His reply was:   ‘The focus has to be Indian consumers, especially Indian non-consumers.’   He divided India into three categories, namely   ‘Developed India’   (100 million people living in 15 major Indian cities), ‘ Developing India ’ (300 million people living in 6,000 small towns), and   ‘Underdeveloped India’   (700 million living in the 600,000 villages). He combined developing and underdeveloped India into one group of customers as non-consumers. The needs of these non-consumers have to be addressed in order to capitalize on the opportunity that India provides and it is possible through developing innovative products and services which cater to their pockets. These non-consumers pose a greater challenge for the corporate houses to attract their attention. More than a decade ago, in 2002, CK Prahalad a

Few weeks back I was being interviewed - 'So if you need to give one most important reason for corporate failures, what that would be', one of the interviewer asked.  Without even thinking for a minute, I responded - 'Greed'.  I could observe an accepting smile on his face.  True.  In fact we were talking about the whole case of Satyam and Maytas, the corporate governance issues, the cooking-up of the accounting books, overstated size of employees, etc etc. But after the interview was over, I wanted to ask myself whether it is only the Greed which is the cause of corporate failures or there are some more reasons.  I kept thinking of many reasons for the next week and thought of again going through the book by Jim Collins 'How the Mighty Fall' with the notes of 'Good to Great' as well as 'Built to Last'.  Apart from this browsing through some old magazines and searching out the failure stories (quite unconventional, generally people prefer goin

कल हमलोग कार्यक्रम देखा। अच्छा लगा। आज के समय की तीन प्रतिभाओं को देखा व सुना, ह्रदय भावुक हो गया। वर्तमान समय मे जब सभी चैनलों पर नकारात्मक समाचारों की होड़ लगी हो, उस माहौल में इस प्रकार के कार्यक्रमों को देखकर एक आशा की किरण दिखाई देती है। ऐसा कदापि नहीं है कि हमारे आस पास कुछ अच्छा नहीं हो रहा है, ऐसा कदापि नहीं है कि सभी कुछ ख़राब ही है, सभी लोग नकारात्मक सोच के ही हों, यदि हम अपने आसपास देखें व विचारें तो आज भी कई प्रेरणाप्रद अध्याय दिन प्रतिदिन जुड़ रहे है। यह एक विडम्बना ही है कि हमारी द्रष्टि सकारात्मक घटनाओं, व्यक्तियों, प्रयोजनों, योजनाओं इत्यादि पर उतनी जल्दी नहीं जाती, जितनी जल्दी हम नकारात्मक ख़बरों की और आकर्षित हो जाते हैं। इस परिप्रेक्ष्य में मीडिया की भूमिका अति महत्वपूर्ण हो जाती है।  मेरे मस्तिष्ट मे एक विचार आता है, कि क्या वर्तमान सामाजिक व आर्थिक व्यवस्था में (जहाँ सब कुछ बाज़ार में उपलब्ध हो, जहाँ सब कुछ बिकता हो, जहाँ प्रतिस्पर्धा का वर्चस्व हो) यह संभव है कि एक चैनल ऐसा स्थापित किया जाये जिसमे केवल सकारात्मक समाचारों का ही प्रसारण हो, जिस पर, देश-विदे

One friend (A) was talking to another friend (B) (while pointing towards his 10 year old son) A - 'aajkal bachche bahut smart ho gaye hain' B - 'itna jaantey hain, na... baap re... computer, mobile, tv, meri 9 saal ki beti hai, mobile se khelti hai' A - 'mera beta bhi.... kehta hai.. papa mobile me internet nahin hai..lelo na' B - 'meri beti kehti hai, papa ye nokia purana ho gaya... iPhone lo ya fir Galaxy' As this conversations was going on I was just observing their gestures.... and trying to read the background.... may be both of them did not have these feelings (as their kids) while they were this young. Anyway... lets enjoy their conversation: A - 'or kitna padtey hain ye bachchey...school, home work... tution... music... drawing... ' B - 'sach me kitna pressure hai na in par' A - 'inka school bag kitna bhari hota hai' B - 'jab tak college pahunchenge, Spondylitis ho jaaega' A - 'really... yaar... aajkal ke

The other day one of our friends (seeing me spending more time at the university department) commented - 'Is University giving you some more salary' . I responded to his comment to the best of my ability and as per my personal thinking on 'work'. However later in the day I thought why he commented like that. Further it also kept me engaged in my thoughts throughout the day as to the basic premise of why do really people work. And with this motivation in mind I started searching for the answer as a student of organizational behavior. Organizations are established in order to achieve organizational goal/s. As it is almost impossible for an individual to fulfill his/her individual goal, he/she joins an organisation. And if there is no such organization which can help an individual in achieving the goal, one starts an organization oneself. So what is clear is that individuals join organisations in order to achieve their individual goals. While individuals work in the o

Prof Man Mohan Singh, an economist turned politician and the prime minister of India while addressing the audience at the University of Mumbai on the occasion of its 150th anniversary mentioned - ‘Our university system is, in many parts, in a state of disrepair...almost two-third of our universities and 90 per cent of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters... I am concerned that in many states university appointments, including that of vice-chancellors, have been politicised and have become subject to caste and communal considerations, there are complaints of favouritism and corruption…We should free university appointments from unnecessary interventions on the part of governments and must promote autonomy and accountability. I urge states to pay greater attention to this aspect. After all, a dysfunctional education system can only produce dysfunctional future citizens!’  It is in these contexts that we need to have a re-look into the role of individuals (t