Online Interactive Live Session on Economics for mini MBA Students

Professor Chandu Nissa, Head of Economics for UG at Stella Maris College, conducted an awesome interactive Live Session for the mini MBA students. She conducted the live session in the Online Social Learning Platform of myBskool. Students asked questions via chat and she answered the questions about Economy with good examples. Students could see the video of the Professor.

Prof Chandu explained risk and uncertainty, demand and supply, elasticity of demand, equilibrium of demand, Bandwagon effect, and Diamond-Water Paradox.

When asked how knowledge of Economics helped a Manager, she said that while entrepreneurs focused on dividends to investors, managers focused on perks and employee benefits. Having an economic bend of mind will help the manager to put himself in the shoes of the business owner.

When asked if raising prices lowered the demand she said that people addicted to certain products will buy the product even if the price rises. e.g. tobacco smokers

Prof Chandu also answered questions about FDI, inflation, and more. She said that a person has to pay money for whatever they buy or use. But many Indians carried a ‘begging bowl’ and wanted freebies or paid less for a costly product. She told that Indian RBI was respected worldwide and India will come out with flying colours!

It was a very interesting and informative Live Session on Economics. Prof Chandu was very relaxed, friendly, and sportive. myBskool plans to organize many such Live Sessions. So, please stay tuned.

Register here to be part of this unique learning experience. 

myBskool Motto - Online Management Education

Highlights of Admission and Information Seminar of myBskool

The admission and information seminar of myBskool was very interactive and informative. Mr. Ranganathan, Head of Business Development, of myBskool spoke about the advantages of doing an online management program.

Ranga told the analogy of ‘Unconference’ and how online social media learning brought out the benefits of an Unconference. Unconference works on the principle that the collective wisdom of the audience/learners is often more than the speaker/teacher. Anyone in the audience can come and speak about the topic the expert speaker has started.  The cloud-based social learning platform of myBskool allows to scale the number of learners to even millions, and so the interactive learning can be massive and collaborative.

Ranga showed a demo of a myBskool video on Economics, the quick streaming on both a PC as well as Tablet. He spoke about the benefits of the PGDM programs offered by myBskool and IMT Ghaziabad.

Click here for event photos.  

Admission and Information Seminar of myBskool on 18th September

myBskool is organizing a free admission and information seminar on 18th September at Hotel Park View. Dr. Swaminathan.K, CEO of myBskool, IIM-B alumunus with more than a decade of experience in running different types of educational institutions, will address the audience.

If you have any doubts about doing an online mini MBA program or a PGDM program, you can clarify your doubts at the seminar.

To register, visit myBskool.

Managing Finance - myBskool's mini MBA

Managing Finance module has been delivered by Mr. Chandrasekar Kupperi. Mr. Kupperi is a Fellow of ICAI and ICSI. And is an associate member of ICWAI. He holds a MBA in Business Administartion from Bharathidasan University. He has completed a Senior Management certification program from IIM Calcutta. He is the Group Finanace Director at Lornamead Group. He is a visiting faculty at Indo-German chamber of Commerce and conducts classes on "Mergers & Acquisitions" and "International Business" for MBA students. Click here to view the mini MBA program that myBskool offers. 

Supply Chain Management by myBskool

Supply Chain Management course has been delivered by Suresh Srinivasan. He has a Master of Management Studies(MMS - MBA equivalent) from BITS Pilani. He has done a Management Education Program (MEP) from IIM -Ahmedabad. He has close to 30 years of work experience - 21 years in the industry and 9 years in management education. Visit myBskool for enrolling in our expert management programs. 

Awesome Student Engagement in mini MBA Studyroom of myBskool

Wow. So many interesting discussions are going on in the online studyroom of myBskool's mini MBA program. After viewing Sebastian's video about Economics, students have been having discussions about free market, command market, and mixed markets. And what type of market economy exists in India. We are overwhelmed by the positive response in the online studyroom. That is what we promise right - engaging, collaboration, and interactive social learning environment.

Take a look at the snapshots of discussions here. Do you wish to be a part of this interactive learning experience? Please join the FREE online mini MBA program by clicking
http://www.mybskool.com/index.php/programs/minimba

A Variety of PGDM Courses by myBskool

Dead Cat Bounce

The Empty Raincoat by Charles Handy - A Book Synopsis

empty raincoat pdf

View more ebooks on ebookbrowse.com

Statistics and Decision Making - myBskool

Ms. Padmaja Priyadarshini, M.Sc (Statistics), MBA, M.Phil, (Ph.D), has about 8 yrs of teaching experience. She is a Visiting Faculty @ IGNOU and an Entrepreneur. She has delivered the statistics course for myBskool.

           

Bellwether

Fat-Finger Syndrome

Operations Management by myBskool

Operations management course for myBskool was delivered by Thirumalai B.E, M.Tech ( IIT - Madras), Visiting Faculty at IIM - B.

            

Quantitative Techniques - Replacement Models

Quantitative Techniques for Management has been delivered by Ms.Padmaja for myBskool. Ms. Padmaja Priyadarshini, M.Sc (Statistics), MBA, M.Phil, (Ph.D) has about 8 yrs of teaching experience, is a Visiting Faculty @ IGNOU and is a successful Entrepreneur.  

myBskool is a b-school in Chennai

myBskool is a b-school in Chennai, offering a bouquet of management courses for working professionals and also others who look for valuable short-term introductory management programs. myBskool has been operational from Jan 2011. myBskool was started by Dr.Swaminathan.K an IIM-B alumunus. K.B.Chandrasekar is the mentor and venture capitalist supporting myBskool.

myBskool offers one year and two year post graduate management programs from IMT Ghaziabad. They also offer Pre MBA and Mini MBA programs for anyone who wants to learn the fundamentals of accounting, business maths, economics, and finance. 

myBskool office is located in T.Nagar, Chennai near Valluvar Kottam and Vidhyodhaya school. Drop in at our office anytime to meet our academic counsellor. 

How to Write a Winning Business Plan?

How to Write a Winning Business Plan

Business Communication - myBskool

Nature and Scope of Business Communication module for myBskool PGDM course has been delivered by Prof. Uma Gopalakrishnan , Founder SpringBoard Career Development Services & Corporate Trainer. 

Social Media Marketing by Sorav Jain

Industry experts like Sorav Jain have delivered learning modules for myBskool.

         

Marketing Management by Mr. Chandu Nair

Mr.Chandu Nair, co-founder and Executive Director of Scope e-knowlegde centre, visiting faculty at IIM-K, ACME (UK), and BIM (Trichy), a famous speaker, has delivered the Marketing Management module for myBskool PGDM course. Do you like the video? Share your thoughts with us.

         

Foundations of Entrepreneurship - myBskool Course

myBskool offers a fully online course on "Foundations of Entrepreneurship". This course covers a rich list of materials that address key challenges in entrepreneurship, right from assessing the likelihood of success of a new venture to managing the challenges posed as a result of venture’s growth. Materials from industry-renowned researchers such as Amar Bhide, William Sahlman, Michael Porter, and Clayton Christensen have been hand-picked to address entrepreneurs’ diverse set of needs.

Read about the course details here.

View an introductory video delivered by Mr.Pradeep Murali, MBA(NYU - STERN school of Business), MS ( University of Pennysylvania) and give us a feedback.

Buying a House with one Red Paper Clip - Trading at its Best

Entrepreneurship

Online vs Face-to-Face Education - Learning Outcomes

Key report findings include:

• Over 6.1 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2010 term, an increase of 560,000 students over the previous year.

• The 10% growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 2% growth in the overall higher education student population.

• Thirty-one percent of higher education students now take at least one course online.

• Reported year-to-year enrollment changes for fully online programs by discipline show most are growing.

• Academic leaders believe that the level of student satisfaction is equivalent for online and face-to-face courses.

• 65% of higher education institutions now say that online learning is a critical part of their long-term strategy.

• There continues to be a consistent minority of academic leaders concerned that the quality of online instruction is not equal to courses delivered face-to-face.

What Stephen Covey can Tell Executive MBA Aspirants?

Stephen Covey, the author of the famous book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" is no more. We have lost a great trainer and management guru. But, aspiring management professionals can learn a lot from applying Covey's seven habits.

1. Be Proactive: Say you enroll for an online PGDM from myBskool, then you proactively increase your knowledge of management principles and practical tactics used in the shop floor and market.

2. Begin with the End in the Mind: Ultimately, as you grow up the career ladder, you will become a manager. The highest post you can reach is a CEO of a company or start your own successful business venture. Keeping this end destination of your career in mind, you can equip yourself with an online management education program.

3. Put First things First: First, qualify yourself with a management program from a top-notch institute like IMT Ghaziabad, before you become a top-notch manager. Degree first, job role next.

4. Think Win, Win : When you get to do an online management program, you can continue working and also continue studying. So, your employer wins and you also win.

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood: When you study management strategies, you understand what your seniors are trying to do. You understand the dynamics behind everyday decisions that your managers make. So, you understand your management before you become a manager.

6. Synergize: You synergize or learn along with other experienced working professionals and interact with them in the virtual chat rooms. You, get to see video lessons delivered by professors from IIT, IIM, and doctorates too. 

7. Sharpen the Saw:  You need to constantly improve yourself. To be a sharp and active manager, you need to sharpen your management skills. 

Stephen Covey - Author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Indian Bloggers League - Chennai Super Bloggers

Wish you good luck - 'Ithu Enga Area' team.

               

 Read more about IBL here.

MBA vs PGDM - Which is a Better Option for You?

The MBA degree is seen as a time-tested tag that can open avenues to all types of career aspirations. But, PGDM, its nearest competitor, is more novel, flexible, and practical. myBskool offers PGDM from IMT Ghaziabad that is approved by the Joint Committee(JC) of India. The JC comprises UGC, AICTE, and Distance Education Council(DEC).  Let us understand the basic difference between MBA and PDGM in India-:

1) Only Universities can offer MBA: In India only those management institutes which are affiliated to a university can offer an MBA degree. For this reason institutes like Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies or Faculty of Management Studies can offer MBA degree, as they are affiliated with Pune, Mumbai, and Delhi Universities. Also IIMs, though being the best of the lot, can’t offer MBAs as they are not affiliated with any university. Institutes which are not affiliated to university are autonomous and can offer PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) degree. However, some of these programmes are approved by regulatory bodies such as AICTE.

2) Difference in Focus of Curriculum: While there are huge similarities in the curriculum of both MBA and PGDM, there are finer points of difference. While MBA focuses more on theoretical aspects of management and is more exam-oriented, PGDM has a focus on building soft skills and is industry-oriented. It prepares you for the job market.

3) Curriculum of PGDM is Flexible: Since an autonomous institute does not have to follow university standards, it is free to change its curriculum according to industry standards and change in business environment. Also a PGDM gives you an industry exposure. Whereas it will take time to change the curriculum for MBAs as it is affiliated with a university and it will essentially follow the university guidelines and changing this curriculum is a very slow process. 

4) Difference in Target : An MBA will help in developing technical skills and business knowledge whereas a PGDM will prepare graduates for senior level positions in industry and paves the way for a strong corporate career. Hence, if you’re looking for a career in the challenging area of management, you should go for PGDM.

5) MBAs are more Affordable: In compared to PGDM, generally MBAs are more affordable as the fees is almost similar to university standard. You can get a rough idea if you compare the fees of IIM and FMS. myBskool offers PGDM at a nominal cost of Rs,60,000. 

Be Your Own Education DJ

myBskool offers a variety of learning materials - videos, powerpoint presentations, printed course material, and social media learning. A student can pick and choose from the different materials and be his/her own educational disk jockey(DJ) to complete a management program.

Collective Intelligence - Open Networked World

Collaboration, transparency, sharing, and empowerment are the four hallmarks of the open world fueled by social media. Networked Intelligence is used for social production and also for self-defense.

Isn't a Housewife or Homemaker the Best Manager?

“You do have some people who still question how well you can develop socialization skills to work with other people if you are getting the degree online,” Bailey says. “One person I interviewed said, ‘How do I know if someone who spent the last two or three years getting their MBA in pajamas can come into the office?’ That maybe a sarcastic comment, but that is what some people still think about people who get their degrees online from home. 

Trying a parallel argument, isn't a homemaker the best manager? She pays electricity and newspaper bills, bargains with the fruit vendor, works 24 x 7, delivers breakfast, lunch, and dinner on time. She coaches her son for final exams and attends parent-teacher meetings at school. And gives some homemade medicine to her ailing mother-in-law.

What about a Punjabi housewife who runs a Paying Guest outlet in her home? She manages young women from different backgrounds who work in different industries. She allocates rooms as per the rent the working women are willing to give. And delivers food on time everyday. 

So, how does being at home or working at home, make these women less of managers or entrepreneurs? 

The same holds good for a student or working professional who gets a management degree online. Say, for instance the experience of a student who does a PGDM online from myBskool. The student does not study in isolation. The social learning platform has online chat rooms where students can chat with professors and batchmates. The student can also call a professor on the mobile. The student engagement officer throws an activity chart every week that helps the student to study subjects regularly.

But, employers are now warming up to online MBA professionals. And hope technology fuels and solves the communication question! 

Will Babu Get a Management Qualification?

Babu was involved in his family business right from the age of fifteen. He did his under graduation in economics and continued working in his father's medical equipment factory. He traveled abroad for the business expansion and was very successful as a manager. 

However, one day in the factory, Babu overheard one his juniors pass a comment about him. "When half-baked managers run a business, you expect such decisions." He wondered why his junior, a management graduate from a popular institute made such a remark. 

Babu told this incident to his father. His father said, " I was able to manage and keep loyal employees, even though i did not have a management degree. But these days, employees can be both shrewd and vindictive. I think you should try to get an executive MBA."

myBskool is right place for Babu to pursue his management education. The one year PGDM from IMT Ghaziabad is completely online. Babu can access the video lessons from his smartphone or laptop even when he is travelling. And he will get course materials from IMT and will get a wealth of knowledge about management from practicing industry experts. He will be a more confident manager and a future entrepreneur in his own family business. 

17 Thoughts for a Marketing Strategy

Marketing takes your product to your customer or consumer. Without marketing, the reach of your product is limited and the profits may be low. But, marketing infuses life into the selling cycle and brings huge profits.

Let us look at few points to develop a good marketing strategy.

1. Identify your target market/customer: An useful acronym to remember is aeiog that stands for age, education, income, occupation, gender, and geographical location of your prospective customers. Describe your customer in about half a page and talk to this imaginary customer. You need to make a psychographic study and know the hobby, interests, and quirks of your customer.

2. Your USP: The next step is to identify your "Unique Selling Proposition", For e.g, the USP for Domino's Pizza is "a pizza at your doorstep within 30 minutes of placing an order."

3. Do a SWOT Analysis: Analyze your internal strengths and weaknesses and also external opportunities and threats. 

4. Pricing and Positioning: Narrow down your target customers and focus your efforts towards this target group. Keep in mind that 76% of people do not believe your advertisements.

5. Distribution : Decide if you will sell directly to customers or to distributors or use a combination of both.

6. Your Offers: Free offers, discount, packaged offers, guarantee offers, act now offers.

7. Marketing Material: All marketing material such as banners, blogs, newsletters, and paper advertisements will talk to the target customer.

8. Promotion Strategy: Decide if you will do Trade shows/ Direct mails/ WOM/ Podcasts / Radio advertisements or more.

9. Online Marketing Strategy: Identify keywords and do SEO. Pay Per Click (PPC)  works better than Search Engine Optimization(SEO).

10. Conversion Strategy: Improve your offers and sales script. Increase your social proof, nurture and never give up.

11. Look for Joint Ventures and Partnerships: Look for partners who will include your brand name in their marketing material or promotions.

12. Referral Strategy: Ask your existing customers to refer new customers. 

13. Strategy to Increase Transaction Prices: Raise your prices, up sell, cross sell, and offer product packages. Your primary goal is to close the sale, and second goal is to maximize the price of sale or increase order size. 

14. Retention Strategy: Ongoing communication, loyalty programs, and continuity programs.

15. Public Relations Activities: Advertising is a weak media unless supported by PR.

16. Draw a Marketing Calendar - Keep in mind days such as Mother's Day, Valentines Day, Children's day etc. 

17.  Make a Marketing Budget: And allocate funds for different activities. 

Student Engagement - Holy Grail of Online Education

When learning technology and learning content becomes uniform and free for all online educators, the key differentiation will be the learning design. Engaging the students online is an important part of learning design.

There are few advantages of online student engagement:

- Introverts or shy students feel comfortable.
- The success of Facebook and Youtube shows that people throughout the world love online presence.
- 24 x7 availability and flexibility

How do you reward good student engagement?

An online student who will get a good grade point for interaction will be:

- one who posts relevant questions or content
- one who gives good answers to queries of others
- one who summarizes the points of a discussion

How do you monitor online presence of students?

In a panel discussion conducted by myBskool about 'Online Management Education - Emerging Trends', Prof Xavier of IIM Ranchi gave a few interesting points.

- Biometric login of online students for unique recognition
- Every 10 minutes, a web camera captures your face to find out if you are awake, present, and not asleep.
- Both erring faculty and erring students can be identified

So, that reduces the doubts you may have about the versatality of online student engagement process.

In the video below, lot of online educators share their views and methods for online student engagement. 

           

Raising Money for a Startup - A Nice Take

The video gives a nice introduction about assets, angel investors, shares, valuation, and dilution.

How Does myBskool make Videos on Management?

myBskool sources the best professors and/or industry experts for each subject such as economics, accounting, banking, strategic management, supply chain management, MIS, and more. myBskool has a database of more than 20 professors who have done their Ph.D and have submitted research papers in national and international forums. Many professors are alumni of IIT and IIM. The professors make powerpoint presentations based on their experience and the latest books and journals that myBskool gives them. The presentations are vetted for content and language quality. Then the professor talks about the presentation in the studio adding his/her viewpoints on the fly. The studio has the latest infrastructure and software to produce high-quality videos. 

myBskool now offers 1500+ power-packed video lectures, 6000+ powerpoint audio lessons, and case study discussions on video/podcast. These videos are suitable for various platforms such as tablets, PC, and smartphones. 

A professor getting ready for the video shoot

Learning at Home

Zubeida is in the family way. Her family is very conservative and wants her to stay at home till she delivers. Zubeida is thrilled to be a mom and enjoys her wait. However, she does not want to sit idle at home. She was a HR executive in an IT firm and has a cumulative work experience of eight years.

She was talking with her friend Vinod and was exchanging sweet nothings. Vinod told her that he was doing a PGDM from myBskool. He was doing a specialization in Human Resources and the course material will be from IMT Ghaziabad who are leaders in the online education space. Zubeida was wondering if she could pursue the course and keep herself occupied. Vinod told her that she should give it a shot.

A New Way for Employee Engagement and Retention

Hrithik has been working with Jade, an IT MNC, for more than 5 years. He got the long-serving employee award when he completed 5 years. He is also a star performer. 

Mukesh was the HR manager at Jade. When scanning employee mails for surveillance, Mukesh found out that many employees including Hrithik were looking for greener pastures. They seemed to have reached a saturation level at Jade.

"What can i do to hold and stimulate employees?, " thought Mukesh. Then he came across an advertisement by myBskool offering one year PGDM from IMT Ghaziabad. Mukesh thought, "Ah, a management qualification from a reputed institute for Rs. 60,000. I can enroll some of my star performers in the course and Jade can pay the expenses. This must retain the stars for a longer time and keep them motivated." Mukesh picked up the phone and called myBskool. So, what are you planning to keep your employees motivated? 

Corporate Silence and Complex Emoting

Human beings are the only species equipped with the hardware to suppress feelings and to express the opposite of their real feelings deliberately. One of the forms this takes is the power of silence.

Silence can take many forms in corporate life. You may keep silent about your real views during a discussion. Later you may make a cynical comment to signal your opposition or even actively subvert any attempt at implementation. Alternatively, you may actually indicate your positive support, though your real view is opposite. Basically, silence is practised out of fear.

This silence is because of the third and most evolved part of the human brain known as the neo-cortex. This cortex holds two uniquely human capabilities: the first is the power of logical and rational thinking and the second is the capability of expressing 'complex' emotions. Complex emoting is the ability to express an emotion which you do not actually feel or experience. 

- When the Penny Drops by R.Gopalakrishnan

Applying Six Thinking Hats to myBskool PGDM

Hey, do you have lot of doubts about doing an online management program? Let us use the The Six Thinking Hats of Edward De Bono to analyze the myBskool PGDM course. Now, you will wear the hats as a student and brainstorm about the myBskool courses.

Today, June 21st is World Music Day

Music is the most beautiful sound that can pass through our ear. Music is a natural medicine and gives stress relief and boosts your spirit. Today, June 21st is World Music Day. In 1976, an American musician, Joel Cohen, employed by the national French radio station, France Musique thought of a day dedicated to celebrating music. in 1982, the thought became reality with the French Government blessing Fete' de la Musique. Two of the caveats to being sanctioned by the official Fête de la Musique organization in Paris are that all concerts must be free to the public, and all In Paris and Ile-de-France, the return of summer is celebrated in music. 

The music day was created in 1982. This nation-wide party of the people has become so important that it has even been exported to over a hundred foreign countries. On 21st June, both amateur and professional musicians take to the streets to let their creativity run wild.

In squares, public gardens and alleyways improvised stages are erected and sound systems blossom at the windows. Electro DJs, classical, jazz or accordion groups, choirs, French chanson, pop rock or traditional bands...everyone dances and sings with their family and friends in a joyful cacophony. Bars, concert venues, festivals (and also museums, churches, conservatoires etc...) take the opportunity to remain open until all hours, with free concerts both indoors and on their terraces. Exceptional free shows are performed by French and international stars, notably in the Place de la Bastille, the Champ de Mars and La Défense. And to help people get around, public transport services are provided all night long.

Few celebrations in India today : http://www.meraevents.com/blog/2012/06/18/world-music-day-2012/

                .

myBskool CEO Swaminathan.K - The Story of a Serial Entrepreneur

Recently, the Trinity College of London conferred the honorary doctorate title upon Swaminathan.K, CEO and founder of myBskool. The career path of Dr.Swaminathan is exciting, challenging, and it is no wonder he got the esteemed award. 

• Mr. Swami did his first business in 10th std. He sold firecrackers during Deepavali and made a profit of Rs.75,000.
• Started his career at Sterling Resorts, after completing B.Com at Pachaiyappas college.
• Took a break to pursue MBA from IIM Bangalore.
• Joined NIS as professor for marketing and worked at NIS for three years.
• Started EguruCool in 2000 with IIM Classmates. Egurucool was a novel education portal that NIIT bought later.
• Started Pookaikani - an online platform to sell vegetables. The orders were overflowing and Mr. Swami sometimes had to deliver the vegetables himself. Pookaikani was closed due to lack of staff for delivering vegetables.
• Started Aspire Learning Systems - to coach students for engineering and MBBS entrance exams. In seven years, Aspire became number one in South India. Continued coaching classes for IIT-JEE entrance once government stopped entrance exams.
• Started SmartLearnWebTV to give IIT-JEE coaching on Web TV. The slogan 'Just pay a rupee for a day' was a huge success. EdServ acquired SmartlearnWebTV.
• Started myBskool - a b-school offering distance learning management programs from recognized and top-notch management institutes.

Are You Aspiring for a Doctorate in Management?

Kavitha works for a foreign bank. She enjoys her hectic career which involves travel, events, and late hours. But five years from now, Kavitha did not see herself working for a bank. She wanted to start her own firm, be a consultant, and also teach. Yes, teaching was her passion. And she wanted to get a doctorate in management.

She was slightly overwhelmed by the path she has to take. First, a post-graduation in management, and then a doctorate. Where to study, how long will it take? Will the course be cost-effective and recognized?

myBskool has a solution for Kavitha's need. myBskool offers a two year PGDM from IMT Ghaziabad. Those who complete the two year PGDM, can enroll for the PhD program from IMT.  

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium that reside in the public domain and have been released under an open licence that permits access, use, repurposing, reuse and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions (Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007).

The use of open technical standards improves access and reuse potential.  OER can include full courses/programmes, course materials, modules, student guides, teaching notes, textbooks, research articles, videos, assessment tools and instruments, interactive materials such as simulations and role plays, databases, software, apps (including mobile apps) and any other educationally useful materials.

The term ‘OER’ is not synonymous with online learning, eLearning or mobile learning. Many OER — while shareable in a digital format — are also printable.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is a type of OER.

Online Management Education - Panel Discussion

The interactive panel discussion about 'Online Management Education" went on well on 8th June, 2012. The expert panel had Prof. M.J. Xavier of IIM Ranchi, Prof. Sriram - executive Director of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Prof Ramanathan - Sr Director of ISB, and Mr.Swaminathan.K - CEO of myBskool. Mr.Chandu Nair was the moderator. 

The discussion started of with a reference to Online Management Education as an evolving animal that can take any shape in the future. There is a need for holistic managers and not managers who are specialists with a big head ( good analytic skills) but a lean torso ( poor soft skills). 

'Rethinking the MBA - Business Education at Crossroads' - a book by Harvard professor Dr.Srikant Datar was mentioned often as giving new insights about the subject. A popular saying goes like, "A fool with a tool is still a fool." But, technology will supplement and not substitute classrooms. And teachers will become tutors and facilitators.

Online Management Education is known as the Facebook of Education. But, people have doubts about the quality of relationships and networks in a social learning network. The panel felt that the intensity of any relationship is more important than the length. So, the learning design and student engagement process must be fun and really interactive. For example, the AIDS vaccine was found by a set of young gamers who never met face-to-face. Their interactions were purely online. They saw each other only at the awards ceremony.

To view all event pics, click here.

Business is an Art

'Click' has replaced 'Brick' - Peter Drucker was Right

As the internet burgeoned in the 1990s, management guru Peter Drucker said on-site universities would be dead in 50 years. "Click" would replace "Brick". Looks like Drucker's prophecy has come true.

The high speed of technology revolution acts as a catalyst for educational revolution. Recent research survey show that students prefer to learn using ipads and smartphone.

Now high-flying management institutes Harvard and MIT are taking their learning videos online through a project EdX. The number of universities offering online management programs is exploding.    

IMT Ghaziabad PGDM - Learn from the Leaders

It is surprising to know that thousands of students enroll for an executive MBA that is not recognized or accredited.What is the point of slogging for one or two years to get a management qualification that is not recognized anywhere?

How nice it would be if a top-ranked b-school can qualify you as a management professional? You are no more a Tom, Dick, or Harry. IMT Ghaziabad has won several awards for its excellent Distance Learning Program. And the online management programs it offers is recognized throughout the world. Don't you want to learn from the leader? Click here to download brochure.

Flash Mob or Smart Mob?

A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.

The term, coined in 2003, is generally not applied to events and performances organized for the purposes of politics (such as protests), commercial advertisement, publicity stunts that involve public relation firms, or paid professionals.In these cases of a planned purpose for the social activity in question, the term smart mobs is often applied instead.

Panel Discussion about Online Management Education - Emerging Trends

Why Working Professionals Prefer Online MBA?

All aspiring professionals will take up managerial and leadership roles as they climb their career ladder. If you are an aspiring professional, you will look for a chance to get a post graduation in management. You plan to equip yourself with theory before you manage people on a real-time basis.

If you start looking at a full-time MBA degree from a reputed management institute, you need to prepare for the admission process. You need to clear CAT, get very good scores. You need to get past a group discussion round. The process sounds challenging, but do you have the time to prepare for this rigorous admission process? Even if you get admission, you need to shell out around 10 lakhs to 11 lakhs as fees.

Do you have the time and money for such a full-time MBA? If not, are there any alternatives?  Yes. There are almost 480 universities offering distance learning MBA. The cost of an online management education is between Rs.50,000 to 1 lakh. Affordable, but is it from a reputed institute?

myBskool has a solution for all your needs. myBskool has a tie-up with IMT Ghaziabad that ranks amongst top 10 b-schools in India. To download the PGDM brochure and look at our sample videos, click here.

Bye Bye Brick and Mortar Schools

Huge costs to build schools and classrooms are driving people to find alternate solutions. With the growing population and industrialization, institutions have to compete for land in urban areas. It is no wonder that online education and work-from-home are the norms of the day!

But sometimes there are shortcuts to success. In Gautemala, a school has been built out of  5000 old plastic bottles and litter. A really creative and cost-effective classroom it is! To read the full story, click here.

No Ragging Online?

Colleges are all set to reopen and youngsters will enter the college premises with dreams and passion. However, the ragging menace always looms large. Is ragging always a threat? Not necessarily. Ragging is an ice-breaker and brings fun and creativity in the initial days of college. And helps to network with seniors who can guide you in studies and around the college campus. Due to ragging, many people fall in love and get married later.

But sometimes the decency limits are crossed during ragging. As students come from diverse backgrounds, what is good for someone may be bad for another. So, ragging is like gambling. The Tamilnadu government has given a mailid raggingcomplaints@gmail.com to which students affected by ragging can send a message.

Online education overcomes the ragging menace. Students meet in the online chat rooms and are focused on clearing subject queries. Higher education Online learners are working professionals and have the maturity to deal with their juniors and peers. So, ragging is not a big threat in Online Education. 

Alvin Toffler's School of Tomorrow

Alvin Toffler, the author of books about change like "Future Shock" and "Revolutionary Wealth", propounds a list of attributes for the School of Tomorrow. Alvin feels that current educational methods cater to the needs of the Industrial Revolution era. The industrial method of working needs all employees to walk into the factory at the same time, work in tandem in the factory line, and mass produce goods. The same model is employed at the schools too. All children walk into the class at the same time, simultaneously take the same set of lessons, and maintain military discipline.

Alvin Toffler envisions a new model of education that caters to the current Knowledge Era of workers. Children can start schools at the age they prefer - one child may start school at age four and another at age eight.

It's (the new school) open 24 hours a day. Different kids arrive at different times. They don't all come at the same time, like an army. They don't just ring the bells at the same time. They're different kids. They have different potentials. Now, in practice, we're not going to be able to get down to the micro level with all of this, I grant you, but in fact, I would be running a twenty-four-hour school, I would have non-teachers working with teachers in that school, I would have the kids coming and going at different times that make sense for them. 

The schools of today are essentially custodial: They're taking care of kids in work hours that are essentially nine to five -- when the whole society was assumed to work. Clearly, that's changing in our society. So should the timing. We're individualizing time; we're personalizing time. We're not having everyone arrive at the same time, leave at the same time. Why should kids arrive at the same time and leave at the same time? 

The textbooks are the same for every child; every child gets the same textbook. Why should that be? Why shouldn't some kids get a textbook -- and you can do this online a lot more easily than you can in print -- why shouldn't a kid who's interested in one particular thing, whether it's painting or drama, or this or that, get a different version of the textbook than the kid sitting in the next seat, who is interested in engineering?

I think that schools have to be completely integrated into the community, to take advantage of the skills in the community. So, there ought to be business offices in the school, from various kinds of business in the community.

Alvin Tofflers School of Tomorrow:

These are the fundamentals of the futurist's vision for education in the 21st century:

• Open 24 hours a day
• Customized educational experience
• Kids arrive at different times
• Students begin their formalized schooling at different ages
• Curriculum is integrated across disciplines
• Nonteachers work with teachers
• Teachers alternate working in schools and in business world
• Local businesses have offices in the schools
• Increased number of charter schools

The management programs at myBskool match all parameters put across by Alvin Toffler. Check out the PGDM that myBskool offers along with IMT Ghaziabad. Click here.

Great Leaders Inspire Action with the Golden Circle

The communication style of leaders in business and community follows a style - Why, How, and What. They first appeal to your soul with a 'Why' and then give your brain details of 'How' and 'What'.

Welcome June 2012

Corporates and non-profits use calendars to advance their brands. The 2012 year calendar of NGO Pratham Books has beautiful sketches, drawings, and tips that reflect their work - educating poor kids thro picture books. Mediaadds has come out with a calendar that has a fable and management message for each month. At the beginning of the year we get so many calendars that we can hang one in each of our rooms including the bathrooms! So much for branding!

Read, Read, and Read

Everyday, a manager has to take important decisions. So, a manger has to read a lot to know the current economic, political, cultural, technology, and environmental scenarios. Daily, on an average, a good manager will read 50-100 pages of information. The source of information and data can be leading newspapers, magazines, blogs, journals, bestselling non-fiction books, and sometimes even fiction. If you don't have the habit of reading, you need to atleast listen to audiobooks. On the whole, reading is an activity that no manager can escape.

But with information explosion, one needs to have power reading skills. Improving your reading skills will help you to gather key points in a short time. Keeping reading in mind, the IMT Ghaziabad PGDM syllabus includes 'Reading Skills' module under Business Communication.

What is Blue Ocean Strategy?

Blue Ocean Strategy aims at creating new markets and not competing with existing markets. Innovate and succeed.