Infrastructure Management: How to fare better in the Infrastructure Industry.

INLEAD facilitated an Industry Expert Workshop for January, April 2013 and July 2013 Infrastructure Management batches on 13th August. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Vice President HR – Earth Infrastructures. . He had an interactive session with the students on “How to fare better in the Infrastructure Industry."

The session comprised several activities which were based on setting Goals in Life, Importance of listening, etiquette and basic communication skills, hence giving all the students a sense of understanding on how all the industries work and what are the prerequisites to be a successful professional in this competitive corporate world.

In his passionate discourse Mr. Sharma discussed on several personality traits and importance of aptitude and attitude in an individual’s life. According to him one should never assume things in the corporate world and should never be judgmental either, both in their personal and professional life. He shared his views on basic and effective intelligence and the significance of fast and steady growth in the corporate working environment. He also discussed the 90/10 principle and how important it is for an individual to respond to a situation rather than reacting.

The session ended with an activity based on personality test where students had to draw a rabbit on a piece of paper and based on the position and the orientation of the rabbit their personalities were determined. Over all it was an interactive session and involved several activities which made it a lot of fun for all the students.

• According to Mr. Shahzeb Khan – July’13 Batch: “It was a really nice experience and very knowledgeable. Mr. Sharma gave us valuable insights regarding our decision making ability and the way we would evaluate ourselves.”
• According to Mr. Sohail Akhtar – July’13 Batch: “The class was very interesting. It was great to know the viewpoints regarding the industry and the entire session was very insightful.”

International Hotel Management: Overview of Hotel Management Information System

INLEAD facilitated an Industry Expert Workshop for April 2013 and July 2013 International Hotel Management batches on 14^th August. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Tarun Dua, Associate Director- HR & Training, Country Development and Management Services Pvt. Ltd. He had an interactive session with the students on “Overview of Hotel Management Information System."

The session began with a brief introduction about the speaker sharing his work and the profile that currently he is handling. Country Development and Management Services Pvt. Ltd, is an outsourced management firm working with Carlson Group who is on a management contract for the 21 properties of Country Inn Suites and Resorts.  The students were given a brief outline on the concept of Management Information System. A management information system (MIS) provides information that organizations require to manage themselves efficiently and effectively. 

The workshop also covered the importance of Reports and Data Generation. It gave the students an understanding on the importance of these two in any business to reach a Break even analysis and get their ROI. The students were introduced to the working of Hotel Management System and Point of Sale, the benefits of MIS and the elements of usable MIS and how does MIS contribute to the growth for various operating departments.

Hospital Management: Overview of Hospital and its Services (Industry Visit – Healthcare July 2013 Batch)

INLEAD facilitated an Industry visit for Healthcare Administration July 2013 Batch (MBA 1st year & MBA Lateral) students to Max Hospital, a 504 bedded super-specialty hospital located in Saket, New Delhi to get an overview of a hospital and its departments.

Located in the heart of South Delhi, Max Super Specialty Hospital, Saket (a unit of Devki Devi Foundation), is one of the premier names in health care domain in the world. It is a 504 bedded super-specialty hospital divided into the east and west Blocks. The visit was concluded by a short question answer session addressed by Ms Geetanjali, Manager, Training. The visit started with a warm welcome by the HR representative followed by a facility tour of the East- Wing of the Hospital.

The various areas covered during the facility tour were as follows:

1.       Accident & Emergency Department

·         Resuscitation Area

·         Waiting Area

·         Triage

·         Nursing Station

2.       Front Office & Reception

·         Pharmacy

·         Lobby

·         Cafeteria

3.       Out Patient Department

·         Registration

·         Preventive Health package

·         Consultation Room

4.       Overview of O.T. Complex

5.       Overview of Progressive Care

6.       Overview of Intensive Care Unit

7.       Overview of High Dependency Unit

• According to Mr.Aditya ( MBA in Healthcare Administration 1st Year): “The visit has given us an insight into the functioning of the hospital and inter-relationship between the various departments”.
• According to Ms Roumina (MBA in Healthcare Administration 1st Year): “The facility is a state of art facility in healthcare”
• According to Ms. Ginny Kaushal, Faculty Healthcare Administration: “Student got an insight into different clinical & administrative services of the Hospital which will help them to get a fair idea of the working in these areas”

Event Management & PR: Industry Expert Session (Mr. Atul Chabra)

INLEAD facilitated an Industry Expert session for Event Management & Public Relations January, April & July 2013 Batch (MBA 1st year & MBA Lateral) students on 2nd August 2013. The session was conducted by Mr. Atul Chabra, Director, Enthuse Answers Communications (P) Ltd on the topic “Role of Marketing & Branding in Events”.

The session began with Mr. Chabra introducing the class to the concept of “Life in an era of acceleration” with the help of a great video which depicted the future quite closely. He encouraged the students to think and state what, according to them, induces restlessness in the minds of customers and hence the changing market.

He then further explained how marketing & branding play a role in today’s dynamic market. Some questions like; Why we need events? ; What does it do for a brand? ; He also explained the argument of why branding should be Consumer Centric or Brand Centric. He discussed how factors like branding & advertising affect the ever-changing Consumer Purchase decisions. How the advertising model AIDA is also changing with the changing demands of consumers and hence their purchasing power also.

The session concluded with the discussion on “How important is Content/Concept for any event or event or marketing campaign. Students had a great learning experience from the session.

According to Mr. Arjun Kaul (Event Management & PR): "The Lecture gave us critical insights about event management. A well explained concept with some of the wonderful examples ever. It was very informative and useful for our future endeavors."

According to Mr. Daljeet Singh (Event Management & PR) "It was a nice experience with good subject knowledge extended to us.it basically emphasized on the fact that why and where we should focus as a future event managers."

Industry Expert Session (Ms Pushpam Kashyap, Group Head - HR, Rockland Hospitals)

INLEAD facilitated an Industry Expert session for Healthcare Administration January, April & July 2013 Batch (MBA 1st year & MBA Lateral) students on 2nd August 2013. The session was conducted by Ms. Pushpam Kashyap Group Head - Human Resource & Training (Rockland Hospitals Group).

Human resource management (HRM, or simply HR) is the management of an organization's workforce, or human resources. It is responsible for the attraction, selection, training, assessment, and rewarding of employees, while also overseeing organizational leadership and culture, and ensuring compliance with employment and labor laws. The session covered all the topics under Human Resource Management like; Planning Human Resource Management, Talent Acquisition & People Flows, Performance Management, Learning & Development, Compensation, Reward & Recognition, Talent Development, Engagement & Retention.

This was for the students to evaluate how the study on Human Resource Management would help them develop themselves.

The expert session gave an insight in the field of Human Resource Management with lots of real time examples and experiences. All the topics were covered under the umbrella of HRM in Healthcare. Students were informed about Employee Engagement, Employee retention & the importance of communication skills. The above concept was supported by a power point presentation which focused on having the talent & the right attitude. Ms. Pushpam also discussed the employer’s expectations while conducting the HR interviews.

According to Ms Deepika: Experiences shared by Ms. Pushpam made it an excellent learning experience for us.

International Hotel Management: Industry Expert Session (Mr. Shashank Pundir)

INLEAD facilitated an Industry Expert session for MBA (L) April’13 and July’13 1^st and MBA (L) international hotel management batches on 1^st August 2013. The session was conducted by Mr. Shashank Pundir- Operations Leader – Yum Restaurants International (Master Franchisor of KFC, Pizza Hut & Taco Bell).

The session began with a brief introduction about the speaker sharing his work and the profile that currently he is handling. The concept of Yum Foods, a brief history about the company was shared with the students. It’s the world’s largest restaurant company in the world with 42,000 outlets in the world and around 500 outlets in India.

The session was to focus and help in the students understanding why there was a need for the economic sized hotels to take the center stage and why all hotel business operations are focusing on the same today.

Tourism today decides the need for new hotels to emerge or increase the room inventory. The biggest contributors to the tourism in India are Korea and USA.

The session gave the students an overview of the F&B retail concept prevailing in India and also what is fuelling the growth of Economy/Budget sized hotels. The students were told about the top budget operating hotels in India, the cost per key for a luxury, mid-scale, budget, and economy hotel rooms and what are the components of the same amount. The reason why the economy hotel rose where the: high prices of commodity, land cost, development cost and the cumbersome process of obtaining licenses and permits. This resulted in hotels shifting their development plans to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The speaker also did mention to the students on the industry expectation from a prospective employee.

According to Ms Tania Gupta, International Hotel Management April’13 MBA (L): a different topic that was taken as a point of discussion today. Enjoyed the session thoroughly with the rich experience shared by Mr. Shashank. Also, it was the first lecture that was focusing towards the growth of retail concept in India and the scope of Budget hotels.

Management Student: LEAD Activity - HULLA BALOO

INLEAD conducted LEAD Orientation Activity- Hullabaloo for all the programs of April 2013 batches. Activity was designed, keeping in mind the blend of students coming from different backgrounds. The biggest challenge for them was to break the ice between each other and be a part of a pre decided team.The activity was spread over a period of 2 days. The students were to prove their mettle and showcase their latent talents through the activities in which they were participating.

The event kicked off on the 25^th of July starting with Masterchef’2013. A team of 2 main cooks and 1 helper was made and the participants were to produce 1 mocktail, 2 savory items and a dessert as a part of the menu. The challenge was that they were to come up with an innovative menu and dishes as this was one of the parameters. The participants were given 1.5 hours to prepare the dishes and 30 minutes post that to present the same to the judges for tasting. The participants worked hard to come up with a variety of delectable, mouthwatering dishes and delicious mocktails. It was a beautiful and colorful presentation of a variety of dishes.

Along with Masterchef, other participants were showcasing their artistic abilities with Kaleidoscope – Sketching and Painting. The biggest challenge that was placed was that the participants were not supposed to use water colors, poster or fabric paints in their pictures. Even with limited means, the participants displayed brilliant brush strokes sans the brush and paints. Beautiful sketches and drawings were made by the participants which made the day more colorful.

On 26^th July, the day started with all the students participating in Hop to the Top – a series of games and activities which was fun filled and energetic. The games were all timed and required the participants to complete the given task and win prizes. 

 The event was then followed by the AD Mad show in which the participants were to present innovative ads to sell certain items which were given to them. From selling diapers to broken combs, rotten apples to soap made from cow dung, the participants displayed great enthusiasm and energy and entertained the whole audience and the judges.

Though it was a competition, the students showed the spirit of camaraderie and helped each other with their preparation.  The activity gave insight in to team building, creativity, leadership skills etc. The student coordinators and organizers worked tirelessly along with the faculty to make the event a success.

The display of the various skill sets and the colorful performance by the students made the event a success. The participants were awarded by Mr. Deepak Sharma and Ms. Khushboo Singh, Vice President, INLEAD. The event was drawn to a close with the crowing of Mr. and Miss Fresher and the dance floor thrown open for the students.

Following is the list of winners:

      1.       Mr. Fresher: Mohit Jain (Event Management & PR July’13)

      2.       Miss. Fresher: Palak Bathla (Event Management & PR July’13)

     

      3.       Master Chef’ 2013:

a)      Winner - Fusion Chefs:

o   Ujjwal Asthana (International Hotel Management July’13)

o   Deepesh Songara (Infrastructure Management July’13)

o   Nupur Mangla (Event Management & PR July’13)

b)      Runner up – Scrumptious Treatz:

o   Shristi Dhandaria (Event Management & PR July’13)

o   Pranay Mudgal (International Hotel Management July’13)

o   Varun Anand (International Hotel Management July’13)

       4.       Kaleidoscope:

a)      Winner – Partha Halder (International Hotel Management July’13)

b)      Runner Up – Rohin Saini (Healthcare Administration July’13)

c)       Special Prize – Priyanka Kaperwan (Healthcare Administration July’13)

       5.       Ad Mad Show:

a)      Winner:

o Palak Bathla (Event Management & PR July’13)

o Rahul Mallik (Event Management & PR July’13)

o Shivangi Girotra (Event Management & PR July’13)

b)      Runner up:

o Shristi Dhandaria (Event Management & PR July’13)

o Jitanshu Gulati (Event Management & PR July’13)

o Nitin Narang (Event Management & PR July’13)

o Prachi Saklani (Event Management & PR July’13)

      6.       Hop to the Top: Winners

a)      Noodling Around: Dr. Ashish Wasan (Healthcare Administration July’13)

b)      Stack Attack: Shweta Bhatia (International Hotel Management July’13)

c)       Dizzy Mummy – Shivangi Girotra (Event Management & PR July’13) and Sanjana Mittal (Event Management & PR July’13)

d)      Off the Ground – Hemant Kumar (Healthcare Administration Jan’13)

e)      Tilt the Cup – Dr. Priyanka Kale (Healthcare Administration April’13)

f)       Stack’ em up – Jatin Sehgal (International Hotel Management July’13)

g)      Tea party – Prateek Bhati (Healthcare Administration April’13)

h)      Blow’ em away – Dharam Chand (International Hotel Management July’13)

i)        Gemsticks – Deepak Khatri (International Hotel Management July’13)

j)        Roll the dice – Ridhem Gupta (Event Management & PR July’13)

k)      It’s my Jigsaw – Toshi Srivastava (Healthcare Administration July’13) and Varun Anand (International Hotel Management July’13)

l)        Musical Chairs – Varun Henry (Healthcare Administration July’13)

Hotel Management Student: Industry Visit (July'13 Batch) - Radisson Blu, Gurgaon

INLEAD facilitated an Industry Visit for International Hotel Management, July’13 batch students to the Radisson Blu, Gurgaon, a first class business segment hotel on 22^nd July 2013.

Radisson Blu, Gurgaon is an all-suite hotel comprising of 35 suites in 4 different categories. The Deluxe suite priced at 17500/- per night is the most expensive room in the category. The hotel has all day dinning called the TCK which stands for The Creative Kitchen; it’s an 85 cover restaurant which has a buffet for all 3 meals and also houses a live kitchen for all the a’ la carte orders. The other F&B options that a guest can choose from are the “The Cake Shop”, which is thepastry shop and “The Creative Lounge”. The lounge features karaoke nights every Friday and has an extensive list of whiskeys and cocktails and also serves light bites.

This exposure helped the students in understanding the concept of corporate hotels and revenue management system. The visit also helped them in understanding the current market trends and industry expectations from young professionals.

According to Pranay Mudgal, International Hotel Management July’13: “It was a great experience visiting Radisson Blu, Gurgaon. The staff was very cooperative and looking forward to more industry visits.”

Corporate Expectations by Mr. Saurabh Kaushik, General Manager (HR), Kingdom of Dreams

INLEAD facilitated a workshop for July’13 batch students on Corporate Expectations. The workshop was delivered by Mr. Saurabh Kaushik, General Manager (HR), Kingdom of Dreams & Galaxy Hotel, Gurgaon.

The lecture started with an explanation of the definition of a Corporate. The students were made familiar with the fact that every candidate is different and unique. The emphasis was placed on “being yourself’. Also, discussion was on the fact that how success depends upon knowing our own expectations from ourselves.

Mr. Kaushik highlighted the concept of demand & supply in case of employment and the expectations of an employer. How the three aspects of corporate expectations affect what a corporate demands from the candidate. The aspects included Communication Skills and English Language playing a vital role in communicating with the current set of customers of the service industry.

Also, discussion was held on how professional skills like technical knowledge affect the chances of being hired. He also mentioned the core employability skills like Integrity, will to learn, teamwork and networking.

To conclude, the lecture gave a holistic overview of what the industry expects from a potential candidate exemplifying each element.

According to Ms Palak Bathla, Event Management & PR: “The session was good and interesting. It gave us a fresh outlook towards the expectations in the corporate world. Would like to have more of such sessions.”

According to Ms. Mansha Dua Healthcare Administration: “It was a very good experience. Even though Mr. Kaushik had immense knowledge, he did not get too technical. For someone who did not have prior work experience, it was not difficult to understand the session. I look forward to more of such sessions.”

Expert Session on Personal Transformation & Stress Management (Ms Ekta Chaudhary - Femina Miss India Universe, 2009)

INLEAD facilitated an Industry Expert Session on Personal Transformation and Stress Management for April 2013 Batch students on 5th July. The session was conducted by Ms. Ekta Chowdhury, Former Femina Miss India – Universe.

The session began with Ms. Chowdhury asking a simple question to the students, “What do you want in life?” Varied responses were received by the students as they stated that they would like to have power, money, fame, etc. The session then took a turn when Ms. Chowdhury threw light on the fact some of the desires that the students specified were the main reasons for stress.

Since the session was purely based on experience, she had the students take off their shoes and loosen their ties so as to create a relaxed environment. She had all the students lay on the floor so as to experience their breathing and be in touch with their mind and inner self.

Short discussions ensued regarding stress and its consequences. These discussions were always followed by a meditation session of ten minutes. During the meditation session, she stressed on the facts that one needs to be focused in order to gain mental peace and relaxation.

She discussed that one need not escape stress but instead should face the stressful situations. A very good point discussed by Ms. Chowdhury was to change one’s perception towards stress and she broke the myth that stress always has to be perceived in a negative approach. Instead, she stated the fact that stress can also be positive and this can help one perform better. Overall, the session was educative and different from the usual classes and sessions that the students have attended.

• According to Ms Tania Gupta International Hotel Management April’13: The session was very impressive. We learnt techniques which would relieve us from stress. The meditations and stress relieving activities that were conducted made me realize that it’s not very difficult to relax. Her way of talking and her voice modulation made the session very pleasing.  We would like to have more sessions like these.” 

• According to Mr. Shashwat Mishra International Hotel Management April’13: Ms. Chowdhury enlightened us with various techniques like meditation which are to be utilized for overcoming stress. The topics were better understood by the activities that were conducted wherein all the students were asked to channelize their energy and were to concentrate on their breathing. Look forward to more of these sessions

Event Management: Industry Visit - India International Leather Fair

INLEAD facilitated an Industry visit for Event Management & Public Relations April 2013 batch students to the India International Leather Fair, scheduled from 4th of July to 6th of July 2013.The exhibition took place at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi focusing on Leather Products, machineries and other allied industries related to leather production.

 It was an in-depth learning about organizing an exhibition. The students had an opportunity to witness diverse types of production platforms; new technology based lighting, audio & sound systems. It also facilitated their learning and understanding of the fabrication aspect in an exhibition. 

The students were told about how an exhibition is conceptualized and sold in a particular domain. They gained insight into setting up of the whole exhibition which involved Octonorm stalls, the size of different stalls, the lights used, etc. It was a good platform where the students got an overview of visual merchandising, kiosks, display through hoardings and sponsorship activities for an event. Students had an opportunity to clearly observe the exhibition starting from the registration counters to the exit check systems.

Overall, it was an over-whelming experience. The combination of a corporate event & an exhibition, equipped the students with knowledge of the 3D environment, stand designs, exhibition displays based on ‘design and build’, creativity, innovation, fabrication, carpeting, hanger designing, branding, lights, signage, floor plan designing, exhibition badges etc.

• According to Mr. Parshant Garg (Event Management & Public Relations, July 12): It helped in understanding the various aspects of fabrication and execution of exhibitions.
• According to Ms 
  

  Sona Sharma (Event Management, Jan 13): We learned about ITPO and the concept of Exhibition commercially.