2009

[XLRI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND HUMAN RESOURCES]

ABOUT XLRI
XLRI was founded in 1949 by Fr Quinn Enright, S.J. in the Steel City of Jamshedpur. Fr. Enright visualized XLRI to be a partner in the liberation and development journey of the independent India with a vision of "renewing the face of the earth". Fr. Bill Tome joined hands with him to bring that vision to fruition. Both, together with the other Jesuit companions, worked tirelessly towards translating the Vision "Renewing the face of the earth" into action. Over many years XLRI has developed its own identity. The hall mark of this identity is, not to walk on the beaten path but to strike new routes; not to benchmark but to be benchmarked, to be second to none but to be the first to respond to the needs of the people and the nation, by taking up the tasks which are bold but necessary which nobody has hitherto taken up.This enterprising and pioneering spirit can be witnessed throughout the history of XLRI. Xavier Labour Relations Institute, widely known as XLRI was born out of the vision of a Jesuit Priest, father Quinn Enright. It was founded in 1949 in the Steel city of Jamshedpur, Bihar. Since then the Jamshedpur Jesuit Society has nurtured the growth of XLRI in keeping with its commitment to "Magis" (excellence in everything). Over the last few decades, XLRI Jamshedpur has contributed its best to the professional growth and management of innumerable institutions that's serve the public especially organized industry, labour, service agencies engaged in rural development, education, health and other public systems. Besides the focus on developing managerial competence among the pupils through acquisition of specialized knowledge and skills, the Institute emphasizes the importance of developing a sense of social justice with right attitudes and values of discipline, dedication and commitment among all its members.
Over the years, XLRI has developed its own unique culture. "XL is thy name"! The culture of XLRI is such that it accelerates the members passion for achieving excellence in everything they do. While informality, flexibility, humaneness, and espirit de corps are the hallmarks, growth and development of the whole person with integrity and ingenuity are the 'summum bonum' of the culture in XLRI.

LIST OF PROGRAMMES OFFERED AT XLRI

Name of the Programme Duration Batch Year of (In months) Strength commencement 24 24 48 12 36 36 48 14 14 14 14 14 12 6 120 120 10 100 60 30 150 120 100 100 100 60 60 1953 1968 1988 2000 2000 2001 2006 2002 2003 2005 2007 2007 2006 2007

Full Time
PM&IR BM FPM GMP

Executive Education
Exec-PGP (XLRI) Exec-PGP (Dubai) Exec-FPM PGCBM PGCHRM PGCLSCM PGCRM PGCSMM

Distance Programmes (Certificate courses)

Others
PGDBM (Singapore) EMP for Defence (Cert. Course) Officers

COMMITIES AT XLRI
ASSOCIATION AT XLRI FOR INDUSTRIAL AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (AXIOM): About the Committee
Based in Jamshedpur, a city famed for its industrial prowess, it is but natural for XLRI to have a committee which aims to extend and integrate knowledge that contributes to the improved understanding and practice of production and operations management. AXIOM (Association at XLRI for Industrial and Operations Management) started in 2004 and aims to accomplish its mission through guest lectures, competitions, live projects and plant tours. It has already taken giant strides in aiding the corporate branding of XLRI through its ambitious ongoing ISO certification program which will make XLRI the first business school in India to be certified under ISO. In the process of developing synergy between the operations focus group in XLRI and the industrial belt of Jamshedpur, Axiom conducted guest lectures under the name of CEO forum by inviting the Managing Director of Cummins India Ltd, Mr Anant Talaulicar and also Chairman of Mumbai Dabbawallas, Mr. Raghunath Medge.

Events & Activities

Marching ahead into 2009-2010, Axiom plans to start the academic year by inaugurating the Carbon neutral business school concept which will again make XLRI, the first business school to move in this direction. In addition to this, Axiom is also planning to organize a Supply Chain Management Workshop in collaboration with Socrates, the Systems committee of XLRI. With the globalization of markets, firms are recognizing that the operations function can be used to strengthen their position in the market place. FMCG giants swear by supply chain management and Production powerhouses are increasingly adopting TQM and Six Sigma Methodologies. In this scenario, AXIOM considers its mission to ensure that the students at XLRI are well-versed with the latest developments in the field of Operations, with the aid of faculty. The long term goal and vision of AXIOM is to make XLRI the focal point of students, academia and industry for all matters in the field of Operations and Productions Management. Event Description: 1. Carbon Neutral B-School: Axiom is preparing a roadmap to make XLRI, the first b-school in India to GO GREEN and to have started putting in efforts to make itself CARBON NEUTRAL. We will be having a press conference this month end declaring same, followed by the execution of steps of going carbon neutral (awareness building, carbon footprint base lining, carbon offsetting etc). We are also working out the small scale proposals for using

Solar energy for electricity Using CFL, everywhere on campus. Bio-methanisation plant within campus (using the solid waste generated in mess).

2. SCM Workshop: Axiom is planning to organise a Supply Chain Management Workshop, in collaboration with Socrates, the Systems Committee of XLRI. We will be calling companies like Compaq, HP etc to organise this workshop and showcase their supply chain management practices. 3. ISO certification: Axiom is already in the process of achieving ISO certification for XLRI. As per the plan, this certification shall be accomplished by September end. Then, Axiom will declare XLRI as ISO certified which will make XLRI, the 1st b-school in India to be ISO certified. 4. Ensemble 2009: Axiom is planning to organise Haphaestus, a supply chain and production management simulation game during Ensemble 2009. The targeted participation this time is Top20 B-Schools in India. The scale of the event is also planned at 1,00,000 Rs.

THE COMMITTEE FOR RESEARCH, STRATEGY, CONSULTING & ENTREPRENEURSHIP About the Committee
The Committee for Research, Strategy, Consulting & Entrepreneurship (CRESCENT) is the result of the endeavor of the student community of XLRI to promote an environment of creative solution building amongst the students of the institute, while reaffirming high ethical standards and values, and fostering personal development in the pursuit of excellence. Formed two years ago to create a focused unit, it aims to provide a forum for continual interaction of students, academicians and the corporate world to share ideas and initiate activities in these areas. CRESCENT also aims to bridge the gaps between various stakeholders in order to create a win-win situation for the industry as well as the students. The committee has adopted a two-pronged strategy of kindle-and-sustain to meet its objective. Briefly put, it seeks to raise interest levels of its stakeholders in the various fields it covers through several new initiatives. This is followed up by activities that facilitate the sustenance of the interest level.

Events & Activities

The Committees activities straddle the entire spectrum of its fields of operation. As the students annex to the Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) of XLRI, CRESCENT

envisages itself as a forum for continual interaction of the corporate world with the student community for effective conceptualization of business ideas. It makes a conscious effort to give the students the much needed impetus to go ahead with their business idea and help them with the implementation through effective utilization of the resources of the EDC. As part of Ensemble '08, XLRI's flagship annual management festival, CRESCENT conducted Samarpan, a social B-plan competition, conceptualized as a platform for participants to amalgamate their analytical skills and the urge to develop a sustainable plan that would reach out to the masses. CRESCENT along with Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance (SIGMA) also launched the Initiative for Social and Entrepreneurial Leadership (ISEL) as part of the summer internship placement process of students, to provide opportunities to a number of students in the batch who showed interest in working with social ventures and start-ups. Some of the other activities of CRESCENT in the last year included:
B-Plan competition in association with HCL CRESCENTalk, the guest lecture series - How to prepare a B-Plan by Prof. Debabrata Sen, Consulting Professor, Strategic Management, XLRI & The nuclear deal with the United States & its implications on India by Rear Admiral Rakesh Chopra, Professor, Strategic Management, XLRI. CREST, the monthly magazine containing the latest happenings in Consulting, Research, Strategy and Entrepreneurship and also some of the best articles in these fields was launched. CREST also contains the latest ventures of XLers, research work of the faculty and other developments in XLRI in the above mentioned areas. The pre-Summer Internship workshop for first-year students, SIP-SHOP Live project in association with Gravitus, a Learning and Knowledge technology solutions provider based in Sydney, Australia.

Events planned for/conducted this term: Launch of C3 - Crescent Consulting Club: a CRESCENT initiative to develop and increase the
understanding of consulting profession and equip students with all the skills and resources necessary to be successful in consulting industry. Activities to include Weekly Hurdles, Speaker Series, Company Breakouts, Case Workshops, Industry Breakouts and creation of Knowledge repository. Session on Life as a Consultant by Mr. Joe Simon, CIO Viacom International (New York) and former Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton. Research Project with a Venture Capital firm based out of Bangalore Workshop on Successful Business Plans: an interactive workshop that educates the students about the nuances of a successful B-plan with real-life examples. Release of June, July & August editions of Crest, the monthly magazine from Crescent The Crescent Entrepreneurship Blog: Launch of a blog that would track Indian Startups, contain guest posts by faculty and entrepreneurs, and other startup news.

Strategy based game simulating a real-life business situation

FINAX (THE FINANCE ASSOCIATION AT XLRI) About the Committee

FINAX promotes finance related activities and careers for the students of XLRI in collaboration with the leading names in the industry. It is one of the oldest committees at XLRI and caters to students having wide variety of finance related interests.
Vision: To establish XLRI as a leading national B-school in the finance specialization by

enriching the finance knowledge of students, strengthening their involvement in finance discipline, and increased collaboration with academia and industry
Mission: To carry out finance-related activities at XLRI by conducting on-campus programs

through collaboration with the industry and other leading B schools. FINAX aims to be a successful liaison between students and industry. We seek to facilitate student activities like guest lectures, workshops, Speaker forums, research and live consultancy projects etc which will prepare students to match expectations of real world and help them in grooming as competent finance professional.

Events & Activities

FinVirtua: A multi-stage simulation game which would enable the participants to

experience the thrills of the world of finance like stocks, derivatives, IPOs, currency trading, M&As etc, through dynamic models built in-house. This would be a part of Ensemble 2009.
FInsight: FINAX journal which will shed insights on contemporary finance issues challenging the world. Articles will be invited from leading industry practitioners and distinguished academicians. There will be active contributions from students also. Workshops: These would be conducted by industry practitioners. The tentative list

is as follows: S.No. Conducted By 1 ICICI Prudential 2 MCX Topic Asset Management in Insurance Industry Commodity Derivatives and Bond Markets Application of the inputs Workshop would be followed by a simulation game on portfolio allocation sponsored by ICICI prudential Workshop would be followed by a bond trading game conducted on MCXs proprietary software

3 4

CCIL Investment Consultant

Currency Derivatives Technical Analysis

Workshop would be followed by a simulation game on designing customized derivatives A game on technical analysis on real market data would be conducted later.

Speaker Forums: Conducted by the eminent industry practitioners and

academicians to shed insights on the burning issues in the world of finance. These would be a part of Ensemble 2009.
Career Fairs: To help students make informed career decisions by making them

aware of the various job profiles and the requirements of different roles in the world of finance. An attempt would be made to bring the speakers for a panel discussion. At the sessions on career prospects would be conducted as and when industry practitioners come on campus for workshops or other events
NCFM: NSEs Certification on Financial Markets would be conducted on-campus for

XLRI students
Finance Consultancy Projects: These would be conducted in collaboration with

leading names in the industry by pooling in contacts through Placement Committee and faculty members to give the students opportunities to apply the concepts learnt in the classroom to real life situations
Online Competitions: Students from the best B-schools would participate in trading

games and online case competitions

FORUM FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI (FIRE@X) About the Committee

XLRI has been the pioneer in the field of Personnel Management and Industrial Relations since its inception in 1949 and has produced some of the finest managers in the industry today. Often hailed as Asias best Business-School for HR, XLRI has been a major catalyst in keeping discussions on IR issues alive and in promoting synergy between the various stakeholders in the field. The Forum for Industrial Relations at XLRI (FIRE@X) has always strived to promote awareness and enthusiasm for the field of Industrial Relations and Labour Law.

The aim of Fire@x as a committee is to bring about a greater level of interaction between students and the industry and to create awareness and passion about the field of Industrial Relations and Labour Law. The committee plays a very important role in exposing students to the world of Industrial relations, a field that is much less known and talked about by most professionals.

Events & Activities

The Forum for Industrial Relations at XLRI is the hub of all IR related activities in XLRI campus. Fire@x serves as a platform for sharing ideas and discussing key aspects of Employee Relations/ Industrial Relations. Objective: To bring about a greater level of interaction between students, faculty and the industry and to create awareness and passion about the field of Employee/Industrial Relations and Labour Law. We attempt to do this by organizing and encouraging student participation in projects pertaining to managing industrial relations including Case study competitions in IR Collective Bargaining Role plays & Simulation exercises Industry Interface Lecture Series linked with Competitions: To provide a platform for various stakeholders of Industrial Relations to discuss pressing issues and trends in this field today and to encourage critical thinking. Live Projects (Example: Designing Training and Induction for workers / sales force): On-sit live projects or other long term/short term projects relevant to the organization. These facilitate seamless transition from theory to practice and enable application of concepts in an industrial setting. It benefits both corporate and students. National IR conference: - The only mega scale conference in India dedicated to IR. It is a platform to bring together some of the most important, influential and knowledgeable

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMME (ISEP) About the Committee

The International student Exchange program (ISEP) Committee was started in 2005, with signing of the first MOU, to facilitate the Student Exchange process at XLRI. Since then we have come a long way ISEP witnessed new milestones this year with efforts of committee members bearing fruit. ISEP initiated the process of its own branding by launching its new logo and punch line. ISEP also had the first in terms of launching its international newsletter titled communiqu; this provided a window of international marketing to XLRI and relationship management with international partners.

Events & Activities

ISEP launched a Buddy program this year, which was really appreciated by exchange students and helped them facilitate their smooth integration in the culture of XLRI. The exchange students were enthused at ISEP dinner organized by the director of XLRI for exchange students. XLRI is now able to attract foreign students in big numbers from France, Germany, Sweden, US etc. Further, this year ISEP succeeded in signing MOUs with Munster University, Germany and Darden University, USA. Prof. Manfred Krafft from Munster personally addressed students of XLRI and also gave them a lecture on customers as a source of innovation. Munster University is also offering scholarships to exchange students from XLRI Jamshedpur. ISEP Committee members also innovated concept of mailed presentations to XLRI students, in order to increase participation by students in ISEP program. This was well appreciated by students and has led to increased participation by students in exchange program. A total of 28 students would be going abroad in the Sept-Dec term from XLRI, while there would be 21 incoming students from various leading universities across the globe. ISEP is contributing significantly towards making XLRI a truly International business School.

THE MARKETING ASSOCIATION OF XLRI (MAXI) About the Committee

The Marketing Association of XLRI or MAXI as it is more popularly known carries out oncampus student activities in the marketing domain. In its thirty years of existence, MAXI has always strived to create an engaging out-of-the-classroom environment where students can absorb the finer aspects of sales and marketing and interact with industry to create a wholesome learning experience for the students.

Events & Activities

MAXI FAIR: Started in 1979, MAXI Fair is an indigenous product of XLRIs marketing department. MAXI Fair is an innovative student-led market research activity which seeks to solve real-life marketing problems. Over the years, MAXI Fair has seen participation from companies such as Nestle, Hindustan Lever and the Aditya Birla Group. Last years edition of MAXI Fair was held in the month of January and saw footfalls of over 3000 people in a single day. CONCEPT2CREATIVE (C2C): Concept 2 Creative (C2C) is MAXIs flagship event at Ensemble, XLRIs annual management fest. C2C was conceptualised as a platform to test the acumen of business school students to apply the concepts learnt in class throughout the entire marketing value chain. Last years edition saw teams from B-schools like IIM-A, MDI and SP Jain coming down to campus and battling for the cash prize of Rs. 50,000. PERSPECTIVES: Perspectives is MAXIs student-industry interface initiative. This initiative, conceived as a series of guest lectures, is intended to be a formal forum for students to interact with thought leaders from the industry. Perspectives has seen middle and top level managers from companies like Airtel and Johnson & Johnson coming down to our campus and having enriching, interactive sessions with our students. MARKETING ENTHUSIASTS CLUB (MEC): Started in 2006, the Marketing Enthusiasts Club (MEC) is an initiative by MAXI to promote thought leadership within the campus. Conceptualised as a testing ground for path-breaking ideas, MEC seeks to bring students with a passion for Marketing together. Throughout the last year, the MEC took part in panel discussions in numerous new-age and pertinent issues in the field of marketing. MARKETING ADVENTURES: Marketing Adventures was a hugely popular intra-campus marketing event held in the month of August 2008. The event saw participation from over 200 students. While in the first round the participants were quizzed on their knowledge of marketing trivia, the final round saw the qualifying teams attempting to crack open an innovative marketing case study and staking their claim for the total prize money of Rs. 10,000. MARQUEST: Marquest is MAXIs fortnightly newsletter which is circulated within the students and Faculty of XLRI. The newsletter attempts at capturing recent events in the field of marketing in the weeks gone by and serving that with new thoughts and concepts from the field of sales and marketing. BLOCKBUSTER: MAXI in association with the Dramatics and Cultural Association of XLRI plans to organise a one-of-a-kind Movie Distribution and Marketing simulation event in the second half of this year. The event will see participating teams making 15 minute movies and showcasing them in a multiplex that would be setup within the campus. All elements of a real-world movie distribution value chain would be simulated. We are looking at an investment of Rs 35000 from our principal partner. We want companies such as Walt Disney India, Time Warner India and UTV to associate with this event.

S&D WORKSHOP: MAXI also plans on inviting FMCG companies down to campus and discuss the nuances of their sales and distribution models. We have conceptualized this as a two day workshop which could comprise of a mixture of guest lectures and a S&D simulation game that is being developed indigenously by MAXI. For the workshop, we are targeting FMCG stalwarts like HUL, P&G, Nokia, ITC and Colgate Palmolive. AD WORKSHOP: We plan on organizing a 2 day Ad workshop during Ensemble which would see guest lectures and sessions from advertising agencies such as O&M, McCann Ericsson and JWT. This workshop would be coupled with an Ad making competition which would be made open to the students of XLRI. We are looking at atleast 3 guest speakers from these companies and a cash investment of Rs. 20,000.

SOCIAL INITIATIVE GROUP FOR MANAGERIAL ASSISTANCE (SIGMA) About the Committee
Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance (SIGMA) is a student body at XLRI that creates a platform to network with NGOs, Corporate Governance or CSR cells & Government Departments for the purpose of community capacity building. SIGMA is the student consulting body in the field of social work. The main aim of this student body is to help NGOs formulate effective fund-raising strategies, develop new programs, curtail expenses and perform better. In essence, we work together for a better tomorrow.

Events & Activities

Social Entrepreneurship Conference: The1st National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship was held in XLRI, Jamshedpur from 31 Jan to 1 Feb 2009 celebrating the Diamond Jubilee Year for XLRI. The theme for the Conference was Providing Access for Sustainable Development and embodied 6 different themes for panel discussions Access to Credit, Health & Hygiene, Education, Sustainable Livelihood, Resources and Market. The event was a confluence of some of the biggest names in the social sector and witnessed more than 150 participants from Corporates, NGOs, Social enterprises and academicians. ISEL- Initiative for Social and Entrepreneurial Leadership: XLRI started a unique initiative as part of its summer internship placement process- ISEL. The program helps interested students intern with social organizations and start-ups for their summer projects. XLRI has ever been famous for its social values, and its students have always been interested in working in the social sector. Thus, the start of ISEL this year was a response to a need that has long been felt on campus. The program is envisaged as an

integral part of the summer placement process from this year onwards. Among the organizations that showed an interest or actually participated in the program were such eminent names from the social sector as CRY, Azim Premji Foundation, WWF, UNICEF, UNDP, BASIX Group, SKS Microfinance, IFMR etc. XLRI GOONJ Clothes Bank: The clothes bank was inaugurated on 5th August 2008 by Mr. Anshu Gupta Founder Director of Goonj. SIGMA collects, processes the clothes and then passes it to people who need it through the help of NGOs. The XLRI-Goonj Clothes Bank started the clothes distribution on August 15th through tie-up with 2 NGOs - SEEDS & NEEV. XLRI Clothes Bank also made a contribution to the Bihar Flood Relief. Project School: Project School is a unique and first-of-its kind initiative by SIGMA, wherein the student community of XLRI offers its services to the education sector. It started in Loyola Project School with a group of 20 enthusiastic volunteers. The volunteers, who are split across various classes from 1st to 10th, assist the existing faculty in helping the students, who come from an underprivileged background, understand various subjects better by personally going up to them handling individual doubts. Basic Computer Literacy Program: This 15 module Computer Literacy Programme was started in 2007 as an outcome of our Village Exposure Programme. This initiative was a result of the desire to fulfil the needs expressed by the youth to have a basic computer literacy programme organized for them. This was a collaborative effort with Loyola Project School and SIGMA. The project has now become an annual event at XLRI. The students of XLRI conduct weekly computer classes for a group of 25 students from Loyola Project School of class 8 to 10. Ashoka - Consulting for Social Change: SIGMA is representing XLRI as the first Indian University Ambassador for Ashoka Foundation. Consulting for Social Change is a live consulting project in collaboration with Ashoka Foundation. As part of the university ambassador program, XLRI students would act as consultants, who would guide and provide management insights to help the social entrepreneurs who submit entries to the various competitions held. Rapid Social Internship: SIGMA organised a social internship program with Byrraju foundation for students of XLRI. The scope of internship was the analysis of some of Byrraju Foundations current projects and provides insights and suggestions on how the projects can be improved.

B School Competitions: Ashraya: As part of Ensemble 08, SIGMA organised Ashraya - The Live Social Enterprise Consulting Contest. ASHRAYA, provided a platform for students to utilize their managerial skills to help Usha Martin Group's CSR Arm, Krishi Gram Vikas Kendra to put their funds to right use. Parivartan: XLRI has the unique rural village exposure program for the first year students. Parivartan was launched to help them identify key problems faced by rural people and by NGOs working in those areas, come up with practical solutions to these problems and implement these solutions through sustained collaboration with NGOs. The students of XLRI have devised more than 25 different business plans for the development of the villages. Shilp Mela: NGOs like Socio-Economic and Education Development Society (SEEDS), NEEV and START were given an opportunity to market their products to the residents of Jamshedpur and thereby gain insights into actual market dynamics. This year social market research was also done for Byrraju Foundation and UNICEF. Social Activist Visits: During the past one year, we had prominent personalities like Anshu Gupta, Founder Goonj, Pradeep Ghosh, Founder OASIS, and Aparna Banerjee, Founder - Project Sukanya to visit XLRI and inspire students to work for the cause of the society in whatever capacity they can. Blood Donation Drive: Two successful blood donation camps in support of cancer patients were organized with Jamshedpur Blood Bank on July 31st, 2008 and January 25th 2009. A total of 170 units of blood were collected.

XLRI ADVENTURE AND NATURE CLUB [XLANC] About the Committee

XLRI Adventure and Nature Club [XLANC], is one of the most vibrant and popular committees on campus and is actively involved in conducting adventure programs for students of XLRI throughout the year. At XLANC, we strive to encourage XLers to realize a unique harmony not only with the outer environment but also with their inner-self. We conduct activities that help XLers develop sensitivity towards the nature and the environment. To unleash the love for nature among XLers and to bring out various out-door leadership and team building skills essential for all b-school students, a major endeavor of XLANC is the organizing of adventure sports activities.

Over the last two years, it has successfully executed events like trekking, white water rafting, water surfing, rock climbing, paragliding, parasailing, kayaking and jungle camping for students of XLRI and for the international exchange program students as well. All of XLANCs activities involve the XL family, giving XLers a chance to discover their inner self, and emerge as complete managers of tomorrow. Our Mission

To promote amongst XLers the spirit of adventure and desire to interact with nature, thus helping them realize a unique harmony not only with the outer environment but also with their inner-self. To develop sensitivity towards the nature and the environment in the minds of the future managers and leaders.

Our Vision XLANC envisions acting as a driver of change, in the mindset of individuals, organizations and the community, towards the environment and the issues relating to it. We seek to inculcate the spirit of adventure and sensitivity towards nature in fellow XLers.

Events & Activities

Dalma Trek: The Dalma Hills are located about 10-12 kms from XLRI campus. These hills lie towards the north of the Subarnarekha River, stretching from east to west by about 16 km. These small hills are part of the Dalma Forest reserve spread over 195 sq km, famous for its Asiatic elephants. In the vicinity lies Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, where one can find elephants, barking deer, sloth bears, porcupines, leopards and tigers. Tata Steel and the Jharkhand Forest Department maintain two guest houses atop the hills. Moreover, slopes of Dalma offer excellent trekking opportunities. The Dalma Hills are very nearby XL campus and offer a variety of things For nature lovers In the rainy season clouds are there near the top which make it a very beautiful trek. For adventurers The trek starts with crossing a wide water stream with various tricky trails before reaching the peak Parasailing: Parasailing was arranged for the junior students in winters at the Sonari Airfield. TSAF provided the facilities and support.

Term Break Trip : Sundarbans: The trip was arranged during the term 5-term 6 break for the senior students. Quest Adventura: Quest Adventura is the only event across b-schools to be conducted on Land, Water & Air. Quest Adventura is designed to bring out the leader in you, to take bold & wise decisions in the face of extremities, to exploit your teams capabilities, to outmaneuver competitors & to ensure that your team takes the coveted prize. It is based on the philosophy that physical challenges & uncharted territories unmask people & reveal their true potential as a team person & a leader. The game challenges your Brain, that you have always prided upon; your Brawn, that you have painstakingly built; your Team Spirit, that you always brag about & above all the Leader that you have always dreamt to be. Quest Adventura is a high adrenaline game that tests participants on a variety of parameters including general awareness, analytical skills, endurance, team spirit, strategy building & above all the ability to keep your cool under the storm. Jungle Camp for exchange students: The camp was arranged at the Simlipal forest for the exchange students in October. Nature photography, Bird Watching

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC AMONG YOUTH (SPICMACAY) About the Committee
SPICMACAY or the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music among Youth was formed in 1972 at a concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. After a few sporadic concerts (notable amongst them was that of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) at Columbia University, New York, under the aegis of the India Club of Columbia University during the period 1972-76, the idea took a more defined direction in 1977 in India. However in 1979, a two-day program at IIT Delhi the name SPICMACAY was first introduced. SPICMACAY at XLRI is a relatively new chapter. It was started in 2004 to bring knowledge and create sensitivity to different Indian cultures. Its concerts by renowned exponents of Indian classical music have always elicited tremendous response both from the student community as well as the faculty members.

Events & Activities

Performances by stalwarts of Indian classical music. Typically, these are 3-4 hour long programs held at the auditorium during the evenings.

Street Theatre: (Nukkad Natak) Here, a Street Theatre is planned in collaboration with Dracula (Dramatic and Cultural Association of XLRI). Also, an Eastern Musical Night is on the anvil. XL Utsav. This can be termed as the flagship event of the committee. This is an event spanning one and half days. Over this time period a number of cultural, sports and fun events take place where the students, faculty & their families come together in true XL style of camaraderie and bonhomie.

XLRI EVENT CALENDAR 2009-2010

August 8th HR Game Septem ber 19th Worksh op by CCIL October 2nd-4th XL-IIM LIK Sports meet Novemb December er 13th15th ENSEMB LE09 Academy of Manageme nt Conferenc e Silver Jubilee Reunion January 9th-10th Workshop for teachers in underprivilege d Schools 14th Consult Conundrum/X hume 2 launch 15th-16th Panel discussion on consulting Febru March ary 6th Youn gTurks Talk series Convocati on ceremon y

9th KSHITIJ

22nd SCM worksh op

3rd NITS

15th XLDream Run09

Summer Alumni Meets

12th SHRM Student Chapter

26th27th HR Fest

15th BLOCK Technical BUSTER analysis workshopMr Hitesh Eidnani CEO Trend Tech consultant s 17th ISO press meet & Carbon neutral announce ment

15th Simulatio n on operation s Manage ment 17th National Finance Conferen ce

28th Worksh op by MCX

HR confere nce

16th-18th Inter B-school Finance festival

31st National IR conferen ce

JRD Oration

16th-17th MAXI fair (MAXI)

BLOCK BUSTER

HR ALUMNI workshop Homeco ming Sales & Distributi on Simulatio n (MAXI)

14th Consult Conundrum MAXI FAIR Launch of XLRI marketing (MAXI)

XLRI A TRULY DIFFERENT B-SCHOOL

Having read the Mintzberg's and Pfeffer's critique of current MBA programs, I would broadly agree with them. There is indeed a need for greater 'reality' content in the MBA courses. I would, however, make a qualification about their (specially Mintzberg's) recommendation that we need to take in only people with work-experience. However, I think we also need to factor in the local market conditions for the B-school graduates. In India, most companies still prefer to recruit freshers. I think, though am not sure, this is also because they would like to "induct" the fresh-graduates into their own culture and practices. Though, in last few years, there is an increasing trend to look for people with work-ex, even now a work-ex with more than 2-3 years is actually a handicap in the campus recruitment. In fact, it is to take care of the recruitment of people with more work-ex, that b-schools have now created a new category of "lateral placement" in their recruitment programs... but as you will notice, this is a different market segment altogether. The same is also true for the post-experience executive MBA programs... while this is a growing market, but it is a different market - it is not replacing the existing b-school offerings... .... I mean, one may intellectually agree with Mintzberg and others (I do), but it is the job market which will finally decide for the B-schools about the profile of students they will admit, and what kind of people they will offer for placement with the companies. There is a renewed focus on softer skills, and learning beyond the classroom. In context of XLRI, however, I must mention that this focus was always there in our system (in fact, this perhaps is our USP). And this is not just because of our PMIR/HR course (we have a larger batch size in the regular BM course), but because of many factors, which range from XL culture to courses we teach to the pedagogy itself. About 10 years back - much before the issue of softer skills in B-school grads surfaced - , the October19-Nov1, 1994 issue of Business World had carried out a survey with Marg on India's Best Business Schools. To my knowledge, this is the only survey so far, which not only looked at which institutes are good, but also what they are good at. The results were interesting - in the overall rankings, XL was placed 4th after IIM A, C & B respectively. - These rankings were same on attributes such as "Analytical Ability", "Quality of Education", "Problem Solving Abilities", "Independent Working" "Specialist Skills", etc... - However, XL graduates were ranked highest on attributes such as "Ability to Work as a Team", "Interpersonal Relations" "Adaptability to Organisation", etc. Some of the reasons, I can think of for this in XL are:

THE COURSEWORK In the coursework at XLRI, there has always been a reasonably significant input on developing soft skills. Most of the courses in Organisation Behaviour, require the students not just to know the theory but also to experience them by practicing and reflecting. For instance, besides the core courses on Individual Behaviour and Group Dynamics, we have always had regular elective courses, such as "Managerial Counselling", "Neuro-Linguistic Programming", "Emotional Intelligence & Managerial Effectiveness", "Personal Effectiveness Lab", "Management of Creativity" "Stress Management", "Management of Relationships", "Public Speaking", "Managerial Communication", etc. and these are open to both PMIR as well as the BM students, and well subscribed. Similarly, re the 'global curriculum', even as long back as in 1993 or so, XL had introduced courses such as "Global Manager", "Competition and Globalisation", "International Management", etc. Since 1995 or so, we had added courses on "International Business Economics", "International Financial Management" , etc. About five years back, we had added another course on "Cross Cultural Management" , which I take. In this course, besides the class inputs, and inviting practitioners, we also have a yahoogroup, in which along with the students, more than 150 of our foreign-based alumni are also members. Many useful discussions and learnings take place in this virtual space... THE PEDAGOGY Besides what is covered in the courses, even the pedagogy requires students to interact, work in groups, go out and try out things in real world, etc. These, as you will notice, are not one or two isolated items but the overall experience of learning at XL (or as I would like to put it: soft skills are not a kind of "dietary supplements" in XL course pedagogy, they constitute the overall spread of the THALI, which provides the nourishment;0) Just to give some salient examples: - ALL 42 courses, which they cover during the two years, have a group-project component. Moreover these groups may not be same across the courses and terms. So one can imagine that a student may be member of as many as 7 different groups in one single term, and will have to learn to deal with people different than him/her in viewpoints and temperament. Moreover, the group tasks may be as varied as preparing a presentation, doing a case analysis, doing a real-life project (see below).

- A course on "Leadership and influence Process", which deals with issues of Empowering people, would require the students to work in different groups, go out into the society, identify a group which is not empowered (e.g., kids in an orphanage, women prisoners in the local jail, people in outskirt slums, etc.), and then plan out an intervention which will help empowering them.... My experience is that this is a very significant learing experience for our students; they not only do this as a course project, but their involvement with these community continues beyond hte course - and is often handed down to the junior batches, as they pass out. - A class on Group Dynamics, may start with the faculty throwing a random but controversial topic for discussion, and let the discussion progress. Towards the end of the class, he would debrief the participants by asking them to reflect and share what "roles" they took up during the discussion, what helped or hindered at arriving at agreements, how they found the conflicts were being handled by different people, and so on... - Many courses require the students to keep a daily personal journal - or to write a "personal learning paper", in which they jot down their own personal learning from the course - what they learned about themselves and their styles, and how they deal with situations. - In some OB courses, the faculty also take the class on an outbound trekking to the nearby Dalma Hills - and then use that experience as a part of learning. - In all the OB core courses (which are mandatory for all students), there is a significant content of instumented feedback about one's styles, personality, etc. Thus, all students undergo tests like, FIRO-B, MBTI, Learning Styles, etc... and more importantly, use these feedbacks in their projects and learning papers. - "Marketing Fair" is a 25 year old XL innovation - and is also a graded course. In this course/ activity, students design games/activities on real-life marketing problems given to them by companies to collect marketing-related data. It is organised as a one-day fair, with stalls, in which public enjoys playing games, but also provides market-survey data as they make choices in playing those games (this year's Marketing Fair is on Jan 2nd)... the designing of the whole affair - and it is a huge thing (in one single day, as many as 5-7 thousand people visit the fair) - is done entirely by the students who work in small groups managing things like designing the games to the nitty-grittys like logistics, crowd management, etc. They even have to approach the companies ot give them the liveproblems. [for past 3 years, I have been doing a small survey with XL students about what is their "tacit learning" in XL. I am enclosing the results in ppt format - slide 8 gives a compilation of results from 212 responses across 3 batches (earlier this year, I had also collected data from about 300 of our alumni from batches of 80s and early 90s, on the same fomat interestingly, the pattern was same... unfortunately, lsat month when my previous laptop crashed, I lost that data:((

THE CULTURE AND LIFE-STYLE I think the XL culture and the life-style in Jamshedpur and XLRI also contributes much to their learning soft skills (or at least the value of these skills). As a culture, XL is a pretty informal place, with easy accessibilty to people. It is also a small community... it is normal for students to drop in at faculty or staff homes for a chit-chat.. and definitely during festival times (Holi, Diwali, Christmas, etc) And there are also conscious interventions to preserve this informal community feeling. For instance, this year, when we realised that with the increase in the batch-size, we are losing it, we organised a 2 day "XL-Utsav" - an informal event comprising of games, music, food, cultural items, etc., in which all - the students, the faculty and staff with their families participated....

I think this cultural ambience also contributes much to developing a more humane and sensitive approach to people issues. By Prof. Madhukar Shukla