| “A
Vision sets direction for Thinking and Action”
- Edward De Bono
It has been a great privilege to assume
the responsibility as the Executive Director
of a premier management institution in the
country - Madras Management Association.
After a long stint, spanning almost three
decades with the Indian Air Force, this
assignment is a welcome change in my career.
Coming from a much regimented background,
at the Air force, I envision that the current
scenario would be a flexible & creative
spring board to launch High Value Strategies
& Practical Concepts in the field of
management.
My predecessor [Major S Lakshmanan] has
done an excellent job in MMA, and worked
very hard to elevate the stature of the
organization by achieving Best LMA Award
for the last five years consecutively, which
is a commendable job.
Now it is a big challenge before me, not
only to sustain the achievements but also
to exceed and excel by firing all the boosters
to take MMA to the next Orbit!
Mr. S Gopal has assumed the Office of the
President of MMA for the year 2007-2008.
The new Managing Committee consisting of
experienced members & new entrants with
vast corporate background would immensely
contribute to take MMA to greater heights.
The plan of action is already on as it could
be seen from the variety of programmes launched
during the month of July 2007.
The month of July commenced with a lecture
by Mr. Subroto Bagchi. It was a grand success
and received excellent feedback from our
members. Many more such talks are planned.
On 4th & 5th of July, a Workshop on
“Managing the Contract Labour”
and on 6th & 7th of July, a Workshop
on “What Every Manager Should Know
of Employment Laws” in collaboration
with AIMA was organised. The response to
these programmes was very good.
We also had the privilege of hosting a high
profile programme on “Creating Global
Mindset” by Prof Jagdish Sheth of
Emory University on 21st July 2007. The
grand finale for the month of July were
two major AIMA events jointly organised
in collaboration with MMA – A National
Summit on “Emerging Trends in Compensation
& Benefits: Design to Delivery”
at Hotel Le Royal Meridien. It was held
on 27th & 28th July 2007 and”
attended by a record number of 140 delegates
– On the same dates, Southern Regional
Round of AIMA 33rd National Competition
for Young Managers on the theme “Seventy
Million Employable Indians: Strategies for
Global Competitiveness was organised at
MNM Jain Engineering College. Again a record
number of 47 teams consisting of 141 young
managers participated in the Competition.
The inauguration was by Dr D Viswanathan,
Vice Chancellor, Anna University. Our President,
Mr S Gopal, presided over the Valedictory
Function and presented the Awards to the
winning teams. A Certificate course in Retail
Management jointly organised with LIBA was
inaugurated on 7th of July. In view of overwhelming
response for the Course, we plan to organise
another batch on completion of the present
course.
I am pleased to inform you that MMA Centre
for Continuing Education is organising its
6th Management Students Convention on the
theme “Strategies for the Bottom of
the Pyramid” on 21 & 22 September
2007 at IMAGE Auditorium, Chennai. We expect
more than 1000 students to participate in
the Convention. The highlight of the current
year’s Convention is introduction
of Debate to enable the students to showcase
their communication and logical reasoning
skills.
The area of concern as observed by me in
the last few months has been effective two-way
communication between the MMA secretariat
& its members. There is a scope to achieve
good results in this area & thus I seek
your support in helping us to maintain an
updated database of all your contact information.
Kindly respond to our communication to furnish
details as per the questionnaire which will
be forwarded to you soon. Format of the
database is also posted in our website (www.mmachennai.org)
which could be downloaded and forwarded
by email to us at mma@vsnl.com.
It is also my endeavour to increase electronic
communication network. Towards this end,
I would like to encourage the communication
flow, more via emails, rather than using
hard copies. This will be implemented in
a phased manner, keeping in mind the preferences
& wishes of our valued members. We have
already commenced during July 2007 SMS notifications
regarding our programmes/events to members,
wherever mobile number data is available
& also by soft copy via emails.
The New Managing Committee in its first
meeting has made a special emphasis to improve
the quality & content of the Business
Mandate. To achieve this objective the Editorial
Board has been expanded, with the inclusion
of Professor Chandrasekhar- Manager CCE,
as Associate Editor who brings with him
immense experience in the field of journalism
& corporate affairs. We also seek views,
articles, feedback from our members &
readers of the Business Mandate. If you
would like us to include your articles in
our publication, kindly send us your contributions
via email. Our email address is ed@mmachennai.org.
Please note that the articles need to be
within a maximum limit of 2000 words. If
you so desire you may also indicate your
email ID which can be published along with
the articles. We look forward to receiving
your valuable response and feedback.
As Edward De Bono says “A Vision sets
direction for Thinking and Action”.
MMA’s Vision is “To be the Fountainhead
of World class Management Excellence in
India”. We at MMA Secretariat re-dedicate
ourselves to this Vision.
Wish you a Happy Reading!
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM
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