All aboard the Learning Bus!

The Indo-German Training Centre’s Post Graduate Programme in Business Administration (PGPBA) has been a confluence of young minds for 3 decades now. However, learning took an online detour in 2020. Students from diverse educational, cultural and professional backgrounds who came together during this difficult year, were by no means hampered in their enthusiasm to learn. Despite being at home and studying only in a virtual space, they learnt to collaborate as a team under the expertise of world class faculties at IGTC and stumbled on a gold-mine of learning. Enlisted below are their diverse learnings and assignments accomplished in the first four months.

Fundamentals of Management: The Whole Nine Yards

Knitting a beautiful tapestry with the available fabric; Fundamentals of Management essentially wove the entire curriculum into a work of art. Learning several managerial concepts and theories like Theory Z, McKinsey’s 7s model, core competencies of an organization, corporate level strategies, value chain analysis etc., and connecting them with every subject at IGTC in order to make informed decisions.

Managerial Economics: Imaginative learning at its best

Managerial Economics helped move beyond traditional economics, and build a rational solution to obstacles faced by organisations with a 360-degree view of micro and macroeconomic concepts.

• Suggesting ways to improve the livelihood of the elderly in Toyama, Japan; a country with a disproportionate age demographic.
• Understanding the role of smart technologies in shaping the global future.
• Curating a financial newspaper for the year 2025 and predicting the scenario considering several PESTLE factors (political, economic, social, technological & ecological).

Marketing: Fish where the fish are

Beginning with the 4P’s of marketing, this module took us on a journey covering service marketing, brand equity models, pricing strategies, new product development, marketing communication and promotion strategies, B2B marketing, advertising, sales promotions, CRM

• Collaborating on a project and understanding various dimensions of marketing keeping in mind both B2B and B2C scenarios. The project concluded with a presentation on the marketing plan, tactics & strategies, SWOT and situational analysis, financial projections and finally idea implementation.
• Solving a number of B2B Marketing case studies along with a classroom discussion on the same.
• Assessing decision making units for different B2B industries.

Operations Management: A well-oiled machine

The founding stone of every modern business irrespective of their nature of the operation. The course is designed to understand key concepts like Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing Techniques, Total Quality Management, and Toyota Production System in most simplified way putting customer at center of Operation management principles.

• Interacting through Case studies like Birmingham Machines, Federal Express and Nuclear fizzle to understand key concepts of operation.
• Learning and understanding companies on the recovery road in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Organizational Behaviour: A case of Creative Classwork

Organizational behaviour involves steering an organisation in the right direction, understanding and predicting organisational life, nature and activities. It highlighted ways to increase employee morale and studying group dynamics in the organizational setting, classroom activities involved:

• Evaluating yourself with various personality tests to understand behavior and concepts.
• Creating a case study on an assigned topic, probing its different aspects this was followed by an enactment and presentation of the case.

Human Resource Management: People & Culture

The subject aimed to dive deep into various aspects of human resource management and how it influences overall growth of the organization. Hiring Process, Competency Mapping, Target and Goal Setting, Employee Value Proposition etc. are some of the keys concepts covered in the course.

• Using the Mural app students were to enlist various factors affecting the organizational structure. This being a group activity students were required to contact an alumnus or a senior working/ training with a German company and study the organization structure of that particular industry.
• Converting the goal statements of an organization into SMART goal statements, based on various criteria

Finance & Accounts: In for a Penny, In for a Pound

Finance plays a significant role in the value chain of the enterprise. It starts with accounting and ends with financial strategy. A 3 tiered course allows for an understanding of this journey by creating ledgers, trial balance and balance sheets. Finance enables individuals and organizations design a course of action to control the costs. Subjects were taught using Microsoft Excel thus enhancing the online teaching-learning experience.

• Determining the performance of a listed company through the calculation and analysis of various financial ratios.
• Conducting weekly MCQ based tests via ‘Testmoz’ to revise learnings and to test understanding of the subject.

IT for Mangers: Think Big, Think Data

IT for managers aims to gives a combination of two very dynamic aspects of any business: Management Expertise and IT. The course allows student to explore various tools like SAP ERP, Emerging technologies like block chain, AI and machine learning to deliver the intended value leveraging IT technologies.

• Improving productivity, automating data processing and enhancing business performance by studying process efficiency in business.
• Gaining insight on how mangers can leverage technologies like Block Chain, Machine Learning and Robotics for making better-quality decisions through an understanding of Wood Energy and Rolls Royce Case Study.

Quantitative Methods: The Number Game

Understand the implications of the numerical solutions derived from statistical tools like mean, median, mode, standard deviation, binomial and poison distributions, hypothesis testing and its application to business use.

• Enabling descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics which is critical for any organization by studying live data from different sources and statistically interpreting them.

Research Methodology and Market Research: From Ground Up

Mapping out the profile of a customer using a structured process and analysis techniques. It helps gain valuable insights into several demographical information essential in creating a tailored marketing campaigns.

• Emphasizing various stages involved in a structured and scientific market research.
• Conducting secondary research for gaining critical insights into different sectors and providing recommendations.
• Modelling and interpreting publically available data sets, interpreting results and making statistically sound decisions with the help of IBM SPSS.

Visual Analytics: The Art of Storytelling

The intermingling of data analytics and visualization of information is at the core of Visual Analytics. With the right methodologies and accurate data representation viewing high volume data is simplified thus leading to swifter decision making.

• Preparing business data according to target audience, using methods like Complaint Received vs Processed, Attributes of Service Provider and Tier wise breakdown of clients.

Business Communication: The Power of Words

The dependence of individuals and organizations on the virtual space today has further emphasised the importance of communication. It aids in planning and decision making, facilitates coordination and establishes effective leadership.

• Pitching a start-up idea to prospect investors and laying down the quarterly plan for a year.
• Writing a report to the investor of the start-up, including a brief update of milestones achieved in the particular time period.
• Building networks, both formal and informal through various groups and influencers to promote the start-up.

The pandemic has posed a number of challenges in the online learning sphere, and with the close of the first semester, students are now gearing up for internships at the various training companies. Banking on the curriculum learnt, they are now confident to embark with renewed spirits and excel at their organizations. With 2021 being the corner, the PGPBA student now turn a new leaf, a corporate leaf.

Article contributed by Chetan Chaudhari, Harshita Maru and Pratik Anand, PGPBA Batch 2020 – 2022