Testimonials

On Friday, 16th October 2020, Siemens Ltd. hosted the quarterly meet of the Indo-German HR Partner Forum on the topic “HReimagined: A New Era of HR Leadership”.

Organizations have been facing umpteen challenges in unknown situations; with no defined solutions. The pressure has been mounting on the HR partners to step up their game, to focus on inclusion, leadership, learning, empowerment, AI and technology, communication, skill development and information management, and to provide solutions to secure the future of their employees and the organization. Hence, as a part of the Indo-German HR Partner Forum, professionals connect, collaborate and share best practices that empower them to create new opportunities for businesses and to build a stronger ecosystem.

Dr. Shilpa Kabra Maheshwari, EVP & Country Head HR, Siemens Ltd. launched the event by setting the context and by sharing what Siemens is doing around the key pillars of the theme. Key insights from her presentation included:

• The new era of HR Leadership is anchored around four key levers – Leadership 4.0, Continuous Learning, Workplace Strategy and Technology.
• Siemens is moving towards a Trust-Based Leadership, where managers empower teams and outcomes are most important. They are shifting away from the traditional PMP to growth talks & development.
• The Siemens Scholarship program for economically weaker backgrounds, especially women, and the apprenticeship program at the Siemens Technical Academy are gaining recognition globally, as the students continue to develop business aligned innovations.
• Power packed sessions on important people topics and AI based learning platforms are rolled out for employees to learn anytime anywhere.
• HR Chat bot called CARL is being used to answer questions on transactional topics, and digital tools such as concept board are being used to collaborate and ideate within and outside Siemens.
• Mobile working guidelines are released to allow employees to work from home for 2-3 days in a week.

Sunil Mathur, MD & CEO, Siemens Ltd. set the business context and shared perspectives on how to stay ahead of competition in this new normal. Key insights from his inspiring address included:

• Change will be constant and disruptive. Business continuity needs to be looked at holistically.
• Shareholders will expect more focus on society, environment, government and law issues.
• Customers are demanding more and asking for customized solutions within limited time. Collaborating with customers in this virtual environment will be the key.
• Classical supplier relationship are changing to co-developing solutions for the customer. This will require fresh competencies and new ecosystems.
• With digitalization coming in, geography has become history. The traditional mindset that we need the workforce to be close to customer is now changing. There is a need for a skilled and competent workforce that can deliver value to the customer from anywhere.
• Company will be as strong as the weakest link in the leadership team.
• Most important priority is Communication, Communication and Communication.

Bernhard Steinruecke, Director General, IGCC acknowledged and applauded the efforts of the HR professionals in maintaining business continuity over the last six months. He mentioned that the German government has recently introduced a new Indo-Pacific strategy where it is now questioning the over dependency on few countries which was realized during this whole pandemic situation. They are now keen to shift the focus to other countries such as India, Australia etc. The ‘can-do’ attitude of Germans and the ‘never-give-up’ attitude of Indians will only further strengthen the Indo-German relations. On this optimistic note, Bernhard Steinruecke also announced his upcoming retirement and introduced his successor Stefan Halusa, Designate Director General, IGCC to the Indo-German HR Partner Forum.

The meeting moved on to a Panel Discussion with 3 eminent HR partners: KS Harish, Country Group HR Head – South Asia, Bayer, Mr. Suresh BR, Country Head HR, Bosch India and Dr. Shilpa Kabra Maheshwari, EVP & Country Head HR, Siemens
Key takeaways:

• In the new normal, Bayer has passionately communicated its vision, “Health for all, hunger for none” and refreshed the 12 attributes under their LIFE values – Leadership, Integrity, Flexibility and Efficiency to make their employees understand the company vision clearly. Harish had an interesting perspective that the employees’ skills will be the new currency of the future. Keeping this in mind, they have stepped up the learning and social initiatives. Self-learning, micro-learning and wellbeing programs have been introduced for employees. Organisation wide learning applications have enabled the field force to onboard customers to new technology platforms. In the Pharma business, doctors have moved to meeting medical representatives through digital connect programs, while in the CropScience business, they have successfully migrated their customers, the farmers, to the digital platforms to share agricultural practice information and demonstrate product efficacy.
• Bosch has been positively handling working virtually and ensuring employee engagement and collaboration. The pandemic has certainly accelerated the pace of change and there is super energy and enthusiasm to bring about a change at Bosch. According to Suresh, employee experience will be the DNA of the organization. It is important to reimagine work and redefine the workplace design, which will define how work gets done.
• Siemens believes that the gig economy will change the way we work. Millennials desire work, which is challenging along with flexibility. Full time and part time work has been implemented and flexi/freelance work is being implemented. Sabbatical options are also available to allow employees to pursue their passion and enhance their skills. There is a significant focus on reskilling and upskilling for future employability.

Dr. Juergen Morhard, Counsel General, Federal Republic of Germany in Mumbai addressed the high-profile audience by praising the IGTC management programs and the high quality of engagement maintained with the German companies. He endorsed the responsibility of the leadership in today’s turbulent times to ensure how their teams are coping, their wellbeing, the impact of digitalization and the acclimatization to home offices. On behalf of the HR Partners, he warmly welcomed Dr. Wayne Brockbank, Clinical Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan as the Power Speaker on the “Role of HR in Creating Market Leadership”. In his keynote address to the HR Partners, Dr. Brockbank touched on the following:

• Shared detailed results of research conducted to understand the challenges of market leadership faced due to the environmental trends impacting the world today such as high velocity disruptions, complexity, dynamic and non-linear inconsistencies.
• Questioned the fundamental HR assumptions and biases to make all the partners understand that HR’s role is not only to build individual capabilities but also organizational capabilities to win in the market at a speed and quality that is at a higher level than the competition.
• Demonstrated the use of insightful statistics to objectively measure the effectiveness of HR activities and to derive the value created by HR for various stakeholders.
• Explained the correlation among Employee Performance HR, Strategically Integrated HR practices, HR Analytics and HR’s role in Information Management on business performance, external customers, investors, communities, regulators, line managers and employees.
• Emphasized the need to fully understand the company portfolio before designing the HR strategy and shared the sources of competitive advantage and their weightage in overall success. Raised curiosity to introspect and think on the question, what is the culture we need to have to increase competitive advantage?
• Exemplified Disneyland as the best example of customer service that makes everyone go back again and again.

Dr. Brockbank concluded his presentation by giving the HR Partners the AAA model as a mantra for success:

• Acquire and Explore; be intellectually curious, access information and insights from qualitative and quantitative sources with an open mind; understand the business question
• Analyze, prioritize and debate what is important and what is less important; have honest discussions with different views and perspectives to inform better conclusions
• Apply to Action the information that is available

This insightful meeting was attended by 60+ HR Partners from leading German organizations. The 3.5 hours long engaging discussions and exchange of ideas came to an end with the realization that it is the right time to look at the opportunities that this pandemic situation has brought with it. This event surely gave the platform to strategize on the way forward beyond these turbulent times.

To know more about the activities of the Indo-German HR Partner Forum, please connect with Radhieka R Mehta, Director, Indo-German Training Centre on director@igtcindia.com.

It was mid-January when we the students of IGTC PGPBA Batch 2019 – 2021 were undergoing our Practical Training Term I at our respective interning companies. While we were intensely enjoying the exposure of working on the projects, the internet was getting flooded with mystery analysis of a deadly Coronavirus spreading in China. The initial reactions were typical as we scrolled over social media, filled with random memes, fake videos and fake home remedies but we never imagined then that this local Chinese virus was about to come to us in the next few weeks capable of causing a colossal impact.

Beginning February 2020, we returned to IGTC from our interning companies for Theoretical Term II with great enthusiasm for being back in class with our peers. We were charged up for the upcoming term with more interesting subjects in our curriculum and with even more experienced faculty. . The term was just shifting gears and picking up pace, when the very virus soon become a serious outbreak globally. The COVID-19 pandemic had hit India now with several positive cases triggered as people travelled. 

On 12th March 2020, observing the trend of the virus of the European nations, the Government of India comprehended India’s situation, and decisions were made to slow down various sectors starting with tourism and education first. By this time there was an abrupt halt as all the educational institutes were shutting down leading to a natural demotivation amongst the student community. The economists globally forecasted an upcoming mammoth recession. IGTC similarly decided to shut to abide by the strict orders of the state government. Natural fear and chaos were amongst us students too, but the IGTC director, faculty, and administration team had created a learning plan for us. They demonstrated tremendous strength, agility, and focus to continue the delivery of lectures on the online platforms immediately. It was merely with a break of 2 days that IGTC ensured that we migrated to our lecture schedules online. IGTC kept being optimistic, motivating and had its principle clear, “If you can’t FLY, then RUN. If you can’t RUN, then WALK. If you can’t WALK, then CRAWL. But whatever you do, keep the wheels in motion.” This was an inspiring situation for us while the country was getting into total lockdown. We were made to experience nothing but positivity.

As the new normal continued, we encountered a bunch of hurdles such as internet instability, lagging bandwidth and videos, sound and mic issues, senior faculty adapting with the new digital platform, and the new way of online teaching, but more importantly, time management, discipline, and self-motivation. All of us were bound to sit in front of our laptops for almost 12-14 hrs a day including 6-8 hrs of online classes with group/individual projects, subject-wise homework, and regular after-class studies. Non-Mumbaikar students started leaving for their hometown since the situation did not seem to improve. The graph rose steeply with rising cases worldwide and it was time we all became aware of the seriousness and massive impact of the pandemic on the global economy. Lockdown situations around and terrifying news all over acted as a fuel to the fire impacting our emotional state of mind.

IGTC stood by us rock-solid to boost our morale constantly, they guided us to look beyond the horizon to aim for the silver lining. The faculty, by giving examples of COVID-19 situations, tried their best to deliver us the key learnings. They hinted to us that if we learnt to rise and shine bright in such unforeseen events, we will develop a unique spirit in ourselves and be the resilient, unbeatable ones. The new mantra was “Zusammen sind wir stark!” says Yashashree Borse, Management Trainee, Siemens Ltd.  By the end of Term II, we all successfully faced rapid fires such as quizzes, polls, online mid-term tests, engaged in group case study discussions in breakout rooms, submitted all our assignments, put under the grill of online vivas and presentations, and finally completed written examinations under a self-declared ethical pledge of integrity under the observation of the IGTC team! “All permutations and combinations are possible at IGTC!” quotes Akshay Bhagwat, Management Trainee, Hirschvogel Automotive Group.

After 3 months, we can proudly say that we have all sailed through it all. Be it common issues or personal problems, they were all attended immediately and on priority by the IGTC admin and faculty. A suitable solution to every problem was applied to every respective issue via regular open discussions and feedback daily. Being a part of IGTC, everyone has graciously accepted the new normal. We are trying our best to adapt and imbibe the core values of the IGTC anthem “Nurturing Curiosity, Seeking to Innovate, Infusing Optimism, and Inspiring Excellence.”

Unlike few B schools which were not prepared to face such unpredictable situations, IGTC has shouldered the responsibility and accountability of educating us; its precious batch of 100 students; to stand apart from the crowd and to build a confidence to overcome every possible hurdle on the path all along, be it our personal or corporate lives. “Now we know that there are no dead ends, only sharp turns, but there is always a way out” quotes Namita Gulavani, Management Trainee, Siemens Ltd.

This crisis has changed us and we have a great story to tell! Change management was a subject in our curriculum, now we can say that we have lived through it at IGTC.   

Article contributed by Ronak Contractor, Management Trainee at Siemens Healthineers, PGPBA Batch 2019 – 2021

The admission process is the first step towards a new future of any student. And to fulfil that desire, IGTC proficiently took its admission process forward online without having to putting anyone’s future on hold.

The various challenges before the IGTC Management included:

• How to conduct the group interaction and selection process for the applicants?
• How to retain good applicants as other business schools were moving ahead quickly with the process?
• How to process admissions without university examinations pending for some applicants?
• How to conduct the selection for the “meritorious, but less privileged applicants” for the Siemens Scholarships?
• How to get the partnering companies on board for internships amidst so much uncertainty and chaos?

The difficulty along the path was to bring the companies on board to conduct the Personal Interview Process and to adopt trainees for the coming year and to uphold IGTC’s USP of the German Dual System. IGTC consulted the Indo-German HR Partner Forum to tailor a few key processes and adapt to the current lock-down situation.

Following this decision, almost 200 applicants from various cities across the country underwent the Online Test and Group Interaction over April and May 2020. After great rigor and scrutiny, 95 applicants were finally shortlisted to meet the companies for internship selections.

Despite business challenges, ARaymond Fasteners India Pvt. Ltd, B Braun Medical (India) Pvt Ltd, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co., Bosch Automotive Electronics India, Bosch Limited, Brose India Automotive Systems, Covestro India, DBOI Global Services, Ethosh India, Faurecia India, Forbes Marshall, Hafele India, Helpline Impex, Hirschvogel Automotive Group, Knorr-Bremse Technology Center India, KSB Ltd., LANXESS India, Pune Gas Systems, Schott Kaisha, Siemens, T-Systems ICT India and Wirtgen India were extremely supportive in participating in the Trainee Selection Process. They interviewed applicants for various profiles ranging from Sales and Marketing, Digital Marketing, Corporate Communication, Project Management, SCM and Logistics, Accounting and Finance, Human Resources and IT.

Frequent online interactions and briefings on every company requirement and profiles, online trainings on how to tackle content for online interviews, how to develop an effective on-screen presence ensured that there was no gap in the process and the applicants remained enthused and engaged over a period of 6 weeks. The Company – Trainee matchmaking process was completed with great precision. Admissions were closed in mid-June, just like IGTC would like to believe, it’s a normal year!

“Even in this critical situation of lockdown, IGTC has conducted the admission process very professionally. A couple of interactive sessions were also conducted online which helped us to prepare for interviews as interaction at a personal level by physically visiting the institute was not possible during this pandemic. The personal involvement of all the faculty members ensured that everyone gets an equal opportunity to prove oneself and gain admission to this prestigious institute.”
Kshipra Godbole, selected by Faurecia India, PGPBA Batch 2020 – 2022

“All experiments are learning experiences even when they don’t go as planned but talking about IGTC, the experiment was very well planned and executed by all members. All representatives were always active and available on time by working hard from home. This is a good example of dedication and teamwork.”
Suraj Jadhav, selected by Forbes Marshall, PGPBA Batch 2020 – 2022

The precise exchange of information and careful hand-holding throughout the interview process was unlike any other. While everyone was filtering students using mark sheets and entrance test percentiles, IGTC evaluated me as a human being. The application form was a thorough personality check. Writing multiple essays and answering several thought-provoking questions, I could introspect and discover my true strengths and aspirations. Today, I believe I know a lot more about myself than what I knew earlier. I thank you all for your guidance and am looking forward to interacting with you soon, but please not over the internet this time!
Aditya Mukund Deo, selected by Siemens Ltd., PGPBA Batch 2020 – 2022

Even as the highly infectious, COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to wreak havoc and spread uncertainty across the globe, the only grain of truth is that the world will never be the same when all this subsides. Hence, on 3rd April 2020, the Indo- German Training Centre announced its first webinar on “Business Learnings from BC to AD” by faculty M. Hariharan, popularly known as the “The Game Changer” by all IGTCians. By education, he is a Chartered Accountant and a Cost Management Accountant. By profession, he is the Director of Savoir Faire Management Services Pvt. Ltd.

In his inimitable style, Mr. Hariharan touched on the following key topics for business preparedness:

• Adapting to the PESTEL challenges of COVID 19
• Learning from the challenges
• Applying learnings to business survival and growth

The webinar was attended by an overwhelming audience of 230+ invitees comprising of IGTC alumni (PGPBA and EBMP batches) from all over the world, and corporate members from partnering companies. The community deeply appreciated the content as it was the start of the ‘new normal’ and there were a lot of apprehensions and questions about new strategies to thrive business.

Mr. Hariharan concluded his presentation by infusing optimism in the audience “In the struggle for survival, the fittest win at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.” The must-dos to be followed are:

• Personal Hygiene: extending that to better workplace management
• Societal Care: extending that to more inclusive business models
• Environmental Care: extending that to more eco-sensitive business models
• Work-Life Balance: extending that to making jobs less movement needed
• Adapting to the changes: extending that to inculcate flexibility in work place

The webinar concluded on an extremely encouraging note, “Tough times never last; tough people do”.

With changing times and the unpredictability set in by the pandemic, various industries have had to undergo a series of unprecedented transformations; and the physical classroom has also had to take this in its stride. It now has a new address in the online world and demands a new wave of learning; a tech-enabled education system that nevertheless ensures that conceptual knowledge and skill building remain at the forefront. Education should never cease!

With this spirit, IGTC inaugurated its 29th Post Graduate Programme in Business Administration on Monday, 31st August 2020 and its 11th Executive Business Management Programme on Saturday, 5th September 2020. For the first time, it was a hybrid inauguration – the symbolic lamp of knowledge was lit by Radhieka Mehta, IGTC Director, IGTC team members and a few student representatives, who were physically present at IGTC, while Bernhard Steinruecke, IGCC Director General, Harkant Mankad, Faculty and the entire class participated virtually.

Radhieka Mehta warmly welcomed the incoming students and managers, complimenting them on their decision to invest in their education during turbulent times and thanking them for their trust and faith in the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce as their academic destination. Bernhard Steinruecke followed with an energizing address on Indo-German relations, an insightful peek on the ongoing pandemic world and the serendipity that this PGPBA and EBMP batch would be the first batches that he would teach after his retirement next year!

For both batches, Day 1 started with Dr. Mankad and his fascinating weave of the world of Economics; with economic history for the past 2000 years being depicted on one chart; from the times of Vasco De Gama to VUCA world. Terminologies were explained, keeping the managers mesmerized and glued to their seats throughout the day, there couldn’t have been a more flamboyant start to the programme!

The incoming 29th PGPBA batch is quite a homogeneous group, containing an equal mix of graduates across genders, academic backgrounds and work experiences. On the other hand, the 11th EBMP Mumbai is a heterogeneous group of 19 managers across the 25 to 53 years of age, with 3 to 30 years of experience in various industries such as logistics, chemical, services, manufacturing, electrical solutions and healthcare services. The common factor binding all of these was an insatiable appetite for knowledge and the confidence to emerge stronger for the post-pandemic world.

For the IGTC team members, the inaugurations symbolized happy culminations of the exhaustive, but turbulent, admission processes during the lockdown period. With a hope that the most difficult path in the woods is now left behind, IGTC looks forward to lead all the PGPBA students and EBMP managers to gain the highest standards of education whilst continually striving to excel leaps and bounds!

The year 2020 has been bizarre and transformational, especially with regard to global travel, social interactions and means of communication. With the vanishing of physical contact, it was important to feel the spirit of oneness, the energy of being in this crisis together and to believe that many others like us have overcome the barrier and so shall we. Role models and inspirations had to be from within.

With this belief, on Monday 31st August 2020, the Indo-German Training Centre initiated its 1st Alumni Talks, a bi-monthly signature series for the IGTC Alumni by the IGTC Alumni. It was also a symbolic tribute of IGTC’s entry into its 30th year, and the start of the new academic year for the PGPBA and EBMP batches.

The chosen experts for flagging off this inspirational series were highly experience and accomplished alumni from the corporate world.

• Malini Pant, Executive Director, JP Morgan (PGPBA Alumni 1991-1993)
• Madhu Vazirani, Principal Director, Accenture (PGPBA Alumni 1992-1994)
• George Ettiyil, Senior Director South Asia, Lufthansa Group (PGPBA Alumni 1996-1998)
• Harsh Tewari, Vice President Engineering and Technology, Fanatics Inc (PGPBA Alumni 1997-1999)

Filled with immense pride, Radhieka Mehta, IGTC Director hosted and moderated the evening. Bernhard Steinruecke, Director General, IGCC welcomed all the alumni, corporate partners, faculty and current students to the event, expressing his pleasure on the genesis of this idea. It was a time to acknowledge ‘resilience, restructure, reset and restart’ as the mantra for the new decade.

All the four alumni spoke on topics close to their hearts, with a disclaimer that the views expressed were purely in their personal and not professional capacity.

Insights on “Business Resilience” by Malini Pant, Executive Director, JP Morgan

• Bouncing back from a setback in the face of persistent problems or disruptions and converting threats into opportunities.
• Crises will no longer be seen as black swan events, organizations should be on their guard for such eventualities. Building business resilience is of prime importance.
• Adaptability is the key and having Recovery capabilities is utmost important. Change or disruption is inevitable but transformation is by conscious choice. The only certainty is the uncertainty.
• Consideration of your existing supply chain and its adaptability to meet challenges, horizon scanning, empowering individuals and having resilient teams and processes is the need of the hour.
• Have a quick-fire strategic points in store for the next 20 years.
• Insights on data security, cyber-attacks, digitization impacts.

Insights on “Restarting Aviation under Covid-19” by George Ettiyil, Senior Director, Lufthansa Group

• Quick assessment, response and a clear vision of possibilities will make for an enduring brand
• Accept the outcome irrespective of its limiting nature.
• Create the right set of shareholder values and put people ahead of business logic; a humane approach to a business.
• Facing an unusual crisis like COVID-19 requires drive, strategy and courage.
• Optimism and risk taking ability are the keys to working in a pandemic stricken business environment

Insights on “Fanatics: Built to Last” by Harsh Tewari, Vice-President Engg Engineering and Tech, Fanatics Inc.

• During a crisis, revenues of 95-97% companies are bound to go south; however revenues of the rest increase by leaps and bounds.
• 3 golden words – BUILD TO LAST
• Focal areas include agility, foresight, flexibility, crisp and robust forecasting.
• Prioritize increasing business leads during a crisis. Rise to the occasion to make a difference; Fanatics = Fantastic.
• Other insights include using a bird’s eye view for organizing a company and creating a unique niche

Insights on “Mindful Well-being” by Madhu Vazirani, Principal Director, Accenture

• Ikigai- A reason for being, mindful living; steering towards “What I love to do”.
• COVID-19 has contributed immensely to the ever increasing digital overload and societal change. Neuroscience in recent years has realized that our brains are plastic and not plaster.
• The brains response during a crisis: FIGHT OR FLIGHT.
• Mindful training – Prepare, Anchor (Breathe), Alertness.
• Mind training and mindfulness helps in being more relaxed in this stressful world.
• Bring in a few minutes of silence on a chaotic day.

The advent of the pandemic has hit the breaks on globalization and has ushered in a host of changes, these have impacted the personal, social and the economic spheres. Social distancing and isolation have become a way of life; yet business priorities cannot take a backseat. Therefore, it is important to ‘Think smart! Adapt fast!’

COVID-19 in essence has served as a teacher; it has helped us recognize challenges, learn from them and has molded us to adapt to the resulting changes. Organizations thus have to make the best use of the current business environment whilst retaining employee trust and customer confidence.

Rise above the chaos and give change a chance.

On 12th August 2020, 42 HR Partners across 24 organizations connected virtually to engage in a very stimulating dialogue on the ‘Role of HR in Business Continuity during Covid-19’. The virtual Indo-German HR Partner Forum was hosted by Lanxess India Pvt. Ltd.

Neelanjan Banerjee Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Lanxess India launched the partner meet and welcomed all the HR colleagues with his interesting perspective on Business Continuity at Lanxess India. Key takeaways from his address included:

• Lanxess employees remained connected throughout these 150 days of the pandemic including weekends
• Their ‘Performance Culture” is not about ‘what’ you achieve, but also about ‘how’ you achieve it.
• They doubled the mediclaim for every employee, covering both the employee and his/her spouse
• They successfully started manufacturing sanitizers in-house
• For them, the mental wellbeing of the employees was as important as physical wellbeing.
• The top management connected with all employees and spent more than 40 hours with each employee group to know the actual pulse of how the employees were dealing with the situation.
• It was not as much about doing 99 things right, as it was about ensuring that even 1 thing does not go wrong.

The second speaker was Bernhard Steinruecke, Director General, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. He vehemently thanked the HR partners for their contribution, ideas and motivation to keep the employees engaged, which in turn kept the organizations running. His message was loud and clear: Life has to go on! Corona is not the end of the world. There will be life after Corona. So it is important how we manage ourselves to prepare for that time. Promising full support, he urged the HR partners to reach out to the Chamber if they needed any help, because only then it would be possible to find solutions for their problems.

After the welcome addresses, it was time for the experts to take centre-stage and share their key initiatives, innovations and strategies implemented over the last 4 months to deal with the pandemic. The sharing of best practices was anchored and moderated by Risha Bhattacharya, Head People Management, Lanxess India. Despite being from diverse industry sectors, it was uncanny to see the similarities in the HR interventions of all the German organizations. Only the flavor was different. Probably this is what makes most of them ‘great places to work’.

Key insights shared by Dr Shilpa Kabra Maheshwari, Executive Vice-President and Country HR Head, Siemens India:

• Siemens started early and made a crisis management team that connected leadership to all levels.
• They are going fully digital with leadership learning. The organization jumped to a digital platform ‘My Growth’.
• HR slowed down with hiring but ensured that hiring of all critical positions continued with virtual onboarding.
• Each team member had a buddy to reach out to, a 24 hours well-being helpline platform was established for support, and virtual well-being sessions were conducted.
• They introduced a travel and health app to know the health of all its employees across plants and offices in various locations across the country.
• They reviewed insurance process, tie-ups with hospitals to provide support to employees during the hospitalization process from detection of fever to discharge.
• As an organization, employees follow mindfulness to restrain work calls strictly from 9am to 6pm, no calls during lunch breaks and weekends.
• They have announced ‘work from anywhere’ policy, which enables employees to work for more than 3 days outside of the office, attempt to reduce carbon footprint and hiring across borders.
• They have tied-up with Godrej for furniture to setup office at home, and also provided a platform where employees can purchase PPE kits, thermometers etc

Key insights shared by KS Harish, Country Group HR Head, South East Asia, Bayer Group

• Bayer maintained a very strong crisis management, leadership feedback and first-level manager connect.
• They initiated an extremely effective and unique Resilience Program, which was conducted once a week for 4 weeks. The purpose of this programme was mindfulness, slowing down, focussing energies on one thing at a time, not multitasking, overcoming distractions, taking frequent, short breaks of 1 minute, restraining and bringing down the phone pickups from the current average of 80-100 times a day to 30 times a day. They have subscribed to the Ewaris App to help their employees for mindfulness.
• They initiated Long Service Virtual Awards to appreciate employees, to celebrate their milestones and to induce positivity. This included videos and photographs of good times.
• In keeping with their vision, ‘Health for all, Hunger for none’, they engaged in various Corporate Social Responsibility activities and made heroes of employees who actively participated in these initiatives.
• They set up a purchasing portal for better work-from-home office setup.
• Learning was a big winner at Bayer
• Pulse surveys conducted with contracted labour indicated feedback that 70 – 80% were fine.
• They ensured that trust, empathy and empowerment of all employees.

Key insights shared by Santanu Ghoshal, Vice-President HR, Schaeffler Group:

• Schaeffler launched an initiative wherein 1 leader communicated to all the employees once in 7 days, either through WhatsApp or through the company portal to reward and to keep the positivity high
• In addition to give huge thrust on digitalization of learning; they undertook two strong initiatives to build a learning culture.
• Learning Circles, wherein they took the social learning approach, shared videos and case studies, and brought the community together to discuss it over a short duration of 2-2.5 hours.
• Think Tanks, which was focussed over a longer duration of 2 months on technical training topics with a group of employees and subject matter experts.
• They found it difficult to get the contractual employees back to work
• They focused on mental wellness through extensive use of the Employee Assistance Programme app developed and run by Compsych.
• They launched Corona Kavach with Oriental Insurance, special medical insurance for Covid-19, in addition to the normal medical insurance scheme.
• They recognized that the greatest challenge, going forward, will be long-term workforce management; transition to work from home culture, enabling managers to balance work pressure and empathetic handling of team members. The HR professionals will play an important role in coaching and counselling both managers as well as employees to achieve results.

Key insights shared by Sunil Antony Head HR, Lanxess India:

• In last 6 months of the prevailing pandemic and newer working conditions, LANXESS found innovative ways to reach out to every employee.
• The merit process was concluded successfully, by transitioning into a paperless exercise this year, due to onset of COVID-19 around that time.
• The organization conducted Virtual Employee Engagement activity every Friday to connect not only with all employees but also with their families. This helped significantly to build a better connect, engagement, morale boosting and understanding, due to extended Work from Home office for many employees.
• They did not have programs to deal with mental well-being which leads to stress, depression and loneliness in many employees. Hence, they focused more on programmes around mental and physical well-being under their ‘Health and Well-being’ framework. They also plan to launch the Employee Assistance Programme soon.

Key insights shared by Padma Gupta, Director – Human Resources, Häfele India:

• Hafele has decided Friday as a no meeting day, so that employees get time to do all the pending work
• For junior staff, they have arranged impromptu chai corners to get them in groups to talk, since some of them have not spoken for months.

By the end of the thoroughly engaging 2-hour discussion, it was evident that all the companies had gone through a roller coaster ride. More than brick and mortar, they were made up of flesh and blood, and people management was the biggest intervention required during this turbulent times. The challenge was to reposition the role of HR to manage this intervention. Undoubtedly, it was a time when culture eats strategy for breakfast!

We look forward to our next Indo-German HR Partner Meet on 16th October 2020 to be hosted by Siemens India!

Five months into the pandemic and before the onset of the new academic year, it was time for senior faculty members at IGTC to discuss and evaluate:

• the effects of the pandemic on the economy and how it will influence curriculum changes, and
• the impact and effectiveness of the digital learning methods

To meet these objectives, IGTC organized a faculty meeting on Tuesday 18th August 2020. It was very well attended by all the faculty, most of whom have contributed over a decade of teaching at IGTC. The deliberated on the enhancement of the academic curriculum of IGTC’s flagship programmes – the 18-month, full-time Post Graduate Programme in Business Management and the 1-year, weekend Executive Business Management Programme.

Innovative tools of teaching and assessment were also the focus points of this elaborate session. Tools such as slido, mentimeter, jamboard, testmoz, analyser were demonstrated and shared among the faculty to enhance their interactivity and engagement with the students, and to evolve their teaching pedagogy at IGTC.

Whether it is the physical classroom or the online, virtual world, undoubtedly the faculty anchor IGTC and inspire the team to strive toward excellence in management education. They lead by example, as the perfect role models, displaying agility and resilience to the optimum!

And hence, we strongly believe, “The spotlight should always belong to the ones who make the stars shine!”

Four months into the lockdown, it was no longer time for just ensuring “essentials”.  It called for a new level of agility to embrace the new normal.  And IGTC PGPBA management trainees were certainly up for the challenge! The learning in the digital space was propelled to the highest level of seriousness and rigor, and when we looked back at the end of the term, we were pleasantly surprised at how much had been achieved.  IGTC is proud to recap the highlights of the interesting modules taught, the course deliverables and engagements, and the key takeaways by the trainees.

Advertising & Digital Marketing

Understanding Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to manage advertising strategy, consumer research and media and to ultimately build a career in marketing communications.

• Group assignment on SWOT analysis by utilizing the 5 Step Brand Story Framework of digital marketing 
• Group assignment to study customer insights of an ad and create micro-moments that trigger needs in customers to buy the product 

B2B (Industrial) Marketing

Developing the ability to take decisions in different B2B scenarios through a graded case study approach, assimilating critical concepts such as Customer Lifetime Value, Wallet Share, and Customer Equity and developing the trainee’s personal skills to apply them in B2B markets.

• Rohm & Haas case study to prepare product strategy and integrated marketing communication plan
• Standard Machine Corporation case study and Electrical Equipment Limited case study for devising price modelling and to illustrate B2B pricing strategies

Business Law

Introducing major laws such as Indian Contract Act, Sale of Goods Act and Negotiable Instruments Act, which develops and builds legal reasoning and analytical skills, an understanding of the legal framework and environment under which the businesses operate. 

• Quiz on PESTEL environment to keep trainees abreast about current legal affairs
• Group project and presentations on Information Technology Act, Consumer Protection Act, Companies Act, Competition Act, Employment Contract, Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Geographical Indications of Intellectual Property Laws

Financial Management

Learning the tools to evaluate the financial performance of a company or business; and the techniques of project evaluation to understand calculation of cost of capital, dividend policy and sources of short-term and long-term finances.

• Interpretation of Profit and Loss statement, Balance Sheet and Ratio Analysis
• Online MCQ Test on Working Capital Management, Cash Budgeting and Concept of EVA
• Excel based numerical exercises on Ageing Schedule & Time Value of Money, Discounted Cash Flow by using Net Present Value (NPV) & Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Cost of equity by using Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Dividend Discount Model (DDM)

International Finance

Emerging trends in international financial markets, strategies and techniques for raising funds from such global markets and the relative risks associated with such exposures. 

• Quiz on short and long term financing 
• Polls on Incoterms, Letter of Credit and Equity Funding through ADR and GDR
• Online MCQ Test on Foreign Exchange Market, Regulations in International Trade, Currency Exposure and Risk Management
• Virtual Group Activity on corporate strategies on managing currency exposure

International Business & Trade Policies

Creating an awareness about International Trade Laws, International Conventions, Foreign Trade Policies (FTP), Export Import Regulations, Special Economic Zones and Industry 4.0.  

• Analysis, group assignment and presentations on diverse, contemporary topics, which have emerged as an aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic, such as global sourcing, export of essential items, shifting of industries from China to India, Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD), Anti-Subsidy Duty and the emergence of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” with reduction of imports. 

Market Research

Applying statistical techniques in data analysis and improving the understanding of marketing principles. 

• SPSS case study that helps future managers in understanding Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning of their product in the market
• Comprehensive project and presentation on each of these 7 market research tools, viz. Cluster, Discriminant & Factor Analysis, Multiple Correlation & Regression, Discriminant analysis and Conjoint Analysis

Sales & Distribution 

Endowing the skills to face the various challenges faced by the Sales Head in a continuously changing environment by giving them an overview of the Sales Management Process.

• Role play to understand and manage a sales team, plan quotations and sales budgets
• Breakout room discussions on sales pitches and strategies for increasing product sales
• Framework study for FMCG distribution and trade marketing by inventory & logistics management

Services and Retail Marketing

Learning the nuances of Services and Retail Marketing and its difference from regular product marketing.

• Class activity to introduce 8Ps of Integrated Service Management
• Case study to study Service Gap Model and to introduce concepts of Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
• Designing Service Blueprint to optimise service process 

Strategic Management

Defining, conceptualizing and understanding Strategic Management as a process to practice in Corporate Business by studying Blue Ocean Strategy, Bartlett and Ghoshal Internationalization tool and Ansoff matrix.

• Archies vs Vintage Case Study to analyse and find the correct industry in which the business fits and functions by studying its external environment
• ITC Case Study to recognise the concept of diversification of a conglomerate
• Microsoft Case Study to identify the organization culture
• Go Global Case to realise the need of globalization by introspecting a company’s abilities 
• Tata Case Study on CSR to understand the importance of achieving the golden middle between economic profits EVA of a company and their CSR

Supply Chain Management

Identifying the supply chain challenges across various functions and understanding the relevant system based solutions. The module comprised of trending topics like Block Chain Management, Reverse Supply Chain, Lean Agile & Le-Gile Supply Chains, Inventory Management, Capital Management, Kano Model, Manufacturing Strategies and Product Modularity.

• Mahindra & Mahindra Case Study to describe concept and scope of supply modelling
• 7Eleven Convenience Store Case Study to describe the SCM Framework
• DHL Case Study to formulate GREEN Supply Chain 
• BCG Matrix for product portfolio management and Kraljic model for purchase item management
• Fisher’s Framework to understand Forward Supply Chain
• Honeywell Case study to know the benefits of Closed Loop Supply Chain
• Asian Paints Case study to understand the strategy to achieve highest market share with high inventory turnover ratio

With this term load of work in diverse functional areas behind them, the trainees now look forward to their practical training stint in their respective organizations and toward building their final integrated business plans on a business idea! Never a dull moment in the life of a management trainee at IGTC!

Excellence is not a tool, but an IGTCian’s attitude, desire and passion. Auf Wiedersehen PGPBA Batch 2018 – 2020:Convocation Ceremony 2020

The lights at Royal Opera House glimmered with hope, as IGTC’s PGPBA Batch 2018 – 2020 marched down the aisles to take their seats in the grand auditorium, tassels bouncing in excitement with each step taken. Beneath each black cap was a student with a smile from ear to ear and pride in their eyes. At their side were their proud parents, eager to make time stand still for the evening. Flashlights and cameras levitated each graduate to the status of a celebrity for the day. In the blink of an eye, capstone projects, Monday formals, unending presentations, new and old friendships, walks at marine drive became memories in this chapter of IGTC. Another story was imprinted on our hearts before it sets off to new beginnings.

In the true spirit of German punctuality, the Convocation Ceremony for PGPBA Batch 2018 – 2020 commenced with IGTC Director, Radhieka R Mehta welcoming the dignitaries, graduates, parents, faculty and corporate mentors, followed with an address by Georg Graf, President of the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Representative of Freudenberg Group. “I commend IGTC on the choice of venue for this occasion, the Royal Opera House, noting its construction featuring both Indian and German architectural elements, which perfectly encapsulates the conjunction of Indo-German education and society being celebrated.” His vitalizing introduction to the evening emphasized on perseverance being key to his successes.

Mr. Graf’s welcome address was followed by a journey down memory lane by Paurus Nekoo, General Manager Sales, Lufthansa Group and IGTC Alumni of PGPBA Batch 1995 – 1997. He highlighted the changes, but yet similarities, that he sees in IGTC then and now, and how the German Dual Education System has been a hallmark of IGTC’s rapport in the industry since its inception. “When a company selects you and invests in you, they invest their time in you during the practical sessions. There is a higher management focus in your training. This is a huge difference versus other programs.” Mr. Nekoo went ahead to encourage the batch to embrace change, to never stop learning, to believe in themselves and to be humble. From such humility stems sensitivity toward culture, gender, the environment and toward other fellow humans. He punctuated the end of his address by speaking of gratefulness engendered by humility; that every graduate moving out into the real world must venture forth with a sense of gratitude toward their home country, to never forget where they come from.

Following the footsteps of an accomplished alumni, had to be the current champions! On behalf of PGPBA Batch 2018 – 2020, Sanjeev Srinivasan, Manar Lakdawala, Gargi Paliwal, Susan Thomas and Mayank Washimkar delivered the Valedictory Address to the audience.
“When I think of the IGTC Alumni network, it reminds me of Vodafone; always happy to help and follows us wherever we go. Right from admissions, to our search for accommodation, to constantly motivating us to cope with hectic lectures and multiple projects, to guiding us during placements, our Alumni have given a direction to our scattered thoughts. They have passed on the IGTC legacy to us; for us to uphold.” – Manar Lakdawala, trained by ATE Group and recruited by Häfele India.

“Today I am happy to have started my corporate journey as a part of the Managing Director’s team at Mercedes Benz India Limited. Working for business development and strategic projects, now I see the bigger picture that we were all trying to paint with all the subjects taught at IGTC; be it the role of culture in strategy or legal intricacies in data driven marketing.” – Mayank Washimkar, trained and recruited by Mercedes Benz India Limited.

We are all different pigments of colours but when spun together on the wheel, we come out as one single colour i.e. white. No matter where our journey started, we all have made it here together through the same combination of determination, sacrifice and a whole lot of hard work. Why IGTC is what I am often asked. I reply to that question with another question: “Tell me, what else is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Gargie Paliwal, trained and recruited by Covestro India.

Music is a language that transcends all barriers. It connects us to one another, reminds us of who we are, speaks for us when mere words are not enough, and reflects our hearts emotions in their real and vulnerable way. Believing in this, the highlight of the Convocation Ceremony was a musical on ‘Dreams and Imaginations’ by the Singing Tree Choir of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation. Talented conductor, Salomé Rebello, had planned a beautiful set comprising of songs including ‘We Will Shine Like The Sun’ a 2018 winner of the Hongkong Children’s Choir Competition, ‘A Whole New World’ from the award winning soundtrack Aladdin, ‘A Million Dreams’ from the acclaimed soundtrack The Greatest Showman, ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ from the movie Space Jam, ‘Shosholoza’ a mining song sung by the tribes in South Africa for encouragement and hope, and ‘Aazaadiyaan’, an inspirational song from the Hindi movie Udaan. The Singing Tree Choir was beautifully complemented by IGTCians from the junior PGPBA Batch 2019 – 2021, who joined the choir, also played some musical instruments and danced to a beautiful contemporary choreography by Ankit Tanna.

On this high note, metaphorically, it was time for Chief Guest Ronnie Screwvala to take the floor. A man who has left his mark on media, entertainment, sport, e-sport, philanthropy and empowerment of the underprivileged, Mr. Screwvala is undoubtedly one of the most people of the 21st century. He opened his address feeling overwhelmed by the sense of pride that he felt on watching this batch move forward into the world to pursue their dreams. “Most people spend their lives trying to live a life that others want them to live. It takes more than just good education to succeed in today’s global environment: it’s about collaboration without simply competing to win. It’s a tough world and getting an education is no longer an event that ends, it’s a continuous process and each and every student that walks through the doors of IGTC leaves as a perpetual learner, one who never shies away from change, but adapts and rides the waves of the storm.”

Riding strong on the uplifting themes of the evening, the Guest of Honour, Dr. Juergen Morhard, Consul General, German Consulate General, Mumbai, took the stage to deconstruct what it meant to have dreams, the central theme of the evening. “Dreams without goals are always meant to simply remain dreams. Even when you have the training and the skills to succeed, you need to have the guts to fail. If you don’t fail, you are not trying to achieve your goals. It doesn’t matter if you fail while trying to achieve those goals, because the effort you put in makes it worth the journey to get that point.” This fear of failure should be tempered with a layer of discipline, a lesson that Dr. Morhard demonstrated through iterating his own life experiences.

At this point, every eye in the audience sparkled with dreams and a heart full of imagination. It was time for the maverick, Boman Moradian, the most loved member of the IGTC faculty, to deliver a Masterclass to the graduating batch. While he appreciated the theme of the day being ‘Dreams’, he wanted the batch to be very clear on the ethical dilemmas that they would face during their personal and professional path going forward. He posed an ancient predicament: would you choose to be right or would you choose to be paid? At the end of the day, the question remains: who are you accountable to? As with his lectures, Mr. Moradian concluded with a very clear but lasting answer for all their future endeavors in the corporate world, a poem titled The Guy in the Glass, by Dale Wimbrow (1934). “For it isn’t your Father or Mother or Wife, whose judgement you must pass. The feller whose verdict counts most in your life is the guy starting back from the glass. He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest, for he’s with you clear up to the end, you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test, if the Guy in the Glass is your friend.”

The evening reached a pinnacle with the felicitation of the award winners. The awards given out were:

• The Dr. Guenter Krueger Award for Excellence in collaboration with Max Mueller Bhavan, Goethe Institut and Lufthansa Group: Abhishek Bhattacharya and Abhishek Dhatavkar.
• The Siemens Award for Excellence: Manar Lakdawala and Sanjeev Srinivasan.
• The Bayer Scholarships ‘Championing Success’ – Abhishek Bhattacharya, Abhishek Dhatavkar, Mayank Washimkar, Prajakta Sontakke and Priya Kumari
• The BASF Corporate Governance and Business Ethics Award – Rushabh Shinde

A heartfelt Vote of Thanks was extended by Bernhard Steinruecke, Director General, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce to the dignitaries for the evening, parents and most importantly to the IGTC faculty and IGTC team on the graduation of another successful batch, who will contribute to the German business community. The students gathered on the stage for one final photograph with their respected faculty and to bid farewell to each other.

While it seemed as though a chapter was closing, one could only sense the junior batch filled with inspiration to write their own story. Each of these students realized that they have to step up to a new challenge, to take the place of leadership from the exiting seniors. No longer are they the ones looking up to others for leadership, but they have to become the ones leading.

The musical evening of “Dreams and Imagination” left everyone with a feeling of hope and pride. What lies ahead is a new adventure and a new sense of hope for the future.

Article contributed by Aishwarya Tadpatrikar and Danesh Fatakia from PGPBA Batch 2019 – 2021.

On 13th February 2020, into the new decade, the Bayer Group hosted the 1st meeting of the Indo-German HR Partner Forum. KS Harish, Country Group HR Head, who has been one of the founding and senior most members of the forum, facilitated the agenda throughout the day with the highest level of engagement. Joining him with equal fervor was the entire HR team including colleagues Vaibhav Rane, Priya DCruz, Jaideep Iyengar and Dr. Rajesh Parekh; and Sarita Bahl, Country Group Head – South Asia, Communication and Public Affairs.

Bayer with its new vision “Health for All, Hunger for None” had recently undergone an integration with global biotech giant Monsanto. This acquisition – its process, its challenges and its outcome – was an interesting case study for the remaining partners in the forum. It resonated with the spirit of the forum that always believes in sharing and benchmarking best practices and learning from each other.

Through an interactive dialogue across various stakeholders, Harish passionately narrated the entire integration story emphasizing on the following topics:

• Managing change and communicating exhaustively to inculcate a culture of oneness
• Magnifying inclusion by creating programmes that enables girls from an agricultural background to enter the sales force and physically challenged individuals to enter the Bayer Shared Services
• Managing performance

Through the detailed case study, it was evident that the Bayer Group had sailed through this difficult phase with success. In a pulse survey conducted, they had emerged with the highest scores on Customer Focus, Experimentation, Collaboration, Pride, Trust and Advocacy. And this really meant huge kudos to the entire HR team!

Post lunch, all the partners indulged their collective energies and strengths to pave a new way forward for the Indo-German HR Partner Forum in the new decade. Four working groups presented their ideas on the following topics:

• Purpose of the IGTC
• Value Proposition for Business Eco System
• Staying agile and in tune with environment
• Looking beyond Business

The new purpose was defined as the 3Cs –

• Collaborating and Networking
• Contribution to Business and Society
• Competency Building

The fulfilling and enriching day came to a close by bidding an emotional farewell to Dr. Lakshmi Nadkarni, Director HR South Asia, BASF India on her retirement. Dr. Lakshmi leaves behind a legacy by initiating “HR – Horizon Redefined”, a series of joint learning and development programmes for the enhancement of the HR Fraternity. The forum will always cherish her mentorship and guidance!

The next meeting of the Indo-German HR Partner Forum will be held on Thursday 14th May 2020 at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company, Pune.