THINK issue March 2007

This is the first of a two-part write-up on the Management Development Centre and its programme offerings and activities.

The Management Development Centre was set up in 2004 with the objective of building leadership capability at the senior management level across the Murugappa group. Over the last 21/2 years since its inception, the MDC has launched several types of programmes and interventions, with particular focus on Band I personnel.

Every month, there are 1 or 2 day-long sessions based on business themes identified as critical to the group. Some examples of the themes around which programmes are conducted are: Brand Management, Customer Focus, Organizational Culture, Project Management.

The salient feature of these sessions is that they are conducted by eminent faculty from leading global universities and institutions, such as Wharton, INSEAD, Harvard and so on. The faculty brings several years of teaching and research experience, and knowledge distilled from consulting and industry practice.

The MDC also organizes practitioner sessions, bringing in industry stalwarts from various industry sectors and also functional experts. To quote a few recent examples, Ms. Hema Ravichander - former Head of HR of Infosys Technologies and currently strategic HR consultant - did a programme on 'The role of HR in preparing organizations for the future'. Raghu Pillai of Reliance Retail (he brings over two decades of experience in retail) shared his views and experiences on 'The Retail Sector in India'.

As faculty sessions go, the last session held on February was on 'Brand Management' by Professor Russell Winer from the Stern School of Business, New York.

The theme-based programmes described above serve the purpose of building general managerial calibre. The purpose of these short sessions is to provide our executives exposure to the macros, functional acumen and in general, insights into a variety of topics of relevant to them at work in their current and future roles.

Besides, the MDC designs and implements many programmes that are customized to specific needs. One key objective is to create a leadership pipeline - essentially, leadership capability at different levels in the organization, as a long-term investment to enable business effectiveness and growth. The Fast-tracker programmes such as the ELP - Emerging Leaders' Programme, and the BLP - Business Leadership Programme are a part of this initiative.

The second batch of ELPians - 25 people selected after a rigorous three-stage selection process from among 215 who contested - was inducted on the 9th of February. On the same day, the previous batch of participants - of 2005, which was the first batch - received their completion certificates and awards.

After a 1-day introductory module, the participants went through an Outbound Learning programmme at Pegasus - near Bangalore. This was a module specifically customized for this programme, in partnership with IIMB. It was a mix of experiential learning through outdoor exercises and discovery of self and the dynamics of teams through psychometric instruments, and discussions.

The 5-day programme was a period of intense learning for the participants through introspection, feedback from peers, and observation of group processes and behaviour.

Some comments sent in by the participants after the programme are quoted below:

1. It was a wonderful experience in Pegasus. The learning cycle through the exercises and the reflection mode ensured that I was involved in every moment of the discussions actively. The way we discovered ourselves and others was excellent.

The successful moments in activities, humorous moments we had after the exercises were even more entertaining. Of course, there were some hard moments also in some failures, sharing of unpleasant experiences which in the normal course I would not have shared.

It was truly a tough outing but a wonderful experience.

2. It was a great experience and fun at Bangalore. I shared the joy of learning made in the form of presentation which will help me create positive vibes, which, I am sure will help me change my inner self for the good.

The ELPians are now busy learning online through Universitas 21(U21). Going by the response of last year's batch, this mode of learning, though rigorous and time consuming, is a great learning experience. It not only introduces concepts, but also simulates a classroom experience, and brings them in contact with people from different backgrounds based in locations across the world.

Another new idea introduced for the current batch is the formation of support groups to learn the Basics of Finance. Five of the ELPians, who are from the Finance function, have been nominated as facilitators. They will conduct sessions on Basics of Costing, Accounting, Finance and Taxation. They have also compiled reading material to aid the participants.

This has been initiated by MDC as a part of the ELP, in order to create basic literacy in Finance and to ensure that all participants are at a common level of understanding when they participate in the 1-week Executive education programme at IIMB later during the course of the ELP. MDC is facilitating this initiative by providing background material, providing access to e-learning courses in Basic Finance, which all the ELPians will complete, and also providing assistance in structuring the teaching and facilitation sessions.

Thus, the MDC, in all its initiatives, strives to innovate and introduce creative ideas, means of learning and new and emergent learning and knowledge dissemination platforms. Initiatives such as the Fast track programmes build capability and raise the bar for participants and their businesses, and also ignite the ambition and aspiration levels of participants. Given consistent and continuous challenges from the business, the increased capability coupled with higher aspiration levels can be channelized to advantage.