Google is the second Brain to many of us. We use it frequently. It uses white screen which consumes higher power."If Google had a black screen, taking in account the huge number of page views, according to calculations, 750 mega watts/hour per year would be saved?!!!!!In response Google created a black version of its search engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version, but obviously with lower energy consumption:Help spread the word? Please use " www.blackle.com".....

Some dramatic changes have taken places especially in last 15 years all over the world putting serious question mark on present form of use of cases in management teaching. It is widely accepted now that the business situation has become extremely volatile, dynamic and fast changing. A case is supposed to create a real life business situation or a problem and guide the reader into arriving at alternative courses of problem solving putting the concepts and academic knowledge acquired into the case for this purpose.
If purpose of the case is this, is not it better if management learning is more experiential and project based rather than reading about business situations given in a case, which is essentially restricted, notwithstanding the efforts put in to prepare a case.

Inherently the Case method suffers from following limitations:

* It does not and cannot represent the complex and multidimensional business situation in its entirety.

* The business decision-making process in real life situation is much more dynamic and based on current
decision making results obtained by managers in their respective business setting.

* The case is inherently more useful in higher level of business thinking and not at lower functional level

* Majority of cases look like augmented illustrations to concepts and problems discussed in the text of a course,
like the illustrations given in sciences and social sciences text. Is case an illustration?

* A case is normally suitable for experienced persons and not at all useful for fresh students in Management
schools. (The average experience of Harvard entrants is 7 years)

* Merely analyzing a case and its given problems are not adequate to generate capability in Student to identify
real business situations and derive solutions.

In this context, the traditional Indian Vedic System of education (referred to as Gurukool system) is far superior in gaining Practical experience. Can it also claim superiority to traditional Upanishad system of Teacher -Pupil interaction in learning facts of life and business? Can one learn to swim by reading and analyzing how a particular swimmer managed to swim? One forgets all theory the moment he/she dips into the deep waters.

* It is observed that most of these Cases do not describe in beginning the area of business problems these intend
to explore nor do they have guiding questions in end thus channelising the thinking process of student, in
particular direction which these are supposed to do. This is done so, based on argument that business does not
have one solution and field should be left open for innovative and creative ability of students. The author does
not agree with this based on his own experiences. It is like moving in a big airport not knowing your destination
and the possible flights one has to take.

* The cases are inherently outdated, particularly in present business environment. These ignore the cultural and
human factors having important bearing on arriving on a typical business decision.

* These can't be a substitute for Practical work, like Project work, field research, on-job-training (like a
Sandwich program in collaboration with business organizations) and writing a complete business plan for a new
venture. Undue emphasis on case method therefore has danger of being counter-productive.

* Cases are best suited for group learning, and have a possibility to run wild during class room discussions by
going off the Track of key business problems these are intended to focus on

* Besides in most Indian Universities and institutes, academicians with little business experience teach. They have
no way to judge suitability and practicability of a solution suggested. Unfortunately our system relies heavily
upon broadly substandard and useless PhD based teaching qualifications. Everyone knows about it and no
comments are needed.

* What is being taught in name of cases is merely detailed illustrations which normally don't even fit the concepts
covered under the syllabus.

* Most of Cases taught are based on Alien business environment, which average student cannot even appreciate.
There is paucity of high quality business cases in Indian environment, prepared by People who have been in
Field.

Harvard's Viewpoint
"Bringing real-life business problems into the classroom: this is at the heart of the Harvard Business School experience and the essence of the case method.
The primary form of instruction at Harvard, the case method presents the greatest challenges confronting leading companies today-complete with the constraints and incomplete information found in a real business situation-and places the student in the role of the decision maker.
Through the case method, our students are exposed to real-life situations that are relevant, intellectually and emotionally engaging, and highly interactive. This creates a challenging learning environment that encourages everyone to share opinions and perspectives and learn from each other.
When students are presented with a case, they place themselves in the role of the decision-maker as they read through the situation and identify the problem they are faced with. The next step is to perform the necessary analysis-examining the causes, considering alternative courses of actions-to come to a set of recommendations.

To get the most out of cases, students read and reflect on the case and then often meet in small study groups before class to "warm up" and discuss their findings with other classmates. In class-under the questioning and guidance of the professor-students probe underlying issues, compare different alternatives, and finally, suggest courses of action in light of the company's objectives.
As you watch a case study unfold in class, you'll see students doing 85% of the talking, as the professor steers the conversation by making occasional observations and asking questions. The 80-90 individuals from diverse industries, functions, countries, and experiences enrich this classroom interaction. At the end of the class, you'll find that the day's lesson lay in the exchange of ideas amongst the students-and not in a lecture or textbook.
In many cases, convinced they have the right answers, students are surprised at the variety of points of view that emerge from their classmates during the course of the classroom discussion. Having to listen carefully to others' arguments and define their analysis, students learn from one another.
Class participation is so important to the learning model at HBS that 50% of a student's grade is based on the quality of class participation. This requires students and faculty to work closely together-another hallmark of the HBS experience.
During their time at Harvard, students study and prepare over 500 cases-a transforming experience that helps them to recognize the unique aspects of different situations, define problems, suggest further avenues of analysis, and devise and implement action plans. Once they finish the program, HBS graduates have the confidence they need to go off and tackle the many business challenges they will face in their careers."
One can observe over-emphasis on case study method at Harvard. The Author has serious doubts about the efficacy of this as claimed by them. Moreover, distinct features of their methodology need to be noted: -
They have large number of experienced students from diverse industries, functions, countries and cultural groups. They are also required to write the cases. There lies the point.

Do the Case method support the Adult Learning theory?

Adults:

* Like to solve problems.

* Want feedback ASAP.

* Bring experiences to the learning table for sharing.

* Want to apply what they have learned as soon as possible.

Well the case method can definitely play this role, provided the above ingredients are met with in Indian B-schools. But the points appear to be more relevant in Management Development Programs, barring a few management schools The teacher's role should be to steer discussions in meaningful directions not broadening the context too much/She should be Effective Discussion Leader, who
- Is comfortable not knowing all the answers
- Believes she can learn from the learners
- Knows her learners
- Knows and practices techniques that make discussions effective

Outline for case analysis

Broadly speaking, a case should be analyzed on following systematic approach.
Before that, two things are necessary: -

1.The sitting arrangement should be such that it facilitates group discussion
2.The Discussion Leader (Teacher, normally) should fill up background on the case and related issues involved,
since cases cannot be written with all details without making them bulky.

Step 1> Situation Audit

Step>2 Problem/Decision Statement

Step>3 Identification of Alternatives

Step>4 Critical issues

Step>5 Examining each alternative in terms of each critical issue

Step>6 Recommendations, and limitations of arriving at recommendations.

Suggestions

- Cases are one of the tools of management teaching and presently we are ill equipped due to lack of quality
business cases in Indian environment

- Students should be made to write cases

- The cases generally tend to be outdated but can be used to highlight major problem areas based on certain
concepts of the topic

- These are more suited to experienced -teachers and students group

- They should be written with introductory guidelines on area they touch or intend to explore and end with
pointed questions.

- They should focus on identified and desired learning objective rather than be general and wide sweeping in
contents.

- Should be designed as exercise in solving problem rather than illustration of problem or concept. Student should
be encouraged to adopt a solution and not leave the discussions in conclusive.

- They should not dominate management teaching content. Alternative methods should be explored to make
management courses more project oriented and experiential

- A Case should not be too long

The Indian Corporate sector should come forward to extend on-job-training to Business students and feed data for preparing better cases. The companies should open up in their own interest. As we observe most of the corporates still look for interns after the 2nd Semester only , I beleive they should have a ongoing training,coaching & education in the real life corporate environment . the motto of ' Bringing Corporate in the Class room' is still yet to be exprienced in the education system of India .
The Government of India is busy taking up petty matters into consideration for improvement of the educational system and not the real core asset 'Academically -experienced faculty' who can share experiences as a part of the curiculuum and not theory as what the authors of several books say only .
We are improving but not close enough .......

Can Education also have ISO 9001:2000

Can ISO 9001:2000 design and development criteria be applied to training and educational programs?The answer is a definite yes. While the ISO 9001 design and development model is usually associated with manufacturing activities, it’s important to realize that the intent of this criterion has much wider application. These requirements not only relate to the design of product, but the design of processes and services as well. If we consider the design of training or educational programs, we find that the basic requirements specified in the ISO 9001 standard are by no means unique or foreign. In fact, these requirements can be applied quite easily to training and educational design, and are generally consistent with accepted design methodologies:

• Design Planning - includes project timelines, scope documents, and other information that defines the stages of design and development, design review, verification and validation activities, and design responsibilities.
• Interface Management - includes interested parties, such as the student, the learning institution, their instructors/teachers, representatives of industry, and even parents.
• Design Inputs - includes needs or requirements defined by the student, parents, institution, industry, state and other interested parties; technological developments, and feedback from past experiences could also be considered.
• Design Outputs - includes the resulting specifications that define the learning program. This covers learning objectives, course charts, instruction and/or lessons plans. Specifications for learning aids, equipment and/or materials needed, room requirements (e.g., room size, table size, number of chairs, etc.), and instructor qualification requirements would also fall into this category.
• Design Reviews - includes initial/kick-off meetings to review the design inputs, progress meetings to review the progression of the design to the design plan and final reviews to evaluate the completed program design for approval.
• Design Verification - includes the design reviews stated above, evaluation against similar programs and other activities.
• Design Validation - includes consideration of data obtained from pilot courses, course quizzes and exams, feedback from students (course critiques), feedback from employers and other interested parties including employers and industry.
• Change Control - includes control methods for reviewing and approving proposed changes to existing designs, as well as methods of interface management (such as involvement and notification of affected parties) and configuration control.

HARD TALK !!!!!

I have always been a supporter of moderate views and opinions, calmness & patience in all my walks of life. But at times I get restless too...now it is quiet often (not violent, but within). When does this shift happen? Only when the life of learning reduced to nothing. My opinion and everyone's acceptance that 'LEARNING NEVER STOPS' becomes a mere statement of old age sayings. What happens when the learning goes in circles and ends where it starts ?
There we should start from the others, new sources, new teachings etc to make sure the circle never are a circle and to increase the diammetrical proportion to infinity what I like to do most. Then infinity creates infinity..... Now what? I am still looking for that answer! I am calm and restless for more to know....

Quotes :

Thomas Edison
Opportunity is missed by most people because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Albert Einstein
If A is a success in life, then A = x+y+z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

Aristotle, 384-322 BC
Man is by nature a political animal.

Lee Iacocca
We are continuously faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

Abraham Lincoln
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

GURU RAMAKRISHNA

Education
PGD in International Trade, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, www.bvbdelhi.org/. ( 1st Div)
MMM, Pondicherry University, www.pondiuni.org/ (1st Div).
Post Graduate Diploma in HRM from NMIMS, www.nmims.edu/(1st Div).
Post Graduate Diploma in Operations and Strategy Management,- www.welingkar.org
Project Management Professional-IIT, Delhi - www.iitd.ernet.in/ (1st Div).
Certified in Six Sigma,www.benchmarksixsigma.com/ , www.wipro.com/(6 QC projects manned)
World Class Customer Services’ by Dale Carnegie, 2005 - www.dalecarnegieindia.com(100 hours of individual training experience)

Teaching Journey till date:
15 reputed B-schools ( International & Domestic) , University of Mumbai , IGNOU , Autonomous ……..All are my students !

Lecture subjects
MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS CONCEPTS AND THEORY,RETAIL MANAGEMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP,BANKING AND INSURANCE RETAIL,MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS AND CONCEPTS,MARKETING MANAGEMENT(Qualitative & Quantative),HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ,OPERATIONS AND PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS,PROJECT MANAGEMENT, QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Training sessions while I worked and till date…SESSIONS/TRAININGS TOPICS CONDUCTED through ‘Open Window Pvt.Ltd’:
Ø Fish philosophy
Ø Management of change (MoC)
Ø World Class Customer Service to customers
Ø Key Account Management Methodology
Ø Supervisory Training
Ø Leadership Styles
Ø Modern Marketing in a Consumer-Lead Environment
Ø Training Needs Analysis: Determining Training Needs
Ø Team building to create SYNERGY
Ø Effective Coaching and Mentoring

Work Experience and expertise
HP (Global Services) Invent -India, China, Europe Head WW- ADM & Scope Consultant for TSG Wipro BPO Services Ltd. –Mumbai, Sr. Manager–Operations
Netwisers Inc.- Manila, India ,Head – Operations & Delivery
Koshika Telecom Ltd.(Group Usha) Noida ,AGM-CSO & Marketing Operations
United Colors of Benetton, India-Manager (South Delhi) –Customer Service & Retail Sales
(Work experience in detail can be furnished upon request)

Participation in Conferences/Workshops/Symposiums
· Customer Care – Interpersonal Skills” by DOORS in September 1997.
· World class ‘Retailing Operations services’ by DOORS in October, 1997.
· Customer Care – Support Program” by Kirloskar Institute of Management, 1997.
· Customer Care–Relationship Marketing” by Corporate Trainer, in August, 1999
· CRM- Power Knowledge Series” by AVAYA-TATA TELECOM, 2002.
· “Fish philosophy” by Kari Kussy, HRD (AT&T), 2003.
· ‘World Class Customer Services’ by Dale Carnegie Training, 2005.
· ‘Organizational Development ‘ for Management by ‘ROOTS’-2006
· Black Belt Mentor workshop, corporate forum, QAI, 2007.

Awards & Honors
· ‘HP Operational Excellence Team’, 2006
· ‘Delivery Manager, 2004-2005’, 2005, Wipro Services Ltd.
· Best Sales Manager, Netwisers Inc.,2004
· Outstanding ‘People Manager Skills’ SMI, Netwisers Inc.,2004
· Customer service Excellence Award ,Group Usha, 2000
· ‘Retailer Salesman of the Year’ UCB, 1996

GURUs OF ENLIGHTENMENT !

SWAMI VIVEKANADA -GURU OF KNOWLEDGE & EDUCATION

RISHI AUROBINDO -GURU OF ENLIGHTENMENT

RABINDRANATH TAGORE - GURU OF LITERATURE