 |
Horizons 2005: The Annual Management Seminar at IIMK Retaining talent in a company, Basel II, entrepreneurship, mergers and aquisitions, these were just some of the varied and interesting topics covered in "Horizons 2005", the annual management seminar of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode held at institute's campus in the picturesque hills of Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala, on 8th October, 2005. The seminar was inaugurated by Dr. A. C. Muthiah, Chairman, SPIC, Chennai and Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIM Kozhikode and Dr. Krishna Kumar, Director of IIM Kozhikode delivered the welcome speech. Google India's HR Head, Mr. Manoj Varghese, was the first speaker to address the seminar. He talked about HR in emerging sectors, and the very relevant issue of talent management and retention. He commented that in the IT enabled sector today, due to the need for more people at higher levels of the pyramid, many techies are pushed too soon into management roles. He emphasized that a key factor in enabling talent is to modify our education philosophy, which should focus on equipping the participant with the know-how to find the best solution, rather than teach 'one way to do it'. Continuing in the same vein, Mr. Somas Jeevan from EDS, also an HR head, gave an engaging and extremely interactive talk on a wide variety of topics. He mentioned how HR, being a child of the social sciences, was an art as well as a science. He recounted his experiences while setting up the first few outlets of the McDonald's chain in India, and said that people management was about managing diversity, be it cultural, educational, technological or functional. The post-lunch session began with Mr. M. J. Aravind, partner, Artiman Ventures, recounting his experiences of starting his own venture, Daksh. The session was very informative and provided a glimpse into the problems one has to grapple with when starting a new venture. He vividly mentioned the complex and often inexplicable legalities and infrastructural problems that plagued this pathbreaking business in the beginning, but were overcome through planning, having solid backups in place, and determination. One of Daksh's key success factors was their training model, which was painstakingly developed over time, so that the employees could handle services in any functional domain with only a few weeks of training. Contributed by - |
 |
|
|