Introduction to User Experience and its Business Relevance

What does it take to make a company successful? While getting the core business functions is the foremost task, it is still not enough. UX is the key differentiator in today’s world and the answer to everything.

Mr. Amber Krishan, Group Lead & Technical Director of Training, Human Factors International began with a question every company and every MBA student seeks an answer to. A graduate in product design from National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) and post graduate in Design & Technology from Parsons School Of Design (New York), Mr. Krishan has over 6 years of experience in user interface design, usability analysis, consulting and research in the enterprise and consumer software industry. He has also been guest speaker at several events namely UPA chapter event, Connecticut, USA, Microsoft - Nokia Windows 7 Roadshow in Mumbai and Hyderabad and Appfest at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Talking about user experience, Mr. Krishan rightly said that UX is not about making things colourful, the coolest idea or quirky ads. Also, it is neither about getting onto every single platform nor about copying Apple. UX is about getting the business objectives right and working with customers to decipher what they want. The idea is to design a user experience journey that spans across all channels.

While the audience was enchanted by the new dimension of doing business as explained by the guest speaker, he opened up another unexplored avenue to the students- UX as a business discipline. UX leaders are known to outperform competition even when the economy is not doing well. As future MBAs, we should give UX a serious thought as it is considered a top strategic priority in the everyday changing business environment.  

"Ideapreneurship" - An Idea Generation Workshop

“One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr

Team CED came up with an exciting workshop to open up the vision and make the students enter into a new world of ideas on 7^th October 2013 at FORE School of Management. The entrepreneurship cell of the college aims at building, encouraging and promoting a conducive environment for developing innovative ideas of entrepreneurial ventures among young minds within the campus. The event which was presided over by Mr. Pravin Rajpal, Founder and CEO of InnovatioNext Imagination Labs (iLabs), was very well received by the students.

Mr. Pravin has authored best sellers like ‘Achieving Business Excellence’ and ‘5 Thinkings to Win’, in the year 2007 & 2008. In a span of five years from 2008-2013, he conducted more than 200 idea factory workshops for breakthrough ideas. In 2011, he developed CII Innovation Framework & Measurement Systems and went on to develop India’s first Imagination Lab to foster breakthrough ideas, in the year 2012.

Talking about what do recruiters these days look for in their prospective employees, Mr. Pravin said that in today’s disruptive world, one can either become distinct or extinct. What separates the creative minds from others is the ability to transform challenges into opportunities and constraints into advantages. He further said that chance favours the connected mind. So, if you are able to connect your thoughts with the needs of people, you can be way ahead of others. He asked the students to come up with an idea that people would be willing to invest in and thus multiply your own market value. Through vivid examples and an interactive session with students, the guest speaker brought home the fact that instead of reading mythological case studies, one should focus on becoming a case study himself by doing something concrete.

SPIC MACAY

What happens when maestros of the highest order of two different musical instruments decide to play a duet together? That is exactly what students of FORE School of Management found out by firsthand experience on 27^th September 2013, when they were hit by an avalanche of melody and harmony, courtesy of a virtuoso performance by renowned sarod player Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury and distinguished tabla artiste Ustad Akram Khan.

The event was organised by FSD, the student-driven sports and cultural division of FORE School of Management in collaboration with SPIC MACAY. The programme commenced at 3 o’clock in the college auditorium, with the introduction of the esteemed performers of the evening. Then, mementos were presented to Ustad Akram Khan and Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury by Director, FSM, Dr. Jitendra K. Das.

When asked to say a few words to the audience, Dr. Jitendra K. Das gave a short anecdote about his first rendezvous with Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s music, which laid the foundation for his long-standing association with SPIC MACAY. He described his experience of listening to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s music and recalled how he was engrossed and lost in it, hoping that the audience would enjoy the evening in much the same way.

Tabla artiste Ustad Akram Khan and Sarod player Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury 

Next, Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury gave a brief insight into his music and his long-standing musical association with Ustad Akram Khan. He also spoke a little about professionalism in music and life in-general. Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury started the performance with the Raga Bhimpalasi Alap, which was an introductory piece, played solo without the accompaniment of tabla. The alap went on for about fifteen minutes, after which Ustad Akram Khan joined Pt.  Biswajit Roy Chowdhury with his tabla.

Ustad Akram Khan coordinated beautifully with Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury; there were times when the Sarod came to the foreground, with the tabla playing in the background whereas on occasions the order reversed smoothly. Finally, the mesmerising performance was brought to a close, leaving everyone yearning for more.

But, all in all, it was an evening to remember for all, and as hoped by Dr. Jitendra K.Das, everyone was well and truly engrossed and lost in the music. 

JUBILATE 2013

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.“

With Jubilate 2013 just around the corner, it is time to welcome our fellow brethren at FORE and bask in the glory of their success. Jubilate – the annual alumni meet of FORE School of Management aims to keep the former students of FORE connected to their roots. It gives them a day to reflect over the years gone by, the hardships faced, the accolades earned, opportunities lost, dreams fulfilled and above all to celebrate themselves. 

FORE has always taken pride in its esteemed alumni and an event like this to welcome them again strengthens the bond and bridges the gap between the past and present of the college. It is an overwhelming sight to see the alumni recollecting their stories of college classrooms, cafeteria and auditorium like it was a thing of yesterday. The warm welcome by the junior batch, the sensational band performance, the amazing skit, the alumni recognition awards and nostalgic recollections of the past followed by food and cocktail were the highlights of Jubilate 2012. The event which is primarily organized by the FAN (FORE Alumni Network) committee has proved to be a huge success over the years and promises a lot more this year as well.

So, let’s gear up for Jubilate 2013 – a mesmerizing experience where the wisdom of past meets the enthusiasm of present.

SUPER 8

Super 8 is the annual cricket intra-college tournament held at FORE.

Like previous years, the contest drew participation from cricket buffs from the the 1^st and 2^nd years. The tournament kicked off on the 8^th of August, and drew participation from 12 teams of eight players each. The teams were divided into 4 groups of three teams , with the top two teams from each group advancing to compete in the quarter-finals. Teams put their best foot forward to grab the 4 semi-final berths.

After two weeks of non-stopping cricket action, four teams finally made it. In order to up the ante, team FSD increased the number of overs from 8 to 10 for the semi-finals and the finals.  The final match saw Mental Warriors and Underdogs fight it out on the cricket pitch to take the top prize. The Underdogs started the game and set a competitive target of 75 runs for their opponents. Anuj was the standout player for the Underdogs and contributed 37 runs to his team’s total, hitting five 4s in the process. Sarthak (Mental Warriors) posted impressive bowling figures for his team (3overs, 3 wickets and 16 runs conceded).

The chasing team however, held their own and chased the target in 31 balls only, losing two wickets in the process. Calm and composed knocks by Amit and Sarthak (34 and 30 respectively) took their team across the finish line. Sarthak Vij took the Man of the Match prize for his all round performance.

Team Mental Warriors with the trophy

All matches in the tournament were played with exemplary sportsmanship. Since this was the first sports event for the new batch of 2013-15, team FSD can pat themselves on the back for conducting another successful tournament. Yet another feather in their cap !

CONFLUENCE 2013

The Corporate Interaction Division, which is the official student-driven interface between the students of FORE School of Management and the corporate world, organized a seminar on 29^th of August, 2013, aptly named “Confluence 2013”, where four highly esteemed experts from diverse backgrounds and organisations spoke and enlightened us on the topic of “Challenges and opportunities in catering to the bottom of the pyramid”.

The event was chaired by Prof. Freda Joseph Swaminathan , a senior member of the faculty at FSM. She began the proceedings by introducing the guest speakers to us. Then she gave us a brief overview of the topic under discussion and in the process made references to Mr C.K. Prahalad, whose book “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” was a seminal work on the subject. She also looked back on her days at IIM Ahmedabad, when she was a student of Mr C.K. Prahalad. She lamented the fact that very few people nowadays want to cater to the bottom of the pyramid.

The first speaker invited to the lectern was Mr Ajay Chowdhury, who is the Vice President & Head HR at SRF Ltd. His speech was centred on harnessing the power of the people. He opined that all pyramids are contextual, which is why an economy class traveller is at the bottom of the pyramid in one context and at the top of the pyramid in another. He talked about the role he plays in catering to the bottom of the pyramid as member of his organization. As Mr Ajay Chowdhury has been in HRM all his life, he likes to get involved directly in the various rural development programmes that his company undertakes. He personally trains people in two or three sports in the rural areas. His company also organizes a Nature Resource Management Programme, whose function is to convert non-arable land into arable land.

The next person to speak was Mr Joginder Bajaj.  He has work experience of over 36 years in Punjab National Bank and is presently the General Manager there. He too advocated the idea of “eradicating poverty through profit” as propounded by Mr C.K. Prahalad. He outlined the major obstacles lying in the way of eradicating poverty through profit, such as the lack of awareness in the business community of the potential of the hitherto untapped market at the bottom of the pyramid, lack of money, lack of infrastructure and most importantly the lack of willingness across the business community to engage in developmental work in rural areas.

Mr Sanjay Kumar Nigam, Head, SCM and Procurement, Mara-ison Technologies Pvt. Ltd, was the next to take the lectern. He spoke at length about the present economic scenario, the depreciation of the rupee and the implications of the same for the people at the bottom of the pyramid.

The final speaker for the day was Mr. Samik Dasgupta, Deputy General Manger, IFCI. He gave a fiery speech on the need for a complete overhaul of the approach of the business community towards the bottom of the pyramid. He stressed on the need for a bottom-up approach and declared that a top-down model will never work.

Next we had a Q & A session, which gave the students an opportunity to interact freely with the experts.

And finally, Prof Swaminathan brought the event to a close by summing up the discourse, thanking the guests for their invaluable inputs, and gifting mementos to the guests.

The Startup Story

“An idea can change your life…” this tag line of Idea telecommunication captures well the soul of entrepreneurship. ‘The Startup Story’, an event organized by The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at FORE School of Mangement proved this point right. An idea, small or big can change your entire course of life, and it did for the three entrepreneurs who visited FORE School of Management on 28th June,2013 to share their success stories with an aim to make the management students taste the flavor of what it takes to become an entrepreneur and have your own set up.

The esteemed panel included Mr. Ankit Mehrotra founder dineout.co.in, Mr. Sahil Bagla, founder Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Ankur Gupta founder, Connectech India.The session was chaired by Ms. Geetika Dayal, Executive director TiE, New Delhi.

The panelists with Ms. Geetika Dayal (Executive Director – TiE) who chaired the session 

Mr. Ankit Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Dineout. Dineout hostswww.dineout.co.in, a table reservation website which enables the customer to book a table, online and through the phone, at their favorite restaurants in town and provides them fantastic discounts for FREE, which they would not be entitled to if they go to the restaurant directly. Mr. Ankit Mehrotra,  a CFA charter holder  with an Engineering degree from  Computers and Telecommunication University of Essex, he has more than 7 years of experience in investment banking and Wealth Management with BNP Paribas in London, where he was managing a portfolio of UHNWI. However, he quit his job and moved back to India in late 2011 to start Dineout. He was awarded the Young Entrepreneur of the year 2012 and the 6^th Indira International Innovation Summit in 2013.

Ankit Mehrotra, Founder - Dineout 

Mr. Sahil Baghla is the co- founder and CEO of Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. Bluegape.com is started with a vision to deliverpersonalized poster that can reflect your attitude to the world. Mr.Baghla is an entrepreneur by character and an IITian by education. He is a senior Undergraduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (July 2008-May 2012) and was a visiting student at university of Kansas. He did his internship from Orbis Biosciences and was the Overall Coordinator at the Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kanpur. He is a specialist in Team Building, Chemical Engineering, Biomaterials and entrepreneurship.

Mr. Ankur Gupta is the Founder of Connectech India Services. It is a parent company which has companies like Gadget Guru, Rainbow Impex, www.gadgetpotli.com and China Global Trading Enterprise Limited, Honk Kong under its umbrella. He is an astute professional with 4 years’ experience in the areas of Pre-Sales Initiative Marketing and Business Development. Associated with companies like Teleperformance India, Gurgaon, HDFC Bank Ltd, Kotak Securities Ltd, SREI International Securities Ltd, he is adept in developing ‘winning’ demonstration and presentations for key decision makers. A FORE alumni he hass hands on experience in exploring and developing new markets, identifying customers, brand promotion, new product launch and developing growth.

The session chair was Ms. Geetika Dayal who is the executive Director-TiE, New Delhi. Previously she was the proprietor of Magnus consulting for 5 years. She has been associated with TiE since July 2001. She is an expert in area of Entrepreneurship and Team Building.

Each of these entrepreneurs had one thing in common; they all had a novel idea, an unmatched passion and an unending determination. They dared to believe that they would do it. They had to face the opposition of the world and above all the opposition of their families. They said it was the hardest part in the journey of any entrepreneur to convince his family to have a belief in their ideas. It was hard to stop, turn and choose a new path, they said. Fear and disappointed haunted their thoughts now and then. But they never gave up. And now, here they are where no one would have imagined them a few years back. And yes, it all began with a simple, novel, practical yet innovative-idea!

DONATE BLOOD, SAVE LIVES

On 1^st August, 2013, team Antar, the student’s CSR committee at FSM, and Fore Sports and Cultural Division organized a blood donation camp in collaboration with Rotary Blood Bank. The event, aptly named ‘Raktdaan’, was a roaring success.  In just six hours from 12 Noon to 6pm, the students of FSM managed to donate 100 units of blood, demonstrating and reinforcing the long-held belief that FORE School of management is not just a place for academic excellence but also a nursery of compassion and social sensitivity.

Before the actual donation of blood, the potential donors were screened for the suitability of their blood through a battery of tests. It was a long and comprehensive process in itself. But the assiduity and the efficiency of the team from Rotary Blood Bank, made the tedious process worth our while. A number of willing potential donors were rejected on account of their medical history, recent intake of certain antibiotics, high or low blood pressure and so on, but no one can fault their enthusiasm and pure compassion.

A blood donor at FORE School of Management

The blood donation process was conducted inside a fully equipped specialized bus, parked at the staff parking lot, inside the college premises. Students kept pouring in as and when their classes got over and also in the breaks between the classes.

The blood donors were provided with snacks, mementos and certificates testifying to their contribution to the event, after the process was over. All in all it was a satisfying and enriching experience for all parties involved- the donors, the organizers and the volunteers, and one can rest assured that the success story of ‘Raktdaan’ will be written in golden words in the annals of Fore School of Management.

FRESHER’S PARTY

Work hard and party harder and while you are at FORE School of Management, you definitely deserve to party harder! - Team NEXUS did a wonderful job of amalgamating these thoughts with their creative genius and creating an everlasting memory for the batch of FMG22 and IMG7.

After a long month of assignments, presentations, getting to know each other and of course, the universally monogamous white and grey uniform, finally the D-day arrived when the students got a chance to celebrate themselves.  Dressed up exquisitely, with gleaming eyes, a playful smirk on face and party on mind, as the batch of 2013-15 assembled in Virajam Auditorium on 19 July 2013 for the Fresher Party, it was a sight to behold.  The delightful hosts for the evening were Nitish Dahiya and Shivna Jain and as the evening progressed, it turned out to be way better than promised with enchanting band performances, role plays which spelled entertainment and enthralling dance numbers which got everyone moving to the beats.

Band Performance during Freshers for Batch 2013-15, FORE School of Management

The highlights of the event were the presentation of Best Mentor-Mentee award and various other titles to appreciate the distinctiveness and individuality in the junior batch but what actually stole the show was an enthralling dance performance by Shivna Jain and Nupur Sarda from the senior batch. The ceremonial Mr. Fresher and Ms. Fresher titles were presented to the surprise package of the evening, Divye Gandhi and the ever charming and vivacious, Shuchi Singh respectively. As they set the stage on fire with their masquerade ball dance, the picture was painted perfect. It goes without saying that the party would have been incomplete without the mouth watering delicacies and crazy dance moves to the DJ tunes.

An evening full of fun, dance, music, food, drama, photo shoots, spontaneity and craziness... maybe words won’t do much justice to such a beautiful evening but nevertheless, it will be forever etched in a diary we all carry about with us.....our memory!

ADDICT

Within two weeks of joining, the batch of 2015 at FORE school of management (FMG 22 and IMG 7) was faced with their first B-school Ad event, Addict, organized by team Think Tank. Registrations ended on 28^th July and required students to enter in teams of 3 participants. Eager to make a mark in their first B-School event, the incoming batch responded splendidly.

The first phase consisted of an online quiz which tested students on their general knowledge across different fields. The second phase was held in campus and consisted of three more rounds. These rounds tested the teams’ knowledge of brands and advertisements.

The last of these rounds drew the most plaudits from the participants. As part of this, the final teams were given one product each and asked to make a print ad to sell the product. Teams were also asked to present their advertisement on stage and were given two minutes to do so. A brief question and answer round followed. The teams were judged on creativity and their ability to come up with selling points.

After much deliberation, the results were announced. Team Rehabilitated took the first prize with Team Backbenchers and Team AAG, a close second and third respectively. As soon as the winners were announced, team Think Tank was given a rapturous applause from the participants, acknowledging their hardwork in organizing the event. The signal was loud and clear. The first event for the class of 2015 was a rousing success.

Team Think Tank along with the top three teams.

GUEST LECTURE BY PROF. RAJ DEVASAGYAM

On July 05, 2013, Fore School of Management had a great opportunity to learn when Professor Raj Devasagyam from Siena College, New York shared his knowledge on “Advances in Brand Management” with the 2012-2014 batch. He started with the fact that we all have some basic human needs but brands are something we aspire for. He enlightened students about transformation of products into big established brands and then focused on maintaining brand loyalty, making a brand community and building brand cults.

The audience was able to connect and participate as he moved on with various youth brands like Nike, Harley Davidson, BMW, Walmart, etc. and shared day-to-day examples of brand perceptions focusing on how brands are usually strategically placed so as to occupy a share in the consumer’s mind set.

Prof. Raj Devasagyam addressing the students of batch 2012-2014, FORE School of Management

He focused on how different brands work on ideas to manage the brand creatively, which in turn helps in maintaining brand loyalty. Brand loyalty basically works on Insistence, Persistence and Variety seeking consumers. If a brand is able to maintain these factors, it experiences a high level of loyalty from customers.Secondly he discussed about brand community which emphasizes on shared consciousness, rituals and traditions and sense of moral responsibilities of customers. Brand community reflects a group’s affinity towards a brand.

Lastly Prof. Raj discussed about Brand cult which relates to social identity theory, categorization and self enhancement. This was a very unique concept he focused on that highlighted how many brand followers set unconscious standards that any person using that particular brand must imbibe.  This heightens the sense of brand loyalty but also has a negative affect by restricting entry of new consumer. In the end he had a round of interaction with the audience, where students came up with insightful and curious questions that showed both their interest in the subject, and their willingness to gain as much knowledge as they could.

Prof. Raj’s answered the queries by in a crisp and direct manner, leaving no room for doubts and enhancing the understanding of the students. The overall discussion gave students a detailed insight of Brand Management and its concepts.

QUIZZARK - WHERE EDUCATION MEETS FUN

In every college there is this one committee that strikes out when it comes to the competitions it holds, and the events it organizes. At FORE School of Management this place is held by the Think Tank. Keeping in tune with this spirit, they organized the event Quizzark. A combination of both intellectual and fun games, the event was a quiz that tested students on their knowledge across various domains, namely marketing, sports, finance etc. as well as their ability to adapt to varied situations by giving varied games such as ‘build a bridge’, ‘ modernised version of dumb charades’ etc.

An inter section quiz, the event brought out the competitive spirit of every student, and checked upon what they’d learnt over the year. An event, where the background music was the cheers of their classmates, where everyone had fun and everyone had the chance to showcase their talent, be it the serious kid or the prankster. However even within all the fun, there has to be a winning section who won the prestigious rolling trophy, and this honour went to section A, FMG 21. Giving them a close competition was the runner up team of section C, FMG 21.

The winners - Section A, FMG 21

A fun filled event where every person had fun and more than competing, the people were simply letting down their hair and relaxing. At the same time, there were facts to be revised, general knowledge to be brushed upon and simply said, an evening to be enjoyed.

Management without books with Dr. C.T. Abraham

The Corporate Interaction Division at FORE School of management conducted its first ‘Anubhuti’ session for the batch of 2013-15 on June 20, 2013. The very first session was graced by the Finance and Admin Head (India) at Asian Development Bank, Dr. C. T Abraham, who addressed the students on the topic “Management mantras beyond books”.

Dr. Abraham’s started his session by telling how every individual’s world can be divided into three spheres: personal, professional and partnership. He told the students how the three differ and how their roles in those spheres vary accordingly. He then highlighted a very important fact that passion is the main driver for anything to happen, and it is passion only that can lead to positivity which ultimately leads to perfection.

                   

Another important point that he highlighted was that it was very necessary to understand an ‘organization’s soul’ if one wants to function well in an organization. According to him, in order to be happy, the mantra is to not only exude but also absorb positive vibes in the work place.

Another thought that Dr. Abraham stressed upon was that students have to be more than just good employees. They have to see the importance of and thus be effective human resources in the organization. The first requirement for that is appropriate temperament to work, along with the basic skill set and the ability to work in teams. Lastly he discussed the topic of transparency wherein, there was a lot of interaction with the batch and the enthusiastic response was just an indication of how he had engaged the audience throughout.

Dr.C.T.Abraham Finance and Admin Head (India) at Asian Development Bank

At the end of the session there was a highly informative and entertaining question and answer session and the response of the audience could be felt in auditorium. It was a highly successful session, to say the least and the inspiration that it imparted the batch. All in all, the session was highly informative and fruitful. The students were inspired and participated actively throughout and in fact it was definitely an experience to gain from.

CONVOCATION

FORE School of Management organized its twentieth annual convocation on May 10, 2013, where 171 students of the PGDM (FMG - 20th Batch), 59 students of the PGDM (IMG – 5th Batch) and 28 students of the PGDM (WMG-19th Batch) were honoured with their diplomas. The ceremony was graced by Mr. R.C. Sharma, President, and FORE School of Management, Dr. B.B.L. Madhukar, Vice President and treasurer, FORE School of Management along with Dr. J.K. Das, Director, and FORE School of Management. Mr. D. Shivakumar, President AIMA and Senior Vice President India, Middle East and Africa for Nokia, was the Chief Guest for the ceremony.

                              Dr. Madhukar, Mr. R.C. Sharma, with Mr. D. Shivakumar lighting the ceremonial lamp                   

The ceremony started with a welcome note by Dr. J.K. Das, Director, FORE School of Management. After the ceremonial lamp had been lit, Dr. J. K. Das, Director, FORE School of Management presented the activity report for the year 2012-2013. The major highlights of the report was that FORE School had received the ASSOCHAM’s “Best B School - North” award from the Hon’ble Union Minister for HRD, Dr. M. M. Pallam Raju, under the aegis of the “ASSOCHAM NATIONAL EDUCATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2013”, on April 9th, 2013. In addition to this the placement report for the year was also released. Herein, the highest international placement this year has been at Rs. 32 Lac p.a. and the highest domestic CTC for the batch is at Rs. 15 Lac p.a. The major recruiters for the past year have been from the IT Sector, followed by the Banking & Financial Services Industry, Consumer Durables, Market Research & Consulting, Financial Services, Automobiles, etc.

Mr. R.C. Sharma, President, FORE School of Management declared the convocation open. In his enigmatic style he showered his blessings on the students, and advised them that as an individual every student had to “upgrade themselves time and again”. Thereafter he conferred diplomas to the outgoing students. The scholastic medals were awarded to the toppers of the batches, namely Sonakshi Goyal, Harleen Kaur, and Megha Agarwal from FMG and Swati Jain, Sukriti Babbar and Mannu Khanna from PGDM-IB.

Lastly following the convocation oath by the director, Mr. Shivakumar, an alumnus of IIM Calcutta inspired the students with a motivating speech where he urged the students to represent themselves as leaders of tomorrow, especially in times when India is all set to become a global giant. One of the most important messages that he imparted to the students was that, “Success and failure will cross your path in equal measure. Success doesn’t last forever and failure is not fatal. Have the humility to deal with both success and failure in the same way”. 

Students at the end of the Convocation Ceremony

At the end of the ceremony, the students left, inspired to set a mark in the world, with degrees in hand, ambitions in heart and ideas bouncing off the walls of their mind.

FAREWELL 2013

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.
                                                                                                                   - Ivy Baker Priest

It was on March 7, 2013 that FORE School of Management bid adieu to batches of FMG 20 and IMG 5 through a memorable and immensely entertaining farewell night. The evening that was graced by students and teachers alike was a conflux of trips down memory lanes, beautiful performances by the students, and smiles all around.

FMG 20 and IMG 6 on Farewell Night

The evening kicked off with a beautiful band performance by the junior batch followed by an amazing salsa performance. Slowly the senior students were called aboard for various fun-filled activities that the NEXUS team had in store. Amidst the various activities that involved role plays, and crazy dances, many awards were given out such as the conventional Mr. and Ms Popular ( Paras Dhawan, and Divya Bhadouria) , and of course Mr. and Ms  FORE (Abhishek Singh and Saumys Shrivastav). However there were also a few out of the box awards such as the “techno freak” award for the technology whizzkid awarded to Mr. Vitul, and “ Khiladi No. 1” awarded to the best sportsman of the college, Mr. Nitin Gandhi and many other.

Performance by outgoing batch

However the highlight of the night was a surprise, nevertheless sensational performance by the seniors themselves on a medley of songs. The utter happiness and the inherent confidence with which the seniors bowled the audience over was just a testament to the kind of expertise, hard work and style that everyone at college looked up to this batch for. At the end of the evening the floor was open to all and as the students of the outgoing and current batch mingled together it was with a heavy heart that yet another batch was bid farewell with best wishes for their journeys to come and the thought that though the song may have ended, but the melody lingers on.

DREAM MERCHANTS

“You Have To Dream Before Your Dreams Can Come True.”

_ APJ Abdul Kalam

The students at FORE School of Management had a unique chance to gain knowledgeable insights through the “Opportunity Evaluation & How to write a B-Plan Workshop” conducted by Centre Fore Entrepreneurship and then the gauntlet was thrown down before them. The challenge was: coming up with a Business plan. CED’s event Dream Merchant was all about it. The headline said: “It's time now to scratch your mind, enlighten the visionary path and come up with an extraordinary Business Plan.” And everyone made sure that the opportunity should be tapped. After evaluating the executive summaries of various business plans submitted by the batch, CED shortlisted 5 teams for the final round held on 6^th march’13 in Virajam Auditorium, namely Storm Troopers, Small Wonders, Dreamers, Avensis and Avengers.

Each team had an idea to change the world, each member had a vision. But there could only be one winner and to judge that, CED called upon some illustrious minds from the corporate world viz. Mr. Ajay Tandon (Director, Citi Ventures), Mr. Tarun Bhalla (Founder, Building Blocks) and Mr. Abhishek Gupta (Founder, HR Synergy). The idea was that they would be able to better judge the feasibility of a plan by putting it in the real and practical context.

Dream Merchants event turned into a dynamic field where ideas were generated bandied around, discussed, discarded and sometimes, with much apprehension accepted, because apprehension is the key to precaution. Judges were very keen to explore the ideas thoroughly. Teams made presentation and every presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A sessions where students and judges posed questions and challenged the answers. The ideas presented by the teams were varied ranging from emergency medical services to home crèches; from customized smartphones to online forums for celebrity fashion; no avenue was left by the teams. It seemed that every business opportunity that could be exploited had been explored by the students.

Judges with Mrs. Anita T. Lal (Faculty-in-charge, CED) announcing the results.

All the teams were effective in their presentations and incisive in their answers. All the questions were tackled with; teams sometimes found themselves wrestling with contradiction, cornered by the questions but most of them found their way out after one or two bumps. But, Storm Troopers, with their idea of Zindagi 24x7 or emergency medical services (with Mumbai as target city) stole the glory and came out to be the winner of the event. Avengers came second and Avensis came third. Dreamers and Small wonders received praise and felicitations for participation. After a final address to the judges, teams and the audience, the event ended with a residual charm. The charm of a dream we hold close and don’t share because we fear. Something about Dream Merchants made us believe the cliché: Everything is possible.

HR CONCLAVE

On March 13, 2013 the Corporate Interaction Division at FORE organised an HR Conclave that brought together Experts from the Industry on a platform to discuss the contemporary scenario and challenges in the field of Human Resource Management. The Dignitaries included Mr A D Burman, Deputy General Manager HR at Maruti Suzuki, Mr G Jawahar Deputy General Manager at Power Grid and Mr Naveen Kumar from the field of HR Consulting.

Mr A D Burman started off with the Paradigm Shift in the Business Performance Management and the true value of a company-its people. He discussed about the Inclusive Growth policies at Maruti Suzuki India Limited that are focussed on achieving long term results. He highlighted the importance of providing a Fair Assessment and Rewards to the employees, the need for a communication channel and the value of sharing Business Success with the employees at different levels.

Mr G Jawahar talked about Talent Management- the key challenge being Employee Engagement. He stressed upon the need to recognise quality and appreciate hard work suitably. He brought forth the emergence and contribution of technology in the field of Human resource Management. Mr Jawahar also underlined the need of a feedback mechanism and developing an organisation wide culture that should run in its DNA.

Mr Naveen Kumar discussed about the challenges to Talent Retention in the era of Globalisation, focusing on the new opportunities which are available to the youth who is driven by excitement and the need to invest and develop the right people. He shared the contribution of having a strong Employee Connect Network. The Session concluded with the Q & A session with the Students gaining beneficial insights from the Experts.

Code of Conduct as per Mr. Shubendu Kumar

On January 7, 2013 the Corporate Interaction Division of FORE conducted an Anubhuti session with FORE Alumni Mr. Shubendu Kumar on the importance of code of conduct in a business organisation. Mr. Kumar talked about how learning at a b-school was not just a culmination of knowledge about the business aspect of work, but learning how to work in an organisation was also a very important aspect of the b-school education.  Mr. Shubendu advised the students that what one needs to do in the organisation is ‘aim for an impact that you want to deliver’. In simple words he stressed upon how there was a basic code of conduct that each company expected one to follow even without the induction program that each company provides with. Thus, he talked about the basic mantra of believing in team work, maintaining the office decorum and having complete accountability of our actions. He also put special emphasis on ensuring that one is always clear about the doubts regarding code of conduct and ensure that no unknowing mistake is committed.

He divided his presentation into various parts to make sure that he took the students through all the intricacies of what an organisation may expect out of an individual. Thus, he talked about rapport building and non-verbal communication. He also, mentioned about how important was it to follow the basic meeting etiquette, and to remember that the culture of a workplace is never documented, only observed and followed.  Another lesson that he taught one and all present was the learning of interpersonal skills that included both verbal and non-verbal communication. While the former included traits such as conviction, confidence and enthusiasm; the latter stressed upon following proper body language etc. Another important aspect of interpersonal skill was the communication styles. He basically talked of 3 major styles, namely aggressive, passive and assertive and talked of how one should be aware of their own style and act accordingly.

Lastly he handled the queries posed by the students and ensured that all students left with the key lesson that often it was common sense and logic more than anything else that was essential for the personal and professional development of an individual both within an organisation and even outside one.