BMS

Department Report 2014 - 2015

On the 11th of June 2015, when the third batch of Management students graduated from our college, it was a sense of accomplishment for not only the students but for us teachers as well. Since the college received its autonomous status in 2010, the BMS department has not only upgraded its syllabus but also incorporated various innovative mechanisms in order to enhance the teaching-learning process. Our focus this year was to strengthen the system of interactive learning and to create an atmosphere for information generation with the incorporation of the flipped classroom method of teaching. Case studies and articles that were forwarded to students prior to the lecture helped a great deal in adding value to the interaction and discussion in class.

For the academic year 2014-2015, a brief overview of the activities of our department is as follows: 

Every year we try to include something new and different and ‘Think Out Loud’ was one such activity, well received by our third year students. Think Out Loud is a classroom initiative started by the department. It is a weekly debate & discussion forum where a variety of topics are taken up. The aim is to make all the students think across wide swathes of human experience and become holistic in spirit. In the course of the sessions, students came across with passionate views on topics such as the effects of Westernization on the Indian psyche, awareness of the power of media and the role of the media in shaping the views of citizens, the ever changing dynamics of conceptualisation of gender etc. It is easy to see that a person who is in the habit of thinking deeply and earnestly about the world will prove to be a more intelligent, compassionate and far-sighted business professional. Through this initiative, we hope that we will be able to give our students the opportunity to become not only more intelligent but also more compassionate business professionals.

Workshops

• Fr. Terence Quadros S.J., Director of the Counselling Center conducted a workshop on creativity in the classroom.
• Prof. Ruby Pavri from the Department of Psychology conducted a workshop on team work.
• Fr. Prashant S.J. spoke to the first year students about the extraordinary life of Archbishop Oscar Romero.
• A Guest lecture from associates at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Women of Worth (WoW), an NGO based in Chennai talked to the students about the ‘Dark is beautiful’ campaign. The campaign seeks to draw attention to the unjust effects of skin colour bias and also celebrates the beauty and diversity of all skin tones.
• Retired Vice Admiral I C Rao from APLI, spoke to the students about the PortLands Movement which is a citizen’s initiative aimed at redeveloping the city’s neglected port lands.
• Fr. Terence Quadros S. J., Director of the Counselling Center conducted a workshop on Personality and Individuality in Businesses.
• Mr. Asphi Shroff conducted a workshop across two sessions. The sessions that he conducted focused on discovering oneself and building confidence to aid business students in their career and life.
• Mr. Conrad Vincent, director and head credit officer at JM Financial conducted a seminar on understanding Infrastructure financing and its implications in India.
• There was a lecture conducted on the topic of Human Rights with respect to Reservations. It was aimed at opening one’s perspectives with respect to why reservation laws are in place and how they must not be looked down upon.

Honours Programme

Digital Media Marketing Program The Honours Program for first year students, in the academic year 2014-15 was on Digital Media Marketing. Mr. Karan Shah and Ms. Kosha Deliwala of Goodlife Education, Fort, conducted the program. The program, which was conducted across 4 sessions, provided the students an insight into the world of social media marketing. In every session a new social media outlet was examined. Students were taught various methodologies and tactics to effectively market in today’s technologically advancing world.

SAP Program
SAP (System Applications Products) is software that comprises a number of fully integrated modules, which covers virtually every aspect of the business management. During the course of this program, the students were introduced to the software and were made aware of the history, what it is used for and how it is operated.

Prof Subhash Kumar of the BSc IT Department of St. Xavier’s College conducted this course for the second year and the third year students.

E-CELL ACTIVITIES

The BMS department also kick started the E-Cell activities for the year 2014- 15 with a talk on Intellectual property rights. This year the theme for E-Cell was to mentor students who had business ideas. Talk on Intellectual Property Rights A talk on the topic ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ was conducted by Ms Ragini Shah, who is a practicing lawyer as well as an ex-Xavierite. The interactive session covered topics such as ‘Scope of IPR’, ‘Availing IPR’ and the ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ akin to IPR. 

Collaboration with XSTATIC 2014 (Statistics Department Fest) for the event ‘The Start Up’ This event aimed at helping students to explore their creative streak so as to give rise to novel ideas which had the potential of being converted into business ideas. The event also involved showcasing and exposing participants to the initial stages of an individual’s setting up of his/her own business and further indulging them in rounds that would reveal the hurdles and obstacles that an entrepreneur has to go through while materializing his/her idea and the joy and satisfaction received when it actually happens. The E-Cell mainly contributed in the third round which saw participants trying to solve various case studies allotted to them. Mentorship provided by E-Cell The Cell has helped shape and refine business plans, financial workings and even some very basic ideas and notions of how to start up and run a business. The following students were mentored by the Cell

• Pranav Vanmali (Ex-Xavierite): He is currently following his passion for food by trying to establish a food delivery business in Mumbai and is in talks with investors to secure funding for this project.

• Ancy Albert, Sanjana Jadhav, Ayesha Tari (SYBMS): They came up with the business idea of selling chocolates and started their venture in December 2014. It is successfully running by the name of ‘Choco Dolce’.

“The Entrepreneurship Cell of Jai Hind College organized a talk on “Export Promotion Measures” by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and E-Cell had sent students from the college to attend the session.

Zephyrus

Zephyrus, the official management festival of St Xavier’s College, stood true to its lexical meaning, the Greek God of the West Winds, symbolising the ushering in of change with its arrival. Organized by the department of Management Studies, (BMS), this year the entire structure was overhauled to accommodate what went on to become one of the most successful conferences ever to have been held at the St. Xavier’s College Hall. The theme for Zephyrus 2015 was, ‘The Game Plan’, where participants were encouraged to employ foresight and intuition to strategize each move with much prudence, in order to emerge  true victors of ‘The Game’.The Business Conference With a broad theme of ‘India Today, India Tomorrow’, the ‘Business Conference’ event featured industry stalwarts who shared their expertise and gave the students a much needed insight into the Indian business scenario whilst communicating their expectations that they have from today’s youth. On Day 2 and Day 3 Zephyrus hosted various management related innovative events and students from across the city participated in huge numbers and made the event great success.

Internships:

Most of the students interned in various organisations during their Diwali, Christmas and summer break and shared their experiences with the class. An internship not only helps to bridge the gap with the industry but also builds their confidence.

Research based Projects: As a part of the curriculum, students worked on various research based projects.

A few are listed below.

• Impact of Social Awareness Campaigns on Consumers
• Ayurveda - Relevance and Revival
• An Analysis of the consumer understanding, behaviour & acceptance usage of internet based banking
• The Advent of Online Education in India
• Expatriate Policy & Its Effectiveness
• The Rise of Social Television and its impact on the Sports Industry
• Human Resource Training: Life-Cycle and Impact on an Organization
• Cloud Storage In India
• Mindful eating and its impact on the food industry
• Emotional Intelligence and Its effect on Success in Work life
• Impact of Work Culture on Employee Motivation
• Newspapers- A dying industry?
• Indian Defence - White Paper
• The Understanding and Analysis of Consumer Verbatim
• Analysis of the supply chain management of the paint industry
• 3rd party logistics- pharmaceutical industry
• Destination Image: The rise of unconventional information sources

The use of the anti-plagiarism software Turnitin has made sure that all assignments and projects are true and original. These students have been guided by the teachers to inculcate a spirit of research and the end result has been worth the effort. Their projects were commended by not just the external academic experts who had come to evaluate them but also by industry experts as well. The first year students also started a blog that highlighted thought provoking articles from the students. We plan to focus more on the blog in the new academic year.

The First and Third year students went for their industrial visit to Chandigarh and Manali and their factory visits coupled with the sightseeing trips to the exquisite locales made the trip truly
worthwhile.

Under the Cross Faculty paper the department offers a paper in the field of Financial Management: “Management Accounting and Investment & Portfolio management” This course is open to the Science students of the college. Out of the 80% final year students that registered for placements, 90% got placed by June 2015.The remaining 20% of the students who did not register with the placements will be pursuing their post graduate degrees in Management.

I would like to conclude by saying that it was by the grace of God that all our efforts and endeavours for the academic year 2014-2015 were successful and that our department will strive to raise the bar higher in the next academic year.

Soni George Tharakan

 Co-ordinator, Department of Management Studies