Leading B-schools the world over may be teaching the tricks to tackle cut-throat competition and the "go-for-it" killer instinct to prepare management graduates for industry, but a management institute near Chandigarh has something different in mind.
Ethical decision-making, social entrepreneurship, exploring the theory of life, scholarly practice, communication through Indian history and cultural anthropology give a new perspective to both students and faculty of the LM Thapar School of Management (LMTSM) to explore.
"The mission of the institute is to be ethical, inclusive, sustainable and entrepreneurial. Each faculty in this management school takes up responsibilities in four major areas namely teaching, research, institution building and community building. The institute promotes the atmosphere of group learning and research both among the students and faculty," LMTSM director Padmakumar Nair, an eminent researcher and management consultant of international repute, told IANS at the new campus of the institute near Dera Bassi, 25 km from here.
With a state-of-the-art, 26-acre campus, the institute aims at integrating management with technology to develop techno-managerial business leaders. The motto of the institute, "New India starts here", promises to create a new breed of managers who have a different approach to tackling corporate and industry issues. Nair's radical ideas motivate the staff and students alike.
"We are in the business of selling dreams and buying challenges. We power the passion for excellence and imagine the unimaginable. We not only train students for jobs but also cultivate a spirit of social and commercial entrepreneurship among them. The only business school in India with special focus on social entrepreneurship, we are in the process of setting up a venture lab with incubation facility for potential entrepreneurs," Nair said.
"Only 25 percent of the learning can be credited to the infrastructure and other logistics, while 75 percent is due to the people standing in front of you (faculty) and the ones sitting next to you (peers/students). We want this institute to collaborate with other leading institutes in the region to create a healthy ecosystem where students can cross-register. The institute has already started exchange programs with many foreign universities and many more are in the pipeline," Nair added.
The LMTSM is part of the Patiala-based Thapar University, which has been known in the region for its engineering courses since 1956.
Asked how the institute is different from other leading B-schools, Nair said: "In view of the trust deficit businesses are dealing with since the 2008 financial crisis, LMTSM strives to change not only the way the world conducts business but also the way business schools engage the world."
"In the present-day scenario, management education cannot be viewed in isolation. For this reason, we impart lessons to our students in history, culture and literature to help them develop an understanding which goes beyond the conventional management education based on western textbooks. The business leaders produced by us will not only thrive in the contemporary globalised businesses but also challenge typical approaches to management and create innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to societal problems," he said.
"Our major thrust is on developing business professionals who can contribute to India's overall development through entrepreneurial activities, ethical decision-making and quantitative analytical problem solving," he said.
The hi-tech campus has Wi-Fi-enabled smart classrooms with digital podiums and IP cameras for web streaming and surveillance. It also offers a flipped classroom concept to enable students to access their assignments, library or study material at their own comfort. Students can catch up with the lectures delivered in class on the local network.
With faculty from India and abroad, LMTSM has signed several MoUs with international universities of repute like University of Texas-Dallas; University of Twente, The Netherlands; Free University, Amsterdam; and the University of Waterloo, Canada.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in; Anuradha Verma can be contacted at anuradha.vermas@gmail.com)
