April 29, 2024: The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at IIM Bangalore hosted the ‘Foundations of Management’ summer course from April 22 to April 25, 2024. The five-day residential programme comprised sessions delivered by IIMB faculty members and senior doctoral scholars. The course was attended by 57 undergraduate students from more than 45 colleges and institutes across India.
The programme was designed to benefit students in their final year of undergraduate degrees, in any discipline or area, which would go on to add to their skill sets in the pursuit of academic as well as professional goals.
Altogether four IIMB faculty members and 16 senior IIMB doctoral candidates led sessions on diverse topics, covering core areas of managerial studies. The faculty members delivered keynote speeches related to their respective areas, while the doctoral scholars conducted follow-up sessions on topics related to these areas.
Prof. U Dinesh Kumar, Dean (Faculty), delivered the inaugural speech, where he discussed what the idea of management encompasses and the role it plays in different industrial sectors. Prof. Sushanta K. Mishra, Chairperson, CTL, delivered the welcome address and shared an overview of the programme structure. Prof. Ananth Krishnamurthy, Chairperson, Doctoral Programme (PhD) and faculty in the Decision Sciences area, mentored the participants throughout the programme.
The opening keynote speaker, Prof. Mukta Kulkarni, Dean (Programmes) and faculty member of the OB&HRM area, introduced the participants to the concept of organizational structures. She also threw light on the two design approaches—mechanistic and organic—typically opted for by organizations. Nitesh Bhat, senior doctoral scholar from the OB&HRM area, conducted a follow-up session, where he demystified the broad domains within the area and highlighted its importance in management.
In the second keynote address, Prof. Haritha Saranga, faculty from the Production and Operations Management area, touched upon basic aspects of her area such as operations control, supply chain, quality maintenance, workflow management, etc. This was followed by a session on Inventory Models, conducted by doctoral scholar, Ayesha Arora. She introduced the participants to various inventory models and discussed the fundamental trade-offs that businesses face while managing inventory.
Prof. Sreelata Jonnalagedda, faculty member from the Marketing area, delivered the third keynote address, delving into the entire spectrum of marketing. Doctoral scholars from the area, Rochak Khandelwal and Ravikanth Vazrapu, led the follow-up sessions on Behavioral Marketing and Market Segmentation & Targeting.
Prof. Rahul Dé, faculty member from the Information Systems area, delivered a keynote speech touching upon the concepts of Moore’s Law, Gartner Hype Cycle, versioning, and network effects. This was followed up by doctoral scholar, Shubha Krishnamurthy, who shared an overview of information security and privacy concerns faced by organizations and how they can be addressed.
Himanshu Shekhar and Veethica Smriti, doctoral scholars from the Strategy area, introduced the participants to the concepts of Strategic Management and Resource-Based Advantage in the context of firms and businesses.
Kapil Gupta and Murari Srinivasa, doctoral scholars from the Decision Sciences area, conducted sessions on Linear and Logistic Regression and Applications of Network Optimization, respectively. These sessions highlighted the role and significance of decision-making in diverse domains of management.
Lakshmi Parvathy and Sajad S Santhosh, doctoral scholars from the Public Policy area, covered the topics of employment relations in a firm and understanding market failures, respectively.
Doctoral scholars from the Economics Area, Muneer Kalliyil and Anand Kumar, led two insightful sessions on Managerial Economics and Behavioral Economics, respectively. Anand’s session delved into heuristics and how biases affect decision-making, while Muneer explored the law of demand to gain insights into consumer behaviour and market dynamics.
The programme also comprised three sessions focused on the Finance & Accounting area. Senior doctoral scholars, Mareeswaran M, Shreyansh Chaurasiya, and Rajaram P R, conducted interactive sessions, covering salient topics from the area. Mareeswaran talked about the fundamentals of financial markets, types of asset classes, and efficient market hypothesis. Shreyansh’s session centred around the basics of valuation, following an introduction to corporate finance. Rajaram’s session focused on familiarizing the participants to the idea of balance sheet and how various stakeholders leverage data in financial statements.
CTL’s Chairperson, Prof. Sushanta K Mishra, interacted with the participants to capture their overall experience of learning and staying at IIM Bangalore. The programme concluded on a hopeful note, with the promise to continue encouraging and guiding young minds that aspire to pursue management as learners as well as professionals.
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Testimonials
The programme exceeded my expectations tremendously and I highly recommend this program to MBA aspirants. The sessions were insightful and helped me gain foundational understanding of management subjects. The food, accommodation, and hospitality were top-notch. -Meghana Mantha
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The ‘Foundations of Management’ programme provided a comprehensive understanding of the essential management principles. The session instructors helped us gain insights and a lot of knowledge applicable to real world scenarios. -Ananya Prasad
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Very engaging and interesting classes. The interactive session gave us an exposure to various topics of management and the classroom activities helped us gain a practical understanding of management concepts. A lot of case studies were used to help us connect to the subject. The instructors were always available to clarify our doubts. -Neha Reddy Sabella
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The four days at IIMB were a life changing experience for me. Understanding the key role of management and social networking were the key part of the course. I also made friends with students from different parts of the country. The faculty members who took the classes added a new learning paradigm. The course has helped me prepare myself to tackle any real-life situation by providing interesting and relevant materials, group discussions, and classroom activities. - Mary Henin Ka
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This programme is a great experience for someone who wishes to spend time interacting with a diverse set of peers as well as professors. I had an extremely enriching time listening to and contributing to the class discussions. The pedagogy, the reading materials, and the carefully designed structure of the programme were commendable. The hospitality is beyond what you can imagine! - Angel Bansal
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I feel that the course was well-designed. The programme helped me get a clarity about what I want to pursue after my undergraduate studies. I think my perspective building has improved a lot in these four days. -Gitali Mehra
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This has been a good opportunity for me to get to know the basics of management in different domains. The campus life was good, I especially loved the food. This experience motivated me to pursue higher studies in management. -Yashwanth Sai Charan Rayudu