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Ideas unlimited

Nilanjan Dey

LEKH. Punji. Visioning. These could be plain old buzzwords for some, but for people at XLRI, Jamshedpur, these meant a lot, if only for two days, thanks to Ensemble, an event that the B-school said showcased `the essence of management education'.

The event was positioned as a convergence of all the societies that are active at XLRI -- marketing, HR, strategy and finance. Each society normally worked independently, interfacing with industry and organising events all round the year.

As XLRI's external linkages cell put it, ``Ensemble tried to bring together the 175-odd registrations that came from a range of sectors including from a Dubai-based outfit.''

``The event,'' according to Mr Shantanu Singh, Secretary, XLRI external linkages, ``was an effort to capture the basic spirit of education that was imparted at the B-school.''

``Over the past few decades, we have been a part of India's corporate community. This was an attempt at cementing the relationship. Ensemble sought to provide two-way interaction; it provided industry with a platform to talk about best practices, and, in turn, soon-to-be managers got a taste of what the future could well turn out to be,'' Mr Singh said.

Lekh, as the name suggests, was a paper-writing contest. It attracted a number of entries, including some from IIM, Calcutta. Punji was an on-line game of finance (done with software developed in-house). Also part of Ensemble was a Hewitt's `visioning co mpetition' and Ogilvy & Mather's `ad shop'. Besides these, there were the usual debate and quiz, all of them integral parts of management events of this nature.

``The business school,'' said Mr Abhijit Deb, Senior Executive Member at external linkages, would like to establish Ensemble as its flagship fest. This year, leading names such as Tata Steel, ITC, O&M, iFlex and Coke associated themselves with it.

``The event would top all student-driven activities on our campus,'' Mr Deb maintained. ``It was already the biggest get-together of its kind at XLRI,'' he added.

Students, too, found their niche, courtesy Event Horizon, a competition sponsored by Tata Steel. The idea there was to bring management education nearer those who wanted it.

On another front, XLRI has tried to do its bit for social development, especially in the Jamshedpur region. Leading this effort is its Centre of Small Enterprises, set up to promote entrepreneurial skills and management of small businesses.

Students, under the aegis of the Centre, propose to work together with NGOs. At the moment, such work is currently on for Child Relief & You (CRY). The projects undertaken for CRY involve developing strategies and conducting market research studies.

For the researchers, the projects would mean exposure to practical requirements of small businesses. The latter, in turn, could use the Centre's expertise (and managerial talent) to add value to their own efforts.

It may be mentioned here that students, as part of their MBA curriculum, follow case studies and real-life projects linked to social development and empowerment of the underprivileged.

Several other organisations, including CARE India and Center of Science and Environment, have shown interest in tapping the XLRI initiative.