REPORT ON GMA’s 23rd. NATIONAL
CONVENTION
JANUARY 21, 2012
India’s impressive growth of the last 5 years has bypassed a
majority of its citizens who lack skills to be gainfully employed or face
discrimination on the grounds of caste and gender. Lack of access to basic
education and health services is also very glaring. The inequalities are
manifested in the growing polarization of society. The root causes need to be
identified and addressed.
GMA recognizing the acute importance of
these issues organized its 23rd. National Convention on the Theme:
Inclusive Growth and Ethics in Management. The theme of ‘Inclusive Growth’ was
discussed in two sessions; one on ‘Capacity Building’ and the other on
prerequisites for a Sustainable Society. This was followed by a panel
discussion on ‘Ethics in Management’.
The Chief Guest of the convention was Justice Om Prakash
Verma, Ex- Chief Justice, Kerala High Court, Former Lokayukt and Chairman Human
Rights Commission, Himachal Pradesh and Former Governor, Punjab. The Guest of Honour and the Key Note Speaker
was Dr. K Jayakumar, Jt. Secretary, DSIR & CSIR, Govt. of India, and CMD
Central Electronics Ltd. Sahibabad.
Others present on the convention were Sh. Deepak Malik, President- GMA,
Sh. Arun Aggrawal, Sr. Vice President- GMA, Dr. R K Agarwal Hony. Secretary –
GMA and Shri Vinay Gupta, Executive Director – GMA, among other office bearers.
After the Saraswati Vandana by students
of Shiva Institute of Management Studies and lighting of the lamp, the
convention began with Mr. Vinay Gupta, Executive director GMA explaining the various
activities of GMA (Ghaziabad Management Association) during the last one year. There was a great applause when it was
announced that GMA has been adjudged Runners up by the jury of AIMA, New Delhi
in its contest of the Best Local Management Award.
Mr. Deepak Malik
President GMA welcomed the distinguished guests and delegates and explained to
them the theme and sub themes of the convention and what made the GMA choose
it. He dwelt upon the three aspects of the theme which were to be deliberated
upon during the day.
In addition to this,
the GMA organized a small exhibition on the premises outside the
auditorium. This was visited by the delegates and people were seen taking
interest especially in the stall displaying the solar power system for home and
industrial use.
The Key Note speaker, Dr. K. Jayakumar,
dwelt upon the subject of
Transformational Management. He explained how organizations need to be
structured to pursue innovation, how balanced organizational goals are set and
performance measured. He emphasized on sustainable economic growth & how to
develop an eco system to promote it. He said that proper governance helps to
reduce poverty & other social ailments. According to him, value systems become very important
to promote trust and ethical behaviour. He explained how the companies should
operate themselves which could be labeled as Ethical. As for employees in an organization, he said
that transparency in dealings is a must so that a uniform culture permeates throughout
the company. This, he said, promotes
Inclusive Growth.
The Chief Guest Justice OP Verma cited
several newspaper reports and statistics to prove his point that social
inequality was on the rise and the rural urban income divide was growing wider.
He talked about how every individual in the country can be made the part of the
inclusive growth. He focused on the fact that the principle of inclusive growth
is enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
He mentioned that for inclusive growth we need to come together by
engaging communities towards achieving inclusive growth. He also pointed out
the use of human capital and value systems in an aggressive way in order to
increase our growth rate. Justice Verma
shared his experiences which pointed to the fact that though the Government was
doing a great deal in making such provisions which would culminate in inclusive
growth, the poor execution was resulting in patchy progress..
The first technical session was on
Capacity Building for Inclusive Growth.
The session was chaired by Shri I C Agarwal, a noted industrialist of
Ghaziabad and one of the patrons on GMA.
He brought focus to the theme of the session and moderated the
discussions/ interactions. Shri Chander
Sabharwal, CEO, Crops Health Products, divided inclusive growth model into 3
categories: Leadership in capacity Building, leadership in innovation &
leadership in environment. He laid stress on the fact that corporations should
focus efforts in developing innovative products targeted at the ‘bottom of the
pyramid’. He gave several examples of such innovations directed at the rural
sector. Shri Basab Banerjee, who is the Head of Standards & QA at the
National Skill Development Corporation, talked about the huge gap between
capacities available within the country for skills training and the requirement
for such training in the coming decade based on identified needs of employers.
He cited the work being done by NSDCL to raise the aspirations of persons
pursuing vocational skills by charting out a career path for them. He also
emphasized the role of curricula development and certifications to improve
quality of training and the role NSCDL can play as catalyst for entrepreneurs
wanting to set up vocational training institutions. Thereafter, Shri Hemanth M, a second year
student of IMT gave a presentation on a joint project done by students of IMT
and overseas colleges to test the use and adaptation of ICT in Education for
promoting Inclusive Growth.
The second session was on the path to
Social Sustainability. This session was
chaired by Dr. A K Puri, Director General, ITS, Mohan Nagar and the speakers
were Dr. G P Rao of Spandan, Sh. K K Mukherjee of Gram Niyojan Kendra and Sh. P
V Ramana Murthy, Vice President (HR), Coca Cola. All these speakers laid a great deal of
stress on activities leading to environmental and social sustainability. They emphasized on the desirability for
sacrifice by the consumptive section of our society, the necessity to live
together exhibiting values of care and mutual help, the need for humanizing the
organization, and ensuring conservation of natural resources for sustainability
so that future generations can live as comfortably as we do. Mr.Ramana Murthy
gave examples of the ‘humanized’ culture in Coca Cola.
The third session was a Panel
Discussion on Ethics in Management. The
session was moderated by Mr.Satyaveer Sharma, EC member GMA.. The other panelists were Shri R K Mittal,
Founder, Kabir Peace Mission, Shri K N Rattan, a noted Consultant and Advisor
to many Companies on operations and Dr. Bibek Banerjee, Director, IMT,
Ghaziabad and Shri Sanjay Nagi, CEO Market Insight Consultants. Shri S S
Sharma, Principal Partner, System Dynamics, who was the session coordinator,
also acted as the moderator of the interaction with the audience after the
presentation by the panelists. Each panelist shared his views and experience on
the subject. The consensus was that it was
possible to do business ethically and not to succumb to unethical pressures.
The panelists felt that ultimately the unethical elements in society are
losers. They also said that the definition of what is ethical is contextual and
needs to be decided by the protagonists concerned. They shared the instances, the difficulties, and
obstacles they faced for maintaining their ethical value system and effort they
had to put in for overcoming these and the benefits derived thereof.
After this session, a short skit was
staged by the students of Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College on the theme of
Corruption in society and ethical behavior. The skit, which was on the theme of
corruption in India, portrayed the picture with great humour and passion. It
earned a loud round of applause from the audience.
The last session was the valedictory
session, where the Chief Guest was Shri Bharat Wakhlu, Resident Director, Tata
Services, New Delhi. He was requested to
give away the prizes to winners of various competitions held by GMA in
association of various member institutes.
Awards were given to employees of BEL
and ITC who were winners and runners up, respectively in the CHANAKYA, the
business simulation game organized by GMA and AKGIM. Thereafter, awards were given to students who
were position holders in SCROLLS competition held at AKGEC, which is a
technical paper presentation. Awards
were also given to students for the best presentation of their Summer Training
Project, held at INMANTEC.
After the awards distribution, Shri
Wakhlu gave his valedictory address. In
this address, he laid emphasis on the Inclusiveness of growth – what it means
to individuals, communities and to the nation, and how to go about it. He said that any activity for inclusive
growth or any other begins from ‘self’.
In this regard, he narrated the concept called “Law of Two Hands” which
merely states that each person has to be engaged and take responsibility for
execution to make things happen.. He
said that CSR should actually be expanded as Corporate Stakeholder
Responsibility. Responsibility does not mean merely giving away money for
development of villages around, he said, but actually, it is a concept of
carrying on the business of the organization in an ethical and sustainable
manner. Then only will we call ourselves
to be ensuring inclusive growth. So far
as ethics is concerned, it is a necessary prerequisite for
achieving inclusive growth.
The program ended with Dr. R K Agarwal,
Director AKGEC and Hony. Secretary of GMA, thanking all the guests, speakers,
delegates, sponsors, advertisers and organizers and all those who, directly or
indirectly, contributed in conduct of this convention and that too, very
successfully.