MANAGING PEOPLE IN DOWN TURN CONDITIONS

News about stressful working conditions and difficult bosses are lot more frequent. Add to this, the insecurity of a potential job loss is not comforting. Many organisations have , on paper, sound communication plans and adequate HR practices for "sensitive" dealings with employees. On ground , the realities are far different . Some managers are arrogant and create situations that are damaging to employees confidence. Few managers stand up and have the conviction of dealing with purpose and positive outcome.

What differentaiates these managers?

As severence is inevitable , they follow a collaborative approach with the employee , based on sincere approach. They have credible practices and earn the respect of the people. Above all, they are rarely critical and do not seek excuses to find fault. The communication is positive and imbibe confidence despite the bad news. In order to influence people and motivate , it is essential to inspire trust. This can only be done by a congruent verbal and non-verbal behaviour 

POSTED BY: PALLAVI SINGH

                       PGDM III SEM, 'B'

SALARY CUT OR JOB LOSS

Whether a salary cut is better than a job loss has become an extremely popular topic of discussion these days. Organisations are being forced to take drastic steps like salary cuts to sustain themselves and to avoid any further lay-offs.

So, should an employee be happy about the fact that atleast his/her job remains intact and secure? Well, ideally, every employee should understand that the company is trying its best to sail through these troubled waters and as we support our families through thick or thin, it is our duty to support our organisation too. But then again, as it doesn’t take much to demotivate an employee or disappoint him/her, the impact of a salary cut is certainly there. A setback is a setback, no matter what its quantum is.

But it is imperative that employees understand the depth of the prevailing problem and stay patient and positive until times get better. Everything that goes up has to go down and everything that goes down will come up again! With ample support of employees, hope that organisations do all they can to motivate and encourage their employees no matter how bad things are out there.

POSTED BY: PALLAVI SINGH

                       PGDM III SEM, 'B'

How to Overcome Fear of Public Speaking

Before the Presentation :-

Three simple skills utilized prior to a speaking engagement will lower the amount of stress your child will place on the situation.

    * Visualize. Ever had someone tell you to picture the audience in their underwear? It works! How? It places the presentation in a ridiculous light, lowering the stress associated with public speaking. But if visions of boxers or briefs are too scary to consider, try these visualization techniques. See yourself in the room the presentation occurs in. Picture yourself walking to the front of the room and presenting your material. Visualize audience reaction and your success.

    * Tune in to triggers. Recognize what is stressful about the public speaking experience. Identify triggers that cause anxiety and don’t sweat the small stuff. Focus on your message.

    * Practice. It’s true. Practice makes perfect. The more comfortable you are with the material in the presentation, the lower the anxiety the day you speak. Practice in front of a mirror or ask a friend or family member to be a temporary audience.

During the Presentation :-

You might encounter physical or non-verbal difficulties during your presentation. It is best to deal with any symptom as it occurs, but some basic speech postures will make public speaking a positive venture. Some common problems afflicting public speakers include:

    * Knocking knees. The worst thing a speaker can do is to stand with feet together, locking the knees. Instead, assume a model pose, where weight is distributed evenly between the two feet. Stand so the heel of the right foot is close to the inside arch of the left foot. This provides balance. Plus, if you flex your knees slightly, you avoid falling over.

    * Dry mouth. Drink water before you speak, and, if possible, have a glass of water handy in case you need to moisturize a parched mouth during the talk.

      Shaking hands. If you don’t plan on gesturing and feel uncomfortable with your hands by your side, simply put them together. Depending on your message, this non-verbal cue shows the audience you are relaxed and comfortable with the situation, even if the opposite is true.
   
* Quivering voice. Breathe deeply. Smile! A smile will squelch a shaking voice and show confidence.

* Averting eyes. If you are afraid to make direct eye contact with an audience member, divert your gaze to the top of his or her head. Even though you are not making direct eye contact, it appears that you are. Another tip that will put you at ease is to scan the room while talking. Find a point to your right, middle, and left and scan to those spots during your speech.

Public speaking does not have to evoke a dreadful fear. Using these tips will help lower your fear of public speaking.

POSTED BY :-
SHWETA RANI
PGDM-3rd sem

HR - A STRATEGIC BUSINESS PARTNER

In today’s world talent is a precious commodity. The economy is moving from a manufacturing to a knowledge economy. In that context companies are increasingly finding it difficult to find talent and finding it more difficult to retain them. In addition to that, a new generation has entered the work force Gen Y who are extremely ambitious, demanding and connected. Managers are finding it difficult to handle this workforce. In the current context, organisations have to seriously think, rethink about the talent pool they have and should also think how they should cultivate talent within to ensure that a steady talent pipeline is available.

For that to happen, HR has to be seen as a strategic function than a supporting function. A study by Mercer clearly states that HR managers want to move up the value chain but feel that they are not equipped to handle the responsibility because of lack of exposure / experience. For HR managers to move upstream, they should objectively analyse the current situation of HR in their organisation and what needs to be done to move away from traditional processing mentality to a strategic approach.

Many HR managers want to move from a process to a strategic stream. Many studies have shown that although there is some progress, a lot needs to be done to alter thinking. To do that, HR should become a board room agenda and HR managers should demonstrate the reasons why it should be a top priority amongst leaders.

 

POSTED BY ; PREETI KUMARI

                        PGDM III SEM, 'B'

NEGATIVITY IMPACTS WITH ONE AND ALL

Negativity is nothing but one’s disagreeable nature with the facts, “say no first” attitude, and fear of consequences of any new change, action or event.

Every individual might have experienced negativity (Negative Attitude) at some point of time at the workplace, business, and social service organizations or in personal life. Negativity becomes most destructive force, if not taken care in early stage and spreads across quickly to eat away morale, teamwork, Initiative nature and finally output.

Situations, people, past experiences, surroundings and culture in which one is living his life are major causes for initiating negative feelings within a person. When these factors combined with excessive workload, concerns about ability, job insecurity, office politics, favoritism, lack of challenges, routine work, gossip and lack of recognition at the workplace, it will become a full-blown problem. The most serious thing is favoritism, which can screw up all, from an individual to a big organization.

Gossip at tea time: Where one should be very careful to avoid negativity. During this time people get a chance to peep into others lives. Some gossips may seems to be information, humorous or as a de-stressor. But, the negativity slowly steps in to minds and takes the form of dissatisfaction, frustration and conflict. Finally these negative feelings not only hamper one’s productivity, but also curbs professional and personal growth.

Where ever you work with someone-- could be a peer or a senior; first thing you need to bear in mind is absolutely zero prejudice about him/her. The best way to avoid any notions settling in one’s mind about somebody is by being neutral during the gossiping. Learn about them from their doings and then behave accordingly.

Boredom at the workplace spreads out negativity which leads to bad relationships, frustration and dip in productivity levels. Boredom arises due to routine job. It depends purely on an individual. Some people like to work on the areas where they are comfortable and don’t want to take challenges. However some people want to work in new areas, new technologies, and always want challenges rather than sticking to old ones. In such cases, the management must try to understand the person’s aspiration and come up with innovative solutions to make one’s work place interesting and to break the boredom. As work is always work and changing ones work is not possible and not correct thing in all cases, management should be able to help the folks to see the work in a new angle and with a different perception. This will really help in rejuvenating one’s mind.

Apart from work, there should be some non-work activities which could motivate and give a breeze of fresh air. It could be team outing, birth day celebration or get together. Normally, many organizations celebrate Birthdays on a common date; some do celebrate individually on the particular date. Again, the celebration should not be in a mechanical way – like bringing cake, calling the team, cutting it and eating followed by some plastic smiles and artificial humor. People will get bored soon and loose interest. Nobody likes this kind of celebration which is nothing but another unavoidable meeting. It is more like punishment than pleasure. People need some personal touch and care. In such cases, management should think to some innovative ideas like – send a greetings mail to the person, send a flower bouquet, greeting card and some goodies to their home. This will make a big difference, not only will the person become happy but also their family will feel proud of the Organization. A small thing can make a big difference. Many organizations conduct team outings and plan many activities to keep the employees mind away from work for a while and keep the team sprit up. It works fine to some extent, but not the way it should have been. While planning for team outing, management should discuss with employees, what they like and their expectations. Based on expectations, activities should be planned by involving the employees. Another thing, we should be careful while planning for activities, there should not be too many activities packed up in a time frame – it will de-motivate and make them frustrated. Mainly people should get enough free time to do things in their own way rather than following enforced rules. Lastly, we should not mix-up team-outings with team building.

One more factor that spreads negativity within an organization is the kind of interaction between “the Boss and Subordinates of the company” and “the HR and the Employees”. Each and every employee needs attention of the Organization and Organization requires everybody’s participation. Management should try to involve each and every one in decision making - based on their roles and responsibilities. Otherwise employees feels that their views has no value and there is no consideration for them, and this slowly leads to hostility and a ‘why should I care?’ attitude–Again Negativity. It is very important to make every employee feel that they are important to the company. This can be achieved only by improving communication with them and being open about most managerial decisions.

Lastly, few more important factors that lead to negativity – Lack of appreciations and recognition. After working hard for days, weeks and months together, employees expect a basic amount of appreciation and recognition for their efforts. When that does not happen, most of them tend to lose the motivation to work as hard as they did earlier. Again, the process of evaluation and comparison for recognition should be transparent; otherwise it will backfire and may raise misunderstandings.

Ultimately, one should have to deal with negativity in work place as well as in personal things for a beautiful life.

 “Transform each hurdle into an opportunity”. “Stop gossiping and idle talk”. “Keep yourself occupied”. “Be transparent and make the process transparent”. “Communicate effectively with peers and seniors”. “Stop favoritism. “Be neutral”. “Be innovative”. 

POSTED BY : SHUBHAM AGARWAL

                        PGDM III SEM, 'B'

CREATIVE RETENTION STRATEGIES: TREADING THE UNBEATEN TRACKS

With globalisation taking the entire globe into its ambit, competition in every segment has reached its climax. Whichever sector of our economy you take, there are innumerable employers and so are employment opportunities. Employees tend to make the most of it by switching from one company to the other and from one job to another in search of better avenues, perspective, work culture or promotion. But this leads to a great loss of human resources for employers.

Picture it! An employee, who joins as a fresher and gradually becomes more skilled by dint of his experience, ultimately switches to another job to justify his experience. All investments made by the employer turns futile.

As this culture swiftly gained momentum and would have acquired malignant form, employers apprehending the potential threat that this ‘aaya ram, gaya ram’ cult possed to the employers in particular and whole economy in general, came up with plethora of creative retention strategies. Maintaining a stable, seasoned staff is an investment that can pay rich dividends in the long run. Initially employees resorted to legal measures by making written agreements with employees, which made it compulsory for employees to serve respective companies for a certain period. But this was no solution, it was yet another problem. It is not only important to ensure that employees hold on, but it is equally important that they work towards productive welfare companies.

Of all the creative retention strategies that are used by the organisations today, the major one is to identify the reasons or factors which tempts employees to migrate. Employers have a continuous evaluation system in place, which ensures that every employee gets his due share. A short term, performance based bonus and compensation system that rewards continued employment at three months, six months, a year and so on has been put in place,which ensures that as an employee grows in his skills and experience, so does his perks and avenues. So that he is not lured into another job.

Several employers allow employees to dedicate some part of their working hours to their work related interests like research works which not only boosts productivity but also spurs a sense of oneness in employees and makes working a playful experience.

Establishing employee ownership program that rewards longevity with profit sharing bonuses or shares in the company has really boosted the employee retention rates. The best way to retain top quality employees is to make them a part of employer themselves by including them in board of directors or providing them shares in the company. A sense of ownership in employees greatly spurs the cause of employers.

Though there are scores of employee retention policies around, still each one of them can be made more effective. The gap between employers and employees can never be bridged. Both can have their own perspective over the same issue. So any unilateral policy drafted and decided by employers alone can never satisfy one and all. All retention policies must be bilateral,i.e,employers and employees should equally be involved in all retention strategies. Many employers conduct polls to find what employers actually want and this leads to many unconventional innovations like permitting employees choose their own shift which actually works wonders.

So,in nutshell, organisations already have a lot of creative retention strategies today. But still it needs to be taken to the next level with few new innovative ideas. Every employee retention policy has some room for improvement. Employers must keep themselves open to suggestions and global developments. These retention strategies will go a long way in strengthening the relation between employers and employee sand generating a conducive work culture.

POSTED  BY : PALLAVI SINGH
                         PGDM III SEM, 'B'

How to Create an Effective Risk Management Plan

 

The goal of risk management is to essentially decrease the various risks which are associated with reaching any specific goal. Threats can come in a wide variety of different forms, and some of them include threats involving the environment, humans, technology, and politics. Your risk management strategy may not be effective if you use the wrong plan.

 

The goal of risk management is to create an approach which is structured when it comes to handling uncertainty, especially those which are related to threats. An effective risk management plan must be comprised of a number of important things, and these things include risk assessment, along with strategies that are designed to mitigate risk. Much of this will be done through the usage of managerial tools.

An effective risk management plan can use a number of different strategies in order to handle risk in an effective way. The risk management plan can transfer risk to another group, or it can avoid the risk altogether. It can also be designed in such a way that the impact of the risk is decreased in case it does occur.

There are other risk management strategies which are designed to accept a few or perhaps even all of the consequences that may come with a given risk. Many risk management strategies place a heavy emphasis on risks that come from things which are related to either legal issues or physical issues. Examples of physical threats are fires or natural disasters, while legal issues will in all likelihood denote things such as lawsuits.

Financial risk plans place a heavy emphasis on protecting the financial assets and resources of the organization. Financial risks will generally be managed through the usage of financial instruments which are traded. When it comes to risk management planning, it is crucial to make use of a process for prioritization, one in which the risks which have the greatest losses and highest probability of occurring are addressed first, while the risks which have a lower impact and probability of occurring are given a lower level of importance. The problem with low probability risks is that they are often mishandled, and this can lead to problems down the road.

How Risk Management Plans Should be Structured 

A risk management plan must be capable of identifying new risks. Another type of risk to be mindful of are relationship risks. These risks will often result in situations where a collaboration occurs which is ineffective. A risk involving process engagement may occur in situations where procedures or methods are used which are not effective.

The danger that comes with these risks is that they lower the productive level of the employees, and they also reduce the effectiveness of cost, as well as service and reputation. Intangible risk management must be incorporated into risk management plans since it allows immediate value to be created via the identification and decrease of any risks that may lower productivity.

Another challenge that organizations will face when developing risk management plans is being able to properly allocate their resources. This is closely connected to the concept of opportunity cost. Any resources which are used for the purpose of risk management may also be used for other activities which may be much more profitable.

The goal of your risk management plan should be to reduce the amount of spending to the lowest level possible will maximizing the reduction level of risks at the same time. No matter what your organization specializes in, there are a number of features that your risk management plan should have. First, risk management must be capable of creating value.

Features Your RMP Should Have

Your risk management plan must also be a vital part of the internal processes of the organization. The risk management plan that you establish should play an important role in the decision making process. The plan must also be capable of clearly addressing uncertainty.

All good risk management plans must be structured, and this should be done in a manner which is systematic. No risk management plan should be created which isn't dependent on the absolute best information which is available. It is also important for your risk management plan to be tailored properly, and it should be both transparent and inclusive at the same time.

 POSTED BY :-

SHWETA RANI

PGDM - 3RD SEM 

LONG WORK HOURS

The question of work life balance arises when you have time for both work and life! How do you expect an employee to balance his life when he is spending over twelve hours at work? Longer working hours to meet deadlines and avoid pending work (yet having to complete assignments during the weekend) is a threat to the health as well as productivity of workers. Firstly, it causes sleeping problems, depression, an unhealthy lifestyle and a raised risk of cardiovascular disease, possibly linked to stress.

Next, a person who has spent much of his day (and part of his night) at office will only be half productive. The best ideas come to you only when your mind is relaxed. Thinking clearly and creativity requires adequate rest periods. Rest intervals that may be taken at work are only partially relieving. Unless an employee is absolutely comfortable and in perfect health, he might still be physically at his desk but be able to produce very little work. Management, in an increasingly complex world, must understand that employees should be allowed greater flexibility in how they want to work, where they want to work and also for how long. In the end, such an approach if well monitored may actually produce greater results even in a shorter span of time! 

POSTED BY : SHUBHAM AGARWAL

                        PGDM III SEM, 'A'

THE INDIAN TREASURES

Every new corporate advancement that enters our Indian Inc is perceived to be a contribution of the western world. However we fail to recognize that our own Culture and texts are better potential resources than the current resources available where one would find all sorts of cases that we face in reality and probable solutions to them. For instance one could take up the story of Vibhishana the younger brother of Demon King Ravan. When he tried suggesting a better solution to his sibling he was kicked out in the name of being disloyal. However his attempt to join Ram’s army succeeded. The strategy behind it being  the knowledge base available about Lanka and the army of Ravan(all the defects and positives) in the form of Vibhishan. Most important of all, his wish to become the next king was quickly recognized by Ram’s group. The moral of the story is this, when the top management of an organization  resists listening to Ideas and Suggestions/ does not give the right level of freedom and innovation  to  its employees, no matter how much it pays them, they tend to leave. Such an instance is always dangerous especially when it is the case of Key personals   as the competitors attract them easily by promising them whatever they want in order to get the information about an organizations so as get the details of their previous work place and its strengths. (loyalty is always a variable in corporate scenario and never constant). Thus a deep research and circumstantial interpretation of our treasures would surely pave way for a better management system.

POSTED BY: PALLAVI SINGH

                       PGDM III SEM, 'B'

RECESSION IN INDUSTRY

Here is recession in every Industry due to Global melt down and Steel Industry is no exception.It is like History repeats itself.The nature of problem varies from time to time whatever may be the name given to the so called downturn in the growth,the net resultant effect will be on the salried employee who ultimately loses his job.I have witnessed a similar situation some 10 years ago and the name given was Disinvestment in Public sector.The employees feared and searched for greener pastures in private sector.Some employess have left their secured jobs and strugged for years to get settled in Life.Now there is recession every where and Employees are shown Pink slips irrespective of the reasons that have lead to this types of decisions.Ultimately,a person with 2 yrs experience and as well as a persong with 20 yrs of experience has to run pillar to post in search of job which may give stability.Employees are always under constant pressure of not having job security rather than the work pressure.There is no exception to the people working in Gulf region had to face the indirect effects of Global meltdown or Financial upturn therby witnessing Pink slips from the employers.Due to this ,it is not only employess who are under constant mental stress but also the family members who are inevitably share the stress every day.There is disturbance in every aspect and insecurity every time.I question myself that when this constant searching and changing of job ends and when can I hava a stable and peaceful life after having 2 dacaded of professional experience.It remains a million dollar question and we should answew ourselves.

POSTED BY; SHUBHAM AGARWAL

                        PGDM III SEM, 'A'

ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT-TEST IN DOWNTURN

Organizational Commitment: What do we really think when we hear /read this title? The first reaction we might give is-A HR topic. A new HRjargon. etc etc... Theoretically- It’s performing beyond your jobresponsibilities in the organization.

Practically-Do we check with ourselves about the organizational commitment?So guys when especially in this time, we are talking about the Job loss and salarycut, can we think about organizational commitment as well?

These are the best time for any HR personnel to figure out who isreally committed to the work and the company. Post appraisals people come andask for -"what is in it for me? I did so well. I did late sittings. I did that...Idid this...” does this all sound familiar?

When the top layer in the company is being fair and honest withthe employees below, its employees' duty to trust them and support them in thebad times. Help the organization sail through even in the rough weather. Itstime for employees to get up and stand together for their organization. Isn't it?

For those who did get their bonus pay and are not sacked (sorryfor being harsh) should really thank god and see how they can perform better toenhance the company's productivity. Employees could try any or all of these andmore to fight the current scenario:

Enhance / Upgrade your own skills

Train your team members

Learn new skills in other areas / functions

Design a new business model, applying creativity, to sell youproduct / project 

Help form a Green Team in your organization who would devicemethods to reduce extra expenses in the organizations.

Form a Motivators' Group-To motivate the employees within team aswell beyond.

... And there could be many such. In turn organizations could alsotake few steps to help employees come out of the setback and motivate them tolook forward to better times.

All in all both the shores-employees and Management-need to cometogether to stand strong and fight through with the current times. Remember welearnt long back in school- Together we stand, divided we fall!

HR comes into picture to balance the act at both the ends. Itfunctions as the mid-hanger between Management and Employees. In these times HRplays a very critical role. It has to be alert and Active!

So what are we saying? That HR plays an important role inmotivating employees, increasing their organizational commitment and helpingmanagement take right decisions pertaining to employees.

Employees on the other hand need to be more understandingand careful about their steps. Cautious and open for change.

Managementneeds to Listen and Think. Act cautiously and be open and honest!

 

POSTED BY: PREETI KUMARI

                       PGDM 3 SEM, 'B'

BURNING ISSUES IN THE HR SPACE

Nowadays it has become essential to understand the importance of human power in industries as well as new developing companies.Its quite natural that if there is satisfaction among the employees than obviously the companywill grow and will soon achieve its target. Earlier days it was followed that the exployees were not given importance at the place where they used to work but slowly and gradually they started understanding the importance of human resource in industries.
The new trend which I observed as being a trainee of one of the local public company for my college project , i saw that there is exploitation policy is going on in each and every company.Exploitation on new recruiters by their seniors has become common. Seniors always tend to behave in very rude manner and they never treat their juniors with love and care. This is the very first point where new recruiters feel insecurity about their jobs and their individual growth. so there exploitation tendency on new recruiters is one of the burning issues in the H.R space which need a very immediate action to remove these policy and try to understand the imprtance of the new budding employees which come with lot of positive energy but die as they enter in any public ltd company.
Lay off has also become one of the biggest burning issue in H.R.space. A company instead of giving lay off to its employees should thing of other alternative and when no alternative is found than only should conclude wiht these horrible decision.

POSTED BY: PALLAVI SINGH
                       PGDM III SEM
                       SEC 'B'

Microsoft introduces visual search for Bing.com


Software giant Microsoft has introduced visual search for its search engine Bing.com, in order to further set itself apart from market leader Google.
According to a report by BBC News, the new feature will let users browse results using pictures instead of text.
Visual search will concentrate on four main areas: travel, health, leisure and shopping.
"The whole concept is that the world of search is going to change," said Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi.
"There will be a more graphic way people will search, and it will pivot how people search," said Mehdi, the firm's senior vice president of online services.
Microsoft also claimed that "Visual Search" allows users to conduct certain searches faster than the traditional image search offered by rival Google and other search engines.
In a blog post, the company said a study it conducted found that consumers can process results with images 20 percent faster than text only results.
"It's like searching through a large online catalogue," Microsoft said.
As users enter search terms, a link at the top of the first page of results lets you choose to 'visualise' what Bing has found.
Click on the link and a display or gallery of related images will pop up.
A search at bing.com/visualsearch for "digital cameras," for example, returns a gallery of thumbnail pictures of digital cameras which can then be filtered by manufacturer or by price, displaying a new set of images.
Hovering over a particular image or clicking on it will provide information about that particular product and the images rearrange themselves on the page as a search query is refined "A thousand words".
At the moment, only a small number of topics will return a visual display. These centre around popular categories like entertainment, famous people, shopping and sports.
"Where visual search really helps is in areas like travel or e-commerce, shopping or even the movies," Don Dodge, Microsoft's director of business development told the BBC.
Microsoft said that it will be expanding visual search over the coming months.
"Your brain works faster on a picture than it does on text so a picture really is worth a thousand words," it said.

POSTED BY:-
SHILPI KUMARI
PGDM-3rd sem.

SBA ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The Steps of an Environmental Investigation



NAICS Codes. For all Property except units in a multi‐unit building, CDC must begin by making a Good Faith effort to determine the


NAICS code(s) for the Property’s current and known prior uses and compare the NAICS code(s) to the list of environmentally


sensitive industries in Appendix 4. For units in a multi‐unit building, Lender may proceed directly to paragraphs 2.a) and b) below.


1. If there is a NAICS code match to an environmentally sensitive industry identified in Appendix 4, the Environmental Investigation


must begin with a Phase I, regardless of the amount of the loan.


If the NAICS code begins with 447 (gas stations with or without convenience stores), CDC must refer to, and if applicable comply


with, “Environmental Investigation Requirements for Gas Station Loans” in Appendix 5.


2. If there is not a NAICS code match to an environmentally sensitive industry, the CDC must proceed as follows:


a) If the loan amount is up to and including $150,000, the Environmental Investigation may begin with an Environmental


Questionnaire.


b) If the loan amount is more than $150,000, the Environmental Investigation must, at a minimum, begin with an Environmental


Questionnaire and Records Search with Risk Assessment.


3. Environmental Questionnaire Results. If the Environmental Questionnaire reveals it is unlikely that there is environmental


contamination at the Property and that no further investigation is warranted, CDC must submit the results of the Environmental


Investigation to SBA with recommendations and seek SBA’s concurrence.


If at any time an Environmental Questionnaire reveals that further investigation is warranted, CDC must obtain, at a minimum, a


Transaction Screen.


4. Environmental Questionnaire & Records Search with Risk Assessment Results


a) If the Environmental Questionnaire reveals it is unlikely that there is environmental contamination at the Property and that no


further investigation is warranted, and the Records Search with Risk Assessment concludes that the Property is a “low risk” for


Contamination, CDC must submit the results of the Environmental Investigation to SBA with recommendations and seek SBA’s


concurrence.


b) If the Records Search with Risk Assessment concludes that the Property is an “elevated risk” or “high risk” for Contamination, CDC


must obtain a Phase I ESA.


5. Transaction Screen Results


a) If the Environmental Professional conducting the Transaction Screen concludes that no further investigation is warranted, the CDC


must submit the results of the Environmental Investigation to SBA with recommendations and seek SBA’s concurrence.


b) If the Environmental Professional conducting the Transaction Screen concludes that further investigation is warranted, the CDC


must obtain a Phase I ESA.


6. Phase I ESA Results


a) If the Environmental Professional conducting the Phase I ESA concludes that no further investigation is warranted, the CDC must


submit the results of the Environmental Investigation to SBA with recommendations and seek SBA’s concurrence.


b) If the Environmental Professional conducting the Phase I ESA concludes that further investigation is warranted (typically a Phase


II), and the CDC still wants to make the loan, the CDC must proceed as recommended by the Environmental Professional, or in the


alternative submit the results of the Environmental Investigation to the SBA with recommendations and seek SBA’s concurrence. In


general, SBA will require compliance with all of an Environmental Professional’s recommendations (including “housekeeping


measures,” such as secondary containment, decommissioning monitoring wells, sealing floor drains, etc.). In the rare instance where


an exception may be warranted, CDCs must provide a rationale for not wanting to follow the Environmental Professional’s reccomendations.
 
PRESENTED BY:-
SHILPI KUMARI
PGDM-3rd sem

Google launches news reader 'Fast Flip'

Internet giant Google has unveiled its "Fast Flip" online news reader. featuring stories from major media outlets, including the BBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Google, which launched Fast Flip at the TechCrunch50 technology conference in San Francisco, compared using the quick-loading product to flipping through the pages of a magazine "really fast without unnatural delays."

Fast Flip allows users to quickly browse through news stories from the websites of Google's three dozen partners.

A Web surfer can quickly jump from one article to the next using large arrows at speeds significantly faster than the time it usually takes to load a Web page.

"As the name suggests, flipping through content is very fast, so you can quickly look through a lot of pages until you find something interesting," Fast Flip developer Krishna Bharat, a Google engineer, said in a blog post on Monday.

Other companies supplying content include magazines such as the Atlantic, BusinessWeek, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Marie Claire, Newsweek and Popular Mechanics, as well as online news sites TechCrunch, Salon and Slate.

The Mountain View, California-based Google has had a strained relationship with some US publishers and Bharat said the Internet company would share advertising revenue from Fast Flip with its media partners.

Posted by :-

Shweta Rani

pgdm-3rd sem

Surviving the slowdown

From the substantive ones like restructuring for greater variable pay, shifting to long-term rewards, cleaning up non-cash benefits, removing bottom performers and deferring salary increases to the more symbolic ones like stopping the elevator, switching off the air conditioners, rationalising bus routes and reducing the food subsidies, organisations are implementing an unending list of ideas to survive the slowdown.
While organisations genuinely affected by the downturn might need to do some of this, others that are not as badly affected seem to be using the overall mood to just get more efficient by shedding jobs, cutting costs and pruning the flab.

The last two decades have seen many organisations embrace progressive HR practices and commit costs that cumulatively attempted to demonstrate the value of employee care and respect. This in many ways also contributed to better employee relations and a dramatic reduction in any form of collective action.

As the entire globe reels under an economic crisis, organisations are seeing the need to cut some of these costs and become lean. As they begin to act they realise that axing today’s costs is not enough. They realise that they need to change at a cultural level by embracing the new values of prudence and austerity.

Are organisations doing it in a manner that will elicit appropriate emotions and actions from employees and integrate the organisation and create a new commonly held cultural identity? I am afraid not. In attempting to respond to difficult times, organisations are inadvertently abandoning the value of employee care instead of reinterpreting it. Let me explain this. If through their actions organisations are able to demonstrate to their employees that they continue to care for them but are merely unable to display it through monetary and material means that would mean reinterpreting the value of care. If on the other hand, employees do not even experience care in these difficult times, it would reinforce their belief that organisations have abandoned the very value.

Here are three things that organisations must pay attention to, to reinforce the value of care:

1. Ensuring basic standards in the employee’s daily work life

The employee’s daily work life gets him/her to directly experience many of the basic policies and facilities of the organisation and through that the value of care. HR professionals and CEOs must act as custodians in ensuring basic standards in these areas.  Overcrowded buses, unhygienic toilets and an unresponsive and inaccessible HR team do not show that we care.

2. Ensuring a fair appraisal experience

The annual performance assessment is the most important moment of truth in the employee’s work life. While the 2009 appraisals may not lead to great reward outcomes, the minimum we can offer our employees is an appraisal experience that demonstrates fairness, transparency, respect and openness. 

3. Ensuring a healthy managerial relationship

If we ensure that our managers are respectful and fair we can demonstrate that we care.
 
The good news is that employees of today understand the business context far better and are quite willing to make a few sacrifices even as their organisations struggle to get back to the pink of health.  However, winning their support and retaining the soul of the organisation will depend on the cultural awareness and psychological mindedness of Business and HR Leaders.

 Posted By: Pallavi Singh

                     PGDM III SEM, 'B'

Aviva in pact with DBS for product distribution



Private life insurer, Aviva on Tuesday entered into a bancassurance tie-up with foreign lender DBS Bank to operate

Education vs. employability 

Employability of available talent is a major concern across industries. Experts believe that this is mainly due to a disconnect between education and industry requirements. Experts are now calling for an effective revamp of the education and training systems to enhance employability

There is a remarkable mismatch between what is being taught in schools, colleges and universities and the knowledge, skills and behaviour businesses and organisations are looking for in new recruits. “The most striking finding of the study was the consistency with which we heard calls for large scale reform, wherever we went. Many of the businesses we spoke to felt that education failed to effectively prepare individuals for the workplace. Even students felt that their education lacked relevance to the jobs they were hoping to apply for in the future.”

While the demand for large scale reforms in the education sector to match the expectation of industries is gaining prominence, how to equip people with the relevant skills they need is a serious concern for many. Many of the person suggests that at school or college level, the focus of teaching should be more top down rather than bottom up. It should start with what does the person needs to know to do a good job rather than just going through the details of all the traditional subjects.

Train to gain

Bringing in drastic changes to the education system seems to take a long time, so many firms have implemented several training programmes to improve the quality of the available talent. Today there are various training programmes both within and outside firms, conducted independently by organisations or in partnership with various universities.

But experts say that training programmes must be designed in such a way as to motivate and improve the skills of a person. “A training programme must do three things - it must inspire and motivate and sell the importance of the skills, it should package the training in a memorable way, and it should have the person actually use the training in a simulated job environment,” opines Fuloria.

“The training programmes should be more work centric and they should be developed according to the needs of the work and the workplace. It is becoming increasingly apparent that it is behaviour which marks out the adaptability of a person in a workplace. So equal emphasis on specific skills as well as behaviours is desirable.

Equip yourself

And the success of a training programme lies in how much of it an employee could use effectively in his or her work life. Even though training programmes could help employees improve their skills and prepare themselves, experts say that personal effort is also crucial in enhancing employability. “A lot of the responsibility for ensuring employability falls on the shoulder of the student/jobseeker himself/herself. Today one can find so much information on search engines like Google about everything. So if a person want to learn how to run a project well or want to learn how to write good software, he/she can find volumes of information about it is largely free. What is needed is the motivation and focus to use it to develop skills.” 

Employers in India have some specific requirements that they look for in job seekers which include traits like ability to work in a team, high aspirations, sense of responsibility, creativity etc. All these skills can be developed by training and practice. So even as discussions about a change in the curriculum and education systems to enhance employability, students or prospective employees must put in their own effort to master knowledge and skills, which they could obtain even without the help of anyone on the outside. This will surely help increase their value in a tough job market.


Posted By : Pallavi Singh
                   PGDM III Sem, Sec ' B'

Nine Key Points of Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS)

BOS is the result of a decade-long study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than 30 industries over 100 years (1880-2000).

BOS is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost.

The aim of BOS is not to out-perform the competition in the existing industry, but to create new market space or a blue ocean, thereby making the competition irrelevant.

BOS offers a set of methodologies and tools to create new market space.

While innovation has been seen as a random/experimental process where entrepreneurs and spin-offs are the primary drivers - as argued by Schumpeter and his followers - BOS offers systematic and reproducible methodologies and processes in pursuit of innovation by both new and existing firms.

BOS frameworks and tools include: strategy canvas, value curve, four actions framework, six paths, buyer experience cycle, buyer utility map, and blue ocean idea index.

These frameworks and tools are designed to be visual in order to not only effectively build the collective wisdom of the company but also to effectively execute through easy communication.

BOS covers both strategy formulation and strategy execution.

The three key conceptual building blocks of BOS are: value innovation, tipping point leadership, and fair process.

POSTED BY :-

SHWETA RANI

PGDM-3rd sem

O C Tanner renews contract with Mahindra Satyam

US based O C Tanner, a human resource consulting and services company has renewed its contract with Mahindra Satyam to provide application development services to the US based company.

The company refused to reveal details on the size of the deal and the duration for which it would provide services to its client.


Close to 130 employees will be working on this deal, the company said. Satyam has been providing services to the US based firm since 20 months.

“We are thankful to the leadership team at O.C. Tanner, for increasing our business by almost 100 percent in the last four months,” says CP Gurnani, CEO from Mahindra Satyam.The doubling of business comes after the beleaguered, once run by B Ramalinga was taken by Oune based Techmahindra.

The erstwhile Satyam was offering services to fortune 500 companies like GE, Caterpillar, among others, but the company faced client attrition customer confidence took a heavy knock in the wake of the revelations by Raju.

In its new incarnation as Mahindra Satyam, the company is now is now attempting to regain contracts to turnound the company.

In July this year, global pharma major Glaxo Smith Kline, renewed its contract with Satyam for five years to provide SAP and other critical systems support. Satyam had been working with GSK since 2002 in providing IT services.

Tanner provides presentation training, administration, and awards for programs honoring employee service or performance.

“We are pleased to extend our partnership, which we consider both strategic and long-term in nature,” said Tanner’s Chief Information Officer, Volkmar Nitz.


posted by:-
Shilpi kumari
PGDM-3rd sem

Wipro bags 3-year deal from Japan's ANA


Wipro Ltd, India's No. 3 outsourcing firm, said that it has won a three-year outsourcing contract from All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's no.2 carrier.
The company did not provide financial details of the contract.


ANA, with its fleet of 209 aircraft, is the first airline in the world to procure the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It is embarking on transforming its legacy materials management system to support the new fleet, in line with the expansion of its business at Tokyo`s Haneda Airport with its upcoming fourth runway in 2010.

Wipro will deliver materials management system to ANA that will help proactively manage the parts life cycle. The system will strengthen regulatory compliance, predict parts demand better and help manage inventory levels. The new Materials Management system will be built in a scalable, flexible platform.

The state of the art system will help ANA increase its cost competitiveness, improve the quality of its aircraft part maintenance business and improve asset management. Wipro will manage the complete program, delivering services such as Application Development, Program Management and Vendor management thereby enabling ANA to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Commenting on selecting Wipro as a strategic partner, Takanori Yukishige, SVP ANA Information Technology Services said, "We are starting a new journey and this program will set a benchmark for our future way of doing business. We look forward to further leveraging our partnership with Wipro to gain competitive advantage."

Hiroshi Alley, President & Representative Director, Wipro Japan said, "It is a significant engagement for us and will be a driver for increased penetration in the growing Japan outsourcing market."

posted by:-
Shilpi kumari
PGDM-3rd sem

The access management problem

Managing access to on-line information is a broad problem, which occurs in a wide range of different applications. Managers of on-line information wish to implement policies about who can access the information, under what terms and conditions. 

Examples of areas where access management is needed include the following:

Digital libraries

 

Libraries often need to restrict access to parts of their collections for various reasons, including restrictions imposed by donors, concerns about privacy or obscenity, licensing arrangements, and other agreements with copyright owners.

 

Electronic publications

 

The most common reason that publishers and other copyright owners wish to manage access is because they require payment for use of materials, but there are other reasons, such as preventing the spread of unapproved derivatives.

 

Security, classification, and trade secrets

 

Governments sometimes classify information in order to control access for security reasons. Commercial organizations use similar methods to protect confidential information and trade secrets.

 

Medical records

 

Medical information is usually kept confidential, except to people who can demonstrate that they have a need to know.

 The various application areas use different terminology to describe the questions of controlling access to on-line information. In publishing, the term "rights management" is often used, but this term is very narrow in scope. The phrase "terms and conditions" is also widely used. The term "access management"  is a broad term that applies in all areas.

Independent of terminology, it is important to view access management from the perspective of the manager of the information. In a digital library, information is obtained from a variety of sources, for example by license from a publisher, or by a donation with restrictions on use. In drawing up its access management policies, the library will reflect agreements with publishers and other third parties. There may also be relevant laws that must be embodied in the policies. However, with digital materials as with physical items, the library is responsible for managing access to its collections.

Access management has been a topic of digital library research for several years. The general area was a theme of CNRI's work for the Computer Science Technical Reports project.  An updated version of these concepts is included in a recent paper from the Cross-Industry Working Team. Another overview of the field is the report of the National Science Foundation workshop, in March 1996.

POSTED BY :- 

SHWETA RANI

PGDM-3rd SEM

SBI Life plans IPO in 2009

SBI Life Insurance Company may come out with an IPO in the year 2009, depending on market conditions and possible changes in the Insurance Bill.
Though SBI Life meets the criteria for listing its company, the decision on whether to list or not would depend on market conditions and also on an amendment in Insurance Bill, SBI Life CEO US Roy said.
“We need to wait for the Insurance Bill to be passed and, accordingly, we will take a call. But we are preparing ourselves. If regulatory issues are solved and the market recovers, we might go in for listing in 2009,” he said.
According to the Insurance Act 1938, insurance firms who have completed 10 years of operation in India can get listed in the stock market. However, the company needs to be making profits for three consecutive years.


SATISH CHANDRA
PGDM III SEM
SEC A

Role of HR managers in the new economy

HR is a strategic function and no more a supportive department. The role of managers have become ever complex and to manage these functions organisations need to select the right set of people with the modern attitude and the latest knowledge.


Today’s market is highly competitive and business environment is also very challenging. In such a context organisations require highly skilled talented people to deliver the best and survive and further sustain in this competitive business world. Now organisations need people who could explore newer markets, innovate new technologies, learn new language of work and sustain business operations with enriched contributions. New age entrepreneurs are keen to develop competent and value based human assets. They desire their HR to be the best and be the champions of best HR policies.

Now, HR is a strategic function and no more a supportive department. The role of managers have become ever complex and to manage these functions organisations need to select the right set of people with the modern attitude and the latest knowledge.

A HR professional is a part of the business and no business decisions are taken today without the active involvement and contribution of HR professionals. HR professional’s role now is partnering, providing and preparing. Even today we can see that HR professionals are climbing up to the position of CEO, which was a dream for a HR professional few years back. Success and failure of business depends to a great extent on the functions of HR department. Today’s high attrition rate is also a function of poor HR policies. Retaining the employees has become a biggest challenge for the HR professionals.

Now employees are no more just employees but they are knowledge employees. In today’s knowledge economy, attracting and managing knowledge employee, training and developing them have become the major task of HR. Innovative methods and new systems like walk-in interview, tele-interviews, and referrals are being developed to ensure best people are attracted and selected. Even now company gives emphasise on re-recruitment, which is proven very successful. With the changing business scenario many new concepts have come in HR parlance like temping, head-hunting, reverse recruitment etc. The role of HR has become critical for any company’s success.

HR has enabled the organisations to quickly realise the people’s motivation and interest resulting sustainable business growth. Ensuring people’s contributions continuously match the business demands, therefore, become the responsibility of HR. Its major actions elate to select the best, retain the best, develop the best and provide the best.

Intensive competition among the companies across the countries, in today’s borderless world, has made the situation worse. Now, companies talk about productivity, target and delivery. The expectation of the company from its employees have increased manifold. Stretching of working hours is a common practice in industry. The concept of 24X7 work culture has also put lot of pressures on the employees. All these changes in work environment have brought fresh challenges for the HR professionals. To deliver under stress, employees expect a good work—environment and work culture. Quality of work life has become an important area with work-life balance concept in the forefront.

HR is more active to day and playing a more dynamic and significant role in business operations. The HR operational boundaries have expanded from mere legal and welfare to more global and international happenings. HR today benchmarks against the global best companies and competes with the world-class companies. Top class experts, executives and CEO’s at national and international levels are focusing on developing new standards of HR through out the world.

HR today has thus moved into an active mode. Its policies, tools and strategies are moving keeping in tune with the business demands.

HR now provides fast and more qualitative responses to people related issues. New concepts of recruiting, structuring organisations, labelling people, along with newer forms of compensation, innovative methods to retain and motivate employees are being worked out vigorously.

Business policies are pushing him to address newer issues and find very creative solutions. The new HR destination is very modern. HR today speaks e-language and operates all e-related systems and platforms. All HR processes are e-based. In order to support the speed of business, HR has become e-centric & web-centric.

E-based HR systems are being developed to provide on-line support to other executives and employees. Today e-HR, e-Recruitment, e-HR systems are very common. In fact, in the modern organisations, one could find lot of innovation of application of computers and e-based systems, which enable employees to have access to all the information, which they need, in company’s web site or in intra-net.

Posted By : Shubham Agarwal
PGDM 3 sem 'A'

Welcome to your new job...in HR

As companies keep paring away layers of management, project managers are finding themselves saddled with new HR responsibilities.
More and more companies are shifting their internal structures toward projects and away from traditional management methods in a bid to cut middle management costs and focus employees on adding value. As part of this new orientation, many are merging existing management functions into projects.

For project managers, the upside of this trend is more experience and involvement in critical business functions. The downside is the possibility of taking on tasks that business or line managers used to handle, such as policing e-mail/Internet policies, attending and hosting sales meetings, training, dealing with infrastructure and security issues, and administering nonproject budgets. Perhaps the most difficult adjustment to make is dealing with human resources (HR) issues.

Shift to HR-related duties has good and bad sides In project management, we tend to obsess over specification creep and mission drift. Shifting HR duties from the traditional management structure to the project manager is a wider form of the same phenomenon, in which your working life expands beyond your expectations of the job. For the project manager, taking on additional HR duties comes with opportunities and challenges.

One good thing to come from these new responsibilities is that companies are listening to project managers' opinions more closely, particularly about employee performance. This is beneficial in many respects, including:

It increases project managers' exposure to personnel-related experiences.
It gives creditable, even outstanding, performance on projects a chance to be recognised.
It allows project managers to criticise "unhelpful" attitudes about project work.
But I think these expanded job roles are being taken to the extreme. For instance, over the past year or so, I've conducted many interviews with job candidates, and I've taken part in numerous personnel reviews for individuals who aren't directly involved in any project work, such as administrators and marketing staff.

While I recognise the importance of providing employees with objective feedback, the extra functions can conflict with the extreme demands regular project work makes on a project manager's time. Suddenly assuming HR duties can dramatically affect your team's dynamics, too.

Change isn't always well received
When team members discover that you have a major influence over their prosperity and career prospects, their behavior often changes. They may start to act as individuals rather than as a team, possibly trying to impress you rather than working to benefit the project.

You may also have trouble stirring up a creative difference of opinion because team members may think that they have to agree with you. Some of them may even worry that any errors they make will be used against them in their performance reviews. If your team members see you as responsible for their failure to get a raise or a promotion, it may be difficult to work closely with them on projects.

Another possible reaction to your new responsibilities is that employees may stop experimenting and become completely risk-averse. They may even think of you as a corporate spy or, in practical terms, someone with whom they can't be completely honest about, say, their shaky grasp of an OLAP cube structure.

Suddenly being in charge of the future prospects of your team members can change your behavior too. You might realise that, temperamentally, you aren't suited to deal with both hard technical questions and -soft" people-related questions. It's one thing to have to remove people from a project; it's another thing entirely to fire a coworker. Then again, you may discover that you have a knack for managing people.

Some of the changes in your team may be less obvious. In my experience, project managers often provide a vent for people to let off steam about what they see as the inadequacies of the conventional management. Project managers should be seen as junior officers in the trenches, not the generals. Blurring that line can deprive workers of that vent.

One thing is certainâ€"extra duties will take more of your time. Be prepared to resist being stretched too thinlyâ€"even for financial incentives.

Seek training
If you decide to extend yourself professionally into HR management, at least get some training. Part of this training will undoubtedly address important legal issues. You'll need to be particularly careful about keeping records on individual performance and attitude. For example, I recently had to attend a legal hearing in connection with an unfair dismissal case. Thanks to my project management training, I'd kept a clear written record of events, and it saved me from an embarrassing public grilling.

Taking on additional human resources-related tasks is a difficult adjustment to make. I think this issue is only going to become more contentious as IT pros emerge from the current IT malaise and start to think about career development, rather than just hanging in there to keep their jobs.

posted by: Pallavi Singh
                 PGDM 3sem 'B'

Jet Airways lays off 800 staff

Jet Airways has cut down on the number of flights it operates
India's largest private airline Jet Airways has laid off 800 employees as it cuts flights amid soaring costs.

The company said cabin crew hired for a planned expansion programme which had been suspended would lose their jobs.

Hundreds of members of staff gathered in the city of Mumbai (Bombay) to protest at the move.

Jet says it plans to cut more jobs. Its announcement follows a recent cost-cutting alliance with India's second largest private airline, Kingfisher.

The deal, announced on Monday, will include route sharing and the joint use of crews - although Jet says the job cuts are not linked to the tie-up.

The two airlines, which have nearly 60% of the market in India, said the rise in the price of jet fuel by a quarter this year was a major factor in wanting to join forces in order to cut costs.

All they're giving is one month's basic salary. How can anyone manage?

Manav,
Former Jet employee


Indian airline dreams hit turbulence
Shock at lay-offs

According to reports, Kingfisher Airlines is also considering laying off some of its staff.

India's aviation industry has boomed as the country's economy has grown in recent years, with new airlines offering bargain flights around the country.

But rising fuel costs over the past year have pushed up ticket prices, and fewer passengers than predicted are opting to fly.

'Painful'

"As a first step, around 800 flight attendants, recently recruited for the planned expansion programme, which has now been suspended, have been released," a statement issued by Jet Airways said.

The company says it plans 1,900 job cuts in total.


Mr Mallya (left) and Mr Goyal need to save money

"The other categories include probationary and unconfirmed personnel in other areas, including cockpit crew and management personnel, to reflect the lower number of flights and seats offered."

The airline says it will be offering 15% fewer flights than scheduled this winter because of "declining traffic volumes".

Meanwhile, hundreds of the airline's staff gathered in uniform in Mumbai to protest at being sacked.

Some cabin crew said they had received letters terminating their employment on Tuesday, while many others had received letters on Wednesday.

Some said they had yet to receive letters.

One former Jet employee, Natasha, said: "I was working for another airline before this. But I joined this to be in India. I just flew last week. There are no complaints. How can they terminate our jobs just one fine day. The letter gives no reason. This is no way to go about things."

Another, Manav, said: "I'm not from Mumbai. I've taken a place on rent. Paid deposit, spent so much on courses. All they're giving is one month's basic salary. How can anyone manage?"

In its statement, Jet Airways said its alliance with Kingfisher Airlines had nothing to do with the job cuts.

"We wish to clarify that the reconsideration of our operations has been ongoing for some time now and this adjustment in personnel numbers did not result from the planned alliance with Kingfisher Airlines.

"If at all, improved economies in other areas would help obviate such a step in the future."

'Benefits'

The two airlines, which have a combined fleet of 189 aircraft, say their alliance will be of mutual benefit.

They say there was a 33% increase in passenger numbers last year, but growth this year has slowed to 7.5%.

Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal spoke of "huge cost savings and revenue enhancement opportunities".

In recent years, more than a dozen private airlines have sprung up in India.

Recent years have seen consolidation. Last year Kingfisher merged with another rival airline, Deccan, and Jet, the country's largest domestic carrier, bought Air Sahara.




posted by : shubham agarwal
pgdm 3sem

India's ICICI hires in the U.K

global presence outside India.ICICI OneSource also aims to open...Mukerji, chief executive of ICICI OneSource, says his company...subsidiary - are carrying out this strategy to target the life assurance...UK behind the US and Japan. ICICI has three other onshore facilities...




                                                                                                    Neha verma, PGDM 2008-10
                                                                                                                Sec-'A'

scholars

Welcome to the Online Outreach Center of THE SECRET LIFE OF THE BRAIN!

The Online Outreach Center brings you resources and tools, and gives our entire outreach community the opportunity to work together.

The Secret Life of the Brain
Richard Restak, M.D.
A clear, comprehensive and beautifully illustrated companion book by best-selling author and renowned neuropsychiatrist Richard Restak, reveals what brain science is uncovering about the mysteries and magic of the brain from birth to old age. For more information, visit The Dana Press. To order a copy, visit the Joseph Henry Press.

Our outreach materials are designed to inspire high school students, as well as the adult audience, to learn more about the normal development and major disorders of the brain from conception through old age. The outreach includes a special focus on teens to generate excitement and enthusiasm for science among youth of all backgrounds, demonstrate the relevance of science to everyday lives, support curricula with related activities in informal settings, and encourage careers in science. For adults, the series, print materials, and online will be used in staff training and community health workshops to examine the ways the brain changes from birth to old age and to raise awareness about brain-related illness and disability.

The goals for the outreach effort are:
Support science curricula with related activities in informal settings.
Generate a greater interest in science and in pursuing science-related activities in a variety of settings among youth of all backgrounds.
Reach minority, disadvantaged, female, and other underserved youth populations to excite them about science, develop general science literacy, foster an understanding of the relationship of science to their everyday lives, and encourage the pursuit of careers in science.
Inform the audience of the place of science in a variety of aspects of contemporary life and of the critical role that knowledge in these areas plays in many social and political decisions to enable the audience to make responsible decisions about issues in their own lives.
Provide an adult audience with a background and understanding of basic principles of science and foster an excitement and enthusiasm for further exploration.

SCHOLARS

BPCL is passionate about the 'Generation Next', and thus also supports the various education initiatives at all levels. BPCL scholars are a group of India students who yearly, seek assistance from BPCL in doing their post graduation, both in India & abroad.

BPCL supports the students, the future of tomorrow, the fuel of tomorrow’s growth with all humility and passion.

Currently we are inviting applications from students who are pursuing higher studies in Universities/Institutes abroad for which firm admissions have been obtained for sessions starting between July 2008 and November 2008

Oil India IPO subscribed 31 times; QIBs bid the most

MUMBAI: Oil India’s initial share sale to raise Rs 2,782 crore received demand for as much as Rs 86,000 crore, as its shares are seen offering

profits since its valuation is lower than rivals ONGC and Cairn India.

The 2.65-crore share sale that ended on Thursday was subscribed 31 times, with institutional investors making maximum bids, while retail investors, who were burnt in the past IPOs, such as NHPC and Adani Power, were less enthusiastic. “OIL is offering shares at a valuation that translates into a EV/2P reserves (enterprise value divided by proven and probable reserves) of $4.1 compared to $5.4 for ONGC, $12.8 for Cairn and $7-8 for most international players,” said a note by brokerage house HDFC Securities to clients.

For oil companies, the enterprise value to proven and probable reserves are used as a gauge for valuation. For manufacturing companies price-to-earnings multiple is used as a metric. The institutional portion of the issue was subscribed 54 times, the non-institutional (mostly high net worth individuals and some corporates) nearly 11 times, with almost the entire bids coming on the last day, and the retail portion nearly two times. Oil India, the second company from the government stable to raise funds after NHPC since the Manmohan Singh government returned to power triggering reform hopes, invited bids in a price band of Rs 950-1,050.

In unofficial trading, the so-called grey market, shares are trading at a premium of Rs 35- 40, some brokers, who did not want to be identified, said. The date of listing is still not known. “Higher production of oil and gas, going forward, growing accretion to acreage, lower subsidy burden due to soft crude oil prices, high success ratio and operational efficiency, greater use of better technology (eg horizontal well technology), upsides from pipeline and downstream business, upside from likely revision in gas APM (administered price mechanism) prices, better financial and return ratios — all this could mean that the difference in valuation attracted by ONGC and OIL could narrow,” the HDFC Securities note said.

Till Wednesday, most brokers were of the opinion that the retail portion may not be fully subscribed since their investments in NHPC and Adani Power have already eroded in value.

POSTED BY - AKHILESH KUMAR SHARMA

                         PGDM III SEM