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Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 1

NOMINATION FORM FOR IMC-2013

B-school Name:

MVGR College of Engineering School of

Management Studies URL: Name: www.mvgrce.edu.in R.Baskar

Designation: Assistant Professor Phone: Email: City: 08922-241743 / 09441156272 mbahod.mvgr@gmail.com, baskar@mvgrce.edu.in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh.

Category: Initiative Title:

Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery MBO @ Class rooms

Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms

MVGRCE-SMS

Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 2

THE BACKGROUND/CHALLENGES THAT LEAD TO THIS INITIATIVE:


The trend in teaching management has been always challenging for the educators to make the theory more meaningful for students. As we are one of the many affiliated colleges under the University and have no direct say on the design of the curriculum, awarding of marks, etc., the main challenge we face is the challenge of making the students participate in the teaching learning process. This is a challenge because they knew how to get marks in the exams without participating in the classes. But they forgo the long term gain which comes by class participation. In such a situation, the solution we saw is to make innovations in Curriculum Delivery. There is always a need for finding innovative ways to improve the quality of participation of students in the teaching-learning process to improve the quality of learning. Our department is making many such initiatives for improving the curriculum delivery. A humble attempt is made herewith to present the experience of one such initiative for creating more value for the MBA programs. INTRODUCTION TO THE INITIATIVE: MBO refers to a formal set of procedures that begins with goal setting and continues through performance review. Managers and those they supervise act together to set common goals. Each persons major areas of responsibility are clearly defined in terms of measurable expected results or objectives used by staff members in planning their work and by both staff members and their managers for monitoring progress. Performance appraisals are conducted jointly in a continuing basis, with provisions for regular periodic reviews. The same corporate strategy is now transferred to the class rooms. Peter F Druker says "Management by objectives and self-control may properly be called a philosophy of management". (Peter F. Drucker,, 1955). Management by Objectives (MBO) is a management technique that has been
Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms MVGRCE-SMS

Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 3

used for several years in many corporations. It is based on the premise that organizations function efficiently when objectives have been well defined and progress is measured in terms of accomplishing those objectives. Carrol and Tosi in their research on the effectiveness of MBO, concludes that the very process of participation leads to increased communication and understanding between managers and those they supervise. This is one of the reasons for us to apply the concept of MBO in classrooms as there is a need to always increase the understanding between teachers and students. The idea of stating objectives is not new. In education some twenty years ago, an emphasis was placed on behavioral objectives - that is, spelling out in behavioral terms what the learner was expected to do. This is, at one level, managing by objectives, but the notion of using this concept of MBO in class room discussions for improving the quality of participation has not really been fully explored so far. We have taken this initiative to create more value for MBA programs. HOW WAS THIS INITIATIVE EXECUTED? There are six elements for the MBO process and all the elements of MBO were transferred to the class rooms of the post graduation students of management. That is, the concept of MBO was applied to the students of a management course named Management Theory and Practice (MTP) taught in first semester of their MBA program. Element By Element Transfer 1. Commitment to the program: The department and the college are very focused on achieving the vision and mission which it has set for itself. Hence the commitment in all levels is easily already available for students. This is very important to begin the application of MBO process in any organization. 2. Top-level goal setting: In consonance with the vision and mission, the department has its own goal to achieve the vision. Based on this a set of educational objective is set for each course, which acts as the
Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms MVGRCE-SMS

Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 4

target for teachers and students can focus upon. Following is the course title and the objectives set during the course. a. Course Title: Management Theory And Practice b. Objectives: i. To give the understanding of different management concepts and perspectives. ii. To make them understand how these concepts are applicable in their career iii. To enable the students to analyze the practical situations with respect to their conceptual knowledge and thus enhance their decision making ability iv. To make the students empathize with the environment and thus act in a socially responsible way. 3. Individual goal setting: At this stage all the students are asked to set their goals for achieving the objectives. One of the important reasons for the failure of MBO in organizations is to focus on too many objectives. To avoid this trap, we decided to focus on only one of the four objectives, i.e., the first objective. a. Priority objective: i. To give the understanding of different management concepts and perspectives. b. Now, based on the identified objective, individual students are asked to set their objective and they are closely monitored and guided to set the objective in a clear way. We identified that to achieve the priority objective the class has to focus on i) class participation ii) exam preparation. The students were asked to set their own objective to achieve the priority objective. One of the sample objective set by the students are as follows:
i. Name: Y.Chandra Sekhar Raju

Group-2

ii. Objectives for class presentation:


Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms MVGRCE-SMS

Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 5

1. My objective is to give a good presentation in each and every class. I have to answer at least for one question for every two classes.
iii. Objectives for exam presentation:

1. In my first midterm exam I got 18 marksso; my goal is, in my second midterm exam I have to get 20 marks. And in my semester exams I will be the topper. 4. Participation: Participation in all stages is the key for successful implementation of MBO, particularly in goal setting. The above mentioned objectives are framed by the combined effort of students and the teacher. Thus when every stakeholders are involved in the goal setting, there is motivation and accountability combined with it to achieve the goal. 5. Autonomy: Once the goal is set, the students are given full autonomy for implementing the goals. Also the students are made into teams to exchange their ideas. Autonomy is also given in the way the students choose their objectives to achieve the overall objective. 6. Performance review: The students and the teacher meet periodically to discuss the issues in the implementation of MBO in the classrooms. The performance of each member of the team is measured against the objectives which was set. Rewards and appreciation are given to those students who are successfully meeting the objectives. CHALLENGES FACED WHILE EXECUTING THE INITIATIVE AND THEIR SOLUTIONS: When we take a corporate strategy into classrooms, definitely we can expect some challenges due to changes in the nature of relationship which exist in the educational field. First of all we can not exactly say that the superior in the corporate settings can be exactly duplicated by the teacher, due to the difference in the interest between the two. Second, the students cannot be exactly treated as the subordinate like the corporate settings due to the
Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms MVGRCE-SMS

Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 6

variety of reasons like the motivation to study, etc. Finally the Vitamin M (money) which is generally considered as a good motivator cannot be fully transferred to Marks in the educational environment due to its being available to students through other sources which are not controllable by the teachers. Hence we conducted awareness program for explaining about the concept and its application to the students and the non-monetary benefits which they will receive by adopting this strategy. Also frequent meetings with students were arranged, so that they can freely express the difficulty in application. The entire class was made into different teams, so that they can share with others on what they are learning. RESULTS ACHIEVED: Result of such an initiative can be measured by obtaining the feedback from the participants. As our objective is to give a real life corporate experience and to increase the students participation in the teaching learning process, the feedback of the students and the results will clearly indicate the success of the initiative. All the participants of this MBO process stands to benefit by its application in the class rooms. The most prominent benefits which was realized in the process is development of personnel, i.e. when the students takes the responsibility to achieve the objectives and tries to help his friends, in the process he develops as a team player and also the innate leadership qualities comes out by this effort. Better team work and enhanced relationship results as the entire team woks together from the beginning till the end of the application of the MBO process. Apart from the benefits, the students leant various lessons as a part of implementation of MBO process in the classrooms. One of the most

Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms

MVGRCE-SMS

Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 7

prominent lessons which the team leaders expressed is the understanding of difficultly involved in motivation of team members as opposed to the theory which they study in their books. Also the team members learnt the lessons of being a team player and the ways to take help from team leaders and the teachers. Transferring MBO to classrooms brings a coordinated effort which will create a sustained class environment that maintains and enhances students learning and create value for the MBA programmes.

Authorization

Yes, I hereby confirm that the case-study presented here has been implemented at our institution. Details shared are accurate. Our institute recommends this model/idea to be adopted by other B-Schools for creating more value for MBA Programmes.

Name:

Dr.K.S.S.Rama Raju

Designation: Head of the Department Signature:


Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms MVGRCE-SMS

Category: Theme 3: Improving Core Product: Innovations in Curriculum Delivery 8

Date: Seal:

Initiative Title: MBO @ Class rooms

MVGRCE-SMS

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