LECT 01

Introduction to course

Prof. T. Prasad entered the classroom with many no. of toys in his hands. Everybody was keen to know what those toys were. He welcomed all to NITIE. He put more emphasis on “You have paid a huge amount to come to NITIE ” than the process we have been through to get into NITIE. The basic intention was to inculcate the feeling of responsibility in the students of this young generation. Students should value money. If we have spent such a huge amount of money to study in this centre of excellence then we should be using every moment of our stay here for some productive work, learn as much as we can.

He also talked about “Mandi” and “Hamara Dhanda”. These are the two entrepreneurship activities he stared at NITIE. He inspired students to own their own company and try to make progress in the same area.

He then showed the toys he had brought with him. The toys were very simple in design and involved very basic physics. He threw light on the thing that “We learn things theoretically, But never think about its application”. We should really change the way we study by taking the concepts on more practical grounds.

The most encouraging thing I observed in his addressing was that he always wanted students to address themselves as Managers. He put emphasis on using “I” in place of “manager” in every context. This was really helpful to get the feeling of responsibility.

Exercise

Further he took one small task in the classroom. The task was to put wooden cubes one on the top of the other to build the tower. He asked the entire class to write their estimates on the piece of paper. Everybody came up with the different estimates. Finally the tower was built of 17 cubes. Then he asked if the student is blindfolded then what the estimates will be. Will there be any change in the same?

Most of the class decreased their estimates.

Analysis:

He related these observations of the estimates of the blocks in 3 parts.

Part 1 : The students who decreased their estimates. They are the reflection of the managers who put limits on the goals and lower them looking at the hurdles that might come in their way.

Part 2 : The students who did not change their estimates. They are the reflection of the managers who believe in steady goal settings. They don’t let the hurdles affect the performance.

Part 3 : The students who increased their estimates. They are the reflection of the progressive managers. They believe in their capabilities even if the hurdles come their way

 This was the best way to inculcate the best values of management in the students and study “Principles of Management ”