i was selected from my co. for a training on contract mgt at IIM A. 2 b frank i was very excited abt d whole thing....akhir main it was IIM A...d best B skewl as far as India is concerned...
d trainin at IIM A was really good...these guys r really professional in d way they carry out the whole thing...d program structure / teachin method / food / stay / logistics...sab systematic...i was impressed for sure.....
ppl from all top cos from India were there...RBI / ONGC / Reliance / Adani / Airtel / DRDO / GE India etc etc....n also quite a few senior mgt ppl too....an MD / GM / Additional GM / DGM etc etc
we were asked to report a day in advance.....before we reached we were sent first day's study material to read and go thru...as soon as we landed, the car agency ppl were waitin for us with placards.....
as soon as we checked, we got the actual study material.....mast 2-3 motte motte book thama diye....was wonderin itna cover hoga kya in 5 days.....
on day 1, d program started at 8.45 am sharp....d best part on day 1 there was no formal introduction of all participants...usually this is a common practice....imagine 45 ppl standin up one n after another n givin their names n little of background...assumin 2 min per person, 90 minutes r gone...n also at d end of it for sure one wud not remember more than 10 names......
wat d prof said take 5 min n introduce urself with d person sittin on ur right n left...n durin breaks u can then meet rest all one by one....this was novel for sure.....
d prof put another novel feature....d program cost was 65k / participant...since we v r 45 this turned out Rs. 1220 / min (assumin 8 hrs/day)...so we v wud hav wasted 1.10 lac on this formal introduction stuff....again strictly all were asked to put cell fones in silent mode n also in bags....d cell fones shud not b seen durin d class room sessions...again same logic...for every min of distraction it wud cost a lot to all....
couple of times 2 amongst us were found to d fiddlin with d cell fones....d profs literally took them apart.....it was like how dare u take tht cell fone out types....it was effective for sure....
each one of us had a predefined place to sit.....as a result ppl from same co were not sittin next to each other which usually happens...also name tag lage hue the....so profs n all wud know names of d student...it felt nice when d prof used to call us by names !!!!
we were divided in groups n daily after d end of session d profs wud assign case studies for each group to read discuss n come prepared for d next day.....so mast we had to read for 2-3 hrs almost daily....thoda difficult tha since aadat nahi but then if u came next day w/o readin thoda izzat ka faluda hota n also co ka naam kharab hota na...so all used to read.....d profs infact expected us to come n present d case in ppt format...lekin no one realized this was expected of us....we came 2 know abt it at d end of d day.....
profs were lively n full of energy.....sab Ph. D the...we also had a couple of guest faculty who were also distinguished ppl from d industy...in fact one was a ex banker n now a supreme court lawyer.....on a particular issue tht guy got emotional n he was in full flow in typical lawyer mode....d way words were flowin from his mouth, it felt like we all were in d court n listenin to a lawyer !!!
another good thing was punctuality.....each session used to start on time....n also end on time....agar at times we were short of time, all d profs were courteous enuf to ask if they cud extend...hume to prob hi nahi tha..since we were there to gain as much as we cud....but then jus shows how they all used to respect time.....n how we all take such things for granted
v used to hav 5 sessions a day each of 75 min.....after every session a break of 20 min...jis high tea snacks hota tha...kabhi biscuit / dhoklas / french toast / tea / coffee / black tea etc hota tha
lunch main mujhe jain khana milta tha....i know gujarat main i cud expect this but then still....
things like group photograph / how individual wanted their names on d certificate etc were taken care well in advance....same went for logistics...all were asked to confirm their return plans....jus 2 ensure tht koi confusion nahi kidhar bhi in all such petty issues but then these r d ones where things go wrong....
our stay was at IMDC the new centre...it has decent stay facilities....not five star category but decent....The place is well maintained...neat n clean....badminton court n TT table tha....d place is wi fi enabled but as of now access to net was given thru LAN to guests.....net speed was good...ET n TOI aata tha room main.....room main mini water heater tha for tea / coffee.....
we were stayin in d new campus...it has a mix of cement n red bricks construction.....we did go to d old campus to hav a look n check out d place where one can see only red bricked structure...
Overall it was a good experience n nice brush up of basics n also some nuances of contract mgt which i learnt out there...
Got a certificate at the end n also a t-shirt of IIM sayin IIM Alumni....hehehehehe....acha hai na....attend a MDP at IIM A n u r alumni !!!
