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UNITES - IIM-A Decisions for Life Training Program
10th - 11th July 2009, IIM-A Campus, Ahmedabad.
A training program for the DFL team members was organized at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on the 10th and 11th July, 2009. It was a joint endeavor by the IIM-A team and UNITES Professionals, Bangalore with a vision to sketch out a plan of action for the Launch of the Campaign and for the time that would follow. The two-day session saw a lot of activity in terms of sharing ideas, putting up queries, participants engaging in copious discussions and many converging thoughts that aided the core team in devising a work plan for the coming few months. The session was addressed and facilitated by many eminent academicians and Trade Union proprietors. The training program conscientiously lodged in sessions on issues regarding the status of working women in India, tribulations plaguing the service sector and suggestions on what could be done to emancipate the already liberalized Indian society out of this mindset.
Following is a detailed elucidation upon the sessions for both the days:
Date: Friday, July 10, 2009
Time: 9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Objectives:
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Acquaint the participants with the nuances of the project.
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Disseminate information about the Trade Union functioning.
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An overview of the working women in India, elucidating upon the fundamentals of questionnaire development, web designing, etc.
Proprietors of the Session:
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Welcome and Introduction to the Project by Prof. Biju Varkkey.
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Procedure of developing a Questionnaire by Ramendra Singh, Research Student
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Overview of Trade Unions in India by Anjali Bedekar, UNI-ILC Women
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Overview of Working Women in India by Rupashree Baral, Research Consul
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Elucidation upon Online Marketing by Gunjan Pandya, DFL-IIM-A, Webteam
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Presentation of Work Report by the DFL Campaign Members
The session was commenced with a welcome extended by Prof. Biju Varkkey, Faculty, IIM-A. After a brief introduction of the DFL team and the other eminent participants, Prof Varkkey spread light upon the fundamentals of the “Decisions For Life” Project – its origination, the project partners, the participants, its aims and objectives, and other such highlights.
This was followed by a helpful elucidation upon the intricate procedure of carrying out a research, with the major focus on the fundamentals of designing and developing a survey questionnaire. This was done especially to give the DFL members an idea about how the latter is pulled off.
With this, Anjali Bedekar provided a basic idea about the trade union functioning in India – a stereotype-free notion about the trade unions, its purpose, its strengths, and its weaknesses. This session was very interesting since most of the DFL team members didn't know much about collectivism and/or trade unions. Anjali Bedekar gave an insight on how trade unionism came in to existence and how it is still benefiting workers across various sectors. All the participants eventually were able to realize the positive aspects of union and collectivism.
With a project like Decisions For Life, if the participants were not given an overview of the status of the working women in India, the training session probably wouldn’t have realized its objective entirely. For this, Rupashree Baral spread some light upon the same and also emphasized upon the importance of understanding the relevance of Work-Life Balance in the service sector, among women. She also shared her experiences about the survey and data collection procedure and proffered extremely helpful suggestions for the Offline Campaign objectives.
With this, Gunjan Pandya extended a comprehensive explanation about how the Online Campaign is being managed by the IIM-A team and about how the web page has been designed and is being efficiently maintained.
The session for the 10th July, 2009 was concluded by asking the DFL Campaign members to elucidate upon their work experience in their respective cities, with a focus on the hardships faced while doing so and if they had any suggestions to give. This was followed by summarizing the key understandings of the day’s sessions and situating the next day’s session on these. The session for the day was closed by the IIM-A team by extending the necessary gratitude to the speakers and all the participants.
Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009
Time: 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Objectives:
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Sketch out a plan of action for the next few months
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Plan for the Launch of the Campaign
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Delegate work responsibilities individually
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Address queries and confusions
Proprietors of the Session:
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Welcome and introduction to the session for the day by Khushi Mehta
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Plan of action by Prithviraj Lekkad
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Insights and guidance about the Campaign by Prof. Biju Varkkey
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A comprehensive picture about the plan of action for the members by Khushi Mehta
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Overview of the Compensation and Benefits in the Service Sector by Preeti Malik
Khushi Mehta initiated the session for the second day and after a brief introduction to the day’s proceedings, the work was begun. The first session required the participants to break into work-groups and work as per the following framework:
Draft out a workable plan for the Launch of the Campaign in the month of October
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Following a theme based approach to the Launch-plan (career choice, work-life balance, or future employment opportunities)
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Prepare a chart for the promotional appealing, the promotional material, etc.
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Reflect upon the ways to contribute to the web-based approach to the Campaign
In all, there were three work groups. After the delegated time of 45 minutes, all the three groups assembled to present their deliberations. The ideas and suggestions were consolidated by the IIM-A team and a detailed plan of action that comprised of all the major issues to be addressed was prepared and presented.
This was followed by a discussion initiated by Prithviraj Lekkad, President, UNITES Professionals, on a tentative Offline Campaign plan. It was proposed that the participants follow a ‘level-wise’ approach to the Offline Campaign, starting right from the school-level, proceeding to the college level, to the working women, to the married working women, to married women who drop out of work, to working mothers in the service sector, while the basic focus being – ‘raising an awareness’ and bringing the working women in to collective thinking and eventually into trade union fold.
With this, an extensive discussion on some issues and procedural deficiencies, as proposed by a few participants, was initiated. Prof. Biju Varkkey, Prithviraj Lekkad, and the IIM-A team along with a few other participants discussed and reached to some workable solutions about the same.
This was followed by a comprehensive explanation on one of the most important aspects of the work life of any employee in the service sector – Compensation and Benefits. Preeti Malik, an independent Compensation and Benefits consultant drew out quite an explicit picture of the concept. With a mention of the basic theoretical concepts, to practical examples from the current corporate scenario, it certainly added an insight into how the service sector is based on the basic principles of compensation and how guides it in turn.
With an end to the presentation by Preeti Malik, the IIM-A team duly addressed all the participants and thanked them for their participation.
With a gamut of such informative and interactive sessions with a panel as eminent as the one present during the sessions, the endeavor was truly a successful one. In some instances, it was a revelation, especially in terms of getting an insight into the Trade Union functioning and how the web-based (Online) approach has been designed and is being managed by the IIM-A team. As the details about the Launch (that is to happen on 7th October, 2009) were discussed, a more coherent picture about the whole venture came into focus. A detailed work plan has been devised by the core team and would be put into action from the first week of August, 2009. |
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