The IILM PGDM curriculum imbibes the best aspects of courses offered at top business schools around the world. The modules are inspired by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton Business School, the Harvard Business School and IIM. They aim at combining theory with practical training so that students are capable of turning concepts into decisions, knowledge into action and ideas into change.
The program is delivered in 6 terms; each term spread over 3 calendar months. In the first year of the Program, students imbibe foundation concepts and building blocks of management. Year 1 begins with General Management Perspective which covers a series of courses aimed at diving into complex managerial issues to gain insight into the perspective of a senior manager. The practical experience and detailed feedback from faculty and leadership coaches, is aimed at enhancing the leadership style and developing the managerial skills of students. Term 2 and 3 will focus courses under General management Foundations which will provide the base for Management education in each discipline calibrated to the skills, experience and future goals.
In the second year students can choose their electives from six major areas. IILM’s approach to majors gives our students the flexibility and guidance they need to carve out a unique intellectual experience that is relevant to their specific educational and career goals. In addition to majors, IILM provides “Pathways” to the students who are interested in building expertise in emerging areas and evolving industries.A pathway is an integrated, cross-functional sequence of courses designed to address a particular skill set or industry for which there is active student and recruiter demand. In addition to majors, IILM provides ten divergent pathways namely Data Analytics, Consulting,Growth and Scaling,Entrepreneurship/Start-ups,Social Impact, Investment Banking and Private Equity,Health-care Management,People’s Skills, Market Place and Family Business which are designed to incorporate the desired skills in the students so as to prepare them for emerging industries.
The Global Study programme in the second year provides students the option to choose subjects based on their specialisation. The subject staught during the Global Study programme will be regarded as “Elective” and integrated in the two year PGDM curriculum. Our curriculum provides experiential learning through FIELD(Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development), Career Trek, Leadership Labs and Managerial Skills.
FIELD: This module is divided into 3 parts: FIELD 1 aims at improving the students teamwork and leadership skills. Students understand the dynamics of working in teams and how individual performance affects overall team performance. FIELD 2 reiterates team building skills while instilling problem solving and presentation skills in the students. FIELD 3 works on formulating a business plan in order to make learning more practical and engaging for a micro-business of anew product/service idea.
Career Trek: It requires students to travel to different parts of the country to interact with the various functional heads of reputed organizations,to gain first handunder standing of job skills required for various industries.This enables students to plan their career paths.
Leadership Labs: In this course, participants get a number of opportunities to experience leadership in action and allows participants to reflect on the nature of leadership and discover individual strength and weaknesses as a leader. Here participants get an opportunity to lead a team as well as to be a member of a team led by others. The course is different from other conventional courses since participants learn-by-doing, rather than reading about other leaders. For experiential learning to work student participants need to engage in the activities fully, reflect upon their own and others behaviour, receive and provide constructive feedback. Learning in the course is dependent primarily on participation; the more participants engage themselves, the greater will be the learning and development of capacity to learn from any experience in personal and professional life.
Managerial Skills: This course examines a number of common managerial challenges faced by executives in leadership positions. These challenges are explored using 4 case examples, each asking participants to evaluate a series of situations, develop alternatives for their resolution, and ultimately recommend and implement a course of action from the point of view of the company’s owner/manager. These discussions happen in the context of mid-sized businesses in order to highlight the impact that key decisions and their implementation can have on the broader organization and its goals.
Family Business Managers: Indian business families often find a generalized management education too broad based to address the requirement of their niche areas. They already have an established and, more often, a thriving business model. The IILM PGDM program allows students to study at IILM while continuing to work in their family businesses. IILM offers students the opportunity to convert their ideas into businesses and pursue a full term management program, thus helping them realize their full potential. With the aim of providing unmatched flexibility IILM has introduced the Flexible track into the curriculum for Entrepreneurs and students involved in their Family Business. The flexibility in the curriculum allows students to enhance their skills to lever – age the strengths of family business management and successfully implement practices that drive high performance. The program also provides new direction and helps them expand the family’s existing business.
Internships (Real World Training)
At IILM, Summer Internship Projects (SIP) are taken very seriously and are a major part of the curriculum activity. The students are put through a workshop prior to the summer internship to ensure that they understand the importance and the learning process. The curriculum mandates a 3-month long internship, meant to provide a first-hand experience of the business world. Moving from the classroom to the corporate reality through summer internships makes the students more proficient at handling real life challenges making effective decisions. It will acquaint students with the demands of professional world of work in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude to perform effectively. This short term experience provides a real insight into what it’s actually like working in a particular job or career field.
SIP projects are evaluated by faculty mentors before they are allocated to the students. The faculty mentors also visit companies and interact with the industry mentors on a regular basis to track the progress of the students performance. Students are required to submit fortnightly a progress report to their mentors as a part of their evaluation. Guidance on how to prepare their reports is provided by faculty mentors during students non-working hours. The project is culminated with a presentation by the student before a panel of company representatives and the industry mentor at the company premises or presentation of the same before a panel of faculty and alumni.
Elective
The second year offers a choice of a number of electives in a range of areas that provide for specialization. As many as 80 different courses are offered as electives, and fall into one of the following sub-areas:
Economics,Strategy and International Business
OB and HR, Leadership and Negotiations
Communications and New and Social Media
Technology and Operations Management
Finance and Accounting Management
Marketing, Branding and Customer Service
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Family Business.