IILM PRME Second International Conference
IILM Institute for Higher Education New Delhi with the support of the UN Global Compact’s PRME Secretariat hosted the Second International Conference on “Responsible Management Education, Training and Practice” from 8 to 10 January 2015 at its New Delhi campus. The Conference was addressed by academicians from the leading business schools, captains of industry, senior government officials, members of the diplomatic corps and social sector representatives and focused on the theme of PRME and the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
The Conference was inaugurated by Mr. Jess Dutton, Deputy High Commissioner of Canada to India. He stressed the need of SDGs for a harmonious world. Special address by Dr Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, highlighted the need to expand the scope of responsibility to include several stakeholders such as corporates, educational institutions, community, employees, and governments for sustainable development. Mr. Jonas Haertle, Head, PRME Secretariat, UN Global Compact, briefed the conference delegates on the proposed SDGs of the United Nations. Welcoming the delegates, Professor Rakesh Chaudhry, Senior Director IILM shared that IILM became a signatory of PRME in August 2008, and has been actively engaged in implementing initiatives and framework of PRME on its own, as well as in partnership with other PRME champion business schools
The conference deliberations covered: Framework for Responsible Management Education, Inclusive Equitable Education and Lifelong learning, Skills Development for Sustainable Economic growth, Gender equality, women empowerment, Rethinking consumption, and Training and sensitization for responsible management. The conference also included Research papers on the theme of Conference. The jury adjudged the paper titled “Sustainability and Management Education: Exploration and the interrelationship between the dimensions from stakeholder’s perspective” by Mr. Ankur Roy as the best research paper.
The session on ‘Inclusive Equitable Education and Lifelong learning’ emphasized the importance of experiential learning. Professor Raghu ram of XLRI Jamshedpur that said we should move from egocentric decision-making to eco-centric decision-making to attain sustainability. Mr. Anurag Batra Chairman Business World observed “that there is nothing called failure: everything is a stepping stone to success”.
The session on Skill Development for Employment and Sustainable Economic growth was addressed by Mr. Dilip Chenoy, MD and CEO of National Skill development Corporation, Mr. Pradeep Kashyap , Founder and CEO, MART and Mr. Deepak Vohra Advisor to Prime Minister of Guinea- Bissau. Mr. Chenoy highlighted that today there is a wide gap between the current format of education system and the skills requirement for jobs. The need of the hour is to focus on skill development. Mr. Pradeep Kashyap shared the challenges of identifying the kinds of training that is required to train the artisans, craftsmen and masons in rural India.
In the session on “Role of Responsible Management in gender equality and women empowerment”. Ms. Shabnam Siddiqui, Project Director, Global Compact Network India briefed the audience about the various WEP’s (Women Empowerment Principles) launched by UN Global Compact. Dr. Elizabeth Goldberg, Professor of Literature and Chair Arts and Humanities, Babson College, Boston pointed out that PRME helped Babson to realign its mission with economic and social value creation, and discussed the various ways in which business schools can contribute to sustainable development.
Dr Gurram Gopal, Elmhurst College differentiated between good growth and bad growth, and stressed the need to rethink our consumption patterns. Mr. Nitin Seth , Country Head , Fidelity was of the opinion that the essence of happiness is spirituality rather than increasing materialistic needs.
In the Session on ‘Framework for Responsible Management Education, Prof Sudarshan Padam, former Dean Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad said ‘Responsible management education means accountable and moral decision-making’. These views were echoed Professor Balram, IIM Calcutta who by sharing the example of Supply Chain Management reiterated the role of research and practice as the main components of Responsible management. The session on ‘Training and sensitization for responsible management’ was addressed by Professor Shailesh Gandhi, IIM Ahmedabad, Mr. Raj Nehru, Director HR, Concentrix India and Mr. Vijay Rai, CEO, Powercon.
Addressing the Closing Plenary, Mr. Sameer Khetarpal, Partner, McKinsey & Company shared his perspective on individual success and sustainability. Mr. Kamal Singh, Director General National HRD Network discussed the role of HR professionals in achieving sustainable development.
Dr Smitha Girija, Director, IILM shared that with an objective to understand the Responsible Business Practices among top Indian organizations with regard to National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs) and other International best practices, IILM with support of Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) has initiated a survey on Responsible Business Practices among top 750 companies in India.
Conference also included Research papers on the theme of Conference. The jury adjudged the paper titled “Sustainability and Management Education: Exploration and the interrelationship between the dimensions from stakeholder’s perspective” by Mr. Ankur Roy as the best research paper.
IILM Third International Conference on “Responsible Management Education, Training and Practice” will be organized from 7th to 9th January 2016.