8/4/2019 Article on Class Diversity
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Diversity, the new Homogeny
Picture this: An Entrepreneur who owns a mining unit, A
Healthcare Administrator, a Chartered
Accountant, a Marketing Country representative, a HR Manager, a
Radiologist, an Operations Manager
at a nuclear plant, a Product Lifecycle Management specialist,
an Investment Banker and an IT Salesmanhaving an avid discussion on
Organization Behavior and Business Ethics!
For those pursuing their General Management Program at XLRI,
this is not an uncommon sight.
The classical saying birds of a feather flocked together holds
no water when it comes to the 2012 Batch
of the General Management Program (GMP, a one-year fulltime
flagship MBA program) at XLRI
Jamshedpur!
Originally conceptualized for the promising middle-level
managers TATA Steel for a faster climb up the
corporate ladder, XLRI broadened the scope of the General
Management Program by extending it to
professionals from other industries as well. XLRI in its
admission process places a strong emphasis onchoosing prospective
students not only based on the relevance of their job experience,
but also ensures
diversity within the class. The GMP has evolved over the years
and boasts of a class profile now that
spans across industries.
Students from sectors such as Media, Medical & Healthcare,
Energy (Nuclear, Oil and Gas,
Petrochemical) , Manufacturing, Information Technology, Fast
Moving Consumer Goods, Human
Resources, Business Consulting, Telecommunication, Steel,
Mining, Apparels, Banking, Textiles &
Fashion open up to subjects such as Management Accounting,
Economics, Marketing, Ethics and
Corporate Sustainability to obtain a holistic perspective of a
business.
The diversity and variety is not restricted to Sector
representation alone.
Students have held various corporate positions and wide ranging
roles and responsibilities such as
Regional Managers, Design Specialists, Operations Managers,
Portfolio Manager, ERP consultants and
Project Managers.
The GMP boasts of a wide range of student age groups with the
youngest class participant being 26
years old and the oldest, 38 years, as well as participants who
have worked across geographies and
multiple locations.
Where does all of this lead to?
Both Raja Marthandan (27), the youngest entrepreneur in the
batch who runs a Manganese Ore mining
unit, and Siddhartha Agarwal (38), unquestionably the wisest
member of the class, an importer and
exporter of textile goods are able to correlate the curriculum
and their knowledge gained in running
businesses.
For the class participants, interacting with members from other
organizations and sectors and listening
to their perspectives of subjects is an eye opener. The result
being that the program provides the
