Last year I attended my annual Women of Faith conference and I was joined by several of my closest friends and traveling companions. We decided to drive to Boston and so our adventure began.   One of my friends brought her new GPS (Global Positioning System) that she had received as a Christmas present. I was so impressed with the precise directions that this micro computer gave us. This GPS was wonderful; it gave us directions on where to turn and it even told us how many feet we needed to drive before reaching the turning lane. Better yet this little navigation device spoke to us in a gentle, soothing, and kind voice; which allowed us to stay focused on our destination.   The GPS even informed us when we made a wrong turn.   There was no condemnation, just a lovely voice informing me that there was a recalculation and now I will simply have to take another road to reach my desired destination. Wow! I like that kind of back seat driving!

 

Many times since that trip I have thought about my GPS experience and those thoughts sprang to a comparison to my own desired business goals and my business plan. It is a well documented fact that many micro and small business owners do not have a business plan in order to drive their businesses to success.   No doubt there are some who would say that they are operating their business just fine without a documented plan. In an earlier blog post I passed on an interesting fact that only 3% of adult Americans have specific written goals.    Your plans are more likely to come to fruition if you write them down.

 

A business plan is your roadmap to achieving the success that you desire for your business. It is a living breathing document that can change with the winds of your business. Often events may arise where you have deviated from your original business plan; however, the GPS (Business Plan) quickly does a recalculation and gently informs you how to get back on course.

 

Your business plan is your navigation system, which will allow you to set-up milestones to view your progress. This will allow you to know how many “feet” you are away from reaching your goal.   Your business plan helps you to identify the bumps in the road and will help you decide which route you may want or need to take to overcome your obstacles. Your business plan can and should be reviewed and modified to meet the forever changing demands of your business, economy, and clients.

 

Much like a Global Positioning System your business plan uses tools that are essential to your business: planning, communication, and management are skills that are key to your success. Not having a clear and precise business plan could leave your business stranded with no direction.

 

Remember your goal is for your business to succeed. A well devised business plan will help you identify and develop the skills necessary for your business to thrive. Much like my experience with the GPS, a well devised business plan will help navigate your business to meet you destination.

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“We don’t need no education”, sang pop-star Pink Floyd way back in the 70’s in the famous super hit album, “The Wall”. While this may sound all right for idealistic rebels, it certainly does not apply to the current education scenario.

According to the estimation, the combined market capitalization of listed private education companies in India is about US$ 40 bn market with a potential of 16% five-year CAGR. Other meaningful and fast-growing areas include vocational training at US$ 1.4 bn.

With respect to the research topic “ Innovative pedagogy in education”, I now explore the same in the B-school context.

Definitions of ‘innovative pedagogy’ and ‘curriculum’

The term ‘curriculum’ has various meanings. In relation to the term ‘qualification’, the best definition is: a document that relates to the desired implementation of an entire educational programme, leading to a diploma. The document always contains descriptions of the following: objectives – contents – educational structure – assessment/evaluation. The extent of detail can vary. The development of a curriculum is a matter for the individual B-schools within the legal frameworks as laid down in the constitution.

The term ‘innovation’ is also ambiguous: innovation as something totally new (never experienced before); because it is new to the users. Since the beginning of the decade a distinction has been made within B-school education between three renewal strategies linked to the method of financing and the character of ‘an alternative approach’:

(1) Basic strategy: involves the changes that are made to keep management education up to date and to make it attractive and more effective; ‘daily’ innovation is financed from the normal budget.

(2) Breadth strategy: implementing new working methods that have already been tested elsewhere; make locally applicable and specialist rather than just adopting innovations. Extra means have been earmarked for every institute of B-school education.

(3) Depth strategy: involves two different innovations: (a) something completely new and/or (b) something new for which the regulations can/may be set aside, and which will involve temporary additional project financing over several years, for which a critical assessment of the innovative idea will take place in advance. Only those ideas with truly innovative potential can be elaborated on in the project proposal that will be submitted for further approval.

NIIT initiatives:

NIIT has already implemented some new innovative pedagogy for educating professionals. Some of them are following:

Institute of finance, banking and insurance (IFBI):

IFBI addresses the manpower needs of financial-services space in India, where at least two million new jobs are likely to be created between now and 2012. IFBI started in september2006 and offers a postgraduate diploma in banking operations to all graduates which includes an internship and placement alliance with ICICI bank and other private and PSBs.

Evolv:

NIIT acquired English-training Company Evolv in January 2008. Evolv has a repository of 50 courses to improve soft-skills. Evolv is a communication and service delivery-based consulting, auditing and training company. The training methodology goes far beyond the classroom – it includes rigorous on-the-job monitoring, mentoring, refreshing knowledge and periodic assessments. Evolv as a Human Resource consultant is increasingly gaining involvement in their clients recruitment/selection drive as well as in the curriculum design phase.

Imperia:

Imperia provide management education for organizations and working professionals. Some of India’s leading B-schools such as IIM A and IIM C are partners and these conduct live classroom sessions for Imperia students. NIIT Imperia Centre for Advanced Learning has been specially created to provide quality management education and customized learning solutions for organizations and working professionals. Today’s professionals need to continuously build their domain-specific and managerial credentials to perform better at work and move up the growth curve. To help meet these needs, NIIT Imperia offers Executive Management Programs from the most prestigious institutions in the country.

Business school students may need training in ethics and moral reasoning more than most other students. Research found that students in business school ranked lower in moral reasoning than students in philosophy and medicine. A study of top business schools in the United States that found business school education not only fails to improve the moral character of students, but potentially weakens it. Business ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability have arguably become more important to both the business world and business schools in recent years. The Masters of Business Administration program is regarded as the premier business qualification for practicing managers with career aspirations. It would seem logical that MBA programs would address the topics of Business ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in a clear and strategic fashion.

Growing trade in the world market, exponential increase in NGO establishments, entrepreneurship on the rise, advanced skill sets that are moving forward into consultancy roles and a huge influx of young blood that want to capture the desires of health and propensity quicker than ever before have all been detrimental harbingers for the revolutionary cohort of business education students around the world. The basic introduction of business education begins at an early age. Opening up a lemonade stand or purchasing goods remodeling them and selling them at higher prices and even girl scout cookie selling are all the fundamental principles of business norms that are practiced all over the world. http://education.ixs.net Business education is based upon logic and honed through experience, education and trials.

Business education is one of the most renowned learnt and taught curriculum in the world that has grown both in numbers and in practice. There have been thousands of books written on business management alone and how to funnel in wealth and leadership in precise and soft bounded books written by authors from all different segments of the market. Business education within its own domain has million and one branches and sub specializations.

Business schools are working aggressively to entertain and streamline curriculum and aligning courses with the trends and market needs. It is critical to teach the students of business education the true algorithms and practices in the market. It is the duty of all business educators to play their significant roles and prepare student to become financial gurus within their own domains and foster the economical revolution. Business educators need to improvise and provide the students with the basic foundations of personal finance, decision-making techniques and economic understanding of the international markets. Colleges and universities need to establish class room material that provides a solid educational foundation for students who want to touch different facets of the business disciplines. All students need to become knowledgeable and ethical decision makers as they fulfill their roles in their respective business arenas.

A recent survey by the University Of North Dakota states that one of the major stimuli in economical growth is the overall awareness of business ethics and principles. It is a concrete step to prosperity if all undergraduate students are at least aware of the basic business needs and requirements. All students in their careers will have to encounter different business environments and need to have a comprehensive and diverse reading of the business markets and trends. Students will have to play with business education basics each step of the way in their career climb.

A proper business education can contribute a long way in the overall performance of an individual and how that specific individual can contribute to society. Sound business education allows for students to master the fundamentals of business acumen and become a valued asset in the market.

Business education like many other professional degrees needs a continuous flow of information. Refresher courses and seminars updating the students are important steps that business leaders need to be taking.

For more information about Business Education visit :  http://education.ixs.net/content/Business-Education.php

Macie is a staff writer for Ticket Nest ( www.ticketnest.com ) and enjoys writing about her travel, theater and concert experiences. She can be reached at macie@ticketnest.com