17. Global Advanced Management Programme

• Nature Of Course: Global/strategic leadership (short-duration course)
• Institute: ISB and Kellogg School of Management
• Duration: 2 weeks, residential (includes 5 days at Kellogg’s)
• Participant Profile: CEOs, GMs, business heads
• Batch Size: 40 participants
• Fees: Rs 6 lakh

18. International Masters Program In Practicing Management

• Nature Of Course: Global/strategic leadership (long-duration course)
• Institute: IIM Bangalore (and a B-school each in Canada, China, Brazil and Europe)
• Participant Profile: Aged 35-55 years or having work experience of over 15 years
• Duration: 45 days, spread over 16 months
• Batch Size: 40-50 participants
• Fees: $74,750 (inclusive of travel and lodging)

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In a distinguished academic career, Professor Pritam Singh has learned a thing or two about the top men (managing director level) of organisations. “If you tell them what they don’t know, they will reject it,” he smiles. Singh has engaged minds from Maruti Suzuki, SAIL and Union Bank of India, among other companies, in board-level workshops at the Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon. “We facilitate the process in such a way that the board members reflect on their business complexities,” says Singh.

“Our role as mentors or facilitators who ask the right kind of questions becomes important,” says Singh, who has previously held the position of Director at IIM Lucknow and MDI Gurgaon. Typically, the duration of such courses at MDI is two days. Time is at a premium for this audience. Yet, discussions that start at 9 am have gone on till 1 or 2 the following morning, notes Singh.

These tenets are unique to advanced management programmes worth their weight. It is evident in the philosophy of management guru Henry Mintzberg, whose programme modules are based on five managerial mindsets: reflective, analytical, worldly, collaborative and action. Most instructors acknowledge that you cannot teach business to the top business executive because the latter has already walked the talk. Mintzberg’s five principles drive a global advanced-management programme in IIM Bangalore, called the International Masters Program in Practicing Management (IMPM).

Capt GR Gopinath
Entrepreneur

Given his Army background, and as a first-generation entrepreneur, Captain GR Gopinath had a practical induction into the corporate world: he just started a company. But in mid-2003, there was bureaucratic uncertainty around licences for his business. Around that time, he remembers a phone call from PN Thirunarayana, Professor of Marketing, IIM Bangalore.

“He told me about this eclectic course, where learning would happen from my peers,” recalls Gopinath, referring to the International Masters Program in Practicing Management in the institute. Deccan Aviation was yet to be launched. So, the founder reckoned the global experience in four countries with top managers would be useful. “I checked up on the attendees, and there was diversity, with teams from Lufthansa, Fujitsu, Matsushita, British Airways and Motorola. The learnings would happen through discussion.”

It proved eclectic and diverse. “You can’t put a finger on what exactly it is about the course because the experience was cumulative and incremental,” he says. “It gave me some sort of grounding.” In the background, as he completed the course in 2004, Air Deccan was born.

“Learning can take the form of a constant exchange of ideas and insights,” Mintzberg contends. In effect, executives traverse between management concepts and real-life experiences, reflecting upon them individually and together. The executives are typically 35-55 years old. A lower age would be considered for entrepreneurs and top managers with at least five years at the helm.

The IMPM sessions have an unconventional structure. There are five modules, each spanning nine days over a 16-month period, at management institutes in Europe, Canada, China, Brazil and India. Organisations that send participants for this course need to be aware of the additional study load and travel their employees will take on in the 16 months. “We estimate each participant will have to work an average of 6 hours a week (for the programme),” says a programme coordinator.

Our role as mentors or facilitators who ask the right kind of questions is important for the top men of organisations.Pritam Singh, former Director of MDI Gurgaon and IIM Lucknow

Advanced-management offerings have been useful to entrepreneurs too. Captain GR Gopinath, founder of Deccan Aviation, was among the participants in the initial batches of IMPM, much before his low-cost airline Air Deccan captured the public imagination. “Deccan Aviation got launched in September 2003. Two days later, I had the Montreal leg of the IMPM starting,” recalls Gopinath. Even as he was awaiting permissions for his business, he went for the three-week module in Canada. “I was on the phone all the time through the class. My batchmates found it hard to believe that I was running a helicopter company,” he laughs.

His was a diverse batch, with participants from various sectors. Unexpectedly, he benefited from his batchmates in the aviation sector from Lufthansa and British Airways. After the leg in Lancaster, UK, Gopinath signed a deal with Bristol Helicopters, again in the middle of the course. The global nature of the programme helped the entrepreneur. “I’m not an MBA, but I knew I would be hiring MBAs in my company. So, the course gave me exposure to the corporate world,” he recalls.

These advanced engagements also call for innovation, especially if management institutes have to deal with large management teams from an organisation. Professor Singh once steered a Maruti Suzuki team in a simulated car-making exercise during an advanced-management programme. This helped them identify operational areas that merited closer attention. “They found their own solutions,” he recalls. “I only had to lead them to the answers.”