Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB) is one of its kinds. It is one of the best colleges if we talk about eastern India. Here at XIMB, everything is student-centric and student-oriented, here we get a sudden email regarding the batch meets which keeps us on our feet. It contains such a diverse background of students either its senior or my batch mates where you get to learn from people having industry experience and you learn to adjust with them, work with them and most importantly gain knowledge from them.
Stepping into IIM Indore was the first time for me when I got to live away from home. But I never thought the acceptance into this new life would be so easy. With the support of amazing friends, seniors and faculty the journey becomes very smooth. The best thing about the campus is its infrastructure, cleanliness and various peaceful spots to relax, the spellbound beauty of the campus which is something to admire. The Other thing which is unique to my campus is an Olympic size swimming pool and a view to admire that beautiful swimming pool. Generally, a campus has at-most 2 levels of operation. But my campus has got 3 levels. The ‘pataal lok’ for PGP 1 students, ‘Dharti-lok’ for PGP-2 and other residential and the ‘swarg-lok’ which the prabandh shikhar where our academic block lies. You don’t need to go to the gym, campus itself provides you so much avenues of burning your calories.
“All is Well”…The thing we say (at least I do!) to ourselves every morning when getting up for an 8 am lecture after having slept at 2 am at least, in a b-school like IIM Indore, motivating ourselves for the morning lecture. It was just another regular day when I had a Strategy session in the morning and walked into the classroom while revising the assigned case. All I expected was the Professor to elaborate on the assigned readings for the session and then move towards the case analysis. Things were going just as usual you know - some students looking absolutely enthusiastic as always with the intense class participation, some sleepy or daydreaming with no damns to give and the rest, just being too shy to speak up. There was something different about this case though. Unexpectedly, it grew to gain more participation from the students, with a lot of introvert students at least sharing their viewpoints on it once. Midway between the lecture, surprisingly we heard sounds of an angry mob, getting louder and louder as they approached the classroom. Within roughly thirty seconds, three men, looking very angry, walked into the classroom, soon to be followed by their supporters. Initially, we were wondering what was happening, but it grew interesting when we realised that they were portraying the actual characters from the case itself. Yes, our case had gone live. The professors assigned some of us the roles of a few characters too from the case to solve the issue. I am glad I was one of them. We were successfully able to come to a solution towards the ending. This was a very memorable day in the class for it not only taught us things practically but also had an element of excitement and surprise to it. Moreover, it was something quite different from the regular sessions we always had.
After months of preparation, gruelling GD/PI sessions and some luck, I managed to get into the prestigious Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Right from day one, not a minute was wasted while drilling the idea of a rigorous course curriculum which awaits us in the arduous two years journey of this MBA program. I can go on about the intensive pedagogy of XIMB, but, that's not exactly what makes my campus unique. In the end, it all boils down to the culture which has been inculcated in everyone associated with any institution, and that is where XIMB dazzles. As future managers, we cannot just expect to learn the prerequisites inside the four walls of a classroom. Since my first day at XIMB, the one word which puts both credit and debit behind in its usage is legacy. Here, legacy is not just a fancy term which is used to motivate us. It's a way of life, where everyone works collectively to maintain it at all costs. Be it quizzes or on the field, the obsession with legacy is palpable. It's not the marvellous infrastructure or the brand which has helped XIMB to reach the upper echelons of B-School ranks. It's the inherent respect for others, humility, and acceptance after every ruthless competition which takes place in the campus. XIMB is situated in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, a conservative state which is yet to ride the third wave feminism and LGBTQ+ rights. But, the moment you step inside the campus, it becomes an entirely different place, where the freedom to express is encouraged and chauvinism is only found in a satirical late-night conversation. Like every other college, XIMB also has its own support mechanism that goes by the name of ‘Bhaina’ which translates into a brother. Be it the mess ‘bhaina’ or the guard ‘bhaina', everyone is treated with the utmost respect, which makes XIMB nonpareil. To sum up XIMB’s legacy, it would be a quote from Harry Potter; “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
One fine day as me and my friends were going towards the class, we were talking about the dryness of the case which was to be discussed in the morning class that day but we never imagined what would unfold that very morning and that would be probably the memorable day for many of us at the campus. Hi all, my name is Siddharth Mittal and I am a participant of Post Graduate Programme in Management at Indian Institute of Management, Indore; 2017-19 batch. It was a fairly cold winter evening in the month of December and the geographical location of the IIM Indore campus even makes it a bit colder as it is situated on a hill in the outskirts of the city. As I was walking towards the classroom complex to attend the first of the continuous chain of lectures for the day, I was accompanied by few of my friends and classmates and we were discussing about the readings and cases to be prepared for the day. The first session was an Organisation Behaviour session whose case was a bit dried up as it dealt with a public crisis that an organisation had to face because of its products. We went to the classroom, down and out, ready for another lecture. To our surprise, the faculty came with a few sheets in hand and gave it a-piece to a few students. As I was among the ones who got one sheet, I quickly looked at the sheet and was a bit surprised to see that it had the role of the legal consultant written on it; the same character that was mentioned in the case. I thought that we would have a role-play kind of thing and was happy to get a role. A minute after getting the sheets, the professor called all the characters to the front dice and with the help of teaching assistant, we got chairs to sit in the middle of the class facing our classmates. Then sir told us to start discuss amongst us (the characters) to discuss and rest of the class to prepare counter questions. As we just started, there was a sudden entry of a group of people, dressed as localities who were protesting against the company (mentioned in the case) and started arguing with us (one who were playing the characters) about the incidents unfolded and demanding the CEO (character) to be brought forward so that they can take their revenge for their loss. Since, we had never seen these people before on our campus, we were confused about what was happening and who were these people. We were constantly trying our best to handle the situation (created artificially) by talking to the group. However, the group members were adamant about not talking and started crying and abusing the company for their loss. The drama went on for about half an hour until finally sir intervened and ended it and the discussion happened where the original identities of the group members (who came as a mob) were revealed. They were college students from nearby institutes. That day, at least the students who played the characters (including me) got a glimpse of what crisis could really be like and how difficult it is to manage people when they turn into a violent mob. Indeed that was a day that has been one of my memorable ones.
As I stand at the juncture between my first year and second year at IIM Indore, a lot of memories are floating afresh in the firmaments shaded with the hues of experiential learning and social consciousness. As the mission statement of IIM Indore reads itself, “IIM Indore seeks to be a contextually-relevant business school with world-class academic standards that develops socially-conscious managers, leaders and entrepreneurs”, the course structure is interspersed with events that aim to impart the social conscience through on-ground learning and achieving a perspective on the truthful realms prevalent in the society. One such aspect of Planet-I is manifested in the form of the “Rural Immersion Programme (RIP)” which is organised in the second term of MBA curriculum, wherein the students from the first year get to spend a whole week in one of the villages of Madhya Pradesh undertaking activities aimed at fostering a positive change in the mindset of the villagers or working towards exchanging thoughts on change and sustainability in the long-term over the week.
From the very first day when we arrive at campus various Students activities start, it gives a flavour of the next two years at IIM Indore. In the first year, we get associated with various SAC bodies. These bodies do organize various cultural and social event. We celebrate every festival at Planet-I, student activities start right from the day we enter the campus Like competitions of various clubs and committees. The college organises various Industry Meets, where students can interact with Industry people. This year IIM Indore will be hosting TEDx in the month of July.
B-schools are known for their class apart teaching methodologies especially IIMs. I have the opportunity to pursue MBA in this serene campus of IIM Indore and its beauty has amused me at every level since the day I have arrived at Planet-I. But IIM Indore is not just about its scenic location its much more than that, be its faculty who are excellent in their academic or be its unique, yet diverse batch of participants. And when these two come together, our classrooms become the stage for critical case discussions and some extraordinary experiences. An MBA programme offers courses across multiple domains of management. During our first year of the course I was all excited to learn about the frameworks of Strategic Management, Foundations of Marketing Management and fundamentals of Finance, little did I know that this one session of 75 minutes in an HR course will become my most memorable classroom experience. While the common belief is that HR courses are more about theoretical knowledge our faculty has made it sure it simply isn’t the case. Here I’m talking about Organizational Behaviour, a core course in PGP1 which is split between the first two terms. During a session in OB -II our class discussion was based on a case where the company’s management was stuck between the ethical dilemma of eliminating a line of their product of toys over the death of a child caused due to swallowing some part of the toy. The focus of the discussion was whether the company should give in to the pressure created by the protests against the company by the child’s relatives and NGOs despite pre-issued warnings regarding the use of the toy. To facilitate the discussion further our instructor assigned a few participants the role of the major players in the case. For the rest of us sitting at our respective places, it was a normal everyday case discussion. We were all busy flipping through the case pages, trying to back up our arguments with case facts and calculations. And then happens the most unexpected. A mob of angry people enters the classroom, yelling at the top of their voices. Everyone in the classroom was swept out of their feet, for we have never even seen anybody raise a voice at the campus. We kept staring at each other trying to figure out what was happening. Well, it all started to make sense only after a couple of moments when we realized something pretty interesting. This mob of people was shouting against the same company about which we were discussing the case a few minutes ago! After all, this wasn’t just a usual everyday class, our HR faculty members really went to lengths to ask professional actors to come to the campus and make us all participants live a real-life scenario where a company operates in midst of the ethical chaos. This is the beauty of IIM Indore we just don’t do case discussions we live them in and out.
Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB) is one of its kinds. It is one of the best colleges if we talk about eastern India. Here at XIMB, everything is student-centric and student-oriented, here we get a sudden email regarding the batch meets which keeps us on our feet. It contains such a diverse background of students either its senior or my batch mates where you get to learn from people having industry experience and you learn to adjust with them, work with them and most importantly gain knowledge from them.
Stepping into IIM Indore was the first time for me when I got to live away from home. But I never thought the acceptance into this new life would be so easy. With the support of amazing friends, seniors and faculty the journey becomes very smooth. The best thing about the campus is its infrastructure, cleanliness and various peaceful spots to relax, the spellbound beauty of the campus which is something to admire. The Other thing which is unique to my campus is an Olympic size swimming pool and a view to admire that beautiful swimming pool. Generally, a campus has at-most 2 levels of operation. But my campus has got 3 levels. The ‘pataal lok’ for PGP 1 students, ‘Dharti-lok’ for PGP-2 and other residential and the ‘swarg-lok’ which the prabandh shikhar where our academic block lies. You don’t need to go to the gym, campus itself provides you so much avenues of burning your calories.
“All is Well”…The thing we say (at least I do!) to ourselves every morning when getting up for an 8 am lecture after having slept at 2 am at least, in a b-school like IIM Indore, motivating ourselves for the morning lecture. It was just another regular day when I had a Strategy session in the morning and walked into the classroom while revising the assigned case. All I expected was the Professor to elaborate on the assigned readings for the session and then move towards the case analysis. Things were going just as usual you know - some students looking absolutely enthusiastic as always with the intense class participation, some sleepy or daydreaming with no damns to give and the rest, just being too shy to speak up. There was something different about this case though. Unexpectedly, it grew to gain more participation from the students, with a lot of introvert students at least sharing their viewpoints on it once. Midway between the lecture, surprisingly we heard sounds of an angry mob, getting louder and louder as they approached the classroom. Within roughly thirty seconds, three men, looking very angry, walked into the classroom, soon to be followed by their supporters. Initially, we were wondering what was happening, but it grew interesting when we realised that they were portraying the actual characters from the case itself. Yes, our case had gone live. The professors assigned some of us the roles of a few characters too from the case to solve the issue. I am glad I was one of them. We were successfully able to come to a solution towards the ending. This was a very memorable day in the class for it not only taught us things practically but also had an element of excitement and surprise to it. Moreover, it was something quite different from the regular sessions we always had.
After months of preparation, gruelling GD/PI sessions and some luck, I managed to get into the prestigious Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Right from day one, not a minute was wasted while drilling the idea of a rigorous course curriculum which awaits us in the arduous two years journey of this MBA program. I can go on about the intensive pedagogy of XIMB, but, that's not exactly what makes my campus unique. In the end, it all boils down to the culture which has been inculcated in everyone associated with any institution, and that is where XIMB dazzles. As future managers, we cannot just expect to learn the prerequisites inside the four walls of a classroom. Since my first day at XIMB, the one word which puts both credit and debit behind in its usage is legacy. Here, legacy is not just a fancy term which is used to motivate us. It's a way of life, where everyone works collectively to maintain it at all costs. Be it quizzes or on the field, the obsession with legacy is palpable. It's not the marvellous infrastructure or the brand which has helped XIMB to reach the upper echelons of B-School ranks. It's the inherent respect for others, humility, and acceptance after every ruthless competition which takes place in the campus. XIMB is situated in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, a conservative state which is yet to ride the third wave feminism and LGBTQ+ rights. But, the moment you step inside the campus, it becomes an entirely different place, where the freedom to express is encouraged and chauvinism is only found in a satirical late-night conversation. Like every other college, XIMB also has its own support mechanism that goes by the name of ‘Bhaina’ which translates into a brother. Be it the mess ‘bhaina’ or the guard ‘bhaina', everyone is treated with the utmost respect, which makes XIMB nonpareil. To sum up XIMB’s legacy, it would be a quote from Harry Potter; “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
One fine day as me and my friends were going towards the class, we were talking about the dryness of the case which was to be discussed in the morning class that day but we never imagined what would unfold that very morning and that would be probably the memorable day for many of us at the campus. Hi all, my name is Siddharth Mittal and I am a participant of Post Graduate Programme in Management at Indian Institute of Management, Indore; 2017-19 batch. It was a fairly cold winter evening in the month of December and the geographical location of the IIM Indore campus even makes it a bit colder as it is situated on a hill in the outskirts of the city. As I was walking towards the classroom complex to attend the first of the continuous chain of lectures for the day, I was accompanied by few of my friends and classmates and we were discussing about the readings and cases to be prepared for the day. The first session was an Organisation Behaviour session whose case was a bit dried up as it dealt with a public crisis that an organisation had to face because of its products. We went to the classroom, down and out, ready for another lecture. To our surprise, the faculty came with a few sheets in hand and gave it a-piece to a few students. As I was among the ones who got one sheet, I quickly looked at the sheet and was a bit surprised to see that it had the role of the legal consultant written on it; the same character that was mentioned in the case. I thought that we would have a role-play kind of thing and was happy to get a role. A minute after getting the sheets, the professor called all the characters to the front dice and with the help of teaching assistant, we got chairs to sit in the middle of the class facing our classmates. Then sir told us to start discuss amongst us (the characters) to discuss and rest of the class to prepare counter questions. As we just started, there was a sudden entry of a group of people, dressed as localities who were protesting against the company (mentioned in the case) and started arguing with us (one who were playing the characters) about the incidents unfolded and demanding the CEO (character) to be brought forward so that they can take their revenge for their loss. Since, we had never seen these people before on our campus, we were confused about what was happening and who were these people. We were constantly trying our best to handle the situation (created artificially) by talking to the group. However, the group members were adamant about not talking and started crying and abusing the company for their loss. The drama went on for about half an hour until finally sir intervened and ended it and the discussion happened where the original identities of the group members (who came as a mob) were revealed. They were college students from nearby institutes. That day, at least the students who played the characters (including me) got a glimpse of what crisis could really be like and how difficult it is to manage people when they turn into a violent mob. Indeed that was a day that has been one of my memorable ones.
As I stand at the juncture between my first year and second year at IIM Indore, a lot of memories are floating afresh in the firmaments shaded with the hues of experiential learning and social consciousness. As the mission statement of IIM Indore reads itself, “IIM Indore seeks to be a contextually-relevant business school with world-class academic standards that develops socially-conscious managers, leaders and entrepreneurs”, the course structure is interspersed with events that aim to impart the social conscience through on-ground learning and achieving a perspective on the truthful realms prevalent in the society. One such aspect of Planet-I is manifested in the form of the “Rural Immersion Programme (RIP)” which is organised in the second term of MBA curriculum, wherein the students from the first year get to spend a whole week in one of the villages of Madhya Pradesh undertaking activities aimed at fostering a positive change in the mindset of the villagers or working towards exchanging thoughts on change and sustainability in the long-term over the week.
From the very first day when we arrive at campus various Students activities start, it gives a flavour of the next two years at IIM Indore. In the first year, we get associated with various SAC bodies. These bodies do organize various cultural and social event. We celebrate every festival at Planet-I, student activities start right from the day we enter the campus Like competitions of various clubs and committees. The college organises various Industry Meets, where students can interact with Industry people. This year IIM Indore will be hosting TEDx in the month of July.
B-schools are known for their class apart teaching methodologies especially IIMs. I have the opportunity to pursue MBA in this serene campus of IIM Indore and its beauty has amused me at every level since the day I have arrived at Planet-I. But IIM Indore is not just about its scenic location its much more than that, be its faculty who are excellent in their academic or be its unique, yet diverse batch of participants. And when these two come together, our classrooms become the stage for critical case discussions and some extraordinary experiences. An MBA programme offers courses across multiple domains of management. During our first year of the course I was all excited to learn about the frameworks of Strategic Management, Foundations of Marketing Management and fundamentals of Finance, little did I know that this one session of 75 minutes in an HR course will become my most memorable classroom experience. While the common belief is that HR courses are more about theoretical knowledge our faculty has made it sure it simply isn’t the case. Here I’m talking about Organizational Behaviour, a core course in PGP1 which is split between the first two terms. During a session in OB -II our class discussion was based on a case where the company’s management was stuck between the ethical dilemma of eliminating a line of their product of toys over the death of a child caused due to swallowing some part of the toy. The focus of the discussion was whether the company should give in to the pressure created by the protests against the company by the child’s relatives and NGOs despite pre-issued warnings regarding the use of the toy. To facilitate the discussion further our instructor assigned a few participants the role of the major players in the case. For the rest of us sitting at our respective places, it was a normal everyday case discussion. We were all busy flipping through the case pages, trying to back up our arguments with case facts and calculations. And then happens the most unexpected. A mob of angry people enters the classroom, yelling at the top of their voices. Everyone in the classroom was swept out of their feet, for we have never even seen anybody raise a voice at the campus. We kept staring at each other trying to figure out what was happening. Well, it all started to make sense only after a couple of moments when we realized something pretty interesting. This mob of people was shouting against the same company about which we were discussing the case a few minutes ago! After all, this wasn’t just a usual everyday class, our HR faculty members really went to lengths to ask professional actors to come to the campus and make us all participants live a real-life scenario where a company operates in midst of the ethical chaos. This is the beauty of IIM Indore we just don’t do case discussions we live them in and out.
