Sunteți pe pagina 1din 9

MTC Global

KNOWLEDGE IN PRACTICE
E-bulletin: Volume- 2 Message from the Chief Editor
Volume 1, Issue 1

Issue- 4 (Apr Jun 2011)

ar I take immense pleasure to release the fourth issue of our e-bulletin. The Previous three issue of e-bulletin were great success and earned lot of accolades across different walks of life. It was very well received by all esteemed team members of MTC Global. I sincerely acknowledge the support, encouragement and motivation extended by all the esteem members of the team who contributed towards the growth of the consortium. I am really grateful for the contribution made by all our team members. The restriction of page numbers limited inclusion of all the articles. The articles submitted would definitely be placed in our subsequent issues. Happy Knowledge Sharing. Prof. Bholanath Dutta Chief Editor: MTC Global- Knowledge in Practice Founder & Convener: Management Teachers Consortium, Global Cell: +91 96323 18178 Homepage: www.mtcglobal.org Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your Smallest acts. This is the secret of success. ~Swami Sivananda

MTC Global Completes one year of its successful existence on 29.06.2011. Thanks and Hearty Congratulations to all esteemed MTCians.

BREAKING NEWS

MTC Global First Annual Convention Sankalp2011 at Hyderabad on 27-28 Aug 2011

Hon. Minister for Public Works Department, School Education, Endowment, Culture, Legislative Affairs and Tourism Departments, Chhattisgarh, Shri Brijmohan Agarwal has joined MTC Global as its first Patron.

Communication and Cognitive Dissonance By Dr. Hardeep Anant Business Lecturer, KHDA-NIVE, Govt. of Dubai Cognitive Dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling experienced by individuals when two conflicting ideas (or beliefs) are held simultaneously (Festinger, L. 1957). Dissonance is experienced not only when two opposing beliefs coexist, but also when one's behavior contradicts one's beliefs (Robbins S. P. 1998). For example, when someone who believes that lying is wrong tells a lie, then, they are likely to experience cognitive dissonance; because, their belief does not accord with their behaviour.

need to tackle the dissonance caused by the new evidence that challenges the existing belief. This they might do by misinterpreting or reinterpreting the information to minimize dissonance (Gordon, G. 2005). The following are some common strategies that people tend to use: Denial: People may question the new information, its source, or correctness; and reject it. Rationalization: People may find valid reasons for their existing invalid beliefs (Reasons like: "We may be wrong but so is everybody else, so why must we be the ones to change our ways?" -- pointing out their valid concerns regarding the inequities that will result if they are to accept the change, and using this valid concern as a reason to stick with the earlier belief). Sometimes, the reasons may be little more than excuses. Escalation of commitment: Angry that their beliefs are challenged, people may perceive it as a conspiracy against them, and invest more heavily in preserving their earlier ways. This is likely to happen when the existing beliefs are linked with people's individual, social, religious or ethnic identities.

Cognitive dissonance poses a challenge to communication, especially when communicating for triggering change, because whenever people are exposed to new ideas (especially ones that question their existing beliefs), they are likely to experience cognitive dissonance. Therefore, any communication, training or intervention designed to cause or facilitate change faces the challenge of effectively managing the This is why, while designing and delivering any kind cognitive dissonance experienced by the recipients. of training to employees, or students, we must play close attention to who they think they are; and, be If not skillfully done the message might lead to creative in devising and using communication resentment and, in most cases, rejection of the new strategies that will minimize dissonance and ideas. This is because our beliefs are linked with effectively manage it to achieve the desired our attitudes and values, which, for most of us, are outcomes. not easy to change. References: A lot of research has been conducted that tries to explain how people come to terms with the phenomenal psychological discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance. Research indicates that even in the light of overwhelming evidence indicating that a previously held belief is incorrect, people generally tend to hold on to that belief. But, to able to continue their lives normally, they Gordon, G. (2005). Communication, Encyclopedia Britannica [CDROM] Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA. Stanford University Press. Ribbins, S. P. (1998). Organizational Behavior. Prentice Hall, New Delhi.

Mobile Banking for Inclusive Growth by Micro Financing Institutions By Dr. SN Ghosal There is no doubt that the most popular mandate in developing countries is to outreach poor by creating employment opportunities and providing financial support to the poor through state interventions. Obviously such intermediation often fail to reach the poor as these intermediaries floated by the state are loaded with bureaucrats and politicians who are more prone to exploit the poor and ignorant rather than to outreach the bottom of the pyramid and or to hold their hands in running their farms or firms and to provide succor to overcome calamities they often encounter. Indeed it is widely held view that rural micro- entrepreneurs are not capable to organize themselves to conceive, run and bear risk of any sustainable economic enterprises and therefore they need support and hand holding by the state government and or economic institutions promoted and run by the state and people (PPP). No wonder that state policies and programs for alleviation of poverty are all routed through state political and economic institutions. FAILED INTERMEDIATION It is an irony that in practice it has been observed that such intermediation has failed to outreach bottom of the pyramid as because these institutions are found in practice keener to fill their pockets rather than provide succor and support to the poor. Saibal and Parhasib and Benjamin and Piperek in their research studies (1990 & 1997) have brought out very vividly that the traditional approach of funding the bottom of the pyramid only through state intervention as has been

generally practiced due to perhaps the influence of Keyness theory of state intervention to prop up the economy need not only revisiting but also rewriting. In fact doles and subsidies provided by the state not only fail to reach through such intermediation by the state but on the other hand weakens the self confidence and initiative of the poor and make them more and more dependent on the state as if state is next to god to ameliorate their misery and poverty. This obviously over the years have made them laggards and fatalistic. ENCOURAGE DISINTERMEDIATION TO RACH THE POOR It is therefore imperative to conceive tools and technologies to outreach poor with least intermediation and creating direct accessibility to finance and other support services. In fact the revolution in information technology has created an opportunity to reach directly to the customers irrespective of time and place. It has become possible outreach people residing in far flung rural areas and has access to finance and services at any time i.e. 24 hours. This has created new paradigm for financial institutions particularly banks as has been portrayed below. NEW PARADIGM

EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES It is obvious therefore that the new paradigm has provided greater opportunity to banks and financial institutions to outreach rural and far flung areas to cater financial services and products to people of those areas. In fact in the last decade banks and other financial institutions have developed the delivery technology dynamically in terms of client outreach and enlarging the space. These institutions particularly banks have acquired technology support like ATM , biometric security and internet banking along with core banking and electronic money transfer hardware and software. This has obviously led them to consider the possibility and feasibility to introduce mobile banking. In fact some banks have already availed this facility in a limited way to facilitate money transfer and payment system. However the most asked for facility that mobile banking is expected to provide is reach out villagers to enable them to avail financial facilities with ease and least cost. In fact RBI is also keen to introduce mobile banking facilities by banks. In this regard it has already circulated guidelines and has set up a working group under the CHAIRPERSON of a deputy Governor Mrs. Thorat to find out suitable strategy to help banks to introduce this facility. EMERGENCE OF MFIs It is true that in recent years a paradigm shift has occurred due to emergence of micro financing institutions. However it is facing some challenges of which following may be particularly mentioned as these have blurred the impact and raised eyebrows of social reformers as to the efficacy and transparency of these institutions in their efforts to alleviate poverty. These challenges could be summed up as follows: How can the micro-finance approach could be harmonized with other basic needs such as political, cultural , economic sustainability along with the primary objective i.e. social ; How such an approach be made to balance the multiple demands and the relationship among the various operators nay actors of the system; and 1. it would enhance the reliability of measuring

How such an institution be sustainable and risk free without asking for some heavy price for its operation.

Since micro finance is a community based approach and practice it has to be operated keeping in view community norms, traditions, values and practices and therefore its operation should not only be transparent but also cost effective. But these are obviously appearing to be insurmountable but that should not mean that one should raise hand and ignore these. In fact recent technologies have empowered these institutions including banks to overcome some of these challenges with ease and efficiency. CHALLENGES TO BE ENCOUNTERED However there are some difficulties in adopting such facilities; of these major one is the non availability of reliable data with regard to the financial health and transactions of rural people. The volume of data the mobile network operators (MNO) usually collect on the basis users transaction records are not adequate to assess risk and provide comprehensive banking services though transactions like bill payment could reflect through its regularity, frequency and volume some idea with regard to financial capability and avidity of users of such facilities. In fact that need to be collected should reveal not only the credit worthiness of the customer but also their capability and capacity to take risk and proneness to save and spend within their means.

In a recent study made by the POLITICAL AND ECONOMICS RESEARCH COUNCIL (PERC) of the Brookings Institution has brought out that value of non conventional data based on bill payment history etc if put to use could be of some value as follows:

credit risk by only 10 per cent; 2. It would also help enhancement of measuring credit score by 22.4% only. HELP BUILDING DATABASE COMPREHENSIVE

It is obvious therefore mobile banking transactions that are presently practiced could help to a very limited extent to measure and evaluate risks of all types banking transactions. The most important challenge therefore is to make it feasible to use data made available through MNO, M banking, and M payment system should be comprehensive and dependable information for credit and other financial risk assessment. To develop the same obviously the first step would be to asses the present gap that could not be filled by the data made available though MNO and Mobile payment facilities that are now available through mobile phones. That would also be necessary to examine the level of interest of all stakeholders to build comprehensive database for their use. This would obviously not just one time exercise as the interest of stakeholders would vary with the growth of volume and customers and also technology to enhance reachable and reduce cost. NEED TO MODEL DEVELOP COLLABORATIVE

1. Payment facilities are only one area where banks could be active and for that also there is need to develop appropriate delivery model; and 2. The recent initiative taken by RBI to permit banks to appoint correspondents need to be trained to the latest gadgets of mobile telephony and internet banking.

In fact he was frank enough to opine that banks are laggards and therefore to expedite the introduction of the system one has to look for alternative non-bank models. OPEN UP OPPORTUNITIES TO MFIs Even if one may not hold such a pessimistic view, it cannot be overlooked that there exist considerable gap in the technology and database that hinders the development of a suitable model for banks to reach the poor to provide comprehensive banking services to the rural poor. In fact mobile banking is a subset of electronic banking. It may be defined as a method to deliver financial services using mobile communication technologies such as GSM and CDMA including mobile devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistance. In fact under M banking customer can carry out basic financial transactions like remittances and payments.
RECENT MODELS COLLABORATION EVOLVED FOR

However as has been pointed out by K.C. CHAKRAVARTY Dy. Governor of R.B.I. that indeed it is a great opportunity for banks to outreach the bottom of the pyramid but there is need to develop an effective collaboration between mobile service provider and banks. He also emphasized that it would be necessary to open accounts with the bank before bank could provide banking services and products to him. In fact he has rightly raised some limitations of banks to fast forward this scheme. These are as follows: 1. Banking technology is of recent origin and therefore there is need for scaling up the same and that would obviously take some time and investment;

Presently there are four types of M.banking model viz. wap, sms, and pda and sim toolkit. WAP (wireless application model) is based on micro website and the model is similar to internet banking.

SMS banking is based on GSM standard service to Financial information network (FINO) to build exchange text messages that a customer could send to necessary financial portals to help banks to draw obtain information or to provide an information and upon these as and when considered necessary. or instruction to the banker. In fact it would be imperative to develop PDA model is designed with a mobile phone to biometric ATMs along with mobile phones in the provide more access and to store data to enable initial stage as that would help educating the rural customer to operate on individual software. It youths to become familiar with these therefore helps processing loan applications also. technologies and would not hesitate to contact Similarly mobile phone with SIM toolkits also directly the banks for seeking their services and enhances the capacity of users and banks to deliver products. In this regard it is really encouraging more services. news that banks have started exploring the ways to leverage the Unique Identification Number COLLABORATION OF INTERNET, MOBILE project. In fact it is interesting news that after meeting the officials of UIN 14 banks and AND BANKS telecom companies as well as officials of RBI However to make mobile banking a real tool for had a meeting to identify a model to integrate disintermediation which is perhaps the prime need in these innovations for inclusive growth. India to avoid corruption and high cost it would be necessary to avail the latest development in mobiles that provide storage and internet facilities. In this regard Google has advanced considerably and one would expect as the present trend indicates the prices of these handsets would come down and become affordable. Further it would also be helpful to strengthen the organizations like

Self-Confidence as a Tool to Conquer the World By Prof. Dr. Siddhartha Ghosh Professor, Editor & Programme Convener, Asian School of Business Management Bhubaneswar President & International Director, CCLP Worldwide Editor, The Education Charter State Chapter Head - Orissa, MTC Global

It is almost impossible to make it to the top level in a multibillion-dollar corporation if you do not believe in yourself. One live and latest example is Prof. Bholanath Dutta Founder & Convener of Management Teachers Consortium Global, who built the one-of-itskind international empire out of scratch and entirely through his self-confidence and vision. On the other hand, when I speak to my students in the business school, I have noticed that students in my courses often want to talk about it. This is such a crucial and interesting topic that I normally share these few suggestions about how an individual can build selfconfidence. I also hope that the readers may have their own suggestions, which might be more important and valuable than this. 1. Human beings are never perfect. There are never right or wrong answers to complex business decisions. The best that you can do as a leader is to gather all of the information that you can (in a timely manner), do a cost-benefit analysis of potential options, use your best judgment - and then go for it. 2. Failures are stepping stones to success. Great salespeople are the ones who get rejected the most often. They just ask for the order more than the other salespeople. You are going to make mistakes. You are human. Learn from these mistakes and move on. 3. Planning and deciding without implementing is a waste! World is full of master-planners & strategists but still there are failures. Why? Because the so-called leaders are so busy charting out plans and strategies, that they have no time or energy left in them to implement it. Don't continually second-guess yourself. Great leaders communicate with a sense of belief in what they are doing and with positive expectations toward the achievement of their vision.

The middle name of self confidence is belief. One cannot go to the top without self-belief; to build it, one has to believe in himself. Being perfect is not the idea- but one has to put a brave front and do the best he or she can. That's it in a nutshell. Here's a little more background on this. Last term, I taught a 4-credit course to Post Graduate Management students at the Asian School of Business Management (ranked among top-10 B-Schools of India for 2008 by Deccan Herald and 19th by Dainik Bhaskar 2011). A second-year student approached and told me that he had read a self development book on leadership and personal effectiveness which spoke about the challenges faced by the top industry executives of US. He also requested that since self confidence is such an important parameter in an individual's career, can they have extra sessions on the subject in their break periods. On the same night, before retiring for the day, when I was pondering about the whole day's activities, this issue really made me think that whenever I have dealt or communicated with CEOs, industry stalwarts or any top ranking personalities during my 10 years industry stint (of which majority was in Jet Airways - ranked world's 7th best airline for 2008), I had rarely found self-confidence problems in them.

4. Confidence Actor as Confidence booster - In some of your life situations, really the confidence may lack. But if you act and behave as if you are confident, the research has proved that it will really enhance your actual confidence-level. 5. Be "Courageous" to the world - If your team member sees you as a weak and shaky leader, the whole team will crumble in its mission as it will have an adverse effect on their confidence quotient. Again a lack of courage on the part of the leader would be a damaging black-spot for the whole entity as a whole.

6. Live in "Present" and eradicate procrastination from your life-diary. Life has a limited span. I believe that since we are all going to expire after a point, lets do our best to realize our goals by listening to our heart but acting or deciding only on the basis of our brain. Also, thinking about past or future too much, would result in unhappiness and frustration and please note that the world's happiest people are not always those, who are rich and wealthy; but people who live their life in "PRESENT". And also the presentists are the group of people who possesses maximum self confidence.

WORK ENGAGEMENT AND FAMILY ROLES Towards a healthy attitude and a positive outlook of life By Prof. Rachna Sharma, Faculty, IBS Mumbai

The focus of Psychology therefore now needs to be more on positive psychology that focuses on strengths and creating optimal conditions of work, rather than just on prevention and treatment of sickness.
WHAT IS WORK ENGAGEMENT?

Recently, the concept of job engagement has been introduced as the opposite pole of job burnout (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001). This is in response to the spate of criticism regarding the focus of Psychology being on sickness, rather than on well-being. The causes of sickness are not the same as the causes of well-being. Just as absence of demotivating factors does not necessarily imply presence of motivating factors, similarly absence of sickness does not mean presence of well being. Therefore, an employee may not be at the burn-out stage; at the same time he may not be engaged.

Work engagement is the amount of work attention and absorption that a person puts in a job. It is a positive, fulfilling, work related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption. (Schaufeli et al 2004). It refers to a consistent and pervasive affective-cognitive state that is not focused on any particular object, event, individual or behavior, but is spread throughout ones span of work. The dimensions of work engagement are: Vigor high levels of energy and resilience while working, the willingness to invest efforts in ones work and the persistence in the face of difficulties. People with vigor feel strong, vigorous and bursting with energy.

Dedication characterized by a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride and challenge. Absorption characterized by being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in ones work, whereby time passes quickly and one has difficulties in detaching oneself from work. Engaged people: Take personal initiative Generate their own positive feedback Are engaged outside their work Are tired in a different way Want to do other things than just working

to turn to policies such as flextime, on-site childcare and other mechanisms to ensure that engaging in ones family does not interfere with ones work. Underlying many of these initiatives is the fear that engagement in family is achieved at the expense of work. Most companies also view work and personal life as priorities competing for time and energy, in which a gain in one area necessarily means a loss in another. The effect of family engagement on work is an important question for managers interested in keeping people engaged in their work. The effect of work engagement on family is an equally important question for people making tough career choices. A new breed of managers is attempting to address this issue: that of managers and employees collaborating to achieve work and personal objectives to everyones benefit.

Motivating people to engage in their work is a classic problems faced by many organizations These managers are guided by 3 principles: complicated by the fact that people engage in multiple roles and the attitudes, emotions and To inform employees about business and behaviors of one role tends to spill over to other personal priorities roles. (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000) Very few To recognise and support employees as people have the art of switching off that is, whole people, by acknowledging their leaving behind their problems and achievements roles outside office when walking into the office in the morning or reaching home in the evening. Even within the To experiment with new approaches to context of the organization, people are expected to enhance organisational performances well perform multiple roles to fulfill job expectations. as allow employees to pursue personal With peoples increased focus on balancing goals multiple life roles and managing the boundary between work and family life, organizations need

+91 9632

Stay Connected
Prof. Bholanath Dutta Founder & Convener: Management Teachers Consortium, Global (MTC Global) Cell: +91 96323 18178: www.mtcglobal.org/ email: bnath.dutta@mtcglobal.org

817 Ms. Paramita Chaudhuri Proof Reader & Technical Editor MTC Global- Knowledge in Practice

S-ar putea să vă placă și