STUDY METHOD OF MBA STUDENTS

College is not as intimidating as others would like you to believe. It only entails more didactic responsibilities and a more mature behavior in dealing with challenges. An effective study habit is one way of being able to cope up with college life. You should be able to manage your time well and meet the academic demands of your subjects. The following are effective study habits that you could utilize in college:

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1. Prepare a study schedule.

Prepare a daily study schedule and stick to it. Assign more time to subjects you find difficult. Designate a time for working on assignments and of course some minutes for relaxation too. There should always be a time for everything.

2. Listen intently during lecture hours.

Much is learned when you listen attentively to the professor during actual lectures. Professors usually stress points they consider significant. Watch out for topics which are not found in your textbooks. Note this down as it is considered additional information and may be given as a part of the exam. This will also signify to the teacher those who are listening well to him.

3. Take down notes during lectures.

Take down notes and underline topics that your professor stressed during the lectures. You could re-write them later, after class hours, to learn more. Re-writing them would allow you also a better understanding of the topic. Be organized and neat in your note-taking. This would help you a lot when you review them.

4. Study daily.

Cramming will eventually lead you to nowhere. It lessens retention and therefore true learning does not take place. Reading your notes and studying them daily will definitely benefit you. Do not just memorize. Understand the concept of what you're reading. Analyze it carefully for longer retention.

5. Do additional research.

Good and responsible students do research even if not asked to. Read books. Research will help you understand the lesson more and would demonstrate to your professor your willingness to learn. Go to the library and read. Learning means also being updated with the latest information on your topic.

The internet is a good source at times, but you should rely only on sites which have been validated and proven to be legitimate. There are many misinformation obtained online through spurious sites.

Belfast yesterday? Kashmir tomorrow? A common sense approach to harmony means lots of utilitarian public art

MIND SET

Designing a new peace

Belfast yesterday? Kashmir tomorrow? A common sense approach to harmony means lots of utilitarian public art

Here is the Kashmir conundrum: Why such terrible uncertainty in a Valley that so many people of different faiths regard as the gateway to heaven? It is easy to blame religion, sectarianism, nationalism. But is that really true?
In the England of my youth, troubles in Northern Ireland were wrecking havoc on the nation. Reports of murder, destruction and torture were part of the daily news. It was almost a given that the centuries-old religious divide would never allow peace to prevail. But two very interesting things happened.
First, the people got fed up with all that was happening and realized it was forcing them to live in a medieval time warp. Second, politicians changed their ways. Instead of raking up the past, they concentrated on formulating policies to improve the economic and living condition of the people. It worked. While there are still some people in Northern Ireland who perpetrate hate, by and large, peace prevails.
Perhaps this is the “common sense route” that Kashmir’s people and politicians need to follow. War and all that goes with it rarely solves anything. In Ireland, British and Irish ‘terrorism’ compounded the problem. Northern Ireland’s war ended when the British government began to reshape its towns and cities. Waterways were cleaned up; new areas were created where people could shop and eat in comfort. Many sincerely believe that the people of Northern Island saw what was happening in Belfast and wanted a piece of the action. It was as simple as that.
The design for social change was equally profound in London and it revolved around the Thames. The South Bank complex was the focal point of a project that involved remodelling the Docklands, Canary Wharf, Chelsea Harbour and other areas. As the city developed many new ‘hearts’, it learned to breathe new air. It was to be the life-blood of a sense of the greater common good.
Today, London is one of the world’s best integrated and harmonious cities.
The key to great social change – planning for it and executing it quickly and magnificently – was that the UK had been investing in design for decades. Ample talent and ability was available – the UK had the architects, landscape designers and interior designers it needed to design change. There was also the recognition that great design creates a great environment which, in turn, creates good citizens. Eminent British designer Sir Christopher Frayling recently told the UK’s design fraternity that design is at the centre of truly great societies. And good design can mean good economics.
Cynics may say this is a well-meaning but insubstantial philosophy. But it is clear the economic gurus have hardly been entirely right. Sections of the arts fraternity knew from the early days of Thatcherism that preaching the philosophy of greed would end in tragedy. Why not listen to the arts world now? Investment in design is as important as investing in other professions, perhaps more so.
Design does not limit itself to buildings or products. But investment in design also means serious investment in design education, and this is the problem for India. We cannot expect to progress to the level we should if we let this potentially beautiful country remain an eyesore. Should we really feel proud that within minutes of stepping out of any Indian airport, visitors are greeted by filth? Some of the new buildings and townplanning projects underway are missing the mark by miles.
Why? There is almost no design education in India; we don’t have the well-trained designers we need and virtually no design managers. In the UK, probably 1 in 2000 of the population is involved in art and design education in some way, be it as teacher or as student. In India, the ratio is probably 1 in 200000. Add to that the fact that many trained designers in India see themselves as fine rather than utilitarian artists. In line with the Aristotelian definition, we don’t need many more artists; we do need very many more practical and clever designers.
Poverty, population and the aftermath of Partition have undoubtedly made the designer’s job very difficult. But we live in times of great change. I was born in a London of bomb sites, slums, a depressed economy and broken spirits, even though we technically won WWII. I remember a River Thames in which fish could not survive. That was just 50 years ago.
India too is a different country from 20 years ago. Marutis have replaced Ambassadors and Mercs are now replacing Marutis. Change is everywhere, and there must be broader opportunity for Indians to study design.
Kashmir could be a benchmark. It has a young chief minister, who symbolizes the truest hopes of his people, perhaps best summed up by a Kashmiri gentleman in a recent interview during the Shopian protest. All he wanted, he said, was for the bandh to cease so he could get back to work and support his family.
Kashmiri crafts are famous around the world; we need to build on that reputation. Kashmir’s beauty is fabled; we need to ensure that more people are able to enjoy it. Some of this is underway with the chief minister’s support for a project to clean up the Dal Lake. The famous Lake is said to have become an open sewer, but the restoration programme could restore it to its former glory.
It can be oddly disorientating to visit the Valley at a time of violence and unrest. I was there in the immediate aftermath of the death of two young girls in Shopian. After visiting the usual tourist areas, we were taken to the backwaters where a host of small hamlets had come up. I cannot begin to explain its fascination: A mix of Lake Como, Venice and Amazonian jungle. In the hands of competent, caring and visionary designers, the area could become one of the world’s most sought-after destinations, bringing wealth and prosperity to a troubled people. That may be the best design for peace in our times.

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Impression management

In sociology and social psychology, impression management is the process through which people try to control the impressions other people form of them. It is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction. ^[1] It is usually used synonymously with self-presentation, if a person tries to influence the perception of their image. The notion of impression management also refers to practices in professional communication and public relations, where the term is used to describe the process of formation of a company's or organization's public image.

Motives and strategies

There are two main motives that govern self-presentation. One is instrumental: we want to influence others and gain rewards. ^[2] There are three instrumental goals. The first is Ingratiation, when we try to be happy and display our good qualities so that others will like us. ^[3] The second is intimidation, which is aggressively showing anger to get others to hear and obey us. ^[4]The third is supplication, when we try to be vulnerable and sad so people will help us and feel bad for us. ^[5].

The second motive of self-presentation is expressive. We construct an image of ourselves to claim personal identity, and present ourselves in a manner that is consistent with that image.^[6] If we feel like this is restricted, we exhibit reactance. We try to assert our freedom against those who would seek to curtail our self-presentation expressiveness. A classic example is the idea of the “preacher’s daughter;” the notion that her suppressed personal identity and emotions cause an eventual backlash at her family and community.

Concerning the strategies followed to establish a certain impression, the main distinction is between defensive and assertive strategies. Whereas defensive strategies include behaviours like avoidance of threatening situations or means of self-handicapping, assertive strategies refer to more active behaviour like the verbal idealisation of the self, the use of status symbols or similar practices. ^[7]

Impression management theory

Impression management (IM) theory states that any individual or organization must establish and maintain impressions that are congruent with the perceptions they want to convey to their publics ^[8]. From both a communications and public relations viewpoint, the theory of impression management encompasses the vital ways in which one establishes and communicates this congruence between personal or organizational goals and their intended actions which create public perception.

The idea that perception is reality is the basis for this sociological and social psychology theory , which is framed around the presumption that the other’s perceptions of you or your organization become the reality from which they form ideas and the basis for intended behaviors.

Basic factors influencing impression management

A range of factors that govern impression management can be identified. It can be stated that impression management becomes necessary whenever there exists a kind of social situation, whether real or imaginary. Logically, the awareness of being a potential subject of monitoring is also crucial. Furthermore, the characteristics of a given social situation are important. Specifically, the surrounding cultural norms determine the appropriateness of particular nonverbal behaviours ^[9]. The actions have to be appropriate to the targets, and within that culture, so that the kind of audience as well as the relation to the audience influences the way impression management is realized. A persons goals are another factor governing the ways and strategies of impression management. This refers to the content of an assertion, which also leads to distinct ways of presentation of aspects of the self. The degree of self-efficacy describes whether a person is convinced that it is possible to convey the intended impression.

Erving Goffman on impression management

Strategic interpersonal behavior to shape or influence impressions formed by an audience is not a new field; it has a rich history. Plato spoke of the "stage of human life" andShakespeare crafted the famous sentence "All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players" ^[12]. In the 20th century, Erving Goffman also followed a dramaturgical analogy in his seminal book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, in which he said, "All the world is not, of course, a stage, but the crucial ways in which it isn't are not easy to specify." Goffman presented impression management dramaturgically, explaining the motivations behind complex human performances within a social setting based on a play metaphor ^[14]. Goffman’s work incorporates aspects of a symbolic interactionist perspective ^[15], emphasizing a qualitative analysis of the interactive nature of the communication process.

The actor, shaped by the environment and target audience, sees interaction as a performance. The objective of the performance is to provide the audience with an impression consistent with the desired goals of the actor ^[16]. Thus, impression management is also highly dependent on the situation ^[17]. In addition to these goals, individuals differ in responses from the interactional environment, some may be irresponsive to audience's reactions while others actively respond to audience reactions in order to elicit positive results. These differences in response towards the environment and target audience are called self-monitoring. ^[18] Another factor in impression management is self-verification, the act of conforming the audience to the person's self-concept.

The audience can be real or imaginary. IM style norms, part of the mental programming received through socialization, are so fundamental that we usually do not notice our expectations of them. While an actor (speaker) tries to project a desired image, an audience (listener) might attribute a resonant or discordant image. An example is provided by situations in which embarrassment occurs and threatens the image of a participant. ^[19] [edit]

Impression management and the media

The medium of communication influences the actions taken in impression management. Self-efficacy can differ according to the fact whether the trial to convince somebody is made through face-to-face-interaction or by means of an e-mail. ^[20]. Communication via devices like telephone, e-mail or chat is governed by technical restrictions, so that the way people express personal features etc. can be changed.

Significance in empirical research and economy

Impression management can distort the results of empirical research that relies on interviews and surveys, a phenomenon commonly referred to as "social desirability bias". Impression management Theory nevertheless constitutes a field of research on its own. ^[21] When it comes to practical questions concerning public relations and the way organizations should handle their public image, the assumptions provided by impression management theory can also provide a framework. ^[22].

Corporate dress code – Changing face of corporate India

It’s Monday morning at 11. You have an important meeting with your client who has come all the way from New York. Everything is set. Just 10 minutes before the meeting starts one of your key executives walks in for this very important meeting in torn jeans and round collared t-shirt. Add to that he wears his sneakers with pride and ushers himself to his seat. I don’t think you would be able to forgive the executive for his total lack of dressing sense and lack of respect for the client. Neither would your client.

Corporate dressing has taken on an important role in external communication for the organisation as much as other activities like advertising and PR, even if the definition of formal corporate dressing has undergone a sea change.

So let us examine some of the changes that are taking place rapidly in our corporate wardrobe. Advertising agencies, PR firms, media and IT organisations have traditionally always adopted and supported a flexible dress code. But they still frown upon employees going too casual. Round collared t-shirts are a no-no for most organisations, even on a Friday. So are torn jeans, shorts, capris, tank tops etc. Some organisations spell out their dress code explicitly while some leave it to the discretion of the employees, asking them to see that their dressing doesn’t offend any one else. However, the most flexible of firms will insist that the employees respect client sensibilities. What this means is that if you are going to meet a customer who is attired in a three piece suit, please do not visit them wearing your best pair of Levis. In other words be as formal as possible.

However, the definition of formal is changing too. Gone are the days when formal meant, white or cream full sleeved shirt with a tie and a well stitched suit. Now, organisations allow their employees to even make presentations at seminars wearing a simple jacket over a pair of jeans. So what was considered totally informal a few years back is acceptable formal wear today.

What does all these changes mean to the employee? Well for starters the Indian saree, which in my mind is the complete dress ever created, is no longer the epitome of formal wear. Ladies can experiment with business suits, shirts or any attire that she feels is formal enough. While dressing informally or casually, one needs to consider the sensitivities of their co-workers too. It’s great to feel comfortable wearing min skirts on a Friday to office, but if that attracts unwanted attention or makes other females squirm in discomfort, it’s best not to take such liberties. For men, the choice is less complicated. A simple full sleeved is nowadays considered formal enough for most meetings. In some cases, one can even dress up informally. If you have already built a good working relationship with your client it might even be acceptable to wear your favourite denim. However, in case of conferences or first time meetings, wearing a suit is expected.

Needless to say that amongst large organisations, the dress code enumerated above, was pioneered by the IT industry. They felt that since they are hiring so many fresh out of campus; why not create an extension of the campus environment in the office it self and hence supported flexibility in dress code. Seeing their success in attracting and retaining some of the best talent in India, other industries too are following suit, with a caveat that one should not offend any one’s sensibilities. After all, one should eat what one likes to eat and wear what others like us to wear.

BEHAVIOURALLY ANCHORED RATING SCALE (BARS)
An appraisal that requires raters list important dimensions of a particular job and collect information regarding the critical behaviours that distinguish between successful and unsuccessful performance. These critical behaviours are then categorised and appointed a numerical value which is used as the basis for rating performance.