Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida organised its 4th Jaipuria Annual Management Conference (JAMC-2014) on December 13, 2014 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.The theme of this year’s event was on the theme “Employee Engagement: Harnessing Human Capital”.

There were many other distinguished guests at the gathering, including Chief Guest Dr. A. K. Balyan, MD & CEO, Petronet LNGLtd., and Mr. Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, JCB India, who was the Guest of Honour. Mr. S. Y. Siddqui, Chief Mentor, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Mr. Kamal Singh, Director General, NHRD, and Mr. G. P. Rao, Management Advisor also attended as special guests. Also in attendance was Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, President of PHDCCI & Chairman, Jaipuria Institute of Management, and Mr. Shreevats Jaipuria, Vice Chairman of the institute, Dr. Rajiv R. Thakur, Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida. The inaugural session of the conference began with the guests taking part in the lamp lighting service. After the ceremonial lightning of the lamp, Honourable Director Dr. Rajiv R. Thakur introduced the theme of the conference. In his welcome address, Mr. Sharad Jaipuria emphasised significance of employee engagement. He also stressed the importance of harnessing human capital for reaping the benefits of competitive advantage, productivity and growth for all the stakeholders in the organization.

Mr. G.P Rao, while presenting the conference overview, energized the gathering with his witty and eloquent deliberation on the need of employee engagement. He also introduced the agenda for the conference and the distinguished speakers in the inaugural session.Mr.KamalSingh, while sharing his thoughts on the event, presented important and interesting data on employee engagement, backed by research and rating agencies, including Dale Carnege, NHRDN and Tower Perrins.

In his address, the Guest of Honour Mr. Vipin Sondhi ignited the young minds in attendance by sharing four short stories that confirmed the importance and need of employee engagement for the success of any organization and its people. He stated that engagement initiatives are inclusive in nature and the drivers should ensure that everyone is a part of engagement, including leaders, followers, and both weak and strong players in the process. The key to the success of employee engagement lies in the hands of leadership.

The Chief Guest, Dr. A.K Balyan, while delivering his inaugural address, enthralled the audience with his pearls of wisdom. He emphasised the leadership-driven employee engagement endeavours, which is a combination of hardware and software, with policies and procedures being referred to as hardware and execution and people as software. He illustrated for an emotional connection between employees and management, and a commitment of employees toward the organization. He showed the immense benefits of engagement on the bottom line of a business. While delivering the vote of thanks, Mr. Shreevats Jaipuria appreciated the engaging deliberations of all the guests. He stated that employee engagement is a value chain and that all the stakeholders should chip in to complete this important practice. While organizations are taking important initiatives in this direction, business schools like Jaipuria Institute of Management are also instilling values and ethics in its students, the future flag bearers of employee engagement in organizations.As the session reached its end, the distinguished guests were honoured by presenting mementoes as a gesture of gratitude.

The first session on Leadership Values & Brand Alignment was chaired by Ms. Ester Martinez, Founder & Editor-in-chief, People Matters. The eminent panellists were Mr. Pradyumna Pandey, Chief GM-HR, JK Tyre, Mr. Deepak Dobriyal, VP-HR, Birlasoft, Ms. Usha Subramanian-VP, Technical and Campus-Mphasis, and Mr. Rajiv Kapoor, CPO-Fortis Healthcare.The session highlighted the different methods of defining values and their evolution. They also discussed the relationship between values and brand creation.The session was based on experiential sharing about how an organization defines and disseminates its values.

The second panel session on Employee Engagement Strategies & Best Practices was led by Ms. Shampi Venkatesh, CPO-NIIT Ltd. The eminent panellists were Mr. Sushil Baveja, President-HR, DSCL Ltd., Ms. Ashu Sawhney, VP-HR, DCB Bank and Mr. Abhay Kapoor, AVP-HR & Corporate ER, Escorts Ltd.The panel discussed the role of engagement by 3 key stakeholders: Reporting Manager, Business Leader, and HR. They also spoke about engagement at various stages of the employee life cycle, as well as the role of engagement for future generations. Also discussed were the role of communication,auto mationand entertainment in engagement.

In his special address, Mr. S.Y. Siddiqui spoke about the expectations of employees of different categories and age groups. He spoke about the various aspects of leadership, including mentoring, listening, influencing, and networking. He emphasised on the need to develop a culture of respect, empowerment, commitment and ownership within an organization. He shared that the best strategy for employee engagement is to develop an element of pride among the employees. He also discussed various HR initiatives at Maruti Suzuki and shared his insightful experiences.

The conference concluded with the conference summary by Prof. Abdul Qadir, Conference Coordinator and a vote of thanks by Mr. R.K. Rishiraj, Head Corporate Relations & Placement, Jaipuria Institute of Management.

Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida recently held its 8th convocation ceremony for its 2014 Batch on Sunday, 30th November. 206 students of the batch of 2012-14 were awarded their degree. The event did not only witness students on the cusp of new beginnings buzzing with energy but it also brought together leading lights from the world of academia and business. Mr. Ankur Warikoo, Head, Groupon APAC Emerging Markets was the Chief Guest of the event.

The organizers had left no stone unturned to make sure that the day will be remembered for a long time to come. It was of course a big day for the students who had turned out in their Sunday bests, so to speak, and were brimming with joy on the major achievement in their lives.

Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, Chairman of the institutes took to the stage and began the proceedings. He talked about the role the institute plays in creating leaders of tomorrow and the students in front of him stood testimony to that. He inspired the students by saying, “You need to focus on your strengths because they help you achieve your dreams. Dream big and go after them with whatever your strengths might be.” He followed up his thought with the example of the Indian Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi, who has done just that and spectacularly so.

Dr. Rajiv R Thakur, Director, Jaipuria, Noida then presented the annual report for the institute, which was received with a big round of applause. He talked about the placement record for the institute last year, which stood at 95% overall, with a large number of big name organizations coming to the campus as recruiters. He also focussed on various initiatives carried out by the institute in the last year for the overall development of students. He ended his talk reiterating the institute’s commitment to creating leaders of tomorrow.

The alumni were then guided to take the oath by Mr. Jaipuria who also gave them their diplomas. Mr. Ankur Warikoo, the Chief Guest of the event then handed over medals to students who had performed extraordinarily in different fields. In his heartfelt speech he said, “The institute has prepared you to face the corporate world with finesse. Now it will be onto you to pay back with your success in the times to come. Congratulations to Jaipuria and you all.”

Through his speech Mr. Warikoo had tried to talk about the importance of being limitless rather than being bogged down by materialistic things. He shared anecdotes from his life to drive home his point and describe the significance of physical and mental courage. And these qualities are in abundance in the recipient of this year’s Chairman’s Award of Recognition. Mr. Yateesh Wahaal, alumni from 2005-7 batch has made giant strides in the industry since then and was felicitated on the day by his proud institute. He started his career in banking but soon moved to different industries and worked on projects that made an impact internationally. Today, he is the CEO of an emerging health care company that will be opening super speciality hospitals in different parts of the country.

Thereafter, awards were given to the deserving students for their outstanding academic achievements. The Gold Medal for PGDM was awarded to Ms. Bhavna Tandon and Silver Medal to Ms. Sakshi Gupta. The specialization wise toppers were Ms. Bhavna Tandon (Financial Management), Ms. Megha Mahajan (Marketing Management), Ms. Isha Singhal (Human Resource Management), Ms. Sakshi Gupta (International Business), and Mr Tarun Harit (Operations Management).

For PGDM (Services), the Gold Medal was awarded to Ms. Komal Nagar and Silver Medal to Ms. Shipra Gupta. For PGDM (Marketing), The Gold Medal was awarded to Ms. Shubhanshi Dhooper and Silver Medal to Mr. Tarun Harit.

The Gold Medal for overall BEST STUDENT OF 2012-14 was awarded to Ms Bhavana Tandon. The Gold Medal for BEST WOMAN STDUENT of 2012-2014 was awarded to Ms Sakshi Gupta

The Vote of Thanks was delivered by the Vice Chairman of the Jaipuria Group of Institutions, Mr. Shreevats Jaipuria who stressed on the fact that each passing student should believe in themselves to overcome difficult situations and unknown problems that they would encounter as they go ahead in the professional and personal lives. The 8th Convocation ceremony of Jaipuria Noida reinstated in every way one of the core philosophies on which Jaipuria Institute of Management is touted-“You are greater than what you are.”