Management skills are not the copyright of MBAs only. They can be acquired by all and should be indeed! They can be honed anywhere and there are some basic management skills that one should definitely implement in office, whether you are a post graduate management student or not. These skills don’t require you to do an MBA; just simple practices chalked out well and strategized to perfection can bring the same results for you as it would to anyone else in your office. Here, is a lowdown on some essential MBA skills researched and sculpted by MBAupdates that every non-MBA inculcates as a part of their daily habits.
Communication Concord
Communication is an essential factor guiding your potential to flourish. Communication entails communication with everyone, be it, the boss, the seniors, your reporting boss, or your parallel colleagues. Opening doors to communication with your seniors and duly informing them about each effort taken by you is a strategic way to make them realize you’re at work and you are constantly contributing yourself in some way for the betterment and growth of the organization as well as the adding value to your area of work. Error free and lucid communication channels make way for informed decision making. However, your reputation is at stake unless your communication, whether written, verbal or pictorials is error free.
Relationship Building
Your growth and potential can be easily charted keeping your relations in place. Being the bad books of even one essential entity in your organization can alter your efforts to nil. Thus, make sure to build strong and friendly relations with all. Most of the people in office spaces are not here to make long term friends, so don’t go ahead with those intentions, in place, build relations in the form of give and take; give and take. Don’t keep to yourself, share knowledge even if people don’t share it with you. Your strategy here is to build relations for your interest not to calculate and if you are getting more or less that you’re giving.
Opinions Matter, When?
Opinions and judgments matter, but make sure these judgments are not personal judgments, judgments about colleague, their work profile, their salaries and their work. Your opinions should be business related and should be most opined during business meetings and other professional gatherings where you can draw some mileage out of their substance. Opining your thoughts and ideas in a clout of colleagues in a lunch room is not going to get you anywhere.
These are some of the basic and essential skills that should be trained to achieve the best in an office space. Always remember, office spaces are breeding grounds for senseless rumors and tough cutting edge politics that can make or take cones’ career away from them, hence use these as daily manage met mantras for the best.
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Showing posts with label mba updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mba updates. Show all posts
3 business tips for interns
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Why NOT to ignore Current Affairs?
Which field on this planet is not developing? What experiences zero growth? Nothing! Who said only technology keeps updating it adding value embellishments all the time? In fact, the gamut of knowledge grows faster than the speed of light. Different situations lead individual, companies, organizations and even countries to think of different solution for their data set of trouble. Thus, every new solution thought of by them is an addition to the value of knowledge which could again lead to contesting solutions that could be debated again leading to one more data set of knowledge. Thus each new happening, each new flash adds immense education value whose knowledge will add to your decision making power. Here are some reasons why MBAs should get their hand on the daily newspaper more often.
Group Discussions
As far as MBAs goes current affairs stands tall in front of them in the group discussion. This is the time for intensive reading of newspaper; eminent magazines, education debated and good books. They could come handy in altering the path of your destiny to enter a top-notch business school. Group discussions are in fact very competitive where no amount of knowledge is an upper limit.
Decision Making
Post business school when you enter a work space, whether in India or even abroad, you being an MBA are going to be on managerial level where decision making would be definitely be a part of your job profile. For e.g. Any decision you take could take at work, with respect any deal without readings your competitor’s stance published on the front page of the newspaper could cost your company millions and it could probably cost you your job too. A daily read of a business newspaper would definitely aid you land a job with a good salary hike and promotion. MBAupdates thinks informed decision making is the key to success anywhere.
Policy and Regulatory Changes
Most of the MNCs or even big governmental corporations are driven by their own set of rules and regulations as stipulated by the governmental and other pertaining regulatory authorities. As the tastes and preferences undergo changes, so do the demand and supply situation affecting regulations to fill in the gaps produced at the macro level. This has its effects on the firms and companies working lower wring in the order and thus being an MBA you ought to keep an open eye for current affairs.
First Impressions
Imagine yourself entering a conference with like-minded, informed and well acknowledged people discussing current issues in the limelight and their repercussions on the trade of your company. Would you like someone to ask you a question and you would stare right back at them in denial of the question thrown? Avoid embarrassing situations by being up-to-date on the knowledge front in professional spaces.
Your knowledge about current affairs and the ability to write a short note on any given topic is a resume by itself. No big degrees or accolades are required to develop this; all you need is- the daily newspaper!
TISS 2013 – What to expect?
Tata Institute of Social Science’s National Entrance Test (TISS-NET) has gone online for the very first time making it very simple for applicants to give the exams. It is going to be held on the January 13th, 2013. However, for all those still comfortable only with the written paper route, do not worry! You can give the exam on paper as well with a written application. This exam will be common across all courses of application for students. It is expected to be divided into a 100 mark entrance or eligibility test, a pre-interview test that may consist of a group discussion or a written test weighted 50 marks, and 75 marks for the personal interview. Sample TISS papers and the past year TISS papers can still be utilised for the new TISS-NET 2013 mba.
The
test will formatted as per Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) based on
questions of analytical ability, social sensitivity, new and current
issues, and logical reasoning. After taking the online mock test MBAupdates discovered that the questions are going to be fairly divided into the same categories as the past year TISS papers of mba.
- This year MBAupdates expects TISS to toughen up the numerical and logical ability. CAT preparation, if any, would be more than enough to crack the TISS written exam easily. Students weak in quantitative abilities and numerical with fast metal calculation should aim to bolster their speed. This year TISS 2013 should be prepared keeping the goal of speed in mind. Train your mind to think and calculate faster as well as practice observation based questions from Sample TISS papers and the past year TISS papers for additional help.
- Logical reasoning this year could still be easier than the quants. Students are suggested to constantly keep brushing up their understanding of basic concepts to tackle tricky questions. However MBAupdates expects an easy grade with logical reasoning this year.
- Language abilities, verbals and English comprehension go a CAT preparation of the same should suffice. This has always been an easy scoring section in the TISS exams. What one must concentrate on is vocabulary usage, Para forming, comprehension, analogies, fill in the blanks, summary questions. MBAupdates suggest keeping a keen eye and study of synonyms and antonyms for basic assistance and help.
- General awareness and current affair issues can be expected from the realm of major policy changes if any and other. God reading material and skill should sail you through the general awareness questions.
Thus, expect a new format for TISS 2013. Make sure to practice to Sample TISS papers and the past year TISS papers.
How to spoil your MBA internship search?
There is a very good chance that a first year MBA would be putting in efforts looking for an internship at this time. An internship not just enables a candidate to get valuable experience but also to build contacts, have a sense of understanding the business and many more. However, not many realize that there are certain pitfalls that need to be avoided.
Try Too Hard
MBA students usually have high aspirations and often tend to put themselves under pressure as far as achieving their goals is concerned. At times it makes more sense to wait for the right internship rather than blindly opting for a one that has a big brand name and/or promises good and valuable experience.
This does not mean that one should do nothing during the winter. During this time they can actually work on their networking with people and researching companies that they wish to work for. Following the herd is not a wise decision to make in terms of looking for internships.
Be a Bad Networker
Networking is not something that has to be forcefully done. Attending random networking events without even getting to know and understand people does not help at all. No amount of research, mock interviews can actually replace the networking abilities as it is the human that is going to hire you for a job. Thus, there is a need to be able to connect with them.
So how can you do that?
Staying inside the four walls is definitely not a solution. Get out and talk to people, ask questions and most importantly, let them know about yourself.
Know nothing about Yourself
As mentioned above, you need to understand yourself very well to let others know about you. Failing to know yourself, your interests, and strengths can put you behind in the internship search. After this you move towards doing the final preparation, networking with the right people and pursue your interests.
Apply to every opportunity available
Today’s MBA students are used to pushing through applications and résumés from the comfort of their home computers. Sometimes, they are tempted to click on “send” for every job they see because it’s so simple, says Nguyen. Applying to everything usually results in getting no job at all. Instead, customize your résumé and network and look for openings that appeal to you and for which you are a strong candidate. “What they need to be doing,” Nguyen says of MBA job seekers, “is getting out and knocking on doors.”
Unnecessarily stress yourself
Many MBAs are not used to relaxing and tend to stress themselves out at the smallest of instances. This often leads to silly mistakes that can cost a candidate a good offer. One should not be reluctant to approach people from companies that you would like to associate with.
3 Tips to Crack ‘Decision Making’ Questions In XAT
The decision-making questions in the Xavier’s Aptitude Test (XAT) are considered to be the toughest ones to solve. Choosing the questions that comes closest to your sensibilities is just the beginning; the tougher aspect is to choose the right answer from the multiple choices offered. It takes an overall ability to solve these questions, a good knowledge base and at times some professional experience.
MBAupdates would like to give you few tips deciphered on the basis of the analysis and research of the sample XAT papers of the previous years.
The XAT 2012 paper showed nearly 25 questions in this section, lesser than the year 2011. MBAupdatesexpects 25 or more this year of XAT 2013 for mba, based on past years XAT papers. The expected cut of is anticipated to be 7-7.5 if the number of questions this year are increased for this section. Read on to how to prepare yourself with these amazing tips that will help you fight the dear of decision making questions in XAT 2013 for mba.
Familiarity with Similar Problems
The familiarities with problems like the ones that are going to be asked in the exam are very essential. This familiarity can be increased by nothing but intensely reading the questions and answers or solutions. Dig out all the possible decision making questions and solutions from old sample XAT papers and past year XAT papers. Even more important than merely reading the problems, the adequate deconstruction of the same with questions like why and results of a particular chosen answer by you will be the best way to figure out the correct answer. You need to get into the habit of structuring and deconstructing the decision making question from solve the available answers.
Reading blogs and articles related to solving
There are various detailed articles and blogs related to problem solving. Read decision making materials from business websites and other management school theory material available for free. The knowledge given there is exactly what will answer your question. This should be done because the material available in detail will open up keys to problem solving at a higher levels than desired by you to solve the question in the XAT papers. You will be prepared and familiarity with solving the toughest of the decision making questions posed in the XAT. After this exercise you should re-solve and the sample XAT papers and past year XAT papers.
Asking essential questions to the question itself
There are a set of questions that should significantly answer the questions on business strategy, ethics, morals, customer’s needs, the benefits, the cons, the timeframe to achieve results, the value added by the chosen answer, and the complexity and the consequences of the answer chosen. Make sure to keep the legal, regulatory, social, economic and political set up of the chosen country concerned.
These 3 essential tips by MBAupdates will surely up your chances of getting more correct answers in the decision making questions with the help if the sample XAT papers and past year XAT papers.
The financial fall of 2008 has changed the entire job scene. Firstly, there is a dearth of jobs in the market and the jobs that are available are paying peanuts. This is especially the case with jobs in the financial service sector and investment banking jobs. The world output has declined, countries suffer from heavy fiscal debts, liquidity is running on margins, banks and other financial services are cutting jobs, the base salaries are remaining constant. Costs of MBA graduates are not being covered even in a span of three to five years. There are many valid and real life reasons as to why an MBA graduate would decide to reject a job in the field of financial services and investment banking. Read on to find out more about the increasing sector-specific jobs.
Payments
The payments are made to banking sector and the Investment banking sector has been slashed to a great extent. Payments at entry levels are small and growth is extremely slow; heavily dependent upon your revenue achieving ability as well as your overall performances. Keenly analyzing the CTCs one would notice that the basic salaries on which bonuses and salary hikes are given are base notes while the other uncertain variables in the salary slips are hiked. This is especially the case with banking sector jobs as incentives make a heavy part of the salary. Increments after a year of work have been reported to be averaging out at low levels of 5%-8%, sometimes even lesser than the inflation rate in the country.
Stress
As banking and investment banking sectors are prone to a variety of job cuts, employees working with them suffer from immense pressure especially in the sales departments at any level and position. The markets don’t favour sales, of any product especially loan, insurance and new business investment proposals when the overall market is weak. Employees undergo tremendous stressful situation jeopardizing the longevity of their jobs. Working hours are prolonged in the face of sales and revenue crunches and the failure of the employee to meet his set of targets set for the month or quarter.
Responsibilities
A market survey by MBAupdates of fresher’s and even professionals with 4-5 years of respective experience shows that they have been bestowed with more responsibilities in their work profile that is allotted as per their designation and position. This makes the small salary come to employee at a bigger cost. This trend has been witnessed in almost each nationalized banks in India. In fact the scene is better in government and state banks but the salaries offered here are not at par with private sector banks.
Thus, assessing the above analyzed factor one can say that a job in the financial sector or the banking sector in India is a clear case of lop sided cost-benefit ratio for an MBA graduate who probably still has to cover the cost of his education loan or maybe pay his parents back.
Management Lessons from Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar who bid farewell to his ODI cricketing career recently has not just won titles like the Cricketing Maestro, Cricketing Legend, Master Blaster and many more for his worthy cricket skills, talents and achievements alone. He stands for much more than what the eye can see. He stands for humility, he stands for excellence, his focussed mind, his ability to take criticism and endure it with all modesty available on the planet. He has invested in his play and flawless skill-honing with brilliant organization skills that all management students and aspiring gurus can learn from. Adopt his principles of management at work to realise what was the real talent behind the bat! MBAupdates searches to extract some lessons to learn from someone who will never be seen in coloured clothes fighting hard for Team India.
Search Beyond Perfection
Despite being perfect and scoring as much as he did Sachin Tendulkar looked for perfection beyond his own limits. This was reflected in his strict regimented routine of net practice every morning. His discipline and hard work got him what he achieved in 23 years of his association with cricket. Similarly, managers should look beyond the normal trends to something beyond, something being the clichéd to discover products; prices and strategies that boost productivities ad help them achieve their goals. Try different methods to reach the same destination as the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar did.
Failure nor Success Erred Him
Sachin Tendulkar has played a very long innings, during which he earned tonnes of accolades for his performance on the field. However, he did not have a great time as a captain. Rather one would agree that his stint was criticized by many for the failures of the cricket team. Did this failure affect him? Maybe it did. But he did not let it reflect the same on his batting after he was relieved of the captaincy. There were numerous occasions when the armchair critics pointed fingers at him for not contributing when the team really needed. Every time he answered them by coming up with a brilliant knock that forced the same critics to sing praises for him.
Secondly, remaining grounded when one has succeeded requires traits that very few people possess. Tendulkar manages to do this with utmost finesse on and off the field.
Thus, the key is to stay grounded whether you are appreciated or criticized. It’s all about staying at your crease for a long time braving all odds and believing in yourself.
Focus On One Product
Each stroke of his was beyond perfection, each was a product that he perfected. But he focussed only on cricket. Amazing concentration levels. He never shifted focus. He did not let success get to working for his product, cricket! Yes time will definitely consume your patience, but alas if you get success like how Sachin Tendulkar got then would that not be worth it! Thus, do not put your hands in everything and do not try to be the jack of all trades, it only ruins your actual skill. Hear experts say … “his greatness is that he does the same thing that he has been doing for the last 25 years, but with greater passion every time he takes the field. He has never tried his hand at anything other than cricket. He feels most secure in his 2 1/2 square foot home called the batting crease,” clarifies R Suresh, CEO of the executive search firm Stanton Chase.
These are some of the star management principles that MBAupdates could gather form the cricketing career of the legend Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Tendulkar epitomises the mind-set of wanting to grow from scratch even after achieving the greatness threshold. He never tends to cool his heels. Companies and CEOs too must always think of starting from scratch and keep up the tempo even when they hit their targets.
XAT 2013 - What to Expect?
XAT, the Xavier’s Admission Test is a comprehensive common entrance test to gain eligibility into Xavier’s (XLRI) and other 70 prestigious B-schools in India for courses like One-year General Management Programme, Four-year Fellow Programme in Management and the Two-year Post Graduate Programme in Business Management (BM) and Human Resource Management (HRM). It is known to be one of the tough common entrance examinations. The analysis of the exams paper of 2012 will give you a clear idea about what you can expect in XAT 2013. MBA updates presents to you some of the best analysis of the XAT paper of 2012 and its consequent thorough student research and sample XAT papers assessment of the same.
The XAT paper pattern, as always is divided into the two major sections. The first one constitutes of analytical reasoning, decision making, verbal ability and logical reasoning of multiple choices. The second section will comprise of essay writing and general awareness. MBA updates analyzes the previous year’s paper and gives out the features for the benefit of XAT 2013 aspirants.
Part 1 of Question Paper, Analysis and Expectations
Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making made up 25 questions in 2012 down from 30 in the previous year. This is supposed to be the most difficult section. A student can be deemed to have done well if he/she manages to attempt 19 out of 30 having answered at least 14 correctly. The expected cut off can range between 7-7.5 if there are 30 questions asked in this section.
Verbal ability and logical reasoning made up of 34 questions last year 2012. This section turned out to be one of the easy going sections this year making it easier for all to score it up in it. It comprises of the English Grammar based questions, English Proficiency like Analogy, Fill in the Blanks, Para jumble, Cloze Test, and English Comprehension. The logical reasoning question is the more difficult to crack from the two with questions on Fact Inference Judgement, Passage Conclusion, and Statement Argument. Answering around 24 out 34 is a great possibility and a plausible 20 out of the 24 answered could lead to an expected cut off around.
Data Interpretation and Quantitative ability
This is section most feared by students as it requires great finesse and liking for quants and to top it all it definitely does take away most of their problem solving time dedicated to this section. Last year it questioned around 28 problems to students that were easy in nature and hence 2012 can step up the difficulty as an alternative. Answering around 19-20 is fantastic for this section.
Part 2
The essay section mostly hovers around topics and issues on the current affairs followed with the section on general knowledge and awareness. This is the show-stealer for all those not apt with data, quants and logic. The essay is to be written in 20 minutes apart from the 2 hour allotted time for the main paper.MBAupdates recommends that students should read out issues on social, economic and political issues on the country and international, a rather in-depth reading suggested based on the study of the sample XAT papers
Thus, evaluating the details above MBAupdates expects the XAT 2013 paper to be a slightly tougher than the 2012 paper. Prep up to the extremes for the best results. The XAT results are declared sometime around the end of January of each year the examination is held.
Drop in Indian students going to US
The US seems to be losing its sheen for Indian students
as a choice of destination is concerned. In the academic year 2011-2012,
the total number of students from India attending US colleges and
universities mba dipped for the second year in a row.
As per the statistics, Indian students make up
approximately 13.1 of the total foreign population in the country. The
number of Indian students dipped 3.5 per cent from 103,895 in 2010-11 to
100,270 in 2011-12. The annual report by the Washington DC-based
Institute of International Education states that majority of the Indian
students study at the graduate (Master’s) level like mba.
India lost the top slot as the leading country of origin
to China after the academic year 2008-09. In 2000-01, Indian enrolments
surged 30 per cent, followed by two more years of strong growth (at 12
per cent in 2002-03 and 7 per cent in 2003-04). The increases tapered
off in 2004-05 and then decreased slightly in 2005-06, before resuming
much larger increases in 2006-07 and for the next two years. In 2009-10,
the growth flattened, and China topped the list. It continues to retain
the position.
The drop clearly signifies the emergence of new
alternatives for students in terms of programs and institutes in other
parts of the world. Moreover, the cost aspect also plays a very
important and decisive role thereby making other options lucrative.
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