[Misakh_2]

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar believes in nurturing managers who act as facilitators in providing the right help to the right people at the right time. Most of us are driven by the notion that life is all about wealth and success, but we fail to realize that we need to strive for satisfaction and happiness. While monetary success does bring happiness, it is volatile and short lived. Every year, XIMB provides its students, the opportunity to go out and make a difference to the lives of those who require the much needed change and thereby do their bit towards the society at large.

Under the able guidance of Fr. Tony Uvary, SJ (Dean – Administration, XIMB), a group of first year students formed team Pragati. The intention of the team was to make a difference to the society, in whatever way possible in its own capacity. Team Pragati decided to associate themselves with the inhabitants of Bal Bhavan, run by the Missions India organization and managed by Mr. Ullas Pani. Bal Bahavan is home to boys who lost their families and were bereaved when the super cyclone hit Orissa in 1999. Team Pragati interacted with the boys and forged a bond that was a learning experience for the team by itself. The team provided much needed fans and tube lights to Bal Bhavan as part of improving the infrastructure facilities.

A visit on Independence Day to the planetarium added value to the team efforts. The boys were educated in general awareness and current affairs. Talks on sanitation, identifying their strengths and working on their areas of interest gave the team Pragati an insight into their lives. A lunch with them followed by team building activities made the Independence Day a memorable one for the boys as well as the team.

The Bal Bhavan did not have a hygienic drinking water supply nor a water purifier. Team Pragati installed a water purifier so that the boys have access to pure and safe drinking water. A set of dustbins have also been put up to help keep the living environment neat and clean.

Books including dictionaries, encyclopedia, and study related books were purchased by the team and gifted as an effort to add to their knowledge. The team intends to take this forward by attempting to set up a small library in the Bal Bhavan and motivating the boys to inculcate a habit of learning early on in their lives.

The journey so far has been an extremely satisfying experience for the team. The team extends its gratitude to the college for giving them this opportunity to utilize their resources and bring smiles on the young faces and helping them in a way or the other to face this tough world. We should thank God that he has blessed us with enough resources to prosper in life. But think of those people who have the will but not the right resources or channels to grow and succeed in their lives. By this noble cause we would like to draw the attention of the society in general to take note of such kind of organizations like MISSIONS INDIA and contribute in whatever way they can for the betterment of these highly talented boys. There is some good still left in this world and we believe it is worth fighting for.

[AVALON]

Great work ....efforts like these should be part & parcel for all corporate & b schools ....these should not be some special initiative / pushed by few motivated individuals but accepted code of conduct for all related to corporate world .....Here in TCS we have a initiative called 'Maitree'....where any one participate working for the betterment of the environment and the less privileged......

[srivrac]

apart from obvious pkilanthropic motives, such initiatives are great mechanisms to allow students of B-School opportunities of managing a start-up. All the activities taken up by the team would be of immense help in bringing out the leadership skills of each individual.. Way to go team Pragati...

[shaktijoshi]

Iwud like to comment on what the Misakh_2 has said...... and to a certain extent agree to him....but only to a certain extent.....if what he says that ppl graduating from prestigious MBA colleges (forget about XLRI's) really have some human values then the worl wudn't have been in such a mess, see the post economic crisis, it has resulted in such a huge and wide economic surprassing all previous records, where are so valued MBA grads, why were they lured by Money so much so that they didn't saw this coming, where was our so called THINK THANK from IIM's Harvard's etc...... Are they manager's or damager's........ Think really hard...where is world now and where are we heading towards........ Ding MBA from any institute is not worthy untill and unless you think about socitey, take for example of Pepsi mgmt, which had installed a plant in Kerela, and the water they were using was contaminated and they used pesticides.....do they loose Human values just coz dey see big bucks........ when will we see real human value's...... Recently Times of India said that Big retailer's are good for small farmer's........ I'll question are they really....... see what dey have done to all those Pheriwalas...the nukaad's, the small grocery shops....they are all gone........ or are in a verge of end.........

U cant judge everything with Profit and money prespective....u also have to see human value....so that this world cudsurvive a few littile more years.....

[Certitude]

Originally Posted by Misakh_2

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar believes in nurturing managers who act as facilitators in providing the right help to the right people at the right time. Most of us are driven by the notion that life is all about wealth and success, but we fail to realize that we need to strive for satisfaction and happiness. While monetary success does bring happiness, it is volatile and short lived. Every year, XIMB provides its students, the opportunity to go out and make a difference to the lives of those who require the much needed change and thereby do their bit towards the society at large.

Nice Initiative.Congratulations XIMB...
I always feel, undertaking such initiatives not only sensitizes the future managers to the state of being around them, it gives them a wholesome idea of the society and environment in which they will have to operate.
Managing a business is not about increasing the bottomline or driving the organizational efficiecy only.Today's business demands much more from a manager than ever before.
Keep up the good work...

[SudhaDas]

Well at the outset I would like to thank ShaktiJoshi for his comment. Yes it is true that today’s financial crisis is a result of some misdeeds by the big investment banks in neglecting the for sure loss making securities and packaging them in more lucrative ways and selling it in different combos in different parts of the world. Whom do you blame for this financial crisis? Do you know the names of such individuals? Were all the individuals in Lehman Brothers insane or out of their mind. I don’t think so. It is a general tendency of human beings to play the blame game and point fingers. If some people of Bihar are rude and have no etiquettes we generally tend to associate these values with every Bihari which might not be true. So I would like to say here that people change over a period of time, change is inevitable. Some might as well change their priorities. For some the situation and the problems due to it may rule over their ethics. Yet for others ethics themselves might change and also we know that ethics are generally relative and individualistic. Keeping these things in mind I believe we cannot assume or blame that real human values no longer exist in the world. They still exist. But the gut to uphold them in the wake of relentless competition and thrashing peer pressure is diminishing day by day.

[avenger_123]

The initiative taken by XIMB looks genuine and awe inspiring. By undertaking this endeavor, team Pragati certainly will learn lessons is ethical management and not the one driven by greed, as pointed out by shaktijoshi. I am sure that all the members of team pragati will learn much more than traditional management skills which, in this case, will not only make a difference in their lives, but also those of the underpriviledged boys of bal bhavan. My best wishes to the team!