National Management Convention concludes at KIIT in Odisha capital

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 31:

The 8th National Management Convention, organized by KIIT School of Management (KSOM) concluded in the Odisha capital today.

The theme of this year’s convention was “The endless pursuit of winning in the Volatility Uncertainty Complexity Ambiguity (VUCA) Environment”.

The two-day convention was inaugurated by the Air Marshall (Retd) RC Bajpai, Chief Guest, PVSM, in the presence of KK Mohanty, MD, Gammon India; Prof Arbind Mishra, Dean, TERI University; Prof Anil Bajpai, Director, KSOM and Prof Ashok K Sar, Dean, KSOM.

In his address Bajpai, said even though VUCA originated from the US military organization, it affects us in the present day context.

“For the development of a nation it must overcome VUCA both internally and externally. A clarity of objectives and goals is necessary for strategically formulating polices and executing them”, he said.

Citing instances of hostility and aggression created by the neighbouring countries and how the proxy war is a fit case of VUCA, Bajpai said the adversities can be overcome by strong leadership, professionalism, honesty, integrity and dedication.

He also spoke about the relevance of VUCA in the present scenario.

It was followed by the release of book of abstracts by the dignitaries.

Prof Sar introduced the theme of the convention setting the platform for a wholesome discussion.

“Consistent and continuous learning and its application can help us be competitive in a VUCA world. To be successful, Volatility should lead to Vision; Uncertainty to Understanding; Complexity to Clarity and Ambiguity to Agility.

In his address, Mishra stressed primarily on the climate change, risk assessment and mitigating the risk strategically. He also talked about the geopolitical surprise brought by terrorism, Fukushima nuclear disaster and natural calamities like the Jammu and Kashmir floods and Kedarnath tragedy resulted in VUCA.

“In fact a concept like VUCA affects every one of us. To successfully address a VUCA situation either in the political, social or business environment a robust leadership has to emerge which takes ownership and is conscientious”, he pointed out.

Giving example, Mishra said the US Military was successfully able to mitigate a VUCA situation created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks by rapidly adapting their strategies and policies related to internal security.

Addressing the convention, Mohanty highlighted that even in a volatile scenario Indian managers can produce better results.

“The acronym VUCA is an abstraction which is our own making. With the new government in existence the corruption has come down. In future our investigating authorities should move from corruption check to performance check. Indian managers today are priceless because they stand out in successfully meeting VUCA challenges and are patient in addressing the dilemmas and eliminating the uncertainties”, he noted.

The convention, attended by industry practitioners, academicians, faculty members and management students from various B schools, held several technical sessions with research papers presented on the different aspects of management.