Chinese Culture Week Celebrated at Lok Jack GSB

Drum, cymbals and gong explode into the evening, inciting the glorious golden lion to leap and charge on the red carpet. But guests do not shrink from the wild beast, recognising in its movements the intricate dance combining art, history and kung fu. The spectacular Chinese tradition, dating back to the Han Dynasty some 1,000 year before, symbolises luck and happiness and a small crowd gathers for a closer look.

The festivities were taking place not in some exotic location in the Far East but right here at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business campus to mark the opening of Chinese Culture Week.

With China scaling new economic heights and assuming growing significance in the global trade arena, the rest of the world is coming to terms with its might and forging closer ties with that country.

At the GSB, Mandarin Chinese has recently been added to the curriculum. The intention is to build a strong appreciation of the Chinese language, culture and way of life, in order to better prepare our students for doing business with China .

During the period May 15 th to May 19 th , 2006 Lok Jack GSB, in collaboration with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, hosted a photographic exhibition, kung fu demonstrations, Chinese feature film presentations, a trade seminar on “Doing Business With China” and invited the public to sample the culinary delights of China.

Senator the Honourable Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Minister of Science, Technology & Tertiary Education; Senator the Honourable Joan Yuille-Williams, Minister of Community Development, Culture & Gender Affairs; and Mr. Huang Xing, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China, declared the festivities open at a formal opening ceremony.

Senator Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said the initiative demonstrated that the GSB was “well attuned to the demands of the global business environment and the needs of the students who pass through its doors.”

• GSB Ideas Forum
• Center for Leadership Assessment & Development (CLA&D)
• Women in Leadership 2006
• Academic
• Centre for Training & Development
• Project Cost & Schedule Management
• Project Management Essentials
• ACCA – Diploma In Financial Mgmt
• Team Management & Leadership Skills
• Event Entertainment & Production
• Meetings and Conferences
• Corporate Event Management
• Excellence in Customer Service
• Effective Public Speaking & Presentation Skills
• Time Management

The GSB was honoured to host Dr. Anirban Mukhopadhyay, visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, at the end of May.

Dr. Mukhopadhyay was feature presenter at the Ideas Forum “ Cultural Dynamics of Consumer Behaviour: Current Research and Implications for Marketers ” which examined the impact of cultural fundamentals on the market and its implications for marketers.

In his two hour presentation, he looked at the role of culture in successful marketing, the origin and definition of culture within the marketing framework and the successful application of cultural dimension to advertising, among other points. His research material and examples drew on experience from Asian and European markets. [download full article] []

HR managers can have the power to make significant changes in your organisation's growth and profitability.

This was the point driven home by Stanley Labovitz, CEO and founder of the InfoTool Organisational Development Tool at the recent breakfast seminar hosted by the Lok Jack GSB's Centre for Leadership Assessment & Development. [download full article] []

The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business held its second successful Women in Leadership seminar on May 22nd & 23rd , 2006.

The two day seminar was based on the highly recognised MBTI Personality Type Model and the Color Q Personality Profile Model and attracted over 60 professional and executive women from both the private and public sectors. [download full article] []

Project Cost & Schedule Management: June 28th - 30th 2006

The triple constraints of project management (scope, time and cost) are the focus of this intensive, three-day course. Mastering the art of planning is a key to mastering these constraints. Using complex case studies, hands-on exercises and problem analysis, this course leads you in preparing the most important elements of the project plan-the project work breakdown structure (WBS), Gantt chart and critical path network, bottom-up project budget, resource responsibility matrix.

Target:

Project Management Essentials- June 12th – 14th , 2006

Project Management Essentials provides a broad overview of the concepts and practices used in managing projects effectively in today's business environment.

Processes covered:

• Defining requirements
• Scheduling
• Risk management
• Change control []

ACCA – Diploma In Financial Management - July 4th 2006

This postgraduate Diploma in Financial Management is widely recognised as the most comprehensive financial management qualification available to non – financial managers. [read more] []

Team Management & Leadership Skills - June 26th - 27th 2006

A major challenge for today's manager is getting people to work together in teams and to function effectively in order to achieve the best results possible.

As a manager, your contribution to your organisation's success will undoubtedly rest on your ability to mobilise diverse individual strengths in the development of effective work teams and to maintain employee commitment in pursuit of the organisation's goals.

This two-day workshop is designed to assist you in developing the skills needed to become an effective team leader. It will provide tools and techniques for managing team performance as well as allow you to identify your managerial strengths and to develop a personal plan for your development as a team leader.

Target:

• Managers
• Supervisors
• Team Leaders []

Event Entertainment & Production - June 29th & 30th 2006 [8:30 -4:30]

Course Goal: To demonstrate to the perspective meeting or event professional the efficient and productive use of music, entertainment and production management in their meetings and events.

At the end of this 2-day course, students will have learned:

• The size, scope, and growth of the entertainment and production industry
• How to use theme-prepared destinations for events
• Popular trends in entertainment and how to create new ones
• How and why you should utilize sponsors for events
• What questions to ask before you sign onto an event
• How to organize your strategic planning into one source
• How to demonstrate value through measurement and analysis of budgets, reports and evaluations
• How to save money and get the most impact from your entertainment dollar
• How to prepare and agree to a comprehensive contract for your entertainment
• How entertainment management companies operate
• The function of agents and managers
• How to select and evaluate speakers.
• How to hire and work with headline entertainment
• How to monitor sound and lights.
• The various types of risk in the event entertainment industry
• The current laws and information regarding music licenses and how they apply specifically to the event entertainment industry
• How to execute basic audio/visual (A/V) presentations
• How music can create profits for the hotelier
• How entertainment can enhance your brand's image []

Meetings and Conferences - June 26th, 28th, July 3rd, 5th, 10th [5:30-8:30pm]

Practically every organisation from small, medium and large enterprises both in the private and public sector areas regularly hold a wide range of meetings. This course provides the basic tools to successfully plan and manage local, national, and international meetings and conferences. Course information covers the basic competencies tested in the Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) examination. []

Corporate Event Management - June 7th, 12th, 14th, & 20th

Assess & evaluate the most successful techniques for managing, training, sales promotion, staff meeting, and other corporate events.

Learn How To:

• Integrate corporate events within the overall communication strategy of the company
• Learn how to stay within a budget, yet produce events with creative flair
• Assess, inspect, and/or design sites for corporate events
• Get significant results from small corporate meetings
• Orchestrate large national and international events
• Produce successful awards and recognition events
• Use special events to bolster corporate morale
• Design and effectively manage major corporate hallmark events, such as anniversaries and ground-breaking ceremonies
• Develop and implement record-breaking corporate sales events
• Improve corporate hospitality
• Negotiate to get the best return on investment (ROI) for your Organisation
• Reduce event costs and document the savings for your annual review
• Demonstrate the added value of your corporate events as a means of receiving an increased budget and other support in the future
• Identify and pursue career opportunities in this escalating field []

Excellence in Customer Service - June 8 th – 9 th 2006

Globalisation, improved technology, a more educated workforce and an ever demanding customer base have forced companies to examine their service delivery so as to be able to survive in today's competitive and turbulent business environment.

It is now recognised that meeting customer needs is the foundation of any successful organisation, and that the customer comes first, second and third in the organisational priorities. [read more] []

Effective Public Speaking & Presentation Skills - June 21st – 23rd 2006

In today's global market the ability to speak in public is one of the most important business skills. Effective Public Speaking allows us to persuade clients, convince colleagues and motivate staff.

Speaking in public can be difficult and for those whose topics are complex and specialised, there can be added difficulties in speaking to an audience which may not understand or be persuaded by what you say.

Time Management - June 29th – 30th 2006

An interesting paradox of our times is that the more our organizations introduce technology to simplify work processes, the less time employees seem to have for themselves. Yet, in today's fast-paced, customer-driven business environment, time is the one commodity that can spell the difference between success and failure. Missed deadlines frequently translate to missed opportunities or the creation of irate customers who are not averse to exercising their options to seek service elsewhere.

At a personal level, the inability to manage time often leads to feelings of inefficiency and symptoms of stress related illnesses. Time appears to rush by as we seldom accomplish those objectives that we set for ourselves at a personal and professional level. [read more] []

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