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Feature Article |
New Students Oriented at Lok Jack GSB
The Lok Jack GSB officially welcomed their intake of new
students for the 2007 - 2008 Academic year on Wednesday August 29, 2007.
Following three evenings of cocktails for the different programmes, the
orientation process concluded with an official ceremony featuring speakers
from both Lok Jack GSB and The University of the West Indies.
Dr. Hamid A. Ghany, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, brought greetings
from The University of the West Indies stating that he was proud of the
progress the business school made over the years. His advice to students
was “In approaching these programme studies, you may want to focus
on having the mindset of being a virtual piranha for knowledge…and
you will find it very rewarding”. He also encouraged the new students
to put aside one hour each day to read the foreign news, arrange personal
timetables, and work in study groups.
The new students were then given a brief history of the Business School by Mrs. Kamla Mungal, Manager, Academic Administration, Lok Jack GSB, and an introduction to the services offered by Ria Karim, Associate, also of the Lok Jack GSB.
It was Professor Mark Oakley, Academic Director, Lok Jack GSB, however,
who congratulated the students on choosing the Lok Jack GSB to do their
business studies, adding that the school ranked among the top 100 in
the world. “The key to success”, he said, “is commitment
and teamwork”. He encouraged students to make use of their Academic
Programme Directors, jokingly reminding them that MBA really meant “Marriage
Breakup Association”. The Academic Director closed his remarks
reminding the students that they were “the future leaders of the
country”.
The ceremony concluded with a tour of the campus.
“Strategy, Innovation and Excellence in the Services Sector” was the theme of a breakfast seminar held at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mt. Hope, on Thursday August 23, 2007.
Ms. Aliya Shariff of the OTF Group, discussed designing Information
and Communications Technology (ICT) as they relate to emerging opportunities
for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Trinidad and Tobago. She identified
two services as attractive industries in the energy sector – Business
Process Outsourcing, making use of ‘near shore’ opportunities
as opposed to ‘far shore’, and secondly, Seismic services
in the Energy Sector. The OTF group has worked in over 25 countries to
help them build and grow competitive clusters.
Feature speaker, Professor Frances X. Frei, Associate Professor at the
Harvard Business School, then delivered a compelling and enlightening
presentation on her research on Strategy, Innovation and Excellence in
the Services Sector. She emphasised that successful service organisations
are excellent at a few attributes and can articulate what they’re
not good at, and the key to success for service organisations is being
best at things that are most important to the customer and worst at things
that are least important to the customer. She also had some advice for
service sector organisations: “give customers choice, but not on
the important things”.
The seminar concluded with a question and answer session.
Lok
Jack GSB confers on Health and Productivity Management
The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, in conjunction with the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), recently hosted a Health and Productivity Management Conference at the school’s Mt. Hope campus.
The theme of the conference, “Moving Health to the Bottom Line”, was presented by facilitator, Dr. Raymond Fabius, MD, CPE, FACPE, President and Chief Medical Officer of CHD Meridian Healthcare. Dr. Fabius is also a contributor to ACOEM programmes. The three modules he covered were: “Introduction to Health and Productivity Management”, “The Cost of Lost Productivity”, and “Health and Productivity”.
A panel session followed this, with “HIV in the Workplace” as the topic of discussion. Mrs. Carol Ann Senah, National Project Co-ordinator, ILO/USDOL HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programme, was a member of the panel. She spoke about the role of the ILO in ensuring that organizations treat HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue and encouraged employers, workers and Government to work on a tripartite level to achieve this. According to Mrs. Senah, the ILO is undertaking a project in Trinidad to assess the readiness of organizations to implement HIV/AIDS Policies in their workplaces - a project that the Look Jack GSB is also involved in.
Mrs. Ann Marie Libert-DeFour of the National AIDS Co-ordinating Committee (NACC), HIV / AIDS Co-ordinating Unit, Ministry of Health, also a panel member, complimented the Lok Jack GSB for hosting such a conference. She went on to say that there are approximately 20,000 infected persons in the workplace between the ages of 15 to 49, reiterating that “it is a workplace issue”.
Members of the audience hailed from both public and private sectors,
many of them Health and Safety and Human Resource professionals.
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Research based on people skills by Harvard University, The Carnegie Foundation and The Stafford Research Institute and from observations and independent surveys done in Trinidad and Tobago, revealed the same. There is a basic lack of polish in relatively seasoned professionals, executives, and spouses and families who at times are woven into the socializing/business courtship. Also shown is the informality in our style of meeting, greeting, entertaining and dressing, paradoxically a new formality is needed when we are hosting or dealing with a diversity of people from other territories.
The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business is pleased to announce the initiation of such a service through the Centre for Leadership Assessment and Development (CLA&D). While keeping some elements of a traditional finishing school, it will be more of a multi-cultural experience, a concept unique to the region that will bridge the gap between a person’s technical background with sound etiquette and protocol skills to make them polished, culturally sensitive, better communicators, and highly competitive in the international arena.
Contact Chevonne Agana for details 645-6700 ext 152 or c.agana@gsb.tt
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The
High Flyers Programme – EAGLES
Coming in October
The Eagles Program is designed for high potential leaders and those
who have been targeted to assume significant managerial responsibilities.
Yet, the very nature of being designated a rising star can be both personally
rewarding and frustrating. How do you ensure managerial success as a
high potential leader?
[read
more] []
Assessments
Psychometric testing improves recruitment process
The Centre’s assessment services continue to grow as we build relationships with recruiters. – As part of our core business offering here at the CLA&D, we offer psychometric testing which can be very useful for recruitment. We can assist your organization to improve its recruitment process by offering a wide range if valid and reliable tools, which can ensure that the person you hire is the right person for the job. Our tools take into consideration issues of motivation, motives, talents and preferred environment as we acknowledge that these are very important characteristics when selecting an individual for a position.
We also offer assessment services in:
- Succession Planning
- Team Effectiveness Assessment
- Training Needs Assessment
- Personal/Career Development
For further information please contact 645-6700 Exts. 152/178 or Assessment.Administrator@gsb.tt
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Finance
for Non-Finance Professionals
September 12th - 14th
This practical programme will enable Non-Financial Professionals to "fill the gaps" in their financial knowledge quickly, relating it directly to their day-to-day operations by covering the most essential tools and concepts used to accelerate business performance.
The workshop will explore how to analyze the historical performance of financial reports and forecasting of financial performance.
Participants will be better able to communicate the financial goals and performances of their departments to outside sources.
They will improve their understanding and be able to use financial terminology
and methodology to communicate with others, including financial managers
in their organizations.
[read
more] []
Project
Management Essentials
September 26th - 30th
The foundation of what you need to know to manage projects in today's business environment is presented in this three-day course. PM Essentials provides a broad overview of the concepts and practices used in managing projects effectively in today's business environment.
It covers the basic concepts of four essential project management processes: defining requirements, scheduling, risk management, and change control.
Who should take this course?
- Individuals who work in projectized organizations (for example those in the energy, manufacturing or IT sectors) who manage, support or provide resources for projects
- Individuals focused on project management as a career path
- Individuals interested in beginning careers in project management
[read
more] []
Customer
Relationship Management
18th & 19th September
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) focuses on the development of a customer-centric business culture. This culture is dedicated to winning and retaining customers by outperforming the competition at consistently creating and delivering value.
In this course, participants are exposed to the key principles of building a customer-centric culture; one in which resources are allocated to those areas of the organisation that best enhance customer value and promote employee behaviours that promote customer satisfaction.
The course first seeks to explain the underlying philosophy of CRM and
to dispel common misunderstandings about CRM. The course then takes participants
though a systematic analysis of the CRM Continuous Loop Model. A very
pragmatic approach is utlitised in this course to show the application
of CRM across different industries and different business types (B2C
and B2B).
[read
more] []
HR
& Industrial Relations
19th, 26th September, 3rd, 10th, 17th October
Labour Relations is a key, strategic issue for organizations because
of the importance of the relationship between employer and employees,
and the critical need for effective management of this relationship.
The way in which labour relations are managed may have significant impacts
on employee morale, motivation, performance and ultimately, productivity.
This module is designed to impart a better understanding of contemporary
approaches to human resource management and labour relations, and to
equip participants with the necessary skills and techniques for fostering
a more harmonious and collaborative working relationship between management
and employees.
[read
more] []
Effective
Business Writing
September 19th - 21st
Overview
This Three-day course is the ideal way to learn the skills of effective
written Communication. It is both informative and practical with excellent
back-up course notes to form a valuable reference source for the future.
A course that is completely up to date and suitable for everyone in business
who has to communicate using the written word.
[read
more] []
Mastering
Supervisory Skills
September 17th, 18th & 19th, 2007
Overview
Supervisors are the first line managers and they are the backbone of
each organisation. Being in such an important position, each supervisor
needs to equip themselves with the critical supervisory skills in order
to perform at their peak. Lack of supervisory skills can lead to poor
line performance, increased human related problems and eventually result
in high turnover.
One of the proactive solutions to curb the undesired outcome stemming
from a lack of sound supervisory competencies is through effective systematic
training. This comprehensive programme is designed to equip your supervisor
with the right knowledge and skills to maximise their performance.
[read
more] []
Stress
Management-Enjoying a Busy Life
September 26th-27th, 2007
Overview
Do you find yourself stressed, fatigued, angry or frustrated at
not achieving your potential?
Medical practitioners and lay people have
called stress the “disease
of the twenty-first century”. Research indicates that stress causes
more ailments than any other conditions that confront modern medicine.
In the recent past, most stress was short term and could be addressed
by a combination of simple techniques. Today, however, stress has become
chronic, with long terms stress proving to be debilitatingly harmful
to our physical, emotional and mental system.
The effective management,
reduction and prevention of stress can enhance productivity, health and
a total sense of well being, providing a more
balanced life style.
This two day workshop is designed not only to neutralize stress but
to reframe stressors into positive life giving experiences, creating
an internal state that allows for personal development.
[read
more] []
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We welcome your feedback.[]
The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad
Website: http://www.gsb.tt Telephone: (868) 662-9894 Fax: (868) 662-1411