MCHRD, ISB join hands to teach management skills to civil servants

To emerge effective leaders, learning contemporary management skills is crucial, says B.P. Acharya

B.P. Acharya, Special Chief Secretary, Planning and Director General, MCR HRD Institute, presenting a memento to Sripada Chandrasekhar, executive director of Centre for Human Capital & Leadership Initiative, ISB, during ‘Attachment’ course for trainee civil servants at Indian School of Business.

Over 200 officers of All India Services and Central Civil Services who have taken the Foundation Course at Dr. MCR HRD Institute of Telangana attended a two-day ‘Attachment’ course at the Indian School of Business here.

A number of acclaimed faculty members of the ISB conducted classes on ‘Mindful Leadership’, ‘Digital Transformation in Public Governance’, ‘Data Needs for Development’, ‘Urbanisation and Smart Cities and Capacity Building Initiatives by ISB in Government’, ‘Monitoring and Evaluation of Government Schemes’.

B.P. Acharya, Special Chief Secretary, Planning and Director General, MCR HRD Institute, in his valedictory address, underlined the importance of learning and perfecting contemporary management skills, irrespective of the services to which they belong to, in order to emerge effective leaders.

He said the ISB Attachment was a first-of-its-kind initiative for any foundation course for the All India Services and Central Civil Services officers in the country and expressed hope that it would become a precedent. Sripada Chandrasekhar, professor and executive director, Centre for Human Capital & Leadership Initiative, ISB, said the mind-boggling changes that have taken place in the profile of employees in the government sector called for corresponding changes in the leadership styles of the civil servants.

Chandra Chowdhury, executive director-MIGM & professor of Operations Management & Information Systems, ISB, said citizens were the most important stakeholders in the implementation of smart city projects. He presented case studies of Singapore, Chandigarh, and Amaravati to highlight the challenges relating to urbanisation and smart cities.

Ashwin Chhatre, visiting professor in Economics & Public Policy, ISB, emphasised the need to use the extensively abundant data available in order to improve the quality of their decisions.

Prashant Gupta from Microsoft India, Tarun Jain, assistant professor, Economics & Public Policy, and Krishna Kodali, head, Centre for Executive Education, ISB, also addressed the trainee civil servants. Mamtha Reddy, head of Centre for Executive Education, ISB, conceptualised and led the two-day programme.