Visit to NIILM - sample student reflections - Prof. Vipin Gupta

We visited NIILM from March 8 to March 11 morning, for 3 days and 3 nights. NIILM organized special lectures and demonstrations on culture, dances, and diversity by Anjon Bose and Pragati Anand, a visit to Evalueserve – knowledge process outsourcing firm with cutting edge human resource policies supportive of women, a women entrepreneurs panel featuring Sudha Gupta, Ritu Shegal, and Charu Jain, a talk by eminent advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr. Swamy Parthasarthy, and arranged luxurious transportation for the sightseeing visits to Fatehpur Sikri and Agra, and to Delhi.

The program at NIILM – coinciding with the International Women’s Day -- gave us unique insights into women entrepreneurship, and helped advance our knowledge of the challenges and opportunities faced by women leaders in India. We were exposed to both micro as well as macro aspects of women leadership through the programs at NIILM.

Sample student reflections on their experiences at NIILM are extracted below:

About the hospitality and lectures organized by NIILM
“At NIILM, people would go out of their way to ensure our comfort and happiness. They worked hard to put together programs for our learning and entertainment. For example, NIILM hosted sessions with distinguished speakers such as the advisor to the Prime Minister, and a famous traditional Indian dance instructor. Additionally, a number of students from NIILM accompanied us on our excursions and served as assistants and guides without any expectation of payment. This was especially meaningful since we realized that it was not easy for these students to spend so much time away from their studies.” (Jessica Rudis)

“It is easy to train people to be hospitable during a convention and to show what to do and what not to do, but this type of hospitality was a lifelong training. We were just 18 ordinary girls coming from a good women’s college, intelligent and hard working, the treatment we received I felt was meant for a President’s delegation of the most important people in the country. I remember thinking to myself that it was only the beginning, everyone puts on a good show to impress, but when this was the case throughout, I understood that it was part of culture, and hospitality was a virtue.

Some of the students at NIILM explained it to me that when they wake up in the morning it is not just another day, but it is a new day to live and be respected and respect others and have everyone around you. This made me see my life in a new meaningful way, because when waking up in the morning I used to believe ‘here goes another day of hard work’, now I see that each day has its own meaning and reason to be. This might have also been hard for me because I never believed in spirituality before.

I was quite surprised that when the Advisor of the Prime Minister on Education came in to speak to us, before he sat down there were some rituals and candle lightings that he did at the entrance. What was surprising was the fact that he was a very high rank and important politician, and he too is involved with religion… The importance of religion and spirituality influenced my thinking about the future, in the sense that my parents never introduced neither of them to my sister and me, how I can learn about them and what benefits those would have on me.” (Jona Muhameti)

“NIILM, a privately owned institution, was totally different from the others. It was certainly the best maintained of the universities, with the most American feel to it. The lodgings were incredible and the food was great too. The students seemed to phase back into more formal, and the conversations were about school and America. Their students did not receive any days off while we were there. It was also a primarily a commuter campus, as none of the students I spoke to actually lived on campus. While we were there, they offered cultural activities, like an Art and Dance lecture. The general feel of the campus was very professional and somewhat strict. The students were very driven to succeed, and viewed their careers in a very logical way, unlike Americans who tend to flirt around from choice to choice in college.” (Alex Jette)

About the women’s panel organized by NIILM:
“The panel at NIILM was a collection of three women, one in education, one in textiles, and the other in computers as well as design. The first two women were older, married, and in the second stages of their lives. They both came into their business ventures after having a family. The first woman, the overseer for several schools, talked about how she had to overcome her self doubt. She said she came from a conservative family and that it took some time for her to blossom into the confident, eloquent woman that she is today. The second woman was a mother and wife, who came into her business venture by way of her family. The third woman was very young, she barely looked older than any of us. Her story was the most interesting, I thought; she was like a child prodigy. She entered into her business out of college, and not just any business, but the computer/IT field. She sold her first business and entered into another. After these two computer ventures, she followed her true dream, which was to own her own clothing line. I felt that she was the most relatable of the women; her life was not so far different from my own. Her greatest influence was her father; she felt that she pulled strength from him to aid her during trials. She did suffer some hardships, though, as she was often mistaken for a secretary or lesser employee. Men would argue with her, refusing to believe that she was the head of such a profitable computer company.” (Alex Jette)/

“Many women that we spoke with in India expressed gratitude towards their families for supporting them in their leadership positions. The women said that their families gave them moral and often financial support and in some cases helped them with things such as child care. One women entrepreneur who spoke on a panel at NIILM, Charu Jain, said that she believes the support of parents is culturally and personally important. Jain mentioned that the challenges that she had to face as a young women starting her own business, but faced her struggles with resilience and has found success in her work. She credited her family with helping her develop the strong will necessary to emerge as a successful women entrepreneur.” (Jessica Rudis)

“In light of the environment of inequality in business mattes, many of the women entrepreneurs in the panel commented on the fact that they feel that women have to work twice as hard as men to see the same results. In particular, during the Women’s Day panel at NIILM, Sudha Gupta made several comments on how essential it is to believe in yourself and have perseverance in the face of adversity.” (Christine Armour)

“At Evalueserve, they kept repeating over and over that they were not feminists. They didn’t believe in setting up business practices that would benefit women only. This is in stark contrast to the majority feeling held in liberal America. I initially felt that women in India were uneducated about women’s rights, but after hearing from more women throughout our stay, my mind changed. Women from panel discussions commented constantly that they are equal to men, and that men are neither better nor worse than women, and they do not want to have any greater accommodations made because of their gender. Even at the end of our panel discussion at NIILM on Women’s Day, after the students shouted out, “Happy Women’s Day,” one of the women entrepreneurs said, “Yes, but don’t forget the men!”. I began to ponder what could make organizational practices so different that women were, in fact, able to thrive in Indian organizational culture. I have learned that these unique organizational practices are born from early societal practices.” (Julia Reynolds)

About the Visit to Evalueserve
Many students have commented on the learning they obtained from the visit to Evalueserve. In their reflective reports on the trip, students noted how the policies such as sexual harassment reporting system and policy, maternity leave policy, escort policy for women’s safety, obligation to dissent culture, meritocracy system, and multi level evaluation system to check discrimination and biases, at Evalueserve have allowed women to be 30% of their employee base, and to be well represented in the leadership positions. For instance,

“At Evalueserve, it was mentioned that many businesses are open to the idea of flexible scheduling that allows women (and sometimes even men) to work their schedules around those of their children and spouses in order to ensure that the quality of home life is not harmed by work.” (Christine Armour)

About other features of the visit:
“The facet of Indian culture that had a strong impact on me during my stay was relaxed attitude about time and time adherence. While had been warmed about “Indian Stretchable Time”, these precautions could not have prepared me for what I encountered. For the greater part of the trip, we were typically at least a half hour late for most of our appointments and quickly learned that all driving trips will probably last twice as long as anticipated. In America, arriving that late on a regular basis simply wouldn’t be acceptable in most cases. However, in India, this loose adherence to time schedules is a part of the culture… Eventually, I had to accept that nothing was ever as it had been planned and that the course of a day is more or less left up to chance.” (Christine Armour)