IIM-A, Harvard tie-up for training senior I-T officials

In yet another first, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has tied up with Harvard Business School Executive Education for offering a four-week integrated course to senior officials in the Department of Income Tax (DIT).

“This would be for the first time that IIM-A has tied up with Harvard Business School for such a course on training officials in the public sector.  The department was clear that it wanted us to tie-up with an institute of global repute. As a management institute, we are committed to working with, and learning from, practitioners in a range of sectors, including the public sector. In fact, the public sector might be one area where we can have the most impact at present,” said Ashish Nanda, director of IIM-A.

The custom executive education program will see around 30 senior I-T officials of the chief commissioner and above ranks. The program is structured as an integrated four week experience in which senior leaders in DIT will spend two weeks at the IIM-A campus and two weeks at HBS campus. Faculty members involved in the program will also travel to HBS campus for training sessions.

The objective of the program is to provide DIT leaders with perspective, skills, and insights related to the leadership of a public enterprise, change management in a large organization, and becoming more citizen-centric.

“Our senior government officials are confronted with gargantuan challenges of implementation that require the best of leadership and change management skills. We hope that this engagement - working with Harvard Business School to design and deliver an outstanding program to senior leaders in the Department of Income Tax tailored to their needs and circumstances - is the harbinger of many more similar projects with public sector organizations,” Nanda added, while refusing to divulge fee details of the program.

“HBS Executive Education is delighted to have the opportunity to partner with IIM-A, a leading Indian business school, to serve the leadership development needs of the Department of Income Tax, an esteemed Indian Government organization,” noted Das Narayandas, Senior Associate Dean of Publishing and Executive Education and James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

According to Abraham Koshy, Chair (Executive Education) at IIM-A, in the last few months, the institute has received around 35 and 43 enquiries from public and private sector firms, respectively for conducting similar programs. "We have been making a conscious effort to widen the horizons of our Executive Education Programs and particularly reach out to the public sector. We want to be knowledge partners in the learning and development department of public and private sector organisations," he added.

Similar programs have already been conducted for organisations such as Indian Economic Services and CAG, said Sebastian Morris, faculty and member of the Executive Education Executive Committee at IIM-A.

Meanwhile, Ajay Pandey, co-chair of the program and Dean (Programs) at IIM-A said that the program will also be used as a vehicle for energizing internal environment. "We are trying to rejuvenate our internal way of connecting with the world of practice. We will look at client's problems more holistically," Pandey added.