It was way back in February 2008 that I heard of the course "Executive Program in Global Business Management" that IIM Kolkatta planned to offer with HOUGHESNET.
The course content sounded good, and the fact that it was being offered by IIM Kolkatta meant that the course would deliver quality, what else would one expect from IIM Kolkatta, at least quality in delivering a management education program.
I enrolled for it unaware that I was only going to discover contradiction in terms that this program was going to be.They announced that by march 30 they would declare the list of participants and one would require to pay the fee by Apri 15 and the classes would begin may 1st week.
That was never to be, the results were never declared as promised and classes never started in may, in fact, those who applied did not even know as to what happened to their applications. No one was ready to answer any queries on it, HUGHESNET always said that the selection procedure is in IIM Kolkatta’s hands and they can only pass on the information if IIMC says something to them.
Surprising, A premier management institute, IIM Kolkatta mismanaged this program so badly? that was no doubts a bad example.I was finally told that May 19th would be an orientation program and the program schedule would be announced then.
I was there in HUGHESNET in time and as the session started, I realized that the head phone they gave me was not working. What do you call that? Professors at IIM Kolkatta did not take anytime to pass the buck on HUGHESNET, and said for problems of this kind you should contact HUGHESNET, because they are the technology providers. Well said professor, I know many people across the country had that same problem, but for you it wasn’t your problem.
There were more serious problems to come, sometimes nothing was visible on the screen, at other times they wouldn’t be able to hear us, and at yet other times the systems would be slow, the video wouldn’t work, the noise would get too much and it would get mute if that’s not the case. The profs at IIM kolkatta called these "technical glitches".
Technical Glitches? what are you talking about Professor? technical glitch would be something that spoils something on one bad day. Something that troubles you every 5 minutes, do you call it a technical glitch? I call it a failure, technical or otherwise, it completely hampers your ability to deliver the course like you would want to.I was just wondering how could IIM Kolkatta go for something like this?
I mean they teach management to the world and how comes they do not evaluate the capabilities of the technology provider? I mean if they did evaluate that, then this shouldn’t have happened. And now that they are delivering it, they say not much can be done about it , you should take this up with HUGHESNET. Huh!Why is IIM Kolkatta so Helpless and powerless?
Didn’t you take your basic management lessons right, IIM Kolkatta? whether the technology provider is hughes, or its your own technology, at the end of the day , its you who is selling the course... In this branding business, do you have no stakes?
My first class was supposed to be on June 7, and for passing on the information they had said that a yahoo group would be created, which they did. I was supposed to go to the class with my home work done, and the study material would be made available on the yahoo group. My membership to the yahoo group was approved on June 7, an hour before the class?
What a wonderful management :)Even after June 7, only 70 memberships were approved as on June 8. The study material for the June 10 class has not been posted, no one actually knows what is the June 10 class going to be all about. As on June 8, when this write up was written. And I am sure the prof would expect us to come with the homework done.
IIM Kolkatta, I have a question for you.. why doesn’t management show up in the management program that you offer (talking about EPGBM) ? In other words? why is IIM Kolkatta’s EPGBM Program so mismanaged?I have heard its the same with all their programs.
See the responses from them A mail I wrote because there was a 35 minutes disconnection May Mail:Its a known fact that disconnections of 15 to 20 minutes are common, therehave also been instances when disconnections lasted in hours (October 182008, Prof Koushiki Choudhuri’’s Class, disconnection of 1 hour and 20minutes, January 19 Class, disconnection of 20 minutes, Ids of many students disabled.)
Disconnect of 35 minutes at Hitech city center on Feb 10 2009, anotherdelay in starting the session for over 40 minutes on Feb 14, 2009.Moreover, such disconnections are a permanent loss and are not compensated for, nor is there any written rule as to what happens in cases of suchdisconnections.
We have written to HUGHESNET many times and their answers have always toldus that it does not matter to them and that once we have paid them the money we are stuck with them and they will not improve the services. Takefor example this communication I wrote to Hughes careHughes We CareAdd to it a 35 minute disconnection in the class on strategy on TuesdayFeb 10, 2009.
We tried reaching THD but the phone was engaged.This is very different from what you claim in your advertisements andother documents and is not a fair trade practice to sell something youdon’t deliver.How do you plan to compensate for this disconnection is my question toyou.Regards, Their Reply:As per studio session was Delayed not disconnected on the EPGBM class onSaturday, Feb 14, 2009.
RegardsPushpender SinghWhich means they can delay a session of 180 minutes by 35 minutes and then they say everything is fine ...To this my reply to them was:No, you need to Answer the following question:How is the delay of 40 minutes in feb 14, 2009’s session going to be compensated for?Regards, AmitTheir reply:
After 40 minutes of delay the session was started from beginning so there is no question of compensation.I hope this clears all your doubts.Regards, Anisha BhatiaStudent Relationship ManagerMy reply to this:Anisha, The committed session duration was 3 hours it could only be 2 hours and 20 minutes because of your technical inefficiency.
This has happened not once but many times. U need to address an important question here.How are you going to compensate for the money you have taken for me or services you have not provided?Their reply:They haven’t bothered to reply back