Curriculum & Teaching

The SRME course looks at increasing the core competency of students to understand sustainability in business, conducting responsible businesses and the processes of ethical business management. The course is structured such that students are able to grasp theoretical knowledge, identify real time examples of problems and solutions and apply the same using knowledge and specific steps.

The pedagogy used in the classroom is also designed for maximum experiential learning and retention. Case based study methodology, group based supervised activities and industry linked examples allow students to discuss and debate the various processes and challenges faced by industries today. Videos and case studies through reading material and film discussions are made to bring a situation analysis into focus and allow students to place theories into practical applications. Assessments have been designed through innovative methodology using role-plays, case simulations, and factual discussions and deliberations. The course has widely covered examples of responsible businesses with process perspectives so that students are able to translate theoretical and model behaviour into process-based solutions and applications.

The learning objectives of this course is to enable students to –

• Demonstrate awareness and assess the impact of sustainability, responsibility and ethical business practice
• Create solutions that optimize stakeholder value
• Demonstrate the application of functional/conceptual knowledge on sustainability to business situations
• Demonstrate the ability to identify a responsible business problem, critically assess various alternatives and suggest appropriate solutions
• Demonstrate the capability to take a leadership role in a business sustainability/ responsibility/ ethical situation

Society, Environment, Values and Attitudes (SEVA) is a 2-credit course that is entirely live project based. Delivered from within the Faculty Advisory System, SEVA introduces students to live, functioning NGOs, Enterprises and Individuals who are creating superior societal value.

The following are the measurable performance indicators that were targeted:

Key Features:

Comprehensive coverage: All students have the opportunity to work on a substantive project. 41 projects were commissioned and completed.

Mentor to Mentee Ratio: Half the teams were mentored by one senior faculty and the rest by two faculty – one senior and junior.

Domain Experts: 4 faculty with cumulative experience of over 40 years in sustainability management were designated as internal experts who guided the projects very closely.

Broad spectrum of stakeholders: In recognition of the fact that diverse types of stakeholders are relevant to a modern manager / leader, stakeholders and projects were carefully curated to include public and private players, civil society organisations, NGOs, Foundations, Corporates – large and small, national and transnational, Micro-finance Institutions and others.

Cross functional / Cross disciplinary Projects: Projects were chosen such that they all offered substantive scope for use of management tools, techniques, concepts and frameworks to achieve management related results while simultaneously creating social / environmental value, the objective being to equip TAPMI grads to embed sustainability best practices within their corporate roles after placement and to initiate change at their own levels in the workplace or to position themselves effectively to influence / lead sustainability or CSR initiatives.

Seva – Hall of Fame (PDF to download)

Director’s Commendation (PDF to download)

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (PDF to download)

SEVA project teams actively explore opportunities to connect small-scale producers to mainstream value chains, to apply modern management principles in different functional areas to decrease operational inefficiencies, improve top-lines, introduce the use of information and communication technologies (digitalisation) and thus improve overall business health of the beneficiary.

SEVA – Research (PDF to download)

The “Seva Jatre” is a two day fair to celebrate the efforts of the students. It is an opportunity to showcase the work done by the students using non-traditional means of communication, as opposed to a powerpoint presentation. These presentations are thoroughly reviewed by the jury consisting of expert faculty from various domains and backgrounds, followed by the award ceremony on the JATRE day.

SEVA Projects – Master List (PDF to download)

17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form the bedrock of the global development agenda. Corporates – large and small and Institutions of Management alike around the world now set and measure their own core value propositions based on the SDGs, amongst other things. TAPMI as one among only 34 Management schools worldwide that is part of the prestigious Champions Group of the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRiME) Initiative, is committed to advancing SDG based curriculum, research and project implementation.

Society, Environment, Values and Attitudes (SEVA) is our foundation core course in Sustainability Management which is entirely delivered on the ground, in real time via live projects in year 1 of the PGDM, Core Programme. The first edition of SEVA (18-19) was a resounding success with as many as 41 projects carried out by the entire incoming PGDM Core batch of 2018-20, under the expert supervision of TAPMI Faculty led by the TAPMI Centre for Inclusive Growth and Competitiveness. To ensure that the good work achieved during SEVA 18-19 and that even better work we expect from SEVA 19-20, TAPMI now offers the opportunity to extend the engagement to the second year of the PGDM i.e, the academic year 2020-21.

This will be in the form of the advanced course in Social Innovation & Sustainability Management i.e. Social Innovation Challenge (SoCH), which will debut in the academic year 2020-21. A limited number of 2-3 member
teams will be invited, following a rigorous selection process, to take forward SEVA projects that have significant potential to be scaled upto real solutions to specific SDG related management issues. SoCH teams will deep dive into the specific issues they are dealing with, create advanced prototypes / blueprints / story boards / business plans etc., and further find resources to set the foundation for the ideas to be taken forward for further grant proposals, other challenges – national & international, pre-incubation processes and the like. They will receive support in the form of a small grant, advanced mentorship and regular contact with experts and practitioners in the field.