Capt. Yashoverman Sharma speaks on the annual IMTC - IIM management seminar that has begun to attract participants from across the industry.
To introduce a formal system of management education into the Marine industry, which till now had followed outdated norms; IMTC has been holding joint seminars with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for many years now. This year too the participants were from across the industry. IMTC said the response was encouraging with 30 officers taking part. It was held in Karjat, outside Mumbai city to minimise distractions and allow the participants to concentrate fully of their study. A couple of years ago, two such seminars were held annually. Later it was pruned to one. However with the positive response received this time, IMTC is considering one more seminar possible in the rainy season.
The norm in shipping companies was to recruit management professionals directly from Management schools rather than train them. But with major players increasingly viewing the top four on the ship as a management team and the Captain as general manager, management education has become a must for the floating staff.
Capt. Y. Sharma with IIM Professor G. Raghuram
Yashoverman Sharma, principal of IMTC said that the seminar was a good learning experience. "Learning is a continuous process where one constantly tries to upgrade and refresh the programme with the latest updates in the industry."
Sharma added that IMTC had identified issues of prime importance like approaching the people at the managerial level and giving them an opportunity to catch up on what they might have missed out.
"Today its is vital for people to comprehend that managerial positions may have moved up from functional areas. For example you may be managing navigation and cargo and over a period of time gained management positions you will have to tackle management related issues like crew motivation on a day to day basis to obtain highest level of efficiency," he said.
He said, "the captain was responsible for floating asset worth millions with 20-30 people directly reporting to him, plus he controls a whole lot of other operations.
When officers reach the age of 40-45 they seek a shore job, which is invariably a managerial position. Seminars like this can give him a good background and an insight into the latest management concepts." He added.
On the reasons of the tie-up with the IIM, Capt. Sharma said this institute taught only general management subjects. IMTC believed that management expertise must spread throughout the fields. This was an ideal combination that would benefit the entire industry, he said.