Poddar Business School, Professor/Programme Coordinator-Dr. Reema Singh

Dr Reema Singh is presently working as a Professor and Programme Coordinator at Poddar Business School, Jagatpura and ensuring effective and efficient administration of the organisational work.

Dr Reema Singh is a renowned name in the area of commerce, management and research. She completed her MBA degree in 2006 with distinctions and topper of her batch; NET qualified and awarded Ph D degree in 2017. She has completed her Master degree in science, in Commerce and She has published nearly 18 Research Papers and in various Journals of repute at National and International Level. She has published 2 patent books. Under her supervision, numerous students have been awarded Ph D. She has quality experience in supervising administrative tasks, academic work and other non academic work. Last but not the least, she acts as an effective leader to initiate and implement Research and Development activities in the organization and ensure the successful implementation of the same.

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

As a professor cum Program Coordinator, the Coordinator facilitates key academic and operational processes, working collaboratively with the Dean, Academic Lead, faculty and support areas. My role and responsibilities towards the students are as follows:

• Quality teaching including practical based approach to students (Case study, Role play, simulation, Presentation and others)
• 360 degree appraisal of the students – 
  • To guide students in the development of an educational plan appropriate to their career aspirations & abilities 
  • Provide students with opportunities to evaluate & reevaluate progress toward their goals.
  • Provide advice & council to students in assessing individual academic support from point of entry to point of exit.
  • Arrange expert talks and workshops/ seminars/ conferences to the students.
• Provides high quality service in the area of events and day-to-day operations including class scheduling, coordinating logistics, arranging IT and AV support, maintaining and organising program materials, and event planning.
• Develop R & D areas for students to exposure to various areas for career aspects.
• The objective of my profile is to develop an encouraging and intellectually inspiring academic environment that will assist students in enhancing their management skills, real life situations handling and confidence they need to succeed in their careers.

How do you introduce a practical and industry-oriented approach towards subjects?

"It is well said that “You have to get into the water to learn swimming and you have to be out on the road to learn driving”

Some subjects are skill based and practice oriented. Theoretical knowledge of skill- based subjects needs to be supported by practice. According to me following are ways through which practical and industry oriented approach will enhance the skills of the students: - 

• Case study method: The real life business problems are usually given in the form of a story and students are asked to find possible alternate solutions, considering various environmental factors.
• Presentations: Topics related to the course are given in advance to the students, who then make the oral presentation with or without the help of audio-visual aids. 
• Situation handling and Role Plays: Students are assigned certain roles in a given situation and they have to respond according to their characters. The process is usually repeated to make the students understand the various alternative actions and their repercussions.
• Field Projects/Assignments: Students are given tasks such as understanding customers buying behavior, analyzing financial performance of a company, finding out the best HR practices, understanding the logistic processes in a firm, etc. These are then written down in the form of a project report and submitted for evaluation.
• Business Quiz/Exercises: Periodic assessment of the learning provided is normally done through quiz and exercises, which can be oral, MCQ or short answer type.
• Simulation games/Hands-on experience: With the help of customized software tools students are exposed to real business situations and they have to make strategic decisions while competing with each other. Stock market related software is sometimes used to provide experience of live share trading in the virtual world.
• Movies/Videos/Video clips: Faculty utilizes video clippings to explain the management concepts as well as pros & cons of strategic decisions taken.
• Research papers/Article critical review: The students individually or in groups are asked to write the research paper under supervision of faculty. 
• I believe that blended learning - a mix of both traditional classrooms including brainstorming as well as digital mode of teaching through webinars / video conferencing by the senior corporate, renowned academicians or a researcher located elsewhere is important for the students.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

“A trusting classroom with mutual respect is a thriving classroom complete with active, engaging learning opportunities”

I believe that developing solid relationships with our students and colleagues are paramount in fostering academic success. While building relationships with students can seem like a daunting task, I try to keep it simple and follow three guiding principles:

1. Check your biases. I believe, when speaking to students about their experiences it is best to remember that our experience is unique to us and is not the ‘norm.’ I motivate both by sharing their unique perspectives and experiences.
2. Open conversation to students (about topics unrelated to coursework): Talk to our students about their interests, sports, current events, funny (yet appropriate) stories from our personal life, or anything else we want. These conversations help students connect with you outside of the teacher role, and on a more personal level. 
3. Respect to students and Fellow faculty: - I personally believe that we should respect everyone to get the same from their side.

Team up and participate: I do cooperate to share my knowledge with my fellow faculty on research projects, FDP, joint courses, and other initiatives that advance our shared academic achievement. I also encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities, competition and other initiatives, and provide support where needed.

I believe that the 3 C’s - Care, Conversations, and Connections, will help you to build and foster meaningful relationships with our students and fellow students. In my experience, I have found these three guiding principles have allowed me to cultivate this type of relationship in nearly all of my students.

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How do you guide your students to survive in such a competitive scenario?

As a mentor or academic guide of the students, I aim to keep students focused & goal oriented, and also try to keep them busy with creative ideas, activities. I do learn different ways in which I can encourage healthy competition to survive.

• Be a part of Participation : - I believe that students must take part in competitions to develop their skill sets. Students who participate in competitions will have to perform in front of an audience. Hence, competition will help students to develop self-confidence.
• Not to be afraid of hurdles: - In a competition winning and losing are all part of the package. I aim to educate them to understand that “failures are stepping stones towards success”. I personally believe that it motivates them to improve their communication skills by using News reading and by providing Pearson English spoken class.
• Motivate Students: - I often aim to motivate them, when students underperform in a competition; there is a high possibility that the students will lose motivation. I motivate them to work in a team spirit to build their career in real world situations. 
• Get advantages of Technology:- Today, the era is full of technology based. I aim to enhance their technological advancement skills, so its uplift their technological knowledge and cope up with today’s challenges.
• Make a healthy environment and Keep Them Away from Pressure: -I do encourage students to take part in a competition, but I try to watch out that neither we nor the students' parents force them into taking part in a competition in which they have no interest. Individuals' interests differ, thus they might not be interested in a competition that their parents want them to participate in. 
• Carrot for Rabbits - Reward the Best Performers:- I believe that we can encourage Students by reward system. Students will be motivated to reach the first position with the aim of achieving the rewards. They will work harder and work on their skill sets to reach heights. 
• I believe that healthy competition fosters confidence among students and encourages them to perform better. These competitions aid them to be equipped to face the challenges of the outside world and the competitive future that lays ahead of them. 

What is your philosophy of leadership and describe your leadership style?

I feel that leadership styles for education cannot be considered the same as leadership styles for businesses and corporations, though some of the styles could apply to both. Following leadership styles are listed below

Servant Leadership:- This leader serves the followers rather than the followers serving the leader. The leader’s purpose of service is to help others accomplish goals and improve. I hand over my responsibility and share power, puts the needs of others first, encourages, supports, and delegates under which they feel belonging in any tasks. 

Solutions-Based Leadership: - Challenges at work represent new opportunities for growth and development. I consider the long-term goals of our company and team, then reverse-engineer a plan for how to get there. I look forward to solving problems together by applying our collective knowledge.

Democratic Leadership: - While it’s important to have clear guidelines and definitive goals, I believe that everyone on my team should have a voice in determining those guidelines and goals. Furthermore, I encourage a diversity of opinions on any topic and think that the best results come from people who have a say on what they’re working on and how they work on it.

Transformational Leadership: Failure to evolve leads to stagnation and eventually depreciation. New ideas are the lifeblood of success. I motivate my team members with long-shot goal setting to encourage a belief in radical transformation. Additionally, I commit myself to providing the necessary tools and time to allow for my team to grow their skill sets.

Learning Leadership: -Being a leader means being a jack-of-all-trades who can adapt quickly to new ideas. I approach new challenges as exciting opportunities to expand the skill set of my team and myself. I encourage my employees to explore extra learning opportunities outside of their normal responsibilities and provide resources for them to do so.

Laissez-Faire Leadership: - I trust my team to know how to do their jobs correctly. They’re experts who make great decisions and can solve problems on their own. I like to set big-picture goals and provide a vision that everyone can get behind, but I stay out of the way when it’s time for tasks to be carried out.

Transactional Leadership My team responds to rewards more than anything else, so I use appraisal to motivate the team to success. I foster a competitive spirit that pushes everyone to reach for their highest potential. Finally, I make sure that the metrics I institute make sense and incentivize the right sort of behavior.

I believe that there is no one ‘best’ leadership style in education. Each of the different leadership methods may be employed in different situations based on what the need of the time is. I follow the mentioned leadership style according to situations.

How do you strategize the curriculum and how often it gets updated to make it befitting for the students?

As an associate professor in a business school, I aim to regularly review and update the curriculum to ensure that it remains relevant to today’s scenario and advanced. I follow essentials points through which the curriculum can be advanced and updated:

Assess and Analyze the Requirements/ Needs :- I review the purpose that it is to determine what is needed and by whom (teachers or students or both). The KAP survey (Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice), focus groups, etc., are techniques used for this. It includes ways to identify the gaps between knowledge and practice, determine the trends, prioritize needs, and understand the characteristics of the target group. I start by identifying the learning outcomes that I want my students to achieve. This helps me determine what content and activities should be included in the curriculum.

To research on existing research and follow the policies of Technical bodies: -I review the scholarly literature and existing research to evaluate the curriculum relevance in context to today’s learning environment. 

To get advice from Industry experts: I regularly confer with industry experts, academic experts and other relevant persons to ensure that the curriculum reflects the latest trends and best practices in the industry.

Incorporate Technology: I incorporate technology into the curriculum to enhance the learning experience and prepare students for the digital age.

Integrate Technology: I use to add technology advancement tools and techniques in part of the curriculum for improving the learning environment and inculcating digital knowledge of the students. 

I regularly seek feedback from my students and colleagues to identify areas for improvement and to ensure that the curriculum is meeting their needs.

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

I believe that Institution is more than just about getting a degree, and puts life purpose, positivity, wellbeing and happiness at the epicenter of its student education and teaching. The following should be kept in mind:- 

• Work-integrated learning :- Teaching and learning should always be relevant – I realize that everything surrounding students gives workplace skills, it also teaches them about the importance of wellbeing, and proposes positive practices, including how to manage emotions, how to engage in the workplace, how to have positive relations with others – and most critically, how to have meaning in life. Providing work-integrated learning opportunities and getting students out into the real world.It’s out with traditional classroom-based learning (not entirely) and in with work-integrated learning.
• Fostering collaboration:- I believe that It’s important for students to realize they shouldn’t consider themselves to be in competition with their peers when it comes to test scores and assignments.While a sense of competition can be good, it can be hard to know where to draw the line, which encourages its students to build their own internal motivation and work together, rather than against each other.
• Counselling and support:- I offer counselling sessions to my students on career opportunities, job market trends, and strategies for building their professional career. This helps them stay informed about the job market and make informed decisions about their careers.
• Active learning techniques:- I believe that classes where the teacher talks incessantly throughout the lecture, while the students are passive listeners, do not yield satisfactory results. I do require active student participation, which can be achieved by using modern learning techniques viz discussion, brainstorming and Note taking. 
• Critical thinking: I aim to develop critical thinking in students. It helps them to combine acquired knowledge, and personal skills and attitudes to correctly interpret the obtained information. 
• Problem solving: I aim to improve problem techniques in students. Problem solving helps in the development of important qualities, such as patience, teamwork, diligence, and logical reasoning. In addition, by solving challenges through the application of the knowledge acquired in class, students begin to understand the practical value of learning. All this knowledge improves one’s learning in school, but also understanding of everyday challenges.
• Encourage social media platforms: I encourage my students to attend conferences / seminars, industry events, join professional associations, and build their professional network through various social media platforms like facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin etc. This assists them to build social and professional platforms and gain knowledge of the industry.
• By adopting these strategies, I assist them to cope with competition and develop their real life situation handling skills, and techniques they need to succeed in their academic and professional pursuits.

What are some of the unique qualities of your teaching style?

I believe that active and effective teaching involves a combination of different methods, and techniques. I have following qualities which I want to highlights:- 

1. Research based learning:- I offer to deliver lectures which are clear about my learning explanations and directions.
2. Task Oriented classroom:- I aim to establish a task-oriented classroom climate including role playing, case study and presentation based.
3. Use of Technology: I offer to make use of a variety of learning activities. I use to teach students which are based on technology and applications.
4. Handling real life situations: I teach them how to handle real life issues with the help of simulation techniques that enhance their managerial skills as well.
5. Involvement of Students: I encourage students’ participation and getting all pupils involved. I do monitor students’ progress and attend quickly to students’ needs. I deliver a well-structured and well-organized lesson. I follow up students with positive and constructive feedback including coverage of the educational objectives and making good and different use of questioning techniques.

In my opinion, these are the competencies that I focus on to learn and teach students in an effective and efficient manner.

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to real world challenges?

We do have various extracurricular activities/ programs. Being a mentor of this program, I believe that extracurricular activities and programs are truly significant for improving the skills of students. The following extracurricular activities and programs that we organize for the students:-

1. Student Clubs and Organizations: We have various clubs of cultural club, entrepreneurship club, PR club, International club and others also that are related to management skills or professional development. 
2. Industry experts: We invite industry experts to share their views and experiences that are benefited to the students by professional and business aspects. 
3. Management Festivals and events: We organize and participate in business competitions that allow students to develop performance skills, organizing them gives students a pragmatic view of management. It also teaches you to present yourself and handle the pressure of doing so. Improving socialization and networking skills, exploring and undertaking new projects – personal and professional. 
4. Communication through Theatre Techniques: I aim to improve communication skills of the students by certified Pearson spoken English, watching theatre and other projected techniques.
5. Rural Innovation & Social Sensitization Projects: We do provide social issues projects which focus social skills and team work skills. Students move to rural areas to get information and knowledge of rural and social issues.
6. Industry or Academic Internships – I personally believe that industry exposure is important to enhance and handle practical skills and real world situations. We designed it into our curriculum.
7. Field/Live Projects: I gave them field and live projects as assignments that inculcated simulation strategy. 
8. Global immersion: We do provide visits to global institutions / universities to achieve international learning and knowledge propels students towards acceptance and understanding of an array of different cultural and community perspectives. 
9. Case study centre: - We have established it. I believe that case studies provide students with scenarios in which they can begin to think about their understanding and solutions to problems found in real-world situations. It enhances students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills in a safe and open learning environment. The students analyse and find solutions to complex problems with foresight and confidence.

Through the above activities students demonstrate their ability to apply learned skills and also students push boundaries and propose and explore much needed solutions across disciplines and cultures. I aim to conduct special workshops, business thought leadership series, resume writing and career development counselling, to improve the personality of students and make them confident to face the employment process.

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What valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

Being a program head, I aim to highlight following points to the students that enhance their various skills to have a prosperous career path:

• Internship opportunities: I advise students that internships are a great way to gain valuable, hands-on experience in your field. It can expose you to new tasks and help you learn goal-specific skills to complete those tasks. Internships also give students experience with technology, people and projects that may relate to their career goals.
•  Grow skills and knowledge: I believe that elective courses are relevant to students’ career aspirations. I advise them that employers want to hire candidates with a wide range of skills. Do expand your skills and overall knowledge.
• Stay focused: I aim to suggest to them to stay focused on your career goals and aspirations.
• Pursue your passion: I believe that following our dreams will increase productivity. I advise students to advance in their career because it ensures you stay encouraged and driven to be the best you can be in your industry.
• Build your network: I suggest students build their network. Networking is a great way to gain insight from other working professionals who have gone through the same process. Students have to counsel that reach out to faculty & staff, industrial experts and professionals either online/ social network or offline mode.
• Technological sound: I believe to improve student performance, and technology can help them accomplish this aim. We do provide new and updated technology based learning like digital marketing, content writing, AI and block chain etc to meet our career path.