The Hindu Business Line : `Adopt the right attitude to work and come out better'

LIVELY CLUB: Mr Balakrishnan Shanmugham, Director, Global Workforce Management, Cognizant Technology Solutions, at a BL Club meeting at Sai Ram Engineering College. Sitting (from left) are: Mr Sai Prakash, CEO & Managing Trustee of the college; Dr S. Seetharaman, Principal, and Ms P.M. Benlah Devamalar, HOD-CSE Department.

Chennai May 1 Any job, however small or insignificant, should be approached with application and every employee should aim to excel in the job assigned to him or her.

That was the message Mr Balakrishnan Shanmugham, Director, Global Workforce Management, Cognizant Technology Solutions, had for students and faculty members of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Sai Ram Engineering College at a `National Conference on Information and Communication Technology '07.' The meet was organised under the aegis of the BL Club.

"Be an expert in whatever you do. Develop core competence. Learn to do whatever you do well, approach it well and excel in it," Mr Balakrishnan said.

According to him, a number of engineers neglected the importance of communication. "Unless you excel in communication, it will be difficult to converse with your team members and colleagues. Have a passion to make a difference. If you have a passion, you will do things better than others," he said.

According to Mr Balakrishnan people could be categorised under three heads: the engaged, the disengaged, and the actively disengaged.

Engaged people were generally passionate about their work and any company would look for people who were engaged. On the other hand, the disengaged section were only partly involved in their work.

Dr M. Ponnavaikko, Director, Directorate of Research & Virtual Education, SRM University, while tracing the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), said it has been prevalent since the days of the Gurukulam.

ICT helped add value to education. But ICT, e-learning, online learning and virtual learning could not replace teachers. Teachers, he said, were essential.

Further, ICT had the power to bring together people living in different corners of the world. It had helped to transfer knowledge. Besides, virtual libraries were being developed with the help of ICT. "ICT does not belong to computer professionals alone. It belongs to everybody," he said.

According to UNESCO, the four pillars of learning were learning to know, learning to do, learning to live and work together, and learning to be. Assuming X and Y had skills A & B skills and if they worked exclusively, their productivity would be A2+B2. But, if they worked together, the result would be a2+b2+2ab. "So, if the entire Indian population worked together, what would be the result?" he asked.

Others present on the occasion were Dr Ing. B.V.A. Rao, Professor Emeritus & Director - International Relations, VIT University, Vellore, and Dr Karthik Srinivasan, Consultant, Tamil Nadu Aids Initiative (TAI) Projects.

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