‘GLOBAL DIVERSITY AT WORKSPACE’; NEXUS 2015 BY AIESEC IN PUNE
By Devina Karnik
Pune :If you wish to work with people speaking different tongues, if you wish to work with someone who doesn’t think like you, if you wish to embrace another culture by not letting go of your own then, you wish to be a Global citizen. You believe in Global Diversity.
‘Global Diversity at Workspace’ was the agenda of the Human Resource summit, Nexus held by AIESEC in Pune on the 6th of November, 2015 at the Radisson Blu hotel in Kharadi, Pune.
What is AIESEC?
AIESEC is the world’s largest youth run organization present in more than 124 countries and territories and consisting of over a 1,00,000 members. AIESEC provides students an opportunity to intern in various countries which results in interaction with students from diverse backgrounds hence, helping students understand different cultures and also learn about another country apart from their own. It also provides a great platform to develop one’s leadership qualities. AIESEC was founded in Pune 29 years back and has been providing global talent solutions to corporates and diverse internships for students ever since.
To have a better understanding of the topic, well known intellects who themselves have been acquainted with people from various backgrounds and cultures were invited to be a part of the panel. The event commenced by Trishul Navalakha, Vice-President, Business Development introducing the panelists and the key note speaker for the event, Mr. Ganesh Natarajan, CEO, Zensar Technologies. The panel consisted of four dynamic personalities, Ms. Sullaja Motwani, MD, Kinetic. Mr. Chetan Wakalkar, Group Director, Indira Group of Institutes. Mr. Ramesh Mirakhur, Global Head, Mater Card, IT Development Centre and Mr. Minocher Patel, a life coach and one of India’s leading motivational speaker and corporate trainer of international repute.
Ms. Sullaja Motwani, an alumna of AIESEC in Pune stated that diversity, according to her is an economic necessity in the present time. She believes diversity is important at a workplace for competitiveness, growth and success of any company. She focused on three major points where diversity plays a role at a workplace:- a) Diversity helps in providing the best talent. b) Better sets of attributes for solutions are formed when people belonging to different cultures work together as their thought processes differ. c) Diversity plays a major role in carrying out global business. She also believes that AIESEC provides great leadership experience to students.
Mr. Minocher Patel, an alumnus of AIESEC as well, expressed his gratitude to AIESEC that provided a platform for boosting his confidence which helped him in the long run. Mr. Patel is well travelled and shared his experiences about how every place he had visited helped him comprehend and respect other cultures. He commended AIESEC in Pune for immense opportunities it has been providing to the youth.
Mr. Ramesh Mirakhur said that, “Diversity promotes good global business and more choices to make when one understands another culture.”
Mr. Chetan Wakalkar, being the Group Director of Indira group on institutes knows how important it is to help international students integrate in to an organisation which is foreign to them. There are students from over twenty countries studying at the Indira institute campus. He also mentioned about how adapting to another culture is important as sometimes we may have to work with companies belonging to a foreign country which follows their own set of rules and way of working. He applauded AIESEC on their traineeship programs as it helps to meet the needs of the students who come for an internship to India and provides a network of support to them.
These words of enlightenment generated thought provoking discussions during the open floor session where the audience presented their view based on the topic before the panelists and the key note speaker. The corporates spoke about how cultural integrity would play an important role to their organisations. Relevance of inclusion of the differently abled and women in working environments was emphasised. By the end of the session, everybody present at the event had a better perception and clear understanding related to Global Diversity and that how it is not only important to business and professional decisions but, also in shaping one’s personality and liberating one’s mindset which will result in understanding and better co-operation amongst people. The event was concluded by Dhruv Sachar, Vice-President Corporate sector, by thanking the panelists for their contribution to the topic and invited this city to be a part of this change where we embrace Global Diversity to become Global citizens.
It is high time we start to accept people of different cultures, religion, backgrounds in our workplace and knock down the barriers which segregate us based on these aspects and work towards a better future by accepting and respecting each other.
(Devina Karnik is a student of Fergusson College)
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