Executive MBA Guidelines for Dissertation School of Business Management SVKM’s NMIMS 0 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................2 Objectives of Dissertation ..........................................................................................2 Scope of Work ...........................................................................................................2 Faculty Guidance for Dissertation .............................................................................3 Prerequisites ...............................................................................................................3 Evaluation ..................................................................................................................3 Timelines for Dissertation..........................................................................................3 The Dissertation Process ............................................................................................4 I. Dissertation Registration Form.........................................................................4 II. Dissertation Proposal Report ............................................................................4 III. Interim Report ...............................................................................................5 IV. Final Report ...................................................................................................5 General Guidelines .....................................................................................................8 Annexures ................................................................................................................10 Annexure I – List of Faculty Guides .................................................................10 Annexure II – Dissertation Registration Form - Template ................................12 Annexure III – Dissertation Title Page - Specimen ...........................................14 Annexure IV – Faculty Evaluation Sheet ..........................................................15 1 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES Introduction The School of Business Management at SVKM’s NMIMS has launched its Executive Masters of Business Administration (E-MBA) program in April 2011. The program provides flexibility to an ambitious working executive to combine his/her career while extending an opportunity to pursue a MBA program. Executives with five years and more of work experience are eligible to apply for this fast-paced E-MBA program which can be completed either in 15 months or within 24 months, as it is entirely learner-driven. E-MBA is a well-conceptualized modular program which facilitates participants to pursue their degree in General Management or single/dual specialization in areas like Finance, Marketing, Information Systems, Human Resources and Operations Management. The course comprises of 40 credits which includes 24 Compulsory Modules, 12 Electives and a Dissertation equivalent to 4 credits. Each course/module of 1 credit is completed in a week. The module/course will have 15 hours of class room studies and 2 hours of Group Discussions. In addition to the modules, the program offers compulsory, non credit workshops in contemporary management themes. The dissertation forms an integral component of Executive MBA program. This manual provides details regarding dissertation. Objectives of Dissertation The objective of the dissertation in Executive MBA program is to provide an integrative, field based experience that enables students to synthesize and apply the conceptual knowledge to the real time business challenges. Scope of Work Students are required to pursue a dissertation which is the practical application of the knowledge they have acquired during the pursue of the EMBA programme and should fulfill the following conditions: 1. It will be an application oriented work in a relevant area of their learning in EMBA programme. 2. It will be preferably in their area of working in their current organization. 3. They will have a concurrent guide from the Industry where they are working. 4. The project should have a reliable specific measurable time bound objective to achieve. 5. The dissertation should have some value addition to their working area. . It carries a weightage of FOUR credits which is equivalent to four academic courses. Students can choose an organization to pursue their project in areas of their specializations such as Finance, Marketing, Human Resources, Information Technology, Operations or multidisciplinary field to enhance their career aspirations. Students will be responsible for planning, developing and implementing their project deliverables with the guidance of a Faculty. 2 Faculty Guidance for Dissertation The school has prepared a list of faculty guides for guiding students to ensure quality of work, proper coordination and smooth conduct of the dissertation. Faculty guide is the student’s primary academic advisor. The list of faculty guides is given in Annexure I. Students can give choice of 3 faculty guides from the available list. Students have to submit the application form as per annexure 1 for the selection of guide through Course Coordinator. As per the availability of faculty, the Program Chairperson will assign the guide. One faculty member can have maximum 4 students under their guidance at any point of time. The student may additionally choose a mentor from his/her organization. Prerequisites The prerequisites for registering for dissertation are: Completion of FOUR elective courses (minimum) in the Specialization Area chosen by the students. In case, a student wants to specialize in General Management area, the student should complete atleast one elective course from each specialization. Completion of the compulsory courses on a) Statistical Analysis for Business Decisions and b) Business Research Methods with its prerequisite courses Evaluation Evaluation is done at various stages of the dissertation and students’ performance is monitored by the Faculty Guide at regular intervals. The phases, schedule and weightage of assessment are as follows: Phases of Evaluation Proposal Interim Report Final Report Presentation & Viva Weightage 10 Marks 20 Marks 40 Marks 30 Marks Timelines for Dissertation Students are required to complete their dissertation within three months after submission of their proposal. The timeline includes planning, developing, executing the project deliverables and submitting the thesis for evaluation. Students are hereby advised to adhere to the following timelines for successful completion of the dissertation. Schedule for Dissertation, EMBA 2012 Main Activity Submission of Dissertation Registration Form to the Coordinator Submission of approved Dissertation Proposal Report Submission of Interim Report Submission of Final Report Presentation & Viva - Dissertation for Evaluation Schedule 1-10 of Every Month Within 2 weeks after submission of application form Within 4weeks after submission of Proposal Report Within 4weeks after submission of Interim Report Within 2 weeks after submission of Final Report 3 The Dissertation Process Phase 1: Dissertation Registration Form Students meet with the Faculty Guide and the Organizational Mentor to determine the area of study. Students submit a brief report and register for the dissertation course. Phase II: Dissertation Proposal Report Students formulate, prepare and submit a dissertation proposal in discussion and consultation with the Faculty Guide. Phase III: Interim Report Students carry out the project work with the guidance of their Faculty Guide and Organizational Mentor and submit a written report to their respective Faculty Guides. Phase IV: Final Report After completion of the dissertation work, students are required to submit a written report on their study and are evaluated by Viva Voice Examination. Details of the Dissertation Process are as follows: I. Dissertation Registration Form Students should register for their dissertation and should submit their registration form to the EMBA Coordinator. The registration report signed by the student and the faculty guide should include the title, project details, organization in which the study is to be carried out, name of the faculty and organization guide. This report is not for evaluation. Please refer Annexure II for details. II. Dissertation Proposal Report Students are required to submit project title and proposal prior to commencing the project and obtain approval from Faculty Guide. Proposals should include information on the proposed project, scope of work, proposed timeline, and learning objectives. The approved proposal is to be submitted to the EMBA Coordinator. Once it is submitted to the Coordinator, the student cannot change the area of study. If it is required to be changed, the student should take special approval from the Dean. The proposal should include the following: The Topic for the Dissertation Literature Review Rationale for the Study Background to the Study, Organization and the Industry Research Questions Research Objectives Scope and Limitations of the study Research Design o Methodology o Research Site o Participants/Respondents for the study o Data Collection Methods o Tools and Techniques for Data Analysis 4 Expected outcomes from the study and References The student should submit soft and hard copy of the proposal. The proposal is evaluated by the Faculty Guide based on the abovementioned parameters. III. Interim Report The interim report is an interim version of the final report. The student’s progress is evaluated after six weeks of submission of their proposal. In this duration, the student is expected to finish substantial amount of work in their data collection and analysis. The interim evaluation facilitates the student for smooth completion of the project and to get guidance from the faculty guide. The report is evaluated by the faculty guide based on the following parameters: Literature review Conceptual clarity Methodology used Data Collection Data Analysis Capability to integrate functional knowledge and conceptual base to the real time business issues Originality and Progress of the report Synchronization of work done with achievement of objectives. IV. Final Report The final report is to be submitted on completion of the project on the stipulated schedule to the Coordinator. The final evaluation of the dissertation consists of Thesis and Viva. Viva will be scheduled and conducted by a panel consisting of faculty guide and another faculty from the area (core faculty or Visiting) during the presentation week based on the availability of the faculties and the students. The evaluation is based on Objectives of the study being met Research Methodology Quality of Findings and Interpretations Conclusion and Outcomes of the study Utility of the study to the organization and the industry, implications for Practicing Managers and Researchers Logical flow in the report Students’ understanding of the topic and its application The dissertation report should be in the following sequence and format:       Title of the project report Declaration Certificate Preface Acknowledgements Executive Summary 5              Table of Contents List of Tables, Graphs & Figures Chapter 1 – Introduction Chapter II - Research Methodology Chapter III - Data Analysis Chapter IV – Hypothesis testing and verification of Objectives of study. Chapter V – Results and Discussion Chapter VI – Conclusions and Implications for Practitioners and Researchers Annexure-A, B, C and so on References Glossary (if required) Index (if possible) Author’s Profile Details are as follows: Title of the Dissertation Report: It contains the title of the dissertation, presented to whom, on which year, for what purpose, name of the student along with their Roll No. (Refer Annexure III). Declaration: The student/author should declare that the dissertation is original and the following template can be used: DECLARATION I, [full name of the student], hereby declare that this dissertation entitled ‘[full title of the dissertation]’ is the outcome of my own study undertaken under the guidance of [title and full name of the guide], SVKM”s NMIMS, Mumbai. It has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or certificate of this or any other university. I have duly acknowledged all the sources used by me in the preparation of this dissertation. [Date, month, and year] [Signature of the student] [Name of the student] Certificate: The dissertation should include duly signed certificate from the Faculty Guide. The specimen certificate is as follows: CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the dissertation entitled ‘[full title of the dissertation/thesis]’ is the record of the original work done by [full name of the student] under my guidance. The results of the research presented in this dissertation have not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or certificate of this or any other university. 6 [Date, month, and year] [Signature of the guide] Guide (Designation) School of Business Management SVKM’s NMIMS Preface: The objective of writing Preface by the author is to indicate how the subject was chosen, its importance and need. At the end of the Preface, the author’s name is given on the right side. On the left side, name of city where the preface was written, and date appear. All these are put in font Times New Roman size 12 in italics. Acknowledgement: This is an attempt of thanks giving by the author to those who have helped the author during the work. At the end of the Acknowledgement, the author’s name is given on the right side. It is put in font Times New Roman size 12 in italics. Executive Summary: It is also called Synopsis or Abstract. The length of the executive summary can be up to 1000 words. It should summarize the whole project report including its findings and recommendations. Table of Contents: It should include the list of the chapter contents and their respective page numbers. List of Tables, Graphs & Figures: This is also just like Table of Contents. It contains titles and page numbers of all Tables, Graphs & Figures appearing in the project report. Chapter 1 – Introduction: The chapter introduces the reader to the dissertation report and justifies the research gap identified by reviewing the literature. The following components must be detailed in the introduction chapter: The Topic for the Dissertation Background to the study, organization and the industry Literature Review Research Gap and Rationale for the Study Scope and Limitations of the study and Ethics and Values involved in the study Chapter II – Research Methodology: The chapter on Research Methodology should discuss the following: Research Questions Research Objectives Research Design o Methodology o Research Site o Participants/Respondents for the study o Data Collection Methods o Tools and Techniques for Data Analysis Chapter III – Results and Discussion: This chapter can be presented in sections. The chapters should be written as per the requirements of the individual dissertation report. 7 Chapter IV – Conclusion: It should bring out the major findings of the dissertation and utility of the study to the organization and the industry. It should provide logical and feasible recommendations to the practitioners and researchers. Annexure-A, B, C and so on: In appendix, secondary references are included and this helps the author to authenticate the main text and the reader to check the data. In the text, the attention of the reader is drawn to the appendices. Annexures have to be serialized with capital letter – Annexure: A, B, and so on to differentiate from the chapter numbers. All Annexure are listed in the table of contents. Generally the annexure includes the following: Original data Long Tables Legal Decisions and Laws Extensive Computations Schedules Forms Transcripts of Interviews Photographs Any other reference material of secondary nature – Newspaper / Magazine cutting etc., References: It contains the source of every references cited in the main text and any other relevant works that the author has read or consulted. It gives the reader an idea of the literature available on the subject and that has influenced or aided the author. Students are required to follow American Psychological Association (APA) format to cite references in text and to write references. Details are available at the following link: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx Glossary (if required): It is a short dictionary of definitions and terms or phrases which are technical, used in a special connotation. The objective of preparing glossary is to make aware the reader the meanings of technical words used in the project report. The items of Glossary is listed in alphabetical order just like dictionary. Index (if possible): Index appears after the Glossary. It is an alphabetical list of names, events, or major words appearing in the text and indicates the page numbers where they appear. The objective of putting Index is to increase ‘user-friendliness’ of the report. Author’s Profile: This is a brief description of the author of the dissertation. It should mention the student’s name, nature of work, name of the organization and his/her email address. The objective of author’s profile is to help the reader to know and contact if required. General Guidelines The complete project report should be typed in font Times New Roman, Font 12, 1.5 space, paragraphs – justified. The fonts should be not bold and not italics anywhere unless specified otherwise. The following formatting must be followed throughout the project report unless specified otherwise: Title (e.g. Preface, Chapters, etc.): font Times New Roman size 16 bold (Center) Heading 1: font Times New Roman size 14 bold (Center) Heading 2: font Times New Roman size 12 bold (Left) Heading 3: font Times New Roman size 12 underline (Left) 8 Heading 4: font Times New Roman size 12 Italics (Left) Page Numbers: font Times New Roman size 10 without brackets. Page numbers should be in Roman Numerals for items like Declaration, Certificate, Preface, Acknowledgements, Executive Summary, Table of Contents, List of Tables, Graphs & Figures and chapters and the main text is numbered in Arabic Numerals. The title page should not be numbered. The hard copy of the dissertation report must be on A4 size white paper and it should be hard bound (black colour). Colour prints are not needed. Any attempts to enhance external features and to make the report attractive shall not fetch any positive remarks. Students are required to send soft copy of the report (pdf version) to the coordinator. Tables, diagrams, graphs: Tables offer a useful means of presenting large amounts of detailed information in small space. They contribute to clear, concise and comparative presentation of data. Tables could be based on primary data or secondary data. Tables based on secondary data should cite their ‘source(s)’ at the bottom of the table. Title should be given to all tables, diagrams, graphs, and long calculations. Exhibits are numbered as they have been introduced in the text. The tables, diagrams, graphs in the text should be presented as in flowing manner related to the content of the text. They should not be presented in isolation. Show clearly mathematical steps used to draw conclusions. Footnotes: Foot Note indicates the source of reference or provides an explanation, which is not important enough to include in the text. The objective of the footnote is to help the reader to check the accuracy of the interpretation of the sources of information. Writing footnotes makes the project report more credible and trust-worthy. It is positioned at the bottom of the same page. The text of the footnote is in font Times New Roman size 10. The footnotes are number in the order of the appearance in the project report. The numbering of the footnotes is in font Times New Roman size 10 Superscript. No punctuation mark is used after the footnote number. The first line of each footnote is indented five spaces, and the rest of the lines are started from the regular margin. There can be more than one footnotes on one page depending upon the requirements of the project report. Plagiarism: Students are required to produce quality work. The dissertation provided by the students will be checked for plagiarism through SafeAssign, a feature in Blackboard. If the dissertation is found to be copied, the degree will not be offered to the student. For more details, please refer safeAssign in Blackboard by logging through your id and password. Contact Details: Students are requested to go through the guidelines carefully and for any further queries/clarifications, they may contact the following persons: Mr. Marimuthu Raju, Course Coordinator, Exective MBA Email Id: marimuthu.raju@nmims.edu Dr. P.N. Mukherjee. Programme Chairperson, Executive MBA Email Id: Parthasarathi.Mukherjee@nmims.edu 9 Annexures Annexure I List of Faculty Guides Faculty Name Email Ids Business Environment & Strategy B. M. Kacholia Kacholia@nmims.edu Bala Krishnamurthy balak@nmims.edu Meena Galliara galliara@nmims.edu Sujata Mukherjee sujata.mukherjee@nmims.edu Vidya Naik vidya@nmims.edu Dayanand Shetty Dayanand.Shetty@ nmims.edu Communication Seema Khanvilkar seemak@nmims.edu Madhulika Saxena Sinha Madhulika.Sinha@nmims.edu Vineeta Dwivedi Vineeta.Dwivedi@nmims.edu Economics skamdar@nmims.edu Sangita Kamdar Souvik Dhar souvik@nmims.edu Anupam Rastogi Anupam.rastogi@nmims.edu Chandrima Sikdar Chandrima.sikdar@nmims.edu Finance S. K. Bagchi sk.bagachi@nmims.edu Anupam Rastogi anupam.rastogi@nmims.edu C. D. Sreedharan cdsreedharan@nmims.edu Chandan Dasgupta chandan.dasgupta@nmims.edu Debasish Ghosh dghosh@nmims.edu Rajesh Manjrekar Rajesh.manjrekar@nmims.edu Smita Mazumdar Smita Mazumdar@nmims.edu Sangeeta Wats sangeeta.wats@nmims.edu Paritosh Basu Paritosh.Basu@nmims.edu Sanjay Sinha SanjayKumar.Sinha@nmims.edu Mayank Joshipura Mayank.Joshipura@nmims.edu Vrinda Kamat vrindak@nmims.edu 10 Human Resources & Behavioral Sciences mc.agarwal@nmims.edu M. C. Agarwal Manjari Srivastava manjari.srivastava@nmims.edu Nafisa Kattarwala knafisa@nmims.edu Sharon Pande sharon.pande@nmims.edu Veena Vohra veena.vohra@nmims.edu Gowri Joshi Gowri.Joshi@nmims.edu Information Systems Nilay Yajnik Preeti Khanna Deepa Ray nilayy@nmims.edu preeti.khanna@nmims.edu Deepa.ray@nmims.edu Marketing harikumar.iyer@nmims.edu Hari Iyer Hufrish Majra hufrish.majra@nmims.edu Mala Srivastava mala.srivastava@nmims.edu neeta@nmims.edu Neeta Acharya seemam@nmims.edu Seema Mahajan Sreeram Sivaramakrishnan sreeram.s@nmims.edu Amit Bhadra Amit.bhadra@nmims.edu Subroto Chatterjee subroto.chatterjee@nmims.edu Tarun Gupta tarun.gupta@nmims.edu Gaurav Thapar Gaurav.Thapar@nmims.edu Operations & Decision Sciences P. N. Mukherjee Parthasarathi.Mukherjee@nmims.edu srego@nmims.edu Shailaja Rego T. T. Kachwala tkachwala@nmims.edu Arti Deo Arti.Deo@nmims.edu Note: The Dean has the option to include new members as Faculty Guides if required. 11 Annexure II Dissertation Registration Form - Template Name:_____________________________________________ Roll No:_________ I. Dissertation Details Title of the Dissertation:................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... Area of Specialization: ..................................................................................................... Description of the Dissertation in brief: ........................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... II. Organizational Details Name of the Organization: ............................................................................................... Address:............................................................................................................................ .......................................................................................................................................... Telephone Numbers: .................................................. ..................................................... Main activity of the Organization: .................................................................................. III. Company Guide/Organizational Mentor Name: .................................................................... Designation: ..................................... Telephone Numbers: .................................................. E-mail: ........................................ IV. Faculty Guide Preference 1) Name: ...................................................................... --------- 2) Name: ....................................................................... --------- 3) Name: ....................................................................... --------- Declaration I understand the requirements of the dissertation and I hereby declare that I follow the guidelines and timelines. Date: Signature of the Student FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date & Signature of the Course Coordinator : Name of the Guide Assigned: 12 Date & Signature of the Programme Chairperson: Date & Signature of the Faculty Guide: 13 Annexure III Specimen Title Page Talent Management during Mergers and Acquisitions: Case Study of Tech Mahindra by Abhishek Gupta A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Executive Master of Business Administration (Logo) School of Business Management SVKM’s NMIMS, Mumbai 2012 14 Annexure IV Executive MBA batch: Name of the Student: Roll Number: Faculty Evaluation Sheet (To be submitted to the EMBA Program Office) Evaluation Stages Marks Awarded Dissertation Proposal Maximum Marks 10 Interim Report 20 Final Report 40 Presentation & Viva 30 Total Marks 100 Faculty Comments The Proposal/Interim/Final Report/Presentation & Viva is Below average/average/above average/good because……………………………………………………………………………………………... ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………......……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………......……………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………......……………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………......……………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………......……………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………......……… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… …......……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………......………………………………………………………………………………. Date: Signature of Faculty Guide: Signature of Panelist Faculty: (Name of Faculty Guide) (Name of Faculty) 15