The Centre aims to be recognised as a high-quality research centre impacting leadership, scholarship and practice in India and around the world. It has a group of 12 faculty members from varied disciplines such as communication, education, economics, human resource management, law, organisational behaviour, and strategy who are working on leadership and organisational development issues.
The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) on June 18 announced the launch of the Ashank Desai Centre for Leadership and Organisational Development (ADCLOD). The endowment for the Centre has been contributed by Ashank Desai, Founder, and former Chairman, Mastek who is an IIMA alumnus and a member of the Governing Board. A virtual ceremony was hosted to launch the Centre. The Centre is chaired by Vishal Gupta, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at IIMA.
The Centre aims at promoting rigorous research and to initiate dialogue about leadership and organisational development issues in various kinds of organisations: public, private and social sector. Along with research, the Centre also aims to create opportunities where faculty, practitioners and policy makers can come together, brainstorm and find solutions to pressing leadership and organisational issues. In order to give opportunities to scholars as well as practitioners to voice their concerns as well as to present possible solutions, the Centre plans to organize various events such as workshops, speaker series, panel discussions and Annual leadership summit.The Centre will also be offering training, research, and consulting services to leaders at various levels in Indian and multinational organisations.
Announcing the launch, Professor Errol D’Souza, Director, IIMA said, “We are delighted to announce the launch of the Ashank Desai Centre for Leadership and Organisational Development at IIMA. Through the Centre, our faculty will research on the changing dynamics of leadership and translate the outcomes into knowledge that will equip leaders with best practices for improvement. I would like to thank Mr. Ashank Desai for his generous contribution, which will allow us to advance IIMA’s plans to address this crucial global requisite.”
Sharing his views on the contribution made, Mr Ashank Desai said, “I was always fascinated by the process of leadership creation, leadership impact and success. I am convinced that it is THE key to nation building and prosperity. I always wanted to give back to my Alma Mater, particularly because my organisation, Mastek’s idea was incubated in the IIMA premises along with my other founder colleagues who were classmates. I would like the Centre to organise roundtables with leaders in the wide variety of themes that the Centre plans to work in, seminars on leadership issues, conduct cutting-edge research and create leadership paradigms which are global in terms of relevance yet deeply rooted in Indian context of our history, traditions, and societal values. Also, I hope the work of ADCLOD will enable creation of a leadership curriculum for IIMA long-term courses.”
