Dr Devanesen Centre For Human Resource Development

About the Centre

The founders of the college way back in 1887 defined the mission of the College in terms of an all-round development of human persons through imparting sound knowledge and humanistic values so that young men and women would be sent out to the wider arena of life and they would make a qualitative change there by their life and work. MCC, prioritized the formation of an integrated personhood through relevant practices, programs, and events inbuilt into the academic calendar. The institution of Dr Devanesen Centre for Human Resource Development is another attempt in the pursuit of the vision of the college.

The center was established in the year 2004 when the College decided to introduce Personality Development as a subject in the UG Curriculum. Since then, the UG curriculum of the College of both streams has Personality Development as an important component for two semesters. Today, we have 35 Faculty who are trained in this area. Every year 1100 students are the beneficiaries of The Personality Development program. In this program classes are held in a student friendly, participatory and experiential manner.

The centre has been offering valuable service to the students since 2004-05 in helping them acquire the necessary self-confidence and other human and social skills. The outcome of the programme is seen in the overall increase in campus placements during the last six years. Review and feedback received form the students are highly encouraging and challenging to do still better.

Trained facilitators of the college with their experience and expertise as well as inputs form the corporate HR professionals, developed the syllabus and their own course content. This publication is the culmination of the efforts towards developing a course content to meet the specific needs of our students. The first volume deals with specific skills necessary for one’s own self development and personal effectiveness. These are by no means intended to be the textbooks for the students but only to serve as a guide or as a manual for the facilitators. Classes are conducted for students from various disciplines with students numbering around 35 per class.

Objectives

  • Introduce the students to the concept of ‘Human Development’ (Personal and interpersonal) with emphasis on the latent resources that every human being possesses.
  • Fulfill the need and importance of creating an awareness of these resources and to maximize the same to enable the students to meet the challenges of the modern world.
  • Provide students with experiential learning besides theoretical treatment of the various topics that fall under Personality Development

Methodology & Assessment

The course is offered under Part IV a- Non-Major electives, during the III and IV semesters of the UG Programme, for 3 credits. The classes are held during the IV and V Hours of Day Order I for the Day Stream students and during the I and II Hours of Day Order V for the SFS Stream of students.

Students of various Departments are regrouped into groups of 40 each comprising students of different disciplines for greater effectiveness.

Convener

Dr T. Shirmila

hrd@mcc.edu.in

Assessment

Students are assessed only by the course teacher by way of Continuous Assessment for a maximum 40 as shown below:

  • Maximum marks for Attendance 5
  • Total marks of CA = 25 in each semester
  • There is no minimum attendance for the course
  • Examination is conducted in the end of the IV semester in April/May comprising of written tests and Practical Testing covering the whole program.
  • The maximum marks awarded will be 100.

Syllabus for UG- The syllabus for the II year undergraduate students.

Personality Development-1
Semester III
30 hours

Unit 1: Self Exploration- Introduction to Human Development and Resource Development- course objective and expected outcome- self-discovery, self-acceptance, self-esteem, self-confidence, physical and cultural aspects of personality- Indian cultural sensitivity leading to self-identity.

Unit 2: Character building- Ethics, Morality and Values: An understanding – Need for values, Kinds of Values, Value conflicts, Value clarification and Value acceptance.

Unit 3: Interpersonal relationship: Importance of Interpersonal relationships in the present context- kinds of relationships, overcoming prejudices, basic principle of building and sustaining relationships, personal vs. professional conflict, submissive, assertive, and aggressive relationships.

Unit 4: Time and Stress Management: Importance of time – Managing time -the art of prioritizing and scheduling, stress, and source of stress, recognizing emotions and value of regulating emotions.

Unit 5: Vision and goal setting- personal goal, career goal clarification, understanding organizational goals, congruence of goals, positioning oneself in the context of organization / society, expectation management – critical nature of reaching targets.

Personality Development
Semester IV
30 Hours

Unit 1: Communication skills- Tools of communication (Oral, written, one way, two way, vertical and horizontal and lateral), Business communication, Body language, Listening skills, Assertive communication, Etiquette (Personal, social, telephone, email and global), Frequently asked questions (FAQS).

Unit II: Problem solving and resolution- Mind skills, out of box thinking, creative thinking, analytical and synthesizing reasoning, intuition and extra sensory perception, conflicts within and among groups, conflicts in social organizations, resolution of conflicts, dealing with and managing conflicts, De Bono 6 thinking hats.

Unit III: team building – formation of team, Phases of group growth process (Forming, norming, storming, performing and adjourning and reviewing), skill development to be a team player / team leader, influencing process, Leadership, win-win situation, proactive skills, synergy.

Unit IV: integrated personal excellence, motivation, positive and negative; Internal and external, motivated performance, Personal grooming, attitudes, confidence building, reinforcement, potential and competence management, creative performance, geared to integrated personal excellence.

Unit V: Placement preparation: resume writing, group discussion, role play, interview, Mock interview, emotional intelligence, Introduction-Broad organizational cultural sensitivity.

Soft skill programme for the postgraduate students:

Consequent on the intimation from the University of Madras which envisages the introduction of soft skills at the PG level in non-autonomous Colleges, Madras Christian College has taken the initiative of offering soft skill at the postgraduate level from the academic year 2007-08. Soft skill programme is mandatory for postgraduate students and they undergo training during the II and III semesters for two hours in each cycle.

As the very term explains, Soft skills are those skills that can be developed without much effort on the part of the learner. The term accommodates several areas under its repertoire under the soft skills we have included three broad areas. They are:

  • GROUP A- Personality Enrichment (4 credits, 30 hours)
  • GROUP B- Communication Skill (2 credits, 15 hours. Student chooses on language: English/German/French)
  • GROUP C- Career Coping Skill (2 credits 15 hours student chooses on skill: computer Training/Public Relations / Quantitative Aptitude)

Group A- Personality Enrichment:
The objective is to enable students to assess their potentials and meet with challenges in career and life that will boost their employability and effectiveness.

  • Unit 1- Developing Mind skills, quizzes, General Knowledge, Puzzles, you ought to know, guess right, who is who? An ongoing task for the student during the semester.
  • Unit 2- Emotional Intelligence, coping with emotions, Interpersonal conflicts, Emotional & rational balance.
  • Unit 3- Leadership, Assessing Leadership Qualities, Experiential learning of leadership skills exercise in teamwork.
  • Unit 4- Developing lateral thinking, Problem-solving skills, Purpose-driven decisions.
  • Unit 5- Change, Coping skills, Critical and Adaptive Mindsets, Changes in career/life / people.
  • Unit 6- Etiquette, Social etiquette, Business etiquette, Civic sense, Social norms.

Faculty:
Trained Facilitators of Dr. Devanesen Center for Human Resource Development

Communication skills:

  • English- Department of English
  • French – Department of Languages
  • German- Department of languages

Career Coping skill:

  • Computer skill- Department of MCA
  • Public Relations- Department of Communication and Public Administration
  • Quantitative Aptitude- Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Assessment:
There is only Continuous Assessment. It may consist of Tests / Assignments/projects/ case study, class participation or any other Practical, Aggregate marks =100.

Consultancy:
The centre also offers by way of consultancy to outside institutions, schools, and colleges on request Personality Development Programs. We have trained several men and women since 2004. Institutions as Ethiraj College, SDNB Vaishnava College, MCC Higher Secondary School, Christ King Higher Secondary School, and employees of Universal Moulds, Madipakkam, SNR Motors, Guindy and NGOs have been beneficiaries our programme.