Indian Institute of Management Bangalore: The social impact of clubs and societies

Abstract

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) is among the most prestigious management schools in India and the world. Given its prestigious status and stellar student base, the institute has certain unspoken social responsibilities. With over 35 clubs in existence, each with its own members, charter, objectives, and annual events, they impact lives in IIM Bangalore on a dayto-day basis. The clubs, much like IIMB itself and its fraternity, hold a certain social contract with the external society where they function. This contract is strengthened by the overall brand of the business school and the corresponding high expectations that it sets. This study has been conducted with the objective of understanding the philosophy guiding the clubs, their current functioning and performance, their societal impact, and for finding shortcomings of the clubs in terms of social focus, and the ways in which the clubs can intensify their societal impact. A total of twelve relevant clubs were studied for this purpose, which were AlumCom, CulCom, ENI, ENS, FII, HMC, PAWS, PPC, QUEST, Sports Council, Vikasana, and WIM. The study revealed that the clubs are making a positive influence in terms of utilizing budget holistically, generating direct and indirect social impact, acting as a medium between the industry and the marginalized society, collaborating with third parties, generating support from the institute and the alumni, setting up clubs with clear social agenda, and through the excellent work done by Vikasana. It was also appeared that the roadblocks hindering progress include a skewed evaluation procedure, overdependence on Vikasana, non-inclusion of social objectives in club charters, non-inclusion of social agenda in club processes, sponsorship limitations, institutional roadblocks, and restricted impact in silos. The paper proposes that involving Executive students in clubs, setting mandatory social work, increasing the size of Vikasana, involving more marginalized third-parties, updating the evaluation criteria, and integrating social clubs at a national level can improve the social impact of the institute. The lack of time due to academic pressure and financial funding will always be constraints in this regard. The paper concludes that while IIMB clubs do not put society as a priority while setting their goals, they do fulfil their objectives to the society either directly or indirectly. And while IIMB does try to lead social change through the student bodies, the overall impact is restricted and leaves scope for improvement.