The treasure hunt in progress.
The treasure hunt in progress. To hone managerial skills, spot talent, create a sense of belonging and professional competition is the objective of the Inter Business Group Competition (IBGC). Sanmartini, a cocktail of explosive games – was held amongst Executive/Management Cadre employees in November 2000. There were five events – Debate, Treasure Hunt, Presentation, Quiz and Cricket Medley.
Sanmartini brought together over 1000 employees for the different events. It spanned all the business entities across the group, spread over six locations, and divided into four groups. The competition started with a naming contest. The competing groups identified themselves through these imaginative names.
CHempower.calm – CH standing for Chemplast, a power to reckon with, empower for ‘empowered group’, the dot signifies we are technology savvy, and calm indicates our style – quiet and focused.
OctaGuns – The big guns that blaze from 8, Cathedral Road. Eight is represented ‘Octa’ and the blazing guns are Shipping/Atofina /SSCL -Berigai/SSCL-Alathur/SSCRC/GIO/SFL/Corporate.
K-SMart – Karapakkam Sanmar Team – a one stop shop for talent.
Malgudi@pearls – M-Micropack, Al-Viralimalai, Gudi-Perungudi, P-Professional, E-Excellence, A -And, R-Rewarding, L-Life at, S-Sanmar. Malgudi@pearls emerged as one of the top three names amongst the four groups, CHempower.calm and OctaGuns being the other two.
The debate in progress.
The debate in progress. The Treasure Hunt was held on November 4, 2000 at Sanmar Engineering Corporation (SEC) Karapakkam premises. Twenty teams competed for the prizes. There were 12 clues in the hunt, each clue containing two parts. One had a numeric answer which led to a corresponding ‘spot’ within the complex. The other part, which related to management had to be solved to obtain the next clue. The clues were dispersed among various points within the complex.The teams raced against the clock to solve the clues and cover all the spots in the shortest possible time.
As a grand finale, there was a puzzle to be solved as well. The team OctaGuns secured the first position followed by K-SMart in second place, and CHempower.calm in third. Spectators cheered and encouraged their respective groups. At the end of the event, the teams were physically exhausted but the collective spirit and enthusiasm soared high. An excellent lunch was a fitting finale to an exhilarating morning.
Four teams debated on three topics. The topics were:
“Sanmartini is an institutionalised way of wasting time”
“Right traits and attitude of an employee are more valuable than right skills”
“Higher the education, lesser the entrepreneurial skills in an individual”.
The top team in each topic and top two runners up across topics qualified for the final debate. The topic for the final debate was, “If one has not made it to the top (management) by mid-forties, one never will”. The team from K-SMart came first followed by CHempower.calm and OctaGuns. All the four topics produced thought provoking ideas amongst all employees. Cricket Medley, a medley of games, played in the typical one-day international style was held on November 24, 2000. The event was designed in the form of an ODI match.Each group had 11 players comprising a captain, vice-captain, wicket keeper, batsmen, bowlers and an all rounder.
Each game was named in line with cricket terminology. The games played included acronyms, brand names, dumb charades, puzzle, role plays, word jumble and non-verbal communication. The maximum total runs scorable by a team was 2750. These games were devised from practical management situations. The team scoring the most runs were declared winners. K-SMart secured the first position scoring 1450 runs followed by Malgudi@pearls at second position scoring 1395 runs and CHempower.calm at third position with 1085 runs.
The paper writing and presentation contest addressed two topics. “Becoming ‘World Class’ – three activities that each business/ Sanmar group needs to implement to become world class” and “Towards TQM thoughts/practices of TQM which can be institutionalised across the Sanmar group”. The presentation went through a preliminary written round, where all the teams had to present a written document on the topic, and then an oral presentation. For the first time, this event was made open to branch employees also. CHempower.calm secured the first position followed by K-SMart at second and the third position was secured by Baroda Branch for the TQM topic. The winners for the World Class topic were Baroda Branch which secured the first position followed by CHempower.calm at second and Malgudi@pearls at third.
The quiz went through two preliminary rounds, to select the finalists. Prelim I was conducted simultaneously at different locations (Berigai, Alathur, Cuddalore, Mettur, Bangalore, Viralimalai and Head Office) and comprised a written quiz, with multiple choice answers. The questions covered topics on general knowledge, current affairs, business and management, finance and HR.
The top ten teams from each group qualified for the next round.
Prelim II was conducted on December 4, 2000, with Sarada Jagan from Corporate HR acting as the quiz master. Forty teams vied with one another for the top five slots for the final.
Oral and audio visual rounds were part of the quiz. The teams that qualified for the quiz final were: two teams from CHempower.calm and K-SMart, one team from OctaGuns. The professionally conducted final was held on the same day after the Prelim II round. The quiz master was M S Jagan. The quizzing round included oral, audio visual and rapid-fire questions as well as dumb charades and Pictionary. The well turned out Sanmar audience was enthralled by the high standard of quizzing. Members of the audience were also quizzed and prizes were distributed. The final was won by K-SMart and CHempower.calm were the runners up.
Cricket Medley.
The K-SMart team stood first in the overall competition, with CHempower.calm a close second. The prize distribution ceremony was the grand finale and the winning teams were given trophies. The objectives of Sanmartini were met. To promote more audience participation, there was a lucky draw at the end of each event. The lucky winner was given a surprise gift at the end of each event.
N Sankar gave away the trophies to the first and second placed groups. The respective team leaders Kesari Prasad and S Venkatraman received the trophies. Individual certificates for winners in the first three positions in all events were given by the Managing Directors. In his address, N Sankar commended the HR team’s resourcefulness and zeal in conceptualising and executing the events successfully.
The presentation is on.
M S Jagan, the quiz master for the final.
N Sankar, Chairman, Sanmar group presenting the overall championship trophy to Kesari Prasad, Team Leader, K-SMart.