+-General Guidelines For

MBA Project Work

D.G. Vaishnav College, School of Management, Chennai 600 106.

Duration : The duration of the project is from January 18th to March 31st, 2011 (10 weeks) Last Date for Submission : The last date for submission of the project is April 4th,2011 Project not submitted on the date April 4th, 2011 can only be submitted in October 2011. Marks Submission : The marks structure is as follows : Project report = 200 marks ( internal and external) Viva voce = 200 marks ( internal and external)

Internal marks = 100 marks Signatures : The Project Report should be signed by both the Student, Project Guide and the Head of Department.

The Company:
The organization where the project work is undertaken should be registered under the Companys Act and should offer adequate scope for full-fledged and detailed project work. The organization climate should be conducive and supportive to such studies.

Size of the Project:

The project report should contain a minimum of 100 pages, excluding the company and product profiles.

Uniqueness of the Project:

No two students should do identical projects in the same company This pertains also to students from different MBA institutions. Those students undertaking project work in the same company should ensure that they select different products and / or different objectives, respondent category etc.

Number of copies:
A total of four HARD BOUND copies and one SOFT COPY of the project report must be made. Two copies must be compulsorily submitted to the Department on or before 2011 4th April,

One student copy should be compulsory carried by the student while attending the viva. One copy to be submitted to the company.

REPORT PRESENTATION
The size of the page The Colour A4 Light pink for even years Light blue for odd years (year 2011 submission= light blue colour) 12 pt for body of the report 12pt bold for sub-headings 14pt for chapter headings. Times New Roman, 1.5 Single inside the tables Full

Font

Spacing Justification

Margins

Left Margin Right Margin Top Margin Bottom Margin

: 1.5 : 1 : 1 : 1

OTHER TIPS
Careful and meticulous Proof Readings is a must before the project goes for binding. Whenever possible data should be converted into bar charts, pie-charts, flow diagrams etc. in order to enhance the readability of the report. All pages must be numbered. The relevant page numbers must appear against the corresponding chapter headings in the Table of Contents. Due caution must be exercised with respect to the names and qualifications of the persons referred to in the report. The initials and spelling must be cross-checked. The formats for the cover-page, other subsequent pages and certificates to be included in the report are given below. This must be strictly followed without any variation.

FORMATS FOR PRELIMINARY PAGES

1. For the COVER and INSIDE FIRST PAGE TITLE OF THE PROJECT
AT NAME OF COMPANY

Project work SUBMITTED to the UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the award of degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION By (Students name) (Reg. No) Under the guidance of (Prof. Name)

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT D.G. VAISHNAV COLLEGE

Chennai 600106. APRIL YEAR

2. FOR THE SECOND PAGE:

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project report titled ___________________ is a bonafide record of work carried out by Mr./Ms. ______________ at Company Name final semester from January (year) to April (year), in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION by UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS during the academic year 200x 200x .

Dr.Ashvini Ravi Head of Department Dr. S. Narasimhan PRINCIPAL

Faculty Name PROJECT GUIDE

(College seal)

3. FOR THE THIRD PAGE

DECLARATION
I , Student Name hereby declare that the project work titled -------------------------------- submitted by me for the award of degree of Master of Business Administration has not formed the basis for the award of any other Degree, Diploma, Associate ship, Fellowship or other similar titles and this dissertation has been done by me under the guidance of (Company Guide/s) and (internal guide Prof Management , D.G. Vaishnav College, Chennai. name with designation) School of

(Signature of the student) STUDENT NAME

Place: Date:

4. FOR THE FOURTH PAGE : (On Company Letterhead)

This is to certify that (Student Name), student of Master of Business Administration, School of Management, D.G.Vaishnav College, Arumbakkam, Chennai, has successfully completed his/her project work in our company, during the period from date January 201x to dateMarch 201x as part of his/her post graduate studies. During the period of project work, he/she has done project titled

-------------------------------. He/She is found to be committed to the assignments/studies assigned and has shown desire to learn and complete the tasks systematically. We wish him/her a bright future and all success in future endeavors.

For (company name) Company Guide Designation Department

5. FOR THE FIFTH PAGE : Acknowledgements(optional) 6. FOR THE SIXTH PAGE : TABLE OF CONTENTS
An illustrative format for the Table of Contents is shown below. This is applicable for Marketing and HR projects and should be modified suitably for Systems and Finance studies. Chapter No. 1 Contents INTRODUCTION 1.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE 1.2 COMPANY PROFILE 1.3 PRODUCT PROFILE / ORGANISATION STRUCTURE* 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 2. ABOUT THE TOPIC SURVEY OF LITERATURE NEED FOR THE STUDY SCOPE OF STUDY Page Nos.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 2.1 2.2 PRIMARY OBJECTIVES SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 TYPE OF RESEARCH RESEARCH APPROACH SOURCES OF DATA SAMPLING PLAN 3.4(1) POPULATION AND SAMPLING UNIT 3.4(2) SAMPLE SIZE 3.4(3) SAMPLING PROCEDURE MODE OF DATA COLLECTION

3.5

3.6 3.7 3.8 4 5 6 7 8 9

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT DESIGN & PRETESTING OF QUESTIONNAIRE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR ANALYSIS

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION FINDINGS RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY ANEXURES I. QUESTIONNAIRE II. MARKET FIGURES III. STATISTICAL CALCULATIONS IF ANY

*Note:- The Product profile may be substituted by relevant information about the organization for HR projects and financial information about the company for finance projects.

7. FOR THE SEVENTH PAGE : List of Tables / Illustrations / Graphs

This may be in the following format :

Table No.

Title

Page No.

General Guidelines for the Report 1. Introduction:

A very thorough study of all available literature will lay the foundation for good research work, books, journals and websites, relevant to the topic should be studied in depth. The student should have a clear idea about the situation, the topic and the scope of the project. 2.

Research Objectives:

Primary Objectives There can be one or a few primary objectives. They should be on general terms and should encompass all the secondary objectives. Students may even undertake projects with objectives in dual areas such as Finance and Marketing or Systems and Marketing, in order to widen the scope of a narrow topic. Secondary Objectives The secondary objectives should be in the form of a list of specific sub-objectives. They should be clear and precise. They should perfectly match the questionnaire, the analysis and the findings and should be exhaustive.

3. Research Methodology:
The detail given in this section should be very precise and accurate. The student should have a thorough knowledge of Research Methodology through books such as Research Methodology by CR. Kothari, Market Research by Tull and Hawkings etc. The student should be well versed in sampling, various research approaches, the techniques of designing a sound research instrument, pretesting, tools used for data analysis, etc. Descriptive type of research and survey approach are the most practical methods for the MBA projects. Primary data source has greater value compared to secondary data. The sample unit should be clearly defined. Probability sampling methods are preferable as varied tools can be applied. Probability sampling should be properly explained. The sample size should atleast 200 Nos. Students should therefore select topics where a large sample size is feasible. A structured undisguised questionnaire is the most common research instrument. The questionnaire design is very important. It should be reliable and valid. The student should have a thorough understanding about the rules of questionnaire framing. The student should have a thorough understanding about the rules of questionnaire framing. The student should plan for the statistical tools for analysis at

the questionnaire design stage itself. It should be pretested on 10 to 15 respondents before it is applied to the whole sample.

4. Data analysis and interpretation:

Substantial quantitative analysis is expected in an MBA project. A variety of tools and techniques should be applied for the analysis of data. A minimum of 6-8 tools should be applied. Uni-variate, bi-variate and multi-variate analysis may be attempted. Parametric and non-parametric tests may be used, Each test should start on a separate page. The format should be as follows. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The Objective Statement The Data Table The Null-Hypothesis The Statistical tool-used description of the tool reason for using the tool. Level of significance. The Asymptotic Significance is less then .05 or grater then .05 Outcome: Null hypothesis accepted or rejected. Interpretation.

All tables, charts, graphs and other illustrations should be prepared on separate sheets. The should be numbered and should have self-explanatory titles.

5. Findings, Recommendations and Conclusion:

The findings should be a direct outcome of the data analysis and should match the research objectives. The recommendations should only be based on the findings and never on hunch or personal views. The conclusion should be brief and should be a cogent summary of the entire project.

Language and Referencing Style:

2. Spellings: Use British spellings in all cases rather than American spellings (hence, programme not program labour not labor and centre not center) Quotation Marks: Use single quotes throughout. Doubles quotes to be used only within single quotes.

3.

4. 5.

Dates: Give specific dates in the form 22 November 1890. Decades may be referred to as the eighties. Spell out the twentieth century etc. Numbers: Write numbers in figures (rather than words) for exact measurement and series of quantities, including percentages. In more general description, numbers bellows 10 should be spelt out in words. Notes and References: Notes and references should be consecutively numbered and presented at the foot of each page. Reference style: The style detailed below should be followed:

6. 7.

I. Books: RH. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (New York: Penguin Books, 1984. First published in 1926), 45 57. II. Edited Volumes: O. Williams and J. Houck, eds, The Judeo-christian Vision (Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), 115 125. III. Articles in Journals: S. Robinson and E. Weldon, Feedback seeking in Groups: A Theoretical Perspective, British Journal of Social Psychology, 1993, 32 (1), 71 86. IV. Articles in Edited Books: M. Novak, Can a Christian work for a Corporation?, in O. Wiliams and J. Houck, eds, The Judeo-christian Vision (Notre Da,e : University of Notre Dame Press, 1982) 224 46 V. Dissertations: A. Good, Kinship and Ritual in a South Indian Region Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Durham, 1993. On subsequent reference (unless immediately following the first reference in which case ibid will be used), the examples at I, ii, & iii will come. a. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (n. I above), op-cit b. Williams and J. Houck, The Judeo-Christian Vision (n. ii above) c. Robinson and E. Weldon, Feedback Seeking in Groups (n. iii above.)

6. Bibliography:
Books, Journals and Periodicals which have generally formed the source material for the subject of study should be arranged in alphabetical order and should be presented as follows.

a) Books: Boot. John C.G., and Cox, Edwin B., Statistical Analysis for Managerial Decisions, (New Delhi: McGraw-Hill Publishing co, Ltd., 1979). b) Periodicals / Journals : K. Matushita, The Secrets Shared, Buisiness Today, Vo1.1100, February 2002, pp. 25-28.

7. Annexures:
All materials which do not form part of the Main Project, but gives important contextual information may be included under the Annexures. Eg. Questionnaire, Test calculations etc. Annexures should be numbered with Roman numerals, with appropriate references in the main text.