IIM-Ranchi integrates science-based happiness course into management education

IIM Ranchi has started offering a science-based study of happiness as part of its management education. It is a compulsory three-credit course for the MBA students, while it is an elective three-credit course for the PhD students. The courses are provided by a Mind Lab on campus, according to a report in The Hindu.

Happiness is often understood only as an art through practices such as meditation and expressing gratitude, “but here at IIM Ranchi, we also talk about the science of happiness and explain through proven research how happiness affects neural functioning,” The publication quoted Prof Tanusree Dutta, Dean Academics, IIM Ranchi.

Around 30 hours of sessions are done over two years for MBA students. These sessions start with bursting a few happiness myths, the article further reports. “When they get here, the students often think that since they have cracked CAT, that’s it. They will be happy. We show that happiness is a process, not a destination,” Prof Dutta whose research interests include Experimental Neuropsychology adds.

“There is this thinking that one day in the future when I get what I want most, I will be happy. But if we think like that, we will never be happy,” Aditi Singh Thakur, a fourth year Integrated Programme in Management student told the publication explaining that happiness cannot be an object to be attained.

The Mind Lab boasts of advanced instruments such as Virtual Reality sets, EEG headset, and eye trackers that especially help the PhD students conduct rigorous academic research. MBA students also use the instruments for their happiness projects, like designing a happy workplace by using Virtual Reality and checking its impact on well-being. Eye trackers help in understanding how visual stimuli affect emotions. Moreover, EEG measures the changes in brain during decision-making when faced with sensory stimulus, the article further adds.