The recent murder of Manjunath, the IIM L graduate working at IOC, has shaken up the mba community. Reminiscent of the time when another individual decided to take on the system met a similar fate, Satyendra Dubey, it just goes to show the price one has to pay for doing one's job. Ethics and values seem to have eroded to such a large extent that it is a wonder how we can even exist in such conditions.What example is society setting for the future generations? I hope the fire will not die down, till the perpetrators has been punished. But even then, this movement should be taken forward by his peers and everyone who felt affected by this unfortunate incident. Individuals may not be able to effectively tackle the corruption in society but collectively, I'm sure we can do something.
Values and ethics are going downhill. The price to pay is too high. But the standards set by Manjunath are high, and maintaining the bar won't be easy. What would anyone of us have done the same thing? I can't honestly say whether I know. Most of us would have probably run away instead of sticking around to tackle the issue.
I hope this awakens people to the other side of MBA. Usually the only side that gets all the publicity is about the high salaries and plush jobs. This just goes to show that there's a lot more at stake. As management students, we are taught to stand up for our values and to maintain ethical practices despite pressure. How many management graduates actually do? There will be a vast number who do stand up against injustice and malpractices and an equally large number who probably just turn the other way. I hope there will be more people willing to emulate Manjuanth, for the sake of the society which needs them to fight.
On another front,term 1came to a close. Term 1 sure flew bye. Had end term exams for two subjects- marketing and organisational behaviour. There are two assignments on Environment for Business, still pending. The assignment on QM-1 was a disaster for sure, I don't know how its going to be rated. I actually feel quite guilty for not doing more justice to that paper, I could have done better, but then that's the feeling I get after any exam!! Just to review the first term of my MBA, I am now supposed to know the basics of marketing, how people behave the way do in an organisation (OB), the background of what the Indian society is all about, something in probability and of course accounting. How much of all this so I really know and how much can I apply in a job remains to seen. In fact I have just completed a crash course in the basic elements of an organisation!!
Term 2 startedyesterday. This term we'll be seeing a few new faculty faces, but majority will be continuing from where they left off last term. I'm not exactly looking forward to Operations Mangement being terminally terrified of quants, but the prof. is great. So I'm hoping that things won't be as bad as the engineers make it to be.
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Thursday, October 20, 2005
My MBA life
Today I dropped my laptop!! My Rs.60,000+ HP laptop, it just slipped and crashed to the floor. I really had no clue as to what would happen when I started it up, but thank God, there were no signs of damage. It was Finance class and I was late, I was still panting from the long walk to class and in a hurry to get things set up I pulled my system and it just fell out of my hand. Everything said and done, no problems.
Apart from that, life is going on as it normally does in a b-school, assignments, cases, presentations, the rigour goes on day in and day out. After a point it all becomes so very natural. There is a mountain of work to be done.
QM-I is taking its toll on the whole class. We have a great prof. who'll go out of his way to ensure everyone understands the concepts, the onus is now on us to out in our part. I had actually started out on my MBA journey quite apprehensive about this subject. It doesn't seem all that bad now. Its all a question of mindset. If you want to do something, you just have to set your mind to it. No matter how tough it may seem in the beginning, you will get there.
Regarding the other subjects we have in Term I, Marketing I is Kotler and a bunch of cases. We also have a project submission left which reminds me that I still haven't completed my research on the topic. Finance is not an issue, this term atleast. Not sure about how things will be next term on. The engineers are finding the going hard as there is so much to cover. But from the way things are going, looks like they'll have an upperhand by the time the term is over. The challenge for the commerce grads is to not get complacent!!
OB-I is a paper we have no idea how to tackle. The classes are full of cases, and some theoretical application. We had a quiz a couple of weeks back, fared quite pathetically considering that it was an open book. The problem was that we had no idea what to write, there was just so much!!
Apart from that, life is going on as it normally does in a b-school, assignments, cases, presentations, the rigour goes on day in and day out. After a point it all becomes so very natural. There is a mountain of work to be done.
QM-I is taking its toll on the whole class. We have a great prof. who'll go out of his way to ensure everyone understands the concepts, the onus is now on us to out in our part. I had actually started out on my MBA journey quite apprehensive about this subject. It doesn't seem all that bad now. Its all a question of mindset. If you want to do something, you just have to set your mind to it. No matter how tough it may seem in the beginning, you will get there.
Regarding the other subjects we have in Term I, Marketing I is Kotler and a bunch of cases. We also have a project submission left which reminds me that I still haven't completed my research on the topic. Finance is not an issue, this term atleast. Not sure about how things will be next term on. The engineers are finding the going hard as there is so much to cover. But from the way things are going, looks like they'll have an upperhand by the time the term is over. The challenge for the commerce grads is to not get complacent!!
OB-I is a paper we have no idea how to tackle. The classes are full of cases, and some theoretical application. We had a quiz a couple of weeks back, fared quite pathetically considering that it was an open book. The problem was that we had no idea what to write, there was just so much!!
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Lesson 1 - The Value of Time!!
Why does a day have only 24 hrs? This is the dilemma of any mba student and most students doing a post-graduation. 24 hrs is just not enough.
A management course is designed to teach the essential skill of managing the resource in shortest supply - Time!!
Management = Manage + Men + T where "T" is Time. Essentially, MBA (or PGDM or whatever other name the course goes by) teaches the art of prioritising and getting the most done in the shortest time period.
Now this probably sounds like greek to a lay person, it did to me when I first heard it. But very few people actually realise the value of planning tasks beforehand. I wish I had listened to those talks on time management! But the truth is that you cannot adopt any pratice staight out of a book. Different people have different needs and you need to tailor those approaches to suit you.
The first thing that we heard at our induction programme at ASB was our course director telling us to plan our day. At that time, no one realised the full import of his words. But things are heating up here now. Sleep is becoming a rare commodity as deadlines become a regular feature. But that's the fun of a B-school exprience!! I am sure enjoying it!! :)
A management course is designed to teach the essential skill of managing the resource in shortest supply - Time!!
Management = Manage + Men + T where "T" is Time. Essentially, MBA (or PGDM or whatever other name the course goes by) teaches the art of prioritising and getting the most done in the shortest time period.
Now this probably sounds like greek to a lay person, it did to me when I first heard it. But very few people actually realise the value of planning tasks beforehand. I wish I had listened to those talks on time management! But the truth is that you cannot adopt any pratice staight out of a book. Different people have different needs and you need to tailor those approaches to suit you.
The first thing that we heard at our induction programme at ASB was our course director telling us to plan our day. At that time, no one realised the full import of his words. But things are heating up here now. Sleep is becoming a rare commodity as deadlines become a regular feature. But that's the fun of a B-school exprience!! I am sure enjoying it!! :)
Sunday, October 2, 2005
Hello blogger world!!
i'll be trying out my writing skills here...been a while since i did any form of creative writing that wasn't related to academics. Am a little rusty, hopefully i'll be able to keep anyone who bothers to visit suitably interested to return.
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