Key learnings from 1 year at K ( Part 3)

After a post which had a negative overtone to it n one which painted a grim picture of the first year, I feel it imperative to let the readers know that the positives gained out of the experience far outweigh the negatives.

I m not going to write much abt the clichéd ones like “Confidence factor”, “Communication n presentation skills” etc…., rather would concentrate more on the art of perfection of the JIT technology, the realisation that “Smart work” is the way to go rather than hard work n the most importantly, the G brothers (Actually, there’s not much difference btw them) - Mr Gas n Gyaan .

Just In Time – or JIT as it’s popularly known – was one of the breakthrough concepts in operations management. The core of the concept is “less inventory” n “less wastage” n the streamlining of the entire operations to ensure that products are rolled out just in time when it’s required. Due to a variety of constraints, JIT couldn’t achieve the magnitude of success it was envisaged to. But somewhere in a remote town located in the southern part of India, a bunch of 20 somethings have been fine tuning and perfecting the art of JIT for about one whole year.
The PGDM course structure which lays emphasis on lots of project work, assignments, presentations, quizzes etc, brings along “deadlines” with it…( The most familiar numbers in the campus are 2,3,5 n 9 or rather 23:59). As I mentioned in some previous post, “work expands to fill the time”. Over the course of time, the bunch of 20 somethings have realised this and hence have coined the new maxim “Work still fits in even if the time contracts”. They don’t carry any excess inventory in their mind n brain, till the need arises to roll out the final output. Usually this need arises during the last 5% of the time allocated, when the guys get their arses moving n hold the customary team meeting. Hence arises the 95-5 rule – “5% of the work gets done in the initial 95% of the time allotted, while 95% of the work gets done in the last 5% of the time allotted”. How does this help? U minimize the time spent on rework, u minimize the time spent on non value added work, u can use the initial 95% of the time allotted to perform other productive, constructive n creative activities.

We ve been taught from the childhood that hard work is a pre-requisite for achieving success. But what K has made me n many others aware is “Smart work” is a better n more productive substitute to “Hard work”. It’s not practically possible to keep on putting in more than 100% effort throughout a long time period. One tends to plateau or hit a trough occasionally. Smart work involves timing these ‘peaking, plateauing n troughing’ perfectly by ourselves, rather than those being driven by the course of events. It also involves customizing the work; customizing according to the nature of the work, payoffs involved, proximity of the deadline etc.

In addition to the various hypothetical characters mentioned in the previous post, some of the other interesting characters who visit the campus n become a part of everyone’s life are Mr Gyaan n Mr Gas. U never know what form Mr Gyaan will take – Gyaan can pour out during an informal chit-chat session at NC, can pour out from an intoxicated student, can pour out even from an otherwise inconspicuous student… Mr Gas makes his presence felt during the examinations, presentations, reports etc… Mr Gyaan n Mr Gas, along with the acquired academic knowledge creates this supremely confident student who is a master of the “Impression management”.

Key learnings from 1 year at K ( Part 2 )

Alter egos, schizophrenics, Transformed egos, confused souls, Split personalities, Actualized ones, Inflated souls, deflated souls, Detached souls, Restored souls….These are some of the people doing the rounds in the picturesque campus of K, along with the normal mortals.

Act 1 – The arrival :

During the first term, the students just flow with the system not knowing where the tide is leading them to. The seeds of confusion are planted when they are not quite sure about what’s happening around them or where they want the time to lead them. These are the confused souls, who don’t remember what they were, how they used to be…

During this journey, some start behaving like machines, just performing some routine activities; not getting the time to take a pause in between. The gist of the script of each day’s play titled “A typical day in a B-school”, is the same as the previous day – only the circumstances are little different. If at all they pause, they get sucked into their world of complications n confusions. Compounded by the enormous “pressure”, insomniac tendencies n a multitude of other factors, new alter egos are born n start accompanying the original ones.

Act 2 – The metamorphosis:

Cometh the second term, there’s one wicked monster which acts as a catalyst for this entire process – The P word. The P time is actually fun time if you are willing to look at it that way, though as a matter of fact very few actually do it. Surrounded by the persistent and frequent visits, banters, advises etc of the alter egos and confused souls ( Visualize it like a camera zooming in and out of our face, which is surrounded by various creatures with just a head n two hands…..zooooom in zooooom out….zoooom in zoooom out…zooom in zooom out..zoom in zoom out) , many souls start transforming – these transformed souls may be for the better or the worse. This transformation can lead to the restoration of the original self that one was or to a different personality, with the extent of difference varying from person to person. This can also lead to detached souls, people who are comfortably numb, oblivious to the deterioration in the quality of life they are leading.

I know people, who were once kewl, turn into emotional wrecks during this phase. I ve heard about this geeky girl who took it easy n became a freaky girl during this transformation. I know a student who goes home during the weekend before the exams, but is still among the toppers.

Act 3 – The settling down:

As the year progresses, there’s more clarity as to who’s accompanying whom n who all have left the campus. There are the restored souls – the ones who have once again pursuing things they are passionate about. Then there are the actualized ones – the ones who are clear about what they want from the institute n live their life accordingly. There are the ones who are comfortably wedded to the split/multiple personalities which reside in their body. I know a hardworking, dedicated student who lives in harmony with the perennial drinker, his other self, who brings into light an entirely different aspect of his personality. I know a student who roams around with his vagabond ego n who has once again started pursuing his passion for writing (No prizes for guessing the name!!!)

Act 4 - ? :

Waiting eagerly for the arrival of new guests next year n the departure of some existing ones…

I m not painting a dark picture of the entire act, just took my liberties as a writer to imagine n exaggerate.

Looking forward to the second year…

Key learnings from 1 year at K ( Part 1 )

People say CAT is a leveler, it’s a chance for redemption – Guys n gals from a multitude of backgrounds, irrespective of their UG degrees come together to get a management degree from one institute or other…But this is just the beginning; There’s an even more important n interesting extension to this line of thinking. That happens once u set foot in the campus after belling the CAT n cracking the interviews.

Based on my one year year experience at one of the premier management institutes in the country, to Ur fellow batch mates “You are not the 99.somethings u got in CAT, you are not the institute from where u took the UG, you are not the f****** job u did in Ur company, you r not the no of bullet pts in Ur CV, u r what you r n what you did during the one year in the institute” (Say it like Tyler Durden in fight club). But I do agree that all the above are crucial, n rightly so, when it comes to the all important P word. But what Ur batch mates think n what the companies think about might be entirely different. One day I would love to do an empirical study to prove this hypothesis.

The manner in which the entire course is structured (Residential program, numerous group assignments, presentations and projects) n the student culture (student driven committees n initiatives, hostel culture) makes it impossible not to form an opinion about anyone else in the batch. What makes this a leveler is the fact that the extent n degree of interaction is so high that u don’t rely on a guy’s/gal’s past to judge him/her.

Whatever a person’s past credentials are, however talented n interesting he is, if he doesn’t do his share of work in the campus, he’ll be labeled with the F word ( No No No … its not the F*** word , it’s the F*** R**** word ) n others won’t care a shit about him.

Students get the respect of batch mates due to a host of factors – CGPA, initiatives n volunteering tasks they undertake, their contribution to the committees n group projects, their infectious n lively spirits n many others. (No need to say, this shouldn’t come at the cost of being stamped as the F guy).The connecting thread is that all these are factors which rely on the present rather than the past.

I believe I don’t need to make u guys (at least the K guys) aware about the “popular yahoo group characters during our pre-joining days “n how they have fallen out of favor with the batch. If you are able to identify the masqueraders and pierce their veils, you will be able to recognize the power crazy visibility seeking people who try to attract attention, you will be able to identify people who tried to market themselves right from the word go on reaching the campus but couldn’t maintain their brand value. But if you think objectively, you will also realize that these are not the most respected ones in the campus, the respected ones are the ones who have done whatever is expected of them n more n have done them consistently throughout the year. They built their brand value slowly but steadily and with an impact, backed up by their actions. N i bet K is no exception and is just a representative of a bigger set.

So for the ones with a glorious past, its time to continue with the good work by coming up with its natural extension – a glorious present. For the ones with a not so glorious past, it’s time for redemption. For the ones who have made the impact in the first year, it’s the time to make a deeper and profound impact. And finally for the Free riders, it’s the time to shake of the tag which shouldn’t have been there in the first place. After all it’s a level playing ground……

Looking forward to the second year...

Impression management.

What got me thinking was when someone asked me “Dude, tell me in one word what MBA is all about? What is that you guys are going to manage? “. The jargonizer in me, who has become an integral part of my identity after i came to K, was suddenly on the alert. Nothing quirky or out of the box came out initially...all i could think was “MBA is about time management “ ...Come on...Any school kid can give a better answer than that. “ MBA is all about resource and strategy management”...It’s getting better, but still i felt something was missing....Suddenly it struck me, “ MBA is nothing but impression management” – ‘IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT’ , two words jargonizingly juxtaposed along side each other yet somehow making some (un)common sense. [Look at the sentence, a jargonizer’s delight ].

You must be thinking ‘What the hell is this impression management???' .Though bordering on cautious optimism, i m sure that it’s already created an impression. MBA is all about learning ‘common sense’ in an uncommon way and ‘commonizing uncommon sense’. But that’s just a small part of it, ultimately it comes down to the way u carry urself, the impression u create, the image u project. This is what impression management is all about – ‘Controlling and managing the impression that others form of you’.

Why do u need Impression management? Unless you carry urself well, all the commonized uncommon sense and the uncommonized common sense you prophesize, the jargon bombs u hurl at people will have no earth-shattering impact you want it to create. People will construe them as the ramblings of a mad man. MBA equip you to be the ‘impressiono uno’ while giving a presentation ( even if u don’t know if the ppt is written in English or some other language ) , while attending a placement interview ( even if u aren’t aware if the company is a marketing or a fin one ) , while attending meetings with honchos ( even if u can’t make sense of what’s the topic of discussion ).

Dramaturgical perspective argues that human behaviour and actions are not isolated whole, rather it is a theatrical performance dependent upon place, time and audience. Thru impression management one becomes more aligned to the dramaturgical perspective, ready to tackle any situation, tweaking the behaviour to suit the needs n making people see the halo around you, a halo which might or might not be existent....