When A MBA Lecture is a Movie With Popcorn

Its 8 a.m. on a Cold Monday Morning in Sydney, Australia and I have no intention of leaving the coziness of my blanket for at least the next 2 hours, after all there has to be some advantage of being back in school.

I toss and turn in bed for the next 30 minutes trying to heed to the advice of the devil in me, “get your sleep and screw the class” is what it says. At 8:30 am however my conscience gets the better of me and sluggishly I let go of my one and only true love.

As I begin to get ready I start thinking about what would be happening in class today. Chris Jackson, our OB lecturer always uses the most un-conventional methods of teaching. He taught us the art of understanding teams by simulating an F1 Pitstop in class.

He’s showed us advertisements and movie clips to get his message of Organizational culture and design across and then we’ve had classmates make presentations on certain units of the course. The Organizational behavior class has been a fine example of interactive learning, where in we learn not only from the lecturer and the course notes but also from classmates, movies and other things that we see in daily life.

As I start walking towards college, I begin to look forward to the class. What does Chris Jackson have in
store for us today ? He said something about watching a movie called 12 Angry Men, so we would probably be watching a couple of movie clips again about the topics of the day viz. Leadership, Personality and Motivation.

I’m in class at 9:30 am and the first session starts. At 11:00 am Chris announces that the next 90 minutes would be used to sit back, relax and watch the movie 12 Angry Men. Wow, so we would actually be watching the whole movie (see below) with rounds of popcorn and chips going around the class. Now that’s something I didn’t expect when I woke up this morning and I am glad I didn’t listen to the devil.

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American drama film adapted from a play. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or innocence of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. The movie was great example of demonstrating different styles of leadership, ways of dealing with people having varying personalities and motivations and indicating the importance of avoiding “Group Think” in making team based decisions.

These were the points that Chris wished to drive home. The movie was also the basis for two class presentations (see below) that would be presented next week and would be based on learning’s from the movie.

Movie based teaching is apparently a highly effective method of making people learn and has been used to great effect in organizations as well. SBI (State Bank Of India) chairman, Om Prakash Bhatt apparently used this technique to turn around his organization from an ailing public sector bank to one of the country’s leading financial institutions when he showed the movie “The Legend Of Beggar Vance” to a conclave of 25 of the bank’s senior leaders and coupled it with stories from the Bhagvad gita to illustrate the problems plaguing the company.

As I walked back home after the end of the class, I realized how the MBA might be the only few courses in the world where a lecture would comprise of watching a whole movie and learning from it.

Making The Perfect Group Decision: Getting Inside The No

Working with teams and groups can often be very tough and time consuming simply because sometimes it becomes really hard to make a decision that everyone agrees to. There are always certain people who will have alternate views and and ideas towards solving a problem. In order to to arrive or make a good decision it is important to acknowledge the voices and opinions of such individuals as they bring to light certain areas not considered by the majority.

At any good Business School, the Organizational behavior classes will teach you that it is necessary to foster Cognitive conflict as it brings out the hidden assumptions that often form the base of ineffective decisions and helps avoid Groupthink.

Recently at one of my lectures at AGSM, I learned about another framework which I thought can prove to be very effective in making group decisions. Called “Getting Inside The NO” it involves the following steps:

1. Generate all possible points of view or opinions on a particular issue. The leader should always remain neutral.
2. Make it safe for all the members in the team to say ‘NO’. For this it is important for the Leader to use his authority power and create an open atmosphere where people can openly voice their opinions.
3. Spread the NO, ask other people in the team and who are a part of the decision making process whether they find the arguments of people with the opposing view better. If so they should be allowed to change their stance.
4. Once the members of the group are comfortable with their decisions, start questioning the minority. Make sure to to have a constructive argument with them and include their wisdom in the decision making process.
5. During the above process it is quite likely that some people will again change their positions or opinions as a lot of hidden assumptions will come to light. Once the two groups are convinced about their views, ask the minority group the question “What would it take you to come along with us ?“. This step might involve making a few concessions to the decision of the majority but it would help in achieving a consensus.

In this manner it would be possible to arrive at a decision that everyone is comfortable with and is a result of taking into consideration everyone’s opinions. Although it might not be feasible to use this approach at all times it should be used whenever possible.

If you would like to see an example of this approach then I would recommend watching the 1957 film, 12 Angry Men, a movie that is quite well-known in B-schools.

AGSM: Where Diversity Is A Strength

This article was originally published on BusinessBecause. Checkout www.businessbecause.com for great stories from the world of Business and B-schools .

No, this isn’t a pair of world music-loving backpackers doing something they’ll regret when they wake up from a bad trip next week.

My friends Phil from Australia and Rose from Hong Kong are MBA classmates who agreed to take part in a fake Indian wedding to celebrate the end of Diversity Week at the School last week. At AGSM diversity is our biggest strength as we have people from over 30 countries representing all the five continents.

There are eight Indians in the class of 2010 and we decided to showcase our culture with a wedding extravaganza, so we talked these two sports into it.

There’s a lot of talk within the Indian community about racism in Australia and abuse against Indians here, but I’d say incidents like that can happen anywhere. From June 9th to June 12th, 65 students at AGSM had fun exploring the cultures of Europe, Asia and Latin America and two non-Indians were married Indian-style. Need I say more?

Checkout at the original article here.

Whatever Happens, Happens For The Best

There is famous saying in Hindi which when translated reads as “Whatever Happens, happens for the best”. It is basically a statement meant for the optimists and indicates that there is always something positive that comes out of any event that takes place.

Take the current economic climate for instance. There is a lot of concern and apprehension in the minds of the students, employed and un-employed professionals about how long the global financial crisis will last and what the future would be like. However not all industries are being adversely affected by the current crisis. Business Schools around the world are witnessing a surge in applications as people realize that this is probably the best time to invest in oneself and go back to being a student.

Business schools however are not taking it easy. The fact that most of the decision-makers who led the world to the current economic crisis were MBA’s has put a lot of pressure on b-schools to change their curriculum so that it addresses real life problems(read here). At the full time MBA program at AGSM for instance the lectures and course contents are being changed so as to include some detail about the crisis and how such scenarios can be avoided in future.

The picture above is what the AGSM MBA is like, except that you can’t afford to keep those binders on the shelves for too long. Most of the subjects that you see above have introduced some component that talks about what caused the current crisis and what we as future managers should do to to avoid it. So while the Organizational behavior lectures talk about tackling and preventing “groupthink”, the accounting classes talk about how difficult it is to recognize and value assets correctly and how in today’s times it’s better to be conservative in preparing financial results.

Our economics classes have taught us that the media definition of a recession(2 consecutive quarters of negative growth) is absolutely incorrect. As we move ahead into the program more changes are being made to make the learning more relevant and practical. A major step in this direction is AGSM MBA Integrative experience, a rigorous 2 week period where the entire Full Time MBA class would work on real life cases where they would have to bring together their knowledge from all the subjects that they’ve studied. Catch the Academic Director of AGSM MBA Programs, Professor Murali Chandrashekaran talk about this in the video below.

So while the global financial crisis of today can be partly attributed to MBA’s, I suppose the good thing is that it is leading to a re-structuring of the curriculum and should lead to smarter future MBA’s who would be able to ensure that a similar crisis does not occur again. Thus we probably can agree that whatever happens, happens for the best

The Credit Crunch MBA Life

Q. How much would you pay for a life where you had to work and study about 70 hours a week, save money wherever possible and always be uncertain about the future ?

I’m sure you are scratching your head and asking yourself as to why you would pay anything for a life like that. Well, as it turns out that is what an International MBA at a top business school is like and people pay thousands of dollars for it.

Life during an MBA is an experience by itself. There is always so much to do that one can get overwhelmed very easily and it’s hard to keep calm at times. I suppose the MBA trains its students to master the art of multi-tasking and prioritizing as those are the scenarios that any manager has to face in the real world.
The MBA program has a number of unique qualities but the one that stands out the most is that your average class would have people with various years of work experience and a great deal of diversity. During a good economic environment people would tend to maximize their learning and enjoy their time at school in the company of similar people. However given the GFC and the current economic turmoil this facet of MBA life has definitely been affected.

The “Credit Crunch MBA” generation comprises of people who’ve always wanted to get an MBA and found the current financial atmosphere to be the most suited for it. Present MBA students who would be passing out in the middle of next year are strongly hoping that things would get better by that time. This hope and expectation coupled with news of the tough job market and the need to be a perfect match for any position has led to a highly competitive environment. Getting the best grades has suddenly become a high priority as everyone strives for perfection.

The MBA however is also a great platform to showcase your leadership and ability. One of the positive things that have come out of the GFC for current B-School students is that people have realized that there is no right or wrong solution. Thus class lectures devote more time to discussions and student feedback on lectures is taken very seriously by the academic affairs.

Overall it is said and widely believed that the MBA experience is a tough but highly rewarding and satisfying journey. The Credit Crunch MBA generation is certainly hoping for the same.

Public Companies And The Law Of Diminishing Marginal Returns

In Economics, there is a famous Rule called The Law Of Diminishing Marginal Returns and one of the ways it is explained is using the example of Glasses full of Beer. Think of being thirsty. If you go for a beer, the first gulp will taste best and bring the most benefit. In economists lingo, the return is high. Any further gulp will taste good as well, but not as good as the one before. Thus, the return diminishes. You will reach a point, when you had enough beer. This time, the sip will not do any benefit to you. The return is 0. If you - nevertheless - go ahead with drinking beer, the returns will turn negative. The more you sip, the more you will get drunk.

I have been thinking a lot lately about public companies. As someone who use to teach corporation and securities law, I take for granted the fact that the public company is the most efficient way:

• For a company to raise capital.
• For an investor to put his money in the hands of expert management that will ensure his investment grows by generating value.

The whole legal concept of public companies and the stock markets is that this tool will allow the free agents to create more value for society. And in theory, this is a great idea. If I have the money but not the ability to manage a company, I hire other people to manage my company and find a bunch of other people like me. The managers, who are experts in creating value, manage our assets, and we can profit from the value generation, by enlarging the business on one hand and by taking dividends on the other hand. This in turn creates value for the society as a whole.

But as always, there is a difference between theory and practice.

The problem is that the structure of public companies and the stock market creates the wrong incentives. Instead of investors looking for expert managers to ensure their investment grows by creating more value, the investors (directly or indirectly using all kinds of funds) are searching to make profits out of the volatility of the markets. When you have 1,000$ (or less) invested in a company, you are not interested in the value generation or in drawing dividends, but in the impact on the value of the share, so you can sell it.

This in turn puts pressure on the management to perform for the short run and to take steps and risks that a company without these incentives would not have taken. It creates a culture of a race after growth and of ignorance to the cash at hand. The short run outlook does not allow companies to sustain their profits over time and thus, does not create value for their investors and the society. I think that from society’s outlook, the current structure of the markets endangers the goal for which society has created these markets in the first place.

What is interesting is that the bigger the market, the more diversified it is, the more people are in it, the worse this phenomenon gets. And our markets are getting bigger, because of the internet, globalization and capital in emerging markets. I think that stock markets have a diminishing marginal return and we have crossed the point where they become less effective the bigger they get. Perhaps the near future will lead to a surge in the number of private companies.

From what I have seen in the last few months in the world and from the little I covered in my MBA (at AGSM, Sydney), if I was the leader of a private company thinking to go public today, I would reconsider. Maybe try to raise money in different ways or from a small number of strategic investors, but avoid going public at any cost. That is the most responsible thing to do, as a manager and as responsible citizen of society.

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Social Entrepreneurship - The Need Of The Hour And The Demand Of The Future

Economics states that the Theory Of the Firm is essentially to perform those activities that maximize profits. A firm should focus on improving the productivity of it’s inputs so as to decrease the cost of production and increase profits.

Well, this is what has been taught in Economics at Business Schools for the past many years and it is unlikely that these basic theories would ever change. However the Business Environment today demands new rules and new ways of thinking and that’s what makes it exciting to be a B-School student at reputed International university as of today. The theory of the firm is essentially what has led to the current Recession and it is this ideology that needs to be changed over the next decade.

Any kind of change would always trigger the birth of new ideas and concepts and one such Idea is that of Social Entrepreneurship. So what exactly is Social Entrepreneurship:

Social entrepreneurship is different from business entrepreneurship because the main goal of the former is to promote social development, not profits. Social Entrepreneurship is not Charity, Philanthropy or CSR, it is all about optimizing profit rather than maximizing profit.

Social entrepreneurs drive social innovation and transformation in various fields including education, health, environment and enterprise development. They pursue poverty alleviation goals with entrepreneurial zeal, business methods and the courage to innovate and overcome traditional practices. A social entrepreneur, similar to a business entrepreneur, builds strong and sustainable organizations, which are either set up as not-for-profits or companies.

Today the Students of AGSM, Australian School Of Business had the wonderful opportunity to listen and interact with Dr.Pamela Hartigan(see picture below), a pioneer in Social Entrepreneurship and the former MD of the Schwab Foundation of Social Entrepreneurship.

Her experience and stories truly left the audience spell-bounded and drove home the point that Social Entrepreneurship is the need of the hour and the demand of the future. Watch the video below, to hear her amazing stories and thoughts about Social Entrepreneurship.

Networking Your Way To The Top Job

Attending Business School is like an experience in itself, especially if you’re doing the AGSM MBA. The decision to go for an MBA is always a well-thought out one although very few people would actually follow a traditional decision making process usually followed in business. Unlike any other Undergraduate course or postgraduate course, the MBA places great stress on all-round development.

So while it is important to learn about finance, accounting and the other core business subjects it also important to know how to create and deliver an effective presentation, how to handle difficult conversations and most importantly how to network . These are qualities and skills that most people, who have been in the workforce for a couple of years tend to take for granted. But step into a global MBA and only then would you realize that what you knew is just the tip of the iceberg.

One of the core competencies that any global Manager must possess is excellent networking skills. These are not only essential to find the right job but later on become an important tool for growing a business, winning important contracts etc. The MBA places great stress on this area and more than 30% jobs in International B-Schools are found through effective networking. However that is easier said than done. Psychologists and experts have identified certain barriers that prevent people from Networking effectively, some of these are:

1. We feel pushy.
2. We feel shy.
3. We feel intimated.
4. We fear rejection.
5. We consider it to be a waste of time.

Most International MBA programs run sessions to remove these fears amongst their students and at AGSM this starts of from the very first day when each student is encouraged to know all his classmates, something that is not possible at Wharton or Harvard given the number of students in an MBA class.

The video below is an excellent guide on how to overcome your anxiety of meeting people and establishing effective contacts.

What Managers Should Do - A Few Thoughts About Practical Wisdom

I have to admit that after seeing so many recommendations about it around the web I was really eager to see the above video of Barry Schwartz’s talk at TED. They say that high expectations begets disappointment. Well, this maybe a good example of an expectation. This is one of the most inspiring and appealing speeches I have seen.

The speech contains so many themes that are worthy of a discussion that I can develop a whole blog around them. However, I will only elaborate on one of them and let you think of the rest. Listening to Barry talk about the fact that some janitors describe their jobs differently than the formal job description that entails a only a list of what he must clean, by talking about the way they interact with people, reminded me what Markus Buckingham talks about in “First, breaking all the rules” about how great managers treat their employees. If I try to summarise both of their ideas and incorporate my own it will sound something like this:

1. Find the right people - People have different talents. Many times, in order to be great at a job - yes, even that of a janitor - you need more than the basic skills for actually doing the job. In this case, a janitor in a hospital needs empathy. How many hiring for janitors include that in their list of demands? But it is true in many other jobs. There is always the extra passion or talent that transforms good employees to great ones. Find a candidate with such a passion or talent and your chances of hiring a great employee increases.
2. Let them to the job - People work differently. They produce the same outcomes differently. Don’t interfere. Don’t make up rules. Maybe, as Barry says, don’t even create incentives (I am not sure I totally agree with that one). Don’t try to make them do the job the way you would have done it. Give them the intellectual and mental space to work it on their own. Provide support and training but don’t create rules about the specific job. If phase one was done correctly, they will find the way to produce the outcomes you required.
3. Actively look for results - this seems like an obvious stage, but it is not. And when I talk about results, I don’t mean only if the job is done, but how is it done; what is the joy the employee derives from doing it; what are the ripple effects of his work. You can’t do that by looking only on the products. You have to talk to the employee. You have to walk around in his area. You have to assess his work from different perspectives.
4. Replace or retain - if someone is not fit for the job, if the only results you see at level three are the “formal” ones, than it is wiser to let go. Off course, this should not be done lightly and not before you are absolutely sure that there is no match. But it is better to lead an employee to directions where he can produce those results. Where he can put his “practical wisdom” that Barry talks about in his speech for good use. Because as I said in point one, each of us has different “practical wisdom” or talent. On the other hand, those who do create result should be recognized. Or as Barry calls it: “celebrate moral exemplars“. This is the guy you want to spend most of your time with. This is the guy, you want to learn and frame step one according to. This is the one you should try to do everything to retain, because these are the people who truly excel and drive your organization forward.

   Note: This article has been reproduced with explicit permission from the author. Check the original post here.

   Tags: agsm, barry, Business, janitor, job, managers, results, schwartz

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