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.

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

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

   Obama in Class - Dissecting The Qualities Of A Leader

   February 16, 2009 by theagsmblogger  
   Filed under B-School Experiences, Business

   1 Comment

   

   21^st January, 2009(Sydney Time) was a historic day for the United States of America and for world in general. It was the day when Barack Hussein Obama stepped in to become the country’s first ever Black President. His road to victory in itself was quite remarkable and very few people in the world could have ever predicted that such a man would ever become POTUS.

   Over here at the Australian Graduate School Of Management a bunch of 65 odd global citizens and future global leaders were busy dissecting the Obama speech to discover the qualities of a good Manager/Leader. Obama without a doubt is an excellent orator and speaker and packs such a force when he speaks that it’s hard not to feel emotional at the end. We watched the 15 minutes + of his acceptance speech and came up with the following qualities that must be present in a global leader,

   1. The ability to communicate effectively.
   2. The ability to set goals and make decisions.
   3. To be able to stay calm and still be fair.
   4. To be culturally sensitive.
   5. To be charismatic and pragmatic.
   6. To have a positive attitude.
   7. The ability to motivate and work under pressure.
   8. To be able to listen and ask good questions. Many a times asking the right questions is all it takes to solve even the most complicated problems.

   The above are just a small subset of the numerous qualities that the class came up with and it’s amazing to see that while Obama does not have a lot of political experience, people still expect him to have most of the qualities mentioned above, just because he is able to portray some of them effectively. What do you think are some of the essential qualities that a global leader must have ? Share them with us.

   Tags: agsm, Business, experience, leadership, managers, obama, potus, president, school

   Soft Skills Or Harder Skills - First Weeks At AGSM

   January 21, 2009 by theagsmblogger  
   Filed under B-School Experiences, Business

   Leave a Comment

   

   So you’ve been working in a particular role for a good organization for a couple of years and have enjoyed it. You’re probably working as a manager or you feel that you have the potential to become a manager. This leads you to start preparing for an MBA, a journey that is quite time consuming, expensive and very often a major step in one’s life and career.

   What are the kind of expectations that a person normally has before starting an MBA Program. Lots of hard work, long days, multiple assignments, Banging your head over new subjects would probably be some of the notions that a person would have before beginning the program. Well, many of us here at AGSM, Sydney also had similar notions. But that was before the program started.

   We would soon be completing about 2 weeks into the program and I can say without a doubt that if your objective in life is

   1. To learn from people of different countries and cultures.
   2. Explore and Appreciate Diversity.
   3. Interact with people from different fields with varying degrees of experiences.

   then the AGSM MBA and the AGSM experience would be perfect for you. Over the course of the past 2 weeks, we have learnt so much about ourselves and our class. At AGSM, you are taught that the first step towards becoming an effective manager is to know yourself and your team. The so called “soft skills” are actually “harder skills“, much harder Economics, Finance or Marketing, because the teach you the art of managing people. As any experienced professional who has lead teams, companies and projects would tell you, “if one can master the art of managing people“, then most things can be taken care of.

   At the AGSM MBA, it’s all about enjoying the learning process and the company of your classmates. You can choose to take on the pressure of getting the best grades, but the system encourages you to place more stress on the learning than the grades.

   Tags: agsm, cultures, experience, learning, mba, performance

   The Leader - Manager Dilemma

   January 15, 2009 by eladsherf  
   Filed under B-School Experiences, Business

   3 Comments

   

   Today we had a very interesting session in class dealing with leadership. Every person of our 65 people class(at my B-school AGSM, Sydney) had to walk up and talk for about a minute about one important characteristic of a good leader that they think they embody. Now, I know this sounds a bit corny, but the main issue was getting people to speak about themselves and see their presentation skills as well as getting the know everybody.

   There were some very interesting presentations and many people talked about important characteristics: Well organized, a good listener, Able to take harsh decision under pressure, passionate, determination, confidence, delegating of authority and more.

   But the process and the above mentioned list did get me thinking about the difference between leadership and management. A lot of people mix them. Do leaders really need to be well organized? Or have confidence? I can think of a few leaders who aren’t. I do think it is more important for a manger to have these characteristics.

   I was wandering why people mix the two definitions (actually the words are sometimes used as synonyms). I think it is because in too many roles, people are expected to be both. The problem is it is hard to be both.

   I think leadership and management are different. I really like Marcus Buckingham’s theory in the book “The one thing you need to know“, claiming that managers’ role is to find the strength of every employee and do what they can to allow him exploit it to excellence while leaders are agent of change, their role is to paint a vivid picture of the future in order to dissipate the our natural fear of the unknown and the uncertain.

   Recently, I read Seth Godin’s book Tribes, where he writes:

   Management is about manipulating resources to get a known job done… Managers manage a process they’ve seen before, and they react to the outside world, striving to make that process as fast and as cheap as possible. Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change that you believe in… Leaders have followers. Mangers have employees. Managers make widgets. Leaders make change…

   So why is the difference important? If you accept that there is a difference then you accept that there are different talents, skills and knowledge for each group. That means that usually, we cannot expect the same people to do both. But so many roles do. Instead of finding out what is more important to the success of the role, there is an attempt to achieve both, which ends up in an average result. And average, in our society, is just not good enough. So I think this is another conventional wisdom that needs to be broken.

   Tags: agsm, asb, Business, experience, leadership, management, school

   Next Page »