The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

No…this is not the story of Dorothy, the one written by Frank Baum.

Two weeks ago, we had Dr. Kerry Pedigo, Academic Director from The Curtin Business School, Perth, Australia. Dr. Pedigo has a long list of credentials, but for us – ignoramuses, it is just convenient to address her as the Wizard. Chennai Business School has signed an MOU with Curtin Business School and as a part of this, Dr. Pedigo was with us for a week and interacted with us on certain topics in Organizational Behaviour like Learning styles, Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics.

The session was…..intriguing. In the era of globalization, we are in the age where we have to finely balance out the cultural demands with ethical values, corporate social responsibility with profitability and customer relationship management against corruption. Dr. Pedigo’s lectures opened up a fresh perspective on the global business scenario, on the sensitive side, for a change.

A glimpse of some activities we did in her class:

- We were given a personality test and were made to assess ourselves. The results of the test came as a surprise as we weren’t really, what we thought we were. This resulted in accepting the fact that we could be wrong about our assumptions on others too. For instance, people with a laid-back, but a criticizing attitude could be a source of irritation to others. But in reality, they belong to the personality category of ‘Reflectors’ who are just over-cautious.

- She gave us a set of fifteen different crimes and asked us to rank them. When we were done, we were surprised that the crimes that were insignificant to us, could actually call for capital punishments in other countries.

- We discussed a famous Corporate scandal in a very unique way. A few of us, represented the Company in question and justified its stand (though we knew that the company was at fault) and surprisingly, we were able to stump the others who argued against us. We understood that Ethics and Laws were two different things. We might not be bound by our laws, when we cross our boundaries, but we are bound by our ethics and values.

- Finally, while discussing the international work culture, we had another interesting group activity, where we learnt that every part of the Globe has its own culture, the way people see things there and when we go there to do business with them, it is absolutely important to be aware of the cultural aspects of the place for successful ventures. In an interesting manner, we enacted different aspects of the Indian culture, to give a feel of unity in diversity in India to Dr. Pedigo.

It is just so sad that all good things come to an end. It happened in Dr. Pedigo’s case as well. One week was just too less for us. The ideas that were introduced to us, the cases that were presented, the statistic that we saw in her power point presentations made us wonder – “Is it really a small world?” May be we have managed to defy the tyranny of time and space. But where are we culturally? Well, all we can say is that – “We are going to need a lot of bridges, and we better get to work!”

Contributed by Narmada K- BFS Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)

Breaking Ice- The Theater Way

A week ago my life was so closed and restricted to a small cubicle. I never realized that until I joined CBS…and till we had the amazing ‘corporate theatre session’ hosted by Mr. Prakash Dharmaraj at the Boat Club. I never knew how much I had missed in life! His agenda was to teach us the value of teamwork and the method he used was highly innovative. He made us do small things such as introducing ourselves in a weird way, performing a photo scene and playing a renewed version of dumb charades!

The fun I had over there can’t be expressed in this tiny section but my experience can be shared though. On doing those small things we forgot about our self-consciousness, and "forgetting your self-consciousness makes you look good!” Mr. Prakash added. We realized that self-consciousness was our arch nemesis for growth. We all sat down, formed a circle and each of us were asked to share our experiences. For the first time I expressed my true experience- the whole session inspired me to a whole new level.

When I came to know the background of my classmates I thought that this is never gonna work- mainly because of the diversity- those with 8 years experience,4 years experience, engineering, arts, freshers etc. I was among a mixed group of people like Vivek aka perfectionist; Harsha aka mind freak, social girl; Satya aka entrepreneur; Arjun aka maths geek, etc- people like them could easily be driven by attitude. But I chewed my hat when I was proven wrong, the unity among our class members is undisputable, none of them had any glimpse of attitude in them. I experienced lack of unity in my school and under-graduation days where there is absolutely no diversity, but over here at CBS, its totally different. This moved me so much that I felt 1 year is too short. I am inspired and ready for the upcoming year. I will pray that the unity stays on forever. On my way back home I heard this song by Nickleback- ‘If everybody cared’ and the song was apt. The following lines inspired me and reminded me more of the corporate theatre:

"If everyone cared and nobody cried

If everyone loved and nobody lied

If everyone shared and swallowed their pride

Then we'd see the day when nobody died…"

Remove "if" and "then" from the above lines and that would summarise my CBS mates. Now its time to demolish my small cubicle and explore the "real world" along with them. And the corporate theater was the perfect beginning.

Contributed by K U Mohammad Anwar Sadhath, Marcom Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)

My first day at CBS...

The date was July 14^th, a Wednesday. A day my memory certainly will not forget. It was my first day at CBS. Everything seemed so different...new people, a B-school, smart air conditioned classrooms... and even myself at that point! I was totally confused and not sure of how the new environment was going to be.

It was almost nine in the morning and as I was sitting there filled with mixed emotions, the Dean walked in with a confident looking team comprising the Governing Council and the faculty members for the introductory session. Mr. P.K. Mohapatra, a member of the Governing Council gave a really thought provoking speech, which certainly inspired me a lot. I actually learnt more about world economy and politics in those thirty odd minutes he spoke than what I had known all my life till then. The knowledge enrichment ride was continued by the other Governing Council members, Mr. Mohan Menon, Mr. Sathasivam and Mr. M. S. Ravichandran.

We then paused for tea. As the day progressed, everything new seemed so good. The faculty introduction assured me that I was in the right place. A brief explanation about the various varsities and their objectives were put forward by the Dean. The pedagogy of study at CBS sounded really interesting- extensive use of case studies. I soon realised that I am in for a challenging time and my expectations were already building up. It was then lunch time and the Dean came up and said, “...today the lunch is on the house.....and only for today”. While having my lunch I still had that one last confusion within. How am I going to get along with my class mates and keep it going over the next whole year? I have never been in an educational institution before with such a diverse group especially with respect to age and experience. Post lunch we got into the group activity session.

It was the best session of the day for me simply because all we had then was fun. I soon realised how differences could seem not so different. It was the perfect ice breaking session we all needed to get to know each other. It also was a really enjoyable way of learning how working in groups could prove so productive. As the day concluded on a very light note I realised a positive change in me. I came in feeling tensed and went out with a lot of confidence and clarity. As I made my way back home I was sure that I was in the right place. I felt assured that it was going to be a fulfilling year, ‘learning for the real world’ and was sure that CBS was the right place for it. All the learning, fun and excitement had just started and I am looking forward to a great time at CBS.

Contributed by A. Yuvanath – International Management Varsity (V Batch 2010-11)