Quarter 8 - Week 9

The anticipation of the end of the quarter coincides with the realization that we're THIS close to completing two years at college. We've already spent more time here than a full-time student would, atleast in terms of calendar days if not man-days. It's like a half-baked sense of accomplishment.

Ethics in Business Management

The first session had some light reading associated with it related to guidelines with being on a board. Better put, I ignored a couple of the heavy-read articles due to the mountain of piling assignment and project (Read the singulars there? Yes, it is a great day for sloth and excuses). The prof seems quite enthusiastic about the role directors play in setting the path for the company and for monitoring it. He strongly believes that ethics starts at the top, and just one person who thinks in a particular direction sets the direction for the entire behemoth. In fact, he says that you can see a change in the company within a couple of months when a new CEO or board comes into play.

The next session was one for reflection (I love these reflection thingies... you listen to what others think, you spout what you think, and the prof spouts what he learns... and we all have tea.) The prof took us through a summary of all the topics we had visited over the last nineteen sessions, and encouraged the class to come forward with any learnings they'd want to share with the class. He even showed us an oath that is being taken voluntarily by a few MBAs once they graduate, much like the Hippocratic oath, about how they'll do what's best for society, their company, their families and themselves. Interesting how things begin, no?

Managing Offshored Software and IT services

The last two sessions of the quarter were completely dedicated to presentations. We presented our findings from our individual projects to the rest of the class, and showed the connect that we were able to observe with our learnings from class. It was a brilliant way of seeing the kind of projects and experiences we go through, in a very academic way.

Of course, NOBODY managed to finish in time, so everyone takes 15 minutes when we're allotted 10 minutes each. The result? On the second day, we were there for a full extra 45 minutes, listening to the last three projects. In the last half-hour, people started really getting fatigued, and due to the overwhelming need for lunch before the next class in 15 minutes they excused themselves... one by one. Till there were only a couple of students left with the prof listening to the last guy.

Once that got over, even the prof heaved a sigh of relief. As it turns out, this was his last set of sessions here at IIMB for quite some time as he's leaving for the US on an assignment. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but this was the prof who helped start the PGSEM programme and was its first chairperson. Listening to him talk of how the industry reacted to the programme was a revelation in itself. It became so much easier to understand how the programme evolved till its present state. It's so inspiring to see him visiting different places around the world at his age.

I'd probably be playing Farmville if it's still around in another 30 years.

Anyway, we're off to do our final project which we can tick off our list of things-to-do before we graduate. And then, it's on to the final exams...