Sore wrists and beautiful minds

Any exam where callous-free knowledge workers need to write frenetically for 3 hours is unfair. But we have been taught life can be unfair on this MBA course – so we get on with it.

The Human Performance and Behaviour exam this last Sunday had the GIBS students scrawling over 15 pages in 180 minutes. Some of us hadn’t written an exam for a decade. Nerves and lack of wrist strength played on everyone’s minds. Three questions in three hours.

 On your marks (hopefully top marks), get set (open book test equals tough questions), go (hold on, what is this first question all about – please Ma’am may I have another test paper – this one is too difficult).

Saturday was the Microeconomics paper. In a space of 5 weeks the entire class has become mini-Keynesians and we all developed “Beautiful Minds”. Well finding the Nash equilibrium was tough – and was there or wasn’t there a Prisoners Dilemma? Now when I see the Libyan oil price shock I have mental Supply and Demand shifts springing around in my head. OPEC does this, Egypt does that. Demand curve shifts. Is OPEC a cartel or not?

In a strange way all this is put to bed. These two subjects that we snuggled with for over 5 weeks are about to drift off. On the cold light of this Monday morning the twin subjects of Marketing and Analytical tools and techniques has become top of mind. Is my wrist ready for this?

See you at GIBS

Sunday Theatre

A full matinee of videos and live theatre is not what you would expect from GIBS – even on a Sunday. The trick was that it was us – the students that made the performance. Each of our  10 syndicates expertly crafted a 15 minute production showing various HR issues for Prof. Margie Sutherland.

Our topic was “Challenges in implementing Employment Equity in your organisation.” Dipping into our toolbox of theories and models we used Pless and Maaks’ 4 stages to a culture of inclusion as our main approach to solving EE.

What made the afternoon special was that there was a growing camaraderie in the class as we each peeled back layers of our characters. Professional actors and motivational speakers have it tough. But it didn't take us too long before we all packed a powerful performance.

Mike Holland finished up our Micro-Economics course with the good news that he will schedule a review session next week off his own bat. Wow, that is a remarkable act of kindness.

See you at GIBS

Algebra, Royalty and Identity

This MBA is demanding, not only intellectually, but also inwardly.

In one day of class the students from GIBS 2011/2012 visited South Africa’s infamous death camp Vlakplaas, and then in the afternoon we were swathed in algebra around the price elasticity of demand.

I say demanding because no matter how you have sheathed yourself from the past or prepared for the MBA, you will feel like you have toppled out of a washing machine – you will feel groggy and disoriented.

In a debriefing session our class got involved in some metaphorical statue making. Two groups made human statues of their depiction of the state of South Africa. Not only was it interesting to freely discuss our interpretations, it was also a vehicle for us to unload our perceptions in the classroom in a non-confrontational way.

During one of the classes an anthropologist/project manager from the Royal Bafokeng Nation spoke to us about her involvement in the project. It was a fascinating hour and a half. We learned about the education projects, feeding schemes and the King’s vision on the 300 000 members of the tribe. The Royal Bafokeng tribe is a nation within a nation.  http://www.bafokeng.com/

Some of the practises and methodologies working well here, like the online status of projects, could be replicated in government.

Before you know it another 4-day session of modules has gone by.

The goal now is to complete the individual and group assignments. It is hard enough streamlining a group of seven individuals. I can almost fathom how difficult it is for a King to lead a nation of 300 000.

See you at GIBS.