Wasn’t I talking about the orientation in just the previous post?? And just like that it is the end of the second quarter in the PGSEM course. The course is swishing by and I there are mountains of knowledge being moved by the week in the course. We’ve already covered Microeconomics, Financial Accounting, Strategic Management, Macroeconomics, Managing Organizations and Quantitative Methods-1! There is just so much to learn out there it’s overwhelming…

I thought now would be a good time to share some book recommendations collected during the course so far, primarily Q2. Also including personal recommendations for the subjects, some books that are absolute gems and must be read just to do justice to the author’s effort. 

Textbooks:

Organization theory: An integrative approach / by Robert C Ford, Barry R Armandi, Cherrill P Heaton.

Really really nice book on Organization Theory that integrates all basic aspects of the organization structure really well. Even thought it deals with such a voluminous subject it ties the concepts together so logically that it becomes intuitive. Enjoyed reading whatever little I read of this.

Macroeconomics: Theories, policies and international applications / by Roger LeRoy Miller, David VanHoose.

This book is out-of-this-world awesome. I owe about 60% of my understanding of Macroeconomics to this book. Again, the concept flow is very logical from one to another and all concepts are explained with real world examples. There are also extra bits of information thrown in that enrich one’s understanding of the world. A must-read if you are studying Macroeconomics. It almost broke my heart to return it to the library!

Recommendations from Professors of the mentioned areas:

That’s what it was about, this day. Staying Alive. I don’t think anybody got more than 3 hours of sleep last night and we had to submit our case study analyses by 8 today morning. And then we had class! Our first class pretty much, on the methodology of case studies. I was quite excited about it except horribly sleep deprived is not the state I would have liked to go to class in.

Anyway, the class was a little while away. First we were given a surprise quiz by our senior students. Spanning not just the subjects of the first quarter but also content from the presentations that they had made! That is how they say good morning at IIMB I presume : )

The class was really good. To say the least. The pedagogy was starkly different from my last experience in college. But more than that what struck me hard was the difference in the personality of the professors themselves. For the last two days we had the opportunity to observe our professors at various events and this morning in class. There was so much energy and enthusiasm irrespective of their age. Their pedagody polished and they seemed highly intent on interacting with the students. More than once, it was the professors who approached our groups asking if we were the new PGSEM batch. Back in undergraduate school, I remember the mood in class to be largely sombre and I had assumed that is how most campuses and especially research institutions would be. I am happy for my assumption to be shattered by IIMB. I am still trying to figure if it the difference in between the Management and Technical domains that is responsible for this difference. Will write about it if I figure it out.

I don’t know how any one of us managed to stay awake through 4 hours of class despite our extreme exhaustion. I would safely say it was the class that managed to do that through its levels of engagement, it was really interesting and our prof was amazing. He was funny, friendly but very focussed on getting us to see the right aspects of the case and understanding how case study methodology works. I am looking forward to more of such sessions and it’s a two-week wait for that.

The drill began again as soon as class ended. We had 45 minutes to eat lunch AND check out from the hostels. I am happy to report that my team made it to the quiz finals, largely due to my teammate’s KQ. We didn’t do well in the finals but I have to say, the questions deserve a round of applause. Good stuff!

There was a video contest as the last event (no one managed to work on the skit and that was cancelled!) and then the results of the House Cup were announced. The day and the orientation closed with good wishes from the PGSEM chairperson and our seniors. Not without giving us some more work – to organize the freshers event in another 4 weeks time : ) 

So, yes, I have discovered that as far as the PGSEM is concerned, our MBA has begun much before the official start date has appeared on the calendar page! It’s a little scary going by how the schedule of the last three days turned out. It is going to be demanding but also immensely enriching. It is going to need grit and determination but we will come out transformed. It is only appropriate that day 3, as also the course, should be about staying alive and also staying hungry, staying foolish! Here’s to embarking on a new journey…cheers!

The term ‘Exponential Learning Curve’ is heard often in discussions but falls short for describing the experience at the Orientation today. It was more like a Hyperbolic Curve, attending the participatory research workshop on Non-Linear Growth.

The day began early (needless to say for these 3 days I’m starting to feel) and even in a flurry as we scuttled to submit the blog posts for our House Cup events. Last minute edits, running around to transfer pictures and trying to meet the deadline of 7:30 AM. But we made it. And then ate breakfast with a sense of accomplishment. Small joys of life, if I may.

The workshop began thereafter. It was organized by the Centre for Software and Information Technology Management (CSITM) at IIMB, a centre that PGSEM works closely with and had co-organized the workshop with. The aim was to discuss various aspects of non-linear growth for the Indian IT Industry and strategies for moving up the value chain. And it was a bombardment of insights, all day long, much to my delight!

In the inaugural session we had the chance to listen to esteemed speakers and industry experts like Mr. Clas Neumann, Head of Global SAP Labs Network and Mr. Chandran Sankaran, Founder and CEO of Zyme Solutions. It was almost like a crash course in understanding where the industry could possibly be headed on terms of the next wave. 

This was followed by a session of paper presentations on 4 tracks that explored various aspects of non-linear growth for the Indian IT Industry. And in the evening session, track leaders presented a summary of findings by each of these track teams. Again, some amazing speakers, all, and an immense amount of learning in a short span. Most of all, we got to hear many of our professors expounding on their domains and we knew we were in the best hands possible in the country. Left me with a heady feeling to say the least.

Once the workshop had ended, our seniors took back the reigns and asked us to get ready for some sports and assemble back in 15 minutes. That’s when we realized that less than half our day was covered at that point, 6 pm.

Before the sports we had the quiz preliminary rounds for the House Cup. It had been years that I was on any quiz team and this event mandated that I participate, that everyone participate. And so we went through a really nicely designed quiz and exercised our brain cells before exercising our bodies to the extreme later.

The Sports began with Basketball, again something I hadn’t played in a while and was happy to get back to. It was a much simplified version of contest but fun nevertheless. There were other events like Volleyball, Cricket, Badminton, Table Tennis and Carrom. Covering each of these and having dinner itself took the clock hands to 11 pm. But the day seemed nowhere close to an end.

Post 11 pm, we were given instructions for the Treasure Hunt, the best way to explore the campus. Except my legs were already feeling like they were made of stone. We were given one and half hours to find 28 clues (that’s like 1 am for just reporting clues!!). And magically again, my exhausted body found some reserve of energy tucked away to take me through the Treasure Hunt (and more actually). By 1 am we had found in the range of 15 clues and were terribly tired and sleep deprived when the case study instructions were handed out.

We were to submit a case study by 8 am for the class to be held tomorrow. We were told that the fun was to be paused here and it was serious business, this class. We were to be prepared and read the case thoroughly and do some number crunching so that we could participate well in the class. And to add to it, the seniors gave two questions in addition to the three listed in the case. And it was already almost 2 am.

So we formed a group of 5 and started discussing the case, half-dreaming of being comfortably asleep in each of our rooms. At 4 am, our will gave way and we decided to reconvene at 6:45 am. Great! I had the luxury of 2 hours of sleep!

It’s summer time and vacations are on for most students in IIMB. For all practical purposes, this is off-season for the college. And yet, there was a research workshop taking place and parallely there was a visit by Anna Hazare for collecting inputs for the Lokpal Bill (imagine, a direct chance to make some difference). Not only that, IIMB is also hosting the South Asia Youth Conference (SAYC) and there are young representatives of countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, India etc who are in the safe confines of this campus, away from those borders that we use as excuses to kill each other. While diplomats figure out whether or not to even meet each other to solve issues of this region and how, here are a bunch of young guns having discussions on how to bring peace and prosperity to South Asia. I can’t wait for the full-swing to come forth and to see more of such events in this amazing institution.

The SAYC and our own experience of getting back to sports and college life for 3 days with no care for our routine lives, our work, the pressures of daily life and concentrated on just learning and having fun makes me think: there is something beautiful in the idealism that lurks on academic campuses. It sits on the steps with groups of students discussing their next big case study and is part of mess conversations. It abounds in conference rooms and stands behind pillars listening in. These places make you feel like anything is possible and that eventually we all have a fair chance to make a real difference, if we are serious in our intent. 

I love that about campuses. They remind of who you really are deep inside and have all the avenues to nurture that. They bring to life old dreams and new possibilities. It is a privilege to be part of the student community again and at possibly one of the best campuses in India (in terms of design and more). I feel humbled by this opportunity. And excited about what is in store ahead!

It was a Friday morning, dress down day at work, but I got into carefully ironed business formals. I picked up my laptop bag, like I do everyday, but also picked up a suitcase that had been filled until it was bursting at the seams. If it sounds like I was preparing to go on a business trip for an extended period, let me tell you I wasn’t. I was preparing to go to college…10 minutes away from home.

More than four months of a procedure – entrance exams, interview invitations, admission offers and the anxiety accompanying each of these – had culminated into this day. The 14th batch of the IIM Bangalore PGSEM programme was to be inducted into and oriented towards the Institute, the course. A 3-day residential event that we were all looking forward to, finally commenced this morning with breakfast and hostel check-ins.

Some things in life don’t hit you until you are in the middle of them. Like finally being an official student of IIM Bangalore. I walked in through the gates, pulling my suitcase along and taking in the campus anew, the greenery, the serenity, the sanctity that only college campuses can exude. I was completely in the moment until I reached the hostel blocks and stood in line for getting a room allotted. It was then that it hit me; I could now call this campus mine, that I was in there as a rightful occupant and not as a visitor. I suddenly relaxed and almost broke into a comfortable smile at the thought. The feeling wasn’t different from coming home.

For someone whose last memory of college was being on an NIT campus with peers of the same age and naïve mindsets, ready to take on the world, this felt different. The classmates standing in line, most of whom I was seeing for the first time seemed to come from all ages and in effect, from all levels of experience. They seemed somehow more grounded, more sorted. One immediately knew that this wasn’t going to be like the last time for more reasons than one. And the day’s proceedings reiterated that fact in every way possible.

We were allotted rooms in the Executive Blocks of the student hostel and for someone who had never stayed in a hostel it was a complete deviation from the stereotype that undergraduate level hostel had left in my mind…the ones where my friends stayed in college. I got a well-furnished front room in these well-designed blocks and the view of the striking green patch that is the football field was like a balm to my screen-strained eyes! I couldn’t enjoy the view for too long though and had to run back for the day’s proceedings!

The PGSEM senior batch students had the reigns in their hands from the start. Right from pointing out various blocks to giving out announcements through the day about the events lined up for us and acting as our bridges to the IIMB campus and community. Our day started with a welcome session by them where a lot of practical and useful information was given out regarding many things concerning out 2.5 year sojourn. It was more reorientation that orientation as we tried to dig up words like grades, GPA, assignments, group projects from our past college experiences. Through the day, we were appraised of various committees that co-ordinate activities for the PGSEM students. Before the orientation we had received an assignment and had been given a week to finish it. Somewhere I was secretly hoping that it would be something to just warm us up but they actually brought it up in the session and used it as a basis to discuss various aspects of classwork. To top that, the assignment marks were going to count towards the House Cup! 

The House Cup is an event comprising of various activities – academic or otherwise – that we all are undertaking in groups over these three days and the group scoring the maximum points will lift the Cup. Just the task of coming up with a name and war cry for our group turned out to be quite a task commanding extensive discussions in our group. We ultimately got it done only at the last minute feeling quite stressed about it! But that was only the start. 

The welcome session was followed by our registration process and an extensive discussion with the PGSEM Chairperson Prof. NM Agrawal. In the evening, the batch was officially inaugurated by a distinguished alumnus from Samsung, Mr. Dipesh Shah, followed by an Alumni interaction session. Each of these sessions convinced me that I had made the right choice with this course, going by how fondly each of these alumni spoke about the PGSEM experience. This was just our first day and already the slope of the learning curve seemed to have gone up a few notches.

The time post dinner was filled by the Student Affairs Council with more activities for the House Cup that began at 10 pm! Just when we were feeling we couldn’t even move a muscle after such a tiring day, we were able to pull out energy from some secret reserve and everyone participated enthusiastically in the know-your-group contest, Antakshari and Dumb Charades. We were behaving like a bunch of unruly school children that I am sure the seniors had a tough time dealing with. All the same, it was amazing to see our child egos resurrected, a concept Prof. Agrawal spoke about in the afternoon.

Just when we thought it was a wrap and time to hit the bed, something we assumed was our birthright after spending such a hectic day, that we realized that our seniors had no intentions of letting us sleep peacefully anytime in these 3 days. And so were given out more tasks to do – House Cup activities like writing blog posts, making a skit as well as an official case study! It is a godsend that the eat-outs on campus stay open till late and we prepared for a long night ahead by ordering some munchies from Park-N-Eat and getting down to discussion.

So yes, it’s 2 AM and I am determined to meet the deadline of 7:30 am for this blog post. Somewhere in these beautiful corridors, my group members are scheming for a skit. It is just a snapshot of things to come and it is going to be an exciting and gruelling time but it is also a time none of us will ever forget in life and this is nostalgia in the making. It is a Herculean effort working on this rather than be sleeping on that comfortable-looking bed but I’d prefer to be nowhere else but here right now – sleep deprived but excited in the hallways of IIM Bangalore. As a student of the 14th batch of PGSEM. Actually, just as a student. Let the good times roll!

It was the second step of the PGSEM admission process today: the interviews. After a few weeks of trying to catch up with what was happening in the world of business or otherwise and forming opinions on it, it all boiled down to this morning and the interview itself was over in less than 20 minutes. Hopefully, life changing 20 minutes.

The interviews are to be conducted over two days of the weekend and my slot was the first one, the 10 am slot today. I had aimed to reach earlier to avoid confusion about rooms etc and was on campus at about 9:30 am dressed in regular office formals. I was carrying a stack of certificates, documents and what not but none of that was required for the interview. Only the marksheets were verified after the interview. 

On the lines of the last year’s format I am told, we had an essay writing session before the personal interviews. Fair enough in my opinion. Why should the applicants coming from one exam have to write the essay (as part of the PGSEM exam that is) and the others be allowed to come purely on the basis of their exam scores? So we all settled down in a classroom to start writing out essays at 10 AM.

The topic given to us was ‘India is losing its low cost advantage to countries like Phillipines’ and we had half an hour to complete the essay. My essay was written on the lines of the fact that India had more factors contributing to its success in the arena than just low cost – like a legacy of being a colony and hence having an English speaking population, having the right mix of submissive and assertive attitudes enabling Indians to get into advisory roles when required, a culture of innovation from many centuries ago etc. I talked about the fact that India had got the early mover advantage in the field and had now moved on to being seen as a partner for customers than just a provider of cheap resources. India also has the advantage of a stable political and economic environment that many countries in South East Asia cannot stake claim to. Owing to all these factors, I do not feel that India is losing its advantage but is moving to a higher place in the chain.

I had the third slot in the face-to-face interviews and had to wait for just a little over half an hour for my turn. I couldn’t figure out until later but the panel consisted of one professor and one alumnus, not both professors as I had assumed.

I was welcomed with a warm smile by the Professor and they seemed to be holding copies of my extra curricular/work experience information sheet, not my SOP. But this is purely an assumption.

In the below interview, P refers to Professor, A, Alumnus, and Me to well…me.

P: You are <someone else’s name?

Me: No Sir, Anupama Kondayya.

P: Ah, yes. Here it is. So you’re still with Oracle Anupama?

Me: Yes Sir.

P: Which office?

Me: The Marathahalli office.

P: And where do you live?

Me: I live in JP Nagar 6th Phase.

P: Oh that must be a long commute, although its closer to here.

Me: It certainly is Sir, and coupled with the traffic it can be quite strenuous. 

P: Yes yes.

A: So Anupama, can you describe your role and responsibilities to us?

Me: Sure. I am a Demand Resource Analyst (and explanation about handling business for a region, co-ordinating between internal and external stakeholders, forecasting trends periodically to help teams make decisions etc).

A: So you don’t exactly interact with external clients. You get requests for filling resources in already won opportunities, is that right?

Me: Yes it is. It’s the internal market that I deal with.

A: Do you enjoy the role?

Me: Very much. I moved to this role from a technical profile because it involves communicating with people and is more business oriented, which is where I want to be, on the business side.

P: But from what you are describing, it sounds like a postman’s job to me. Just passing on requests to your teams and then sending CVs to customers.

Me: If you look at the defined scope of the role it certainly is an administrative job and can get monotonous if you just stick to what is strictly expected of you. I don’t get to make any strategic decisions at the moment but I see this role as a great opportunity to get a ring side view of the business and learn from CEMs or Client Engagement Managers. My CEMs involve me in many decision making processes and I get to learn a lot from that. It is also a great place to experiment since it is a controlled market. Hopefully with the learning from this role and business education, I will be able to get to a place that allows me to make strategic decisions in the future.

A: So you said you prepare contracts. What kind of contracts are these? Do they have legal clauses also?

Me: No Sir, the contracts I make are for internal entities and lay down the commercials and some conditions for the resourcing. They don’t have legal clauses.

A: Have you ever seen a legal contract?

Me: No Sir, I have not had the chance to go through one.

A: But if you had to guess what kind of clauses go into a legal contract, what would your guess be?

Me: I would think there would be clauses related to the agreed delivery method. I once had the opportunity to be on a mail trail that was a discussion about a clause on our legal contract with the end client about how many hours of work the consultant needed to put in. Now unofficially all consultants put in more than 8 hours and that’s perfectly fine by us but the client wanted that to be put down on paper. We did not agree since that meant a binding condition and was causing commercial issues. Neither of the parties was ready to budge.

So yes, delivery clauses. I would also think there would be penalty clauses relating to what happens if the deliverables do not come on time. There could be clauses relating to early termination of resourcing if the services are no longer required before the contract term expires. And yes, expense clauses too.

A: Ok.

P: So Anupama, I see you write a lot.

Me: I love writing!

P: What is this Chicken Soup that you have mentioned?

Me: Chicken Soup is a series of books mainly published in the USA. They contain personal stories of people that are intended to evoke emotions in the readers. They have had only two country specific editions, one in Singapore and the other in India. That’s the one I write for.

P: But why is it called Chicken Soup?

Me: Because when someone has a cold, I believe Chicken Soup makes him or her feel instantly better. The stories in these books are meant to make the readers feel better, like a remedy for their soul.

P: But what about vegetarians? Like in India?

Me: (wondering if he is just trying to lighten the mood I also gave a light answer) yes I think they should have named it Tomato Soup or something.

P: Do you see a difference in the content of these two editions? The American and the Indian?

Me: Definitely Sir. In America the culture or cultural references are largely the same across the country (professor’s forehead creases and he considers it for a second before nodding his head as if to say ok, let’s assume that and see where she is going). But in the Indian stories, the cultural references change based on which part of the country the writer is from. Someone from Gujarat may not be able to relate to a story written by someone from Bengal because the cultural terminology would be different even though the underlying emotions are the same.

P: Why do you think there are such cultural differences in India? We all celebrate the same festivals right?

Me: Sir I think the language being different in each state makes a big difference. Assume someone from the North comes to the South to work. Most of us tend to interact in vernaculars outside of work and the person from North may not be able to understand what is being said at all, or relate to certain local references. So naturally people tend to end up in groups that speak the same language.

P: But if you see in Europe, all the countries have a different language but the culture is almost the same whether you go to Germany, France etc.

Me: I had the opportunity to be in Eastern Europe once and I did notice some cultural differences but from a language perspective we did learn some Slovak phrases but when we went to Vienna, we wanted to tell people around us how much we loved their city and how we were loving the food but we couldn’t even begin to express ourselves. I think language, spoken language is our first point of contact with people, our primary expression with others and not being able to make that contact can some in the way.  I think even if we all celebrate the same festivals, our expression of that celebration is different and in different languages. Not everyone can relate to the expressions in other parts and I think that is a problem for India.

P: Do you still sing?

Me: Yes I sing. I was part of the office band until last year, a little before that actually, and then we disbanded. But I sing even now when I get the opportunity/

P: Why did you disband?

Me: All the members left. Even when we had a band we did not have a drummer and we used to have to make our bass guitarist play the drums. We have been looking for people but haven’t had too much success. Once we find people who can play all the instruments we certainly want to firm a band again.

P: So how do you manage so many activities? Do you find the time?

Me: Fortunately Sir I haven't had a problem managing my work and interests. I handle the UK and Western Europe so I work from 12 to about 8 and spend much less commuting as compared to peak hours. And even when I finish at 8 it leaves me with time to meet friends for dinner or say, go for theatre rehearsals. The last time I acted in a play we used to have weekday evening practice. I tend to sleep late so I spend time after getting home in writing or reading after having dinner with my family. I think that if you are passionate about something somehow it will find time in your schedule.

P: I think it's just that you have too much energy left to follow all of this. (smiling, making me smile wide too)

A: So Anupama, you handle different countries in Europe in your role. Do you see cultural differences in your interaction with them?

Me: Yes I do although my communication is primarily on mail and sometimes on the phone. The UK and its people are quite structured and formal in their culture. If they have a request visible 3 months away, they will share the request in advance and follow it up to closure in a structured fashion. But in Italy for instance, I have noticed and also read that people are more laid back and that shows in the way they follow up for resources too. The request may be shared in advance but the follow up might happen weeks later. I can’t comment so much on Israel since our transactions with them are not very high but I have noticed they are quite stern and interact in a very focussed fashion stating the request and expecting a yes or a no and that’s the end of the matter.

A: So if you had to increase business in a region like Israel, what would your recommendation to your VP be?

Me: I would firstly recommend a visit to the region. Recently he visited one of my other regions and met the leaders there in person, understanding their gap areas and expectation from our company and building confidence in our partnership and delivery capabilities. And on his return, we saw an immediate surge in business. So I would recommend a personal visit to build confidence in the fact that we want to support the region and are enabled for it.

A: When would you recommend he visit Israel?

Me: I haven’t read up too much on travel and can’t comment on a good season to visit Israel but from a business perspective I would recommend sometime in the next one month since it is the year close for us and planning for the new year is on the all business units. So now would be a good time.

A: Don’t you think he should visit in co-ordination with Israel’s year close?

Me: No the planning for us is based on our own calendar and I don’t think alignment with the Israeli calendar year would be required.

A: Do you know when the Israeli year closes?

Me: No Sir, I don’t know that.

A: And you don’t see any problems because of a mismatch in the calendars?

Me: We do have problems because of calendar mismatch sometimes but they are of a daily nature from an execution perspective, like the week running differently in the Middle East and our consultants having to work a different week. But I haven’t seen problems because of a difference in financial calendars so far.

P: That’s about what we had Anupama. You have any questions for us?

Me: No Sir, I had attended the Open House and also have seniors studying in the course so I got all my doubts clarified. I don’t have any questions at the moment.

P: Alright then, all the best to you. Thank you.

I came out of the interview thinking it was almost a conversation. I was smiling a lot and so were they (not the alumnus though, who maintained a poker face throughout). The professor almost made it seem like a nice conversation and they did not ask me anything at all, about my other hobbies, about world events, Egypt, nothing. So I am a little apprehensive about how I should say it went. Nevertheless, I came home with only one feeling: That I did my best from the exam to today and really enjoyed the process not worrying about the result. The rest, I leave it for them to decide.