It was just another normal day in MYRA School of Business until the students were introduced to a new face in the class, Dr. David Patient, who is the Professor of Organizational Behavior (OB) at MYRA School of Business and Professor of Human Resources Management at Catolica Lisbon School of Business, Portugal.
Students in the first year of PGDM were excited about learning Organizational Behavior through Case Studies, Videos and Presentations.
As a student of Organizational Behavior myself before, I was of the opinion that the subject would be theoretical with all the theories and concepts of behavior. However, Dr. David Patient displaced all the notions that I had about how the subject would be taught, when he made it clear that there would be no textbooks, materials or notes used during the lecture.
Case Studies formed the base of teaching the different concepts of Organizational Behavior. Right from the first case study about Jensen Shoes to the Army Crew Team, real life based case studies on Lisa Benton to our last case study on GE; case studies filled our minds throughout.
Sipping a hot tea in the cold weather, the evening discussions revolved around the case study that was to be discussed in class the next day.
The professor used to divide the class into groups and each group had to come with solutions for the different scenarios in the case.
While some of us decided to read the case about Everest 1996, others watched the movie in theatres instead. For the first time, we watched a movie more from the perspective of the case study than as a means of entertainment.
We watched a TEDx talk by Dan Ariely on what makes us feel good about our work with the application of some of the OB concepts.
Dr. David Patient also used a lot of examples from his real life including his family to teach us OB concepts. The professor pulled no stops in mentioning about the funny moments he had with his wife.
What a way to teach Organizational Behavior! A drastic change in the way we have been taught, from Rote Learning to Experiential Learning. A Refreshing change though.
We look forward to more case studies, movies and a meal with the professor next year.