Now, b-school is a journey that encompasses numerous experiences, the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s a roller coaster ride that ensures that by the time you leave the campus you are prepared for the corporate world outside. Survival is an issue, especially when you trying to cope up with innumerable readings, case studies, assignments, pop quizzes, end of day deadlines and the big brother of all- summer placements! But amidst this chaos, there will always be instances that would be etched in your memory, learnings that will go with you a long way. Here I am sharing one such classroom experience that made me look at things differently.
IIM Indore boasts of great faculty in almost all domains, but today I ‘ll share with you an experience from my Organization Behavior II Class. We were lucky to have studied the subject from a dynamic professor who ensured that the class learned through group activities and not just lectures. So just a little background, before we proceed: Organization Behavior II dealt with behaviour as a group and as an organization, while it’s predecessor Organization Behavior I was about behaviour as an individual.
So, the theme of that particular session was negotiation skills. So our professor asked us to partner up, not with a friend of course. Then one of us became the seller while the other became the buyer. The seller was given a case to read while the buyer received his share of information. The case was simple: a real estate agency (seller) trying to sell a big piece of land to an organization ( buyer ). The task given to the seller was to obviously make as much profit from the deal, and the buyer had to save as much as he could. The interesting part was that each had a different set of information available to them. For the rest of the session, we spent time trying to convince the other and arrive at a mutually agreeable price for the deal. That activity made me realize how difficult it is to negotiate and also ensure that your goals are met. It also made me realize the importance of listening. No matter how insignificant it may seem now in text, the simulation was a big learning experience for me.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and why? -Maitreyee Mathur, IIM Indore
I would like to join the Fashion Segment of ABG Company. I have an ardent interest in Marketing and Strategy. The Fashion segment of ABG, will give me an opportunity to not only work with big and well-established brands like Pantaloons, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Philip Britain and Louis Philippe, but it will also help me gain experience in the retail segment and learn various facets of branding, consumer behavior, business to customer marketing, market research, sales and distribution and pricing. This would thus result in a wholesome experience and ensure all-round learning. That is why I would like to work for the Fashion Segment of Aditya Birla Group.