B-schools are known for their class apart teaching methodologies especially IIMs. I have the opportunity to pursue MBA in this serene campus of IIM Indore and its beauty has amused me at every level since the day I have arrived at Planet-I. But IIM Indore is not just about its scenic location its much more than that, be its faculty who are excellent in their academic or be its unique, yet diverse batch of participants. And when these two come together, our classrooms become the stage for critical case discussions and some extraordinary experiences. An MBA programme offers courses across multiple domains of management. During our first year of the course I was all excited to learn about the frameworks of Strategic Management, Foundations of Marketing Management and fundamentals of Finance, little did I know that this one session of 75 minutes in an HR course will become my most memorable classroom experience. While the common belief is that HR courses are more about theoretical knowledge our faculty has made it sure it simply isn’t the case. Here I’m talking about Organizational Behaviour, a core course in PGP1 which is split between the first two terms. During a session in OB -II our class discussion was based on a case where the company’s management was stuck between the ethical dilemma of eliminating a line of their product of toys over the death of a child caused due to swallowing some part of the toy. The focus of the discussion was whether the company should give in to the pressure created by the protests against the company by the child’s relatives and NGOs despite pre-issued warnings regarding the use of the toy. To facilitate the discussion further our instructor assigned a few participants the role of the major players in the case. For the rest of us sitting at our respective places, it was a normal everyday case discussion. We were all busy flipping through the case pages, trying to back up our arguments with case facts and calculations. And then happens the most unexpected. A mob of angry people enters the classroom, yelling at the top of their voices. Everyone in the classroom was swept out of their feet, for we have never even seen anybody raise a voice at the campus. We kept staring at each other trying to figure out what was happening. Well, it all started to make sense only after a couple of moments when we realized something pretty interesting. This mob of people was shouting against the same company about which we were discussing the case a few minutes ago! After all, this wasn’t just a usual everyday class, our HR faculty members really went to lengths to ask professional actors to come to the campus and make us all participants live a real-life scenario where a company operates in midst of the ethical chaos. This is the beauty of IIM Indore we just don’t do case discussions we live them in and out.
Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail is the company if given a chance I would like to work for. Fashion has always been something that has interested me. Fashion is much more than apparels. It is about how a person looks from tip to toe, and hence it has become a prominent part of today’s lifestyle. Fashion as an industry is very dynamic. It is quite intriguing how the industry keeps up with the changing trends. Form Supply Chain to Sales Fashion industry is a tough one. And ABFRL is a well-known brand in Indian fashion industry, a most sought after the name to work for
- Shubhi Soni