Friday, March 16, 2007

Compartmentalization V/S Generalization

Case 1

Almost a year back I read the news of the CFO if a major IT giant (am not taking names for security issues!!!) was shifted as the global head HR, with his main responsibility being to reduce attrition and attracting the best talent.

How on earth is it possible? Come on, he was the CFO, he must have taken only Fin Courses in colleges and laughed at people studying those ‘HR kinda jargons’…..Would he have ever imagined that one fine day he would be leading the global HR practice.. Definitely NOT……As usual, I read that piece of news and in a couple of days time had forgotten about it.

Case 2
When I joined IIT M, (this was around 9 months back) I had this strong opinion that ‘Marketing is all nonsense’, You cant teach it’, etc etc (I probably had harsher words for it…). And I remember when I saw the course structure, I was utterly disappointed…3 marketing papers…..! Kab khatam hoga ……


Today, after 3 ‘quarters’ of my MBA, I have a completely different opinion. I discovered..(note the word discovered…Nothing is given in a platter, atleast at PG level, it depends on the student initiative) that pure compartmentalization does not work. I have learnt to integrate what I learn in various courses.

If you are still not convinced here are a few examples how subjects are inter-related…

Stanton uses Economic Order Quantity funda in logistics, Kotler talks about ABC Analysis of costing; Operations Mgmt talks about aggregate planning being the backbone of ERP…The core of finance comes from theories in Mathematics and Economics…..etc etc……….

I guess integration is the key to success in the long term. That is the key why the person in Case 1 was successful in an entirely new role. He learnt, he applied, he integrated and he re-learnt…

Learning with a holistic perspective makes learning a lot more enjoyable………

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

HR guys talk about basics, fundas, concepts etc.. Some how we all fail to manage our own human potential. Unable to manage his own spouse, the guy goes to SA to manage HR of XYZ co.The result may be cultural shock as his wife adopts quickly with someone. Else he slips into the taxi driver( ref cl notes) only. Lesson learnt is "be quick". But I say one thing. It is the respect and love for each other in all capacities and be firm and formal ab initio. Rest all HR uncovered in the class room (I mean natural)

Balaraman (Bala) said...

on the funnier side..(jus a thought).. when we talked abt penalty in OR (assignment prob) its a huge number which prevents the occurence of something.. But when we talked abt penalty in the case of law somehow it is symonymous to some meagre amt u pay instead of imprisonment.. and the sad thng is mistakes continue to happen.. .

ll chip in with such contrasts when it striikes my mind