The idea of talking about subjects such as Human Resource
& Organization Behavior in most of the B-schools might make many uninterested,
turned heads. Though these subjects form the pillars of any large organization
that we see today, but ironically seem to instigate only a few minds in these
schools, where top priorities are landing with other more challenging (so
called) job profiles.
We, 2 weeks ago at MISB Bocconi were getting ourselves ready
for a similar, expected experience. Apart from a short introduction of the
subject and the professor’s background, the first lecture consisted of a
slide-set containing a few picture strips showing the importance of OB &
HR. It also contained learnings on ‘teams’ from New York Mets baseball team, ‘coaching’
from UF Gators, ‘failures’ from Space Shuttle “Challenger”, ‘success’ from the
Chile Mine Rescue mission, ‘teaming’ concepts from the Water Cube of Beijing
Olympics and ‘daredevilry’ from the diver, Felix Baumgartner. The following
lectures were a mix of daily simulations, healthy discussions and some
interesting theoretical concepts. All our apprehensions regarding the subject’s
appeal started to blow away.
The daily simulation sessions covered a large array of organizational
behavior and HR topics. In one such limited time computer based simulation, all
the existing groups were divided into “Buyers” and “Sellers” negotiating a deal
for a plot of land. The groups finished the exercise by selling the land after several
rounds of negotiations. Through this exercise, the important roles of
Mutuality, Believability, Bandwagon, Framing and Anchoring in a negotiation
were stressed upon. In other such team based exercise, Prisoner’s Dilemma was
simulated. The end result conformed to the typical human behavior as concluded
by the theory itself.
The famous Zimbardo prison experiment of Stanford University
with the repercussions on the volunteer attitudes was also discussed. Other
exercises covered areas such as Decision Making (Carter Racing Simulation) and
various Traps that we fall pray to in our decision making process not only in
an organization but also in our daily lives. McClelland’s Self-Assessment and
NASA Survival exercises comprised other group simulations.
For our graded assignment ‘Recruitment of a Star’, we had
been given a task to recruit an analyst for a firm, which has just lost its
star performer to a rival, from a pool of deserving candidates.
We never realized when the subject sessions finally
concluded. HR, a theory-intense subject traditionally, turned out to be a
joyride for us.
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