To put a point across...

When you have group meetings all afternoon where you discuss Operations and juggle around with numbers, trying to figure out how the production engineer in your team worked out which one is the bottle neck...

When you spend all your evening trying hard to find insights into the Human Resources case which, in your opinion dont exist, but would seem all too obvious when the prof brings it out in the class the next day...

When you spend all night working out the accounting problems, exhausting a couple of pens and a bunch of paper in the process and then at about 4 AM drift fitfully off to sleep, only to be interrupted by nightmarish visions of balance sheets with you under liabilities and the system under assets, the sheet as usual not balancing...

... the only place left where you dont do any studying and therefore potentially is a place to sleep, is the class.

But the greatest amount of learning happens in the class, and you lose out a lot if you doze off. So what do you do to not miss all that learning ?

The answer is, dont worry about it. The profs will make sure that you dont drift off.

Typically (and especially in HR) the prof enters the class and goes on a spree of cold calling - picking on all those who exactly at that moment, pore into their notebooks trying to find that elusive case fact or those who take notes with a furiousity which they never knew was there in them.

Try sleeping then.

If you have a prof-view-zone antenna and manage to open your eyes just in time when the prof turns around to look at you, and nod your head as if there could be no one apart from you who has grasped better the essentials of what he just said....

Try answering the question he asks you and try defending it.

These are some of my observations and take aways from today's HR class. The class is one of a kind. You'd be ruthlessly ridiculed, embarassed and mocked in front of 80 odd people, but at the end of the class, you'd still want to bow down in front of the prof and say "Respect."

Enough of theory. Look at what happened in the last couple of classes.

(The first case is about a chip manufacturing company which has to meet high quality standards.)

Student A: Sir, the problem they are facing is that theyare not hiring properly. They should hire the best talent.

Sir: You have a room with a machine in there. The worker's job is to come in the morning, switch it on, look at the machine all day, and then switch it off in the evening. Do you need best talent for that ?

Student A: No Sir...

Sir: Come on, its absolutely ridiculous ! You dont need the best talent for that. You need a duffer for that.

Student B: Sir, I think the employees should be motivated.

Sir: How will you motivate a guy whose job is to switch a machine on and off all day? Will you ask him to keep looking at the button and derive motivation from that ?

Student B: But...

Sir: No, no, no. Your capacity to think is limited.

...

Sir: Okay, what are the implications of a rating system ? Where the employees are not ranked with respect to each other, but are given grades rather.

Student C: Sir, there wouldnt be much competition, and they wouldnt work as well as they would if they had been ranked with respect to each other.
(You cant blame the guy. Just a while back, the ranking system was discussed where it was concluded that it brings out good solid work from the employees. But look what shut him up.)

Sir: Do you think that the professors in IIM-A arent doing their jobs well ?

Student C: Umm...

Sir: Twice a year, I get rated and some sort of a raise. Because of that, do you think I am not doing my job well ?

(The second case is about an international hotel resort company which has a high employee - read GO - turnover problem.)

Student D: Sir, they shouldnt fire all at once. If they could do it in intervals, maybe they wouldnt find it so hard to find replacements.

Sir: (who had his back to her till then, turns around slowly) Do you know, there are two ways to cut a chicken. One is the jhatka wherein they chop off the head in a second, and the other is the halaal where they cut the neck slowly. Which is more painful ?

Student D: (No response.)

Student E: Sir, the GOs are probably having differences with the customers and end up fighting with them where they should be polite.

Sir: What if the customer wants to fight? What if he likes a bit of aggression ?

Student E: Sir, the customers are sophisticated people.

Sir: How did you know that ?

Student E: Its given in the case that their average age is around 37.

Sir: Oh, even after all these years, I still dont think I am sophisticated !

Student E: (obviously no response.)

Student F: Sir, they arent conducting any exit interviews. That way they are losing out on some useful feedback.

Sir: Who should conduct the exit interview ?

Student F: The chief, Sir.

Sir: Oh, the chief is the one who fires them, and he should conduct the exit interview ? What feedback do you think the GO will give him ? He will tell him that he's an idiot.

(and now the clincher.)

Student G: Sir, the problem is that they arent assessing the candidate properly when they hire them.

Sir: What should they do?

Student G: The candidates should know the type of job they are going to be involved in.

Sir: Do you know IIM-A ?

Student G: If they could assess the GOs properly before they hire them, they wouldnt find them incompetent later on.

Sir: In the half an hour that I interviewed you after CAT, was I able to assess that you'd give such stupid answers in the class later on ?

Respect man. Respect.