This is the 1 year MBA programme offered by SP Jain Institute of Management & Research. This programme caters to the industry need for middle and senior management roles.
Following is the text of the inspirational talk given by our professor just before the Nucor case group work began.This is for all those of you who came in a little late and missed the talk.
“70 minute, 70 minute hain tumhaare paas!
Shaayad tumhare Business Strategy course ke sabse khaas 70 minute.
Aaj tum achchi strategy banao ya buri, yeh 70 minute tumhein poore General Management trimester mein yaad rahenge.
To kaise strategy banana hai, aaja mainn tumhein nahin bataoonga.
Pchchch *shakes head*
Bas itna kahoonga, ki jaao, aur yeh 70 minute jee bhar ke strategy banao, kyonki iske baad aane waale sessions mein, chahe kuch sahi ho ya na ho, chahe tum 5 Forces framework lagao ya 7 S’s framework, tum pass ho ya fail ho, lekin yeh 70 minute tumse koi nahin chheen sakta, koi nahin.
To, meine sooncha ki, is class mein kaise strategy banana hai, aaj mein tumhe nahin bataonga, balki tum mujhe bataoge - startegy banaakar.
Kyonki mein jaanta hoon, ki agar yeh 70 minute, is class ka har ‘participant’ apne General Management trimester ki sabse badhiya strategy bana gaya, to yeh 70 minute SPJIMR bhi tumse wapas nahin maang sakta.
To jaao, jaao aur apne aap se, PGPMRA se, SPJIMR se, aur har us Prof. se jisne tum par bharosa nahin kiya, apne 70 minute chheen lo.”
PS: Pun Intended, No Offences Meant – Seriously :-)
10:30am-1PM, 5th May 2008, Bhavan’s Campus (The ‘Pranganga’ Lakeside):
Buntings in various colours fluttering in the hot summer wind, an open-air amphitheatre filled by an attentive (but occasionally raucous) young crowd. A table with a half-dozen occupants, at once part of and distinct from the crowd, is discussing animatedly while an indulgent (but sharp-eyed) lady looks on from the side-lines, and interjects sporadically. The casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that it is a political rally in progress, though he would be stumped when asked to identify the political party from the buntings- hats painted in six different colours. Hats, still reminiscent of the colonial sahib are an unlikely party symbol in India.
But heck, no! This was no political rally or camp, despite all superficial resemblances. Indeed, far from it- it was a PGPM Session on the Six Thinking Hats (ah, now you understand the buntings and the colours! J) by Dr. Edward de Bono, conducted by our respected Professor Rukaiya (the sharp-eyed lady mentioned above). (PGPM, by the way, is the Post Graduate Program in Management is a 1-year full time management program in SPJIMR, Mumbai for professionals with experience greater than 5 years in Manufacturing and Operations).
Leaving the lighter vein, the session was indeed a refreshing eye-opener. Workshop, training and group interaction in equal measure, the session was a tremendous success and extremely well-received by the participants. The Six Thinking Hats is a system of thinking strategies for individuals, each Hat representing a different strategy. The Red Hat represents Emotional thinking. The Yellow Hat represents Positive thinking. The Black Hat represents Critical thinking. The White Hat is purely the facts. The Green Hat is Creative thinking. The Blue Hat represents the Big Picture, sort of looking at it from all the viewpoints.
The Six Thinking Hats way opens up the power of parallel thinking and at the same time is an aid to lateral thinking. Dr. de Bono describes six different approaches and each is symbolised by the act of putting on a coloured hat, either actually or imaginatively; the hats are as described above. This can be done either by individuals working alone or in groups.
The session was a splendid example of SPJIMR’s unique ‘Innovative pedagogy’. The participants were divided at random into groups of 6-8 and given a random topic to discuss on, with a group moderator selected at random from the group. Each group was asked to discuss the topic given for 10 minutes. The moderator would anchor the discussion and guide the group through the relevant hats to be worn for each stage of the discussion and was also responsible for timekeeping.
Topics ranged from the highly charged (‘Is T20 a form of Cricket?’) to current affairs (‘Oil above $115 a barrel’- this doesn’t seem very current now with Oil at $135, though) to the political (‘Mee Mumbaikar’) to the mundane (‘Personnel problems post mergers and acquisitions’). But what was astounding was the way the groups, with no prior preparation apart from a reading of Dr. de Bono’s book took the topics up and in a mind-boggling display of parallel thinking. Changing their metaphorical hats every 90 seconds on average, every group came up with salient points on various aspects of the topic/problem. With sound application of the concepts learned from the book, all the groups demonstrated an enhanced ability to think in parallel (‘on the same wavelength’), avoid debate and in the most astonishing display of the power of the Six Thinking Hats, reach a consensus on most topics within the time allotted. Not to be left behind on lateral thinking either, the groups managed to come up with innovative (if somewhat idealistic) solutions to the issues presented in the topics while wearing their ‘Green Hats’.
Another revelation was the ability of some of the randomly selected moderators to control and guide the group through the discussion, keeping track of time( and the Hats!) while eliciting the responses of all members and summing up at the end!! Vaibhav’s style for the cricket based topic, reminiscent of Harsha Bhogle, was much appreciated. At least one guy has an alternative career ready should he ever need it (or even if he doesn’t)!
But all this fun, as with all good things in life came at a cost- self-evaluation, peer evaluation and the much-dreaded post facto ‘write-up’. Every participant graded each group and group member on a variety of parameters (moderators were graded separately) and also did a self-evaluation of his/her own performance with critical comments for the other groups. Of course, the Professor did her own appraisal of each group’s performance.
At then of the 2-odd hours, all of us came away richer and wiser. Specifically, through the group interactions and the thought-stimulation that had occurred, there were a few key learning points.
The importance and the power of parallel and systematic thinking in the Six Thinking Hats framework as opposed to conventional thinking is in bringing out the
·The power of collaboration
·The value of different perspectives brought in by divergent viewpoints
·The ease and the speed in reaching decisions
·Avoiding unnecessary debate
·The improvements in general communication and in lateral thinking
All of us enjoyed the session thoroughly and look forward to more of the same! (Though we would prefer an AC classroom and no write-up the next time J)
The sun was searing but the minds were buzzing. The lake was still but the ideas were flowing. This was the setup for the six thinking hats session organized as part of the ADMAP program of 1 year PGPM @SPJIMR. For the uninitiated ADMAP is “Assessment and Development of Managerial and Administrative Potential”. It forms a critical component of the PGPM program at SPJIMR where the participants understand the nitty gritty of administration and develop their skills on the same.
The six thinking hats, as developed by Edward De Bono, represent six thinking strategies. Bono’s hypothesis was that individuals don’t take all possible approaches while discussing or thinking over the problem which in turn limits their thinking potential. And even if they do, they do too much at one time; juggling too many balls at once. He introduced a method, a very simple one at that, which allows thinker to do one thing at a time. The method makes it possible to attack a problem in bits and pieces and further provides a way to arrange them coherently at a later stage to get the complete picture. The method also makes it possible to understand the full complexity of the situation and decision, and spot issues & opportunities to which we may otherwise be blind. It allows necessary emotion and scepticism to be brought into what would otherwise be purely rational decisions. The six thinking hats are
-White hat: Neutral and Objective, concerned with facts and figures
-Red hat: Emotions
-Black hat: Sombre and serious, cautious and careful. It points out the weakness in an idea
-Yellow hat: Sunny and positive, covers hope and positive thinking
-Green hat: Fertility and growth, indicates creativity and new ideas
-Blue hat: Concerned with control, concerned with the organization of thinking process
The program was setup with the batch being divided into 8 groups of 7 people each, with 1 person out of the group being selected the moderator for a particular discussion. The topics for discussion ranged from ‘Organizations responsibility for environment’ to ‘Indian Premier League (IPL)’, from ‘Adult literacy’ to ‘Me Mumbaikar’. The star of the show was Vaibhav who moderated the discussion like a professional T.V anchor would have done. He and his team’s discussion on IPL was the high point of the whole program with cricket lovers highlighting how it might degenerate the game to people to thought that the ‘fast food’ cricket is full value of time and money. The ‘Me Mumbaikar’ topic got the emotions out of many mumbaikars who were part of the discussion. They debated how the city prides itself with it’s never say die attitude. During all these discussion, participants donned various hats at various times, most of the time guided by the moderator to do so. The program had its fair share of lighter moments too; with participants discussing how ‘Pot bellied policemen’ cannot run fast and hence fail to inspire confidence in the minds of people.
With the sun shining bright and participants sweating, bistro’s ‘nimbu paani’ gave a much needed respite to everyone in the middle of the program. The session completed with a feedback on all discussions with honours going to the discussion on IPL. All in all, the program did stimulate the thinking process among the participants who now have the six thinking hats as their thinking support staff.
