Personal Learning Paper

Wrote this as part of a course in the second term during my grad school

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I was just awed by the relevance of the case we did ‘Ashok Rajguru’ to my life. As soon as I read that case, the first thing I did was to express this at my blog (http://myselfspeaking.blogspot.com/2007/10/as-relevant-as-you-can-get.html). While reading, it was hard to distinguish whether I was going through what was written or whether those were my thoughts. The only major difference on a conceptual level which I found was that the protagonist does not want to share and I prefer sharing, given that I find someone to share with.

I always aim at being that person to whom everyone wants to share their sorrows with. The discussion in the class about the case led to sharing of some feelings by one of my dorm mates which I had absolutely no idea of. I realized how far I was from my objective that even someone from my dorm itself does not share with me. From that point onwards, I am trying to develop more of a personal relationship with as many as I can. I have started this by making it a point to say ‘Hi’ to any acquaintance (like section mates) who I meet in campus say, while going to the mess in the evenings.

One of the most important things that I felt about the session on Pygmalion in Management was the concept that it was important to have the best managers handling people when they join. At first, I was not able to swallow this idea. But I soon realized that this is how it should be. I have worked for a year and because my boss/manager was as good as him, I actually liked the work which I did at my company. Now that I think of it, I was skeptical about the work towards the beginning and was actually thinking of applying to other companies. But within a couple of months, with the kind of freedom and responsibility I was entrusted with, I did not pursue delving into seeking out other opportunities.

Though I have not been in many situations where I am the boss, I had worked with an intern for two weeks during my job. I involved him in a project and once the base was established, I started giving him some work. But I have this habit of giving details and so everything which he was supposed to deliver was pinpointed by me. Now I think, he may or may not have disliked that (for this was his first job and the duration was small). But, I realize that I have to be careful of this habit of mine. If I like freedom and responsibility, as I described above, I need to realize that the other person would also value that.

Before the scoring was done for the ‘Personality test’, I had categorized myself as an ‘Adapted Child’ (AC) and the result came out to be the same. It kind of enforced my point of view of myself. It also enforced the point of view of others about me (as I see it). Generally, I am on the defensive side of things and try to see why a particular thing which is happening is right. My study group calls me a ‘pro-establishment’ guy for I keep supporting things which are happening at IIMA, be it related to course work, lifestyle etc. I now feel that this comes more from the fact that I have always been told about why the things which happen are for the good. There are rituals being followed by my family and there is always a reason behind each one of them. These reasons try to emphasize the validity of the rituals and I have learnt to accept it on face value. In future, I need to be more towards the ‘Little Professor’ ego state (which by the way is lowest in my case). I believe that innovation aspect is a little deficient in my personality. I need to question things a lot more than I do it now, be it at study or organization.

Here at IIMA, there are a lot of things I need to do in my study group. The group consists of 5 people and so it becomes important to take everyone along. There have been times when a group member is going through some issue in his personal life. At that time he/she have shown some kind of indifference towards the group work. I tend to become annoyed if someone does not contribute, only to repent later when I get to know what the real issue was.