http://biju-blog.blogspot.com/2007/05/continuous-wasting-time-at-pgpx.html
But to be honest, I was shocked by the lukewarm response that I got from my classmates for that one. Guys who were waiting to take out that champagne to celebrate my blossoming as a writer, wrote to me with feeble –
“Very Good Sir! Although the element of humor is not very high, you have presented it like a genuine HBS case, and the subtle satire on every important aspect has come out very well”.
Holy cow!!! Where did that come from? And what the hell did I do to deserve that one? This writing thing is sure hard. I am not making this up. (Thanks Srinath for being very polite with your words and still managing to tell me that it sucked big time. Please accept my apologies and your appointment as my CXO – Quality Control. Your paycheck is in the mail!!! )
And then I decided to go deep. How could this happen? Where did I go wrong? Am I loosing my nascent blog-o-share already? Is there anything more than what meets the eye? Slowly I could see some parallels emerging between the case at hand and the kind of case discussions (Exhibit 1) that we were having in class these days. And then it hit me. Yes, friends. I happened to stumble upon the million dollar answer, and it ain’t pretty.
Our guys are not even reading the cases anymore!!!
Yes, now it all makes sense. But I didn’t stop there and went a little further along with my hypothesis and voila, I came out with the mother of all case analysis recommendations.
Case studies are a huge waste of time!!!
I know this revelation of mine is more of a “king is naked” kind of a situation. May be it’s me, but I am just not able to see any clothes on this beast. Forget a Panchantra Lungi or a Benetton T-shirt, even a bare minimum Lotus thread is becoming hard to find.
For starters, most of them cases start with the following disclaimer – “This case is not intended to serve as endorsement, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. “ What??? Did I read that right? Then why am I even wasting my time on these?”
The sad part is that, this is only the beginning of a very slippery slope. There are much more disturbing disclaimers that have been left unwritten. Here is my not-so-short laundry list that should be displayed prominently in all cases, to warn the uninitiated:
- Extra care has been taken to obscure information within irrelevant details.
- Information presented may be more useless than you think.
- Questions asked may not have any connection to the subject matter.
- Solutions appearing in your mind, especially the Eureka ones during late at night, are wronger than you imagine.
- Exhibitionism may reach mind numbing levels, loaded with contradicting information.
- Managers may act as zombies: All clueless, with who am I? Which company is this? How did I end up here? Why am I having all these problems? What should I do? All I know is my name, age and my joining date. Not to mention all the looking out the window and listening to the rain falling outside and the leaves rattling and all that creepy stuff.
- WOW cases – Too long winded, with no problems to begin or end with; mostly involving Japanese companies; designed to create envy and frustration in equal proportions.
- BS Cases: Seat belt and helmet mandatory for the serious reader; a pillow and a sheet will do just fine for the slackers.
I have to admit that I saw all these coming. And that too way back…
http://biju-blog.blogspot.com/2007/04/looks-like-mine-is-gone-case.html
Exhibit 1 – Case discussions in class
Prof: So what do you think Mr. X, of the PGPX corporation should do?
CP1: Sir, I think that is a tough one to answer.
Prof: Obviously. Why do you think we are here discussing this?
CP2: Good Question sir. Can I answer that?
CP1: No, what I meant was that there are so many different options that X has to consider. And “if you read the case very carefully” you can see that there are no right or wrong answers.
Prof: That is because you haven’t read the case carefully.
CP3: Sir, I had a very Eureka moment last night. X should close down his European operations.
Prof: But his company doesn’t even have European operations.
CP3: Nevertheless, close only but also. How about we acquire one and then close it down? A strategic acquisition, if you may…
CP4: Yeah… In Infosys…
CP5: Sir, if you listen to Jack Belch’s ‘Straight from the gut’, you can hear a very clear, Emmmm… Excuse me.
Prof: What do you think is the role of a General Manager?
CP5: Mostly comedy, sir. With some melodrama thrown in during appraisals…
CP6: Sir, there should be a third option…
Prof: Most definitely, but how about the first and the second?
CP6: Sorry, Sir. I am the Third Option Expert. Jumped in a little too soon.
CP7: Sir, I think X should take a well balanced approach by consulting all the stake holders and then on the basis of a detailed analysis of all the relevant, differential and critical considerations, should push for a win-win solution in the best interests of the share holders and employees, keeping the internal and external customers of the company in mind.
Prof: Excellent…that would mean…
Sorry, to burst the bubble sir…but that just means that we haven’t read the case yet…
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