INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AHMEDABAD

Mysteries in Management
Reflection Journal

A report submitted to

Instructor: Prof. Ajeet N Mathur

Academic Associate: Mr. Ankur Parekh

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the course

Mysteries in Management (2018-19)

Submitted on November 19, 2018

By

Ishan Gupta

Ishan Gupta
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S. No. Topic Page No.

1. Introduction 3
2. Is 7 truly a lucky number for team sizes and 13 4
really unlucky?
3. Thermax | Are emotions in organisational life a 6
nuisance?
4. Why are women under-represented in all national 7
parliaments?
5. Why do nations compete? If international 9
collaborations would make the world a better
place, why do nations and organisations
emphasise behaviour towards competition much
more than collaboration?
6. What is the DNA of an organisation? 10
7. Is Management a Science, an Art, or a Craft? 12
8. Are strategies invented or discovered? 13
9. Can managerial productivity be measured? 14

10. Why does the effectiveness of leaders always 15

decline with the passage of time?
11. Why is there no Management Theory for Optimal 17
Task Partitioning? What is the optimal size of a
community of habitat for demarcating it into an
administrative unit?
12. Post Course Reflections 19

Page 2 of 19
 1. Introduction

September 12, 2018

The reason I opted for this course was the intriguing course outline. While though out domains and
subjects we study how things should be and about their proper place in society. However, we fail to
step back and look at boarder questions. Also, in the highly competitive environment we are, we often
fail to accept that there is much out there we don’t know about, and that to become effective managers,
we must be comfortable asking and discussing difficult questions, to which we do not know the answer.

Through this course, I seek to understand and hopefully answer questions like whether the systemic
lack of women leaders stems from a sexist society, or lack of ambition or some other factor altogether,
whether frauds and crises can be avoided altogether, or are they too deeply imbibed in the way an
industry or organisation functions. I seek to understand why certain leaders are regarded as persons of
eminence and why businessmen like Carlos Slim, in spite of being one of the richest people in the world,
fail to attract the following Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Mahatma Gandhi etc have.

Finally, I hope to learn how to tackle these questions such that the learning process continues even after
this course ends. I seek to understand how any why certain mysteries are mysteries, and what all angles
can one look these at to understand and appreciate these best.

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 2. Is 7 truly a lucky number for team sizes and 13 really unlucky?

September 14, 2018

Before this session, I had always associated the notions associated with 7 and 13 to be mere
superstitions, but the session was immensely insightful on how these numbers manifest themselves with
their real world applications of management, leadership and team dynamics.

In IIM, our study groups designed such that the strength is always sub-7. We often have difficulties
coordinating as a group in the absence of a formal punishment-reward mechanism to make ‘free loaders’
work, but almost always, a balance is reached on the partitioning of tasks and responsibilities. One
instance where study groups strayed from the sub-7 rule was in case of a mandatory PGP2 course
‘Strategy Capstone.’ Here, we were allotted into team sizes of 8 per group, and the results were rather
apparent. There was significantly more dysfunctionality because of absence of proper communication,
and in almost in all instances I discussed with friends, people felt that ‘others’ would do the task.

This concept of team sizes is not restricted to academia alone! In all major consulting companies
recruiting from our campus, the team comprises of a partner (typically overseeing multiple projects), a
principle, a consultant, 1-2 junior associates and 1-2 analyst level associates. The upper cap on team
sizes is fixed at 7, and while many other factors contribute to their success, I am sure it is not a mere
co-incidence that McKinsey, BCG, Bain, AT Kearney and the likes are few of the most coveted
companies not only in the consulting domain, but across all companies visiting campus.

Across examples in sporting, team sizes rarely exceed 12 (the only notable exception being rugby). In
competitive cycling, the Union Cycliste Internationale has reduced the number of cyclists per team
across the years. In this sport, where team members are critical to the enable fellow members cut the
current (similar to what birds do while flying in a V-shaped formation), the UCI has now reduced the
number of members per team to be 7 or below stating the need for increased rider safety and to make
the sport less prone to accidents1.

An example discussed in both the class as well as the readings was of the mental bandwidth. In his
book on memory training ‘Moonwalking with Einstein’, Joshua Foyer stated how the brain fails to
remember more than 7 unrelated words at a given point of time (and the only way to bypass this is to
link unrelated data, in effect bringing down the number below 7). Additionally, I discussed the example
of the success and failure of start-ups with a friend of mine, who told me how it became significantly
easier for him to raise an $800,000 series-A funding round when the team size grew beyond 7. In
his own words, investors did not look at financial projections but wanted to know the story, the concept
and the team. As he hired more people with increased specialised tasks, investors were more

1
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/uci-sets-limit-number-riders-allowed-race-351807

Page 4 of 19
comfortable with the stability of the team, and only when the size of his team hit the magic 7 mark,
investor meetings and fund raising activities became noticeably easier!

September 18, 2018

However, post this session, instances which continue to intrigue me are whether the logic of the stability
of 7 and instability as the number continues to rise can be extrapolated to the 12 calendar months in
the year, and the 12 years of schooling we all go through, across the globe.

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 3. Thermax | Are emotions in organisational life a nuisance?

September 17, 2018

The Thermax case was insightful to say the least on how emotional reactions to business situations must
be nuanced and deviations from the ideal course of action in times of distress because of poor emotional
intelligence can lead to the downfall of a company.

The key to most, if not all business situations arise because of lack of communication network. In the
absence of an internally communicated succession plan, the reigns of the organisation fall in jeopardy
after the departure of the leader. While the case of the Congress party was well pointed out in the class,
another example in this regard is from The Mahabharata, where the lack of clarity on the heir to the
throne caused countless deaths and resulted in one of most intriguing and fascinating epics of Indian
mythology.

In organisations, while the departure of the leader causes an emotional upheaval to almost all
stakeholders, one must act rationally rather than being driven only by emotions. Once the period of
mourning has passed, a new leader must be appointed based on merit rather than on the need of the
stakeholders to try and preserve the image of the old leader by a same-surname family member. Further,
the new leader must ensure that the public is at ease with the change of reign. While the loss of the
leader is saddening, one must be made to realise by the new leader that a single scenario cannot continue
to exist forever. Just like how organisms evolve to adapt to their surroundings, so should an
organisation. Once again, the professor brought about the excellent example of GE, which finds its roots
in Thomas Edision, but has been the oldest company on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Only
because it has diversified its business model and not struck to the image of any larger than life
CEO even after their departure from the firm, has GE survived its existence of over a century.

Additionally, it was interesting to observe that in the case of Thermax, it was not just the issues with
the succession planning and new management, but manifestations of the implications of the 7-13 rule
discussed in the previous lecture were there. The company was bound to function dysfunctionally in
the presence of 13 directors.

November 18, 2018

In case of Apple, the company has continued to innovate (as mentioned in ‘What is the DNA of an
Organisation’ reflections later on) because a competent CEO Tim Cook was identified much in
advance. He was the then CFO of the company and not only did he share the mission and vision of
Steve Jobs, Tim Cook was competent and well respected for his calibre.

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 4. Why are women under-represented in all national parliaments?

October 9, 2018
When posed this question, I cannot help but think the systematic flaws which make it difficult for
women to rise up in society and should they aspire, lead organisations, both professional and national
governments. However, I also cannot help but think that if the system were perfectly egalitarian, would
the segregation of gender roles still take place? Do innate preferences also matter?

The note in the readings explaining the differences in the genetic build-up of males and females was
rather thought provoking. In a capitalist context, organisations are competitive and one requires a certain
degree of aggression in aspiring to and working towards rising in political power. Naturally more
aggressive males are, in that case, more likely to fight it out and rise in the rank. Further, the Oedipal
need for men to segregate their feelings equips them to plan and rationalise situations better, enabling
them to better lay for themselves a path to acquire and retain power. On the other hand, the wholesome
and close quality of women, while immensely important in life, perhaps does not find itself useful in
mobilization of power.

Across the world, women have been subject to oppression. Anyone denying this should take note of
how it was only in the last century that women across the globe were able to secure the right to vote. I
am sure most of us would have come across the 1967 photo of Katherine Switzer trying to finish the
Boston Marathon, and in the process being severely ostracised by the organisers for trying to participate.

October 11, 2018

We all know the severely skewed sex ratio in India, where the need for a male child makes families
resort to unlawful abortions or increased number of offspring. Historically having been denied
opportunities to equality in society, path dependence leads to lack of mechanisms to facilitate the cause
of women (as was notably discussed in the class example where there were no toilet facilities for women
in the building) as well as social reluctances in certain communities in asking or seeing women follow
the same path as men.

However, if one were to eliminate the systemic hurdles prohibiting the advancement of women in
managerial roles, would the segregation of roles still apply? In a widely popular interview of Canada
based psychologist professor Jordan Peterson2, he explained how in Scandinavian countries (which
have the highest levels of gender equality, world over), men automatically segregated themselves into
STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields and women segregated themselves
in healthcare and medicine. Even in IIM, while significant effort have been made by the administration

2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54

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to increase the diversity intake, an equally balanced representation has been difficult to achieve.
Finally, in fields of banking and consulting, while corporate HR policies seek equal representation of
both genders (or, at times even prefer female candidates), top managerial roles seem almost
exclusively occupied by men.

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 5. Why do nations compete? If international collaborations would
make the world a better place, why do nations and organisations
emphasise behaviour towards competition much more than
collaboration?

October 12, 2018

To understand the reason why the scope of competition between nations arises in the first place, one
must realise how modern nation states came to exist the way they are today. Historically, nations were
ruled by kings and were significantly influenced by religious heads of state. To expand their territories
or assert their religious beliefs, these kings would invade and go to war with neighbouring states and/or
trade partners.

While modern day man enjoys the benefits of democratically governed states, historical wars and
religious conflicts continue to manifest themselves in the memory of the public. These bring about
a certain animosity and the desire to compete with other states. For example, ideological differences of
the Cold War era continue to exhibit themselves in the differences of ideologies of USA and Russia.

With the passage of time, as countries realise the frivolity of competing in a zero-sum game rather than
collaborating, the nature of ‘competition’ changes, from being of military strength to that of economic
progress or sporting prowess in the Olympics. In these events, competition is healthy, for it allows the
inherent aggression to be vented out in constructive outlets. Sporting competition also serves as a means
to achieve global peace and collaboration. For example, to end the war between the North and South
Korea, North Korea sought to participate in the 2018 Olympics, thereby gaining global recognition and
a platform to showcase their achievements. Another area where competition breeds collaboration
between countries is of University Rankings. Students not only aspire to improve the educational
standards of their own countries, but publishing geography wise ranks serves as an incentive for
students to explore what other areas have to offer.

Competition also breeds innovation. If nation states were to collaborate on the distribution of all
resources equally, there would be no incentive for anyone to outdo themselves and drive the human
race forward. However, this is a double-edged sword. The desire to have a greater corpus and quality
of resources than one’s peers may force a nation to isolate itself from the rest of the world against its
own self-interest, as observed in the case of Brexit.

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 6. What is the DNA of an organisation?

October 15, 2018

An organisation starts with the mission and vision of its founders. Thereafter, as it grows, new people
enter the organisation. With time, old people quit and new ones join, and their opinions are shaped both
by the previous employees as well as the founders’ mission and vision. In such a scenario, the in class
example of monkeys punishing other monkeys for trying to eat bananas is most apt. Whatever
everyone else in the company does becomes the norm- the DNA of the organisation, which is almost
impossible to change.

Take for instance Apple. World over, people speculated that the death of Steve Jobs would end the
innovative practices of the company. But the attention to detail, excellence of quality and need to
innovate are so deeply ingrained in the culture of the company that over half a decade post the founder’s
demise, the company continues to see new heights. Steve Jobs started the company with the idea of
creating products, which were self-sufficient, just like a newborn giraffe is automatically programmed
to rise up and follow its mother immediately post its death. He set standards for the industry product
after product, be it the iPod, the Macbook Air or the iPad. However, even today, Apple leads the
innovation race. It was the first company to introduce fingerprint scanners in its phones. It was the first
company to introduce face-recognition technology. Finally, it was the first company to create an edge-
to-edge display in mobile phones!

Drawing from the example of my summer placements, I observed that in a bank, even though numerous
laws have been enacted and there have been multiple financial crises causing massive public losses,
there is little to no proclivity to change. It seems as if banking institutions have in their very DNA to
be crass, excessively risk taking and reluctant to mend their ways. Drawing another example from
campus life, students categorise companies based on the DNA the sector they are in has. For instance,
consulting companies are understood to have hectic work hours akin to banking, but are understood to
use much more ‘global statements’. General management companies, on the other hand, are stereotyped
to be ‘slow’ and bureaucratic. While these stereotypes are true manifestations of the DNA these
companies have is a valid question. My answer to that is that there is seldom any smoke without fire!

Finally, saying that organisations have a DNA effectively means that they cannot change their
build up and what constitutes them. However, this is not true. Citing the example of comic book
companies are Marvel and DC. In the 90s, both studios aspired to create a film franchise around their
products and superheroes. While DC was successful at it, Marvel failed miserably, and had to sell off
the rights to some of its characters to stay afloat as a company. However, in the decade post the turn of
the century, Marvel learned from its mistakes and has created the biggest film franchise ever. On the
other hand, while DC characters enjoyed a far greater audience, their movies in the past few years have

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done terribly at the box office. While generally a company’s practices and norms are to remain, it is
thus possible to turn tables and truly change the ‘DNA’ it has!

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 7. Is Management a Science, an Art, or a Craft?

October 17, 2018

Throughout my formative years, I have been expected to gain technical competence across domains.
Even the selection process at IIM revolved around technical competence in subjects of my preference,
and being up to date with current affairs and recent developments in the country. However, whenever I
speak with senior managers, alumni or other persons of eminence in organisations, they all offer a very
similar piece of advice, that building and cultivating relationships is the most important aspect of
being a manager. This makes me question, that is management a mere science, or something much
greater.

Prima facie, one may believe that functions of accounting, finance and costing are scientific in their
essence because they move as per well-defined laws. However, what we learn in management education
is about the tools of the trade. While an individual may know all the methods of valuing a company and
manipulating excel sheets, unless they know which method is applicable in which industry under what
circumstances, they are most likely to fail in dispensing their managerial responsibilities. This illustrates
how management can be both a science and a craft, whereby the success of a manager falls short if
either of the two skills are absent.

Management can also be regarded as an art. Leaders like Gandhi, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther and
Lincoln are remembered because they figured out how to create history even as they came from the
most humble backgrounds. On may try and analyse their decision making patterns and temperaments
till the end of time, but it will always be in vain, for it is almost impossible to replicate what they
have achieved.

Drawing from the in class example discussed of Jio, it was a master stroke by Mukesh Ambani to move
from the traditional petrochemicals business to information technology in the information age of
renewable energies. Here, not only was he able to skilfully penetrate the telecom oligopoly and give
Airtel and Vodafone a run for their money, he was insightful enough to venture into the industry of
tomorrow. This amalgamation of being a master craftsman by deploying the resources of Reliance
and artfully penetrating a closed market by predatory pricing was what made him succeed.

Perhaps there can never be a consensus on whether management is a science, art or craft, and even if it
were combinations of multiple factors, which contributes more to the making of a successful manager.

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 8. Are strategies invented or discovered?

October 20, 2018

This question reminded me of a story I read long ago. There was once a factory making premium
toothpaste. In the final packaging, where the toothpaste tube was to be put in the cardboard box, the
company realised that there was a flaw in the assembly line, whereby some cardboards were left empty.
This caused significant losses to the company, not just in monetary terms, but in reputational terms as
well. A task force was initiated to invent a solution to identify empty cardboard boxes. The company
spent significant money to assess the weight of the final cardboard, and the machine accordingly took
a call on whether the tube was loaded or not. A new employee was hired to operate the expensive
machine, but when he couldn’t figure out how to work the machine, he simply switched on a table fan,
which made the empty boxes fly off the assembly line, solving the problem!

In such a case, a solution was definitely invented by a due scientific process. However, ingenuity and
creativity took the cake. The same seems to be the case of strategies as well. While they may be invented
or discovered, which trumps the other is a matter of the complexity of the strategy required.

Instances where strategies were invented include the creation of the black-box in aeroplanes, a
conscious effort to understand the cause of the crash to increase the safety in future flights. Similarly,
market research surveys and user feedback to create new products and technologies involves
scientifically studying the market and thereby inventing a product satisfying the understood need. In
the 2016 US elections, Donald Trump used advanced statistical analytics to understand what words
appealed to which sections of voters and accordingly created a strategy to appease voters.

However, for every example of invented strategy, there can be a counter example of a successful
discovered strategy. Before the Apple brand was created, technology was a concept employed by
industrial corporations or geeks. However, only when Steve Jobs observed a newborn giraffe standing
up and following its mother did he realise that he should create products that do not need to be ‘taught’
how to operate. It was then he realised that there is a market for technology products that are not full of
ports, but are clean, and cater to the aesthetics demanded by individuals.

The super glue was invented as an accident too. The inventor was studying optics, and wanted a
transparent medium between two separate prisms. When he put a newly formulated compound in
between them, he simply could not take them apart! Such a discovery of a strategy was also in case of
the Coca Cola Company. When the company introduced the superior ‘New Coke’ flavour, there was a
public backlash demanding the return of the old beloved taste. It was thus accidentally discovered that
while there may be a better quality product, consumers might continue to demand the old product
because of sentimentalities attached to it.

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 9. Can managerial productivity be measured?

October 31, 2018

To understand and answer this mystery, one must first attempt to define what precisely entails
managerial productivity. But that itself is a humongous task! What one can instead try to do is to
establish proxies for the indicators for the success of a manager, and thus take a call on the
‘productivity of a manager’

The first and the most obvious metric which comes to mind is the monetary benefits accrued by the
manager to the organisation. However, there are multiple drawbacks to using such an approach. As
mentioned as another mystery in the Epilogue of the course book, pricing of services itself is irrational.
If that were the case, how could one even gauge managerial effectiveness in a sea of arbitrary data?

One could also look at the salaries a manager draws and take it as a proxy for their effectiveness.
After all, why would an organisation pay an executive more than what s/he deserves? However, there
are regional disparities in the compensation structures of executives. There are disparities in the
compensation structures of managers across industries as well. If one were to go by this metric, it would
imply that a manager leading an NGO and bringing constructive change in society is not an effective
manager. However, that is ridiculous. Finally, one striking example discussed in class was that of
cyclicity of managerial performance, where the positive changes by a new manager manifest after
his/her term, and are potentially attributed to an ineffective successor.

Finally, should the role of a manager be restricted to the roles and responsibilities s/he has? For
instance, a high performing marketing manager who sells products at a loss, just to meet his/her own
internal targets who ends up causing harm to the overall organisation – is that person an effective
manager?

Factors such as worker satisfaction, environmental responsibility, efficiency of time and budgets,
accomplishment of broad as well as immediate goals and attainment of overall organisational objectives
all act as indicators of the efficacy of a good manager. Understanding and evaluating the individual
impacts of each of these as well as the combined role they play is a seemingly impossible task, and until
that is done, it will remain a pertinent question whether managerial productivity can be measured.

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 10. Why does the effectiveness of leaders always decline with
the passage of time?

November 3, 2018
I found this session to be among the most thought provoking sessions so far. I realised that while there
may not be any exhaustive set of rules on why leadership popularity and effectiveness may decline with
time, all examples discussed in the class as well as the readings share valuable insights on why certain
situations pan out the way they do.

A notable example discussed in the class as well as mentioned in the readings was the Peter Principle.
A very brief search online corroborated the proposition. As per a Yale research mentioned in the
Harvard Business Review Article3, in the field of sales, sales performance is correlated to managerial
promotion. While an excellent salesperson may not be the best manager, but they are significantly more
likely to be promoted to their peers, other things constant. This brings to mind the example of the
popular TV show – “The Office”. In its US adaptation, it chronicles the antics of the manager of a
paper company. One may observe the manager (portrayed by Steve Carrell) to be grossly incompetent
and a miscreant manager annoying everyone in the office, later episodes reveal his absolute brilliance
at being a salesperson. A competent individual gaining fame and respect in their field may be promoted
to take higher responsibilities, only to find that they lack the skills and adaptability to rise to the
occasion. Subsequently, the people who held these ‘leaders’ in high regard find them to be incompetent,
or worse, troublemakers in their new role.

Drawing from my internship was an example of a short-lived public memory, coupled with the in-
class theme of dream merchants. In early June, the historic summit between Donald Trump and
Kim Jong Un took place, which sought to denuclearise North Korea and subsequently remove trade
sanctions being imposed on the country. Working in the foreign exchange trading department of Bank
of Merrill Lynch, I observed the impact this event had on the USD/KRW (South Korean Won, highly
correlated with the political situation in the North) currency pair. On the announcement of the summit,
there was a sharp appreciation of the Korean Won, showing how even a potentially unrealistic
proposition of complete denuclearisation of North Korea, if sold properly, would be well perceived by
the masses. Further, I had correctly proposed that after a month or two post the completion of the
summit, the appreciation in the Korean Won would get wiped out because media hype surrounding the
event would die down (and people would eventually, but slowly) realise that the dream sold to them
was a distant reality.

November 9, 2018

3
https://hbr.org/2018/03/research-do-people-really-get-promoted-to-their-level-of-incompetence

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In the field of sports, two striking examples come to my mind. Recently, Virat Kolhi earned significant
notoriety for chiding a fan and calling him anti-national for stating that the fan’s favourite cricketer was
Herschelle Gibbs. This may be an example of hubris, where success and fame changes the temperament
of the leader. With an increased fan following, they may treat fans and followers for granted, causing
them to dig their own grave. The other example was of the football World Cup in 2018, where last
year’s winners, Germany, were eliminated in the group stage itself. It could have been a case of the
team being intoxicated and arrogant by the previous World Cup’s success, but their defeat could might
as well been a result of increased expectations from fans, and a reduced risk appetite because of
them becoming conscious of their defending-champions status and consequent over-cautiousness
resulting in a self-fulfilling prophesy.

November 14, 2018

Finally, two examples, which I continue to intrigue me, defy the proposition that leadership
effectiveness decreases with time. First is the case of Steve Jobs. In the new millennium, he was hailed
by ‘Apple fanboys’ as a visionary regardless of product failures, copied features and software glitches.
In his case, ‘sheeple’ regarded him as an innovator and a creative genius in spite of allegations of over-
charging customers, environmentally harmful practices, and products with no defined use. Case in point
being the iPad, which to date finds itself asking the question that if it is not a laptop, what purpose does
it serve? I remember back in 2012, a lot of my friends were excited to purchase it only because it was
‘portable’, but when I quizzed them what need it fulfilled, they were befuddled themselves. The second
example, which comes to mind, is on the other end of the spectrum. In India, Rahul Gandhi is lambasted
for any and every of his actions ever since his interview with Arnab Goswami. Here, no matter what
the leader does, the tag of being an ineffective leader fails to unfollow him. With time, his leadership
popularity fails to rise from a seemingly bottomless pit!

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 11. Why is there no Management Theory for Optimal Task
Partitioning? What is the optimal size of a community of habitat
for demarcating it into an administrative unit?

November 17, 2018

The last session for the session brought back pleasant memories from the first session, by explaining
how the minimum viable size for a community to be self-sufficient is 5040 (another manifestation of
the importance of 7, where 5040 is 7!). The population of the Vatican is a paltry 1,000, but as discussed,
firstly, it draws its military and police from Italy and Switzerland. Secondly, it is not your typical
community. There is a massive influx of tourists every year, allowing the state to earn revenues, over
and above the wealth accumulated by the church over centuries. I was intrigued by this example, and
on looking up online the sizes of the smallest countries, I found Tuvalu, the least populous country
after Vatican City, to have ~10,000 people. While a host of ‘independent’ geographies have sub 5040
populations, they are not independent in the truest of senses, as they fall under administrative purview
of larger nations, alleviating the need for state mechanisms and thus, a greater population.

In another course (Communication Skills for Team and Leadership Effectiveness), we were learning
about the pygmy tribes of Africa. On discussing the population concept with friends, I realised that
while these tribes can independently sustain themselves with their populations in mere hundreds, taking
them as a metric would be incorrect because of their primitive ways and the absence of specialised
functions in their communities.

Nonetheless, this topic made me curious about the implications this threshold number would have
on future prospects of colonising Mars or the Moon!

Can there be a theory on the optimal partitioning of tasks in the first place? Organisations face
significant challenges in recruiting and adjusting their work force needs. Subsequently, rather than
ascertaining an optimal apportionment of workload per worker, it makes sense for an organisation to
prioritise the completion of work (and potentially overstretch workers) than the other way
around. The most evident example of this can be observed in investment banking activities, where
employees work for over 15 hours a day, 6-7 days a week.

Additionally, different people have different capabilities across different periods. A piece of work
may be too difficult and unrealistic for a certain worker, but a piece of cake for another worker with a
very similar training and background. Assessing these capabilities on a continuous basis can be a rather
challenging task, prohibiting an optimal allocation of tasks.

Finally, ‘Parkinson’s Law’ may potentially further complicate matters. It states that work expands to
fill the time permitted for its completion. This means even in cases of unequal or sub-optimal task

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allocation, one cannot easily observe its manifestation in terms of ‘occupiedness’ of workers,
prohibiting analysis of the productivity of workers and the complexity/ intensity of the task.

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 12. Post Course Reflections

November 18, 2018

This was a thoroughly enjoyable course and I am sure I will miss the open-ended engaging discussions
in class.

I feel my personal learning could have improved with the help of weekly submissions rather than one
final submission. While I tried my level best to evenly spread out my learning and reflections throughout
the course, I feel weekly submissions would have had made me engage with the material more intently.

Additionally, I feel the absence of notes my Mr. Parekh would have accelerated the learning process.
In class, I did not bother noting all aspects of the discussions because I had the assurance of class notes
being sent over later via email. However, had I been forced to maintain my personal log of notes, I feel
I would have been able to assimilate and internalise the information in much better.

I was able to relate to and apply these learnings in my professional experience (internship as well as
pre-MBA experience) as well as academics at IIM. For instance the composition of teams and the
rationale behind their sizes, understanding the reasons behind the ‘culture’ of organisations,
understanding gender roles and finally, the rationale behind the dynamic popularity of leaders (and in
some extrapolated instances, the reasons for the political moves employed before elections) were
insightful learnings.

Some questions, which continue to intrigue me, are why did Steve Jobs continue to enjoy a celebrity
status even as the expectation on his shoulders continued to increase every passing year. Additionally,
I would like to explore the rationale behind the twelve months of the year, the twelve hours of the day
(and night) and the reason why modern education needs us to go through twelve years of schooling (and
whether these have implications attached to the 7-13 rule). Finally, I am still intrigued by what an ideal
managerial performance tool would encompass and how would its implementation pan out in real life.

Overall, I felt the faculty, course design and materials were excellent. I really appreciate the professor
in helping us students out by giving additional optional reading materials to allow us explore more
mysteries at our own pace.

Based on my contributions in class discussions, my midterm assignment, as well as my final report, I

would self-evaluate and assign myself an ‘A’ grade. I tried my best to contribute to all class discussions,
evenly pace out my learnings, and carry on in class discussions with fellow peers to reinforce learnings.

While I performed in the course to be best of my individual capabilities, I am sure there is scope for
further improvements, and I would love to hear from the professor on how I could have performed
better.

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