A fever called Toyshop
A course we are studying in term 2 - E-Business – has been hogging the focus of all MBA students for the past many weeks. Today was the culmination of the long hours invested by each of us.
Toyshop – a fictitious company - formed the backdrop of our group assignment. It involved a presentation to the Toyshop management (read: Cranfield prof’s) with the recommendations of how to make Toyshop healthy and competitive. It was like a case in strategic consulting with the emphasis on Information Systems and its deployment.
Like many other teams, we also had been practicing and timing our rehearsals for this day over the last many days. Well, soon enough, the day had arrived as we could see many teams moving around dressed to kill. After all, you don’t get a second chance.
Our team trooped in the room and settled in our seats. Quick introduction and we were informed that the presentation should not be more than 20 minutes. And there it was – the first unexpected thing – our timings had shown us that we need 27 minutes for the presentation. Now we had to think on our toes and signal each other where to cut and squeeze in the complete presentation without rushing. With faster heart beats, we saw each of us, speaking slightly faster than what we had practiced while five pair of eyes kept glancing at their watches.
We managed this first challenge with just-in-time results. 19 minutes 57 seconds.
Time for section II of our assessment – individual questions round with no help from other team members. This meant that we know each bit of the case and our proposals. Two rounds of questions to each of us followed. This was an interesting experience – while we were presenting our proposals, I could see the management buried in the paper copies of our presentation. I was wondering – are these Professors listening? Why do seem so disinterested?
My doubts were washed away when the questions were cannoned at us. They were not only listening, but picked up specific phrases form what we had voiced and were not on the paper presentation. Spooky, I guess, but that’s why they are the world class faculty at Cranfield.
Soon enough our question session ended and we trooped out. Eager eyes, raised brows and pleading looks met us in the forum just outside the room. And I was unsure what to say – how did we do? Well, only time will tell.
Toyshop – a fictitious company - formed the backdrop of our group assignment. It involved a presentation to the Toyshop management (read: Cranfield prof’s) with the recommendations of how to make Toyshop healthy and competitive. It was like a case in strategic consulting with the emphasis on Information Systems and its deployment.
Like many other teams, we also had been practicing and timing our rehearsals for this day over the last many days. Well, soon enough, the day had arrived as we could see many teams moving around dressed to kill. After all, you don’t get a second chance.
Our team trooped in the room and settled in our seats. Quick introduction and we were informed that the presentation should not be more than 20 minutes. And there it was – the first unexpected thing – our timings had shown us that we need 27 minutes for the presentation. Now we had to think on our toes and signal each other where to cut and squeeze in the complete presentation without rushing. With faster heart beats, we saw each of us, speaking slightly faster than what we had practiced while five pair of eyes kept glancing at their watches.
We managed this first challenge with just-in-time results. 19 minutes 57 seconds.
Time for section II of our assessment – individual questions round with no help from other team members. This meant that we know each bit of the case and our proposals. Two rounds of questions to each of us followed. This was an interesting experience – while we were presenting our proposals, I could see the management buried in the paper copies of our presentation. I was wondering – are these Professors listening? Why do seem so disinterested?
My doubts were washed away when the questions were cannoned at us. They were not only listening, but picked up specific phrases form what we had voiced and were not on the paper presentation. Spooky, I guess, but that’s why they are the world class faculty at Cranfield.
Soon enough our question session ended and we trooped out. Eager eyes, raised brows and pleading looks met us in the forum just outside the room. And I was unsure what to say – how did we do? Well, only time will tell.
posted by Sandeep Gupta at
8:26 pm
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