As I'm cooking and cleaning, it must be term time again. All the study avoidance tactics are back in force this week as the next slew of subjects comprising the second part of the MBA year are introduced.
As for the first lot, they now seem like a dim and distant assault course, although I'm reliably assured a lot of the new subjects will draw on our pre-Christmas learning.
So what have we already learned? Quite a lot more than I thought. This was evidenced in the nine exams we were subjected to over the last six days of term. Of course there were one or two where I knew quite a lot less than was optimal but the less said about that the better. Seeing as we're back a week, and I haven't had my collar felt yet, fingers crossed the first major battle of the war is behind. I think the worst element of the whole experience has to have been the week before the exams, when lectures were over, and we had nothing to do but revise. You know you're in a lonely place when the prospect of convenience shopping generates as much excitement as a Big Night Out. In reality the whole exercise was as much about maintaining a positive outlook and keeping calm under pressure, as it was about assessing what we had learned.
The holiday that followed was the sweetest of all rewards. Mind you if I'd been asked to sit and stare into a boghole for the duration I probably would have been happy. Some of the class even managed a recreational get-together in the form of a golf outing to St Anne's in Donabate. The day was a resounding success, particularly the bit where we found ourselves settled comfortably in Doheny & Nesbitt's on a late Thursday afternoon when the rest of the adult world was busy at work. This college lark can have its occasional compensations.
But last week it was back to earth with a bang. Despite my fervent hopes access might be denied because the Rock Road had finally subsided into the sea - at this stage it seems stuck together with God's glue - Carysfort beckoned, along with nine new subjects.
The good news is that the choice and range of subjects on offer this term is very impressive, with one course sounding more interesting than the next. Again, the quality of the content and how it will be delivered shows great promise. It looks like this term is going to be very much about using our smarts to strategically analyse, diagnose and identify organisational scenarios and opportunities.
Of course the usual depression set in, when after just three days and no end of new year's resolve, I had already fallen behind in my reading. This is a fact of MBA life, which would be tolerable were it not that the guilt takes on almost physical proportions and stays with you until well - the whole thing comes full circle again.
In the spirit of unrealistic workloads I'm proposing the addition of another core module to the course, to be known as TLA. This rigorous assessment will test peoples familiarity with the scores of Three Letter Acronyms that are an unavoidable feature of business learning. For openers we could have TQM, BPR, JIT, ZBB, KPI, TPS, while a complementary elective module might cover real FLA toughies like CAP-M and SMILE. Go figure.
One exciting development and these are few and far between - has been the publication of an MBA Class of 2001 CV booklet for prospective employers. The polished publication details everything you wanted to know and more about this motley crew.
Behind the 70 or so Sunday best smiles, lurks a fascinating testimony to the diverse backgrounds and interests that comprise the class. For example, I discovered my Armenian classmate has a personal interest in Oriental Teosophy. Another has a private pilot's licence, a couple of guys ran the New York marathon, and one girl was a soccer scholarship player for two US universities. Plus if you want to scuba dive, play tennis, or sail a yacht we've got people qualified to train you. Another interesting development this term has been a complete reshuffle of the two classes (of 35 each) and the reallocation of teams. Just in case we might become complacent about nearly understanding the nuances of individuals' personalities, it's back to the drawing board. There is undoubtedly an element of upset attached to this, and it will probably take a little time before the new shakeout will integrate fully.
In this uncertain environment people are inclined to stick with what they know, and it will be interesting to see whether people will go about forging new bonds with the same fervour as last term. No doubt sterling efforts will be made to put the building blocks in place over the next couple of weeks as teams socialise together.
By the way, many thanks to those who emailed me with messages of encouragement and good luck prior to the exams. It was not lost on me that most came from former MBA students worldwide, and were written in a spirit that might normally be reserved for veterans of a traumatic experience. I have been reliably assured, on more than one occasion, it will all be worth it in the end, and you know, as winter fades to black and the days begin to stretch before us, I'm almost inclined to agree.
Madeleine Lyons can be contacted at lyons@ireland.com. The next MBA Diary will appear on Monday, February 19th.
