Week 3 down!

My student email has become the centre of my universe. The Stats and Finance lecturer keeps pumping out email with practice questions and they keep coming thick and fast! This week we have a Stats quiz worth 20% - ouch. It started off well but then we got into multiple random variables and then things really did get random!

This week was a solid week and tracked as follows:

• Organisational leadership - we got into decision making, at an individual, group and organisational levels. What works and how it can be compromised
• Economics - We finished off Reserve Bank and monetary policy and got into multi criteria decision making. Theory crossed over from organisational leadership but an economists perspective is different from a psychologists - believe me!
• Finance - this week was all about the quiz on Wednesday. Been a while since I have done something like that - nerve racking!
• Stats - as mentioned, we are into multiple random variables which has taken a bit of effort to get on top of but it seems to be sinking in
   

In addition to the coursework we all got together for dinner with partners on Saturday night. Teppanyaki was the meal. A lot of laughs, drinks and shenanigans was had. One of the guys took some photos - will post shortly - if he lets me!

Syndicate C: Pizza on Tuesday!

Hi folks, tomorrow we have our first finance quiz worth 20%. As a result our syndicate group was back tonight studying as a team. We even shared a famous Poppa's Pizza (well famous in Dunedin) as a team. Syndicate teams form an important part of your life at the Otago MBA. Every paper (subject) has between 25-40% of assessment delivered via your syndicate team. The idea I think is getting everyone used to delivering work as part of a team. I am pretty pleased with my syndicate as we work hard but everyone stops for a laugh and a bit of fun which makes things really positive especially with the weight of assessable tasks we face. After term one we swap around and get put into new syndicates which will be hard as our team has already started to mesh together pretty well. If you are looking at the MBA at Otago - this element is great as it is be both enjoyable and challenging as everyone is smart and keen to have their opinions heard!

As a side note, Tapan, my mate from Mumbai and also Syndicate C member made this poster and as a result has assumed responsibility for all syndicate presentation design  and layout :)

Week 2: Cranking up

 

Week 2 down and momentum is building. Monday we had our first Economics quiz that counted towards our overall assessment. Blimey! It starts quickly. This week we have another quiz for Economics plus a quiz on Wednesday for Finance worth 20%. As I said it is really starting to crank up. So to cap off what happened this week:

• Economics - we learnt about economic indicators, monetary policy, reserve banks and their role in managing the economy
• Organisational leadership took us through Schein's career anchors plus the uses and roles of personality testing such as Myers Briggs
• Stats - we really starting climbing into probability
• Finance - it was the week of annuities and perpetuities

All in all a pretty good week.

MBA Mentors

 

 One of the great things about the Otago MBA is the mentor programme. As a full time student, you get access to a business leader in the local Dunedin community who has usually gone through the MBA programme. My mentor is David Frame who is a private banker at ANZ and a director of the Otago Chamber of Commerce. The mentors receive training to lead us MBA students 'out into the light' so to speak but it is up to us to initiate contact and engage with them. David and I had lunch on Friday and really got to know each other. It is really good to have someone outside the faculty who has an objective view of the world. I am sure he will share the highs and lows of this course with me as we catch up regularly.

Exploring Dunedin

For many of the folks who are not from Dunedin (and some who were), a city tour was just the thing to get our bearings. MBA staff organised with the Dunedin City Council to put us in a mini bus and show us around. The photo is of some of the class on Signal Hill. Dunedin is a really pretty town but from up here where you can get a view of the whole area including the harbour you realise what a beautiful part of the world it is. The bus trip was also a good bonding experience because even a few locals came along and added in their '2 cents' worth. The evening was capped off with a couple of drinks in the centre of town - a district known as the Octagon. The area has heaps of bars and eateries of all descriptions so we were well catered for!

Week 1, Term 1 - down to business

As I write this update on the couch on Sunday night, it is a good chance to reflect on week 1. We had 5 subjects kick off. I will provide a little summary of what happened.

• Organisational leadership. We had 2x1.5 hour sessions (as we do each week for the ten week term) this week. I call them sessions rather than lectures as they are very interactive rather than being one way. This week we covered the fundementals for Organisational Leadership. The sessions are very applied and already I can see application in my workplace. The sessions are also designed to give us the tools to be better leaders. Key things this week include how much the context - such as social, environmental and economic factors can impact individuals, groups and organisations to make leadership challenging. Also we investigated 'Intelligent Career Theory' which highlighted interrelationship of different types of knowledge: Knowing why; Knowing how and; Knowing who.
   
• Statistics and decision tools. In our sessions this week we really got into descriptive stats. The delivery of the concepts was good but what was the highlight was teaching us to do the elements in Excel as we go. Very useful and gave us a useful array of templates to utilise in real world situations.
  
• Investment and global financial markets. I was fearful of this as I have never really done anything like this before, however the sessions really broke the major concepts of the fundamentals of corporate finance such as present value, net present value and perpetuities. It is an area of business that has operated all around me but never really understood it. Interesting stuff as I now know what those VC guys are talking about!
  
• Economics. Another subject I had little knowledge of however wished I had studied this earlier. The study of decision making where there is scarcity is something I could of used. We kicked this week with all the basic principles to maker good economic decisions. Some of it is common sense but some of it has made me look at the world in a different way. I have begun to look at decisions with an economist's perspective - I am a nerd I know!
  
• Strategy Implementation. This was a one hour session that introduced a course stream that will run across the entire course. It is all case study based which is great. We investigate a case study and using the information only contained in the case study to make recommendations. Everything is syndicate based - ie we work in teams, (I will explain how the Otago MBA syndicates work in a later post) except the final exams. We chose two case studies to dissect but later in the year we do a live case study on an actual business - looks challenging!

That's it this week, we have an economics quiz tomorrow morning so best get my sleep.

The Otago MBA classroom

Ok, now I am into the first week and we are getting down to business. I am really enjoying the classes and the time seems to rush by when I am in class. The key to it is the small classes and the fact that everybody knows everyone already. My classmates all seem to feel comfortable in their surrounds and why wouldn't they, classes have only fifteen students or so and the lecturers don't just preach but get us involved. The combination of our enthusiasm and their passion for the subject matter (did I mention passion!) means I feel like I am learning on steroids!

Each week I will try and give a little summary of things that went on in the classroom. This 10 week term (there are three terms this year) we are doing Economics; Stats and decision tools; Organisational leadership and; Investment and global financial markets. Also we have a strategy stream that runs across the year. I will provide a bit more detail as I absorb the subject matter as a lot of it is new to me.

One final thing about the Otago MBA is the way we deliver a lot of the assessable elements. In the first term we are put into syndicates to work as a team. That changes each term. I think it will be pretty interesting to see how things pan out as the pressure builds. We had a bit of counsel in the orientation week on giving constructive feedback - let's hope nothing escalates from there! 

Leaving the family behind...

On the flip side of the Dunedin relocation is quite often we have left our wives, partners and kids behind, Sometimes it is nice to have a break but it is gets tough after a few weeks of 'Skyping'. A number of us are in this boat. Our families are on the way however for some reason they couldn't make it for the start of the MBA programme.

For me, my family are about 3-4 weeks behind. Although it is tough, it means that I can really start to establish a routine and really get going as I know things will really start to build soon - everyone keeps telling us we will be very busy! I know the sacrifice will be worth it.

At the bottom of my road!

One of the my secret reasons to study in Dunedin (not really) was because of this - the surf! Saturday morning I was greeted with this at the bottom of my road. After a good surf, I headed out in my rental car I managed to get out and explore the coastline. Dunedin has some beautiful beaches! Otago Peninsula is a pretty special place. On Saturday afternoon, I hooked up with another guy in the course and a few of his mates and surfed Aramoana Spit - we got it small but it is famous for some bone crunching barrels on its day.

A few beers capped off a great Saturday at the Carey's Bay Hotel - I will be back.

Arrived at last!

Dunedin is a beautiful place. This pic is from the Otago MBA website (OtagoMBA.com) and the more I look around the more I love it!

I flew in last Tuesday night from Dubai to start my O'Week and started my orientation week for Otago MBA 37. Although I was little jetlagged, I could already begin to see this was going to be the beginning of an amazing journey. My classmates - ( there are around 20 of us)  are smart, interesting, diverse and have a good sense of humor.As the first Australian to undertake this MBA (allegedly), I feel quite priveledged to be in such good company. Countries represented include Finland, China, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand (of course) and even a couple of POMs!

O'Week was kicked off with a traditional Maori welcome, something I have not expreienced before. Key features of the week included

• getting to know my classmates
• a couple of personal development workshops - we have our own personal development coach!
• getting a detailed overview of the course and the expectations - we are going to be busy
• case study analysis workshop - a look at Zara - very interesting
• mentor BBQ - each student gets a mentor - a bit of guidence from a previous MBA graduate
• kick off for our Organisation Leadership paper plus;
• a bunch of house keeping

 It all starts Monday 8 April in ernest but I have the weekend off to get myself mentally prepared. Time to pick up the rental car and explore.