I am an apprentice.
Not so long ago, I remember sitting to watch a bit of TV to “rest” from my studies for the GMAT (the graduate school entrance exam, ick!). I always felt slightly guilty — especially when watching reality shows like the Apprentice. But now, I realize that watching this particular show was just practice for what was to come.
Welcome to Integration Week. A week-long series of 2-4 hour projects that each learning group of 6-7 MBA students had to complete and submit for grading. At the end of each “project session”, each group made a short 2-5 minute presentation of their findings and submitted the 1-3 page paper.
Monday, we were consultants tracking a prominent pharmaceutical company’s stock against the market and performing regression analysis in order to determine a predictive model for the stock’s value in the future. And we also had to take lags and run regression in order to determine if there was any cyclical movement in the stock’s value over time. We had 120 minutes to complete a 7 page report (included lots of graphs and such) and to prepare a 5 minute dramatic presentation of our findings.
Tuesday, we were information management consultants. We were guaging the firm’s ability and willingness to communicate with stockholders.
Wednesday, we were roaming accountants for an investment bank investigating whether the company would be a good investment prospect for our clients.
And Thursday, yesterday, we had a couple activities to bring it all together. It was flash back to kindergarten as we made a collage to “represent” the inter-relation of all three of our first block disciplines (quantitative methods, accounting, and information management). We appoint a project manager for each group activity. I’m happy to report that I was the PM for the collage activity — and my team won! YAY!
And yesterday afternoon’s activity involved planning and filming a commercial to encourage individuals in each industry to work together, rather than individually, to achieve better results. My group decided to make a silent film. We applied a sepia tone, sped-up the frames and added a 1920’s Charleston tune. I have to say, it was brilliant. I’ll see if there’s a way to upload the video… I was a star as Miss Metaphor.
Yesterday afternoon, we had an impromptu awards ceremony. 3 awards were given. My group won the award for the morning poster activity (as noted above) and also placed a very close second for the “consistent quality of presentations throughout integration week” award. I’m very fortunate to be a part of a very well-rounded and productive group.