End of Block 3 Growing Near

That’s right…I’m nearly done with my third block (of 4 core blocks, 6 blocks total). This block, we’ve been immersed in Organizational Behavior (how your actions affect others and vice versa), Operations Management (identifing and elminating bottlenecks within operations), Strategy (NOW I can define strategy in 2.5 seconds), and Human Resources (how to implement an effective HR strategy that plays the 4 necessary roles: change agent, administrator, strategic planning, and employee advocate).

We’ve had projects due just about every week this block and most of my Sundays have been sacrificed for the sake of our joint efforts. Whoever said this was “the light block” was only partially correct. The course material has been lighter (ie the classes aren’t as quantitative), but the load has been quite demanding.

At the end of this week, I’ll travel with my classmates to G’dansk, Poland where we’ll work with a local meat wholesaler/producer in order to develop a plan for enter the UK through gourmet meat exports. It will be a challenge as I don’t believe that our client speaks English, but it will be an interesting experience. Our team of 6 will be provided with a mini-bus for transport and with a dedicated translator to help us communicate with folks within our client firm.

It’s likely to be -10 to -20 degrees Celsius in G’dansk. Thank goodness a friend has her ski gear in London and volunteered to lend it to me for the trip. Otherwise, I think I would have FROZEN! It’s not nearly so cold here, in London.

I’m unsure if I’ll have internet access in Poland (long story), but if I do I’ll make posts from “the road”. I’ll be out of town from this Friday (Feb. 9) until mid-day on G’s 30th Birthday (Feb. 17).