The CIA had for a long time covered up its ‘black bag work’ - illegal jobs such as breaking into embassies , often employing exotic tools (miniature cameras, eavesdropping equipment etc) and weapons (poison gas pens, toxic paints, IEDs etc) – for fear that it might arouse public outrage and young people might stop considering it as an ethical career choice. However, when these techniques were eventually officially made public, the number of applicants aspiring for a job in the Agency skyrocketed. Why? Because for years, the public had been made to believe that James Bond Novels and movies were impossible fantasies, that the technologies depicted in them could not exist even in the next few decades and that the government would never authorize acts that Bond routinely did; now, suddenly, a person could legitimately aspire to live the life of a Bond.
In 2004 , John Perkins in his book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” described his role as an ‘Economic Hitman’ -a consultant to several Governments and their Heads of State, an advisor whose real job was to economically exploit and debilitate his clients in the process of ‘developing’ and ‘aiding’ their economies. He was seduced into the job which held glamour and power, intrigue and beauty, untold wealth and generations of dependence. I do not know whether his ‘confessions’ (which are no less interesting than a spy story, replete with tales of Middle-Eastern palaces and doe-eyed beauties) tempted more budding economists into the profession or discouraged them. However, the book does show the impact a single economist can have on the development, the politics and the destinies of several nations.
Money is a unique commodity in that although it is intrinsically worthless, it is a store of value. It can attach tangible values to desires and powers. The desire to have, to give, the desire to do can be quantified in terms of money, as can be the powers to satisfy these desires. Hence it is the common denominator in most, if not all (this is debatable) human activity. Economics, then, is the common thread that runs through almost every discipline of study- not just management but also philosophy, ethics, governance and leadership. By determining what we are willing to sacrifice in order to get something, we can attach a value to it, and economics can guide us on how to maximize this value. Fundamental to this process is making the choice of what we really want most, or that which we would not give up at any cost or price- it is this choice or (set of choices) that defines our value system. In ‘The Prince’, Niccolo Machiavelli describes the dilemma that what appears best for an individual may not be best for the society and observes that the king must deal with this dilemma at every step while carrying. The question of determining at what point the ‘greater good’ should supersede the welfare of an individual is as fundamental as defining our ‘fundamental rights’ and really how fundamental they are. There are democratic methods in economics which are being used to answer such and related questions.
Is it more important to find a cure for cancer or for tuberculosis? Is democracy really better than autocracy? Should a person give up his life for the society? What really is his society? Should we bother about these questions or just make a lot of money? Economics offers the hope of answering diverse questions. At a macro level, it is applied by nations to maximize growth. At the micro level, it appears in the form of game theory which can be applied to a single transaction, even a simple bargain. Indeed, the theory can even be applied to politics to determine whether dissenting members of the party can rebel and form a breakaway faction; this knowledge can help the politician to determine the size and constitution of his ‘core’ group.
With a view to providing a common platform to those associated with XLRI interested in finding answers to such questions (and more such questions), a place where they can meet and exchange ideas, we, the students of the 2009-10 batch of the General Management Programme in XLRI envisaged the formation of ‘The Club for Economics at XLRI’, or CEX. However, led by the democratic spirit that is ingrained in many students of economics, we decided that it be better to build it not as an exclusive club but rather, as a society or a forum which will embrace and even reach out to all who share the passion for this quest , and thus was born the ‘Forum for Economics’- a forum for sharing ideas, asking questions, for observing the environment from an economics perspective, for studying policy, ethics, and for finding tangible solutions to problems .
In less than one term, it has become a vibrant forum of enthusiasts who regularly meet and discuss, make presentations, debate, bounce ideas and work on projects. We are pleasantly overwhelmed by the support and participation of students who are contributing to generate value in the Forum. Like in any other startup, at first one has to put in something and create value. The quality and number of ideas generated are indicative of the substantial amounts of creative faculties that the GMP students are investing in FOREX. On popular demand we have decided to intensify our activities by taking up larger projects and also to reach out to more people to generate more ideas and interest in economics. You can expect a periodic newsletter with updates of our activities and ideas soon. Those who would like to know more are welcome to contact us.
Term 1 of my GMP@XLRI has come to an end. What an eventful 3 months it has been. I have never been this much stretched and sleep deprived as I have been in last 3 months. Jumping from one assignment to the other, running for marketing project meeting to ELCC ,MANAC, Macro,Micro Economics group meeting, it has been a true roller coaster ride with surprise element built in every moment.
Classes/Studies: On an average we had 3-4 classes of 1.5 hours each. Sometimes it felt it is too much to do with case reading for marketing, Ethical leadership, management accounting practice and of course revision of dreaded classes of Quantitative techniques for Managerial Decisions to complete. Some subjects were taught by multiple professors, hence multiple midterm exams along with end term exams. With a day’s break, term 2 has begun and it seems it is going to be lot more hectic than the 1st term.
Exams: XLRI is very academic oriented Business school but focus remains on basics and applications. The biggest surprise element of XLRI is marquee list of Professors. Profs Make sure students read come prepared and perform at the highest level in various exams and quizzes. Lately, competitive spirit has taken front seat and everyone is talking about grades, marks etc. People say it is all only about leaning and not grades but culture of marks, grades, academic orientation builds in when Professors force you to study hard and remind you of exams in every class. Every exam is different; Standard of exam papers was very high in most of the courses in Term 1. Some exams were open book and some were closed book. Don’t ask for performance in open book. Open book doesn’t mean you will sail through instead you will struggle more than the other format. Only one professor, Prof. Sarosh Ghandy didn’t take any formal exam but he had his unique ways of asking us to submit answers to various questions on Ethics and Leadership on A4 sheets of paper.
Myth: B-school is all about partying, extra circulars: this myth was broken in first fifteen days when I started to realize that I don’t have time for any other activity other than studies. One needs to be incredibly good at time management to manage academic and non academic studies.
The CR factor
I have always been on the opinion that Bschools are perfect ground for networking, peer learning, managing conflict view points and learning prioritization. I have been fortunate that class reposed faith in me in selecting me as Class Representative. I am not sure how class evaluates me but I have tried to do justice to the job. Class Rep is a bridge between professors and students. There have been moment of high adrenaline, excitement, anxiety, frustration, dissatisfaction but overall it has been marvelous experience to manage 48 (strength of my section) of different opinions. Sometimes it becomes huge distraction, many a times you can’t concentrate on your individual priorities but it has made me realize why things move slowly in a democratic setup. Hats off to Indian growth despite Indian plurality and democracy.
CEO visits, guest lecture:I had opportunity to attend gyan sessions of CEO of Airtel, Bihar and Jharkhand, CEO of SELCO, Dr Harish Hande, CEO of Goonj, Anshu Gupta and TATA Tiscon Branding guest lecture by Mr. Sharan from TQMS. One of the professors even humorously pointed me that I skipped his class to attend these CEO visits. It has been inspiring to know the exemplary work done by Dr. Hande and his team in areas of solar powering of Rural Karnataka and Anshu Gupta’s team. I remember his chilling narration left the whole CII YI team, (which I am part of) in pin drop silence. His words were of utmost disbelief to us.
CII-YI: Four GMPians got chance and were selected in CII Young Indians society of XLRI. We have already organized Kshitij, a one day event for underprivileged school children. I am not very satisfied with my involvement till date as it has been limited because of academics and exam. I hope to compensate for the same in Term 2.Online group: I am part of the Online group which handles online branding –Blogging, Newsletters, marketing GMP in online space, connecting with prospective students etc. So far the groups’ performance has been satisfactory and but we need to speed up the activities.
Accommodation:The first welcome surprise was Accommodation. Hostel accommodations are very comfortable with AC, phones etc. The housekeeping staff is excellent. Although people have varying opinions about our mess food, but I have liked it very much and no complains at all. In fact, our GMP Mess committee members are doing a commendable job by keeping tab on quality, menu etc.
Parties
The academic pressure has not made us drab personalities, in fact we have had 2-3 parties, Thanks to our Party/Admin committee members.
Village Trip
XLRI’s focus on social entrepreneurship is commendable. A 3 day trip to villages is mandatory for all flagship programs. I along with my group happened to go to three tribal villages and was awestruck with grim realities of rural India. We had to walk for an hour to cross a mountain to reach the one of the villages. The village didn’t have electricity, road, school, primary health care centre but had lots of hope that things will improve for them one day.
Adventure Trip
The Adventure trip organized by Tata steel Adventure foundation was life time experience. Various Team building exercises such as Rock Climbing, Caving, self made rafting on Dimna Lake was truly amazing experience. These events not only helped us understand each other better but also helped us explore our limits.
Today is the first day of Term 2. Human resource management case writing projects need to be formed; I need to read about HUL’s Sangam initiative and solve a question in Optimization in Managerial decision making for tomorrow’s class. I hope term 2 to be as exciting and promising as term 1 and to get some time to scribble few lines on the blog…….
GMPians can be contacted on CoolAvenues to answer admission-related queries: http://www.coolavenues.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21334
Please direct GMP aspirants on CoolAvenues to the above link.
