People and Workplaces

 My learning, if you will...

At any workplace, people are always good..at least a majority. It's the organisation that sometimes is unable to leverage their enthusiasm, through faulty policies, or systems, or wrong priorities.

I have worked in a large array of organisations, and learnt this over and over again. Saw a few bad leaders spoil things too. But of course, they were appointed by someone. By and large, I found very nice co-workers every place I worked. KIAMS was probably like a close-knit family with thirty students, a dozen staff and six faculty when we started PGDM in 1998.

Does this apply to students and the classroom? I think it does. A bulk of the students in a class are ready to be motivated, if you give them goals that are smart.. achievable, interesting, and perhaps fun. For instance, group work in class (or outside if designed right) can be all of these. 

So organisational design (or in a class, pedagogy) can play a big role in a set of people who will excel, or otherwise. Pay attention to what is the mood around you, and why.

T Shirt Designs

We were discussing the crowdsourcing strategy followed by a company, Threadless, in class. I went back and found a couple of designs of t-shirts from my wardrobe. Two were from a wine company, Sula, promoting wine.

The other was from The Week, a periodical published from Kerala. The Good News on the front is accompanied by Bad News for the competition on the back. It was part of a promotion they did at IIMK.

 These were not crowdsourced, by the way, but companies could do that too.

Marketing Research

This is a subject/course I have been teaching for around 27 years, starting in 1991. I got interested in it because of my stint in a company called MBA founded by 3 MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad. Later, after a Ph.D. I returned to India and started teaching M.R., and soon after, wrote a book. Its 4th edition is on its way. A lot of students have contributed to the chapter-end cases in the book, starting with Kirloskar Institute and ending with IIM Indore for the latest edition.

A pic from a recent M.R. class where an interesting in-class exercise is on. I rely on a lot of these to enhance learning about the subject.

There are a lot of hands-on exercises as well as a course project that trains students in doing different things- from formulating research problems, designing a study and executing one. Analysis is just one part of this process.

Airports, Airlines and Hotels

This is an academic discussion about airlines, airports and hotels based on recent flights (real ones, not flights of fancy). I taught services marketing, after all, and wrote a book on it too.

The airports vary wildly in terms of layout and convenience. Chennai airport (inside, check-in and security) is very chaotic, and gives you a feeling that a Bohemian designed it. First of all, there are unnecessary lines everywhere-for baggage screening. Most civilised large airports do this after you check bags in. Here, they do it before, causing untold misery, and long lines in places other than check-in. Thank God those horrible bag tags are gone-no one knew why they were there-maybe the British had mandated they should be, in 1929.

On the positive side, arrivals lounge is decent, and the parking for various brands of taxis is very friendly. No stops on the way out of the airport.

About Jet Airways, a few good words. At least one of the air hostesses on both flights I took was courteous enough to get me a pillow to rest my arm on, when she noticed it (the arm) was broken. This was voluntary, without my asking for it, and therefore special.

A final good word about GRT Grand, the hotel I stayed in at Chennai. One of the waitresses at their restaurant was really cool, chatty and refreshing, while doing her work efficiently all the time. Makes you wonder what would happen if ALL service providers were like her....Utopia?

Flying Zebras and More

There was this place called Flying Zebra pizzas that I happened to eat at in Siem Reap, Cambodia. A small, homely but distinctive eatery, it had a wood-fired oven that was right at the entrance, and you could see the pizza being put inside it- it was a big oven. The taste of the thin crust pizza was very different, may be because of the wood. Better than many I have eaten elsewhere. It was served on a wooden plate too.

The TV played Charlie Chaplin films- a couple of classics that I must have watched ages ago in a theatre were on, bringing on nostalgia. There was also an interesting drink available, made of crushed mint and ice, with lemon juice and water/soda that looked unlike anything I remember having before.

In other words, a nice touch here, a nice touch there, and service with a smile. What more can a customer ask for?

Another interesting feature in Phnom Penh is that all streets are numbered, so they are easy to find on a map. They have names too, but names are usually tough to find for outsiders. Tourist-friendly, I'd say. And US dollars are in use for public transport or any other purchases, so you don't have to change currencies, saving a lot of bother. The local currency is Riel, which is about 4100 to a US dollar.

Hotel Design- Cambodia

 Lounge at the reception.

 Entrance.

 Restaurant.

 Lamp shade.

 Above, pond with a shrine at the far end. Below, a view of the first floor.

This was a hotel called Tea House Urban Resort in Phnom Penh that I stayed in. The design is stunning, open plan, and pleasing to the senses. Why don't more hotels look like this?

Honda Brio

After a long time in the car industry, there is a head-turner. Yes, it looks cute, and unique. The last time one had this feeling might have been with the Daewoo small car in India, and the Volkswagen Beetle abroad. What is it with the million-dollar car designers that they can't think of better designed-cars?

Cars come in weird shapes. Boxy, aggressive, sporty (whatever that means- driving is certainly not a sport, unless you count toying with other people's lives as one). They can also be functional, spacy (more car per car?) and fluidic (hopefully, not a car version of the incredible melting man, one of my favourite comic characters).

When will the designers actually use brains to do things like they apparently have with the Brio? If history is any indicator, not very often.

Hotel Design and Customer Convenience

Having been to (and stayed in) two different hotels in the 4-5 star category in recent times for seminars on the IMT-Grenoble doctorate (DBA), these are observations born of necessity. One major irritant that I find in hotels is that you need your key card to operate the lift. It is a huge inconvenience to the guest, as you are caught unawares and then left to figure it out. And the visitor cannot visit on his own, without an escort. Overdoing the security bit? You bet.

The other great inexplicable I find is that bathtubs have gone missing. They used to be a luxury that one could indulge in without stepping out of you room. You do have fancier and fancier showers with five different ways to use them, but they are not the same thing.

The third I find most irritating is the (lack of) lighting in the room. They have eight different lights, but not one bright enough to light up the room entirely. You have to struggle first to find the hidden switches, and then to just read normally. TV remotes galore confuse you further. Why do you need two remotes when one will do? Anyway, the stress is on showing off rather than on functionality is my conclusion. I prefer the old-world options with basic aesthetics. Heck, I AM old-world.