DM23302_Abhirup Datta

Section 3

Personal Learning Paper

“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it from you.”

Doing my MBA from a well-known college has always been on my radar, and the it became reality when I
got the admission letter from Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai. Covid-19 fiasco couldn’t set
me off from neither achieving my goal nor be a deterrent to join the campus which is only few days to go.
As I complete my first two months in the shade of Great Lakes faculties and batchmates, I realize myself
transformed into a new me, which I had always craved for. The journey started with Term 0, the brainchild
of the college, which helped to have glimpse of various facets of the new management journey I was going
to take. It was net-practice. Although I craved for on-campus learning, Term 0 was coherently structured,
and it boosted my interest and confidence. Term 0 came to an end on Aug 2, 2021 and the trial period was
over.

Well, now it is time to hop on the main business, shouldn’t we?

Aug 4, 2021, I started my official MBA. The academic projects and extra-curricular activities were
bombarded on us from Day 1. It was intimidating at first but then I slowly embraced it with joy. Calling up
friends for doubts, meetings with groups for project, fun-meets was packed almost every day. Not a day was
dull and uneventful. Then was the committee selection process and students committee election campaign.
The support and inclusion shown by all of us really made me feel that we are a big family. The IT team in
the backend continuously provided us all the support while we were spending half of our day on zoom calls.

In a few days, I was introduced to Organizational Behavior class. All of us were unknown of what it entails.
But I was eager for the key takeaways from the sessions of Prof. Elankumaran. I was startled to see that this
course encompasses a wide extent of both corporate management and individual perception. It was eye-
opener for me to investigate the nuances of corporate relationships around the world and what holds the
employee and employer together. The introduction classes gave glimpse of work culture sustainability too.

I gained a lot from the perception classes, and how it really changes the people’s behavior really moved me.
Now I apply that learning in my daily interaction and got to know how it really works among people.
Reality is what we perceive. I also realized how the halo effect and horns effect are prevailing in our society
and workplace and detrimental can it be. The perception is everything, I gathered. Prof. Elankumaran was
always spot on with correct examples and thoughts.

As and when course progressed, I learnt more about myself. The Big Five Personality test and MBTI really
helped me know my inner capabilities and virtues. It prepared me to accept myself and be more accountable
of anything I do. The Indian model provided the desi view of attributes and behavior in form of Gunas. The
link to Bhagavat Gita was astonishing and enriching.

As I delve into the pedagogy, I learnt the importance of group work and brainstorming. Group meets are the
things I always looked forward to. It helped me to know my batchmates and chill. The Organizational
behavior course was structured to emphasize on group work. It served as ice breaker and enhanced the peer
learning skills in me, along with critical thinking power.

As I came to know the power of perception, the attitudinal perspective can’t be left behind. The attitude
completes the restricted perception. When both attitude and perception are correct then I realized I gain an
undivided true reality of the picture. I slowly now try to apply my learning, not only for my own benefit but
also to encourage others not to see through blurred lenses. My own attitudes also help me to increase my
confidence and build a healthy relationship with everyone around.

One of the key takeaways will be the experience I am getting from the behavioral sessions. My batchmates
share the moments relating to a topic, and they are just apt and are a source great learning too. The mix of
humor and content was perfect. The small videos which every faculty share with us, gave us true picture of
real scenarios. The zoom sessions were always close to what it would have been on- campus. The faculties
and IT team must get big shoutout!

I got to know about emotional quotient and learning quotient. I realized that companies want an employee
who can imbibe a wholistic development when exposed to responsibilities rather than a person who is hiding
oneself and faking of being what he is not as those results in a disaster in the days to come.

The experience and learning I got in these two months increased my hunger towards what in store in the
next days to come. The juggling between academic course and placement preparation had pushed my limits
to manage time and attention. The management of the institute is always on their toes to help us out and
provide the extra mile needed. The course is only one-seventh completed to call myself an MBA graduate,
but I am confident that I will evolve into a composed and holistically developed individual, the belief I
gathered from the change in these few weeks. I hope, at the end, I will be able to imbibe the learning up to
my expectations. I am pretty much optimistic that I will be able to make my professors and my parents
proud when I shout, throwing my academic hat, “I graduated with an MBA degree”.