2x2 window shopping

As I step into second year of my course, I look back to the value addition in me after having completed one year. The major difference between an MBA and non-MBA is that when faced with a problem, former always strives to do things in an organised way whereas latter’s mind is cluttered with many ideas. No sooner has a problem presented itself; an MBA will always try to separate the essentials from the non-essentials and then give structure to his thoughts. But the irony is, this structured problem solving skill doesn’t guarantee positive results and vice-versa.

MBA is like preparing yourself for war, a corporate warfare. The more tools you know, the more equipped you are for the battle. The problem is, there is no Brahmastra (one pill for all ills) and one should know when to use which tools. After having gone through the countless physical and mental exercises in brain-washing OB classes etc. one of the foremost tool (remedy for all in-campus ills) that we learnt is the art of using 2x2 matrix or 2-d axes (or nxn matrix depending on the number of variables affecting the problem). There's something strangely comforting about being able to fit everything into those four little squares - as if the world were at once controllable and interesting.

This is not about trying to be clever - it's just how some of us naturally think. Gone are the engineering days when he waited for the rose-day with 1-d mindset when he spent time plucking petals from rose saying 'she loves me / she loves me not'. Now he tries this seemingly difficult problem in a methodical way by casting a 2x2 matrix with 'She loves me' one axis and 'I love her' on the other and classify all the women he knows along those two dimensions! Let’s not talk about the outcome as I already mentioned the irony.

A class forms of two essentials entities, Professors and Students. It’s like a game of kathputli where in order to run the show its prerogative to have the five fingers unequal. i am thankful to my classmates and professors for their heterogeneity. One learns to sit hours after hours, in those endless lectures, killing time in the hope of some enlightenment, that the Prof would rub-off of their intellectual prowess.

Inside-Out View

Let’s understand the situation with a 2x2 matrix. The Professors. Essentially this elegantly simple classification scheme has two dimensions: Knowledge Quotient and Tyrant Quotient. Both these parameters are further classified as high and low and the interaction of the two gives us the following figure.

Sepia are self-righteous and rigid till the students confuse them. They have their viewpoints and seem to be oblivious of uncalled subjectivity. Although they pretend to hold their ground till the end, external validation is crucial to keep themselves motivated. Its not that they don’t harbour the desire of changing their image from frivolous to tyrant but their desire is clipped by their insufficient knowledge and the morbid fear of getting cornered themselves if they go hunting. They are the most hated ones but nonetheless given artificial respect by the students as the grades depend on their whims and fancies. This makes student’s reactions all the more interesting. Typically, students tend to show a lot of ‘after-class’ and ‘before-class’ participation, to get marks for ‘in-class’ participation. For their subjects, entire learning boils down to quizzes, presentations, assignments etc. as the involvement of the Profs are minimal/zero. All the students sit absent-minded and dull whereas the Prof feels that student are mentally alert.

Eastman are respected by the students and cared by the administration, not because of their treasure of knowledge but because they are endangered species. They have all the ingredients what it takes to become ‘God level Profs’. Like Sepia, Eastmen craves for the superiority but unlike Sepia, they can turn their dreams to reality, so what if that turns out to be a nightmare for the students. But it’s sad that the students don’t take the advantage from them. It’s not all their mistake because they have become irrcorrigible as greater number of Profs belongs to other categories. Mostly these Demigods frequent the college in the late evening or on Sundays, when the students have already run out of their steam or are busy calculating the opportunity cost of missing out on the extra-curricular activities in the weekends.

Tints are possibly the most liked among all the types. They don’t waste single minute of class in negative energy and don’t crave for external validation of their hard work either. They have unique style of delivery and students love to imitate them. Generally they have a smiling face and they connect with the students so well that the students don’t feel the pressure. So the premise that they are less tyrant may not be entirely true. They are respected and remembered for a long time. Having said that, the students can get carried away and the possibility of the Prof being taken for a ride is not totally ruled out in some cases.

B&W are also hated but not to the extent of Sepia. On the contrary, students love to reciprocate the mercy shown by them. Often, they are amazing speakers (because often that’s the only highlighting factor) who can speak for hours without making sense. Unlike Sepia they don’t crave for external validation as deep down inside they know that students are aware of their quality and admire them for their patience. They don’t mind humour at their expense and seldom force themselves on the students. If the subjects delivered by them are compulsory for the course, we curse the administration and if it’s optional we curse ourselves, but the Prof almost always gets away unscathed.

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You would be curious to know how this works for the students. That would be more interesting and relevant. But that’s coming in the next post.

2x2 window shopping Part-2 follows.