Home, Sweet, Noisy, Chaotic Home . . . It is Grand!

Dear Friends,
This leg of my journey is over and I have returned to my home and have enjoyed reuniting with one husband, 3 sons, and two dogs. Life is Good~

Thank you for your support, love, prayers and affections over the last 10 weeks -- I've told you before, and will tell you again, I couldn't have done it without you!

Some of you may be familiar with HBS's instructional style is to use the Case Study Method. About 3/4 of the way through the program, I decided to write a case study about my Living Group just as comic relief. I thought I would eventually write Part B and Part C to the case, but I think those will just live on in my mind as now I go back to the people I love, the work I enjoy and get on with the rest of my previously scheduled life.

Hope this gives you a few laughs and insight into a tiny slice of my HBS life~

Peace, Love and Joy to you all~

Dee Ann

Elite Business School (EBS) (A)
May 2009

Once upon a time in a place far, far away, there was a very Elite School of Business (EBS) in the glorious land of capitalism. For an enormous amount of Euros, Rend, Rupees, Pesos, Pounds, Yen and Dollars, an organization's suits can spend 60 revolutions of the earth experiencing the education, stress and group process of the Elite School of Business's hardworking MBA students. For some of the suits, the imitation of graduate business school is the equivalent of the experience of meeting the Queen, journeying to Mecca or being named a Baron. For others, the experience is analogous to be exiled to Siberia. To intensify and expedite the indoctrination to the EBS, the suits are divided into groups of 8 in which to live, study and pursue social excursions together. To further the cohesiveness, the 8 suits are assigned a small cell with a bed and desk as appointments. They share a much more well-appointed common living and study area.

EBS selects suits to live together based on every aspect of diversity. This creates a laboratory in which the interpersonal skills of each student are tested constantly. The suits search the living space for the cameras that are documenting their response to positive and negative stimuli like rats in a lab. So, by fate and destiny, a group of suits are assimilated into a Survival Group (SG). They come from many different fiefdoms: a post communism independent country (PCIC); post-apartheid country in the southern hemisphere (PASH); Asian country known for caning (ACC), an oil rich, tax free country in the middle east (ORTF); a small Caribbean third world country (CITW); a very large Asian country where there really are sacred cows (LAC) and, of course, representation from the Great World Power of the West (GWPW),

In other words, EBS created a forum for disaster should the SG's, in the course of 60 revolutions of the earth, are unable to resolve inherent differences. Such was the case in SG 14. It was a laughless life in the SG. With humor as a sin, the suits remained stoic and serious. Small in stature, from the first opportunity to take control, CITW became the self-appointed dictator of the SG. His behavior caused other suits to question CITW’s young pre-suit life and what caused such a struggle. Maybe a bad experience with a team sport such as Cricket? CITW was threatened by the superior intelligence of the suit from PASH.

CITW looked for opportunities to degrade PASH creating a hostile environment for all. The suit from PCIC was disillusioned by the behavior of the comrades in the SG. ACC was a peacemaker and when the peace agreement failed, disengaged quickly to be with other ACC's. One of the LAC members attempted early to rival CITW, but ultimately lacked energy and attention to sustain the effort. The other LAC was sometimes oblivious to the often-occurring oppression.

ORTF provided natural leadership being the most balanced member of the SG. Having been raised in the land where the Queen's English is perfect, worked in the territory within the GWPW known for its oil and as a place with which not to mess, ORTF provided a lot of depth to the SG.

GWPW relied on strengths of understanding Human Relations to sort and counsel various personalities, learning styles and group dynamics and to determine the causes and solutions to the complete dysfunction of the SG. One thing, GWPW knew for sure, the SG had a common enemy. They often nursed their disappointments in the local Pub, with the absence of GWPW.

With questions of maximizing the value of the academic experience and alleviating the discomfort within the SG, the High King (HK) of EBS has been consulted to resolve the conflicts before the revolutions of the earth signal the end of the ultimate education experience (UEE). And, of course, in true nature of a fairy tale, help all members of the SG to live happily ever after.

In response to this case study, consider the following questions:

1. How should GWPW attempt to further influence the SG to more positive engagement with one another?

2. Is this issue resolvable? Why or why not?

3. Does EBS have responsibility for the welfare of the SG and each suit attending?

4. How would you advise HK to proceed in resolving the dysfunction of the SG? Should CITW be banished forever from EBS?

5. Prepare a balance sheet that demonstrates the revenues EBS receives from suits that attend the program compared to the cost of executing the program. Also calculate future income at risk if the reputation of EBS is tarnished by this event.

The characters in this case study are not fictional. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is completely intentional.