Zero Gravity Part-2

"Does Attitude result in behavior or behavior forms an attitude" it was a chicken and egg question for me. Apart from this there were too many confusions to clear and too many concepts to digest with in a span of 3 months.(like FIRO Model, Individual Frame of Reference, Attributes and Behavior, Motivational theories, etc) The perfection in our Prof Arul's thoughts and the effective way of his teaching has made us to realize the greatness of OB. I started appreciating the subject and his teachings and the sad thing was that I could just appreciate it .

Thanks for the frequent meetings of us to strategize the study methodology, the Shetty's canteen made a good business out of it. We finally decided that each one of us will drill down one specific topic and explain it to others. I chose a relatively simpler topic. The team decided that instead of taking a walk around the campus after dinner, we all will walk to the class room to work on OB. I was against this decision since, I hated to study a theory subject after lunch or dinner for my own reasons. But as always I had to follow the majority, attend the extra class room sessions.

The days went fast while we were trying to make our selves comfortable with various concepts, the judgment day arrived. We had two exams to attend that day one systems related subject and in the afternoon it was OB. Even before the start of Systems exam, guys were busy revising OB. I saw Veni praying again, I was fed up with these scenes I turned the other side to spot possible information sources to complete the examination successfully. To my right a senior girl was sitting . I was turning to look the other side when I realized, she is one of the few girls who happens to be in my fortune 500 crush list.

While others were struggling to revise the portion they had completed yesterday night, I was struggling to start a conversation with a senior gal sitting next to me. Well the proven methodology to start the flirting inthis scenario is to talk about studies. I looked at the board there were two subjects were written in their code names SD and ITFM, "SD must be systems & designs and ITFM logically relates to IT" I thought for a second, turned towards that gal and said hai. She saw me with a question mark face and said a mild hai. "So you guys also have systems exam? Well you can help me then” I said smilingly.

She gave a confused smile and said “That’s a different subject, actually…”

“No you just write some thing, I will copy it from you” keeping my mischievous smile on, I continued “it doesn’t matter, after all it’s a same subject right” I stopped her before she could finish. I was trying to make the conversation more interested and occupied. I saw others also gave a smile and showed some attention to our conversation. I appreciated myself for easing up the exam tension of others.

“So what exactly ITFM means?” I asked her with continuing my smile.

“Information….Technology…..For…… Management” each word was stressed and was coming out with a mix of anger and frustration. But it was not the “Girl next Bench” who told this, it was Veni who was still continuing her angry stare. “Hey how do you know their subject? Cool yaar” I said to her without giving much importance to her look.

“Because it’s our subject” Karthi told me patting my shoulder with a broad smile while every one other in the class broke into a big laugh.I was totally embarrassed “well then SD isn’t it systems and…” before I could finish , the girl next bench said “its sales and distribution”.

“Ok, the results are out even before the exam started” I said to myself giving an embarrassed smile. I dug my face into the question paper while I was still sensing the angry stares of Veni.

Thankfully it was only the abbreviation of the subject that I was unaware of. The questions seemed quite ok and was able to finish the exam 30 minutes prior to given time. I rushed to our Mess.

After lunch, we had a brief discussion before leaving to the examination. This time it was only our batch who was writing the exam. The pattern of the paper was written on the black board which said “The exam comprises of two papers Part A 40 mins and Part B to be finished in an hour”. As the clock stroked, the invigilator came and distributed the paper.

“Part A” I read as it fell on my desk, I picked it up with mixed feelings of reluctance and fear as if it’s an alien piece that fell on earth. I held it with my finger tips, read it completely”. The paper was in “Fill in the blanks” format. “It could have been helpful if it was an objective type questionnaire” I thought. I opened the pen cap held the paper steadily on the desk by pressing it to fill int he two blanks which I was sure of. Of which, one was my name and another was the roll number.

I pitied my self for my situation and turned around to check others. I saw Tifosi eagerly waiting for the examiner to reach him and give the question paper. As I had nothing else to do with exam I was just watching how my friend Tifosi going to take this issue. The examiner gave the paper to Tifosi and turned back “Sir, give me Part B” Tifosi called him up.

“Well both can not be given at a time, you have 40 minutes to complete part A. After you are done you can take the other part”

“Well…” Tifosi paused and said “I am done with it, I have filled my name. You can take this and give Part B”. Taken back by surprise, the examiner walked back to Tifosi cursing silently about the dedication of today’s students. He took the paper and turned back, what he saw was the whole bunch of hands raised above the head, holding the question papers. The whole class proved to be allergenic towards OB.

The examiner sighed in despair, he collected all the papers and took the other bunch located on the far end of the table. Holding the bunch, he came near to my seat to start distributing from there. He gave the Part B and waited for few seconds expecting it to get it back with mandatory fields filled. I sensed his entity while reading the question paper and lifted my head to see him. He gave paper to the next person but stayed near to the point to collect it back so that he can reduce his work load.

“Probably I will give a try” I said looking at him. He smiled and proceeded with his distributing of papers.

The paper started with a kind of disclaimer saying “Time of Part A will not be carried forward to Part B”. “So Arul knows that we all will screw up part A” I thought. I scanned through Part B, this time other than the mandatory fields; I was able to touch few of the questions. Within half an hour half the class empty and after fifteen minutes only I was left in the exam hall. I completed the paper. The examiner collected my paper and turned back and forth to see. He gave a nasty smile noting an inverse relationship between the time spent in the hall and lines filled in the paper. Of course he will not know that you need to think a ton to write a line in Arul’s exam.

“If he sees my paper, he will definitely come to my room and will hit me” It was Lucifer's frustrated tone. “Don’t worry, he probably will have to create another holocaust to punish us for the kind of writings” I replied taking a sip of hot badam milk. “I don’t give him the chance” It was Veni who has just entered the canteen “We will kill you before any one gets you” Sandy said showing the same level of anger as Veni. “Don’t you even know the abbreviation of your own subject, disgusting you are!!!” every one seemed to enjoy the situation other than me, Sandy continued “Tell me one thing, how can you act so foolish?” “He was not acting” it’s Larry who utterly enjoys cracking jokes on me.

Amidst the surprising tests, presentations and exams, we managed to survive the first semester. All of us did well in the other subjects, while OB was the one culprit that pulled down the average score of the entire batch. The above average guys were pulled down to average level and less fortunate guys like me were pulled down to below average levels. In the end term, Arul wanted to loosen a bit so this time his question paper was very easy and many of us managed to touch the double digit.

Though the marks in OB proved to be comparatively lesser than other subjects,It was only OB that had added more knowledge to us and helped us to improve our thinking process in the areas like consumer behavior, Strategic marketing etc. Finally it was not exactly the marks that showcased our talent.It depends on the many other factors other than your reading time, like the kind of professor who molds your thinking process, the level of your involvement and the quality of discussion you do with your friends. If not a universal truth at least it holds good with my experience.

To conclude this pathetically lengthy story, It's not always exams that test the talent of a student. It's probably one of the least efficient tool to test one's talent. But there are only few professors like Arul who can efficiently use this tool.This was one of the few subjects where in I could witness a direct relation between the marks of the student to his actual intelligence. (Well do not post a comment asking my final marks in OB: ))

If you are keen on HR / OB related stuff the best site you can refer is:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5503/intro.html (It's our professor's site)