As a professional in HR services, i found that its very important to observe, analyze and understand the environment. If one needs to make impact and introduce change management, one has to have ability to manage expectations. Here is a case to understand this.
A batch of 43 students gets admitted to one of the prestigious institution for HR after rigorous admission procedure.Interesting thing is this, that this time the institute takes students through CAT, which is a national level entrance test. Seniors make these students to undergo an induction program. By the definition the Induction process 'orients' students and welcome them into newer environment. However the program fails on major grounds resulting in friction between sections from both groups i.e. senior and junior.
It will be useful if we understand situation from both the perspectives. First we describe senior batch initiative and the series of events. Sr.Batch presumes that the Jr.Batch would be much more talented and would be very high on participation, involvement and initiative level. They design assignments and activities which will continue for around 10 days from the first day of classes. These were written assignments, group activities and games, group presentations and selection for different committees which are responsible for Placements, Annual Convention, Student Development, Sports and Discipline. Sr.Batch has a sub group of enthusiastic, passionate and motivated people. They feel themselves responsible for making the new batch to understand the environment of the Institution so that they can face challenges of the place.
Junior Batch is different from Sr. Batch on many grounds. They have majority of female students and also have more representation from people with Work Experience. Since these students were preparing for CAT, their expectation from the Institute is very objective. Also since many of them already had appeared for other B School entrance procedures and many being Engineers, they have descent idea of what kind of attitude is required to make a cut into different kind of assessment activities. Moreover they are from different part of the country and majority of outstation candidates are from tier 2 cities. This lot has worked very hard to get into top 7 percentiles of entire country with roughly 2.5 lac of competition!
The gist is that this Batch is not expecting to get 'coached' by people (because of their limited understanding of an orientation program) with just one more year of exposure as compared to them in the course. Its very important to consider the point that this Batch at the back of their head already feels that they have proved themselves, at least in the initial one week at college.
With this context, Sr.Batch engages the Jr. Batch in the Induction program. The written assignment comes across to Jr. Batch as lengthy and mechanical. They enjoyed group games as they mixed among themselves. Most of the program was not known to Jr. Batch beforehand and they perceived it as unorganized and Sr. Batch said they want to keep the element of surprise. Many activities were successful and both the groups enjoyed it. One of the activity failed miserably when Jr. Batch was asked to solve a case study on HR and make presentation thereafter, the batch does it with a competitive spirit, imagining that this is somewhat pertinent. But when they tried to present they found the Sr. Batch to be not listening and mocking them on their attire and articulation. Sr. Batch later clarified the whole activity to be a learning activity and a stress interview. This very event came across as a nail on the coffin as this event gave rise to false judgments of each other and induced biases. The rift became very clear when it affected the selection process for committee roles.
What went wrong?
How could Induction be done differently to attain a positive outcome?
Is it necessary to resolve the Conflict?
What initiatives Jr. Batch must have taken to resolve the conflict?
Can attitude be changed through a training program?
A batch of 43 students gets admitted to one of the prestigious institution for HR after rigorous admission procedure.Interesting thing is this, that this time the institute takes students through CAT, which is a national level entrance test. Seniors make these students to undergo an induction program. By the definition the Induction process 'orients' students and welcome them into newer environment. However the program fails on major grounds resulting in friction between sections from both groups i.e. senior and junior.
It will be useful if we understand situation from both the perspectives. First we describe senior batch initiative and the series of events. Sr.Batch presumes that the Jr.Batch would be much more talented and would be very high on participation, involvement and initiative level. They design assignments and activities which will continue for around 10 days from the first day of classes. These were written assignments, group activities and games, group presentations and selection for different committees which are responsible for Placements, Annual Convention, Student Development, Sports and Discipline. Sr.Batch has a sub group of enthusiastic, passionate and motivated people. They feel themselves responsible for making the new batch to understand the environment of the Institution so that they can face challenges of the place.
Junior Batch is different from Sr. Batch on many grounds. They have majority of female students and also have more representation from people with Work Experience. Since these students were preparing for CAT, their expectation from the Institute is very objective. Also since many of them already had appeared for other B School entrance procedures and many being Engineers, they have descent idea of what kind of attitude is required to make a cut into different kind of assessment activities. Moreover they are from different part of the country and majority of outstation candidates are from tier 2 cities. This lot has worked very hard to get into top 7 percentiles of entire country with roughly 2.5 lac of competition!
The gist is that this Batch is not expecting to get 'coached' by people (because of their limited understanding of an orientation program) with just one more year of exposure as compared to them in the course. Its very important to consider the point that this Batch at the back of their head already feels that they have proved themselves, at least in the initial one week at college.
With this context, Sr.Batch engages the Jr. Batch in the Induction program. The written assignment comes across to Jr. Batch as lengthy and mechanical. They enjoyed group games as they mixed among themselves. Most of the program was not known to Jr. Batch beforehand and they perceived it as unorganized and Sr. Batch said they want to keep the element of surprise. Many activities were successful and both the groups enjoyed it. One of the activity failed miserably when Jr. Batch was asked to solve a case study on HR and make presentation thereafter, the batch does it with a competitive spirit, imagining that this is somewhat pertinent. But when they tried to present they found the Sr. Batch to be not listening and mocking them on their attire and articulation. Sr. Batch later clarified the whole activity to be a learning activity and a stress interview. This very event came across as a nail on the coffin as this event gave rise to false judgments of each other and induced biases. The rift became very clear when it affected the selection process for committee roles.
What went wrong?
How could Induction be done differently to attain a positive outcome?
Is it necessary to resolve the Conflict?
What initiatives Jr. Batch must have taken to resolve the conflict?
Can attitude be changed through a training program?
What went wrong was a lot of things...it may be a superiority complex for the juniors, it may be a superiority complex for the seniors, ego on the part of seniors and a lack of humility on the part of the junis, yes the induction could be done differently, if there was something at stake, like placements or attendance it would have been a lot more productive.
ReplyDeleteHow necessary is it to resolve this conflict?
Not at all, there is no need to resolve this conflict, the seniors leave in another 6 months, and after that it is upto the juniors to reinvent the wheel, they can start from scratch and mold MHROD in their own image.
Initiatives are for you to decide.
Training programs can only be effective when there is an open attitude towards learning, both ways.
But nicely written...