Holidays after the exams are a good time to make trips, get relaxed, have a lot of fun, and also to reflect on the previous term.  Here I would like to write about some of the things I personally thought about concerning the subjects in the first term; specifically, what I did not necessarily expect to be so important or did not even imagine I would learn here at all, that I now feel means a lot to me.

1. Exposure to the International Diversity – an Example in Financial Reporting

Financial reporting was one of the subjects I was expecting to be particularly useful.  I found the lectures, which covered from IS, BS, CF and consolidation methods to treatment of a lease, very fruitful indeed.  However, what was really eye-opening for me was how different the methods of accounting were from country to country and how each method does make sense respectively.  Before coming here, I didn’t even know that it is common in some countries to list fixed assets at the top of the BS, or classify assets and liabilities by nature, not by term.  The global perspective of the lectures reminded me of the advice from several people that studying in Europe as opposed to the US would allow you to be exposed to a broader range of international business practices.  At that time, I imagined that the difference would basically about the composition of students’ nationalities – which of course would and actually did affect the discussions within the lectures a great deal – but here the perspectives, or mindsets of professors who primarily define the scope of lectures do seem broader.

2. Conceptual Frameworks of Organizational Behaviour

I found all those concepts and frameworks we learned in the Developing Effective Managers (Organizational Analysis) not only extremely intriguing but also of much practical use.  This actually came to me as somewhat surprising because initially I was a little sceptical about how useful the course would be even though I was very interested in the topic.  Having majored in economics in my undergraduate study, I used to imagine what we can learn in such courses as organizational analysis to be “too fuzzy.”  However, the course provided me an excellent opportunity to think about how I would work in, contribute to, and lead a team or an organization.

Going through concepts and frameworks about motivation, team effectiveness, culture, leadership, and so on, and a number of case studies, I found myself constantly reflecting on my own work experience.  Which factors have motivated each of my co-workers?  To what extent those factors might have been similar to or different from what motivates me?  What are the factors that led to the effectiveness of certain research project?  And as asking such questions I noticed the following 2 things.  First, they are often the questions I have asked myself more or less, if not in a formal way, when trying to figure out how higher performance can be achieved and how each of my colleagues can enjoy projects and even find them personally fulfilling.  Second, the frameworks and concepts provided in the course allow me to take into consideration some aspects I couldn’t pay attention to before, and analyse my own experience deeper, in a more balanced way.

So, although the term lasted only 3 months, this particular subject felt like much more since I ended up re-exploring my whole work experience.  It is true that some concepts in Organizational Analysis are difficult to quantify, and thus they are in a sense indeed “fuzzier,” especially when compared to propositions in economics for which mathematical definitions and proofs are provided.  But revisiting academia after 4 and a half years of work experience, I can tell that those “fuzzy” factors about management of organizations really matter, and are too important to neglect.