Management gone global
November 11, 2005 | 12:00am
LILLE, France –After years of babbling about growing up to be a writer someday, everyone I knew raised an eyebrow when I applied for a management course. People were sure that I would sign up for journalism or communications in college, and every time I expressed my hopes about getting into my desired course, they looked at me at slowly asked, "Comtech? Computer technology?" Once I corrected them, the confusion didn’t wane. "So communications technology management? So…business?"
It’s been challenging to try and explain my course in Ateneo. Communications technology management is a relatively new course, but even if it’s not too known yet, I fell in love with it as soon as I read about it. I love anything about communications and media, but I believe that I needed more than skills in those areas to be successful someday. I’ve always been quite guarded about exploring technology, and I never really mastered a lot of its applications. Also, I wanted to learn all about management and entrepreneurship – I will need basic skills in those areas if I want to be in a business or even start one on my own. It seemed like the perfect course for me, learning how to be a creative and competent manager of communication technology fields. I was ecstatic upon getting accepted and was prepared to hone my business side.
However, starting college always whips your high school tinted glasses off and replaces it with kaleidoscope lenses. I was suddenly exposed to different people, subjects, lifestyles, philosophies. Ateneo prides itself with giving a holistic education and in my first two years I absorbed diverse views and experiences, both in and out of class. I started to question myself and my course – was I really meant to be in Comtech? Maybe I should be an anthropological linguist. Maybe I should be a veterinarian. I felt like someone starry-eyed and drooling at the sight of a grand buffet.
As I started to take more core management subjects, I began to realize the value of my course. (Well, maybe except for when I took accounting and finance – they bled me to death.) I found the subjects very useful. I really do need these skills when I graduate. I can’t just dream of being successful, whether I became a writer or an anthropological linguist – without managing my finances, making analyses, reports and presentations, etc.
Ateneo is a big university and you will be exposed to different things. Fields such as linguistic anthropology were still calling me from the buffet table. I never thought I would realize that I made the right choice here in France, but it was finally here that I knew. When I got accepted to go to IESEG, I was suddenly scared about taking a lot of courses in management. Back home, my management subjects are always balanced by other subjects in the humanities areas, such as philosophy (challenging but fantastic). I was afraid that I would get burned out in France from being too focused on business, especially since we’re supposed to take several intensive management programs (IMPs). An IMP is an entire course given in a single week. So imagine taking a semester’s worth of learning in a single week, four hours every day.
Two months have passed, and surprisingly, I’m not burned out. IESEG has sparked a bigger passion for management and the flame burning warmly and comfortable. Just like any regular students, I still dislike getting buried under a lot of work. It’s not a cup of café au lait over here. It’s definitely hard work especially since we’re in an international program. We’re not just learning about management, we’re also getting an international perspective on things. When our classmates recite, we see how the culture and nature are in other countries. Most of our subjects deal with globalization in their curricula as well. We’ve had International Dimensions of Consumer Behavior, International Business Ethics, and International Development and Management of Non-Government Organizations. Others address the surge of technology in business, like Strategic Management of E-Government and IT Driven Change. These are just some of our courses. We’re driven to think, to look at from a more global perspective, to manage all aspects of a business, to consider the internal and external environments before making decisions. One of the most interesting classes I’m taking is Strategic Thinking and Skills. Every week we have a lecture about strategic thinking, but our tutorial sessions are the most interesting, They’re more like lab sessions, where we’re given an imaginary car company that has lost a lot of money, and in little teams we’re supposed to make decisions every week to improve the company’s situation. It has been so challenging to change the options of our models, to computer for prices, to allocate money for promotion, to decide to invest in research and development. Only recently did my group begin to profit, and it was such a fulfilling feeling, to see our hard work finally pay off.
Some of the most important things we’re learning is not from a single class, but from actually dealing with international students. Although there are six Filipinos in IESEG, our experiences with students from France, Poland, Portugal, China, Slovenia, Canada, Mexico, and more were the hands that yanked us out of our comfort zones. We usually have to work together for group presentations and I’m never totally comfortable when we’re working. Everyone comes from different cultures and are used to different styles of working, and you have to be very sensitive and careful when expressing your ideas. I’ve experienced bulldozers (the bossy ones who argue that their way is the only way) and ostriches (the shy, awkward ones hiding their heads – and ideas – in the ground), master showmen (excellent in presentations with very little actual input) and silent springs (bursting with ideas but totally quiet), the alpha students and partyphiles. One challenge that I’ve gone through is the preparation of the presentations.
So even if we enjoy the thought of traveling on the weekends, our school doesn’t make it so hard to wake up in the mornings. One subjects eats up four hours of our day, but we’re given breaks in between where we recharge with coffee and chocolate bread. We only have a couple of days to study and prepare our group presentations, but our teachers provide complete handouts, slides, and booklets for us – no need to copy notes! Our school also opens its doors, computer, and laptop rooms 24 hours a day (including Sundays!).
I wish everyone could get the chance like this because I feel that this has really given me incredibly valuable experiences and knowledge, not just about management but about life as well. Sometimes students focus on the wrong things while they’re in school and fail to really learn something. They are unaware of the wisdom that they could get from being a student. Maybe I won’t be dealing with any businesses yet, but my new perspective will definitely be helpful when I go back to school.
It’s been challenging to try and explain my course in Ateneo. Communications technology management is a relatively new course, but even if it’s not too known yet, I fell in love with it as soon as I read about it. I love anything about communications and media, but I believe that I needed more than skills in those areas to be successful someday. I’ve always been quite guarded about exploring technology, and I never really mastered a lot of its applications. Also, I wanted to learn all about management and entrepreneurship – I will need basic skills in those areas if I want to be in a business or even start one on my own. It seemed like the perfect course for me, learning how to be a creative and competent manager of communication technology fields. I was ecstatic upon getting accepted and was prepared to hone my business side.
However, starting college always whips your high school tinted glasses off and replaces it with kaleidoscope lenses. I was suddenly exposed to different people, subjects, lifestyles, philosophies. Ateneo prides itself with giving a holistic education and in my first two years I absorbed diverse views and experiences, both in and out of class. I started to question myself and my course – was I really meant to be in Comtech? Maybe I should be an anthropological linguist. Maybe I should be a veterinarian. I felt like someone starry-eyed and drooling at the sight of a grand buffet.
As I started to take more core management subjects, I began to realize the value of my course. (Well, maybe except for when I took accounting and finance – they bled me to death.) I found the subjects very useful. I really do need these skills when I graduate. I can’t just dream of being successful, whether I became a writer or an anthropological linguist – without managing my finances, making analyses, reports and presentations, etc.
Ateneo is a big university and you will be exposed to different things. Fields such as linguistic anthropology were still calling me from the buffet table. I never thought I would realize that I made the right choice here in France, but it was finally here that I knew. When I got accepted to go to IESEG, I was suddenly scared about taking a lot of courses in management. Back home, my management subjects are always balanced by other subjects in the humanities areas, such as philosophy (challenging but fantastic). I was afraid that I would get burned out in France from being too focused on business, especially since we’re supposed to take several intensive management programs (IMPs). An IMP is an entire course given in a single week. So imagine taking a semester’s worth of learning in a single week, four hours every day.
Two months have passed, and surprisingly, I’m not burned out. IESEG has sparked a bigger passion for management and the flame burning warmly and comfortable. Just like any regular students, I still dislike getting buried under a lot of work. It’s not a cup of café au lait over here. It’s definitely hard work especially since we’re in an international program. We’re not just learning about management, we’re also getting an international perspective on things. When our classmates recite, we see how the culture and nature are in other countries. Most of our subjects deal with globalization in their curricula as well. We’ve had International Dimensions of Consumer Behavior, International Business Ethics, and International Development and Management of Non-Government Organizations. Others address the surge of technology in business, like Strategic Management of E-Government and IT Driven Change. These are just some of our courses. We’re driven to think, to look at from a more global perspective, to manage all aspects of a business, to consider the internal and external environments before making decisions. One of the most interesting classes I’m taking is Strategic Thinking and Skills. Every week we have a lecture about strategic thinking, but our tutorial sessions are the most interesting, They’re more like lab sessions, where we’re given an imaginary car company that has lost a lot of money, and in little teams we’re supposed to make decisions every week to improve the company’s situation. It has been so challenging to change the options of our models, to computer for prices, to allocate money for promotion, to decide to invest in research and development. Only recently did my group begin to profit, and it was such a fulfilling feeling, to see our hard work finally pay off.
Some of the most important things we’re learning is not from a single class, but from actually dealing with international students. Although there are six Filipinos in IESEG, our experiences with students from France, Poland, Portugal, China, Slovenia, Canada, Mexico, and more were the hands that yanked us out of our comfort zones. We usually have to work together for group presentations and I’m never totally comfortable when we’re working. Everyone comes from different cultures and are used to different styles of working, and you have to be very sensitive and careful when expressing your ideas. I’ve experienced bulldozers (the bossy ones who argue that their way is the only way) and ostriches (the shy, awkward ones hiding their heads – and ideas – in the ground), master showmen (excellent in presentations with very little actual input) and silent springs (bursting with ideas but totally quiet), the alpha students and partyphiles. One challenge that I’ve gone through is the preparation of the presentations.
So even if we enjoy the thought of traveling on the weekends, our school doesn’t make it so hard to wake up in the mornings. One subjects eats up four hours of our day, but we’re given breaks in between where we recharge with coffee and chocolate bread. We only have a couple of days to study and prepare our group presentations, but our teachers provide complete handouts, slides, and booklets for us – no need to copy notes! Our school also opens its doors, computer, and laptop rooms 24 hours a day (including Sundays!).
I wish everyone could get the chance like this because I feel that this has really given me incredibly valuable experiences and knowledge, not just about management but about life as well. Sometimes students focus on the wrong things while they’re in school and fail to really learn something. They are unaware of the wisdom that they could get from being a student. Maybe I won’t be dealing with any businesses yet, but my new perspective will definitely be helpful when I go back to school.
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