Sunday, October 30, 2011

Does experience matter in an MBA?

Does experience matter in an MBA?

I don't know. Because...

I have come across some coursemates who claimed to have over 20 years experience but they were still weak in producing a good assignment.

And yes, they were still some who did produce excellent assignments.

So, I think it all boils down to your writing and academic ability.

There is no point bragging about your working experience spanning over 49 years when that person can't even write a good assignment. When I was a student, they were some who bragged about their extensive working experience and complained that they were given low grades for their assignments. They complained and demanded to know why they were given low grades. Having over 49 years of experience does not mean that you deserve an A! How arrogant they are...

If experience is so important, they might as well award MBAs to all those hawkers, mechanics, plumbers with over 49 years of experience. (No offence to anyone).

I spoke to one of my tutors a few months back and she lamented to me such annoying attitude some managers have. They might be a big boss in their organisation and they still think they are a big boss in the classroom and henceforth, they should be awarded As for their not-so-excellent piece of work.

When some of them demanded to know why they were given low grades, all my tutor did was to put side by side their assignment and another student's assignment, which was given an A. Immediately, they know why they were not given an A.

So, does experience matter? I don't think so.

I think what matters most are your hard work, writing ability, and research ability.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Nevermind is 20 years old!!

I should have written this a few weeks ago to coincide with the right date. Anyway....




The so-called album that killed hair metal is now 20 years old! It was on the news all over...




If you don't know, hair metal ruled the airwaves from the late 70s to the early 90s until this particular album - Nevermind was released on 24 September 1991.






Nevermind was the work of the grunge band called Nirvana.




Nirvana



So, imagine at the time when rockers were wearing tight leather pants/leather jackets /fancy costumes and growing long curly blonde hair; and out from nowhere, there was this unknown rock band from Seattle with its members just wearing t-shirts/flannel shirts bursting out into the rock scene introducing grunge music to the world. Hair metal, bye bye! Hair metal had its glory days and it was time for grunge to take over. That was the rock scene in 1991, 20 years ago. Finally in 1993, hair metal was declared dead. I'm serious.


If you had not listened to grunge before, the MTV below will do the job.

Caution: This MTV is not for the faint-hearted. Get ready for some head-banging!



I don't really like grunge anyway. It's like listening to someone venting their anger and strumming their guitar like a mad person. That is why grunge only lived up to 1996. Grunge seemed to have died out after 1996 only to be replaced by a more radio-friendly alternative rock.


I still prefer hair metal due to its mainstream appeal. Hair metal is much more likeable, radio-friendly, and you need to be a skilled guitarist to be a hair metallist. I still like listening to great guitar solos from a hair metal music.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Writing the proposal

Just the other day, I called up my MBA research project supervisor and I expressed my interest in continuing my PhD. So, I asked her whether she is available to be appointed as my supervisor.

She said "Yes" and she welcomed me to do so. Great!

Now first of all, I have to write a brief proposal before I could submit my application to USM.

I have spend the last few days browsing through some journals to get some ideas of the possible frameworks I could think about.

This is just the beginning of the lonely path of writing a doctoral dissertation.

How long would that be? Five years? Six years? Seven years? Maybe... And it's part time.