Hello World!

Yes, this is my first ever blog post. And yes, I am yet another newbie blogger (we are multiplying in quantum these days). First let me start by trying to explain why I named this blog “Office Space”, after one of my favourite movies (do watch, if you haven’t seen it as yet). As mentioned in my blog description, this blog was initiated as a class project to allow me to reflect on my core learning in the HBO class. Since, I may have got you in the movie frame of mind, I would just like to clarify first that I am not referring to the popular movie channel here, but rather to the Human Behaviour in Organizations class, which I am taking as part of my MBA program at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila.

Coming back to the movie; it revolves around the life of a group of IT professionals in America who are basically bored of their mundane job and finally try to hatch an elaborate conspiracy to get even with their company, when they learn that it is planning to lay some of them off. One of the hilarious instances in the movie, is when the main character narrates the dilemma he faces, as a result of reporting to six managers. He sulks that because of this, when he makes a mistake, he has six people pointing out his mistake. To top it off, the company also has a perfect example of an air-headed boss, with a ‘MYPRSCHE’ car plate, signature coffee mug and the ‘oh-so’ irritating habit of coming to your desk on a Friday evening (when you are just about to leave) and asking you to come into work on Saturday.

Don’t worry; I won’t give away too much more of the movie. I just wanted to highlight a few points to give you a classic example of what a company should not do. Moreover it was the air-headed boss who was especially making the work place so mundane and uncomfortable for the employees. The ‘human-connect’ element seemed to be totally missing here. The employees of the organization spent most of their time trying to devise innovative ways to avoid this boss character, and not cross paths with him.

I think many of us will be able to relate to this in some facet of our work life; although on a much smaller scale (and not at the dramatised scale of Hollywood). This just signifies, how important human behaviour can be, from a company’s perspective.

“Let’s just leave it at that, and pick up from it further in our next class”.