Presenting the
Smith MBA Class of 2006
Sprinting, jumping and hurdling,
nearly 160 students representing 22
countries came together on August 16,
2004, in Van Munching Hall to begin
their two-year pursuit of the coveted
Smith School MBA degree. The weeklong
orientation for the Class of 2006, whose
collective favorite Olympic sport is
track and field, featured keynote
speakers, team-building exercises,
career planning, and networking events.
"The purpose of MBA Orientation is to
help incoming students manage the
transition from the world of work to
that of a demanding MBA program, while
simultaneously developing the
camaraderie and spirit that is unique to
the Smith community," says Sabrina
White, Smith's director of MBA/MS
admissions.
Keynote Speaker Harvey
Seegers
The
2006 MBA class opened its orientation
week with a lesson in leadership from
e-commerce expert Harvey Seegers.
Seegers, who says the Robert H. Smith
School of Business understands the
future of business better than any other
business school in the world, is former
CEO of GE Global eXchange and GXS. He is
2004-2005 Executive-in-Residence at the
Smith School; the school will take
advantage of his e-commerce expertise
through lectures and seminars throughout
the year.
Seegers' presentation, Business
Leadership in the Digital Economy: A
CEOs perspective, focused on the way
technology has changed business. Among
the brand new challenges for young
leaders like you, Seegers told entering
MBA students, is the need for
cross-functional knowledge. The digital
economy is coming of age, and capital
markets are impatient for growth.
Disruptive technologies creep into the
workplace at devastating speed.
Seegers also urged students to
integrate basic business principles into
their understanding and development of
netcentric business practices. His
multimedia presentations included a
sobering parade of failed e-commerce
enterprises. At the beginning of the
dot-com boom there was a Gold Rush
mentality among management and investors
who should have known better. There was
a lack of independent judgment. In their
preoccupation with cool technology, they
ignored enduring business principles,
said Seegers.
Marshmallow Building
Achievements
Marshmallows and toothpicks were the
building blocks for an unusual lesson in
diversity and teamwork for the Class of
2006. Students were divided into groups
of four and given the task of
constructing a model for a new Smith
School building using toothpicks and
marshmallows. But there was a catch:
only one person could touch the building
supplies, and of the other three team
members, one could only talk, one could
only write, and one could only draw.
Somehow, the teams had to find a way to
get their building constructed despite
their diverse abilities and
communication styles. And to give
everyone a taste of every role, group
members switched roles every eight
minutes.
Despite
the playful nature of the exercise,
these aspiring leaders came away with
some serious conclusions in their
post-building discussion. Groups
reflected on how different styles of
communication affected the teams ability
to work together, and many noted how
hard it was to change from one style of
communication to another. (And almost
everyone thought the folks who could
only write their thoughts had a more
difficult time communicating than the
folks who could only draw their
thoughts.)
Differences in communication styles
weren't the only problems groups worked
through. They dealt with running out of
supplies (not enough toothpicks!) and
then had to work through re-engineering
their structure to cope with the
unexpected capital equipment shortage.
Some groups had difficulty coming to a
consensus on their plan, some groups
waited till their structure was
half-built before coming up with a plan,
and other eschewed planning altogether.
Some groups found that ideas came all at
once from everyone in the group, which
made it difficult to, like, actually get
anything accomplished.
Second-year MBA students acted as
moderators for their new peers, helping
them apply their marshmallow building
experience in a thoughtful and
stimulating discussion of the importance
communication would play in their team
projects during the year. The Smith MBA
program relies heavily on teamwork to
give these future CEOs practical
experience of the persuading,
negotiating, and collaborative effort
that will drive their future careers.
Finally, the groups efforts were
rewarded with candy. Now who says
getting a graduate degree cant be fun?
And the Gold Medal for
Climbing Goes to...
A
highlight of orientation was a half-day
of team-building exercises at the
University of Maryland's Outdoor
Recreation Center. MBA students worked
on two of the adventure complex's ropes
courses - a rock climbing wall and an
alpine tower. Prior to the advanced
skills, the teams were broken up into
groups where they got to know each other
through various on-the-ground
team-building activities.
All students have access to the
state-of-the-art Campus Recreation
Center, which includes a track, fitness
room, weight room, martial arts room,
table tennis facility, aerobics room,
gyms, racquetball and squash courts,
instructional and deep water pools,
saunas, locker/shower facilities, an
equipment issue service, Pro Shop, the
Center for Health and Wellbeing, and
Sneakers Caf and lounge.
