Graduate / "Nature's revenge + Travel to Angola" - Significant event of my life - MBA essay [3]

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Describe a formative or significant event in your life and then explain how this event has influenced your subsequent thoughts and actions. (500 words)

Incident One:

Nature's revenge on its own world during Hurricane Ike led to a huge catastrophe. It affected the lives of thousands of people. Many people including myself were evacuated from their homes, with nothing in hands except their lives. I along with my friend left Houston and traveled without knowing a definite destination. We stopped at every motel looking for shelter, hunted for open stores for food. Though we finally managed to get accommodation in a motel, we suffered due to the unavailability of vegetarian food to feed ourselves. In that situation, I realized the importance of food, which is not sufficiently available for millions of people in the world.

If the time of the calamity was disastrous, the aftermath was even more devastating. When I had a look at the broken glasses, shattered windows, fallen trees, damaged properties and the lost lives, I felt

"I'm falling to pieces to stick them back,
Presuming to convey that I will survive,
Though tough times did whack and crack,
I shall reform to thrive and revive".

I felt that these disasters are nature's messages to preserve our natural habitats and protect natural resources. In addition, this experience has significantly influenced me to understand the value of life that nature gave us.

Incident Two:

I traveled to Angola in April 2009 to support a major IT project for one of the largest oil & gas companies. I initially rejected this project due to the safety and lodging concerns. Nevertheless, I was convinced by my supervisor who detailed me about the work environment and how personnel safety is of utmost importance. So, I mentally prepared for the project, more importantly in quest of a completely new cultural experience of my life.

The assignment was tough right from the word "go". The work is based in a remote camp area; where employees work continuously about 12 hours a day for 1 month and travel home for vacation. My initial experience was unpleasant since the place, people, and language were all alien to me. The strenuous work schedules turned me weak and there were times when I was affected by the fatigue. However, after working for few weeks, I realized that it is "defining moment" of my career. Besides work, I learned many words in Portuguese and got familiar to diverse African cultures. Furthermore, I interacted with colleagues from more than 20 different countries, enhanced my cultural tolerance and socially associated with them to build global relationships. I realized that "If something doesn't kill you, it only makes you stronger". With a positive attitude of exploring the unknown, I turned an otherwise testing assignment to a memorable period of my life.

More than seeing and studying, experiencing is the best way of learning something invaluable in life and I learned a lot through both my experiences. They enabled me to adapt to any situation or environment while teaching me to deal and interact with people of different behavioral traits that they beget from their cultures.

Graduate / "appreciation restored my integrity in the team; CMMi" - MBA Essay [3]

Tell the Admission Committee about a time when it cost you to maintain your integrity and what you learned from the experience. Who was affected besides yourself? Was there anything you might have done differently? Would you make the same decision again if given the chance? (500 words)

Response:

"Real success of the team lies in maintaining its integrity" was taught in team building exercises.

After completing my onsite assignment at Angola in January 2010, I returned back to India and led a team of 6 for a development project. As my work experience was roughly more than 3.5 years by then, I was also assigned with technical development tasks of the project along with the project management and quality assurance activities. It was taxing to perform both the tasks together given that the timelines to complete the implementation are very stringent. Though it is an understatement, my multiple tasks at work and focus on GMAT made me occupied completely with no time to relax or to relieve my stress.

In March 2010, our team was selected for the CMMi appraisal and we had to get ready for the external audits. I worked with my project manager to put in array all the processes and ensure 100% compliance with the guidelines for project development and management. Consequently, I could not contribute technically on the work assigned to me and I delegated a part of it to my team members, who were already occupied with their respective tasks. This created a slight imbalance in the team. Two of my team members have expressed their dissatisfaction to my project manager on the work I passed on to them. They felt that I wasn't ensuring my tasks to completion and rather delegating all my work without addressing their concerns. I was shocked by this for my team was aware of the additional work I was doing after hours to complete all the tasks. For the first time in my career, my integrity was put under scanner. I decided to remain silent and failed to openly communicate with the team for a few days after this has occurred. However, couple of weeks later, I was appreciated by the senior manager for my hard work during the CMMi appraisal and for leading the team towards success. My team members congratulated me for the same and we moved on leaving behind all the issues that took place.

Though this appreciation restored my integrity in the team, I later apprehended that I should have attributed the success to the whole team rather than taking all the honors myself. I remembered my mentor's words "Your success is your team's success and your team's failure is your failure" and thought that my approach in dealing with the success and failure of the team must change. l also opined that an open discussion with my team members when they raised a concern would have "broken the ice", as it affected the healthy environment and created a vacuum in my team for a few days. The next time when I face this situation, I will be more proactive, involve the team in decision-making and will address and resolve the concerns in the team.

Lesson learnt: "Real success of the team lies in maintaining its integrity both during success and failure".