Testimonials

Memorandum

Date:      12/10/01
To:          Senior Manager Putzel
From:     Erica Audet
RE:         How XB Affected Me

XB was a mishmash of good and bad feelings, hard work, and new experiences.  It was an opportunity to learn by doing and to observe management and organizational behavior as it occurred.  I wouldn’t trade my experience in XB for a traditional Management and Organizational Studies class any day. 

My love of XB comes in hindsight.  When we first began our organization in September, I was frustrated most of the time.  I have always been a serious student.  I take notes, read textbooks, memorize concepts and terms, and do homework.  I have never relied on anyone for help and I have detested group work since the fifth grade, when I single-handedly designed a space shelter for my four-person group.  I just knew that I could do it better than the other members of my group could.  I didn’t trust them to have good ideas of their own and I certainly didn’t trust them to get anything done without me.  On the first day of XB we were handed a manual and told to start teaching and learning.  We had no guidelines to follow except what was written in that manual and the vague, occasional comment made by the Senior Manager.  As if this weren’t unpleasant enough, we were also expected to rank order each other.  For once, I realized, I would not be able to ace this class on my own.  This would have to be a group effort, a scary prospect for someone like me.

Although I still have qualms about group work, I have changed since the fifth grade space shelter project.  Over time, I learned how to hide my love of books, my dedication to schoolwork, and my bossiness.  I didn’t fully realize that I’d gone into hiding until I encountered XB and Mr. Putzel.  Throughout the semester, I had wonderfully intellectual discussions with the Senior Manager in private. I had lots of ideas about XB and how to improve on the way our division was run.  But I was afraid to stand up and take charge because I didn’t want to be perceived as brainy, bossy, or a brown-noser.  Only those who know me fairly well know how serious I am about succeeding at everything and I wasn’t sure about blowing my cover in XB.  Gradually, as our understanding of XB grew, every member got involved and I felt better about sharing my opinions and ideas.   

The fact that I loved XB came as a shock to me.  I actually looked forward to attending a class!  I have mastered the traditional classroom and am often bored by it.  I decided long ago that going to class is basically a waste of time.  I usually sit in a sleepy stupor and take an occasional note or two while the professor reads from his or her power point slides.  In this type of class, the learning ends up taking place a day or two before the exam.  XB was something completely different.  In fact, we were not even allowed to call it a class.  We were a group of people with a mission to learn.  We couldn’t sit back passively and let information go in one ear and out the other.  Every single XB member had a job to do, a set of concepts to teach.  It was up to us to reach our goals in the most effective ways.  I liked not knowing what was going to happen on any given day.  I liked my ability to make a difference in the course of events.

At times, XB was rough.  We, the members of XB have been confused, frustrated, and angry.  At first we had trouble grading each other, criticizing each other, and making sure the work that we delegated to others got done.  We felt the temptation to avoid these tasks.  As page 68 of the XB manual states, “when students don’t learn enough we have too often lowered standards and ‘dumbed down’ the curriculum, only to become a society of ignoramuses.”  But our division did not “dumb down” the curriculum.  We came up with strict ranking criteria and a formal set-up for our meetings that eventually allowed us to be a free-flowing entity, teaching and learning in various moving clusters around the room.  We assigned reading and planned complex, unique presentations and activities to not only reiterate what we had read, but apply it to XB and to the world around us.  Because we buckled down and did the work, and amazing thing happened.  We learned.  We know what is in our manuals because we taught each other.  We didn’t learn by listening to lectures, taking notes, and taking exams.  What we learned has not been crammed into our heads in the last few hours of a single night only to be forgotten the next day upon walking out of the exam room.  The learning we have achieved in XB has happened naturally.  At times, we didn’t even know it was happening.  We were handed a manual with a variety of tasks in it and we got the work done through managing.  And through managing, we learned valuable lessons that will stick with us better than anything we have ever read in a textbook or from a blackboard.

In XB, I observed and took part in the stages of group development.  Our organization has been through the forming, storming, norming, deforming, reforming, and performing stages of group development.  I have written extensively in my memos about our division going through these stages because it is amazing to me to see it happening before my own eyes.  I memorized these terms in Foundations of Business three years ago but I never fully understood what it was all about until I observed what was happening in XB.  This is just one example of observing and experiencing concepts that I otherwise would have memorized, regurgitated and dismissed.  

Everything I once feared about XB turned out to be something positive for me.  I have learned to respect and value all kinds of people.  In XB, we got to know each other well.  We learned not to perceive people who are different as threats to our productivity.  Our division of XB was filled with unique individuals.  Each one of us had something different to contribute.  I am no longer afraid of working in groups.  Because of XB, I know that I can trust other people to do the work.  They may do it in a different way than I would choose to do it, but their way is likely to be just as good or even better than my way.  I wonder what my fifth grade space shelter would have looked like if I’d had a little more faith in my fellow classmates.  

XB’s grading system was a valuable lesson in itself.  We knew that we had to rank order each other and accepted it.  Because of this acceptance, we became eloquent and assertive critics of each other and learned to take criticism in a positive way.  Criticism and feedback helped us to make the open area of our Johari Window larger.  As we shared our perceptions of each other, we were able to change our behavior and the way others perceived us.  By the end of the semester, our perceptions of each other were much more accurate than they would have been had we not embraced the ranking system and constructive criticism.  The ranking system also taught us valuable lessons about cooperation and competition.  Even though we ranked each other, without ties, we eventually stopped looking at it as a competition to see who could teach the most concepts or do the most work.  We scarcely even talked about ranks and grades because they were not the focal point of our organization.  We learned to trust each other to do the work and we realized that if we all did our parts, we would all succeed at achieving the organization’s goals.  Rather than act as a group of competing individuals, our organization acted as one cohesive entity with one mission. 

I am still a little bossy and I like to do things my way.  In reality, these qualities have contributed to my personal success.  But XB has helped me to appreciate the power of a group.  A manager cannot simply be a boss.  A manager must be someone who her subordinates and colleagues can identify with.  A manager has to know more than what is taught in classrooms or written in books.  She must possess “real world” knowledge about people.  A manager should be more than an instructor; she should be a conversationalist.  I am a business student who embraces routines, rules and procedures.  However, I will succeed in life not only because of my ability to comprehend a textbook, write a solid essay, memorize facts, or ace a college course.  To be successful, I will combine these qualities with others such as assertiveness, confidence, and people skills.  XB has helped me to develop these skills and prepared me for real life as no ordinary class ever could.  Thanks, Mr. Putzel, for transforming those intuiting, big-picture thoughts of yours into something feasible for us sensing types.   

 EA

Memorandum


To:            Mr. Putzel   
From:       Chantal Parent
Subject:   Final memo
cc:            XB members

When asked about XB, I find it difficult to put into words what this class has been like for me.  A picture of an annoying younger sibling who is always bugging you comes to mind.  She often irritates you and bothers you like crazy, and sometimes makes your life extremely difficult, yet for some reason you love her to pieces, would do anything for her, and can't imagine your life without her.  Sometimes you have to grit your teeth and force a smile.  Other times you are afforded some clarity and can't wipe that smile away.    

Now in all honesty, I can't very well compare this course to my younger sister, who I would love to pieces regardless of how annoying she could ever become.  Yet what I can do is say that like my sometimes annoying little sister, this class can surprise you and teach you things you never knew you didn't know or never knew you needed to know.  The wealth of insight into actual, real people that we are permitted to capture a glimpse of in the XB setting transcends far beyond any managerial styles and organizational behaviors that we could ever learn from a textbook.  XB is extremely valuable for those who take advantage of the experience it has to offer. 

My understanding and learning in XB could easily be evidenced by my spouting out the various management and organizational behavior terminology and examples that are found in our manual, from managing one's boss to assertive communication to unnecessary value judgements.  This list could go on and on.  Yet, I find that their application to my life is far more convincing of my true comprehension.  After all, reciting verbatim your recipe to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies and actually making them is not the same thing.  The ingredients are only a small part of the process; it is what you do with them that counts. 

The lessons to be learned in XB are things that can be applied to our lives every day.  With each day that goes by I am realizing this more and more.  I am currently in a situation where a group that I belong to is having difficulty with our leader, our boss, if you will.  We are faced with a situation where there is a general lack of respect on both sides, a feeling that we are not being challenged, discrepancies concerning expectations, and an overall unhappiness with our "job."  Absenteeism is high and turnover is impending if something is not done soon.  In recognition of this problem, three of us have taken it upon ourselves to use our positions as the chosen leaders of the group to represent the group and to attempt to get the situation resolved.  Yesterday we met with someone who we thought could give us some guidance and perhaps suggest an effective way to approach the situation.  We were able to put some of our thoughts into words and this person offered us some of the advice we were looking for. This person also reminded us to talk about specific behaviors and not the person and to address how certain actions make us feel, rather than judging or claiming that the action is wrong.  This advice all sounded very familiar to me.  As a result of this, we have a group meeting planned for today.  We are all going to get together and take the time to address the issues that are plaguing our organization.  We want to take into consideration everyone's thoughts, feelings, and expectations.  We would like to draft some type of writing to summarize what we have as expectations and we want to open channels of communication so that everyone feels comfortable addressing problems before they become enormous ordeals.  We also want to address the problem with negative and disrespectful attitudes, for which we take responsibility.  Tone at the top is very important, and the three of us, as leaders, must be the first to make changes if they are to trickle to the entire organization. 

When we have addressed the group and gathered their thoughts and expectations, the three of us are then going to meet with our boss.  We want to present the situation in a way that will not be hurtful or elicit anger, yet we want to get our point across that some changes need to be made.  We want our boss to understand that we are all willing to make changes to better our organization and that we need him to do the same.  Four months ago, the thought of approaching the boss with this type of assertiveness would have made me queasy.  Yet today I am excited at the opportunity to make things better for my organization.  Why?  Unfortunately, it isn't something that I can pinpoint.  Although I am certain that it is due in large part to the concepts I have learned in XB.  When seeking advice on how to handle the situation, I was sitting in that room, listening, and thinking to myself, "wow, somehow I already know this.  I've heard this before."  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that these were the concepts we have been learning in XB.  This is their application to our real lives.  We were dealing with observations, perceptions, needs, communication, and assertiveness, all of which are concepts that are an integral part of the XB experience.  When viewed in terms of a personal situation, their relevance is astounding.  What we are learning pertains to our lives.  What more could you want from a course?
   
In short, XB is a learning experience by design.  And you can say that any class is a learning experience, that all of college is a learning experience, and for that matter, that life is a learning experience.  Yet, when a course can somehow take precedence over all your other courses in the time, energy, and pieces of yourself that you put in, you know that this isn't your typical class. When it seems like your whole college life, no matter how hard you try, cannot escape the people and ideas you encounter in XB, you know you are getting something extra out of the college experience.  And when, in all honesty, you feel as though your life is bending over backward to accommodate XB and all it demands, then you know that you are learning far more than the old management textbook has to offer. 

I can read textbooks, listen to lectures, and take notes.  I can also sleep, daydream, and doodle.  In XB, we are given the opportunity to learn in an unconventional way.  We learn by observing, understanding, taking responsibility, and doing.  We apply what we learn to the people around us and we teach those same people what it is that we have learned.  It seems to me that this is a giant leap closer to reality than textbooks and lectures.  What we are learning here is applicable to our lives now and will certainly be applicable to our lives in the future. 

It is very true that XB is not for everyone.  Some people will not be able to get beyond its unconventional nature and its annoying little sister like characteristics.  However, it is important to note that XB, like everything else, is what you make of it.  What you get out of something is a reflection of what you put in.  And this is true not just for XB, but for all of our classes, the whole college experience, and life thereafter.  The concepts and theories will not fall from the sky and miraculously take up residence in your head.  You have to work for anything that is worthwhile in life and XB is no exception. 

For what it's worth, it would be easy to write-off a class such as XB as "untraditional" or "unconventional" and consider it worthless as a result.  Yet, I don't think that would be fair.  Perhaps supporting it for what it can offer to a shy, smart kid, poised to make her way in the world in just five short months would be a better idea.  You see, because that's what I did.  In doing that, I have acquired far more tools to take with me on my journey through life.  And I honestly don't think that I could have picked these up in an old textbook or from an ordinary lecture on management and organizational behavior. 

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