Ted, Got a question for you

[ziggy]

You said you did your MBA a few years ago.  So did your program have an Organizational Behavior class, and if so what did you think?

It is probably just me, buy never in my life have I ever seen any topic, with as much written, and as much research done on a subject that is so full of total mumbo jumbo as this.  It is without question the most insufferably boring, unnecessarily overwrought pile of goo as anything I have ever studied.  My undergrad classes in Philosophy, Ethics, and French Lit were scintillating compared to this mind-numbing Psycho-babble.

[Randy]

Don't mean to butt in on your conversation but my wife was working on her MBA when she got pregnant with our son -- she never finished but she did take Organizational Behavior -- she loved it.  Of course, she loves research and busywork and she looks at the goal being an "A" -- not how much stupid stuff she has to do to get it.  And she did get an "A" in the class -- had a 4.0 before she quit and has only recently even thought of going back to school (those hours are all gone).

I had to take a class in grad school entitle "Introduction to Music Research."  It was quite similar -- a bunch of busy work just to make sure we knew how to do music research.  I kept asking them how we would have graduated with an undergrad degree if we didn't know how to do music research -- but it was required so you just had to do it.  He would have us do 30 minutes of research just to copy down an entire paragraph out of this specific book, page 16, the first paragraph.  I kept asking -- why can't we just do the first sentence?  Anyway, I settled for a B- and it was still way too much stupid assinine busywork.  It's enough to make you scream.

[ziggy]

Don't mean to butt in on your conversation but my wife was working on her MBA when she got pregnant with our son -- she never finished but she did take Organizational Behavior -- she loved it.  Of course, she loves research and busywork and she looks at the goal being an "A" -- not how much stupid stuff she has to do to get it.  And she did get an "A" in the class -- had a 4.0 before she quit and has only recently even thought of going back to school (those hours are all gone).

I had to take a class in grad school entitle "Introduction to Music Research."  It was quite similar -- a bunch of busy work just to make sure we knew how to do music research.  I kept asking them how we would have graduated with an undergrad degree if we didn't know how to do music research -- but it was required so you just had to do it.  He would have us do 30 minutes of research just to copy down an entire paragraph out of this specific book, page 16, the first paragraph.  I kept asking -- why can't we just do the first sentence?  Anyway, I settled for a B- and it was still way too much stupid asinine busywork.  It's enough to make you scream.

Some people have an affinity for certain subjects others don't.  There are some others in the class who seem almost orgasmic about the subject matter, while to me it is like a bowel movement.  It is kind of like popping a half-dozen fiber pills, pulling on a space suit and farting your brains out.

[Ted]

Took it. Hated it.

Didn't like the teacher. Didn't like the book (the prof had just regurgitated his daddy's book). Didn't like the subject matter for the most part. Got an A because by that time I had learned how the system worked--knew what he was looking for.

I learned more useful info about OrgB in my written and oral communications class. I saw guys go through that class (OrgB that is) and act like they'd found Jesus and changed their ways, saying "I'm going to manage people the right way. They will know they have a leader who cares about them" and theyre just plain jerks. My theory about OrgB is that if you're a jerk, you'll probably always be a jerk, and if you do change, it's not a class or textbook that changed you. It's something real, like a heart attack, or finding religion, or almost getting decapitated in a forklift-related incident.

[Randy]

Don't mean to butt in on your conversation but my wife was working on her MBA when she got pregnant with our son -- she never finished but she did take Organizational Behavior -- she loved it.  Of course, she loves research and busywork and she looks at the goal being an "A" -- not how much stupid stuff she has to do to get it.  And she did get an "A" in the class -- had a 4.0 before she quit and has only recently even thought of going back to school (those hours are all gone).

I had to take a class in grad school entitle "Introduction to Music Research."  It was quite similar -- a bunch of busy work just to make sure we knew how to do music research.  I kept asking them how we would have graduated with an undergrad degree if we didn't know how to do music research -- but it was required so you just had to do it.  He would have us do 30 minutes of research just to copy down an entire paragraph out of this specific book, page 16, the first paragraph.  I kept asking -- why can't we just do the first sentence?  Anyway, I settled for a B- and it was still way too much stupid asinine busywork.  It's enough to make you scream.

Some people have an affinity for certain subjects others don't.  There are some others in the class who seem almost orgasmic about the subject matter, while to me it is like a bowel movement.  It is kind of like popping a half-dozen fiber pills, pulling on a space suit and farting your brains out.

I understand -- I think everyone in the world needs a basic understanding of economics but my wife minored in that in college -- "Advanced Macro Economics" and everyone's favorite "Advanced Micro Economics" -- anytime I had insomnia I could just read the title page and be instantly asleep.  I do like that she is so opposite of me in her interests and understandings but I think going this in depth in econ would cause me to quit school and get a job at McDonalds putting ketchup on a burger.  She would have LOVED to have gotten her master's in economics but it's tough to find work with such a degree.  I've told her many times that she should get her teaching degree -- she is wonderful at it but she wants to be able to clock out at the end of the day and be done with work.  She knows being a prof doesn't exactly work like that and she hates the politics.

[Ted]

DUDE! ECON BLOWS! I say that because it was the only freshman class I ended up taking as a senior . . . a senior taking it for the THIRD time. Oh the shame.

Funny thing though. Four years later when I got into the MBA, Econ was a breeze. I just don't know what the heck happened.

[ziggy]

DUDE! ECON BLOWS! I say that because it was the only freshman class I ended up taking as a senior . . . a senior taking it for the THIRD time. Oh the shame.

Funny thing though. Four years later when I got into the MBA, Econ was a breeze. I just don't know what the heck happened.

    Different strokes for different folks.  I love economics, I was an econ major, I still have my books on economics by Murray Rothbard, Ludwig Von Mises, Fredrich Hayak, Milton Freedman, and just finished reading Applied Economics by Thomas Sowell, Freakonomics, and When Genius Failed, the Fall of LTCM.

I guess OB and Econ are similar, but to me at least, one is mind-numbing and the other is mind-expanding.

[rickortreat]

Economics sucks, but the history and nature of money are fascinating.  It is a lot easier to start right with the money and work your way backwards to understand the system.  But to understand economics, all you need to do is understand human nature and how they pursue their desires.

Ziggy- You have some great books there.  Austrian Economics is a much more straightforward way of looking at the subject, and a lot more functional too, which is why it is not taught in schools.

Everyone is confused about economics, because what they teach is bullshit. It doesn't work, it never has and it never will.  Keynes was a dope and his theories were based on false assumptions and limited understanding.   But it does support the concepts of a central bank and authorities intervening in the "natural economic cycle" sic.