Race to the Checkered Flag! by Rupa Reddy

It was ‘Go’ right from the first day of orientation for us MSCM students. Shuffling between attending to academic work and Tauber activities for the Summer Internships, we barely had time to settle in before the momentum picked up, quite typical of a race of every kind, don’t you think?

Amidst those hectic schedules, Tauber organized what one would have not typically thought of for a workshop on ‘teamwork and collaboration’, an activity that is perhaps one of the most valuable and fun teamwork sessions that I have attended till date – “The Pit Crew Challenge”. As the name suggests, we competed to be the fastest pit crew to change tires for a model race car. We were put in teams of five and members of a team assigned themselves to tasks that they were competitive at.

Everyone was in high spirits eager to name their teams. I ended up in an all-girl team and we decided on “Race Girls” for a team name. Our motive was unanimous and quite simple – outdo the guys on the other teams! All the teams aggressively worked their way to be the best by constantly improving their time with each of the three rounds. The garage was filled with positive energy as the teams learned from each other and all prepared to get their hands dirty. In the end, there was only one winner, and none was disheartened, as it was all about team spirit and collaboration, winning or losing was only an outcome.

For one thing, the “Pit Crew Challenge” was a splendid experience and an elating change from the everyday hustle and bustle, yet leaving us with an invaluable experience in team building. This workshop helped us understand the essence of team building in reaching a common goal and why every interviewer wants to know how we perform on a team. And now I’m pretty sure everyone has a story to tell, for the challenge was all about taking your crew through the race to the checkered flag! (Pun intended)

It was ‘Go’ right from the first day of orientation for us MSCM students. Shuffling between attending to academic work and Tauber activities for the Summer Internships, we barely had time to settle in before the momentum picked up, quite typical of a race of every kind, don’t you think?

Amidst those hectic schedules, Tauber organized what one would have not typically thought of for a workshop on ‘teamwork and collaboration’, an activity that is perhaps one of the most valuable and fun teamwork sessions that I have attended till date – “The Pit Crew Challenge”. As the name suggests, we competed to be the fastest pit crew to change tires for a model racecar. We were put in teams of five and members of a team assigned themselves to tasks that they were competitive at.

Everyone was in high spirits eager to name their teams. I ended up in an all-girl team and we decided on “Race Girls” for a team name. Our motive was unanimous and quite simple – outdo the guys on the other teams! All the teams aggressively worked their way to be the best by constantly improving their time with each of the three rounds. The garage was filled with positive energy as the teams learned from each other and all prepared to get their hands dirty. In the end, there was only one winner, and none was disheartened, as it was all about team spirit and collaboration, winning or losing was only an outcome.

For one thing, the “Pit Crew Challenge” was a splendid experience and an elating change from the everyday hustle and bustle, yet leaving us with an invaluable experience in team building. This workshop helped us understand the essence of team building in reaching a common goal and why every interviewer wants to know how we perform on a team. And now I’m pretty sure everyone has a story to tell, for the challenge was all about taking your crew through the race to the checkered flag! (Pun intended)

“Maximizing thrill, Minimizing dissatisfaction” by Ashwath Varatharajan

Although the latter seems to be the key fact, the former is what the whole process is all about! Tauber is perfectly named as the Tauber institute for Global Operations since it serves as a bridge between two different ends - one being the Ross School of Business and College of Engineering, and the other being the operations industry. Right from the date we started getting introduced to the whole Tauber internship process, it always keeps one in the area of uncertainty as its highly unpredictable and ideally no game theory works.

It all started with a series of fabulous presentations and networking sessions by many companies, keeping us confused on having delicious food or grabbing the right moment talking to them. Tons of “closed lists” gave a exponential raise in the sense of security and certainty while decelerating the confidence for those with none. Eventually, that turned out to be a passing cloud leaving a trail of a completely astonishing weather when a huge list of never-expected companies showed up in the list of open slots. Everyone was equipped with 1000 points to choose the 5 best companies and projects for themselves. Whether or not you knew someone else's strategy for bidding, it was guaranteed that the results would surprise you.

The following day gave the maximum thrill of obtaining your preferred projects the lease time possible. With the factor of bandwidth, speed and strategy, everyone tried their luck at 7 am and once again we could not predict the results. However, despite all this uncertainty, it is safe to say that everyone now has a set of projects they are excited about and are likely to perform exceedingly well in. After all, with so many great project opportunities that Tauber has to offer, how could you go wrong? Good luck to all in their interviews!