Motivation for Vlerick

What is motivating you to seek an MBA education at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School?

Twofold, First personally I have to make decisions, I feel I lack enough knowledge to make the correct decisions. I set myself high goals and standards of performance which in order to reach this level of personal satisfaction

Secondly, my current employer is going through a sometimes painful growing stage, I feel I could contribute a lot better if I could help guiding the process, if I have enough knowledge.

What are the motives that lead you to ask to be admitted to the MBA programme at this point in your life

a)I actually was thinking about doing this already two years ago, but it was very difficult to plan it in for personal and professional reasons. Now is the golden slot.

b) I wanted to be technically extremely strong before going on pursuing the management path. The last two years I have read a lot on the problem domain and did a few courses, including part of a Master in Maths from the University of Ghent

What other possibilities will you consider if you are not admitted to the MBA programme to reach your goals of personal and professional growth

a) I will try to achieve some level of knowledge through self study and some additional courses (For example from the Open university)

What do you think you gained from your university studies? Conversely, what important things do you think your studies lacked

a) I gained mainly the skills of a good engineer, to solve complex problems in a well structured logical methodology

b) The parts I lack the most from my course is a base financial and administrative background

c) Also I believe i would have benefited more from my Masters in the UK if their was a stronger focus on Maths

Describe your strong points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such.

1. Engineer
2. Very ambitious and motivated
3. Loyal
4. good logical thinker
5. strong in solving complex multidimensional problems
6. Interest in technology

Describe your weak points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such.

I can organise myself, but find it very hard to organise others.

What will you be able to contribute that is unique and would make you a valuable addition to the class?

Passion, enthusiasm. I have been told that I have the fire, the passion and the ambition to spark a team of people.

Describe your idea of a dream job for you three years from now.

My dream job 3 years from now, would be to lead a group of extremely good engineers to create products and solutions for a highly technological market.

With product I mean ALL aspects of the product.

1. Well defined, manageable products
2. well positioned in the market

What do you consider to be your single most important achievement so far and the reason for its importance in your personal growth?

From a professional viewpoint my single most important achievement was pulling a team of 4 engineers to develop products that enabled our company to establish itself in new markets.

Please comment on a situation where you failed to reach an objective and what you learned from it.

As a consultant-engineer of Alcatel I worked a lot to get a position as team leader for a development in Chenai India, after 09 11 the world changed, Alcatel changed and the position disappeared.

I learned we live in a small world and you have to be dynamic and agile to achieve your goals

What does ethics mean to you and how important is it? Give a specific example (eg. decisions you had to make in the past) to illustrate this.

I believe in a honest world, were everyone is good, loyal and doesn't abuse the social system.

Even although I am a self employed consultant my loyalty is with my current company

Example: My wife hasn't worked at all for 6 years, she stayed home for the children, but although she was entitled on unemployment benefits we did never exercise this right

People who work with information often must set their own schedule, usually work with less direct supervision, and frequently experience change and innovation in their work.

being personally accountable and responsible for the work that one does and is based on a belief that work has intrinsic value. The term is often applied to characteristics of people, both at work and at play. In sports, for example, work ethic is frequently mentioned as a characteristic of good players. Regardless of the context, work ethic is usually associated with people who work hard and do a good job.

Research has shown that the many characteristics of work ethic can be summarized using three terms -- interpersonal skills, initiative, and being dependable. These terms serve to organize the instructional materials presented by this web site. They also can provide a concise way to remember what work ethic is all about.

Interpersonal skills: include the habits, attitudes, manners, appearance, and behaviors we use around other people which affect how we get along with other people.

Initiative

Being dependable

book list

Year A

• John McGee, Howard Thomas & David Wilson: Strategy: Analysis & Practice (Text &

Cases) (2005) McGraw-Hill Companies, London

• Krugman & Wells: Economics
• Magretta: What Management Really Is
• Atkinson, Banker and others: Management Accounting
• Libby, Libby & Short: Financial Accounting, 5th Edition
• Hawawini & Vialet: Finance for Executives, Managing for Value creation
• A Handbook of Human Resources Management, 10th Edition
• Business Ethics: A European Perspective - Managing Corporate Citizenship and *Sustainability in the Age of Globalization

Year B

• Davies, Norman: A history of Europe
• Albright et al: Data Analysis for Managers
• Dan O'LEARY: Enterprise Resou rce Planning Systems
• Hill: International Business
• Slack, Nigel et al.: Operations Management
• Kotler et al: Principles of Marketing - European Edition
• Moore & Weatherford: Decision Modeling with Microsoft Excel
• Monckza, Trent & Handfield: Purchasing & Supply Chain Management