2012 Fisher MHRM Internal Case Competition
On November 9th and 10th the Fisher MHRM program held its third annual Internal Case Competition. This year, the Case Competition was sponsored by Rolls-Royce. During the competition, the participants were required to research a real problem, formulate solutions to the problem, present and articulate appropriate solutions and defend the solutions to top executives. I was lucky enough to team up with the brilliant minds of Tricia, Emily and Ashley.
Day one of the competition, we were introduced to the problem by the executives from Rolls-Royce and we were given an opportunity to ask questions. After gathering the information, we went to our assigned break out rooms to begin brainstorming. We all threw out initial ideas and then narrowed them down to the agreed upon three best solutions. We had so much fun throughout the first day. We took plenty of breaks to laugh, relax and eat! (Thanks to Neesha Hathi for the awesome food!) After 12 hours of working and re-working our ideas, my team was ready to go home and sleep!
Day two, we were back to Gerlach Hall bright and early to present our ideas to the judges. My team was the second to present in our designated presentation room. When the first team came out of the room wide-eyed and speechless, I have to admit, I was intimidated. What could the judges have possibly done or said to cause that response!? We walked in, greeted the judges and began our presentation. After Tricia introduced the first slide, the judges started to ask question after question. Then it hit me. We were not going to be able to give the presentation as we originally planned.
The judges turned our presentation literally upside down by asking us to start with our last slide. My team was resilient and adaptable to the situation and we did our best to present all of our ideas in our limited time frame. We were rattled but we answered all the judges’ questions. What truly kept our team on point was the support that we gave to one another. If there was ever a question one of us could not answer, another teammate stepped up to help.
I had a wonderful team and we had so much fun competing, despite the stressful, nerve-wrecking, intense situation. Fortunately, my team was chosen as the winner for our room! We received a Rolls-Royce leather portfolio, a $50 gift card to Amazon, and obviously, bragging rights. The Internal Competition was the weekend before my birthday, so along with the delicious chocolate cake that my teammate, Emily, made for me, winning was a great birthday present!
Check out my Flickr for pictures from the event!
This past Monday, the winners of the MHRM Internal Case Competition were invited to lunch with Senior Associate Dean, Stephen Mangum. It was an opportunity for all the winners to give feedback on the internal competition and debrief about the event. We were able to sit down and give our opinion, our takeaways and our suggestions for next year.
Also, all of the winners of the Internal Case Competition were invited to interview for a position on the External Case Competition Team. The External Team was announced yesterday at lunch. Elaina Reinsvold was named the Captain of the External Team. Leanne Tromp, Gabe Schnall and Qin He will join her in representing OSU in the External Case Competition in February. Congratulations to all!