The week I joined MBA Ltd, I was told that I along with a Field Executive called Vishwanath had to go to Hyderabad to carry out fieldwork for a study on refrigerators. MBA Ltd. did not have a field office - nor any supervisors - in that city - so we had to go in there cold, stay in a lodge (Krishna Lodge in Lakdi ka Pul), recruit a team of interviewers, train them, and get them to carry out the fieldwork.
Hyderabad was baking hot (May/June) and it was a tough job being a field supervisor. At that time the field procedure followed by MBA Ltd. was quite different - and entailed the field supervisor going to a location along with a team of 5-6 interviewers and then from an intersection sending each interviewer down a road to carry out the interviews. The supervisor (I in this case) had to then follow each interviewer, carry out surprise checks, do back-checks etc - so the supervisor had to be on his feet throughout the day following and monitoring his team. A really tough job for a chap who thought that his fancy degree entitled him to sit in the comforts of an air-conditioned office.
An incident that took place is still quite vivid in my memory. We were carrying out fieldwork in a middle class locality when an interviewer came running up to me saying that the rest of the team is in trouble as they have been detained by the residents of the colony who thought they were a gang of thieves. I went into the house to explain what we were doing, and the reason why we were collecting information about durables. The owner of the house had no clue about Market Research - and he did not seem to be buying into my explanations. Fortunately his daughter (who was preparing for her MBA entrance exams) walked in at that moment, and quickly caught on. When they realised that I had just finished my MBA degree their attitude quickly changed, and I was quickly transformed into a consultant to give advice on how their own kids can get into a good MBA course. I came out of the house with the problem resolved and with several packs of eatables that the residents had given me. The team of interviewers was quite taken aback to see the transformation in the resident's attitude - and from a foe I quickly turned into a hero in the eyes of my team.
Hyderabad was baking hot (May/June) and it was a tough job being a field supervisor. At that time the field procedure followed by MBA Ltd. was quite different - and entailed the field supervisor going to a location along with a team of 5-6 interviewers and then from an intersection sending each interviewer down a road to carry out the interviews. The supervisor (I in this case) had to then follow each interviewer, carry out surprise checks, do back-checks etc - so the supervisor had to be on his feet throughout the day following and monitoring his team. A really tough job for a chap who thought that his fancy degree entitled him to sit in the comforts of an air-conditioned office.
An incident that took place is still quite vivid in my memory. We were carrying out fieldwork in a middle class locality when an interviewer came running up to me saying that the rest of the team is in trouble as they have been detained by the residents of the colony who thought they were a gang of thieves. I went into the house to explain what we were doing, and the reason why we were collecting information about durables. The owner of the house had no clue about Market Research - and he did not seem to be buying into my explanations. Fortunately his daughter (who was preparing for her MBA entrance exams) walked in at that moment, and quickly caught on. When they realised that I had just finished my MBA degree their attitude quickly changed, and I was quickly transformed into a consultant to give advice on how their own kids can get into a good MBA course. I came out of the house with the problem resolved and with several packs of eatables that the residents had given me. The team of interviewers was quite taken aback to see the transformation in the resident's attitude - and from a foe I quickly turned into a hero in the eyes of my team.
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