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Stress Management for MBA students

Going Beyond Jugaad: Building a Systematic Innovation Capability

Compiled by: Amit Bhatia - 1314006 Radhika Katyal 1211044 Rahul kumar - 1314040 Sandeep Bharihoke - 1314048

Students are stressed!!

Need for managing stress for MBA students

Internal Competition, high expectations (due to leaving highpaying job for full-time MBA) and peer pressure

Lack of sleep & academic pressures

Lack of family & support systems Management students across institutes feel depressed, tired, angry, insecure and restless at various points during the course Stress leads to many lifestyle related diseases

There is a need to address the problem in-order to keep the students healthy and also help them learn to deal with stress that could effect them later in their professional & personal life

Empathy Map
What people Say are the reasons for stress..
Attendance Bad Food Peer Pressure Too much work but little time Ambitions No fun/sleep Family/Love-life Poor Social Circle Job and career: Profile/city/salary Movies/Drinks/ Go out Boring Classes

What people Do to mitigate stress...

Monitor TAMS Mobile/Talk in class
Can never change the maid FB, stay aloof, shy, indoors Network/dont Look out on job sites Proxy Divert/overlook problem Skip meals

Empathy Map
What people Think are the reasons for stress
Fault of system/somebo dy else Too big a problem

What people Feel about stress...

Depressed Angry Lazy

Find a solution Fall into a loop & create more problems

Lonely

Vindictive Cheated

Competitively try to be best; superiority I am the only one

Unlucky Hungry Jealous

Key Observations

Career placements and project deadlines were the most stressful activities

Too much work in a short amount of time

Movies, drinking and parties were the most common ways of fighting stress Students go into a shell in order to fight stress, others just blame it on the system or someone else; very few try to find a solution for it

Students felt that the curriculum should be more balanced rather than being hard in the start and easier later on

Problem Definition

What can we do to help students avoid stress and manage it effectively?

Idea generation

Fun

Happy Zone in campus, Student outings on weekends, Keep sports facilities at easy reach

Academics
Technology Social/Networking

Make attendance optional, keep video logs of each class, Relaxed curriculum, Shared grades, Slow Down movement, give credits for extra-curricular activities

Simulation based learning, Stress reduction app, QR codes for relaxing music

Encourage people to be more friendly, Knowledge transfer documents, buddy system, Showcase profiles of people who were not good academically

Health & Counselling

Crazy Ideas

Happy post card or message on each mess table, conduct meditation sessions, yoga on campus, counselling for stressed out students

Bar on campus, golf buggy for travel, stop placements, jobs before classes start

Idea Selection
Cost-Impact Matrix

Impact of Success

Stress Free Zone

Meditation Sessions Student Outings

Stress Reduction app

Video logs of class

KT Docs Golf Buggy

Cost of Initial Experimentation

Idea Assumptions

Doing Fun activities reduces stress levels for an individual

Mind can be relaxed by listening to soothing music and watching funny videos
People would think of this activity as more positive & socially acceptable when compared to counselling De-stressing at regular intervals would help prevent longterm stress in people

Long Term Impact on reducing stress levels needs to be studied

Prototyping
Iteration 1

Prototyping
Iteration 1

Toy gun

Magic slate
Comics Snakes & Ladder

Prototyping
Iteration 1

Learning Prototyping
Iteration 1

Add feedback mechanism without being present in the zone. Provide instructions for the individual items. Advertise to get more people into the zone. Think more on action oriented activities. Focus on the long term impact activities. Refurbishing the activities regularly.

Prototyping
Iteration 2

Additions

Dedicated room

Advertisement outside room

Relaxing Music QR codes Funny Video QR codes Playing Cards Punching Bag Tic-Tac-Toe Feedback Mechanism (before/after)

Prototyping - Iteration 2

Prototyping - Iteration 2

Prototyping - Iteration 2

Prototyping - Iteration 2 Video 1 Video 2

Results
Overall Sad
Neutral Happy

Before 8
4 3

After 3
1 11

Total 15 respondents of which 8 were from friends group and 7 were from non-friends group

12

Stress Free Zone Overall Results

10

8 Before 6 After

0 Sad Neutral Happy

Results
8

Friends
Friends
Before After

Before

After

Sad
Neutral

3
2 3

0
1 7

Happy

0
Sad Neutral Happy

6 5 4

Non-Friends
Non Friends
Before After

Before 5 2

After 2 1

3 2 1 0 Sad Neutral Happy

Sad Neutral

Happy

Learnings Prototyping
Iteration 2

Advertising helped more foot-falls, more interest generated Feedback helped

Change in mood Activities need less engagement, more vent out Need more variety Other ideas Food? Campus radio/Juke-box? Stress-buster zones in Companies?

Observations Adults enjoy behaving like kids! Refine/redefine the solution Ideate around taking adults to childhood

Thank You

Bright Spots
Appendix

Fun Social gatherings seem to reduce the stress level of students Empathy from friends/well-wishers helps them ward off negative feelings A person/ organisation doing an out-of-the-way gesture for the student helps build trust and creates a positive feeling in the student

Different Problem Framing

Appendix
Min-Max framing How can we reduce stress in students life? Before-During-After framing What can we do to help students avoid stress and manage it better? Experience design framing

Can stress be removed from fun activities?

Culture sensitive framing

What can be altered in MBA daily life to make it less stressful?

Metaphor framing Can we make MBA life like a love relationship or home or some sport?

Why-how framing changes

Appendix

Why is stress not managed well in MBA colleges?

Why

How can we reduce stress in students life?

How

How do we make people believe in management of stress?

Final framing
Appendix

What can we do to help students avoid stress and manage it effectively?