Chance, Choice, and Opportunity: Effective Tools for Management

Abstract

This account offers students and professionals, thoughts on useful strategies in management situations based on the author's life experiences. Since the majority of the readers of Management Dynamics come from India and Southeast Asia, the remarks are directed with them in mind but they could be applied elsewhere as well. The author's career trajectory was not planned. Although 90 percent happened by chance, chance was not entirely random but led to choice and opportunity. 10 percent was devoted to strategic planning and preparation. Her expertise lies not in management studies but in the field of ethnomusicology, that is, a process for studying not only the music itself but also the study of music in its cultural context. The essay is divided into three parts. Observations about the author's life experiences are illustrated in Part 1 consisting of a series of brief vignettes elucidating events that shaped her thinking. Taking place between the years 1890 and 2009, these events offer commentary about historical precedents and family influences, discriminatory practices, mentors, incidents of chance and opportunity, the politics of political correctness, gender issues, and new directions in research.