An Ode to Management

Through the dark and dreary days,
When situations and complications seem unjust,
Companies may not know the right ways.
Is it time for us to adjust?

How can he be so cruel?
Why is life so unfair?
Do they have absolute rule?
I do not think they care.

I want to be a team player,
But I do not want to give up my good conscience.
Someone please answer my prayer
Because I am sick of all the nonsense.

Alas, I stop and think of all the lessons I have learned,
Prof Kurpis' management class is the place that I yearn.

Comm

I think that the blog assignments is a great tool to communicate our thoughts not just to our classmates, but as a reflection of the material lectured in class. It helped us to not just read or sit through lecture and text, but with a blog and creative assignments, we can assess theories and concepts to our own lives. I have always thought that it is always easier to learn a subject if we can apply it to our own experiences. I learned more about myself through these assignments by putting myself in a management perspective and seeing what type of manager I might be in different events. Prof K's blog definitely provided interesting points of view of handling situations in organizations (particuarly the bear and monkey stories). These blogs were more of an intuitive nature.

I was able to vent about problems I had and receive supportive feedback from classmates. It was nice to see what everyone had to say on a more personal level, not just hearing their short responses from class.

Blogs were a helpful and creative channel to approaching management. I think that it represented not just 20% of our grade fairly, but I like that we were able to contribute to our grade from a constructive yet individualistic and creative way. I hope to continue to post entries that are relevant to management from experiences in life, especially from work since I plan to join the work force in a few weeks.

Golden Arches

I stopped by McDonalds on a Monday afternoon. The store was busy, packed with high school students who just got out of the school for the day. As I stand on the long line, I anticipate the annoyed looking cashier to balk at my bizarre order of fries, no salt and a cheeseburger of exactly four pickles. After all, I had worked at Burger King while in high school and requests such as these always annoyed me and my co-workers. To get an order of fries without salt, a whole new batch of fries has to be made and separated from the already salted batch. This would require quite some time, especially when there is a rush of people. The cooking time on these new fries, from my prior working experience, was about two and a half minutes. Knowing these facts, I was prepared for a long and uncomfortable wait at the counter while the employees worked on my order.
However, I was very surprised at how nonchalant the cashier responded to my order. I spoke to her very nicely; almost apologetically. In an indifferent manner, she assured me that it was quite alright. As soon as my order was placed, she dropped a new batch of fries into the fryer for me. As she got my soda, she stuck her head into the kitchen and confirmed my order with the cook about the pickles. He nodded in understanding and proceeded to make my burger. When the fries were done, she prepared my order first and did not salt them. This whole process took a very short 3 minutes. I think it helped that there was good communication between the employees and there was plenty of staff present to do each task. I saw the manager standing by the kitchen but he was not consulted.

If I was asked to be a consultant at McDonalds, I do not think that I would change must of their procedures. There was plenty of staff on hand, so I there were no back log of orders that would make my wait long. The system that they were using for communication between the front and back of the restaurant worked well. The cashier noted on my receipt that there should be 4 pickles and the manufacturing responded well to the clear directions. Given the circumstances, I do not think that the staff could have been much more efficient than they were. My order did not seem to disrupt their flow of actions. From a customer service standpoint, I did not receive any attitudes. McDonalds seemed well equipped to handle special orders. One possible suggestion that may make their smooth operation even smoother may be using microphones to communicate between employees. Some large retail stores and restaurants such as Applebee’s have walkie talkies or head sets that are used to communicate between staff.

I think that the employees handled the situation very well. They seemed like they were accustomed to whacky orders like mine.

DISC

After completing the test, my score gauged me to be Dominant. I think that it was a pretty accurate reflection of my personality. I like to solve problems, cause action and like immediate results. I also love a good challenge. I work best best in an environment that have opportunities for advancement as well as new activities. It is more stimulating and engaging to work in a non-repititious environment. I am happy with the results because I think it does accurately describe my management orientation. Looking at the other personality traits, I would best define myself as dominant. Influence would not define me since I would prefer getting things done on my own rather than depending on my social skills toward others. I am not very detail oriented, so conscientiousness would not describe me either. The next best profile that would define me is steadiness, since I like consistency. However, overall, dominance does suit me best.

***Vision***

Although the vision we saw was a bit repetitive (and eventually a weeeee boring), it was inspiring. Vision + action is empowering toward everyone's future. The following are my future personal and career goals:

-continue working for UBS (where I currently intern) after graduation
-receive a MBA in Finance
-see the world
-be financially secure, all on my own (secure enough for the big house, nice car and good lifestyle)
-enjoy and be happy doing all of the above

I am determined to live a very comfortable lifestyle in the future. Beyond graduating, I think having the right connections, determination and opportunity is essential. I am currently interning at UBS Financial Services (wealth management division) and I see the advisors I work for making very good money and enjoying themselves while doing it. I hope that by commiting my time there will pay off. I think that doors are opening slowly since my boss asked me yesterday if I would like to continue with UBS after graduation. With the job market as bad as it currently is, this opportunity would definitely help me get to where I want to be. I am willing to strive to show not just my advisors, but everyone around me I am determined to learn. Staying later, asking relevant questions and absorbing what I learn will get me to where I want to be. My 'go-getter' attitude will hopefully eventually make my vision become my reality.

Decision Making

I must admit, during this exercise, I took the 'avoidance' approach. I admit, I could have been more active, but I did show up to class a little late and sat waaaay in the back in the corner, making me very withdrawn from the class. I also felt that it would have been hard to have been heard in a class of 80 students and I heard what I felt would have been fair (curve and lowest grade dropped) from several other students. I am happy with the results but I think that we could have been more organized as a class, perhaps employing the compromise concept to get everyone in class involved. This would allow a fair chance from everyone, not just the few people who decided to take charge.

Planning

Our group executed the first two steps within the first 10 minutes. We knew that we had limited resources and time, and therefore, had to plan accordingly. The scissors was a scarce material, so we did not want to rely too heavily on it. We came up with alternative methods of creating a casing for our egg. Ripping up the pieces of tape was just as effective as cutting and we were not limited to any time constraints without the scissors. This was indeed a good idea since we hardly saw the scissors circulate in the little time we had. Everyone had 'jobs' to carry out once we were able to assemble our contraption. This made everything run smoothly and efficiently.

By dividing up our time, assignments, materials and having a just in case plan, our group worked well together. Problems we had anticipated were easily overcome. All of the steps were implemented and I think we did well. Our plan did work and our egg was sage. I do not think there were any points we overlooked that could have helped our effectiveness.