managerial poetry

This management class taught by Mr. Kurpis

Was a lot of fun and he did it on purpose

He had us blog on each activity

So we can express our creativity

First it started with the pizza restaurant

And deciding how many employees we would want

Then when it came to decision making

We discovered behind our yelling was a lecture the teacher had been faking

Oh wait, there’s more, we learned how to plan

By throwing eggs in a garbage can

Now it’s time for some innovation

To a possible  Jello-World vacation

Lastly, we had to practice our management skills with a leader we chose

With only a bag of multicolored Legos

Overall, it’s been my favorite class at Baruch and one I'll never forget

Especially because we are now masters at Management

I have to be honest. At first I was really excited to have a Blog. This is my first time blogging and I probably would never have blogged it if it were not for this class. Now it is less exciting and I just view it as an assignment that needs to get done. But, blogging was useful for reinforcing the ideas that we learned in class and having an example to relate everything back to. It was also interesting to see different class members express their opinions and creativity on their blogs. I think I do not place much emphasis on the blog because I do participate in class so I do not feel it is necessary to express my thoughts much behind the scenes. And I have to admit I am a bit skeptical about my blogging skills, although I do like making it pretty :) Overall, I think it was an interesting and cool approach to doing assignments.

Personal Profiles

I was not in class during this activity but after reviewing the DISC sheet, I would say that I am a D. I like to be in charge and to lead. I wish I had some qualities of S, where they are patient and a good listener because it is very important for a manager to be both of those. I think with enough practice and training, someone can become another management type. Regardless of anyone’s specific type, I think it is important to understand how people would act in the business world so they can be properly grouped with those that are not like them in order to learn from one another and adapt.

VISION

1)   to be happy!

2) to have a great job

3)    to invent something

 4) to have my own family

5) to give back to the community 

I think the video, although it was very corny, was very inspirational. It brought up a lot of truths. We are in control of our futures. If we want something it is up to us to go for it. I intend to make something of myself in the future whether it is a good wife, mother, employee, manager, whatever it may be. I am as capable as I allow myself to be. All these things that I want for myself I can obtain by visioning it and going for it! I do not think this is something I can really determine how to do just yet but I can envision it and act on it along with time.

The Decision for Revision

I get a migraine just thinking about the class we had after the test. Yet, it is important to analyze it formally in reference to the decision making process. Personally, I think that I attempted to COMPROMISE more than any of the other 4 ways. The reason I decided in this manor was because I kept in mind that our proposal had to be unanimous. For example: I was in favor for the essay to be on the next exam when another student was not. It seemed that more people were in favor for there to be an essay in comparison to those that were not in favor. I felt that this particular student was choosing to ACCOMMODATE and let the class decide for him even though that is not what he wanted. Although I did not agree with this student I still defended him because his opinion mattered, regardless if we agreed or not. I was focusing on the class as a whole instead of just pushing what I wanted for myself, like most members of the class were doing. If I had the power to choose a different approach to this whole conflict, initially I would have chosen to have the professor be involved in helping us make our decision. I like that we had the opportunity to voice our opinions and have the freedom to act without the typical reign from a teacher, but it was complete chaos. With a more defined person of authority, I think there would have been more respect, as well as structure, involved in the process.

This is why there is a teacher to begin with, but I’m glad I was a part of this exercise because it was beneficial to understanding and learning the decision making process.

egg-streme planning

I went through each step and analyzed how my group planned:

Step1 -defining goals and objectives: our team did not have a clear direction. We were very indecisive and kept changing our model ideas. When our final 10 minutes came we did not know what we were building and just threw something together. We should have really utilized our planning time and made a concrete decision.

Step2- evaluate your resources compared to objectives: A strength that our group had was that one of our group members had done this experiment before so we knew what not to do and it gave our group some advantage. It was nice that everyone was sharing their ideas but a big weakness of our group was the tendency of one person trying to be in charge and in control and ultimately shutting down everyone’s ideas but their own.

Step 3-develop premises and alternative strategies: I think we did this step but we tended to focused on it too much. We kept thinking of all the different ways to lead to the goal but we never fully decided on one.

Step 4-analyze alternatives and make a tactical plan: again we never had a complete model when it was time to build. But, our team was good at divvying up the jobs and each group member had a role.

Step 5-implement the plan and evaluate results: when it was time to build since we did not prepare that well, we kind of just threw all the materials together. I think for next time it would be important for us to manage our time better and make sure everyone works in a group effort.

My teams’ planning was not that great or effective and I think it is the main reason for why we lost. We needed to plan more instead of just arguing with one another. One person just kept dictating what to do and did not really take anyone's ideas into account. I think we could have be more effective in our planning if that one person was more open to everyone’s ideas or if someone in the group politely approached the person. Maybe they did not realize they were not including everyone in the group. Ultimately, teamwork is the most important when it comes to working in groups.

cultural differences

Baruch College, a very multicultural college, is a place where one can observe many cultural differences. One cultural difference I have personally observed is the way that Asian girls dress in comparison to other girls of different backgrounds. I have noticed that Asian girls are usually dressed more properly and appropriately. They are usually wearing a dress or a skirt along with heels. I assume that it is part of their culture to appear proper, professional, and to represent themselves in a well-groomed fashion. I have noticed this because even though I do dress up sometimes for school myself, I often times come to school in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I am not saying this applies to all Asian girls I do not mean to generalize and I know everyone is different, I am just stating a keen observation of mine. I actually admire some of these girls for always looking so nice!