Ode to Management

A pile of papers, so many personalities.
Deadlines to meet, but so much still to do.
Our creativity and innovation ensure a fantastic product.
Time management keeps us straight, our eyes focused on the prize.
Communication, teamwork and vision are the keys to succeed.
Don't rush, get it right, make sure to do it ethically.
So many ways to motivate; Everyone needs it.
Strict and stringent, the ironclad "ruler"; MacGregor would be proud.
Calm and encouraging, the supporting designer, Fayol would approve.
Whichever approach I choose, Leadership is what will guide us through.
Wow sounds like it will be a piece of cake, too bad there's still all this work to do.

Bloggin....Bloggin.....Bloggin

I think that using the blog as a tool is very unique and a very intuitive spin on doing homework and studying outside of school. I don't know about most of my classmates, but i do not always study outside of class to the best of my ability, and often I just do homework just to get it done. This is why doing a blog is a far more useful tool. I find that I actually reflect on the topic of the blog and the classroom activities that we went through to help teach the topic. In doing so I am reviewing the information that was studied in class, but I am forcing myself to analyze and discuss it in my own words, which in essence is one of the best ways people can study. Also, by reading the different blogs of my classmates, I am able to really compare my ideas about the topic to the ideas of my classmates and perhaps I can see another point of view that they may have picked up on that I did not. Also, as we all know, one of the best ways to learn, is to learn by doing. However, it is not possible for us to do and experience everything. That is why the second best situation is to learn by reading about the experiences of others. The blogs most definitely provide us the opportunity to read about everyone else's experiences. The only aspect of the blogs that I did not like, was that I was unaware of when someone posted something new to their blog that interested me. Perhaps if there was a way to link it to blackboard, I would have read other blogs far more commonly, as opposed to only when I had an assignment to complete. I have grown fond of this blog, and although I do not plan on continuing this blog, I think that in the future I may create a new one that centers on topics that I do not study regularly, such as inventions and innovations.

GREASY MANAGEMENT!!!!

From classmates I’d heard that their orders were met with disgust and confusion, but that eventually the manager gets involved and expedites the process. I figured the same would hold true for me. However, in Valley Stream I was met with disdain, attitude and hostility. The cashiers looked at me like I was crazy and the manager thought I was playing a joke and told me to leave. Regardless of their reasons for this behavior, I was very shocked. Isn't the customer always right? I decided to try my luck with the McDonalds in Union Square. Shockingly, the cashier was nonchalant about the order and passed it to the manager. The manager followed the process, ensuring his employee put 4 pickles and the fries were well done with no salt. The fluidity of the process impressed me until the manager asked what class this was for. Clearly these were not genuine reactions; However, despite their familiarity with the process, my receipt was incorrectly printed. I decided that my third effort needed a slight spin to ensure genuine responses. The idea was to isolate the Manager from the process so that he was incapable of directing; In doing so, I could easily see how chaotic the process would become. To do this I enlisted Jen Parker. We went to the McDonalds on 7th Ave and 14th St. There was a line forming behind us and the employees were rushing to complete the orders. Jen went first and submitted her order. As expected, similar to the reaction at Union Square, the cashier took the order and called for the manager. The manager spoke to Jen and the constructed the hamburger with 4 pickles, and hand-picking well done no salt Fries. While the manager was preoccupied with Jen’s order, I submitted mine. The cashier began to put in my order, and stopped. She didn’t know how to proceed without the manager. She called out, “can someone help?” No one responded. For a few seconds she stood looking for someone who was not hard at work. She couldn’t find anyone, and continued completing my order and put it onto the order screen for the employees in the back. Afterwards she flashed me a dirty look. A minute or two later the manager came back with Jen’s order and the cashier told him about mine. He walked into the back to see what was happening. I saw him take the bun off of my hamburger and throw two more pickles on it. He waited until a fresh batch of Fries was made, and he picked out mine before they were salted. Without the manager my order would’ve been incorrect and I may not have received my Fries. Jen’s order took 5 mins, and mine took 8 mins. That is a 60% increase in time for an identical order. 4 people were involved in my order: The cashier, the person who made my hamburger, the person who made my Fries and the manager. I believe that the McDonald’s staff was well prepared for a “surprise” order. They had an obvious strategy, which was to direct it to the manager and allow him to supervise the order. However, he’s out of the equation, there was no set strategy. Personally, I think the fault with the process lies with the fact that the employees who construct the hamburger can not easily be told to add 4 pickles instead of 2. Clearly adding 2 more pickles is not a task that should require a manager’s attention. Perhaps McDonalds should invest in a more descriptive computer system that transfers information from the cashiers to the employees making the food. Another option would be to continually keep a certain amount of Fries unsalted, and to have the employee salt them if it is necessary. Another issue that I would definitely deal with was the management hierarchy. It was very clear that the manager was first in control, but after him the cashier didn’t know who was next. She did not know who else to call for. Perhaps it would be prudent to set up an assistant manager if the manager is busy.

D.I.S.C.over yourself !!!

At first I thought that the diagnostic was only half right; it named me as being primarily conscientious and secondary steady. I agreed entirely with the steady aspect, but I heartily disagreed with the conscientious. After consulting with my friends and getting their opinions, it was fairly apparent that they thought the test had described me extremely accurate. But I personally did not know if I believed the results. After thinking about it, I realized that I was having a hard time believing the results because I did not like being called conscientious. In the face of dominance, influence and conscientious, I would much rather have been influential, and then dominating before conscientious. I suppose that developed from the fact that my entire family is very strong willed and either falls into the dominating category or extremely influential category; I have learned from them, their behavior, and interactions with them that one must be outwards, and push, and very forceful from time to time to get their way; This applies especially to me when I believe that more often than not I have the best ideas in my family, but other individuals might be more apt to argue and fight to get their way. I have learned from experience that after a brief confrontation I am very likely to give up my stance and avoid hurting someone else's feelings, despite how strongly I feel. This is about where I decided that the test was completely right and that I just flat out wasn't entirely happy with that fact. But in retrospect, did I have good reason to believe that my profile was the profile of someone who was invaluable to a company? The answer is no, I did not have reason to look upon my future with doubt. As I have just mentioned, my family is quite strong-willed. Even though it is not necessarily the strongest characteristic in my nature to be strong-willed and "force" my ideas through, I have learned over time how to do it. This can be very valuable when I am completely sure that I am right and that the other person is making a grave mistake. Also, when Professor K began to explain the strengths and weaknesses of each class, I realized that for my intended profession, which lies within the financial world, prudence, accuracy, and consideration are very valuable assets. These characteristics unfortunately do not provide me with an edge to make the big, blockbuster securities-trade or IPO, but they do position me well to avoid undertaking extremely risky positions and losing clients' money. I play poker in the same manner, very sure handed and calculated, and I am lucky enough to have won more often than I lose. Another aspect that I was happy to hear about my characteristics is that I was someone who can be trusted in almost any capacity. Not only do I consider myself to be trustworthy, but I consider myself to be a Jack of all trades; Or at least I am attempting to develop myself into the caricature while in college. Personally I think that I would put a substantial amount of stock in this personality profile test, but I would not trust it completely. People change over time, and although I am a CS now, I can develop into a DI after a few more years with my family. The value of this test lies in the fact that we all bring different inherent attributes to the table and that as managers we must realize that the same approach and personality is not best for every situation. Rather we must change our approach to better accommodate situations, or if we can not change our approach, we must find someone whose personality type is ideal for the moment at hand. I believe this was very apparent in the Stranded scenario. In this scenario, two details, which are fairly minor, influence which type of managing personality would perform best. The issues are 1) The limitation on time that they have. 2) The amount of information that is readily available regarding the situation. For instance, if their was a time constraint of a few hours left to live, then their really is no time to sit and discuss; I would rather be with the dominating personality then because most likely he or she would be able to incite action in the survivors and would be able to quickly coordinate them. This would be far better than wasting time analyzing the situation. However, if their was a large amount of time, it might be best if a conscientious or steady decision maker was in charge, because he or she would probably encourage the group to come to the most logical and efficient way at achieving survival, whether that is staying still or attempting to find help. The influential class would midway between both of the aforementioned extremes, and would help in either case, although I think that in either case he or she would be too ineffective. The second constraint, the amount of readily available information is also an influencer of who should be in charge. For instance, if someone knows survival information, or has a gps satellite, there is very little if any need for discussion and planning. In that case the answer is essential deterministic rather than probabilistic, and a dominating or influential personality would be better suited to develop results at a faster pace. In there is very little information known, then a plan is needed to determine what is most likely occurring and how to best deal with the situation. In this case, a steady personality would be best, while a conscientious personality would be helpful. Although, I must admit that I think that a too conscientious person might waste too much time in giving everyone a say in what is and is not an option for survival. The steady personality would be better because the analysis would quickly weed out those options and suggestions which clearly do not provide substantial value to the group. But remember, these are just my ideas pertaining to the stranded! discussion. In any discussion or situation, who would be the best leader is very dependant on the parameters of that discussion; For instance, who makes the best teachers is very dependant on the area of the world you are in; In high power societies such as China or India, dominating teachers or influential teachers are preferred. However in low power societies such as America or South America, conscientious teachers or steady teachers are most likely preferred.

MY VISION IF I EVER HAVE TIME

MY VISION

Goals:
1.Create an invention, process or idea that has a reaching positive impact.
2.To be the best friend of my children and the person that they love and respect most in the world.
3.Make a significant and tangible impact that benefits all who live in the community I live in.
4.Write either a novel, short story, cookbook, textbook, self-help, or any sort of book.
5.Become a top financial market regulator, and help to prevent illegal trades and safeguard people's money.

Although the above are five separate goals, they can all be reached through combinations of the same actions. Those actions include studying diligently, working hard, continually improving myself and my position in this world, and doing everything 100%, without any let down to ensure accuracy. If all of these actions are fulfilled I have no doubt that I will have reached most if not all of my goals. Studying is a vital element of my ambitions given that it will allow me to gain knowledge that can be used in my endeavors. By studying the persona of the human personality, science, finance, people, family books, writing, or any other discipline, I will have bettered my knowledge base to help me reach the ends that I desire; Clearly college is a form of study that will help me reach my goals by allowing me to learn finance. By working hard I will ensure that I do not allow myself to misstep and worsen my position in this world. We are only given a very short amount of time on this planet, and that time is far too little and precious to be wasted on correcting silly mistakes. By continually working hard I will have given myself an edge to better my position whether it is being promoted faster at my job, or gaining recognition that others have not, or at least being noticed for my hard work (A for effort). One might say that this would help me tremendously with my family given that no parent is perfect, but that every parent should always work hard at being perfect. Doing things halfway is not a proper way to finish a job as you leave your work open to having mistakes that can be costly in many ways. Again, this is something that must be limited in order to make the most out of life.

Specific actions needed to accomplish each goal
1.First learn about the needs of people. Develop practical ways to satisfy their needs and wants.
2.Love my children more than anything else. Play with them, and make time for them when they are sad.
3.Help donate my time to a little league or PTA meeting.
4.Find a topic of interest that I believe others would have interest. Take time out from my normal schedule. Write an interesting and intriguing plot.
5.Apply to FINRA or the SEC and work hard towards promotion. Learn how to better track illegal trading activity.

So how do you get 50+ People to agree on anything? You offer them free stuff !!!!!

It was very interesting to observe the class deciding on a course of action to modify our grades on the first test. It was very clear that the most vocal and argumentative individuals were also the individuals who had not done as well on the test. Clearly without Teddy's influence and direction, we as a class would not have been able to organize ourselves and request so many different changes to the test and modifications to the grades and grading system. I personally am not a very vocal individual, and I do not have the outgoing personality that is typical of a leader. Therefore, if I do not need something personally, I most likely do not become involved; This is not to say that I do not care about the discussion or making the decision, but rather I am much more acceptive of reasonable propositions put forth by others-In essence, I become much more impartial when my exposure to the decision is fairly trivial. This is most consistent with the qualities of the accommodator, although at times I displayed the traits of the compromiser; A few times during the decision making process I spoke up and made suggestions; I did so for a few reasons: Reason #1-The group was discussing throwing out the grades of the first test, or lessening their value. Clearly this would not benefit me, and it was in my best interest to speak up and preserve the value of my grade. Reason #2-The group was becoming a little bit unruly and suggesting changes to the syllabus and other "unreasonable" options which I felt only served to waste valuable time; In this case I was acting in the best interest of those around me, rather than in my own interests. Reason #3-I had an idea that I would have liked if I was in the position of those who had bad grades. Therefore, I spoke up to share that idea with the class. Another issue that I noticed with the decision making process is that I am very put-off by arguments and raised voices and potential conflicts. I understand that with a lot on the line, tempers can flare, but truthfully it only serves to exacerbate the situation and detract from potential additions to the solution list. This particular case was a perfect example; The class discussed the options the entire allotted time we were given. The fact that here and there demeaning words were exchanged and arguments occurred, valuable time was wasted. That time could have translated into another reasonable request that would have served only to better position us in the future. Teddy did a great job organizing us as a class, and appointing someone to record the requests, and another individual to monitor the time, but perhaps he should have also appointed someone to control arguments from sidetracking the discussion (granted that this would not be an easy task). I think to have gotten a better result, I would have had to act the role of the collaborator. In fact, I believe that if the group had been totally comprised of collaborators, we would have ended up with the best situation, because we would have had a greater sensitivity to the needs and wants of all the different individuals in the group. I am choosing the collaborator above the compromiser because the collaborator is assuaging and assertive while the compromiser is just assuaging; Had there been too many compromisers, no one would most likely have stepped forth to organize the group or suggest different options. All in all however, considering the shear volume of individual situations, wants and needs represented in the class, we did a great job in decision making and are very fortunate to have been given so much.

Planning-The Critical Element

Planning is a critical element of management that inevitably contributes heavily to the end result. In the absence of planning or the lack of proper planning, the end result of a project is typically being incomplete, or flawed; rarely is the end result perfect without perfect planning. In the case of attempting to drop an egg from 10 feet and land it safely with only the use of 8 straws and 2 feet of masking tape, clearly efficient planning is the most valuable asset. Typically there is 5 steps to properly planning and following through to reach your objective: They are 1. Define your goals and objectives. 2 Determine your resources and current status vis a vis objectives. 3 Develop several alternative strategies. 4. Make a tactical plan. 5. Implement the plan and evaluate the results. In my group's case we unfortunately bypassed step2, step 3, and step 4, and actually went through step1 and step 5. My group performed step 1 because it was absolutely imperative to even making an attempt at solving the problem at hand. Also, step one was also partially laid out for us when the objective of the exercise was officially presented. We did not perform step 2 or determine where we stood because it seemed implicitly defined with the presentation of exercise. However, had we gone ahead with step 2 we may have been able to better define the strength of our materials (tape, egg and straws) and what the biggest issue is with the challenge (height). We did not perform step 3 because we did not have enough time after taking too long to agree upon a solution-design, and also because we were sure our original solution would be adequate. Step 4 wasn't performed because frankly we ran out of time and had to vote on which plan to follow through on at the last second. We did perform step 5, because we had a fairly in depth idea which required as much time as possible; Therefore we needed to have someone keep a very close watch on the time. All in all, given that as a group our planning efforts were extremely poor, we were very fortunate to have almost succeded in protecting (40%) the egg. In fact, we only failed because of a single, minimal crack. To have done a better job, my group could have followed through every step with precision. This would have allowed us to better allocate our time, plan out who should follow through with performing tasks in constructing the solution, and better define the strengths and weaknesses of the group. Another issue that my group faced is that a few of the ideas that our group came up with were fairly good, but we voted on them before everyone had a clear understanding of what the design was before we voted on it. That way a better decision can be made regarding which design is the best option. We came so close with only performing 40% of the planning process, had we performed any more, we could have succeeded in dropping the egg safely from 10 feet.