Management Coming to an End

This semester we've had many classes

To management though we could raise our glasses.

We've learned the basics, we hope not to forget.

Blogging really proved to be no sweat.

Our class activities made things easy,

Even though some may have been a little cheesy.

In this class I'm hoping for an A,

It would be a great way

To end the month of May.

Communication

Communication is a vital tool for any classroom experience. The blogging portion of this management class provide a way for students to communicate outside the classroom. There are a number of reasons why I believe this assignment was beneficial to me and i am sure to many others as well.

For one I believe this was a great way to communicate with others in the class. By reading others' blog posts I started to learn more about my classmates and then gave my opinion by posting comments. Also, I believe through the blog was the best way to review the material learned in class. By writing about an activity done in class that day, I could apply the managements terms with what we have done in class. I think the informal writing of a blog, makes the assignment more fun as opposed to lets say writing a short essay.

The blog also lets you read about the real life management experiences of others. By reading how others utilize management processes, I could then try and apply to my life where I see fit. I think the blog is a great part of the course that should be kept for future semesters. When the class sees their final grades they will see the benefit of the blogging assignment and how it has impacted their final grade. It takes much pressure off the often high pressure exams, which I think could be better made up to analyze the various management processes.

The Dominant Fellow

The personality test, I believe is an important way for companies to learn additional information about their employees. All companies can see how productive an employee can be from past performance. However in a business atmosphere where performance may be equal among most of the employees another method is needed to learn about your employees. The personality test done in class can give employers a way to learn about their employee's personality and what their future will be in their company.

In the test I came out as a D-C and i think that accurately portrays my personality. I'm always thinking of how I could move up in the workplace. I think about what actions would be needed for my employers would recognize my well doings and accurately reflect upon them. In addition to that, I also have the hope to go on my own one day and be my own boss. The "C" portion I believe shows how when given a task I do my best to get it done rather quickly. I try and be organized where I can and this helps with many other parts of my work methods.

I believe this this test could be used in all workplaces and along with an employee's performance for the company, an employer can make an accurate assessment of the long term future of this employee in his organization. Maybe he has the future to become a manager one day.

Management in Action

The management process can be seen through almost every type of business. Our McDonald’s experiment demonstrated the specific method involved in the McDonald’s management process. The specific way our tasked was designed created a different outcome for all the different McDonald’s locations. My specific experience was an interesting way to learn the specific management process of the McDonald’s in my neighborhood.

As I walked in to place my order the cashier immediately looked at me in a funny way. One I told her exactly what I wanted, she walked towards the kitchen to tell them about the 4 pickles. With my little knowledge of Spanish, I was able to make out that she was telling someone in the kitchen to make up one special burger specified to my order. In relation to my order of French fries, the cashier herself handled that portion of the order. She let the fries sit in the fryer a little normal than usual. I received the contents of my order, but a problem came about when trying to print out a receipt that was detailed for my order. The cashier already had completed my order without the extras on the receipt. She then called over the shift manager who knew how to add the details to the receipt. The shift manager was very understanding and polite when working to try and create the receipt. The wait time was not long and pretty normal for a fast food restaurant. Using only the cahier and the shift manager my order was correct and the receipt showed all the correct information as well.

If I had rate the service at this specific McDonald’s location, I would most probably give it a pretty high rating. All the staff that I had dealt with during my order were very respectful and understanding. They were able to process my order efficiently by telling the kitchen to create one burger specified to my order. The fries she took care of her self and when she needed help with the receipt she asked the manager who also was efficient and quick to complete my request. Also, it did not look like they printed receipts for every customer. For my type of request, she knew how to complete it to get the contents of the order, but when it came to printing a receipt she needed some help. If I was to give advice to McDonalds I would suggest them giving some type of training for working the cashiers station. By learning how to print receipts and add specific requests to receipts, all cahiers will be more effective when a customer comes in with my type of order. In the end, I was very pleased with the customer service the employees displayed during my experience.

This assignment proved to be a very interesting way to learn the management process of a particular business. The manager at this store was very hands on, and willing to help customers for any situation that may arise. I even noticed that he had been taking orders prior to his assistance being needed to help print my receipt. The next time I walk into any type retail business I will look out for the management process being used at that particular establishment.

Throwing Starfish

The video we watched in class discussed the importance of creating a vision for yourself and acting upon that vision. I think everyone has their own vision of what they want to do in their lives, but are afraid to take the first step. Therefore the most important aspect of a vision is to take action or in other words,"throw the starfish".

Many people in the world dream of becoming doctors, lawyers, architects etc., I always wanted to be in the real estate business. This vision partly came about due to the fact that my father was is of the business. However as became old enough to understand the true aspects of the business, I knew that this was what I wanted to do after college. Eventually I hope to be able to buy, develop, and manage real estate here in New York City. I know, however that this goal will take hard work and lots of time.

I knew education was very important and it would only aid me in the right direction. in essence this was the first action I had taken towards my vision. Not only did I decided on education, I chose Baruch where I was able to major in Real Estate. Very few schools have this major. Another action that I have recently take towards my vision, is that I recently received an internship at a farely large real estate development firm here in the city. There I am gaining a learning experience that is hard to be taught in the classroom.

My vision may take a long time to accomplish, but with paitence and hard work any vision could be accomplished.

The Decision of Our Semester

Monday's class was one of the more interesting and extraordinary experiences of my two years in Baruch. As a class we were given the authority to decide on the professor would handle our grades from the first test. What made this decision so difficult, was the fact that as a class of 60 students we had to make a unanimous decision. So the student who got the highest mark and the student that got the lowest mark had to agree on what the professor should do with this test. There are various decision making techniques that we could have used to make an unanimous decision.

Chaos was certainly an issue as the decision making process began in the class. Once someone took charge and began asking everyone of their opinions, there was order in the class. Personally, I believe without the pressure of having to make a unanimous decision affected everyones ability to make a decision. Many of the students gave up the best possible method to improve their grade in order to have one method that would help the entire class at the same time. This can be considered the compromise method and it worked very well to make a unanimous decision for the entire class.

The accommodation method is another method that could have easily worked well with our situation. The class saw everyones needs and made a decision in which other's needs were more important then their own needs. This can be very similar to the compromise method and I believe both would help if we were to make a future unanimous decision as a class.

Planning

Planning is something we all have to take into account before taking part in any activity. Planning a has many steps to it, and through the egg drop activity, I think our group did go through some of the steps of planning but missed out on some crucial steps that led to our egg breaking on the drop. The first two steps of setting goals and determining our status we did go through. From the outset we knew our timing of planning, that we had 20 minutes to finish all planning and be ready to receive the materials. We also asked if anyone had any experience in engineering and/or architecture because we believed that would significantly help our group construct something that would protect the egg. We came up with an initial design and with the remaining time we developed a few alternative designs. We then had to make the decision as a group to which design we were going to use. The fourth step I believe was our mistake and the reason for our failure in the task. As a group we did not delegate to what action each group member was to perform when receiving the materials. One we got the materials everyone was trying to do everything and therefore our structure did not come as we designed in the planning period. All steps must be met in order to successfully put your plan into action and success.