Management Poem

Oh this management class has had its ups and downs

From first learning we had to blog which gave me such a frown

But as the class moved on it gave me quite a shock

When I realized this class might actually rock

We fought and argued over what to do with our test

And tried to survive in the tundra doing our very best

Now I still don't know what vision has to do with throwing shells in the sea

But I do know that my DISC type is type a D

We cracked some eggs and played with Legos

And now here I am trying to write a poem before its time to go

Its the end of the class and poetry really isn't my art

But at least the blog seemed to touch some peoples heart

Professor Kurpis did a good job teaching us management

Now it is something that is not too far out of my element

The way we blog

When I first started this class I thought it was going to be an average run of the mill lecture course with lots of reading from the powerpoint and falling asleep. Then when I heard that we were going to be doing a blog I thought that it was the most ridiculous thing ever like what is there in management that I will be able to blog about. Boy was I wrong. Once this class started and we started doing activities and we started doing the blog assignments I started to realize how wrong I had been when the class first started. With a class as big as ours it is sometimes hard to get your voice heard if you think you have something to say or contribute and you can kind of get over it. But then when I had to go home and write about what we did in class and how that activity relates to management etc. it was the perfect opportunity to say what I thought necessary. It also definitely allowed the class to kind of become more friendly with each other having the blogs available.Normally a few kids in the class will talk to each other but for the most part everyone keeps to themselves. However since we had the blog and we had to read and comment on the ways other people felt I feel like it allowed everyone to get to know eachother a little better and it made things in class a little more friendly and easygoing. I also think that having other people's blogs to read from allowed me to see a lot of different opinions and points of view. It wasn't just the people that spoke in class that you knew how they felt but the quiet kid next to you has a great point about the topic that you didn't think of. Or I found out similarities in the way we think or things I have in common like with Chris how we are both looking to become police officers.
Overall it was a very easy way to control 20% of my grade without having to take a test and it was also a pretty fun way of doing so. It was definitely a learning experience that I enjoyed. Whether or not I will continue to blog once this class is over is up in the air. While I did enjoy it I don't know if I would know what to blog about without the assignments being given to us. But hey you never know I guess.

What a DISC

Yet another interesting day in our management class trying to determine the types of personalities we all have. I ended up scoring the most in the Dominance category and then the Conscientiousness category as my second highest. That makes my managerial style Dc. I feel as this describes me fairly accurately after looking at the description for Dominance in that I feel I do tend to make quick decisions and try to solve problems. In high stress situations I tend to try and take control and make things happen rather then sit around. I have no problem making a decision when it comes down to it and fighting for that decision if I think it is right. Then there is the C part of me. I feel like it complements my D personality well because I tend to try and make informed decisions and the C part of me likes to stay informed and make sure things are correct. I try to think analytically and try to reason with people. When I know a decision is correct though because I made sure it was myself, I will make sure that it gets done. I don't really wish I was another type but if I had to choose I would choose Influence rather then Conscientiousness as my second highest profile trait. I suppose anyone can become another type if they just try to change the way that they think and handle situations.

While this test can prove to be useful in determining what kind of personality someone has, it does not mean that they do not have any of the other kinds as well and depending on the situation at hand they could let one of the other traits shine through their most dominant one. I think it is a good start to tell if someone has the right personality for a job in a business setting but it should not be the only factor being weighed. I think a much more in depth look needs to be taken at a person to determine something like if they should be hired for an important position or whatever the case may be.

Vision

Well that video in itself was interesting and inspirational in a sense. Although it was really corny and entertaining watching that guy throw some starfish into the ocean, it did have a nice underlying message. That message was that you are the only one that is in control of your own future. If you want something in life you cannot wait for it to fall into your lap, you have to go out there and take care of it yourself. So some things that I would like to take care of in my own life are to have a wife and kids. Starting a family is something that is important to me. Another goal which is more short term is to graduate from Baruch. I would like to find a job in which I am able to live comfortably off of. Finally a goal that I plan to apply some of the lessons learned from the video to is to become a police officer. I decided around a year ago or so that I would like to become a police officer. I am going to school for finance but it isn't really for me but since I am already so close to finishing I want to finish it out and can use that degree as sort of a backup. However I did sign up for the Suffolk County Police Officer exam and plan on taking the written part of it in June. To accomplish that goal I plan on studying really hard for it and just trying to do the best I can. When other police exams become available I plan on taking those as well. I know if I stay focused that goal or vision can become a reality.

Decision Making

In last week's class after when we got our test results back and were allowed to choose what we wanted to do with that test and any future tests, I used more of the "Avoidance" method then anything else when coming to that decision as a class. That basically means that I withdrew from from the decision making process. I decided to do that because there were a few people around me that had very similar opinions and were voicing those opinions so I felt it would be redundant to try and argue in the huge amount of chaos that was going on. Many people were using the "Compete to Win" method in class which basically means they were fighting very hard to get their way and weren't really that open to compromise at first. All I was really concerned about was the extra credit and curve because I felt the test wasn't really that bad I was just unprepared. Those people using the "Compete to Win" method did eventually end up coming around and compromising  because we were able to make a decision by the end of the given time. I didn't notice anybody using the "Accomodation" or "Collaboration" methods but I could have missed it. A good portion of the class was just using the "Avoidance" method or "Compete to Win" and as time got closer to the end everyone started to try and use the "Compromise" method. I think that just using the "Compromise" method would have been sufficient enough to get everyone's demands met because you are really just trying to appease everyone with that method. In the end, everyone seemed pretty happy with the results, everyone could have been a little happier if they would have gotten their way completely, but that is what happens when you compromise.

An Eggs-cellent Way to Plan

That was probably one of the more fun classes of any type I have had while attending any school. It wasn't an easy task to handle though. When looking at the different Steps in the Planning Process I can see that we had completed or used them all in one way or another. The goals and objective were defined for us already when we received the assignment so that was easy. Next we had to evaluate our resources which again was assigned to us so it was really to difficult a task. We were told we would have 9 straws and 2 feet of tape with the 1 egg. Next we started to talk about different ideas for how to accomplish the task of dropping the eggs without it falling. A lot of different ideas were thrown around like creating a nest underneath it, trying to lower it by taping the straws together so it didn't have a far fall, creating a kind of cage around it so the straws would divert all the impact around the egg and some others. We ended up choosing to create the cage type scenario hoping it would work. Once we chose that we drew out a sketch so we had an idea of what to do and when it came time to implement is when it got difficult. There were so many hands all over the place and the 10 minutes felt more like 5. We were able to complete the design but it didn't look as good as we had hoped nor did it work as good as we hoped because it cracked. Overall I feel like our teams performance was pretty good considering we did have a plan that we had thought out. The implementing could have been a little better, I think if we would have implemented our plan a little more efficiently rather then scrambling to get it done, it could have worked. The crack on the egg was so small.

Culture Shock

I personally have been working in the restaurant business for the past 4 1/2 years and throughout all that time I have met plenty of different people. Now I may not have ever been out of the country and been able to see what other cultures are like but I have seen how people from other cultures go out to eat. I personally will eat just about anything from different types of seafood or meat or vegetables and will eat almost any style of cooking. However, there are certain cultures that aren't as open as I am about eating. As an example, I have come across Jewish people that would not eat "bottom feeders" like shrimp or lobster and would abstain from eating pork. I have also seen Muslims that do not eat pork. Other people that practice Hinduism abstain from eating beef. Now while that may not seem normal to me because I am so open about what I enjoy to eat different people prefer to do things their own way. When I was growing up I wasn't supposed to eat meat on Fridays, although I do now.