Management poetry !!!

Everything about management is exciting and interesting,
Especially when professor Kurpis is teaching.
And I’m not just saying this to get an A,
Although, professor, please remember I need a good GPA.
I learned all about the management process,
And how to apply it to my future success.
Beginning with planning, to set my direction,
Then controlling process of measuring performance and taking action.
Organizing is also important to reach the objective,
All assisted my a good leader who can put things in perspective.

Blogs.. blah blah blah ...

This is the first time I had to create a blog for class. I made many “journals” and had discussion boards, but this was different and a little interesting.
First, it was nice to see what other students thought and wrote about, especially since the class is so large that it’s hard to get everyone’s opinion during sessions. The only problem with this is that I wasn’t sure if I’m writing to the professor or to the students since the content was being graded. I saw a lot of variations from class members in this too. Some people wrote as if they were chatting on aim with their buddies, others wrote out structured essays. When responding to the entries you also look for the shorter, easier to read one, because lets face it, this is not our only class or something we want to spend hours on. Other then this, I think it was an interesting way to interact with class members. I also noticed most of the comments were about encouragement and advice, so even if it was written just fulfill an assignment it was still nice to get that from your peers.
Second thing about the blog is that it made us reflect on what we did in class. The class itself has been an experience all on its own. It was wonderful to have demonstrations and class activities, but I feel like most of what we needed to learn was done at home with the text book and with the reflections in this blog. So I do support the blog in that it helped us understand what we did, and why we did it, but I believe that the understanding should have been done in class and examples and demonstrations of how we experienced these things could have been left up to the blog for more effective learning.
The blog defiantly provided outside reading and different ways to understand things in management. The professors entries were interesting but I wish he would of gave us more feed back to our blogs, let us know what he thinks of our work, not just what we think of his. Also about outside material, It would have been nice to have a one or two open-end blog requirements just to get a feel of what topics interest the class.
As far as the blog being 20% of our grade, I feel like that’s great, but I’m a little unsure if the minimum requirement will give you 20% or we have to go above and beyond to get it. I always love when the class isn’t only graded on exams, because there is so much more to education then just answering questions correctly, which in my case go in one ear and out the other the second the exam ends.
As far as continuing to blog, even though I’m a very outgoing person, but I am also very private about my personal thoughts and ideas. I don’t feel the need write them out for the whole world to see. If someone wants my opinion or to know something that I can share with them I welcome anyone to contact me, but as far as blogging, I’m just not the type of person, but who knows maybe after the class I’ll miss it.

D..I..sc

First I would like to share my experience of taking the DISC test. I answered honestly, though if it were a job interview or performance review for anything that mattered I would have lied through my teeth. I admitted to having so many unkind, unfriendly attributes that I thought it would be a wonder if anyone who saw the results would even talk to me.
With all my honest answers I ended being a high D (dominance) and a small I (influence), which is the best score to get if you want to be a leader, so surprise for me. I honestly don’t see my self being anything near conscientious or steady in a group environment, although it is something I am working very hard at, especially around people I don’t know. I am very strong willed, determined and demanding, especially when if comes to school and work, so the test did describe me accurately.
Personally I never thought these were beneficial qualities for a person to have (especially if you ask my mother), but I guess when it comes to leading a group of people you have to be. When I think of a great leader I don’t think of a kind old man hugging children, I personally see more of a tyrant, someone very forceful, aggressive and strong willed, all the characteristics of a D, like Stalin, Castro, and Hitler. Although I don’t agree with what they did, they had a strong following and millions under their control.
Perhaps my good qualities lay in the small I. It says it is trusting, enthusiastic, persuasive and optimistic. If I am in a good mood I feel like these are my dominating qualities, but between college and a full time job these moods can be rare.
I’m not sure how effective this test in a working environment. First I know people act differently at work then they do in a casual situation. I rarely act like myself around my boss. I am usually quiet, agreeable and organized, all the thing I must have for my particular job. So clearly, even with the strongest personality, you alter it for work. I guess this means I ave strong self monitoring skills, which means I am able to adjust my behavior in responce to external factors.
Same can be said about people’s type or personality, we all have a strong core personality but we bend it for people that we are around. Generally it would be helpful to have a DISC profile about every person we meet so we know what we are getting into, but then where would the fun of finding out be. And I believe people can’t change their personality but they can adjust to the situation to bring out the characteristics they already have.

vision ..

Where do you see yourself 3-5-10 years from now? It seems like in order to fill any important position you must answer this question. Personally I understand the importance of having a long term goal-vision but life often doesn't turn out for the better so it is important to keep away from what Albert Ellis called "mustabatory" beliefs. This is the belief that something must happen in your life for it be meaningful. For example I must get an A in this class or my life is over. I think having a vision for the future is very important, as long as that vision is taken with a grain of salt, and that the person knows his happiness does not depend only on it coming true. If I must look to accomplish something here's what it would be... First dance salsa again .. seems like a simple enough task but I had a pretty bad accident and had to stop lessons last year. The doctor said it'll take a few more years until I can get back to such physical activity. In order to go through with it in the future I try to do as much exercise as I am allowed, I also try not to forget all those years of learning by lightly practicing. My next vision.. and one I am very determined at reaching.. is to gain a good position in a top advertising firm in the next 10 years. To attain this I am in Baruch now, obviously, and I plan to go for my masters (not too sure where yet) in advertising. Also I have a strong artistic background and I'm learning many skills outside of college that will help me along the way (like graphic design).
Here is a 2 page magazine spread I just made for my G.D. class..
Most important on my list is to have a family within 10 years. I know in America getting married and having children isn't usually something people aspire to, but I do not want to wait until I am old enough to be my kid's grandmother to birth them. When it comes to this vision, there really is no preparation or lesson I can take to help me get closer to it. The first step is to find the right person to start a family with.

Decision Making

Hello everyone.
Last week in management class we had the midterm. Honestly I think it covered too much material for a midterm test, considering the next one is only on a few chapters. I got a 97 before the curve so I’m very happy. When I finished the exam however I did not think at all that I did that well. That played a very big part in my decision making process.
For handling the conflict and chaos in class I decided to take on an accommodating role. My main reason for this is that I thought I did not do very well and was very nervous to get the grade back, so before he handed them out I was ready to jump in front of the class and do whatever it took to boost my grade. When I received it however, I was more then thrilled and figured I had nothing at steak no matter what decision the class comes up with. Also I kept in mind that many people did get a lower grade and their decisions would impact them a lot more then me.

A big factor in my decision making was that the decision had to be unanimous, so if one person disagreed no one would get anything. Combined with the time limit, everyone was under a lot of pressure to conform. Towards the end I noticed a lot of "grouthink" going on, no one was critically evaluating the results, just striving to reach a consensus.
For these reasons I decided to go along with whatever the class thought was best and stay out of the conflict. The only thing I did want was for the lowest grade to be dropped so that I would have no pressure for the next exam, which the class agreed to right away. There was one thing that I thought should have been added to the test, and that was a choice of essay topics, but people were too scared that the teacher would make them harder that many refused to vote for it. Personally I don’t think he would of made it that much harder, and you do get a choice of three, so your bound to know one if you study, but once again I had nothing at steak for the next exam so I decided not to start more commotion about that. So overall I think being accommodating was the best role I could of played in this.

The YO-YO EGG

So in management class we had to make a contraption out of straws and tape to prevent an egg from breaking. As the teacher began to tell us of his whole idea, I had realized I left my cell phone in the computer lab, and as some of you remember, I ran out like a bullet to try to find it. (And I did :) ). When I rejoined my group, I was a little behind but lucky for me I had a wonderful group that brought me up to speed.
Right away my group members told me the goal was to have an egg drop 10 feet without breaking. They have spoken to the professor, who said the egg does not have to free fall all the way to the ground from the 10 feet height. So basically, we had a goal, and did the research to see if there were alternate ways to approach this problem. They have calculator 16 straws would equal to over 10 feet and we can get that by cutting the straws vertically. So, we applied the most we could out of our resources to stretch them into what we needed. We would have the egg free fall about 9 ½ feet while tied to that amount of straw and then it would stop before hitting the ground, from there it would only have to handle a drop of a few inches.
We drew out the plan and designated someone to hunt for the scissors. When we did not get them, first we started taking out keys and all sharp objects in an attempt to cut them in case we did not get the scissors. This was our alternative strategy if scissors were unobtainable. Thankfully, we got them quick enough and everyone went to work.
Without having to be told, each person just started doing what he or she could to help the cause. I was taping the straws together; another person was cutting them while others were working on getting the egg secured to the straws. No jobs were allocated, things just happened. In addition, what was strange was there was really no leader, but everyone managed to get along just fine as equals.
Then I was chosen to drop the egg because I was the only girl and all the boys insisted that they were taller. Thankfully, it went good and our egg did not break. What I think was the best part of our work was that the actual execution of dropping the egg was the easiest part. Unlike other groups who worried and tried to drop the egg from as low as possible, our group went on the table completely confident that the egg would not break. We planned and prepared, thought was tough an stressful, in the end we knew we couldn’t fail. I think this is most important in planning. All the work should be done in the planning phase so when time comes to execute it goes flawless and worriless.

Ready for a Big Break?

Hello everyone, typically when someone thinks of management problems the first thing they people complain about is their own time. There is never enough of it to go around and we struggle to fit in all the things we have to and want to do. Although this an is issue, especially for student, I believe that most should be able to handle this well by their junior year.

I have recently realized that there is another management problem that will impact all of us fairly soon if it hasn’t already: Career management. I am actually in the middle of it right now. Currently I have a great job in electronics. I have my own department, a part time secretary, and whatever resources I need to get my job done. It pays well, I have flexible hours so that I can go to school and I’m comfortable with my coworkers. The issue is this job has nothing to do with my major, marketing. Most marketing jobs require internships or experience, which in order to do I would have to quit my job. As a junior, I know it’s time to start managing my career plans, but how will I manage my bank account with out any substantial income, that I have gotten use to already.

One more thing about career management that becomes an issue is which opportunities do u take on and which do u pass? I have friends and family all pushing me to do different marketing jobs, so how do I know which ones will be right for me. It very hard to say no when someone is trying to set you up with an interview or a job in a marketing firm that you know you do not have enough experience for and won’t be able to keep your job after you get it. It equally as hard to say no when the position would downgrade you from where you think you are professionally.

Managing you career is way more then just catching a lucky break or knowing the right person. You need to make the right decisions as to which “big break” is legitimate and which will benefit you he most. You also need to decide when you are ready for that break.