interpretation of management

For our last assignment we have been asked to write a poem on the topic of management. I have chosen to write two haiku's. The first is my general view on management and the second is my view on the class. For those of you who aren't too familiar with a haiku please keep in mind that it is a three line poem where the first line has 5 syllables the second had 7 and the third has 5. I hope you enjoy!

My Feelings on Management

Joy and frustration
Depends on situations
Handle each with care.


Professor Kurpis's Class

Class is in session
Chaos and much confusion
Leads to clarity

speak your mind

As many of us know, effective communication between people is very important on many levels. It promotes good relationships, allows for timely results and much more. the last exercise we had in class proves this. In the beginning, we were not allowed to speak to the speaker and the frustration on every one's faces showed how we were feeling. A one sided conversation is a difficult situation to deal with though we sometimes experience it. The second round of the experiment was a little better because we were allowed to speak freely, however there was still a gap between the speaker's message and our interpretations. This exercise, like the others we had in class allows us to learn real life applications to the class topics. Combined with the blogs of our classmates, we are able to explore different ideas on the topics and come to a better understanding. This is why I feel that the blogs are a great tool to have in addition to the other class materials. The blogs create a channel in which our peers can speak more openly because they maybe shy or there was not enough time in class to speak their minds. WE are also able to get to know each other somewhat through the blogs where if we just left it to in class meetings we might not know anything at all. Also, in combining the blog with the topic of management, we are able to explore the topics even further because of the extra materials Prof. Kurpis adds. I feel that more than the extra readings, the explanations in class were helpful in learning the material. As for the 20% of our grades the blogs account for. This is a fair compensation for the work we put in, however I feel that nothing really can help with test anxiety more than the actual tests themselves. I believe that the tests account for 70% of our grades and this is still a frightful number. Thankfully, we capitalised on the opportunity to change the grading system of the class in one of the exercises, but I still have fear of our final...=( As for keeping this blog going after the class I probably will, though it may not be about management. =( Now that I think about it, it's kinda sad to leave the class because we had so many good times so hopefully some of us can keep in touch through the blogs or other channels of communication.

Confusion leads to amazement!

What is this?

Dominance- emphasis on shaping the environment by overcoming opposition to accomplish results
Influence- emphasis on shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others
Steadiness- emphasis on cooperating with others to carry out the task.
Conscientiousness- emphasis on working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy.

Now I get it!

At the start of this assignment, I was extremely confused. Professor Kurpis did explain what we were doing, but when the words and the corresponding letters came up on the projector, I sat there feeling like a little boy lost in a parking lot. It was until the very end after we evaluated our results did I say WOW! For me this test was pretty accurate. I say that I am an "I" or act by "influence". This if very true for me because I do tend to try to shape my environment by influencing or persuading others. This is evident I guess when I constantly speak my mind. LOL. As for wishing I were another type, I don't think there is a better or worse type. It is who you are and therefore I wouldn't care to be D S or C. Not that there are anythings wrong with them. I'm just happy to be an I. I feel that understanding a person's type is important and can prove useful when trying to work together or understand each other. Many times it is difficult to examine a person and right away know what type of ideas or perceptions they have, but this test gives you a better sense (though it may not be exact or detailed) of what type of person they are. I think tests like this can work for any type or relationship in life. For example it would be useful for employer employee relationships, professor student relationships, neighbor to neighbor relationships. It can be useful for romantic relationships as well, but why take the fun out of a little curiosity?
As for our stranded situation, I think I would chose to have a D or dominant leader. I think that in such and extreme situation, you would need someone who can put their foot down and make decisions. However there are some conditions that would have to be met in order to survive. First the D or dominant leader would have to have the most expertise in the situation because s/he would probably throw out the ideas of others no matter how good or bad they were. To avoid much conflict and time delays the rest of the group should consist of no more Ds. The others can consist of an I who agrees with the D and try to influence the others or many Ss who would help out in efforts to survive. C's would be very good to include because they may come up with alternatives that were not created. Overall all Ds Is Ss and Cs would create a great and necessary mix, however whatever the mix, the most important things are to establish a leader, assess the situation, agree on a plan, and quickly implement the plan where everyone commits to its completion.

what i envision

Dreams. I know that we've all had them. Many or all of which remain as dreams. After listening to the video on VISIONS, I think I have a vision that I can make a reality. My vision of the future is to make enough money through hard work and skills that I obtain in life to create a life I call mine. What I mean by this is I will have a home large enough to satisfy my family of 5 (me my wife and our 3 children). This home will be either in NY or where ever work will provide for us. I will also obtain a home nearby for my parents who I will care for. As for career and employment I am still uncertain of what I want, however that is why I am in school. Completion of school is the first step to achieving my vision. If I were to create a general vision of my career I see myself on top of a financial firm or a media company. In my free time I will travel the world with my family and enjoy what I consider to be pleasures in life (good food, golf, snowboarding, good company, spending much time with my family, etc.). There are other uncertainties that I want to make specific in my vision however my knowledge is not sufficient yet to make decisions. So far my vision is incomplete and only a collection of goals. I know what general direction I wish to travel in however the road is uncharted. But remembering the words spoken in the video,

Vision without action is just a dream.

Action without vision merely wastes time.

Vision coupled with action can make things happen!

provides a compass to help me to my destination. I know that I can apply myself to further develop my vision and make it a reality. As for the specific actions I will take to develop this dream into a vision, I will be persistent in increasing my knowledge to answer my uncertainties, further develop my vision and do whatever is necessary to make my vision a reality while complying to my morals and ethics.

Classroom Chaos Cooled

Isn't it interesting to see how different people are? Everyone had different agendas, points of views and personalities. These factors and many others contribute to why it is difficult for a large group of people to come to a collective agreement on an issue. In class, professor Kurpis stated that there were 5 ways in which people react to situations similar to that of the class. These are
1. Compete to win Assertiveness to get one’s own way
2. Avoidance Withdrawal; used when there’s “no chance of winning”
3. Compromise Used with decision making under pressure; all members are equal
4. Accommodation Seeing issue as more important to others than self
5. Collaborating Requires bargaining and negotiation among group
Multiple group insights required
Because the class immediately turned to chaos, I was convinced by a classmate to take action. At first I went into avoidance though I was aware that something had to be done to organize the class. Thanks to the concern shown by my classmate I changed my approach to a collaborating and compromising one. I wanted to let as many people be heard and to somehow get our ideas across to everyone (including the professor) for evaluation. Honestly I thought as a class, we would not be able to come to an agreement on a single solution, however to my surprise we were able to successfully come together for a greater cause. .............EVERYONE GIVE YOURSELVES A PAT ON THE BACK! You really deserve it!................=) I think the outcome would have been better if we had some more time to weigh out even more possibilities, however given the amount of time and information, I believe that we accomplished something special.

Eggs-cellent? ...I don't think so.

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed all that studying we had to do for that test...=(...anyways back to the matter at hand. Today I would like to talk to you about how I failed my group as a member and as maybe as its faux leader. If we take a look into the five steps, I can safely say that all were taken though it may not have been in class. I will explain as I continue. First of all we all knew what our objectives were. They were stated on the slides. However, because of our misconception of the assignment or lack of ability to think outside the box, we would later fail.
As for the recources and our current position in relation to the objective, we knew exactly what was going on. We had straws tape an egg and our skills to preform a task that was new to us. It was this reason that I had worked alittle on the project before class. I had a feeling that when asked to do this in class many people would either just go with the group decision or not contribute too much. So I came up with a couple of alternatives and designs to bring to class. While in the group, I asked if anyone had any ideas and as I thought, nobody really spoke up. And this is where my mistake happened. I sold my idea to my group without any opposition.
The idea seemed very solid at the time and when it came time to choose our course of action it wasn't exactly premeditated. It actually occured as we were in step 5 (implementation). As we were producing the product we were assigning tasks and coordinating with eachother. Later after our failure, the team independantly evaluated the event. Most likely many of them had the same idea as I, Teddy! argggg. I feel that everything we did as a team was a success, however if it were not for my ambition to get extra points on my test we may have come up with a better idea. Lesson learned I will try not to make the same mistake next time. Sorry guys!

Group work is supposed to be FUN!

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a great Valentine's day / long weekend! Professor Kurpis has asked us all to write about a management problem we will face or will be facing. I am so stuck! I have management issues just like many of you do. IE. problems with time management, work, relationships, etc. These are issues that I have dealt with for so long that they are not really problems, but just a part of life for me. As each situation occurs I take care of them best I can. So the only thing that I can see as a problem that is out of my hands is the task of doing group projects. Almost every semester, I am assigned a group project by one of my classes and every time there is a problem getting in touch with people, laziness, or procrastination. In the past, I have dealt with group project issues as I would have with work thinking I would get similar results. Boy was I wrong. I guess at work, people have more to lose if something goes wrong or they just care more. My past experiences in group work at school have shown me that you can't rely on too many people to get the work done. This really gets at me because our performance as a group will affect all our grades and I really do try to keep my grades up. This semester, I have a couple of group presentations in my literature class and I can already see some unreliable people in my group. I don't want to jump to conclusions about anyone, however to cushion the workload of slackers, I am preparing myself to handle things. Hopefully my group members or I will not have to suffer. As you read this, please feel free to CRAAQ on my posting and help me out! Thanks