Archives for the Month of November 2005 on Matthew Racher's Online Journal
ABC's... as easy as 123?
I thought that the ABC’s was not a good representation of a real appraisal situation. The ABC’s measured the quality of teaching, but it did not measure true effectiveness. The point of the exercise was to have three people teach a lesson, without any specific instruction, and get critiqued based on how well they taught the lesson or how effective they were. The only problem with this idea is that effectiveness is only measured by how well a certain goal is met. The goal of this exercise was to teach people the alphabet, yet they already knew their ABC’s. How is possible to measure effectiveness if the original goal has already been met (hopefully in kindergarten, or earlier since these are Case students). I think it would have been better to teach a new lesson, something that no one has ever heard of, even a completely fabricated idea. This would have been a good measure of effectiveness because the ultimate goal, knowledge, would have truly been met.
To Reward or Not to Reward
I find it interesting how some people believe it is important to reward employees, while others believe it isn't necessary. I feel as though rewarding employees can have many undeterminable outcomes. On hand, employees will feel more of a connection with the company by receiving rewards and special bonuses. On the other hand, if employees begin to expect continual rewards, then they will start to expect them. This can affect the company negatively because if employees can’t be rewarded due to a decrease in the company’s budget, then employees will start to slack off and do their job poorly. I think the best rewards should be given out in a random fashion, so the employee does not know when he/ she will receive one, but will understand that good work is contributes to receiving bonuses and rewards.
Career Interviews: Intimidating and Rewarding
The career interview was probably the most difficult aspect of the Learning Plan assignment. On one hand I was comfortable with the process because I was familiar with one of my interviewees. On the other hand, I had to interview someone I had never met before. This idea was somewhat terrifying to me, because this person was not only a prestigious corporate lawyer, but I had no idea what to ask him. During my senior year of high school I participated on a mock interview team, yet I could not relate that to his job because he didn’t do litigation. I was afraid to interview him, because if he didn’t do a lot of talking, I would have to ask more questions. Before I interviewed him I quickly did a google search for “corporate lawyers.” I didn’t really find anything too helpful.
Luckily the man I interviewed, John Leehuimus, was very interested in discussing the aspects of his job. He was interested in talking about the positive side of his job, just as much as the negative side. I learned that he values the control he had in his job because he is own boss. He also discussed how he balances work with life, considering how he governs his work schedule. This conversation made me feel more comfortable about interviewing people, because I realized that although jobs can be highly stressful, people are usually able to find a level of fascination and satisfaction with the work they do.
Lowering Harrah's Turnover
While reading the Harrah’s case, there was one section that stuck out in my mind. One of the goals of HR was to decrease turnover significantly, because Harrah’s entertainment had turnover as high as 70% in some areas. One of the incentive plans was directed towards rewarding managers with a bonus. This bonus would be 25% based on market share, 25% based on customer satisfaction, and 50% based on operating income. if turnover was a primary goal of Harrah’s, why wouldn’t they focus on the people who could direct turnover the most: the managers. The managers’ bonus says nothing about employee satisfaction or lowering turnover. It is solely based on profit and customer satisfaction. Harrah’s corporate headquarters has little control over turnover. The most they can do is implement a company- wide policy about meeting a certain goal, yet even that might not be effective. What Harrah’s should have done was directed about 30% of the managers’ bonuses towards lowering turnover. This would be effective because managers have a lot to do with the overall morale of their location. The managers would also know more about what makes their employees happy, because they work with them on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, in conjunction with Harrah’s headquarters, the managers of each location could devise a plan to improve turnover, and in effect produce a better job environment.
Self- Assessment
I think that the Learning Plan was a difficult assignment to carry out successfully. In order to do the assignment I had to do careful reflection on my life, yet I was only able to reflect in a broad sense. It was difficult to narrow down aspects of my life into what was meaningful, or what made me who I am today or who I would like to be in the future. Personal assessment is a difficult task, because it is based on recognizing one’s strengths and weaknesses. Many people are unaware of their strengths and weaknesses or where they need improvement. Self- assessment is a good skill to have, only if you use it to improve in the future. People who understand where they need improvement, rather than solely focus on their better skills can get a lot of an assignment such as this. It is a way to help them become well rounded, understanding their flaws as equally recognizable as their skills.
Creigton's Decision...Why it Affected His Job
The Jonah Creighton Case presented a very important concept that most people don’t consider in their job. If you were presented with a life/ job- altering decision to make, would you make the decision that is better for you, or better for what you believe in? Most people believe that it’s easy to make a decision, that all you have to do is make the right decision according to your principles. In the job world, a decision, such as the one Creighton had to make, is thought of more in terms of consequences. What will happen to me? Will I get fired? These are the guiding questions that Jonah faced. When facing these questions, I believe that losing his job should have been Jonah’s greatest fear. He should have been guided by what he believed in, yet in this process he should have had a keen idea of the consequences of his actions. This would have helped him handle the situation much better. Instead of Jonah saying, “That’s not right... I can’t let that happen!” He should have been saying, “That should not be acceptable in this company, especially since we value diversity.” The rationale of the second statement could have affected his job/ life- altering situation more positively. In reacting how he did, he completely deteriorated the prospects of a job as prestigious and financially secure as the one he had.