Entries in the Category "MGMT250"
My Overall Feelings of MGMT250
No matter how much I compain about certain assignments, I still really enjoyed the course. I may not like the participation policy, but I like that the class is discussion based. I also like the fact that there are no tests, just papers. It makes it easier for me to get a grasp of the material and apply it to everyday life. I also really enjoyed how the class got me thinking about my future. Which is something that I was trying to avoid in a way. My favorite part about the class was the HR simulation and the different cases we read. I liked seeing the things we were learning applied in the different activites. I am definately looking forward to MGMT251.
Concerning the Learning Plan
This entry is about the learning plan and the concerns I have about it. I do not think it is fair to give us so much material to cover and then tell us it can only be 15 pages long. I have talked to people who have taken the class in the past, and they told me they turned in much lengthier papers. It just does not seem possible for me to fit all the criteria in 15 pages. Especially when the prof. and TA's want us to personalize it and be creative. I also do not like the fact that we are not sure what will happen if we do go over the limit. We were just told to use our best judgement. Does that mean we will get points off?
Learning Through Simulation
I personally thought the HR simulation was a great learning experience and the best activity we did during the semester. I have never been given the opportunity to participate in any activity like this before, and I enjoyed it very much. Through out the simulation, I learned how to get employees morale higher, how to increase productivity, and how to keep turnover low. I realized that by giving people more money and benefits, their morale will be higher, productivity higher and turnover lower. I also realized the impact of training programs and promotions from within the company. In the begining of the simulation, we dumped money into the training programs and that directly affected morale. Furthermore, it seemed like the more we promoted from within, the higher the morale rose. Overall, I enjoyed the simulation and would recommened it for future classes.
Team Work Through Entire Simulation
The team work through out the entire simulation has been just as good as it had been during the first year. My team has got along very well and we made many positive decisions. Everyone showed up to all or most of our team meetings, and if someone could not make it, they were filled in shortly after. Everyone pulled their own weight in the simulation, and we did not have any grievances. Personally, I was extremely happy with our team work through out the entire simulation. I really feel like I have grown with my team and learned many things.
Second Year for HR Simulation
It is about the time to turn in the second annual report and conclude our HR simulation. It seems like this second year has been much different than the first year. In the first year all my groups data had been pretty stable. However, in the second year our data is all over the place. Our moral managed to jump from 65 to 92 in one quarter. Im sure it is from our decesions in that quarter, but it really seems like our data has been much more unstable in this year. Either way, our group is pretty happy with our turnout, and we all enjoyed the simulation very much.
Job Search Ethics - Career Center
On Tuesday the Career Center came to class to give us a speech on job search ethics. I thought this speech was very effective and very infomational. He talked about what is acceptable to put on your resume and how you should only accept a job you plan to actaully take. This really helped me, because I was still a little confused on what I could actually put on my resume. I also did not know that it was unethical to accept two jobs at the same time, then turn one done. These topics led to a really good class discussion, I would say one of our best.
Team Work in HR Simulation
I am very pleased with the amount of team work everyone in my group has put forth. Everyone is striving to come to all the meetings and give their input. In other groups, people may just pick numbers and hope for the best, but are group actually discusses and talks out all of our decisions. It is much more than just picking random numbers. We have also done a very good job at splitting up the work, and completing that work on time. I hope that the rest of the project goes as smooth as the first half.
The Jonah Creighton Case
I really like this particular case because it posed many questions. Like, what would have happened if Jonah Creighton would have never said anything about the discrimination going on at Coulding-Hessler. In my opinion, if he would have never said anything in the first place, he still would not be working there. I do not think he could have kept working there if he knew that people were discriminating in hiring recruits. I believe that either way Jonah was way too strong of a man to put aside his moral beliefs for job security and money.
Case Studies vs Lecture and Discussion
I really enjoyed reading the two different cases, Harrah Casino and Jonah Creighton. I also enjoyed writing about Jonah Creighton. My suggestion for the class is to give us much more case studies and less lecture/discussion on topics that may be useless. For example, discussions on listening to people and working with people. It seems like most people learn better from real life examples, and the discussions about those topics. I, for one, am one of those people. I have received much more from that case studies than most of the lectures.
The Learning Plan Grades - Creativity
This entry is concerning the grades most students received on the Learning Plan Part I. I understand that it is a rough draft, but I didnt think that the grades were that fair. Or it may be that maybe the grading happened to be a little too harsh. The main part of the paper where most people received a low score was creativity. I do not think it is fair for one person to decide if another person is being creative. I think that as long as a individual thinks that they are being creative, they are being creative. I believe that this portion of the grading should be abolished. Other than that, I just did not think that many people were happy with their grades.
Text Book readings vs. Xanedu readings
In this class we are required to read many chapters out of our text books and read many Xanedu articles. I strongly believe that most of the readings out of the text books are a waste of time. They go over information that is sometimes useless. Some of the chapters are on topics that we are already completely familiar with. For Example, the two chapters we had to read on listening. Why should I have to read about how to listen to someone else. I am capable of doing that very well already. On the other hand, I like reading the Xanedu articles because they incorporate real life situations. They are more interesting, and I usually get much more from them.
About the Mock Intervew write up
I do not think that the grade many people recieved on these were what they expected. I did not think that the directions were very good, and I believe many people did not understand EXACTLY what to do. It said to write a memo to you fellow student about you mock interview, but no one ever said it had to be in strict memo format. And I dont ever remember hearing about incorporating the Kolb Learning exercise into our papers. I dont even remember reading that in the directions. And it seemed like everyone got points off for both of these things. If they wanted strict memo format and Kolb Style learning included the Proffessors should have said something besides "Turn in a write up about your mockinterview experiences."
HR simulation Meetings
Our meetings have gone very well so far. I believe that by our group meeting for so long, we are getting a great start on the simulation. Everyone is particpating in the group and we are all on the same page. One thing I dont like about the simulation is that it seems like a lot of work was just thrown at us at once. The second time we met we had to do a ton of work to make the deadline. It seems like the work in this class is just piled on at once and sometimes it is not totally clear what to do. Other than that, I think the simulation is a very good project.
Participation
This comment is about our class participation. I really think that making us write down our score for participation each day leads to bad discussions. No one really cares about what they are saying in class, they just say something to get the points. This leads to redundant comments and poor discussion. If the was no participation points, when someone made a comment they would actually mean it. This would lead to better discussions, and it would cut out all the pointless and repetitive comments.
MGMT250 - hiring a bank teller
In the case we read in class today a woman named Anna is trying to get a job as a bank teller. She is extremly qualified for the job, but Dave, the manager of the bank, does not believe she can perform the job because she is confined to a wheelchair. I think that the actions taken by Dave are absolutely ridiculous. Anna was much more qualified than all the other candidates. There is no reason that she should not have got the job. I believe that Anna has every right to take legal action against Dave and the bank.