Robert Bucek's Online Journal

Looking Back on MGMT 250

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 17:53:49 EST

I want to take this time to look back on the many things that we did in the MGMT 250 class. First, I really enjoyed how the career center was encorporated into the class. One thing that I heard from many older business students is that the career center did not help and sometimes ignored them. I hope that the career center continues to work with the management classes, and I hope to see more of them in MGMT 251. I also enjoyed the mock interview and the career fair. I thought these two were the most helpful events that the course included. However, many people did not choose the interview option while others ignored the fair. I think the importance of these items need to be stressed much more in future years. These are things where students can get first-hand experience, and it does not matter if a student screws up because there is always the next year. Hopefully students will have a much better understanding of how important these resources are in their junior year and better prepare themselves. One part of the class that did not help was the readings. Students were ask to spend a couple hundred dollars on books that we never used. We started using the xanedu, but it became mentioned less and less as the semester went came to an end. I hate buying books that are not encorporated into the class. I hope there are more interesting readings in the new book that must be purchased for 251. That sums up most of my thoughts. I expressed my thoughts about the learning plan in my previous entry. Overall, I did enjoy the class and its professors. I know there were some changes in the course this semester, and I am sure that the staff will be more organized the next time around. Thank you Prof. Powley and Piderit for a fun semester.

The Learning Plan: My Final Entry

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 17:40:38 EST

The last day of class when each person had to tell what they liked the most of the class, many to my surprise said the Learning Plan. I could not believe what I was hearing. I am going to have to agree with my buddy Marc (as we tend to agree a lot), and state that I hated this learning plan. The one part that I can see as useful is the goal setting, but everything else was pointless. How does writing down my values, attributes, and learning styles, then getting criticized on my paper of "who I am" help (It is my life; how does the TA know what is right and wrong in my life!!). I feel this is the most stupid exercise ever. It was a complete waste of time. All we did was repeat over and over again the results of the different tests and exercises we completed. Those exercises were interesting, but this was just too much. The one bright point was like I mentioned, the personal goal setting. This aspect is very useful because to many people who are clueless to the world, it made them actually do some research and get concrete items towards their future. I think that future MGMT 250 classes final paper should take the goals concept and branch on that concept.

Firing Employees

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 20:27:43 EST

Last class we talked a lot about firing employees. We used the Tom Mendola case as an example. The class was split into two groups, and each was given a side to take as whether to fire Tom or not. You can tell that most of the class wanted the side of firing him because the case seemed pretty obvious. The side that defended Tom did a good job though and brought up many good points, however, he should still be fired no matter what. As long as all of the warnings, tardies, and other mishaps were documented, there should be no problem with it. I know that most people saw why he should be fired, but people need to remember that it can be very hard to fire someone. Before you fire someone, you need to plan out what you are going to say and do. We did talk about this at the end of class which I thought was good because that is the hardest part. Firing someone is not that simple. Sometimes, you can plan everything out perfectly, but when it comes down to it, sometimes people just can't fire other people. And that is something you cannot teach.

HR Simulation: The Final Meeting

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 01:38:19 EST

My simulation team met earlier this week for the last time. We completed the last budget then began to split up the final report. I am fairly pleased with the way our group was able to handle the budget and the incidents. There were never any huge conflicts within the team which allowed most meetings to run smoothly. I feel that we did the best we could with the budgets for the entire simulation. The hardest part was to think the way the computer would think, and not so much realistically. That was the one fault of this simulation. Most decisions were not cumulative and only affected the company shortly after. There were not many long term decisions. When an incident was being discussed, we would find ourselves thinking, "Well in a year or two, this will be a great asset," but the simulation could not account for that. The simulation was a good way to get experience working with a budget and solving problems, but the best way to learn these things is to get first-hand experience.

Performance Appraisals

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 17:22:07 EST

We spent a good amount of time discussing different types of appraisal forms. There are many different ways these can be done. They may not seem like an important issue, but in reality they are used everywhere, whether it is a teacher appraising a student, a student evaluating a professor, or the most important, appraisal systems for the work place.....

HR Evaluations

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 12:27:32 EST

I am not exactly sure how this is working, but to my understanding our HR peer evaluations are going to be available for each teammate to read. The book says that we need to fill out our evaluations and then hand them into our team leaders so he/she can give back advice. This seems like the dumbest idea in the world. I feel that these evaluation need to be anonymous...

The Class does not understand Ethics

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 12:08:11 EST

We talked about ethics in class this past week. Ethics are one of the hardest concepts to understand completely. It was even hard in class to determine whether a certain action is ethical or not. However, I do not think our class had any idea about ethics when we took that quiz in class...

Harrah's Casino

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 01:39:27 EST

The Harrah's Casino case was very interesting. When I first read the case I thought it was going to be easy to answer all the questions. However, it got more difficult as I began to actually write the paper. I found myself repeating a lot of items and even began to question my original thoughts. We had a really great discussion in class about the case. I only wish we could have had the discussion before I had written the paper...

Employee Training

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 20:54:24 EST

We discussed many different training ideas that businesses are able to use. Many companies tend to use a combination of training programs. After listing all the different ways to train employees, we began to give the benefits and drawbacks of each. Some of the best ways of training are the interactive programs or one-on-one activities. However, some companies simply prefer to do only video training or computer training. Personally for me, I feel that having a mentor would be the best. This way I am constantly learning what to do with first hand experience in addition to performing duties with proper supervision. I feel that even non-convergors would benefit the most from this training program. A mentor can still verbally communicate to the trainee. No matter what a person's learning style may be, it seems that this way of training can help anyone. For a computer program or a video, I do not think that it would be the best way for me to learn because I am just watching how to do something or answering questions rather than doing it. If there were to be computer programs and videos, there would need to be first-hand experience afterwards. Luckly, after reading about different companies, it seems that most companies do try to have these multiple types of training.

This thing they call the Learning Plan

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 00:20:59 EST

It is after midnight and all I am trying to do is figure out how to write my learning plan paper. Everything seems so redundant. I understand that this paper is supposed to make us look towards the future and find are "calling" or at least help us choose the right career path. However, I find it ridiculous to write down are "identity".....

HR Simulation

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 02:15:20 EST

This past week my group handed in the first quarter report for the HR simulation. This first assignment was very difficult. We were not given much direction in the project. All we were told to do was read the simulation, and then we were supposed to run a company. I was able to understand most of the programs that were offered, and I had some ideas about what to do for the company. However, when it came time to fill out the budeget form, it wasn't very clear. It was very difficult because Professor Piderit said this was the most important part of the project so we did not want to fill it out wrong. We managed to complete the forms, but we do not know if we did everything right. There are so many factors that can hurt us that we were not told about. I hope our decisions will work out for the company, but we may be very far behind compared to other groups in the class that did other programs. After a couple weeks, hopefully our group will be able to figure everything out and make the right decisions that will make our company stand out within the industry.

Groups vs Teams

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 17:14:02 EST

Last class we discussed the differences between groups and teams. Most remarks were geared towards goals. Within a group, many said goals can be different for everybody and that there is not as much focus on the main objective at hand. With a team however, everyone shares and desires this main goal. I understand where this is going, but I see things just a little bit different.....

MBTI: For Real or Fraud? Clarification

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:28:05 EST

It seems that my previous post has got a lot of people responding. Just to clarify, I myself am not saying that this particular test is a fraud. I too do agree that my selected portrait describes me very well. It was just an idea that I was thinking about in class and threw it out there. Feel free to continue with your comments (I've gotten 4 already within 5 hours). Just do not think that I am completely against these tests.

MBTI: For Real or Fraud?

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 12:06:26 EST

Many people feel that tests like the MBTI that we took in class our just ways that a company can steal our money. Some people depend on these tests to tell them what to do with their lives. Everyone has there own opinion.....

Career Fair

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 01:24:10 EST

When I went to the career fair, I did not think it was going to be that big of a deal. I went there just expecting to talk to some companies and see what opportunities were out there. However, when I got there, it seemed that I took it very lightly. There was one company on which I had some background information and that was because it was the company with which I did my mock interview. I was able to learn a lot more about them (Enterprise), however, I was lost with all the other companies. I see some friends who have a stack of resumes, papers printed out with histories of companies, and notecards with questions that they were going to ask. I felt so unprepared. I went to talk to National City and was blown off because I told them I was a 2nd year student when they asked if I was going for my MBA. I had no idea what to ask or say from that point. At least this was a good learning experience for me. Hopefully I will still be able to get an internship over the summer like planned. The next career fair, I will be much better prepared. So in a way, the career fair was actually another really good learning experience for me.