Archives for the Month of November 2005 on Chris Reed's Online Journal
Response
I would like to respond to another entry made by Joe. I guess I like Joe alittle too much these days. Just kidding. Anyways, I enjoyed his entry involving the uncertainity of where we stand as far as our grades in the class. I feel the same way. I know for a fact that I have done pretty well in the course, however, I don't know if I have an A or B. I guess you can make an educated guess at what you might be receiving but it would be nice to know for sure. Another thing that confused me was how the interim grades were selected. One of the professors mentioned that the grade you got on your interims was supposed to be lower than what you actually had? So does this mean if you got a B then you really have an A? Im not quite sure. Hopefully this will be cleared up in the future.
Response
I would like to respond to an entry that Joe Tischar recently made concerning the Learning Plan and its value. I agree with Joe when he says he thinks the plan has been very valuable to him. I also have answered a great many quetions internally involving my future and career. However, this is for a grade. I am just unsure how you can grade someone based on reading their life goals and plan? I understand that grammar and whether or not the student fulfilled all of the requirements within the paper will affect the grade as well, however, it just seems like everyone should be able to do well on this project without having to worry about a certain grade. I'm not sure if I explained this clearly enough but I hope its understandable.
HR Meeting
Tonight we had one of our final HR meetings to discuss the upcoming incident and our final report. It is pretty amazing how smoothly things have come between our group. The first meeting with everyone was filled with nervousness and uncertainty. It took about 2 hours to finish. Now we all are comfortable with eachother and a meeting typically lasts 45 minutes at the most. We have come a long way. It is great to see that we have made progress as a group in a successful manner.
Learning Plan Part 2
I have begun to revise and review my Learning Plan Part 2 recently. Overall, it actually hasn't been too bad writing so much about myself and my goals. It has gone pretty quickly. The only complaint I have is the fact that the entire plan is very long. I have spoken to a couple of people who have said that their plans are 20-25 pages long. That is alot of writing. I think this assignment has been good due to the fact that it forces you to look inside yourself and figure out what you want to do in life and how you are going to get there. It has helped answer alot of questions that I had about my future and career.
Lessons From Class
Last Thursday's class was very instrumental in teaching us how to react and deal with certain situations involving feedback. The class was divided up into groups and each group was given an incident. We were to explain the incident to the rest of the class and then comment on what methods might be useful in solving the problems within. Our group was given a situation where a basketball coach was treating his players unfairly and they were afraid to give feedback to the coach on his dismal performance. The different situations helped simulate what the best options would be if you were faced with some of these problems. The main lesson to be learned was how to be receptive to feedback and how to give feedback in a positive manner.
Response 4
I would like to take this time to respond to Scott Madden's blog on the Learning Plan. Scott stated some great points during his blog. Like others, he felt that the expectations for the Learning Plan were a big unrealistic. The paper is supposed to be 10-12 pages yet we are being asked to put more thought into our work. I know I tried to make my paper personable and fun to read, however, when I got my revisions back it seemed like all of the interesting parts were erased. It would be nice if we had more leeway on how and what we want to write. If I had to read 100 different learning plans and they all stated the usual, what that person wants to be and where they see themselves in 10 years etc etc, I would be bored out of my mind. It would be cool to hear some personal stories that make them unique and different from other people's. I understand the teachers want us to think about our goals and how to reach them, however, adding some flavor to a learning plan shouldn't be looked down on.
Response 3
I would like to take this time to respond to Lee's blog concerning lying and ethics while interviewing for a job. I think an interview is a very big deal and obviously you do not need to tell the person interviewing you everything especially if they dont ask. The way I would handle an interview is by simply being yourself and letting the rest fall into place. Lee's blog got me thinking about the pressure that goes along with trying to find a job. I feel that as long as you are well prepared you don't need to lie or exaggerate your strengths. As long as you feel like you did the best you could have possibly done then to me, it doesn't matter if the job comes or the job goes.
Creighton Case
In class Thursday, we discussed the Creighton case. I am very happy I chose this particular case because it was quite interesting and the themes in the document are things that I may come across sometime in my business career in the future. The case introduced the problem of racial discrimination in the workplace. While reading, I found myself very angry due to the way the characters in the reading handled the situation. Discrimination is unacceptable and unfortunately it occurs in workplaces all over the world. The value of reading this case is learning how to handle situations like this and to treat everyone equally no matter what they look like.
HR Meeting/Class
Tonight we held another HR Simulation meeting to discuss this week's case and to prepare for our team plan on tuesday. Overall, the meeting was successful as always. Our goals are being reached while we are trying constantly to keep up with the demands of the industry.
Today in class we discussed ethics in the workplace and how unethical behavior can get you fired from a job. Professor Powley presented us with some examples and he asked us whether or not we would act "ethically" or "unethically". The main lesson I learned today was that issues pertaining to ethics are not black and white. There are fine gray areas that need to be considered in order to decide if you are acting ethically.