Archives for the Month of December 2005 on Danny Pho's Online Journal
MGMT 250: The End
I actually enjoyed the course. There are things taught in the course that appears to be common sense but it was helpful to have discussions about it. It was interesting to learn about the way the HR may operate and the different things they have to consider before making decisions. The simulation helped a great deal in this aspect. Learning about the HR department and actually being able to apply that knowledge when I helped out with several RA interviews was great. While doing the interview, I was able to think back on the discussions and adjust the way I act accordingly. The career center being around also was great. I learn more about the resource every time they come into the class.
There are things that I did not enjoy in the course. Discussions were great but there were some that were just not interesting. The course definitely had more reading assignments than any other course I have taken at Case so far but I do not consider it to be horrible. It only gets frustrating when I am reading a chapter and it really is very basic common sense. However, the assignments for this course were not horrible. The learning plan was not fun to write but it was helpful in being forced to think about our qualities and actually write it out. Overall, I enjoyed the course.
Performance Appraisals
I enjoy the idea of performance appraisals. However, in my opinion, there will never be a system that will make this process perfect. It is great when the evaluators rate the person they're evaluating honestly but there are many times when this will not happen. There will always be people who complete the evaluations but not really think about what they are actually doing.
I recently had this experience. As a member of residence life on campus, our residents were given the opportunity to rate us. Overall, the number or response was not great but I managed to have 20 out of 34 residents of my floor complete the survey. That was considered to be great. Overall, I had very good results but when I looked at the breakdown of the specific rating, there was one thing that stood out. For the majority of the responses, I received a 4 or 5. However, in every question, I would receive a 2. That person may truly believe that is what I deserved but there are some that I know cannot possibly be true. There was one specific question that really stood out because 90% of the response was a 4 or 5 and then I saw the 2. It's either that person really does not know me or they just filled it out without thinking. Just to end this rambling, I think performance appraisals will only work if the person truly believes what they put down.
HR Simulation: Finale
The simulation is finally done!! I actually enjoyed it but the results have been really frustrating. I wouldn't have minded it if this wasn't done for a grade. Some of the results do not correlate with how a typical company would operate. One of the strangest things that happened was that our morale jumped 30 points in the last quarter because of one simple thing we did. It made no sense how this would occur. I do not believe typical workers would feel such a way. Like the comments made by many people, I also feel like the simulation could have been better if we were given more options and ways to personalize the company. However, I do realize it is just a computer simulation and there has to be certain parameters to make it work.
4 credits?
There has been a little discussion about whether or not the class should be considered for 4 credits instead of 3. I personally think it does not matter. In fact, 3 would work better for me. It seems nice to have an extra credit but it only causes more trouble when I want to take 6 classes because it would force me to overload. The course was also compared to labs and how some of those courses are 4 credits. This class does not have a lab. Yes, we have the simulation that meets every week but it is just an assignment. It is not really a lab and it definitely does not take up as much time as a lab. The labs are typically 3 hours long just for the experiment and several more hours outside of the class to prepare or to do the write-up. The course load for this class is a lot more than some of my other classes but it does not compare to some labs that are 6 hours and are only given 3 credits for. If this course is changed to 4 credits, then many other courses offered at the university should also be adjusted. In my opinion, this course should stay at 3 credit hours.