Entries in the Category "MGMT250"
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.
Internship
It was really strange to me when the semester started and I already felt the pressure of obtaining an internship for the summer. I understand the importance but it just seemed really soon. To me, it was difficult because I was not ready to start looking. I did start to do some research last school year but I was not really prepared for it. The employers did not appear to want to hire someone who has not taken many courses in the field they are looking for. I personally did not know what exactly I wanted. However, I was lucky enough to be able to get an internship at GE for next semester and the summer. Hopefully, this will be a great learning experience for me.
HR Simulation: Annual Report
Writing part of this is challenging. The content of the paper is not too difficult because it is just analyzing the results we received. This part is actually very useful because it will hopefully help us in our decision-making for the next "year". However, it is difficult to have a group write a paper together. I don't know if it is just me but I find it nearly impossible to have everyone work on it but still have it cohesive. If we do not split up the sections, then not everyone would be able to participate. However, if we do split it up, it will sound a little choppy because of the different writing styles of everyone. It just takes a lot more work to combine the different sections and polish it so that it flows.
Jonah Creighton
This was a very interesting case to me. I was very shocked when we received part B of the article. I could not believe that Gordon Harris gave the ultimatum to Jonah. This is like a forced resignation. It would seem like Gordon is making the company vulnerable to lawsuits. It was even more shocking to learn that he believes that the previous performance reviews were exaggerated. It does not make sense for him to be promoted to such a level and say that it was not because of his previous performances. I think the only reason why that was said was to force Jonah out of the company. I also think this was a way to discredit Jonah's case on the company's discrimination.
Learning Plan
I was quite disappointed with the grade I received for the Learning Plan. I went through the list of suggestions and for the most part, I understood why certain points were taken away. However, the biggest concern I have is the creativity side of the paper. When I think of writing a paper, I did not expect to have some creative side to it. A paper is supposed to be with the necessary information and nothing else. It can be slightly creative but not to the extent it was expected. I understand that it was stated in the list of requirements but I still do not like it. The grade also concerned me because this was supposed to be a rough draft. For a rough draft, it is worth a fairly large portion of the overall grade of the paper. I guess this only makes me work much harder for the rest of the project.
Harrah's Casino: the little things
This case study was interesting. I particularly enjoyed how the company was able to motivate their employees with simple incentives. The one thing that stood out to me was how a particular manager can motivate their employees with little things like giving them t-shirts. The group missed their targeted goal by a little but the manager was able to motivate them by giving them the t-shirts. I guess this really works because they achieved their goal the next quarter. It is the little things that have the most effect on a group. The group may have achieved their goal the next quarter without the gift from the manager but they probably worked harder knowing the manager really cared about them and is working to help them achieve their goal. The gesture of giving the gift probably motivated them.
Career Interview
I just completed my second career interview today. I thought this was going to take a lot of time and was going to painful. However, the two interviews turned out better than expected. It was slightly difficult finding people to interview. I personally did not know many people so I went to the Career Center as suggested. I got two alumni but only one responded. Luckily, I was able to find someone else through one of my aunt's friends. The interviews allowed me to learn about fields I did not know about. It was actually very interesting to learn about their lives and what they do with their careers. Overall, I think it was a great experience to build the contact.
HR Simulation
I was a little skeptical in the beginning when I heard of this assignment even though it sounds appealing. The idea of simulating the human resource aspect of a company interested me a lot. It seems like it would be a lot of fun being able to make all kinds of decisions. Then I learned it was a group project. I did not like that idea too much in the beginning because group projects are always hard to organize. Everyone has a different schedule and it is always hard to arrange a time when everyone is able to meet to work on this together. There is also the issue of how much each person is going to contribute to the tasks. Is everyone going to work just as hard as I expect them to or will someone have to pick up the slack of another team member? Now that we actually started the project, it appears like everyone in the team would work efficiently. Everyone on the team has the same amount of power and everyone is expected to work just as hard. I don't think I will be let down by the other members of my team now that we actually started. This is a relief compared to a couple of days ago when we had no idea what we were doing and how we were supposed to approach this assignment. Now that the team is oriented with each other and we know how each person works, I think this project will be a lot of fun even if it is a group project.
MBTI/Self Assessment Tests
I thought the MBTI was pretty accurate. It's a little surprising since I really did not know what to expect while taking the test. I was definitely skeptical but when I read the description, it fit me perfectly. However, when I was reading the leadership and type page, the description did not seem correct to me. Some characteristics on that page were not how I would consider myself but the test seem pretty accurate overall.
For some reason, it seems like I took a lot of self assessment tests this year. Between this course and random other places, I have taken many different self assessments within the past two months. During the Second-Year Institute, I took an Emotional Intelligence test. I was surprised when I saw that was the topic of one of the chapters we were supposed to read. It started to make sense to me how such traits will help in the managerial position. The test surprisingly gave me some great feedback on traits where I can work on to improve.
Career Fair
The career fair was a little intimidating. There is so much pressure to "perform" well and to get an internship. Questions were coming up the entire walk there. Was I dressed appropriately? Was I prepared to answer the questions? I really did not know going into it. I spent several days looking at the companies that were going to be there and doing a little research on them. I narrowed the list down to several companies but when I got there, everything changed. I did end up going to those that I wanted to but the guide was a little deceiving. Many companies listed certain majors they were looking for and what opportunities were available but when I talked to them, many companies said they were not sure what positions were open and what wasn't. I did not understand that because I would expect the companies to be a little more prepared for those questions.
However, I did not mind the experience at all. The employers were all very friendly and willing to answer any questions I had. It really was not as bad as I would have expected but I do believe I could have been a little more prepared. Since this was my first career fair, I believe it could only get better. I learned a lot and even though there were not many positions open at this time, I think I benefited a lot from the experience.
Networking Exercise
Today's networking session was very interesting. I really did not know what to expect in the beginning. To me, and probably many people, it is very intimidating to actually go to a potential employer or someone you don't know and start talking about myself. How do you start the conversation? It seems like there is no set answer because it varies from person to person. It almost seems like there is no right answer. However, the tips from today's class helped a lot. Talking to other people who are in the same situation helped but there are still many questions that have not been answered. I guess it can only get better after several tries.
Participation
Part of today's class was spent discussing the participation portion of the course. I understand it is necessary to have everyone participate in this type of course but I believe the system benefits some people more than others. It was said that only about 10% of the class should receive a 3 on a daily basis. If this is true, then with the class of 40, only 4 people should be able get an A. I do not believe that is necessarily fair. Because of this, it was evident in today's class that everyone was attempting to get their "two cents" in because of the need to receive a good grade. It was almost forceful.
It may also be difficult for some people to express their opinions or comment because of their personality. The LSI test/survey we took was supposed to describe our learning style. As someone stated in class, certain learning styles may make participating in class difficult while something natural for others. It is almost like penalizing those people who do not feel as comfortable speaking in class. Participation is important but I believe it should not be such a huge portion of the overall grade or maybe there should be an alternative that can alleviate the pressure of having to comment just for the purpose of receiving a grade.
Is management for me?
Here's a dilemma. I'm not sure if management is for me. I was considering many different majors when I started last year and it was really confusing. I already had several internships in high school that was related to engineering and that did not seem right to me. So here, I am, attempting to get dual degrees in Management (information systems) and Math, not really sure what I'm going to do with either degree or both together. I love the most of the courses so far and it seems like a good fit but I'm not sure if it's what I want to do. The information systems concentration seems like something I would enjoy but I haven't taken a course in yet so I don't know what to expect. Maybe I would have a better understanding of what I want after this semester.