December 11, 2006
Management 250
My management 250 professor mentioned how some people can perform certain tasks without needing to consciously think through the process. This skill would increase productivity, but could it also make people bored. Things like driving or walking a familiar route can be relaxing, but alphabetizing files is pretty uninspiring.
Boredom could appear in a career where the worker doesn’t really care about their job either way. I’m just curious if most people who like their jobs get more satisfaction from tasks when they were unfamiliar with it or after they gained the ability to perform the task without consciously thinking.
December 10, 2006
Firing an employee
We discussed the logic behind firing an employee in my management 250 class. Managers need to take into account many different things such as the reasoning for poor employee performance or the employee’s previous performance record.
It’s also important to consider the employee’s reaction to being fired. I’ve never given the immediate consequences of terminating a worker’s job like this before. The professor brought up the practice of escorting fired employees out of the building, which seems like a decent way to prevent disgruntled employees from sending out disruptive computer viruses or stabbing someone with a pen.
Fringe benefits and the HR simulation
The HR simulation could be improved if it let companies know the demographics of their employees. The information would have allowed companies to apply more strategy in their fringe benefit plans. A company could decide design a fringe benefit plan that would benefit the majority of their employees more.
Younger employees would need less health benefits but tuition reimbursements or other bonuses would motivate them to stay with the company. Companies could also change the fringe benefits to attract a certain type of employee that they need. If there were too many new, inexperienced workers, companies could change fringe benefits to target older employees.
December 09, 2006
class evaluations
The written class evaluation was a nice way to end the management 250 class because it let students practice another form of feedback. It proved that real organizations use the applications learned in class. Feedback is obviously useful everywhere, but the class evaluation showed that people use written evaluations. Many students use the results of these evaluations to decide if they should take a certain class with a specific teacher. The class evaluations also let students know the helpfulness of feedback.
HR Simulation
The HR simulation has supplied me with many valuable learning experiences, but it still possesses some noticeable faults. The design of a program should be as important as the investment and implementation, but the simulation only judges success on the amount of money spent. It’s nearly impossible to incorporate any creative ideas.
Many businesses value innovation, so the simulation would seem more realistic if it allowed some originality. Fortunately, class discussions and the reading materials make up for some of the shortcomings of the HR simulation.
November 09, 2006
Goals
Today’s exercise in my management 250 class prompted me to think about the difficulties I’ll have writing part two of the learning plan. Most people seemed to have no problem listing 17 future goals, but I ended up writing things like “hug a koala” on about half of the Post-it notes given. Of course I identified the obvious goals involving jobs and internships, but unlike some of my classmates, I had very few personal or lifestyle ambitions.
As indicated by a learning personality test taken earlier in the semester, I dislike set plans. School and work require structure and planning, but I prefer flexibility for most other things. Generally, I don’t care enough about creating my own family or owning a house to set goals. It’s unusually difficult to change nonexistent “dreams into deadlines”.
Objectivity is crucial to just about every occupation. Jonah Creighton’s case demonstrates the consequences of negative personal influences in the workplace. Jonah’s strained relationship with his supervisor, Dan, hurts the company’s productivity because both of their jobs require them to work together.
No one can completely separate personal feelings from work, but Dan shouldn’t have lowered Jonah’s performance appraisal without good reason. The class discussion mentioned the importance of objectivity with feedback, but it’s also an important characteristic to for work in general.