Entries in the Category "MGMT250"
MGMT 250 Final Thoughts
The semester is over, and as I look back on it I reflect on all the things I've learned. Many good things have come from this class. We have had some interesting discussions. We have also done a lot of analytical things with different case studies. This course has increased my interest in the field of management. I had a great semester.
MGMT Professors
I would like to thank the MGMT professors in an open forum for their help and guidance throughout the semester. They have been extremely approachable and quick to offer helpful advice. The caliber of the teaching staff this course offered has made it the success that is it. I have enjoyed going to class this semester. I hope 251 is as enjoyable as well.
HR Simulation Final Thoughts
While it was a good experience to apply our class topics to the HR Simulation, I believe the most valuable thing we all learned was the team work. By creating an assignment that one single person could not complete on their own, the simulation forced all of us to develop our responsibility sharing abilities. This will probably be the most crucial thing I take away from this experience. I will be able to go out into the workforce and work better in groups. Groupwork is a very important aspect of business, and I am glad I had the opportunity to practice it.
MGMT 250 Life Skills
I am proud to say that the skills I have learned in MGMT 250 have landed me my first college internship. Before the class, I had never written a resume before. I also did not understand how to deal with people in a business setting. I can now say that I am much more comfortable meeting people and networking. I am also glad that I learned to use the career center.
Work Evaluations
In class we talked about the drawbacks of the graphical system. The main drawback stated was that a 7 for one person may be a 4 for another person. I believe if this style of evaluation was implemented on a wide scale, this would not be a problem. If the same people evaluate the same group, the person for whom it was a 7 would give everyone equally strict scores. Then when all the scores were added up and averaged, the best performers would still have higher scores than those who did not perform as well. I believe this strategy is quick and effective, if performed correctly.
Ethics at Work
In class we talked about ethics in the workplace. We concluded that if you take a job offer and a place that you were more interested in contacts you with an offer you should turn them down. While this appears to be the ethical choice, I wonder if this will truly help the company you end up working for. I could see it being problem down the road if everyday you go to work, you wish you were at a different company. I think you should voice your situation to your new boss and tell them about the other offer. I believe you should then ask them to find someone to replace you. You should continue to work for them until they find a suitable replacement.
Harrah's Casino
Doing the case study on Harrah has made me wonder about employee benefits versus employee incentives. The management tried to implement a system of employee incentives to increase the efficiency of their workforce. After a time these incentives began to function more like benefits. So when the employees did not reach their goals and did not receive the incentives, they had the subsequent morale drop associated with dropping benefits. This makes me wonder whether monetary incentives can truly be used as incentives and not as bonuses.
Training Employees
Training employees is a vital part of them being successful in the workplace. It teaches the how to perform their duties effectively, safely, and helps them transition into their work enviroment. Generally, more training time is put into workers who the company feels will stay with them longer. A classic example would be fast food restaurants. They spend minimal time training their teenage part time workers because they know they are almost certainly not going to stay there for the rest of their careers. This makes sense, but it makes me wonder about the safety of their employees. Training makes them better understand the dangers of the work. If they aren't given much training, are they safe in their enviroments?
Learning Plan
While I am very pleased that I do not have to worry about the learning plan for at least a few more weeks, I would like to point out the benefits of it. Doing such an in depth assignment about myself has helped me to realize a few things about my personality. The MBTI, LSI, and my values exercise all basically had similar results. It made me feel more confident in the validity of the tests. Basically, while the write-up was a huge pain, I believe the assignment was worthwhile.
Motivation in The Workplace
In class we talked about the positives and negatives of motivating and rewarding employees. It was the general consensus that constantly rewarding employees is a bad idea. While I understand the concept of this, I believe that it is important to have reward based goals for employees. If they continuously meet their expectations then they will continuously be rewarded. This goes against the de-motivation theory. However, if the employees are always meeting their goals, is there really anything that needs fixing? If the employees are doing so well, then maybe they do deserve to be pampered. The argument against this would be to say that the extra money spent on the employees could be extra profit. The flaw with this argument is that your superb teams will leave the company once they find out how good they really are if they aren’t pampered.
Conflicts In Teams
Having conflicts in teams is unavoidable. Dealing with it is the crucial part. First, it has to be determined whether or not the conflict is beneficial or malicious. Yes, it is possible to have beneficial conflicts in a group. The trick is to change malicious conflicts into beneficial ones. The way I would go about making that happen is to get the team members to know each other better. If they know each other well, they will know what makes each other tick. Once they know that, they will know what they can and can't say to a specific person to bring them down or pull them out of a rut.
HR Simulation
I believe that working in teams on the simulation is a great way to make the assignment more practical. In my opinion, it serves two purposes at once. It not only allows everyone to perform HR practices in a mock enviroment, it also helps develop teamwork skills. I believe the teamwork skills developed from the assignment are more practical than the assignment itself. It helps develop a deadline mentality.
MBTI Test Results
My MBTI and self analysis only differed by one letter. My MBTI says I am a ESTP, and my self analysis says that I am a ENTP. After reading both of the descriptions in the packet, I realized that I could easily fit in both catagories. My problem with the test is the wording of the descriptions. They find a creative way to boast about any of the sixteen personality types. I would be proud to get any one of the results, because they basically all say "You are awesome!" On top of that, the test only shows you analysis of what you originally told it. Basically, the test just tells you what you want to hear in a very hyped up manner. I believe this is why so many people find it "accurate."
Career Fair
Today I went to the career fair. I found it to be very informative as well as useful. I received positive feedback from several companies talked to. The fair raised a few concerns in my head though. I am wondering how important is who you work for as opposed to what you do at your work? Personally, I am looking for an internship which I can proudly put on my future resume to other employers. I would like to know if the work I do will be more important than having a big name on my resume.
Learning Style Assessment
In class we were given a packet which was intended to help us determine our learning styles. After the test, we talked about how a person’s learning styles change over time. Since everyone’s learning style changes based on the situations they are placed in, is it important to know what type you are? If you change positions your learning style will adapt to that new position. For this reason, I think it would be wiser to focus on how you enjoy learning instead of what you actually do. That way you can look for careers that emphasize your preferred learning style.
Equal Opportunity Hiring
In class we were discussing hiring minorities and disabled people. It seems to me that it really puts a strain on employers to meet various requirements. It almost makes it harder to get a job if you are competing against someone who is disabled or part of a minority. If you had similar qualifications, the employer would be taking the risk of having to defend their position in court because someone in a minority thinks the deciding factor was their race. The non-minority person might even be turned down from a job because the employer has not been meeting their quotas for hiring minorities. Personally, I believe the best qualified person for the job should be hired. I do not disabilities should be brought up as an issue unless it would hinder their ability to perform in their specific job.