Entries in the Category "MGMT250"
Last Day of Class
This week was our last session of Management 250. As our final exercise, Professor Piderit asked each member of the class to mention his or her favorite activity of class this semester. Also, we had to recognize one person in the class that made our experience throughout the semester better. My favorite activity of the class was the mock interview. I felt it gave me a valuable experience into the world of business. It also made me feel more confident in setting up interviews with company’s, who are offering summer internships. I gave recognition to my entire HR simulation group instead of just one person in the class. Our success this semester was a result of each team member’s contribution, and it would not have been fair to recognize only one person.
I am excited that this semester is over, but I will value all the things I learned in Management 250. After our final class ended, I felt that what I have learned in class has provided me with more real world experience that any other business classes I have taken. I am looking forward to next semester and I hope everything goes well in Management 251.
Final HR Simulation Results
On Monday, my HR simulation team met for the last time. The results for the final quarter of our company, Motel 6, were much better than we expected. For example, our company’s morale was at an outstanding ninety-three out of one-hundred compared to the industry average of seventy-eight. Striving for high morale was a goal of our company since the first quarter of the second year, so we were very proud to have done so well. In class on Thursday, Professor Ponamallee recognized the companies with the best overall results in three different categories. Motel 6 earned the award for Highest Productivity but fell just one point shy of earning the award for Highest Morale. This was a great achievement of our HR simulation group and we are hoping to work together next semester.
Employee Termination
Recently in class, we discussed employee termination. This is one aspect of Human Resources that can be a tough issue to tackle and we learned the best way to go about discharging an employee. For cases such as sexual harassment, petty larceny, or assault, firing an employee is an easy choice, because any one of these technicalities are basis for termination. However, sometimes the grounds for letting go of an employee are not so specific. For example, if an employee is incompetent, then there must be clear evidence of this. Also, alternatives to releasing the incompetent worker must be considered. Morale of other employees is another consideration when an employee is discharged. Workers may be fearful that their job is on the line if they are not aware of the reasons for the other employee’s termination. In cases such as these, Human Resources must be very careful as to not hurt worker morale.
Summer Internship
Of the most interesting topics of Management 250 lectures has been the one about summer internships. A representative from the career center provided a power point presentation about the different internship opportunities the career center can help provide for the summer. Several people, including myself, asked questions about this process, and her responses shed a lot of light on what I should do for the summer. After the presentation, I strongly considered using the career center as a source for getting a summer internship this summer in Cleveland. Initially, I wanted to work in New York City for the summer, but the presenter made me realize how many possibilities are waiting here in Cleveland.
Peer editing
In our last Management 250 class, we reviewed the second parts of our learning plans. With our prepared rough draft of the learning plan, we had to travel around the classroom and peer edit each other’s papers. The interactions I had with other students were positive ones. No one was overly critical of my work and each person offered me great advice of how to improve my paper. I found it interesting to read my classmates learning plans because it gave me a good look into their lives and what their goals for the future are. I had a very good discussion with one particular classmate who had similar career goals as me. After peer editing each other’s papers, we talked about our majors and how the classes we were taking would be very useful for the future. After returning to my seat, I looked at my paper and realized how valuable peer editing can actually be.
Feedback and Coaching
The topic for this past Thursday's Management 250 lecture was feedback and coaching. The class was shown several PowerPoint slides as to the significance of feedback in the workplace and how it is considered a negative thing to most people. Instructions were given to break into small discussion groups, and each group was given a vignette describing an incident. My group received a vignette describing a person's concern about a misunderstanding in the workplace, and he wanted to know how to approach his boss. We referred to the slides and agreed that the best approach for the person would be to use SAFE. SAFE is an acronym that stands for S-ummarize, A-sk, F-ormulate a plan, and E-xpress. Using this approach the person would successful in showing his concern about the issue while maintaining a professional attitude.
Catch Your Dreams
The other day in class, we participated in the Catch Your Dreams exercise. The instructions were to write down seventeen goals that you plan on achieving in your lifetime, each on a separate post-it note. After completing this, the next objective was to categorize each goal into different cluster groups. My first cluster group was "things I will most likely achieve." One of the goals in this cluster was becoming a father and raising a family because it is an important goal for me and something that I feel is highly attainable. The second cluster group was things I might achieve. For this, one of my goals was owning a ski house in Utah. Things I will most likely not achieve was the third cluster group. Riding in a barrel over Niagara Falls and boxing a kangaroo were some of the goals in this group because, although I thought they would be fun and interesting to do, I had doubts whether I would ever complete them in my lifetime.
This exercise was very interesting because it made me consider some of my aspirations in life and it also tapped into my imagination. Some of the things I put down made me consider whether the goals I have set for myself are worth pursuing or not. The next step in my life is to consider which of these goals are priorities.
HR Simulation
This week, my HR simulation group met for approximately one hour and everything went smoothly. We had recently completed the fourth quarter of our first year, and now we are currently working in the first quarter of our second year. We had some money left over in our budget, so we decided to add yearly bonuses to employees. Hopefully, this will increase morale as well as productivity in the workplace. Our company, Motel 6, is working on completing a mission statement so potential shareholders will have a better understanding of the direction of our company. By following this mission statement, we hope to improve our company's results in the second year.
Jonah Creighton Case
It is unfortunate that racial discrimination exists in the workplace. In an ideal world, equally qualified people would have equal opportunities. However, it is something that our culture is faced with on a daily basis.
Although racial discrimination is widespread and exists at many companies, the Jonah Creighton case put into perspective what happens when someone actually takes a stand against such an injustice. Most people who are unaffected by this sort of issue remain apathetic. Jonah Creighton was a man who risked his job and friendships to pursue a matter he felt very strongly about.
I felt that this was a very important matter to discuss in class. Even though I drew my own conclusions about the case, listening to what others thought helped me see the issue from other points of view.
New York Times Article
Recently, I received an envelope in the mail, from my mother, containing an article from The New York Times. My mother, a succcessful businesswoman, has taken it upon herself to send me every article that she finds interesting and that she thinks may relate to my life as a business student. On most occassions, I quickly look over the articles she sends me, but this one really caught my attention.
The article, "You Can Complain, or You Can Make Money", by Ben Stein, explains that as a college student there are some important decisions one has to consider for him or herself. Choosing a major is one of these decisions. I think that by choosing Management as a major I have taken a step in the right direction. As far as getting a good job out of college goes, I have Management 250 to thank for that. This class has really helped me develop and shape some of the professional business skills I didn't even know I had. The resume building skills I learned in class will be very valuable in displaying myself as a worthy candidate to companies in the future.
Overall, the article was trying to convey the point that the business world is vastly expanding and the one should aspire to get a job working with a well-known, and successful company. As Warren Buffet once said, "You are better off being mediocre in a great business than being great in a mediocre business." So far, Management 250 has helped me do this by inspiring me to start considering my future in business.
United States of China
Late last semester, my friend Paul approached me and asked, "Hey, would you like to take Chinese 101 with me?" I had already taken seven years of Spanish so I was a bit reluctant to attempt to become trilingual. However, I decided learning Mandarin would be a great tool for business, and I signed up for the fall semester of 2006.
I was a bit nervous, initially, but after the first week of classes I was pretty confident that learning Mandarin would not be as difficult as I expected (or as hard as everyone told me it would be.) The second week went by and things began moving at a faster pace, but I still maintained a positive attitude that I would succeed. Fast forward to last week and my outlook has made a drastic turnaround. Chinese 101, as I had seen it five weeks prior, had become my hardest class of the semester. Between speaking Chinese and writing the endless amount of characters, I was beginning to regret my decision of enrolling in this class.
Today, I happened to read an article in The Wall Street Journal about how much of U.S. businesses China will own by 2015. The basic gist of the article was that Chinese culture will become more and more prevalent in the United States over the next ten years. Therefore, my decision to take Chinese 101 this semester may not have been such a bad idea after all. The way I see things, I am getting a head-start on my future business competition, and it will be an excellent skill to list on my resume.
My Mock Interview Experience
Apparently, I never published this entry, so here it is again:
The interview is one thing that most people have an irrational fear of. Well at least I do. As my mock interview approached, this week, I realized that I had no experience in this area. This would be my first interview, and even though it was not for a real position with a company, I still wanted to have a serious attitude about it. To make sure the interview would be a success, there were two points I focused on:
Preparation was key in preparing for my interview. I did not want to seem like a unpolished interviewee, so I decided to practice my introduction and responses to potential questions in front of a mirror. This helped me avoid any nervous fidgeting and hesitations while answering questions.
Confidence was another key factor in having a successful interview. I tried to leave a good impression with the interviewer by maintaining a positive attitude throughout the interview.
Overall, I would say everything went smoothly. The highlight occurred when the interviewer told me that had the interview was for a real management position with a company, he would have strongly considered me. Unfortunately, I did not walk away with a job that day, but I did walk away with a great experience.
Networking 101
Networking is an essential part of success when trying to make it in the business world. Having the ability to rely on others for opportunities and personal favors is something that networking creates. The networking session in class this week gave me a great experience in the world of networking with others. The objective was to move about a room and introduce yourself with others. After maintaining an informal conversation, the goal was to give that person your business card and receive their card in return. At first, this seemed like something that would not interest me because starting conversations is one of my weak points. However, it seemed that having confidence and an overall positive demeanor are the best things to have when approaching someone.
What can I say about Management 250? So far, it seems like it will probably be one the most important business classes that I will take during my four years at Case. Microeconomics and Accounting 101 were interesting, but I don't feel that the information I learned in those classes will give me the hands-on experience that Management class will.
One of the most appealing aspects of MGMT 250 is that there are class projects instead of exams. Having the opportunity to work with classmates will be beneficial when analyzing business situations and making managerial decisions for projects. Next week, we will begin working in these groups and hopefully everything goes well.