December 01, 2006
Performance Appraisal
How do you judged someone's performance equitably? None of the systems we discussed in class really satisfied me. Most of the comprehensive systems I have seen end up having perverse incentives. Simple written appraisals by someone's supervisor can be very fallible to a variety of problems. Written appraisals by others can fall victim to apathy on the part of appraisers. I have not seen a system yet, that really works well.
Second Steve Jobs post
Steve Jobs's managerial style has been described as aggressive and early in Apple's history it hurt the company. To see how this hurt Apple look at the fights between the Apple and Macintosh design teams. However at some point Jobs managed to turn his aggressiveness into an asset. Now whenever a new product is designed Jobs puts his efforts into its secrecy and perfection. Steve Jobs has given Apple products it's best attribute, when you buy an Apple product it just works. Look at the things on the assessments that you have taken for class, that you think might be a weakness. You can probably turn it into a strength. While self appraisal and knowing yourself was well covered in class, what wasn't really covered was ideas for turning weaknesses into strengths that is why I have posted this example. Hopefully it helps you.
Discipline
I am glad we discussed employee discipline in class. Employee discipline is a touchy thing to handle. If you are too nice people might not follow your orders or do something else first. If you are to strict morale will disappear and people will not want to even come to work. When this happens sick days and absenteeism rise. Just remember, you should always walk the line.
At will hiring
Personally I am against At-Will hiring. English common law assumed a contract of one year. I think that an assumed contract would improve the current employee employer relationship. Professor Piderit noted last class that loyalty between employee and employer is disappearing. If the employer was forced to only fire someone when certain conditions were met or wait until contract expiration than employees would not be as surprised. When their contract was up an employee would understand that they could be fired at any time until renewal.
The first Steve Jobs post
I've been getting a bit bored with my regular posts, so this will kick off my look at the Steve Jobs style of management. How has he made a 5 year old product king of Christmas again.
Much like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs never made his company big by inventing the product. Steve Jobs just made amazing business deals. For the first Apple computers Jobs got a purchase order for 50 units and then used the order as a guarantee to the parts company's credit departement. You are wondering now how this is related to Management 250.
It is very simple. Steve Jobs started the first great personal computer company, not with cash, with management ability. Steve Jobs networked until one of the people he knew had an idea Jobs felt he could help run. Jobs took what he knew was a human asset, Wozniak and his PC concepts, and turned it into a viable product. Jobs, time and again has shown amazing personnel management skill.
November 10, 2006
HR Simulation
In my opinion, the HR simulation is almost completely useless. It is almost impossible to extract a reasonable amount of data from the results. Professor Poonamalee's expectations of your company's results are based on the current market state. This makes the majority of improvements in your company's state ineffectual. Maybe I am just not cut out for a job in human resources.
ethics and the job search
The more I look for a job the more I see how the job search process is full of possible ethical mis-steps. Lets look at one of the classics: Your applying to two companies, your second choice accepts you. You accept their offer and then your first choice offers you a better position. Most people are then stuck. The ethical choice is to stay with the job you accepted, but the first choice position is much better. Let me tell you the strategy I have found to deal with these quandaries: Someone will always see what you have done and judge you on it. If you assume that, then the less than ethical choice you might have made is no longer a reasonable option. Problem solved.