My favorite class (sort of)

Management 3120 has taught me so much. 
More than I’ve ever imagined.
Should I quit now because the test is too hard?
Should I continue on and hope a miracle will ever happen?
From test to test, project to project opportunity was given to us.
The day has come for us to redeem & proven ourselves.
But it shouldn’t be hard because it’s going to be an open book test.

Communicating via Blog

The blog entries were certainly interesting to me.  It is similar to a personal journal.  It allows me to write what I learned in class and share it with the rest of the world.  Even though I work a full time job, and I sometime don’t want to do any work.  But something about the blog keeps me wanting to write it.  Professor original intent was to provide a way for each student to share what they learn about the subject matter.  I agree, it allows us to share and apply what we’ve learned in class and share it with the rest of the world.  It allows each member of class to share and comment about what we've learned in class.  The blog certainly allow me to interact with my classmate outside of the classroom.  Something that I don’t think we can do in class.  Since we all have to participate and pay attention in class.  Blog also allow me to share my perception of what I did in class.  Since I’m part of the management team at my current job.  I did use some of the theory I learned in class and try to apply them in real life situation.  But I do have a hard time understanding the professor’s blog.  I don’t know how professor’s theory applies to management.  Maybe the professor should explain to us how his blog theories apply to management.  Not every student will do well on the exam, but by writing our blog would definitely allow us to improve our grade.  If time permit, I do plan on continue managing my blog after the class is over.  Blog is certainly an effective way for me to communicate what I learned in class. 

My Management DISC

The test did accurately gauge my management orientation.  The gauge test determines I was an “influence” based.   In which mean, I will do try my best to shaping the environment by influencing or persuading others.  If I could become another type, I would like to be “steadiness”.   I do enjoy working with others and carry out the task.  I don’t think it’s difficult for me to become steadiness management type.  Since my current job requires me to work with others.  It would be certain helpful to determine people’s management “types” to better understand where they are coming from and how to interact with them.  If I knew my manager was a “dominance” type of management, I would approach my manager differently.   Since I knew my manager was a dominance type, I would only want to accomplish task her way.  But knowing what management types would certainly allow me to approach things differently.  A test like this would make interaction with others a little easier.   If I knew my management type was influence and my manager type was dominance.  I would try to use my influence type to influence my manager. 

The McDonald Project

There were numerous attempts on ordering from the dollar menu.  The first attempt was done late night Saturday.  I when to a McDonald restaurant located on Coney Island Ave and Avenue U.  I parked my car outside of the restaurant and walk in side to place my order.  Because I knew placing this ordering will be time consuming and troublesome.  I told the cashier I wanted to order a hamburger with exactly 5 pickles (and totally forgot that I also need to order fries).  At first she didn’t understand what I wanted to order.  As I told her the second time around, she started laughing.  She didn’t think I was serious about it.  Maybe that had something to do with me looking a little drunk, since I actually came from a bar.  I also explained to the cashier that I wanted a receipt showing that I order hamburger with 5 pickles.  Cashier inputted the order in to the machine and communicated with the kitchen about my order.   The cashier didn’t tell me how long I have to wait.  She just took me to step aside, so she can help the next customer.  I waited about 5 minutes for my order to arrive.  The five minutes wait was acceptable to me for fast food order.  So I opened up the burger to check and make sure that it contains exactly 5 pickles.  When asked for the receipt which she failed to print out at the time of the transaction.  A manager was called into action.  When the receipt was printed out to show extra pickles, it only showed “one” extra pickles once.  But instead of me going to complain about the issue, I decided to leave the restaurant.  I knew people at the restaurant weren’t taking me seriously.  And I can always attempt to do this project another day. 

So I decided to attempt this project again by going to McDonald near my home.  I walked into a McDonald restaurant late Sunday afternoon.  I told the cashier that I wanted a hamburger with exactly 5 pickles and fries with Big Mac sauces (I totally forgot to ask for well-done fries.  I hope you won’t take off a lot of point for this) and a receipt showing hamburger with extra pickles 5 times & fries with Big Mac sauces.  Maybe this is an unusual order for the cashier, because she didn’t understand what I wanted a first.  As I restate my order to the cashier, she wrote it down on a piece of paper and told me that she needs to consult with her manager.  I told her okay, take as long as you want just make sure I get what I want.  After returning from consulting with her manager, I asked if everything was okay.  The cashier states, everything is fine.  I will input your order into the system.  After the cashier input the order into the system, she communicated her request with the kitchen chief.  The cashier states to me that the wait would be about 5 minutes.  Five minutes to me was acceptable since my order was a special request.  The cashier really pay close attention to my order, she kept on reminding the kitchen what I ordered.  She wrapped the Big Mac sauces in a small container for me to take home.  A receipt was printed out showing what I ordered.  I really felt special as they took the time out and help me put the order together.  The cashier didn’t tell me to step aside to take another customer.  The cashier dedicates all her attention to me and my special order.  The whole process was seamless, the cashier communicated with the manager about my orders and manager told her what she needed to do.  She inputs my order into the system, and communicated with the kitchen about my order.  The manager involvement was non-existence in this process. 

 The staff’s management processed my order was great.  The staff was well trained to handle special request.  The organizational process does not need to change.  The manager should only get involve if employee cannot accommodate the customer request.  This McDonald restaurant was set up to handle “extra special” orders effectively.  The only interaction between the manager and the employee was when I first placed my order.  Because this interaction took place in the background, I was not aware how the manager handles this situation.  But interaction seems to put the cashier on track as to how to input the order.  But what I would recommend to manager to do is walk the cashier step-by-step.  Make sure everything is done correctly.  The communication to me as a customer was great.  I was told by the cashier that this was a special order, so it will require a waiting period of 5 minutes.  The cashier told me this request was certainly unusual but it shouldn’t be a problem putting this order together.  The cashier that took my order was well trained.  But I do advocate company regular training their employees in all aspect.  A well trained employee mean good customer service.  A weakness that I observed is when cashier first communicated my order with the manager.  If the employee was well trained in all aspects, interaction with the management would not be necessary.  In my opinion, the cashier took leadership during my visit.  The cashier consulted with manager at first to make sure my request was possible.  From there, the cashier took the leadership role handling my order.  While I think leadership skill are require in all retail environment.  If there problem or issue arise, someone could take leadership to handle the problem.  Manager is the one key individual that definitely could have shown more leadership qualities.  But the manager absence during this whole process, the credit is definitely due to the cashier for being well trained.  But the manager should show leadership by guiding the cashier step by step to how to input the order.  But due to the manager absence, the whole process was solely relies on the cashier itself.  

My Vision for the Future

I’ve spend too much time procrastinating about what I want to do with my life.  My mom always tells me that I should finish college.  If I don’t go to college, I can’t find a good paying job.  My first college degree was computer information system, but after graduating with a degree in computer information system. I can’t seem to find job that goes in line with my degree.  I ended up with a job as a salesperson.  As time passes, I decided to go back to school again.  Baruch is the place where I ended up.  After graduating from Baruch, I vision myself becoming an investment banker.  My current job is very supportive of me accomplishing this vision.  My current employer offers me tuition reimbursement & flexible schedule to accomplish my goal. After that, I would like to continue my education by going for an MBA degree.  I’ve come to realization that a bachelor degree is not enough for today environment.  As for my personal vision, I would like to purchase my own place.  This vision is coming closer to reality, as I save up money from every paycheck and investing my money wisely.

Decision Making

The decision making that occurs in class were somewhat frustrating.  We were given exactly 30 minutes to come up with an accommodating solution that we all agreed upon.  An individual volunteer himself as the leader to suggest solution that we all agreed upon.  While almost everyone agreed to the point curve.  I observed that the group leader’s power is low comparing to group’s higher power.  The leader did at one point acted as facilitator, defining problems, & consider alternative.  Then ten minutes later, another individual stood up and claim to be the leader.  That’s when things get out of hand.  People were yelling and screaming, talking over one another.  One thing that I noticed some people were lost and have no clue as to what’s going on.  In the course of decision making, some people were “compete to win” while others who sit in the back of the class were more “avoidance”.  At the end, we were able to “compromise” to come up with a solution. 

Steps in the Planning Process

Our team was clearly able to accomplish step 1 in define a goal and objective for the assignment.  We know what we needed to go, planned according to the deadline.  The team was finally able to each an agreement on how to build the device.  As step 2 approaches, things started to get out of hands. Since no leader was elected from the beginning, the team was not able to agree on a design.  The team actually spends most of our time debating about the design.  Step 3 of the planning process was non-existence in our team.  We failed develop premises and several alternative strategies.   There are no backup plans to our project.   Since step 3 of planning was non-existence, step 4 of analyzing alternative and make a tactical plan would not come about.  Finally step 5; we were able to come to an agreement on how we should build the device.  At the end, the device failed to protect the egg from breaking.