It's All About Management...

Managers plan, lead, organize, and control
successful implementation leads to
achievement of the organization’s goals.

Human, conceptual, and hierocracy skills
are traits that managers need,
to effectively interact with the organization’s employees.

In a nutshell, one would say
managers are vital to the
success of the organization’s objectives everyday.

So what’s this blogging thing about?

In the beginning of the semester, when Professor Kurpis told us it’s mandatory for us to create our own blogs I thought to myself this is going to be a different kind of class for the next four months. Boy was I right! Mgt 3120 with Professor Kurpis was a lot of fun, interesting, unique, motivating, and subject matter talked about in class were very appealing to his students. I think what made Professor Kurpis class appealing was that he always referred to past experiences and give real-life examples. I also noticed he would constantly refer to his students as “future managers” and “leaders,” I think that’s very motivating. He sees us as not just students but as professionals as well. And yes, his exams were hard, but he didn’t include anything on the test that he didn’t cover in class, it was just a lot of material. So, let’s get to this blogging thing…

I really like the idea of blogging our thoughts, opinions and suggestions for our classmates to read and comment on. I think for a big class like ours, it’s the best chance we have of interacting with each other and sharing our thoughts. We all can’t share what we think each and every time in class, then there will be no time available for Professor Kurpis to teach. Another reason why I think blogging is effective is for students who are more “active listeners” it gives them a chance to voice what they think. Some students are very afraid of speaking in front of a group of people; this is another way to communicate what you feel without saying a word. I also noticed by expressing our opinions, thoughts and blogging about the activities we did in class help me in remembering material for the test. For example, we had to blog about our planning process in one of the activities and it helped me to remember the 5 steps of planning.

I feel like blogging also provided a way for us to get to know each, after blogging about our goals, many of us realized that most of us have similar goals. I also liked that Professor Kurpis encourage us to say something positive about someone else goal(s), positive reaction from your peers is very important I think. It motivates us, because we can now see or figure a way to have our dreams turn into actions. Somehow when we have thoughts of doing something and we never get around to it, we tend to say to ourselves, “it’s was just thought.” But when we express our thoughts and goals, and get positive feedback it pushes us to achieve our goals. Even in times of doubt we look back at what encourage us in the first place and we keep going until we achieve our goals. I’m not naive to think that we will achieve all of goals because of this exercise or because we express where we want to be in the future, life changes and things happen but it’s a step to taking a dream and putting it into action. I don’t think any other professors at Baruch have ever asked me to write about my goals in life both professionally and personally.

In summation, blogging was an effective way for students to communicate to each other and communicate what they think about the class activities. I must say I enjoyed blogging. I don’t know if I will continue with it, that depends on my work load (both school and work) and I’m not sure if anyone will read what I write since it will no longer be mandatory.

McDonalds… “Having it your way?”

Assignment:

To purchase 1 small hamburger with exactly 4 pickles and one small order of well done fries with no salt.

Assessment:

Upon arriving on a rainy day last Wednesday at the McDonald’s located on 6th Avenue b/w 47th and 48th St, I was surprise to find that there was a long line ahead of me waiting to order, not only one line but five lines. I purposely went at 2:30pm anticipating that I will miss the lunch rush hour and therefore the server will definitely place my order correctly. It was quite the opposite.
As I wait in line to place my order, I notice the commotion going on in the back, cashier’s shouting out orders, workers looked agitated as they give the cashier what was ask for, the person responsible for handling the drinks looked weary and fatigued going back and forth with two cups of soda for two different cashiers. The worker responsible for taken care of the fries had this perturbed look on his face, as if he’s in an amiss situation of some sort as he throw the finished fries out of the fryer into the finished pile and salt them. At the same time he jostled his way through the crowded staff to throw another set of fries in the hot oil. As for the workers in the back who puts the sandwiches together, I really couldn’t see their facial expressions. All I saw was the cashier’s in front screaming out the order to another worker who’s standing about 10 centimeters away from each other, and that worker apparently goes to the back, deliver the order and bring the former finished order to the cashier so she/he may give the customer his/her order. At that point I noticed it took 5 workers to process an order (1 cashier, 1 worker who cooks the fries, 1 worker who gets the drinks, 1 worker who makes the sandwich and the last worker who walks back and forth delivering orders to the back and bringing the finished product to the cashier).

As I stepped up to place my order, the very courteous and friendly cashier ask, “How can I help you,” I told her I wanted a small order of well done fries with no salt and a hamburger with 4 pickles. It took about no more than 20 seconds to place my order; I then stepped aside to wait for my order. The cashier then relay my order to the employee next to her who went to the back to tell the worker who puts my order together and that took about 1 min. In about 1 min later, my order was ready. I tasted the fries and they were according to my order, just perfect. I then unwrapped my hamburger to make sure I got what I wanted. As I did that, I think I may have gotten the attention of the cashier, the worker responsible for taken care of the fries, and the one employee who goes back and forth. I then took out my blackberry, and that’s when they all look intently at what I was doing. Indeed my order was incorrect; it seemed like the lady in the back decided to give me an extra pickle since I asked for 4.


I nicely asked the cashier’ to please remove one pickle, I didn’t ask for 5 pickles, I only asked for 4. The worker took my order to the back fixed it and brought me the correct order. It took about 4 mins for the staff at that McDonalds to get my order correct. The cashier was very friendly, and after I took the picture of the hamburger with five pickles, they moved even faster to make sure I got what I asked for.
In summation, I would give the staff at this particular McDonalds, a good rating not a great one. First and foremost, I did not receive what I asked for the first time. If I was a consultant asked to help them improve their efficiency, I would definitely tackle this issue. A happy customer is one who gets what he or she wants in a timely manner at McDonalds. I thought they all worked well together, their coordination was good, but ther communication was meager (mainly because I didn’t get what I ordered the first time). I think I would eliminate the worker who takes the role as their communicate tool all together. Customer service was good except for the fact that I didn’t get what I wanted. I would also advise them to have more of an assembly line in the back putting the sandwiches together, for example, one worker should be responsible for putting the lettice and tomatoes on the bun, while another put the hamburger or chicken on the bun, while another warp the sandwich. I think that this will intimately cut their lead time and this way a customer might get what they ordered because each person has his or her own task, no longer will there be one person responsible for putting the sandwiches together.

"The ABC's of DISC"

I don’t know what leadership style I would fall under (dominance, influence, consciousness, or steadiness) because I wasn’t in class when this activity was given. But I think it’s important to have a little of all four characteristics. I also think that when we are in different situations; we will need to adapt different personality roles to deal with that situation. I think being somewhere in between all 4 types makes the most sense. There are times when you need to take “the baton” and run with it, there will be times when you need to listen to what everyone is saying before making a decision, there will also be times where you need to get all the information or facts before you make a decision.

I suppose it would be helpful to understand people management type to better understand where they are coming from. I think respect is every important in life, at home (w/ family), at work or in the classroom. And once you have that respective barrier then I think it not so hard to work with anyone no matter what leadership style they may have. I think you can take on a dominant role and be respectable rather than arrogant. Let’s face it; the first thing we think of when we think of dominance in the work place is a chauvinist a-hole that no one can stand being around. It doesn’t have to be like that. And I feel more and more my generation doesn’t value respect at much as they should. Let me be clear, respect has to come from both parties not just one.

In the Stranded exercise, I think having a consciousness personality type would be best. Because when you’re stranded in a remote area, you ought to think carefully of what you’re going to do, you must listen to all options from all of those who are stranded as well.

My Vision for the next 5 years…

I have a few goals for myself for the next 5 years.

Goal 1: Graduation, May 2010
I know professor Kurpis said to choose goals other than graduating from Baruch, but this one is particularly important to me. I’ve been in college for 7 years now; right out of high school I went o Hunter College for nursing, 3 years later it become clear to me that I hated it! So I then transfer to Baruch and am now pursuing a degree in HR management (that is after I’ve gone through all the other majors). Now, I can finally see myself graduating with my BBA, and that is very satisfying.

Goal 2: Having Kids
Having kids is very important to me as a personal goal. I got married in August 07 and my husband and I are planning on starting our family next year, after graduation. I can not wait to be a mom. I’m from a very large, some-what traditional family. I have 37 first cousins and my husband has about the same # of first cousins or even more. I enjoy and very much look forward to family functions and gatherings. I changed my major to HM Management for this reason, when I have kids I want to be able to work “decent hours” and not have to work during the weekends etc. I looked at all my options and ask what field would I have more flexibility in?

Goal 3: Getting a Higher Level Job in HR
Upon graduation, I would like to get job relating to my major. I currently work at McGraw-Hill as an Admin Assistant for the Information Management group (Office of the CIO). I definitely want to stay with McGraw-Hill. McGraw-Hill was voted one of the best company’s for working moms. After being there for 4 years, I can see myself growing professionally in this organization.

Goal 4: Getting my MBA
So after I graduate next year, have a baby, get a new job, I want to go back to school to get my MBA. I’m currently studding for the GMAT. I would like to take the GMAT sometime next year as well. I want to get my MBA from either NYU or Columbia and as you’re probably aware, I would have to ace the exam for me to get into those schools. I want to take the exam early because if I don’t do well the first time; I still have time to take it again. Both Colombia and NYU offers a 3 year part-time weekend MBA program.

Goal 5: Buying My First Home
My second personal goal is to own my own home in the next 5 years.

In the next 5 years, I would also like to visit Italy, Spain and Tahiti. I definitely want to visit India but that can wait. Other than that, I don’t know what I want beyond the next 5 years.

Searching for Common Ground

“Advocating for a Common Ground”

Last Wednesday (03/04), we had our first exam. Upon receiving the results on Monday (03/09), many students weren’t happy with their grade. After getting feedback from us, Professor Kurpis decides to give us a “decision making” activity. He proposed we come up with suggestions on how we can make the next exam easier for us as well as how we can rectify the first exam. The catch was we all had to decide unanimously on these suggestions. If one of us objects, then the deal is off. Last but not least our suggestions were subject to his approval as well. We had approximately 30 minutes to complete this task. So how did we handle this conflict?

“Conflict Management vs. Conflict Resolution”

Looking in from the outside, one might think this is an easy exercise. It was quite the contrary, well at least for some. First, I think it’s fair that I give my opinion of the first exam. As stated in class, I thought the exam was fair, I don’t think professor Kurpis tested us on anything that we haven’t covered in class. He also gave us a list of all the possible topics that could appear on the exam beforehand, so he wasn’t sneaky in any way regarding the material covered. However, I do think the exam covered a lot, as of Tuesday, March 5th we had gone through 12 chapters and a couple of additional slides. Granted he did not include a few chapters, but the additional slides made up for the missing chapters. I also thought the “multiple multiple choice” questions were just tricky. We are “conditioned” in most classes to think that a question only has one right answer, so trying to depict more than one answers for a question is a difficult task to do especially under time constraints. I also feel like these kinds of questions are more opinionated than straight forward. In the sense that, say one of the questions were, define culture. Now, if we only had one right answer to choose from, I would just choose the one that we spoke about in class. But we have to choose more than one answer, the way I see culture and what it is and what culture consists of, might not be the same for others. Therefore, we will all choose different answers based on what we think culture is, or base on our own culture, past experience etc. I also think if professor Kurpis cut down on the number of topics that we need to know and focus more on the “core competency” of the exam that will help a lot of us. In no way am I suggesting for him to tell us exactly what’s going to be on the exam, but almost half the material he told us to study was not present on the exam. Time is not working for most all of us, I think it fare to say most of us that go to school in the evening have jobs, a lot of us have full time jobs, kids, family and all sorts of things that require our time. So to help us manage our time effectively, I really do think it would be great to narrow the list of topics that’s going to be covered. Overall, the exam was challenging (as it should be, I mean, we’re in college here), but given the “multiple multiple choice” questions, and the long list of topics to be covered just made it really hard for a lot of us.

The reason why this activity is considered to be a conflict in my opinion is each one of us had slightly different problems with the exam. Therefore, this is where coming together to form a unanimous decision was a dilemma.

“Breakdowns to Breakthroughs”

According to Professor Kurpis, there are 5 different ways people attempt to handle conflict when working as a team. The first is “compete to win” this is where one is just concerned about his or her own self interest. I don’t think I took this role at all. If I remember correctly, my first option was to drop the lowest grade. I purposely chose that because I know a lot of students would like that idea. I did notice there were a few people who were going back and forth on whether or not to have essays. Some hated essays and some didn’t mind.

Another path some took was avoidance (withdrawal, used when there’s “no chance of winning”). Usually I’m not one to talk a lot in class, not because I don’t know the answer, but because I think it’s very important to be an “active listener” both as student and at work. Often times I think we get too carried away with what we are staying and loose sight. It becomes a thing were, we have to constantly “shout out” what we think and we’re not taking anyone or anything into consideration. But I was not going to sit this one out; this is where it’s important to voice your opinion. When a decision is being made right in front of your eyes that affect you in the future, you have to participate. It’s your obligation to yourself to have an input. Which is why I don’t understand why a lot people didn’t participate; yesterday in class, some said that the reason why they didn’t participate is because they were annoyed all “yelling” and “confusion” of coming up with a cohesive solution. I’m sorry but that doesn’t cut it for me, first, I don’t get why anyone was annoyed, this was a group activity with about 50-60 students, with everyone throwing ideas out, did you really expect a quiet room? Did you expect for someone to just know the “magical answers” that’s going to work for all of us? No, this is why we were loud and it was chaotic. If this kind of stuff annoys to the point where you don’t want to be there, then how will survived in the business world where at all most all jobs you are practically forced to work as a team or with groups of people.

I believe the class did a lot of compromising (used with decision making under pressure; all members are equal) For example, some did not want true or false questions on the next test where as some really like those kinds of question. We settled on 5 true or false questions instead of 10. Some didn’t want essays or short answers. We compromise to have essays in the form of short answers. Truthfully, I don’t mind writing an essay or short answers, so I didn’t care about that. I would have agreed to anything the class came up with regarding writing essays and short answers as well as true or false questions. I guess it’s accurate to say by allowing the class to decide what best works for them I took part in the accommodation way of dealing with conflicts. That is, I saw those issues as more important to my classmates than myself.

Finally, I believe what made our choices great is that we collaborate (required bargaining and negotiation among group). We were all in it together. We had two leaders that muddled through. Gabriel did great with getting the ideas on the board; Teddy did a great job getting everyone to focus primarily on what was most important to us, as a team, (Kudos to Teddy & Gabriel). Then we all voted on which option will work best for us. We came with, 5 true and false questions, straight forward multiple choice (where there’s only one answer), and short answers instead of essays, as well as a more condense in-class review. In the end the main reason why this was such a great group activity is because we all got a little of what we wanted, and no one had objected, even though Professor Kurpis somewhat “coached and encouraged” anyone who had any objections to speak up.

Analysis of an "Egg-cellent" Planning Assignment

My team did not win the “egg-cellent” challenge, mainly because we didn’t have an opportunity (time constraints) to do a test project first before we did the final demonstration. I thought we did a good job defining our goals and objectives. Each one of us knew what we wanted to accomplish and worked towards accomplishing our goal. We knew we only had ten minutes to complete this project once the planning process was finished. So as soon as we heard it was ok to start working on building the contraption for the egg, all of us focused on that task. One person held the egg; while another cut the straws, another member cut the tape and the last member assist the person holding the egg in how we were going to build the contraption.
There were few things that we did not focus on. One was developing several alternative strategies. We thought of one way to build the contraption and then just focus on that one way only. I do think it would have been helpful to come up with a back-up plan. To think about more options, we would have been able to compare and contrast and then determine which idea was best. By us just sticking with one idea we didn’t utilize everyone’s skills. We didn’t ask what each person was good at, what our strengths were etc. I would say another important step that we somehow overlooked was the reality of how hard hitting the impact would be for our egg, whose name was “Chicken Little.” We though if we put enough straws at the bottom of the egg, it will prevent it from breaking. We didn’t take into consideration that the egg dropping from 10 ft high above ground, will actually add additional weight to the content of the egg, as the egg is descending down. Unfortunately, I thought of that after we lost Chicken Little. Now, I think if we would have done a test project, we would have discovered these errors and taken corrective actions.

Dealing with “Difficult” People

One of the most underlying problems in any work force, companies, segments, industries or culture is dealing with difficult people. Granted the word “difficult” means different personality types for different people. This is a universal problem that we will have to learn to deal with, well at least for those of us who have to work for a living. We the “ordinary” working class folks don’t have the privilege to choose and surround ourselves with those whom we tend to get along with or can work well with. Often time’s employees decide to endure or “put up” with a difficult co-worker because they are fear full of losing their job or not getting a good year-end performance evaluation review. This is not only a work related problem, but how do we deal with people in school, at home, in our family, or even friends? Each one of us has our own unique personality that we bring to the table, so what can we do or how can deal with difficult personality types?

"About Me"

Hello Everyone,

My name is Raywatti Narine (or “Ray”). I am from a very small country in South America called Guyana. I currently work at The McGraw-Hill Companies located on 6th Ave. I have about 2 more semesters to go before I graduate, and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to going home after work. Before I came to Baruch, I went to Hunter College for nursing and discover three years later that I absolutely hated it. Not because of what Nurses do, in fact I have a lot of admiration and respect for nurses. It was when I started doing the practical work that made realized this is not for me. I couldn’t stand the smell of a hospital and it even terrified me to do a Phlebotomy procedure on a “practice-dummy-patient.”

On a personal note, I got married in August 07, both my husband and I have large families. I think family is very important and enjoy spending time with them. I’m extremely fascinated about my culture, the Indian culture. My hobbies are reading and going to the movies. I could literally sit in a theatre for hours without moving. On the weekends, I enjoy cooking with and for my husband. Now, that does not mean that my cooking is always good, but my husband won’t tell me otherwise. I think he’s coined the phrase, “it’s really good babe.” During football season, our ritual on Sundays is to watch the games. I didn’t like football when I first met him but now I’m a huge fan of the sport. So there, that’s a little about me.