Management Poem

You lead with a smile You're so sure of yourself You always find the answer for whatever question asked You're always willing to lend a helping hand You always ask never demand Always a kind word, a hello, how is you day How is the family, how is that boy today You're concern for your people is apparent by the things you do People enjoy working with you There's not many like you to that I can attest The perfect manager, one of the best.

The Blog

The blog is a good idea for those that enjoy expressing theirself on this type of media. For those of us who don't particularly feel comfortable expressing theirself in an open forum found it hard to do. Its was just another class assignment that had to be done only for others to see. I know I wouldn't continue the blog, my private thoughts are my privates and not for the world to see.

Extra Credit

McDonald’s special order which consisted of a hamburger with four pickles and a small fries with no salt seem to be a small challenge for them, but to my surprise was business as usual. Placing the special order and getting it completed correctly took no time at all. When placing the order I was a little apprehensive, thinking that I would get a little flak from the cashier about having it my way. To my surprise the cashier was amused at the order. He repeated the order twice all the time laughing and asking me was I sure about the four pickles. The cashier then informed the woman that prepares the hamburgers that his order required four pickles. He then informed me that the order would take three minutes due to him having to make a fresh batch of fries, and that was the processing time. He informed me that McDonald’s normally charges for the extra pickles, but since he was the manager he didn’t charge me for them. The process was completed by two employees, the cashier and the woman who prepares the burgers. The cashier was pleasant during the whole procedure, and the woman that prepared the burgers continued in the same fashion as if it were a regular order. Upon checking the order, the fries contained no salt and the burger had exactly four pickles. The burger was well put together, not like at some places where you can tell that everything was just thrown on it. The special order required only two employees to fill the order and took five minutes to prepare and complete. McDonald’s staff was very professional in their handling of the order. The cashier walked over to the burger area and spoke to the burger woman, not yelling the order as you see in other fast food restaurants. McDonald’s workers are organized in an assembly line format. You have the cashier, the burger person and the person who does the fries. The manager tends to help the employees when there is an abundance of customers either by taking orders or bagging the orders and giving to the customers. There would be nothing that I would want to change. The way they have the employees set up works effectively for them. They were fast and efficient processing the order.

Conscientiousness/ Steadiness

The leadership diagnostic test that was taken in class may give some insight to a persons disposition but it also tends to be a bit bias. When individuals take such test they are prone to answer the questions in a manner that would portray them in a favorable light. Now I ask myself did I in fact answer the questions from the viewpoint of watching myself in action, or do my replies reflect how I would see myself in the management position. I believe I answered them as someone standing outside of the box watching me perform my duties. With all that said, I can say that the test was correct in guaging me as being high conscientiousness, low steadiness.

If I could change it, I would prefer for there to be an equal balance amongst the two. Being too conscientious can cause a great deal of stress in ones life, on the job and off. You're always checking to make sure everything is correct, in its place, worrying about things you have no control of . I think that if it was a little higher on the steadiness, I wouldn't mind working in groups, I would have a little more patience. Maybe even be a little more laid back.
Do I believe that a test like this will help outside of the work environment, I would say no.

I believe that the only way to really get to know someone is by direct interaction with them. As I mentioned earlier, I don't believe that people are totally honest when taking these sort of evaluative test. Also, all people don't act the same from one environment to the other. Some may be a domineering manager on the job and when they get home their such a wuss, or the other way around. People react differently in different situations. From my experience in the workplace, a lot of bossy bosses, not saying all, have no control at home,some of the laid back bosses, when they get home, can be such control freaks. My belief is that the test may give you a glimpse of the individual, but until you deal directly with them theres no way to know.



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Five year vision

In the next five years I 1. want to finish getting my degree 2. retire from my job, 3. start a new career, preferably a school counselor.
Last year I decided to return to school to finish getting my Bachelor's degree. I decided then that within the next five years I would be able to retire from my present job due to I would have the time but not the age. Then I would retire freezing my pension and get another job working with elementary school children. At the moment my plan seems to be rolling along just fine. By this time next year I would have completed the requirements needed for my Bachelor's degree. At the present time I'm researching just what is still required for me to be a school counselor. The only obstacle I see is the retiring. I've found out that the tier I'm in, in my present job doesn't allow you to vest your pension under the 25/55 program, so that means I would have to find another course of action. I can always change careers within the organization that I'm already in , maybe something in human resources department. That will also give me some experience in my major, while I continue my education working on my masters and getting partial tuition reimbursement from my present job. At times it don't seem as if its going to work out the way I plan, but if I have to keep revising it until I reach my goal, then I will. Right now everything's moving along, even the retirement, I can see it working therefore it shall.

decision making

The decision making process that was used in the classroom was somewhat chaotic. It showed that there are some who doesn't consider themselves team players, and there were others who has that take charge mentality. They was given a agenda and they took control of the situation, whether others wanted them to or not. Even though they took charge, they didn't have control over the group. People were talking over each other, and everyone wanting their opinion to be heard. Which made it hard for some to keep up with what was going on. The atmosphere was thick with tension, some of my classmates can be very rude. Not only during this exercise, but also when the professor is teaching the class. I was impressed that with all the overtalking and those not wanting to accomodate others we did get a nice package deal. As for me I sat back and watched how my classmates interacted with one another. It amazed me that we got anything at all. I believe the professor gave us a second chance to get the deal, I know for a fact that we had lost our opportunity.
As for me I normally deal with situations in one or two ways, I either go along with the majority if I feel that the majority is best for all involved, or I sit back and watch the chaos. In this case I sat back and watched as some my the classmates showed their true colors. I really didn't believe we were going to get anything the way the decision process was going.

eggs-cellent

When we were doing the project we didn't intentionally follow any set guidelines. We threw ideas at one another until we found one that everyone was satisified with. Looking at the planning process I can say that we did follow steps 3 to step 5.

Defining the objective was bypassed due to the objective was given by the instructor: make a device that would protect your egg, if dropped ten feet into a container.

When someone would give an idea of the device they wanted to build, the team would look at the idea from all angles to see if the device would actually accomplish the task of protecting the egg. Then everyone decided on a course of action, to tape the straws together, then attach it to the egg. They then demonstrated and tested the device to see if it would work,(meaning sustain the egg without falling apart). The end result the device worked.

management issue

I have a manager that has a bad habit of turning his workers timecards in late. It has been bought to his attention that this delay on his part is having people checks held by timekeeping. Yet he continues this practice. The only alternatives we have is to go to his boss, go to the union with this issue, or wait it out for the next three months when we can move to another department.
The problem is, this manager is the same one we have to go to get days off. In order for one to get time off he must approve it first. As I see it we're caught between a rock and a hard place. If we go to his boss, or the union about this issue, we could get on his bad side. If we get on his bad side then believe me there is going to be repercussions. My conclusion would be to wait it out for the next three months and hope my check is there when it should be.

Hi, welcome to my blog. I created this blog due to its a project for my management course. At the moment I don't have much to say, but that will eventually change. For now everyone have a pleasantly peaceful day.