Week 4, Blog #4: Democracy in the Workplace

This concept, I believe, is a big deal in most companies. Having a democracy type atmosphere allows for the employees to believe that they have a say in what is going on in the company. This allows for the meagerist of employees to have an opinion. It's not just about what the higher ups say, it's about the plain, regular employees. It's kind of like how we feel in the U.S. as a county; we feel like we actually have a say in what is going. I like to know that my opinion counts... If not for the entire decision then at least for the general concept.

Week 4, Blog #3: Team-Based Organization

In Chapter 8, it talks about team-based organization. This immediately reminded me of the structure to Army sets up for its organization. The smallest unit of combat is a team, which is part of a squad, which is part of a platoon and then battalion/company, and so on. But the small unit is a team. And although I mention that a team is a part of something bigger it still needs to be fully functional on its own. Within each team you have a leader and members; all who perform specific tasks and have specific duties and responsibilities. The book mentions that a team is not made up of “individuals.” The team itself is a singular unit.

Week 4 Blog #2: Virtual vs. Real Communication

The Web lecture talks about the difference between virtual and real communication. Growing up in the technology era I understand the virtual communication concept quite well. However, I think because I grew up during the beginning of this era I also understand real communication. Looking at my little sister and my cousins, their whole lives are consumed by virtual communication. IMs, texts, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc, is a regular occurrence for teenagers. I do agree that virtual communication allows for some semblance of courage. I know I don’t have the courage to say some things in person that I do through email or text. However, I also think it lacks that bond you build between two people with actual face-to-face communication. I do have to say I would probably die without my cell phone though haha.

Week 4 Blog #1: Work/Life Concept

In Chapter 7, the book talks about the conflict between a person’s work and his/her personal life called, quite fitting, the work/life conflict. This, I think, is one of the hardest things women and men have to face in their lives. I’m only 22, but I already have a hard time leaving behind my work when I go home. I find myself at work even on my days off, and staying after I’ve already gotten off. I definitely think this is going to be one of the hardest things for me to overcome when I get married and start a family. I know many women who feel because they are the woman it’s their job to cut their work life because of their personal life. We’re lucky in this day and age to live when stereotypes are being challenged, such as the soccer dad. It’s not starting to be social acceptably for a man to stay at home and a woman to have the career. I think that the work/like conflict will be a challenge for men and women that will last for a longk long time.

Week 3 Blog #2 - Domination

The class lecture talks about domination. Domination is described as, “organizations us[ing] and exploit[ing] employees, damaging employees' health and intruding on their personal lives.” Wow does this remind me of my job. I really do love my work but this type of management describes the owner of my spa to a “T”. I work fulltime but I am also a fulltime student. Unfortunately, according to my boss, we employees must live, eat, breathe, smell, taste, hear and see nothing but our spa. We are required to do work outside of work, on our own time, without pay. It’s like because he doesn’t have a life outside of the spa neither should we. He is actually resentful of the fact that I am in school, even though I still work fulltime, because I can’t devoted every second to my job. He has even told me so and made me feel bad about it. This is definitely NOT a way to run a successful business and it sure as hell doesn’t make people want to stay around and work for him. Fortunately, he isn’t in the spa too often therefore, we don’t have to deal with him much. Domination should be held as an example of one of the worst management styles ever.

Week 3 Blog #1: Metaphors

The class lecture starts off talking about metaphors. It really opened my eyes because I didn’t realize that majority of us use metaphors almost on a daily basis. The example given of a metaphor for love comparing it to a journey, or a patient, or insanity made me think about how many times I’ve used a metaphor to explain or relate something to someone else. The lecture goes to say that “conduit metaphor suggests that successful communication is easy and effortless,” we just have to use more simple terms. This reminded me of being in the Army and talking to people who spoke different languages. There were words that had meanings the English language didn’t have words to describe. The foreign word had this impactful and strong meaning in its own language that I just wasn’t able to fully understand because there weren’t the right English words to convey such a meaning. I think that we run into problems like this in everyday life with people who don’t understand certain communication concepts. We try to help by relating the concepts to them in a way that they would understand better, but in the process we lose some of the significance. Metaphors are a good and helpful tools, but as the lecture says, “we just have to find the right words for our ideas.”

Blog #4: Goals

Goal setting is definitely a theory that I think needs to always be applied to companies or organizations. There are two types of goals that employees should work towards. The first goal should be the company’s goal for itself. The second goal should be the employee’s goal to reach the companies goal. At my work we have monthly monetary goals we need to meet. These goals are know from the very first day of the month and we begin working towards it immediately. Each employee has their own personal monetary goal they have to meet each day in order to contribute to the final result. I find that having goals really helps to keep me on track of our sales and how our spa is doing. Plus, we get an incentive. If we meet our monthly goals we get a bonus! Having goals allows for the employees to hold themselves accountable for their responsibility in the grand scheme of their company.

Blog #3: Processes and Feedback

Feedback is a concept that is imperative to the success of any company or organization. There are two types of feedback: negative and positive. Negative gets you back to the quality level that the particular company or organization strives for. It will help to keep the company on course. Positive feedback supplements the changes afforded by management and allows for growth and development. Feedback, both negative and positive, from employees helps them to feel like they have some semblance of responsibility of how the company performs.

Blog #2: From Empire to Hierarchy (pg 65-66)

The first thing that really caught my attention when reading this part of chapter 3 was the statement, “The closer the home is to a factory, the less material power and social status the family living in that dwelling tends to have.” I thought this was very interesting. Back in the 18th century, living close to your work or a factory meant low social status and the assumption of not having enough money to live somewhere further. Nowadays, people like to find housing closer to their place of work. In fact, for lack of actually paying rent, a lot of people tend to live at work. I wonder what connotation we as a people would have according those 18th century theorists?

Blog #1: Hawthorne Studies

Blog #1: The Hawthorne Studies

I really liked the Hawthorne Studies talked about in chapter 3 (pg 83). Having worked in sales for a majority of my life, I have seen first-hand the manifestation of this theory. The Hawthorne Studies proved that a little bit can go a long way. Let me explain: as a manager your job is to manage your employees. What a lot of managers tend to lose sight on is that they still need to interact with said employees and not just place orders. As seen in the studies, production went up and continued to rise when the managers took part in the daily lives of their employees. It sounds trivial to say that a “good job” or a “keep up the good work” makes an immense difference in employees’ attitudes, but it does. Who wants to do a good job for a manager who doesn’t care? The Hawthorne Effect is a very valid result and the studies, or at least a cliffnote version, should be read and understood by all managers.

Introduction

Hello!

My name in Jennifer and I am currently a senior at SJSU majoring in public relations. I have 1 more semester to go and then I'll finally be a college graduate. I am currently taking 2 summer classes while working full time at a spa and teaching CPR and First Aid part time. Um, something interesting about me is that I was in the Army for three years, working my way to a commission through ROTC at Santa Clara University. Passion for my major has taken me away from the Army for now, but my heart will always belong to the military :). And I guess that's it, lol...

Have a good weekend all!!!