Shapes

I walk up the ladder
of my hierarchy of needs.
And I move up the pyramid
of the level of management.

I work with the people in my shamrock
of part time, of full time, all the time.
And we form a DISC
of different attributes.

I'm an "I," he's a "C."
She's a "D," and he's an "S."
And in the end, we share a vision,
of the same common future.

We follow the arrows
of the planning process
And soon we'll be living that dream
that we wrote about
in our blog of MGT 3120.

Dear Blog,

I've never blogged before, either for class or for personal use. The closest thing to keeping a blog is a diary, which I used to keep. But that only lasted at most, a week.

But during this course I had to keep one. At first I was not happy or thrilled about having to write blogs or write comments to other people's blogs as an assignment. It felt like another homework that I would dread doing. But after I got into writing about the different assignments, it started to grow on me. I started checking my blog for new comments and become very excited when I see someone has commented and can't wait to click on it to read it right away. I also didn't think I would want to comment on other people's blog. This would require me to actually go visit their blogs to comment. It was until I read their blogs and I said to myself that can totally relate to them. By then, I was more excited about writing my response than I was to finishing the required "3 comments to others."

I found that it was great for finding more about the people in my class. People that may sit all the way across the room from me, and people whom I talk with every class. Through the blog, I learned about their dreams, their experiences, and who they are - things I would never found out in such a large class.

The blogs were very helpful in relating back the class activity to the lesson and connecting them together. This way, I could review the different concepts and also relate them back to what we did in class. It actually makes me feel like what we learn in school is really useful and I actually do it everyday in my life. But there were blogs that we had to write and comment about and they were all very redundant, making me feel like I was trying to complete some tedious task of having to comment to the same entry like the Egg-cellent blog. Those kind of blogs, I did not really enjoy commenting on.

The professor's blog was a good way to incorporate more learning outside the classroom. It gave me things to thing about such as time management and failure. It makes me thing about what I'm doing now and hw it's effecting me right now. Sometimes, not such good feelings come from it, but I will learn from them. I wish there were more posts like these. From the blog, it really makes me think about the future and what I want to do with my life later on. It's all things that are not discussed in school.

Writing this blog and accounting it as a part of my grade really puts me in control on earning those easy points towards my grade and I really appreciate that. This is management class and doing this blog is already one way of learning how to manage our grades.

As to if I'll continue keeping a blog after class ends, I'm still not sure about that. If I do, I might not write about management, but something else in my interest such as fashion and design or food! Maybe it'll stick with me, or maybe, it would just be like another episode of the "Dear Diary" experience. 

Me, Myself, and "I"

Through the DISC analysis, I got a result of being in the "I" category, for "influence." My second highest was "C," for "conscientiousness." From the class result, I saw that only 2 people were in the "IC" category, including me. I think this test was pretty accurate in determining  my leadership/management orientation, especially the action plan to be more effective. My "D" was the lowest, and one of the actions were to be firm with others, which I am not. I tend to be more lenient and let things flow. Also, I need to be more in control with time.I'm a person that procrastinates until the very last minute and feel stressed when time is limited. Sometimes I think I would better under stress, but I would and am trying to be less of a procrastinator and get things done with faster and earlier. From the conscientious aspect, it was also right that I need to make quicker decisions and delegate important tasks. I'm horrible at making decisions. It takes me forever to decide on anything, even something as simple as what to eat for lunch. As for description, I think the test got it right. I do well in communicating what I want to be said and being very optimistic in situations. I love to be able to freely express myself and the freedom to be able to do what I want.

Sometimes I do wish I was more of a "D" person, so I can make quick decisions and be able to have the courage challenge what's on the plate. I want to be more initiative and be that dominant person, but along with that, be able to influence others as well. So, perhaps being a "DI" is ideal.

Although it's interesting to find out what others are and where they stand in these tests. I don't think they should be used as a guideline as to how you view them and how you work with them in a group. People do not only possess one and only one kind of personality, but a mix of them. So I would only use the results for fun, but as to depend  on them ,I would not.

Welcome to McDonald's

Braving it up, I walked into the McDonald’s on Fort Hamilton, between Chester Ave. and 36^th Street on Friday to make my special order. It was a nice evening, around 6:30 p.m. – dinnertime. There were a few occupied tables, and in a blacked private room, a birthday party for a little girl. As I walked in, I saw there were two registers opened, one who wore a McDonald’s uniform, and the other, surprisingly, in plain clothes. I chose to go to the register which the girl in the uniform was at and waited in line. This way, if she was unable to place the special order, she would have to call over the manager and I would be able to make some detailed evaluations. There were 3 people ahead of me, and as I waited, 3 more that waited behind me.

When it was my turn, I placed my order and requested a receipt for my order and the cashier looked at me as if she heard wrong. So I told her once again what I wanted and started to look through the screen, I’m guessing, to see if the options were there and told me that the fries can’t be well done with no salt.  She called over the manager, who was actually the plain clothes wearing lady and she told me that she is able to make the order as per requested, but it cannot be printed on the receipt. She was willing to write on the receipt that my fries had to be well done with no salt and sign off on it if I insisted that the receipt had to say my exact order.

The manager herself went to prepare my fries, since she could not punch it into the computer to send the order to the preparers. Meanwhile, another McDonald staff took over the register she was originally working at so the line does not start to increase. I saw that there were already some fries that were being cooked at the time I ordered, so when they were ready, the manager only emptied part of the batch and kept some of it in the fryer. Afterwards, I saw her place the well done fries on the side where the rest of the fries were cooling and bagged those for me. My fries took longer than usual, so my order was a bit delayed, but the manager even apologized for the wait.

My hamburger was being made when the manager was preparing my fries. The girl at the register was able to indicate extra pickles, but the quantity only indicated “1” on the receipt. She made sure I had 4 pickles in my burger by telling those preparing the burgers that I specifically wanted 4 pickles, to prevent me having to come back and correct my order.

Upon receiving my order, I also received my receipt. The manager was supposed to sign off on the receipt, but she was already busy with another customer. So instead, the girl at the register who took my order signed off on it. She corrected “1 XTRA$ PICKLE” to “4 XTRA$ PICKLE” and also added “Well done, NO salt” under my order of fries.

I checked my order right afterwards to make sure I had the 4 pickles in my burger and my fries had no salt. I don’t know how “well done” fries taste like, but they were crunchier than normal and there was no salt. I opened the wrapper of my burger, and found that there were exactly 4 pickles, just like I ordered. Satisfied with my order I left the place feeling proud that I actually had to courage to go through with the assignment after postponing it so long.

During the entire process, I realized the manager and staff were very respectful to me, listening to what I wanted and not making me seem weird or anything that I was making a special order. They made sure I got exactly what I wanted in the order. They did their best to make sure I didn’t have to wait so long and to prevent the line of customers from building up. The whole ordering preparation was very effective. The manager herself didn’t just order her staff to make my food and even went to make it herself to make sure it was right. The staff who took my order made sure she emphasized that I wanted 4 pickles by telling the preparers herself to make sure it was communicated across correctly and that I would not have to go back and correct my order. The whole process was very organized. The manager helped her staff when they didn’t know what to do and guided them through the process as a good leader would.

Overall, they were very effective in getting the order and the RIGHT order to customers. I didn’t see the other customers having to wait extra long because of hindrance due to my special order. But if they did have to improve on their efficiency, I think the staff should be instructed on what to do during a special order and to learn about the different options on the computer. This way, they can be more prepared and not have to resort to asking the manager for every special order placed in the future.    

The Sky's the Limit

Nothing is impossible.

Well, a girl can dream, right? Throughout the years, time and time again have I thought about "What do I want to do in life?" I've gone from thinking about staying in Baruch to pursue a BBA in Management, to thinking about transferring to Hunter for nursing, to staying back in Baruch for Accounting, which I don't don't find passion for. But there's already one more year until graduation, and I don't want to keep switching. It's been such a  depressing question for me, because honestly, I have thought about it over and over, and everything I'm doing just doesn't seem to be one of my dreams.

One of my greatest dreams is to be a pilot. Yes, I know there are very few female pilots, but they still exist, right? I've always loved looking at planes, high in the sky, in the airport, anywhere. They look so majestic and beautiful. I've always wanted to go travel to all different places and see the world.I can always do this by going on a trip, but being able to fly constantly and as a career, just thought about that makes me smile. Since I'm not in some aeronautic school right now, the only way I can get somewhat close to this dream is to work really hard to make a decent salary, and with the money, I can take private piloting lessons. Although I may be flying a jet rather than a commercial plane, I'm still flying!

Another dream I have is to be a fashion designer. I don't dress fashionably, wearing whatever is the trend, but I would love to make designs for those that do. As a kid, I would think of all these different ways to "wear" my blanky - from a dress to some kinda of top where one piece would overlap this other piece. As I grew older, I learned how to sew and use a sewing machine. Even now, I still draw down any designs I suddenly visualize in my head and believe it or not, some designs I had from years ago and in store racks selling now.  To make this dream come true, I still continue to draw whatever design I have visualized. I've never actually made any of my designs, but one day I will. When I actually make enough money from my career, I hope to be able to open a boutique where I can sell my designs.

Lastly, just like most of the girls, I do hope to start a family. I want to be able to live together with the one I love and be able to experience every moment of my life with him, whether it the ups or downs of life. I don't want kids, because I fear I will not be able to raise them right and they'll turn out to be a menace to society. Although my boyfriend and I have been together for years and years and we don't know what future hold for us, we have already talked about have a life and a future together.

Picture credit: Wayfaring

The sky is the limit.

Tug-of-War!

How do you get a whole class of about 60 to all agree 100% on a decision?

It takes a lot of ideas, some conflict, a group leader, and one goal.

In the class activity, we had to all agree on how to count the first midterm grade, and what to change about the upcoming second midterm. It started out a bit chaotic, with suggestions yelled across the room. But luckily shortly, someone stepped up to lead the class into coming up with this decision. She guided us by coordinating the classroom and making sure each person who had something to say got their voice heard. She wrote down each suggestion and then went down the list, eliminating those which most people did not agree to. I thought she could have not erased each idea so quickly, especially when deciding about what to do to change the next midterm. She could have left the ones where only a very few amount of people did not agree and those that wanted that suggestion cold try to persuade them for a change of mind.

Many of those that gave a suggestion were competing to win and get their ideas "passed." Most other remained quiet and were in avoidance, not giving any suggestion or voicing out their opinions. Perhaps it was because they thought there was no way of reaching that 100% agreement.

I compromised and accommodated to others in this process. When deciding on what to do with the second midterm, although I thought having an open book test could usually mean a harder test, I thought it would be helpful to those people that don't do well on tests under pressure and even though they studied, they might forget the material at the moment. I didn't like the idea of taking out the essay but since there are a lot of people that got a lot of points taken away from the essay part and there are also people that struggle to write an essay, especially those whose English is not their first language, I didn't disagree to "no essay."


In the end, we did reach our 100% agreement. We decided to drop the lowest of the 2 midterms and the higher grade would account for the 40% of our final grade, with extra credit to be added onto the higher grade. The second midterm was pretty much undecided upon with a suggestion, so we just left that to the professor to decide how he wants to make the test. Reaching a conclusion took a lot of effort, to get the whole class in agreement. Lucky for us, we had a leader to help guide us.


P.S. No one got hurt in the process!

"SPLAT"

 Credits: PaperBouquet

Sadly, my group's egg is NOT the survivor. Even though our egg did not hold up to the test, I feel like we follwed through with the steps in the planning process. We knew our goal and what the restrictions were to reach that goal - limited straws, limited tape, and definitely limited time to make the actual protector.
From the beginning of the planning process, we figured out who had prior experience with any sort of project that was similar to this. No leader stood out from the group, which was what my group lacked, but everyone took their turns to voice their idea of a solution. We went through which designs would fail because parts of the egg were too exposed and not protected at all. After careful evaluation of several designs we finally decided on the final design.
But once it came to the time of actually putting together the protector, we had to modify the design. Some people cut the straws, some people ripped the tape, and the rest helped in putting together the protector. One made sure we had the design and the names of the people on paper. Since it is an egg and it's very fragile, only 2 people actually handled the egg. One would help the other tape, hold the straws up, whatever needed that helping hand. When the protector was completed, we chose a person to go up to drop the egg, making sure she had the design paper with her when she went up.
Overall, I think my group was pretty effective in the planning process, even though we didn't have a leader within the group. We could have been more effective if there was a leader. And also if we didn't start to panic due to the limited time. But other than that, I would have to say my group did a pretty good job with the challenge!