Looking back....

It was surely unique to have a blog as an assignment.
Overall, I think the aims set for this blog was achieved.

1. I did visited people's blog who I do not talk in class, nor even do not really know his identity.I could see different personality by reading other people's blogs and that was interesting.

2. Because of this assignment, I did refrect on class activities.
The topic usually asked to think about how I acted or my group acted, so that gave me a chance to know a little bit more about myself.

3. It was interesting how professor related things in real life to management.
I think the number was good amount.

4. I don't think I am going to keep posting things on this blog.
But it is good to have some kind of place where I can express my opinion to others.
So I might if I feel an urge to tell other people what I think.

I think it is good to have this kind of outside class communication tool.
However, one thing I was not comfortable was that because blog is open to public, not only for classmates, I did not like to write about myself a lot.
I would feel more secure if it were BlackBoad discussion or something like that.

anyway, I enjoyed this class a lot and am truly glad that I took this section.
I wish best of lack for all of you. ;)

True Guidance

True Guidance

Where do you want to go?
Who do you want to be?
What do you want to do?

The answers to these
will lead you
through your life

so ask yourself

Where do I want to go?
Who do I want to be?
What do I want to do?

My management type

I was S high C.
This result was not surprising to me.
I think this analysis was pretty accurate.

I do think it's important to work cooperatively.
The desired environment was really my desired environment.
Especially the part that says minimal conflict and minimal work infringement on home life hold true.

I often think I wish I were more creative.
However, I don't think one can be creative because he wishes to be.
It's more like nature.
I think some aspects of one's characteristics are changeable but some are not.

Understanding about myself may help better communication with others.
however, I think this kind of test tends to stereotype person.
what I mean by this is that who you think you are could be made by these test results.
By taking this test and reading results, I think that I am S type more than before and this influence my actions to be more S type.
So I think it is good to use this as just one of the information or guidelines to asses person.

Visions

My future visions are

Getting a job in advertising industry and establish works that are accredited by people.
In order to make this happen, now I am trying to get an internship.
I need an experience.
As someone in class said, things learned at school are not practical and good enough to go in to real life.

Traveling around the world
I just love traveling.
These days, I am stuck in NYC and a little bit frustrated....
Because I want to enjoy and make the most of my life, this can not be missed.
Well, what can i do now???
Maybe I need to start saving money until the opportunity comes.

Keeping beauty even if I get old!
OK, I am not joking.
I am pretty serious.
My mother, once cared about her looking, now doesn't care what she wears at all!!
I do not want to be like her. ( Please don't take me wrong, I do love her!!)
I want to be always in style.
Small steps are required to do this.
Daily care, especially for the skin, is necessary.
Also eating healthy diet is important. ( mmm....this is difficult because i love junk foods. :P)

Overall, I just want to enjoy my life.
I want to be always happy.
That is my vision.

Conflict in Decision Making Process

Avoidance & Accommodation

These are the ways I used in the discussion over what to do with the 1st exam result.

why I chose this is because :

• I was happy with my result and not really interested in the topic. I thought those who needed to fix their test results would have more interest in this and therefore they could decide whatever they wanted.
• By joining the discussion, I thought I would just make it more complicated. As someone in the class said, I think less number of people is easier to manage.
• I was discouraged because some people did not respect others. There was a leader trying to organize, but a few people ignored the rule. They spoke up without raising their hands, though there were people who were patiently waiting to be pointed to speak up. Also, some people were so opinionated that they would not listen to others.

Reflecting on the discussion, I think what we could have done is divide time.
For example, 1st 10 min just for brainstorming the ideas. ( no criticizing at this point)
then, next 15min to eliminate the choices by reasoning and so on.
But to do this, the leader has to be a little more stronger because opinionated people tend to lose control sometimes.
What I other way I would choose to do this......maybe collaborating by suggesting this way of discussion.
I am not sure this would have worked but I think at least it would have been a little more organized.

We did it!?

Our egg didn't break. YAY

Does it mean that we were really successful in planning??
I think just because the outcome turned out well, I cannot conclude that our planning was good.


here, I want to reflect on our process step by step.



Step 1. Define your goals and objectives

Our goal was not to break the egg by using limited resources and within limited time.
This was given by professor, and we did not seek to make it more specific.

Step 2. Determine your resources and current status vis-á-vis objectives

Each member knew we only had 8 straws and limited time.
But we did not really try to find out who's good at what so we can make the most of each member's talent.
Instead, we jumped into thinking about how we could use straws and tapes to protect egg from the shock of landing.
I think it was because we were all in a hurry. Everyone was concerned about time.

Step 3. Develop several alternative strategies


We had several alternatives.
I'm not sure if the evaluation process was good.
It was like, "no i think this is better." " what about this??"
So everyone said each opinion but did not really evaluate other person's idea.
I think this was because our discussion was not really organized.
We did not really have a leader in the discussion.


Step 4. Make a tactical plan
&
Step 5: Implement the plan and evaluate results

It was not really difficult for us to reach the consensus about which plan to use.
we all agreed to make a pyramid shape with straws and hang the egg in the center so it doesn't hit the ground directly.

We did not allocate the job.
Mainly 2 of the members completed the task and others basically watched.
I think this was because though we agreed on the basic idea, each of us did not really have a unanimous clear idea, so some just had to watch how others complete the job.
But in the case of this exercise, we did not have much time.
so I feel like it was acceptable that whoever was capable of doing it did it.

As the pyramid shape was formed, we came up with several different way of adjusting the plan, but because of the time limit we decided to stick to original plan.


Overall, though we could not follow all the detailed planing steps and there are many points that we can improve, I think we were on the right track of broad steps of planing.
we knew what our objective was, all got to say opinions, reached an agreement, and achieved our goal; not to break an egg.

As a member, it would have been great if I could have come up with great idea, or had knowledge of physics and scientifically evaluate.
However, unfortunately I am not that kind of person.
I think I could have asked the person who came up with the original idea what I could help in constructing the pyramid shape, and get involved in that process more.
Instead of only 2 people working on the task, each person could have completed the part and we may have been able to get task done more efficiently.

This exercise was really fun and gave me chance to think about planing steps as well.
now that I am more familiar with what step to follow in planing process, I think, in next occasion, I can play a better role.

Multi-task

I am an waitress.

I had never worked as an waitress before, and did not know how much things waitress has to handle at one time in a efficient way.

each task is really simple.

• bring the menu, explain them


• take a drink order


• take a food order


• bring out dishes


• change plates, refill water


• ask if customer wants more drink or food


• bring dessert menu


• clean up


• bring a check and take money

but when customers come in at one time.....it is not that easy.

I have to put so many things in my mind.

I've got to find a priority, then get everything done.

If it's ok to take time to do each thing, it would be much easier.

However, I have to turn the table.

I have to do many things quickly at one time while keeping the quality of service.

At first, I got panic.

Now I've improved a little bit by advises from my co-workers.
What I learned so far is to

• calm down


• try to look over everything and not to focus on just one thing


• know the priority


• communicate with other co-workers, the restaurant is run by everyone helping each other


• always double check everything, nothing you forget? no mistake?

Still, I am not a perfect.

everyday, there's something to learn.

I was simple-task oriented, but now I am trying to be multi-task oriented.

About me :)

Hello everyone ;)
I'm glad to have a class with you all.

so here is a little bit about myself.
I'm from Japan, and came to U.S. 2 years ago.
I'm a jounior majoring in Marketing.
My intereste is in advertising and entertainmant industry.

Just transfered from Alabama last semester.
Living in one of the biggest and exciting city has been a totally different experience.

I love traveling. There are soooooo many places I want to visit but unfortunately time & money are limited.
Also, I enjoy hiphop dancing, shopping, watching movies, and so many other things.
Hate bugs and scarry movies.

I guess that's about it.
hope this semester's gonna be fun for all of you.
see you in class ;)