Concepts in management

Management is about learning how to control and keep everyone on your team working in harmony.
If the rules are not followed, there would be controversy.
Although not easy at times; communication is key.
One must always remember the large amount of responsibility.
When all the components are into place, we will be happy and thrive in creativity.

Blog=Creativity

I think the blog was an essential part of the management class because it allowed people who are unable to get a chance to speak or those who don't like to speak in front of others a chance to let people know how they feel about certain topics. I think that the blog being 20% of the grade is also something good because it is a way for us to utilize management skills;with the due dates and responses to other individuals by a certain date. Also putting together a portfolio is a way of showing our organizing skills which is a great thing to learn if one plans on managing one day. This blog helped me learn a lot about my fellow students and how they thought on a number of topics. It was very helpful in learning what type of people reside in the classroom with me. I think that people were also less constrained in what they had to say when they were able to express their own feelings through their blog, there was no one there to judge them or restrict what they were saying and that's the best part of the whole thing. I think that the blog was a very creative idea for the class because even though there was topics assigned, you were still able to take your idea where you wanted to and add as many photos to make it your own style and twist. For the most part, i believe the blog should remain for other semesters because some of these classrooms are so big that some people don't feel the close interaction that they would like. However, through the blog it can help them let everyone including the professor know how they feel.

McDonalds Experience!

When I first walked into the McDonald’s located on Merrick road in Freeport, I went in and asked the cashier for the special order. She proceeded to tell me that she was unable to put on the receipt the specified amount of pickles and that she could only tell them in the back the amount that I want. When she proceeded to do so, while I was waiting I heard someone in the back ask if I was serious. There were no problems with everything else except for the fact that she was unable to put certain things on the receipt which the manager was unable to do as well. However, the meal came out exactly to what I wanted and there was no real problem with receiving it.
When I went into the McDonalds in Baldwin to see if they would be able to get the order right there, it was like a replay of the McDonald’s in Freeport. I asked the cashier for the specified items and she proceeded to go through with my order. However, when I asked for the items to be put down on the receipt she told me she was unable to do so. I asked her if she could get her manager for me and the manager told me that it was also something that could not be done. She said that if I wanted six pickles then she would be able to show that on the receipt. However, for the amount I wanted; she told me that she would have to charge me five times, when I told her to proceed she did not. She simply went to the back and told them the specified amount that I wanted. I then asked the manager if she had a business card she could give me and she told me that there would be a number on the top of the receipt for me to call. Overall in both locations there was no success in getting the receipt the way I wanted. In both locations I felt like everyone looked at me as though I was a very strange individual or like I was not serious about what I wanted.
If I was hired as a management consultant at these two locations, I would rate the staff’s management process as being average to the situation. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate both as a 7. Based on organization, both of the McDonald’s were set up to handle the special pickle order the same way. They were both trained to go in the back and tell the employees what to order but the machine was not equipped to show this. All of the employees were trained accordingly because when the managers were asked to do the same task they were unable to do so as well. If this is something that is able to be done, then both of these McDonald’s fail at accurately using their high tech cash registers. If I was the manager and I wanted to accommodate orders such as mine, I would have tried to figure out a way to make the computer do what I needed it to do in order for the receipt to show the exact order. Perhaps I would have been able to do six pickles and voided one off. This would be the only problem I would have had to fix.
The communication between the employees was very effective because they were able to go to the back and tell the employees to put the correct amount of pickles and the big Mac sauce on the side with no problem. At the McDonald’s in Baldwin, the communication between the manager and the employee was shown very well, the manager tried to help the employees as best as they could to try and figure out how to allow all these items to be shown on the receipt. If I could improve anything about both of the McDonald’s I would improve the use of the cashier machines because either they are too complex to understand for the employees to do as specified or they rarely get people who order a certain number of pickles. The employees should be able to find a way to beat the system or the machine should be replaced with one that has the ability to have this show up in order to increase efficiency. If the machine was able to do it with one push of a button it would also benefit the employees with time. The cashier would not have to go to the back and tell them the specified amount, it would just be able to show up on the screen and it would allow for better service for the customers who are waiting on line.
In my opinion the employees were trained well but they were not above average. They were unable to figure out a way to solve the problem themselves; they just simply told me it could not be done. For most people who would just accept a no answer, it would make the cashier’s problem much easier. However, when they need to involve their manager you can tell to what extent they were trained. I think that it would be best if the employees received more training or practice on their machines. Although I came to the employees with a complex order, they both treated me in a nice manner and did what they were supposed to do as much as they could. So I do not believe that they would need any training in how to treat their customers.
I do not believe anyone really took the leadership role. The managers tried to help but they were not successful either. Leadership should be a necessary skill because McDonald’s is a big corporation and they have many commercials that describe to children their ability to dream big and be the best that they could be. McDonald’s also is still running because there is some form of leadership that keeps them thriving in the business. In order to dream big, leadership should be a necessary skill. Leadership enables you to stand out from the rest. The managers in both cases could have shown leadership skills by trying to spend some more time figuring out how to make the machine print out the receipts with accurate information. I believe that there was some way for them to make this happen. Even though the manager in Baldwin told me that it would cost me extra; when I told her to proceed she did not which leads me to believe that maybe this was not the most accurate way.
All in all, both of the McDonald’s showed that they were able to get people’s orders accurately which is most important since most people would not ask for these items to be on the receipt. However, if we focus on the special items being on the receipt as the main thing that should be done then they both would have failed in the case of using their cash registers. But when technology fails to put things the way you want them, communication is the next best way to deliver your message which was done up to par at both locations.

D is for Dominance

When we took the test in class i was eager to know what the end result would be for picking all these words that describe me the best. In the end, i ended up getting a D. D types are dominant types. I believe the test described me accurately. I tried to fit the words to my personality as best as i could. I am always the type of person who must have their way when they want it. I think that i also could have been a C type. I believe that i am also the type of person who would like everything done accurately and with precise details. There are times when i want things done my way and others when i need things to be described to me in detail in order to execute the objective to my liking. I think these types described me because they were both tied on my chart however, dominance won with just a few more points. I think that it would be a helpful thing to determine people's type to better understand where they are coming from and how to interact with them because everyone functions differently and to figure out how everyone works can help get the most efficiency out of your employees.If one way helps your employee works to their best of their ability you would want to hone in on this in order to figure out how you can make things easier for them. In the long run, it will be beneficial for the employee and the company's sales. I think a test like this one would help me in other personal interactions because the way your work ethic is reflects a lot about the type of person you are.

Future endeavors

I have always envisioned  myself doing numerous things after i graduate college.Upon my graduation from Baruch, i plan on getting my masters degree. I have to study for all the tests in order to get into graduate school. However, one thing that i need to do is figure out exactly what i want to get my masters degree in. Some ideas that i have is Business Administration. This goal will help me with my goal further along in my future of becoming a business owner. One goal that i have always had in the back of my mind is opening up my own pastry shop.This is my business owning dream. I plan on making this happen after i am done with my career and have retired. I want to make enough money to invest in the business myself. I became interested with this goal since i have watched amazing wedding cakes, my interest in baking cupcakes and it gives me a piece of mind.I also plan on attending culinary school in order to learn how to master the art of baking good and decorative sweets for the world to enjoy.

Another goal for myself is to travel all over the world. I have always enjoyed traveling therefore i have developed a strong interest in broadening my mind for what else is going on in the world. I plan on traveling throughout my business career when I'm on vacations perhaps with my family. The places i want to travel to are Britain,China,South America, Dubai, Spain,etc. Although i have many more visions for myself these are ones that have stuck with my for quite a bit of time in my life. I hope that they can be achieved through hard work and determination.

Decisions,Decisions,Decisions!

When the class got together to come up with an alternative solutions to boost up our first exam grades, there was immediate responses once the floor was ours. As the compromise was coming into play, i quickly played the role of avoidance. I felt like there was too many people in the class to even have my voice heard and i was too afraid to take the reigns. Although in smaller group situations i usually tend to have more to say. I figured that a lot of people would come up with ideas that i would agree with anyway. I was also afraid to say something that no one would agree with and be shut down or rejected by all of my classmates. While i was in the corner avoiding the chaos, i noticed that there were a few people who decided to get the whole classrooms decisions organized taking the collaborating and compromise roles. For example, 2 individuals went up to the front of the classroom using the compromise role in order to be the mediator for all of the students. They wrote all of the options on the board and narrowed it down after we all voted. There were several individuals who took the collaborating role and helped come up with a number of solutions for everyone to choose so that we all could be accomadated. I think that i could have taken on the collaborating role in order to help the class come up with more solutions to the decision. The other role which i think is crucial in this process is the compromise role. WIth those two roles in use, the best possible solution will result because you will hear everyone's thoughts and ideas but also mediate in order to come up with something that can accomadate everyone and also avoid conflict issues.

Constructing the perfect egg

This was similar to our concept.

When my team and I started our planning process on constructing the protection of the egg, we were very frantic at the short amount of time and the limited amount of supplies that would be given to us. Of the five steps that are used in the planning process my group and I only followed three out of the five steps. The steps we followed were defining our goals and objectives, analyzing alternatives and making a tactical plan and implementing the plan and evaluate the results. We bypassed the steps of determining the current status compared to objectives and developing premises and several alternative strategies. We bypassed those two steps because we felt like we had to make a decision no matter if it worked or not so we would just go with what we think would work best. Therefore we were going to make the plan we had thought of before construction and make it work somehow. I think my group performed well under the circumstances we all worked together to try and get our initial plan to work. The only thing that was working against us was time. As a group we could have been more effective by further analyzing how we can make the construction of our contraption much more sturdy. Our analogy on how to construct the straws was on the right track. However, the execution was where we were in trouble. Before i was able to drop the egg i realized that the lopsided construction we came up with was against us. As soon as i dropped it, the egg landed on the side with more weight and had the most destruction done out of everyone else's. Overall, if we followed every step of planning it would have been helpful in determining the right steps to executing the idea we had in mind.