Our Presentation

I definitely liked our presentation because it was involved with accounting scandals. As an accounting major, it was nice researching some extreme cases of fraud. I didn't know when we began that Rahm Emmanuel was involved in the Freddie Mac scandal, and it was interesting to learn that he played a part in it. I also enjoyed studying the Worldcom scandal, an to see what happens when a leader becomes demanding, and forces results by any means. I learned from our project what can go wrong when profits are the only thing that matters, and ethics are pushed out the window to get them.

NFL Lockout Presentation

I have to admit this was my favorite presentation, mostly because its content was something I was already aware of. I closely followed the events during the spring and summer, and it was nice to get some more info on it. I feel like I have a better understanding of the information after learning the things I did in class. I have a better understanding of the negotiation process, and how both sides handled the negotiations, and the communication problems that rose during negotiations.

Book Report 5

Book Report Section 5

The final segment of Moneyball ends with Michael Lewis describing how a pitcher can excel with a very unusual delivery, and goes in how the Oakland A’s, with an underpaid roster, managed to set an American League Record by winning twenty straight games.

Chapter ten goes into great detail how Chad Bradford, a pitcher with an underhanded delivery, came to pitch in the major leagues. He started playing baseball young, and made it onto his high school baseball team despite lacking any sort of real talent. In order to get some kind of use from him, Chad’s coach took him to a pitching clinic and showed him someone throwing side-armed. Chad took to learning this method of pitching, and spent his winters throwing pitch after pitch to get this side-arm business down.

Chad could have continues to pitch side-armed and never mastered it, although he had something that changed his throwing even more. Chad’s father had a serious stroke when Chad was only two years old. After being told he’d never walk again, he not only walked, but when Chad turned seven, he could play catch, although he could only send the ball back underhanded. During his high school years, when Chad was practicing his side-arm pitching at home, his father would play catch with him. This led to the best advance in Chad’s career, with his arm sinking lower and lower with each pitch, and eventually he came to throw completely underhanded, knuckles touching the dirt when pitching.

This delivery was very different than the norm, and although Chad couldn’t throw with any kind of velocity, all of his pitches had great movement, even his fastballs. He played junior college baseball, and eventually went on to play in the minors. But he got stuck paying for a minor league team in Calgary, famous for the high number of home runs hit in its crisp Rocky-Mountain air. But Chad spent years playing in this exact stadium, and his home runs allowed numbers were far lower than the other pitchers who regularly played on the field. This showed Chad’s advantage, as his movement kept hitters guessing, and the air in the stadium negated velocity, so Chad excelled. Paul, Billy’s assistant, took notice of Chad and finally grabbed him for pitching in the big league, finally giving Chad a chance.

Chapter eleven discusses the psychological tactics of Billy Beane and how he tried to manipulate his players to produce the results he wanted. It discusses his attempts with Chad Bradford, as Chad had undeniable skill, but had almost no self confidence, which could affect his performance. Billy tried many things to raise his confidence, and finally helped him by questioning his faith in Jesus. If Chad believed in Jesus, whom he had never seen, how couldn’t he believe in his talent, which he had witnessed firsthand? This was one of the many ways Billy would reach out to satisfy psychological needs his players had. Billy could read people, and know when they were underperforming. The chapter then jumps to the last game in the A’s bid for twenty straight wins. After leading 11 to nothing, the score came tied at eleven. Scott Hatterberg, after leaving the dugout assuming he wouldn’t get any playing time, being called upon to pinch hit. He comes through with a walk off home run and the Oakland A’s set the AL record.

The final chapter discusses the problems the A’s inevitably faced each post-season. They were built for the long haul, and not to win close games over a stretch. So when the playoffs came, and manufacturing runs became important, the A’s floundered. Billy would seem detached, saying it was his job to reach the playoffs, and anything after was just luck. The A’s never reached the World Series any of these playoff appearances, but the success of the A’s could not go unnoticed. How could a team with no money compete with the Yankees and Red Sox? How could they win a division against richer teams? By changing the way you fill a roster, and knowing how to make value out of nothing, Billy Beane created a formula for winning without money.

(Section 5, Chapters Ten, Eleven, and Twelve, Pages 217 – 280)

Power and Influence

Today's class on the concepts of power and influence was very eye opening, to me at least. Many of the things we talked about I had never really thought of before, and it was interesting to learn how exactly people or institutions come to gain or use power and influence. To begin, I totally agree with the six sources of power in this country, which used to be family, school, and church, but have now become government, military, and business. I agree that this is where the power exists in society today, as these three things definitely have the largest influences on how we live our daily lives. I was also very interested in the cartoon we watched from Saturday Night Live, about the influence of big business on media outlets. I found that although it was a cartoon, the message it gave was still chilling, as these big companies that own the various media outlets can indeed sway public opinion when they need to, simply because they can control what we read and watch in our spare time. The fact that it was never shown after the original airing reinforces this point, and shows the power these businesses have. The cartoon painted them in an unflattering light, and because they owned the tv station, chose to remove it from airing with any reruns. This is the thought that disturbs me the most, that big businesses have so much influence on public opinions and perceptions, and can simply do what they want with these media resources because they have enough money.

In Class Project

After learning more about the point of the project, I have definitely come to see its worth. Although I was on the National Managers Benevolent League, I can clearly see how others in MRC were manipulated to show how power works. Learning that the small things, like writing names bigger, or omitting first names, are enough to create a false sense of power. Not allowing the lower group to interact with the top group was also a good tactic to assign power to the higher ups, and the structure of MRC as a whole was successful at showing how status creates power. Although the lowest group did the work and had higher numbers of people, because they were told they were the lowest group simply put them in the mindset that the weren't as important as the student assigned to the top group. As a member of the NMBL, we came to realize we held a great deal of power because we had the largest quantity of Goat Bucks. Although we couldn't use them, we knew since we had these that we could use it to our advantage to buy slogans for as low a price as possible. After being utterly confused as to why we were doing this experiment, it was good to finally learn what the point actually was. I also think after gaining all of the information that it was a very successful and entertaining way to learn about how power is distributed within a company.

Monday's Activity

During Monday's activity I was assigned to be part of the National Manager's Benevolent League. We started out with a lump sum of Goat Bucks,  but we couldn't actually use them as bonus. Instead, we had to spend them on slogans, and the cheaper we paid, the higher the commission we received. This is how we earned our bonus. Most of the project involved sitting around waiting for representatives from MRC to buy some slogans from. However, this didn't happen until there was only five minutes of class left, so we ended up being able to buy  many slogans for little cost each. I feel the failure of time management by the members of MRC played into our hands, as the time ticked away people were willing to sell slogans cheap just to get something out of the deal. I don't know exactly what the point of the activity was, and I'm not sure I learned anything new. I am very much looking forward to Monday's class in order to learn what exactly the point of all of this was.

Book Report 4

Book Report 4

            The next section of Moneyball examines how circumstances can force someone into changing their way of life. Michael Lewis chooses to discuss Scott Hatterberg, a talented catcher from the Boston Red Sox. Hatterberg’s throwing shoulder was injured, making him unable to properly throw down to second base in stealing situations. This made him useless as a catcher, but Billy still saw some vale in him. Billy was able to acquire Hatterberg after he was traded from Boston to Colorado and immediately released. Billy knew he wasn’t viable at the catcher’s spot, so he came up with the idea to transition him to first base. Hatterberg and fielding coach Ron Washington weren’t thrilled by this idea, but Billy thought Hatterberg was too good of a hitter to let is injury end his career. Billy chose first base because of the limited throwing, which allowed Hatterberg to stay on the field, and in turn stay in the lineup.

            The transition wasn’t easy, and Hatterberg was slow to learn too field at first base. Hatterberg persisted though, and after each game became more comfortable out at first base. His hitting is what got him his job, and he performed as expected. What no one expected, however, was for Hatterberg to become a solid fielding first baseman. Hatterberg turned out to be a great pick up for Bill, getting on base often and turning into a reliable fielder day in and day out.

The ninth chapter of Moneyball focuses on how Billy Beane was so successful at creating a new team throughout the season through ingenious trading tactics. Billy knew that as the season went on and teams fell out of contention, they had one desire, to cut costs for the rest of the season. Billy used this knowledge to manipulate trades for players he would be unable to acquire at the beginning of the season. Michael Lewis points out that because of Billy’s great trading prowess, the Oakland Athletics have the best record of any team over a four year period after the midseason all-star break.  

Lewis then goes into detail about Billy’s handling of attempting to acquire Ricardo Rincon, a relief pitcher. Billy knows he doesn’t have the highest offer for him, so he tried instead to unload a cheap player to his competition, the San Francisco Giants. By giving them a lesser pitcher, Billy is creating more money to spend, and lessening the Giants’ need for another pitcher.  Billy also unloads an unneeded prospect to the New York Mets for an unimportant prospect, but also the cash needed to finish the Rincon deal.  After all of his calls and marketing, Billy closed the deal and picked up the player he wanted, without any actual cash being spent by the Oakland front office.

            The rest of the chapter further plays out the genius of Billy Beane, making quick trades through multiple teams to pick up players he couldn’t normally afford and unload prospects that didn’t immediately impact his team. This strategy led to a new Oakland team after every all-star break. Although the lack of money in Oakland resulted in them only getting these new players for often a single year, Billy would simply repeated his process the next year to fill any holes on the field. By knowing the needs of other teams, and being a brash negotiator, Billy was able to manipulate his way into picking up talented players for little to no cost.

            This section of the book truly shows the innovative side and genius of Billy Beane. He knew he had limited resources, but he also knew how to counter this and make the most of what he had. He had to be cunning and sneaky in order to work deals players he shouldn’t have been able to afford. Billy was great at this aspect of managing, and this helped to create a winning team year after year for far less a cost than the rich team sin New York or Boston. Through Billy’s genius, the Oakland Athletics were yearly contenders, something most teams with his budget couldn’t dream of becoming.

(Section 4, Chapters Eight and Nine, Pages 162 - 216)

Leadership Philosophies

I was really interested in the three leadership archetypes discussed in class today. While I would have to say I think the Platonic method is the best, I also realize it is pretty  much impossible to  implement. I don't think it can happen due to the inherent selfishness of people, so it would be impossible to find a group of people willing to give everything up in order to work and think for the good of the group as a whole. It sounds like a great idea, but it would never work if attempted. So I guess in terms of actual possibilities, I think the Lincolnian method is the best way to lead. This method puts the people who gave you your power as your main responsibility, and you are nothing more than an agent. I agree with this, because it will help to produce a progress driven leader, one whom would put all self interests aside, and work to create the best outcomes for the job he has. You can have personal interests, but they should never sway your decision making if they don't fall in line with your work goals. While this may seem cold and distant, in terms of the business world I think this is the best way to govern your actions and make the best decisions possible.

Motivation Video

The video we watched about the employee complaints was very entertaining and showed a good point. While the manager did technically solve the problem, the video clearly showed how this was a terrible method of dealing with issues. While the video was meant to be entertaining, it also clearly showed that simply eliminating complaints doesn’t make happy employees. You must actually deal with valid complaints in order to keep a happy and motivated workplace. The employees in the video were influenced by fear of losing their jobs, which just creates worried and stressed workers, and will still end up hurting in the long run.

Hierarchy of Needs

I can see how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs makes sense at first glance, and it has its merits, but after studying it for a while it becomes apparent that it has its flaws. The example in class explained this perfectly, physiological needs are listed as most important, but in reality almost all people would never think of selling their own children for food. The needs are listed in a logical order, but clearly certain things outrank things in the physiological and safety groups. The self actualization group is a very interesting thought.  While it says that you must strive to be the best that you can be in order to meet growth needs, I also think there are clear examples of people who did not live up to their potential but live happy lives. So while the theory has its merits, it also has its flaws.

Book Report 3

The third section starts out by examining the success Billy Beane has obtained through his new and radical approach to player selection. He was called in front a board of Major League executives to explain how exactly, with one of the lowest payrolls in the entire league, di the Oakland Athletics rank among the best teams in baseball year after year. Billy passes off these questions to sheer luck in order to keep his method to himself. But the proof is there, his ideas are working.

Lewis next explores one of Billy’s greatest schemes, the over-valuation of a closer. Billy himself realizes their value is overhyped, as any normal pitcher put into a save position could have modest success. Coming into the game needing only three outs to win, almost always with a lead, will lead to a favorable outcome more often than not, creating a false sense of importance for the closing position. So Billy exploits this fact, moving a good pitcher into the closing spot, padding his stats, then unloading him for far more than his actual market worth. This is how Billy is able to get the players he wants without a large inflow of cash.

The rest of the chapter once again discusses a drastic new way of statistical analysis, AVM Systems. This approach took every part of a play and separated it into its simplest pieces. What each player did, where a ball was hit, how the fielder reacted, and what kind of pitch were all examples of the minute instances recorded. These fragments were given the name derivatives, no doubt attributed to the fact that the system’s creators were former Wall Street analysts. By interpreting these derivatives, statistical patterns could be found, but more importantly, they were free of the aspect of luck, which no other system to date had success removing. No matter the situation or events prior, this system could tell the likelihood of a run scored after a double, or if two men were on base with one out. Billy’s assistant Paul incorporated an AVM system into the Oakland front office, and Billy used the information to form his strategies and player selections.

            Chapter seven focuses on the replacement of a key part of Oakland’s lineup, Jason Giambi. His hitting statistics were phenomenal, but the A’s couldn’t afford to resign him for the amount of money he wanted. So Billy was left to patch together his lineup with the biggest part missing. Giambi led the American League in on-base percentage, leaving a considerable hole to be filled with no money to fill it. So Billy and Paul got together and chose a new idea, instead of finding a big name replacement, pick up a few cheap players whose value adds up to equal Giambi’s. 

They determine that the most important stat to focus on was the percentage of pitches outside of the strike zone a player swung at. The lower the number, the more disciplined a hitter, therefore the better a hitter. Through these numbers Billy also came to another conclusion, that the players who lead this statistic were ones he had traded for, while the ones who did poorly were the ones he drafted and tried to teach these ideas. He therefore concluded that hitter is a natural occurrence, and pitch selection can’t be taught.  Billy completes his goals of replacing Giambi by signing several decent hitters, one of whom was his own brother, Jeremy. This patchwork works for the moment, but after a few games it is apparent that replacing Jason Giambi is no easy task.

The chapter ends by examining a strange phenomenon, as Lewis describes, the fact that Billy Beane, full of enthusiasm and love for the game, almost never actually watches the team he built play in person. While Lewis and Billy converse within the hallways of the Oakland Coliseum, the Lewis foreshadows the next chapter of the book by introducing its focal point, a recently injured catcher by the name of Scott Hatteberg.

(Section 3 = Chapters Six and Seven, Pages 119 – 161)

Walmart's Dress-Code

It was interesting in the If Preppies Took Over Wal-Mart and today's class discussion to learn that something as simple as a uniform can have such a profound impact. I never thought too much of what exactly a uniform represents, or what message or values it can portray to a customer or employee. While some jobs require a standardized uniform for safety reasons, in the other occupations a uniform has a much larger meaning. While it provides a sense of camaraderie amongst workers, a uniform also helps to represent a business, or create an image to consumers. While some may argue that they're simply clothes and have a minimal impact, a classy or unique uniform can help to set a business apart, or help to build a loyal customer base.

Organizational Culture

After reading Body Ritual Among the Nacirema and discussing organizational culture in class, I enjoy being able to look at a social ritual or symbol and finding the deeper meanings it holds. Finding out that just by looking at "artifacts" one can work back and conclude the "shared values" and "shared beliefs" the artifact represents was a very interesting concept. This information allows one to better understand cultures, and the people within them. By simply examining a cultures artifacts, I like that I can now interpret what those cultures hold to be important, and how these artifacts shape the way the people live within their culture. These concepts also allow me to look at the artifacts surrounding me, and how I can conclude how our beliefs and values have led to most of these artifacts being present around me.

Prisoner's Dilemma Strategies

Last Week in class we further discussed the prisoner's dilemma, and the different strategies one could use to approach the problem. The best strategy discussed was avoidance, which involves avoiding unnecessary conflicts by cooperating with the other party as long as they choose to cooperate. This option yields the best results, but heavily hinges on trust. Provocability involved becoming competitive in the face of opposition, instead of cooperating. This may work out once or twice, but this strategy leads to both parties losing in the end. Finally, forgiveness was a strategy that led one to one immediately becoming cooperative after provocability, in order to put the conflict aside and work toward a good final decision. After examining these strategies and how they affect the prisoner's dilemma, it become clear that it may seem like a simple process, but not being able to know the other party's exact thoughts and motivations can lead to a tense and tricky decision process.

Decision-Making Quiz

The decision-making quiz we took in class on Monday brought into light the fact that I had used mental shortcuts called heuristics in order to come to some of my answers. While I started out the quiz without using any of these shortcuts, after four or five questions I came across answers that I had incorrectly chosen because I used heuristics to come to my answer. While these processes are usually just a mental tool to save time, I learned through this in class excersize that sometimes, during the decision making process, it is truly better to take your time and not try to use a shortcut to come to your final answer. While I did manage to avoid using heuristics for most of my answers, the ones which I did rely on heuristics must be focused on not to make the same mistake again.

Book Report 2

            The second section of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball begins by examining the progression of baseball statistics, and the development of a new way to interpret these statistics, known as sabermetrics. The fourth chapter begins by giving the poor state of baseball statistics in the mid-1970’s. Due to the fact that computers weren’t yet prevalent, baseball statistics weren’t totally accurate and were not nearly as thorough as they are today. This changed due to two separate occurrences, the advancement and availability of computers, and the rising salaries of baseball free-agents.

The advancement of the computer led to a cheaper and more efficient way to store more statistics than anyone before had thought to keep. By having the cheep space to store these piles of information, more and more information started to be collected during baseball games. Bill James used these statistics to publish his first book on baseball statistics, 1977 Baseball Abstract: Featuring 18 Categories of Statistical information That You Just Can’t Find Anywhere Else. In this short book, and the updates he released yearly, Bill James started to not only compile statistics, but chose to also explore them deeper and tried to determine what, if any, insight these numbers could give into how they actually effect a baseball game. Bill James main objection was the focus on the time on a particular statistic, Runs-Batted-In, abbreviated as rbi’s. These numbers were looked upon by baseball managers as indicators on the worth of a hitter, but Bill James realized what they did not, that these statistics didn’t focus on a player’s individual accomplishments, but depended on the work of numerous players, skewing the accuracy of the statistic. James came up with a formula to determine the total runs created y a batter, using only his own statistics, and independent of other players. His formula was:

Runs Created = (Hits + Walks) x Total Bases / (At Bats + Walks)

While this formula wasn’t totally accurate or dependable, it was the first and best formula of its kind, choosing to determine an individual’s impact on team performance. By challenging the status quo and choosing to make his own conclusions, Bill James had changed the way baseball talent could be evaluated, and down the road changed how Billy Beane would choose to form his team.

            The second chapter of the section goes into how Billy took the concepts formed by James, and formed his selections for the 2002 amateur baseball draft. Billy started by focusing on a catcher out of the University of Alabama, Jeremy Brown. Based on the traditions of scouting, Brown was a bust, out of shape and not in baseball form. But Billy saw his value through the four years of hitting statistics he acquired, and knew he was worth more than other’s thought. After his own scouts downplayed Brown’s worth, Billy pointed out that all they had was intuition and opinions, while he has proven results to reach his evaluation. Based on the Athletics’ limited resources, and the competition from other teams, Billy knew he would have to choose his players differently to actually spick and sign the players he wanted. By using James’s theory and focusing on statistics, Billy Beane ended up drafting thirteen players from his original wish list of twenty, an amazingly high number compared to normal results. By choosing players others saw no worth in, and by manipulating other teams through a variety of business tactics, Beane had come out of the draft happier than he could have ever imagined, and had created the foundation for his team’s future.

            This section of the book mainly provides background information, and doesn’t contain any kind of substantial organizational topics. Rather it frames the story for upcoming events, and how these new ideas and practices changed the structure of baseball and statistics forever.

(Section 2 = Chapters 4 & 5, Pages 64 – 119)

Interest - Rights - Power

The examples we used in class helped me to more easily understand how these three things are the goals of negotiation. After reading "Three Approaches to Resolving Disputes" I came to understand that if two parties are not negotiating based on interests, the outcome will not be as good as it possibly could have been. Negotiating in terms of power leads to messy negotiations, and if one party does indeed win and a negotiation is made, then the other side will never truly accept it and always look to get back at the other party. Agreeing to terms based on rights is usually used well when there is a good government involved, as a government must be able to enforce the rights, or these type of negotiations are pointless. By negotiating on interests, both sides better convey what they ultimately want, and can more easily come to a suitable and successful negotiation.

Accelmedia Negotiation

This exercise was made much easier after reading "Secrets of Power Negotiating." The article gave numerous ways to augment a negotiation in order to reach a more promising result for yourself. For example, I used the technique of using an extreme number far away from you actual goal in order to "make concessions" all the while getting the actual number you wanted. By started at an extreme number, it helped to throw the other part out of their game, and gave me an upper hand in negotiating. Overall, the negotiation was a success, and I ended up signing my contract to pay less for the new parts than my company was paying for the parts we ran out of. By using the techniques from the article, I was able to sign a very beneficial contract for my company, and helped to actually cut overall costs through the process. I think the in class exercise was a great way to get some first hand negotiating experience.

Pemberton In-Class Activity

This in class activity easily taught me some of the aspects of negotiation, and how sometimes you must work with a competitor if it can help you I the end. My group chose to work with our competition after the first negotiation period, as we both came to realize that cooperating could help us to both maximize our profits.  While business is cut-throat, sometimes you must comply with competition in order to help yourself, so both groups came together and worked to maximize profit. The end of the activity also taught me the value of trust, and not to have too much of it. The group that represented our competitors chose to dishonor hour agreement, leading to an enormous profit for themselves and leaving us with only a slight profit. So while they cooperated to that point, I and my partner should have realized the profit opportunity was too high and should have also changed our choice for the last week of the simulation.

Book Report - 1

Micheal Lewis begins Moneyball by describing the early life of Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane. Billy was a natural born athlete, and had he most success during his teen years playing baseball. He pitched his first high school game as a freshman, recording a shutout victory, and went on to become a monstrous hitter throughout his four year career. He was drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft by the New York Mets, but when he entered the team’s farm system his obvious flaws started to show. Billy was a perfectionist, and couldn’t stand getting out whenever he hit, which is something all players must come to deal with. Instead of focusing on improving after he made mistakes, Billy would become enraged and lose his confidence, which only lead to him making more mistakes than before. He played a few games in the major leagues, but he was never able to become the superstar everyone expected him to be. He chose to stop playing and enter the front offices in the 1990 season, switching from the playing side to the business side in order to reach more success.

Micheal Lewis then moves on from the life of Billy Beane to discuss the current problem that faced major league baseball scouting. Most scouts were retired or failed players, and did their job by traveling for countless hours to watch and evaluate high school and college players. They then made their own judgments, and evaluated whether or not a player should be drafted. During Oakland’s 2002 draft, Billy Beane, now the manager of the A’s, started to change the current state of major league scouting. He realized from his own failure that judging a player solely on potential is a bad thing, because it is not a sure outcome. Billy chose instead to focus on actual statistics, ignoring most of his scouts’ suggestions. Billy thought that if a player in college had been able to put up certain numbers, this was a better indication of success than any intuitions or feelings a scout could have on a player. By implementing this new process, Billy would change the way business was done in baseball.

            Lewis’s first chapter focused solely on the life of Billy Beane, and therefore did not integrate any of the business ideas from class. The second chapter, however, integrated different concepts within its content. The first topic contained within the book was groupthink, and this was seen through the process of scouting done by Oakland’s scouts. Each scout would give a subjective opinion of their players, based solely on intuition, and other members always accepted these observations as truth. This led to far too many untalented payers being drafted, because as Billy himself proved, not all “good looking” athletes will prove to be successful. Instead, by using years of accumulated statistics, Billy was able to better gauge a player’s worth. Accepting business as usual in order to avoid conflict, even when the group is wrong, is definitely an example of groupthink.

Lewis also touched upon the team performance curve in the second chapter. Instead of focusing on team needs and deficiencies, the scouts only focused upon the best players possible. Billy instead chose to look at his team, and then find out what parts are missing. Billy was trying to create a high-performing team, or trying to fit pieces together to make a team who was better as a whole then the sum of its parts. By worrying bout specific needs, and also taking into account team chemistry, Billy was taking the correct steps in creating as high performing team.

The first section of Moneyball laid the framework for the rest of the book, and introduced concepts that are pivotal to the book’s later plot. By thinking outside the box, and by having the extra knowledge of being a failed player himself, Billy Beane had all of the tools to change major league baseball. That is exactly what he will end up doing.

(Section 1 = Chapters 1-3, Pages 1-63)

Team Case #1

This case was a great and practical way to show the stages of team development, and had great examples of exactly a team could unravel, even after producing such great results. After reaching their success as a high performance team, obvious problems presented themselves. Their maverick idea man was being wooed by other divisions, and the corporate affairs guru was burned out. The amount of success the team had created these difficulties, and the team didn't take the proper measures to keep themselves operating at a high level. The mundane daily activities of seeing their Ageless Vigor line through to it's final stages lost the interest of Josh, and the high workload wore down Sandy, and Peter didn't take any actions to combat these problems. In order for continued success, I though Peter should possibly have found someone reliable to take the reigns of Ageless Vigor, and handle its daily operations. This would have allowed the "Fearsome Threesome" to do what they excel at, think of an exciting new product, and see it through its developmental stages until it is ready for retail launch.

In Class Case

After learning what the figures in the case really representing, the failures of O rings on the space shuttle, it leads one to question how the shuttle was ever allowed to launch. After learning in one class the proper ways to evaluate risks and decisions, we were able to come to the right judgement in the case. After the data showed no success under 65 degrees, an attempt should never have been made with the temperature around 40 degrees, especially with the risks involved. The amount of intelligence the space program had should have been able to see this data and stopped any attempts at launch.

Multicultural Teams

Doing international business is something I hope to experience eventually, but learning to properly work with people from other countries and cultures sounds like a challenging task. Culture is an important part of our lives, so learning what is important to other people and learning the proper social protocols is very important. Offending someone or making them upset by using improper communication channels isn't a good way to build any kind of team cohesiveness and can delay working efficiently as a group. Experience is the best way to get past this issue, so I hope to deal with some other group of people enough in business to be able to learn and become involved in a completely new culture someday.

Groupthink

After reading "Groupthink" and analyzing the real examples they gave I finally realized quite how dangerous the concept is and how it has already caused debacles. The examples of the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis show how groupthink led to poor decisions being made, and any opposition ignored. When the decisions being made are that important, all group members should think independently and not just go with the status quo. People should be aware of the groupthink symptoms and always be aware to not simply jump on board without asking any questions.

Labeling Personality

The concept of putting people through tests and being able to gauge the aspects of their personality sounds like a good idea, but the results will always be fundamentally flawed. While the results may be somewhat accurate, people are impossible to be fully understood by a simple test. As hinted to in "Personality Plus" tests can't be 100% accurate of a person's personality, because people change throughout their lives. People are too complicated and can change throughout the course of their lives, so making them take a test now to determine their personality and traits can offer you short term information, but the information can't be totally accurate, and is not necessarily going to be true a few years down the road. Personality tests are also fundamentally flawed in that most tests' questions are leading, so if a potential employee knows an employer is looking for, they can answer questions in a way that they create the desired results. While some people may put stock into personality tests, I don't believe that they should have too much emphasis put on them throughout the course of selecting a new employee.

"All Powerful" GPA

 I agree with the New York Times article "These Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search," in that one's G.P.A. is not always an accurate picture on how good of a student you are. I think employers put too much emphasis on this single attribute, and ignore many other qualifications a student may have. From personal experience, I know just how inaccurate a low G.P.A. can be. In high school, because I played sports and took mostly advanced courses, my G.P.A. never went above the 3.2 mark, and mostly hovered around 3.0, portraying me as an average student. Now that I am in college, and not playing sports anymore, I have put my free time to good use and my G.P.A. is higher now than it ever was during my high school career. While a student's grades are important when browsing resumes, I think employers should take more time and focus on the things a student chooses to do outside of the classroom.