We each took the time to reflect back on the semester and decided that we would each talk about the topic that impacted us the most.These are the topics that we found to be the most important that will affect our personal and professional lives in the future.
Sam: Boss/Employee Relationships
In our last class, we discussed the two way relationship that exists between the employee and his or her boss. Like most topics in organizational behavior, many of the choices to be made in the relationship depend on its context. However, there are a few general rules that anyone should follow with their boss. You should always be honest, and not afraid to express your opinions and have engaging conversations with him or her. It is important to focus on solutions and not problems, and showing a boss alternatives may help you express different ideas. Working with a difficult boss can bring a lot of stress to your life, but it is important to deal with that stress effectively. It may be helpful to look forward to something fun to do after work, or set up an employee support group where you can discuss issues and solutions with people whom you work with. When I was working at a sporting goods store during the spring and summer of 2008, a new manager was hired about half way through my tenure. I was an assistant manager in the store, and this new boss was very different from the previous one. Looking back on the situation, it would have been helpful for me to approach the new manager, Tim, and talk to him about his expectations of me, and what his goals were. Because we did not have this conversation, I reacted negatively when he started treating me differently from my previous manager, and I was unable to form a relationship with him, which affected my ability to be truly effective in the workplace. So I learned through that experience and this class that a cohesive relationship between you and your boss is key to your advancement and success in the workplace.
Mike: Group Decision Making
I believe one of the most important topics that we covered this semester is decision making, more specifically, group decision making. Everyday we are exposed to many problems, obstacles and events that require us to make decisions that hopefully create the best outcome. Knowing the facts and consequences of your own decisions is extremely important because as it does now and as it will continue to in the future within your career, your own decisions effect many people. I know that all of us will eventually experience a time where we need to be able to make a group decision efficiently and positively. This is present in our lives currently with group projects and will continue to be important as most careers require teamwork to be successful. As we learned within the class, group aided decision making have advantages and disadvantages. Advantages consist of containing more knowledge within a group, varied perspectives, deeper comprehension to the decision and create a training ground for inexperienced employees. The last advantage listed is one I believe to be extremely important to my class right now. We are soon going to be joining the workforce as the inexperienced employee and it is important that we recognize this and know how to deal with it effectively. Disadvantages of group decision making include ideas such as creating social pressures, domination by a member of the team, displacing goals and logrolling between individual interests. These advantages and disadvantages are important to our learning because they must be balanced for success. Learning about all this now will set myself and my peers up well for the “real world.”
Andrew: Leadership Styles
One of the most important things we covered in this class were the different styles and theories about leadership. Over the course of our careers, we will be called upon to lead others, whether in a team-based project early on, or as a person in a senior management position. Knowing about different leadership styles will be crucial in these situations. One of the most surprising things to me about different leadership styles is that the most effective leaders do not always lead in the same way, but switch up the way they lead in order to best fit the situation. For example, if a member of management has employees that are willing and ready to work, all he/she needs to do is “delegate” tasks. If, however, employees lack that sense of initiative and readiness, he/she may need to be more authoritative and give orders. Different employee characteristics and environmental factors play a huge role in determining which leadership style may be most effective in a given situation. Going forward in our careers, keeping these leadership styles in mind will be fundamental to not only our personal success, but also to the success of the companies we work for as a whole.
Lisa: Perceiving Others
Before this class I was aware of stereotypes and that people all have their own biases going into situation. However the section on perceiving others, which included stereotypes, attribution error etc., opened my eyes to the fact that this happens everyday. While perceiving others includes diversity I think one of the important point made was that perceiving others incorrectly is not just based off skin color but also by what organization they are in or even their major. I have become so interested in this topic that I am taking a Psychology class next semester focused solely on Stereotyping and Prejudice.
Sam: Boss/Employee Relationships
In our last class, we discussed the two way relationship that exists between the employee and his or her boss. Like most topics in organizational behavior, many of the choices to be made in the relationship depend on its context. However, there are a few general rules that anyone should follow with their boss. You should always be honest, and not afraid to express your opinions and have engaging conversations with him or her. It is important to focus on solutions and not problems, and showing a boss alternatives may help you express different ideas. Working with a difficult boss can bring a lot of stress to your life, but it is important to deal with that stress effectively. It may be helpful to look forward to something fun to do after work, or set up an employee support group where you can discuss issues and solutions with people whom you work with. When I was working at a sporting goods store during the spring and summer of 2008, a new manager was hired about half way through my tenure. I was an assistant manager in the store, and this new boss was very different from the previous one. Looking back on the situation, it would have been helpful for me to approach the new manager, Tim, and talk to him about his expectations of me, and what his goals were. Because we did not have this conversation, I reacted negatively when he started treating me differently from my previous manager, and I was unable to form a relationship with him, which affected my ability to be truly effective in the workplace. So I learned through that experience and this class that a cohesive relationship between you and your boss is key to your advancement and success in the workplace.
Mike: Group Decision Making
I believe one of the most important topics that we covered this semester is decision making, more specifically, group decision making. Everyday we are exposed to many problems, obstacles and events that require us to make decisions that hopefully create the best outcome. Knowing the facts and consequences of your own decisions is extremely important because as it does now and as it will continue to in the future within your career, your own decisions effect many people. I know that all of us will eventually experience a time where we need to be able to make a group decision efficiently and positively. This is present in our lives currently with group projects and will continue to be important as most careers require teamwork to be successful. As we learned within the class, group aided decision making have advantages and disadvantages. Advantages consist of containing more knowledge within a group, varied perspectives, deeper comprehension to the decision and create a training ground for inexperienced employees. The last advantage listed is one I believe to be extremely important to my class right now. We are soon going to be joining the workforce as the inexperienced employee and it is important that we recognize this and know how to deal with it effectively. Disadvantages of group decision making include ideas such as creating social pressures, domination by a member of the team, displacing goals and logrolling between individual interests. These advantages and disadvantages are important to our learning because they must be balanced for success. Learning about all this now will set myself and my peers up well for the “real world.”
Andrew: Leadership Styles
One of the most important things we covered in this class were the different styles and theories about leadership. Over the course of our careers, we will be called upon to lead others, whether in a team-based project early on, or as a person in a senior management position. Knowing about different leadership styles will be crucial in these situations. One of the most surprising things to me about different leadership styles is that the most effective leaders do not always lead in the same way, but switch up the way they lead in order to best fit the situation. For example, if a member of management has employees that are willing and ready to work, all he/she needs to do is “delegate” tasks. If, however, employees lack that sense of initiative and readiness, he/she may need to be more authoritative and give orders. Different employee characteristics and environmental factors play a huge role in determining which leadership style may be most effective in a given situation. Going forward in our careers, keeping these leadership styles in mind will be fundamental to not only our personal success, but also to the success of the companies we work for as a whole.
Lisa: Perceiving Others
Before this class I was aware of stereotypes and that people all have their own biases going into situation. However the section on perceiving others, which included stereotypes, attribution error etc., opened my eyes to the fact that this happens everyday. While perceiving others includes diversity I think one of the important point made was that perceiving others incorrectly is not just based off skin color but also by what organization they are in or even their major. I have become so interested in this topic that I am taking a Psychology class next semester focused solely on Stereotyping and Prejudice.
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