Saturday, December 11, 2010

For the Love of Management: A Pledge

This is my Pledge… My Management Pledge

When I think of the ethics of my choices I will consider my Family.
When I ponder on my decisions I will find larger issues and not dwell on the symptoms
When I am faced with Risk I will evaluate how I can lead.
When I confuse others I will find other communication channels.
When I evaluate my jobs I will discover they must work in congruence.
When I consider my future I will look to making it Flat and Organic.

This is My Pledge…My Management Pledge

Monday, December 6, 2010

To Blog or Not to Blog

Sorry for the Cliché title I am an actor, and my apartment number is actually "2B". That being said like Shakespeare’s tragic hero I am indecisive when it comes to the effectiveness of this blog. This class brakes down into two different points the straight facts (lectures and Tests) and the application (activities and this Blog), and I am not sure if it is or is not an effective assignment.  
-The blogs assignments were barely apart of my studying for test. Except in highlighting sections to cover, it did little to help me prepare for the test. It did not help me understand the concepts of the class. It became more of a vent of what I was feeling or perhaps seeing in activities. Perhaps it was related to covered material, but did not help me in comprehension of the tested marital. Rarely in writing or reading the blogs did I have light blubs go off in my head about concepts. Perhaps I could have spent more time studying the slides if I was not writing the blogs.
- The effectiveness in the blog and inherently the activities is in the feeling of community. That with everyone in this class working together trying to solve the puzzle that is this class it made it fun, challenging, and team-oriented. I only missed one day the whole semester not because I was afraid of four absences, but I felt obligated and engaged by being an active member of the group I’ve been working with all semester. By having a forum to place my opinions and get response and respond to others was a motivating factor of working harder on this class
-El profesor's blog did give me insights that I found engaging. I would otherwise not read these kinds of materials had the assignment not been given. The marital covered perhaps sparks my interest in the power of management and I may be inclined to look at it in the future. At this point I will not blogging in the future, but that could change. 
-The disconnect I have is the relationship of the application to the tested material. In studying for the second exam I relied on the slides and graphs provided on blackboard. With those materials and my personal notes from the lecture I did very well on the second test. Yet, the blog seemed to be an ineffective way for me to study, or personally engage with the material. That while I love the fact that it is a way for me to control 20% of my grade I don't think it helped me learn anything. What can be said is it motivated me to work harder and engage with my classmates, which perhaps is more important.