I may be no William Shakespeare but...

What is management?
Why don’t you ask my boss? He’s a manager
He can tell you it’s not always easy to be the one to lead
Disagreed, for you only plead when you’re in need

The one who leads the show, like a crow spying on its prey
He can disguise himself as a charismatic controller
But deep down inside I know he’s just as bad as the autocratic Hitler
The killer who led the great massacre

On top of your unnecessary demands you demand more
To show your really are the earth shaker to its core
A breaker of the commandments like Cain to his brother Abel
Jesus Christ, I think my boss is mentally disabled

Whoever said Slow and steady wins the race?
Uh un…I think slow and steady is my boss
Because everything he says is always false
He probably never heard of amazing grace
But who am I to judge such a disgrace

He’s suppose to have determination, discipline and desire
But all I ever see him do is cry and whine
About the job we do is never too fine

In the end I’m still wondering what management is
Lost, in search, I seek for its purpose
Until, at last, I stumbled to the class of Kurpis

THE GOLDEN ARCH

The order process began with the McDonald’s representative asking me “How may I help you?” I responded with my order of one hamburger with exactly four pickles and a small-unsalted fries. As I placed my order the McDonald’s representative began putting my order into the system and left her station to start frying a new batch of fries. Meanwhile, a trainee waits for the transaction to approve on my credit card. He gave me a copy of the receipt and yelled “NEXT CUSTOMER PLEASE STEP DOWN!” As I waited for my order to be completed, I observed that there were about 3-4 personals involved in completing my order. There were the casher who took my order and made a new batch of fries for me, the trainee who took my payment and gave me the receipt and probably two other personals in the back that were preparing my burger with four pickles. My order was completed in four minutes and one second (not including the mistake they had made). While I was ordering, the casher was very nice and patient with my order even though it was very specific. She was very informative as well; telling me that the fries will be ready in 2 minutes. Altogether, the service was efficient but not organized due to their mistake in making my burger with only three pickles instead of four.

From what I have observed and in a scale of 1 to 5: I would rate order preparation a 4, 3 for communications, 3 for coordination, and 5 for customer service. Overall, the service and efficiency of that McDonald branch did well. If a McDonald branch is able to complete an order in less than three minutes or less then they have successfully accomplished their goal guideline in serving its customers. Although this McDonalds completed their order in four minutes, the guideline is only in affect for normal orders, which suggests that their efficiency and coordination is good but can be improved.Some ways to improve the efficiency and coordination for this McDonald’s include training employees on specific orders more often instead of normal orders. McDonald employees who work the food section should be well prepared for certain changes to a normal menu item. For instance, if a customer wants an Angus deluxe without mayo and cheese, then they should be able to read the computer and identify the specific choices on the Angus burger. A way to prevent errors and human mistakes is that the casher can double check the specific orders, making sure that the order is completed without errors. Of course this extra task can be more time consuming since the casher have to focus on this task instead of the next customer. I believe in the end this type of approach to resolving erroneous orders will pay off in the end because there will be more customer satisfaction and royalty.

In The End...

ahh the semester is about to end and we will once again enjoy spending our leisure time on pointless youtubing and hours of xbox action(sorry PS3 fans). Surprisingly I did enjoy this semester, my classes are fairly easily and I can FINALLY bring my GPA back up.

I actually thought the blog assignments were fun to do. It is a great way to express what you REALLY think of the class and your "classmates" in an anonymous environment. This way people can say anything that's on their minds without hesitation and embarrassment. The blog can be a little tedious sometimes, especially if you're feeling tired and lazy. It can be most annoying to write an blog assignment when we have exams and finals. So Professor Kurpis if you're reading this DON'T GIVE OUT BLOG ASSIGNMENTS DURING MIDTERM AND FINALS!! I actually didn't benefit from meeting others through the blog assignments. It was the class assignments and group work that actually gave the opportunity for ice breakers. The blog did allow me to express my opinion on group activities and made me analyze management from a different and more professional perspective. Will I have new posts in the future...? To be honest probably not or maybe once in a while. If I bored with youtubing and my xbox lol.

I w/ High D

According the leadership diagnostic test I have an Influence with high Dominance interpretation of my personality. The survey is fairly accurate but I believe that just because people who have I w/ high Ds as a result for their characteristics does not mean that they are not creative. Everyone to some extent can be creative and original in their ideas. The survey shows that influence is my strength but I believe that I hardly influence other people into doing things. Other than that the description of influence is very similar to my own characteristics. I do not wish to change my personality type and yes it is possible to change a person's personalilty type. It might be harder for some people but eventually they will change along with their character. In my opinion, it is always an advantage to know who you are dealing with beforehand. Gathering information about a person whom you might encounter in future gives you preparation in determining the other person's type therefore giving you proper "tools" in dealing and approaching that person. A test simliar to this one might help in other personal interactions but the results will never truely determine a person's personality.

The 36th chamber of death

Oh man, the decision making experiment was an experience I have never encountered before in a classroom. I have never seen such fury and conflict between students based on a single test grade. If the professor wasn't in the classroom, disagreements probably would've turned into a UFC rumble match.
In terms of my behavioral response to this chaotic mess, I would have to go with collaborating at first but as the situation becomes worse, I chose to be an advoidance and withdraw myself from the class. I decided that I will pretty much agree on any type of proposal just so I don;t need to deal with all the rukus.
Is there another way to achieve a better solution without all the chaos?
In my opinion, I don't think so. As long as time is limited to merely 30 minutes, solutions can not all be agreed upon because the class is just too big. It is human nature to see the situation that benefits "ourselves" the most. The average score was a 69 and the hiest exam grade was a 97. The range between the class mean and the highest score is too great for everyone to agree upon a solution that will benefit every group equally.

Egg-cellent disaster

The egg experiment was definitely a challenge. Our group did not skip any steps. we followed each step carefully making, by brainstorming multiple alternatives in creating the egg protector. Unfortunately we did not succeed in achieving our objective. One of the reasons why we failed was because, in my opinion, too many variables to consider. For instance, it would've helped if we knew the weight and the actual size of the egg before hand so we can better estimate the impact factor therefore coming up with different strategies and ideas. Overall, our team performed very well, came up with many alternative ideas and executed the plan efficiently.

One of the biggest management issues we are facing now and most people will probably agree with me is "Time". There are just too many things we're trying to get done but not enough time to do it. In my case, I am a full time student but I'm also a dancer. I practice 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week. Sometimes it can be difficult trying to balance school/school work with dancing. Especially when I finish practicing, I don't feel like doing school work when I get home. Never-mind schoolwork, I don't even feel like making dinner after a practice session. On top of the physical issue, there is also the schedule issue. The studios and places I session at often are occupied with classes making it very tedious for me to adjust my schedule. Note that I currently do not work so it is easier for me to adjust my schedule around school and dance. But eventually I will start working and managing my time will definitely become a big problem.