McManagement

Have you ever been told by the attendant at the airport, “Sorry, the computer won’t let me do that”?  There are people who cannot think for themselves and do things they were not trained to do.  Technology feeds into such human behavior.  Computer software is designed for the non-thinking incompetent.  This is why, when I went to McDonald’s to order a small hamburger with exactly four pickles and a small French fries with no salt it caused such confusion for the cashier.  There was no button on the computer to make this order possible.

I went to the McDonald’s on 8^th Avenue and 35^th Street to conduct my experiment.  The experiment was to see the reaction of ordering from the Dollar Menu a small burger with only four pickles and a small fries with no salt.  After waiting my turn in line, I placed my order.  The cashier looked at me, staring blankly, and after a moment said, “Excuse me, sir, what do you want?” I repeated my request for a small hamburger with only four pickles on it and a small fries with no salt from the Dollar Menu.  She told me that they do not have a Dollar Menu, so I was off to a rough start.  I instead ordered a small chicken burger, with the same requirements of the pickles and fries.  She replied with a surprised look, “I’m not sure we have that, one second,” and proceeded to get her manager.  The manager came out and asked me what I wanted and I repeated my request.  She responded by telling me that they do not have fries without salt.  After my insistence she told me if I was willing to wait five minutes they can get me the fries.  She was astonished at my request of only four pickles, being that there is no logical explanation for this.  At first the manager and cashier were warm and friendly to me but they got fed up and just thought I was crazy and was not so nice.  But the manager did go to the back and after a few minutes, she got me the burger with four pickles.  About five minutes later, she returned with my fries.  While I was waiting though, I felt like they were getting frustrated with me it was as if no one wanted to go near me.  I also caused the line behind me to grow.  I then told her that I need the receipt to say what I ordered and she said she cannot print that.  Her reason was that the computer does not give that option.  So I insisted she write it by hand at least and sign it, which she reluctantly agreed to but not without thinking me to be insane.  All said and done, after fifteen minutes and a headache, they finally were able to do the job.

The one thing that the staff at McDonalds did, even though they were clearly annoyed by me, they still were committed to helping me.  They did not just say, “Sorry we can’t help you,” they actually did process my odd order.  The cashier had no idea what to do so she went straight to the manager.  The manager was at first very respective and he tried to help me.  He went to the kitchen and told them what I needed and they followed through and did what their manager requested.  Although they were no so friendly to me, the staff in effect did a good job because they gave me what I wanted.

If I could improve some things, the first thing I would do is make the store more friendly to custom orders.  I should be able to put together my own meal, not just a preset meal from a menu.  There has to be a better system in place that allows for customers to do that and for the kitchen staff to be able to accommodate such requests.  The computer systems also have to be reprogrammed to allow for custom orders.

In a world where computers can do almost everything, people have to realize that they still need to think for themselves as well.  The fast food industry where everything is pre-made and pre-programmed, so when some one should request something different than the norm, they have difficulty handing the situation.

Life Control

Have you ever woken up
And not want to get out of bed?

Are you sometimes too lazy
To even move your head?

What you need is motivation
Accompanied by a vision.
You need to open your eyes
And make a decision.

You need to plan your day one at a time
If you do this, you will be fine

You should do what you must
Without the big fuss
Take control of your life
Manage it right.

If you follow this,
you will see success.
You may even be as cool,
As Professor Kurpis.

Blog... Blog... Blog...

The idea of this blog is a very creative way of learning. It allows students to interact with each other based on the class itself and the coursework. It’s a valuable tool which does not require the typical “schoolwork” energy. I, myself, did not put in sufficient energy and as a result I did not benefit the way I should and could have from this assignment. At the time, I saw the assignments as a nuisance, however, looking back, I realize how much I lost out just by not taking the few minutes to complete this assignment and I’m very regretful. Grades aside even, I just think I did not meet the full potential with this class that I could have if I had done this assignment the way I should have. The blog is a fun and learning experience as well as one of communication and interpersonal understanding and I think it should be continued in future classes. It’s a unique and creative method of management education, and it even provides management experience-in managing our own blogs!

Spinning like a DISC!

The DISC test we did in class was pretty accurate. It gave me an S with a high of C and I think I fit most of the characteristics of that. I like to get along well with others – that is probably my biggest strength. I like steadiness, I am a good listener, patient and very loyal, which all fall under the S category. I also like accuracy and am analytical in making decisions. I have little interest in becoming a Dominator, however, I would like to become more of an Influencer. I think it is possible for people to change because it is not based just on personality but is based also on how people carry themselves. For example, someone can become more confident or more sociable for a variety of different reasons which can bring about such change.

I think these kind of personality tests are always helpful in better understanding a person. It better displays a person’s strengths and weakness and is most definitely helpful with job placement as well all social interactions.

MY VISION

I want to be successful in my career. What precisely I want my career path to be, I am not quite sure yet. However, I have set my sights on going to law school once I graduate from Baruch. I think I would be an excellent attorney and enjoy it as well. Even if I do not go into law, just having a JD degree can clear the path to success in business or other fields. But in order to do that, it requires several steps. One is immediate action – which is to get good grades NOW, while I’m still in Baruch. Getting good grades and obviously graduating are keys to going to law school. However, probably the most significant and challenging part will be taking the LSAT. This standardized test is the primary deciding factor for law school acceptance and for scholarship chances. Law schools are both very competitive to get into and extremely expensive tuition. I would like to see myself dedicate this coming summer of 2009 to fully prepare for LSAT and then go and ace it. Once I do that and get into law school, the enormous challenge will be to actually do well and succeed through school. That will be followed by taking the Bar Exam, which will be followed by actually going out in life and doing the best I can with it!

Innovation

Brainstorming Ideas

Our group was trying to brainstorm ideas for new Jell-O products. One girl in our group volunteered to do the writing, basically sacrificing her brainpower for her manpower. Of the group of 6, me and another person were throwing out one idea after another until the end of our session. The other two people threw out a bunch of ideas in the beginning but towards the end they pretty much ran themselves out of initiatives. One person was pretty much quiet throughout and the sixth person was doing the writing. At the very end, the writer did some brainstorming of her own and jotted down several product ideas. I kept on coming up with more ideas, even as we progressed and ideas took longer to come up, I was still able to produce some until time ran out.

Egg Project

During our Egg project, our group first had to plan what sort of contraption we can make to keep the egg intact. We assigned ourselves the goal that the egg WILL NOT break. We knew we had to make this project in just a few minutes. We essentially needed to use all our equipment and have a breakproof project completed before the deadline.

Our resources were limited as we had only a few straws and some tape to work with so we had to work with what we had. Our group was made up of creative people with good ideas but no one actually had engineering or architectural skills so we needed a more ‘simple way of keeping the egg from breaking on impact. We were not able to just judge the mechanics of an instrument that can take the blow for the egg and the egg will still remain unmoved.

We developed different strategies and thought about different ideas such as creating a box around the egg that will bear all the force upon landing but we could not be sure if that would actually work. We thought of making a raft-like device that would be very cushioned on the bottom but that would not guarantee the egg staying in place and not bouncing. We also thought of making a fishing rod device where we just lower the egg onto the floor. This we deemed the most likely to work, so we made a tactical plan. In order to do this we taped the straws together in a rope-like style. We also made a device around the egg to hold it in place so that it will not move around, nor hit the floor on landing. Upon implementation, the device was lowered/dropped, it landed on the straw case around the egg and the egg did not break, so this device was deemed a success.