Oh Prof...

He started off organizing the group like Shamrock organization

He used intellectual capital to help him mark the glass ceiling.

In an attempt of establishing a free agent economy, he created multi level pyramid like Maslow’s hierchy.

In which talked about ethics and social responsibility

Then he got confused among utilitarian and individual perspectives
He tried getting help from Weber and Taylor, but they lead him to the talk of morality and justice.

Then he tried establishing a culture with visible but deep values.
He got confused with what should be his vision as a leader.

He called upon a group meeting, in which he faced conflict due to classical and behavioral thinking.

Then he figured why we don’t use innovation, for which he tried brainstorming that created lack of communication, for which appointed out a leader, who showed lack of motivation

Then he tried improving the whole structure and creates a whole new network through blogging.

And finally, he realized it was a little too much attempting and he decided to let the class decide their own future through creativity.

Poet Irfan Mazhar

Now, what I think about management?

Before, I took any class on management, I always thought it was the ability of one individual to be able to exercise some sort of control over the other and one's ability to make an efficient use of given resources. Now, that I have learn about management, I think that I was completely wrong.
The term management does mean being able to manage things, but not so that you can exercise control over others. Its one's ability to get all of the given resources together and blend them in a way each is performing it's best. A good manager is not who can get things done, but the one who exercises his powers in a manner that is does not hurts the systems but unites the system to achieve its very best. It about planning, organizing, implementing and control. Not simply implementing and control. I never had considered planning was in any form part of management. Another thing is that a good manager is not born with skills, they are developed through experience and learning. A good manager is not the one who understand its resources and utilizes them to perfection, it is the one who understands his or her limits and their place in the process and then combines all the good and bad towards a greater good for all.
I don't regret that I was wrong about management, what matters is I learnt it my mistakes soon enough.

The effectiveness of the blogging process....

This was the first time, I used a blog as a way of communicating with others. My psychology professor did use blackboard discussion board as a way to make people interact and share their opinions on specific topics. But it was very limited to the topics that were discussed in the class but by using blogs we were able to talk about certainly anything without limitations to each other and discussion our views on the topic of management. I think this is a very helpful tool to keep people in contact. I replied to many people without knowing who they were in person. This did give me freedom to openly share my viewpoint with others. In a way, it was very effective as compared to other tools used by my other professors.
But it did had a problem. Majority of the people did not used blogs with an intention to communicate with others but to fulfill course requirements. Meaning they only did it because they had to, that was not were encouraging. If people were allowed to freely speak about anything they wanted they may have performed better while communication via blogs. It definitely was not annoying because it was designed to improve our network, which will play a major role in future as managers.
We are about eighty people in classroom, it is impossible to get everyone involved in conversations during the class time, which is only seventy five minutes. So communicating through blogs does really give everyone an opportunity to discuss their viewpoint on subject matter discussed in class. Another thing not everyone is good at communicating openly in class, by having an online communication they also get an opportunity to share their points.
It definitely did allowed me to openly think about the class activities and relate them to my personal life experience. This way not only I understood the point of all the inclass activities but also how they relate to my life. Also this helps improve learning by allowing students spend more time on certain subject matter and learn it in more detail.
The professor blog entries were interesting and random but were quite rare indeed. I barely remember responding to the professor blog. So it would be a good idea to expand the number of entries. Even though they were limited they were interesting to think about and write about. I think the professor has done a good job by bringing together different subject matter and allowing us to relate that to the different management topics.
I also think blog is a place where you can place your ideas every once in a while and then keep checking back on them to make sure your thoughts align and make sense in the long run.

Sometimes I wonder....???

Sometimes, I wonder what really is management
Should I call it an art or science.
Then I realized it is both art and science
It is an art of making people more effective and science of how it is done
Now I wonder how to do it
Do I need to plan, organize, direct or monitor.
Then I realized they are all part of the process, I need to do all of these to be effective.
Plan in a way my goals are understood, organize in a way that my goals are achieved, direct so that people understand how to achieve them and monitor so that they are achieved right.
And finally I wonder how good a manager am I.

MCccccDonalds.... you rock

About five years ago, before coming to United States, I had only been to McDonald’s once in my whole life, so it kind of seemed something luxurious. But since I came to US, I find McDonald in about every neighborhood, so it has lost that place in my way of thinking. About any restaurant, I don’t really matter to me how fast or slow they fulfill my order, as long as the food is what I expect it to be. So when I usually go to McDonald’s I’m am pretty sure the sort of service I will get. Up until today, I haven’t paid whole a lot of attention to the process the management goes through as they fulfill my order. Today was one of the times when I actually tried to dig deep into the managerial process involved in fulfilling my order.
First, giving my order to the cashier. As I walked up to the register, there was only one person in front of me; he was almost finished with receiving his order. There were total of three cashiers taking the orders from the customers. So I walked to one of them and told them what I needed, he seemed confused and asked me again, then his fellow cashier came along and tried to explain what I asked for, I am pretty sure the first person was on training. So the actual person who punched my order was the last cashier who was the manager at the time. Simply, there were three people involved in just getting my order. It may seem that it may have taken a while, but it was pretty quick.
Secondly, getting the order ready to take out. Simply, punching the number into computer can tell the chef what to make, but the cashier went to the chef and told him exactly what I asked for. First, he asked him for cheeseburger, then I corrected him that I actually needed hamburger, so he corrected the order to the chef. The inclusion of chef involves the total of four people into the process. And then the fries, I think they had just took out fresh fries from the oil, so they just gave it to me without any salt on them, so it was not a big deal for them to get me fries with no salt.
Now the total time it took for them to complete my order, seriously, it took them exactly three and half minutes to complete my order, which is pretty quick. Maybe because my timing was wrong, I went there at a time, when there were not too many customers in the restaurant. I went there at 8:35 PM, while my friends awaiting in the car.
There were no problems with the treatment I received while I was in the restaurant. Because the order was quite unique, I was expecting some sort of negative feedback from the server, but actually nothing of that sort actually happened. The server ensured that I received the right order with exactly the same topping I asked for, he used the term “exactly” when he told the chef what I needed to ensure accuracy. I really have to give them credit for that.
On the scale of 1 through 10, I would rate the order preparation to be 10, because it was prepared in timely and accurate manner. I would rate communication 8, because I did have to tell them several times, what I actually was asking for. I would give 9 to coordination, and 10 to customer service, because the server or the cashier did ensure several times that I received exactly what I asked for. As a consultant to McDonald’s to help them improve efficiency, I would definitely make some recommendations. Especially with communication, the server didn’t need to go the chef to ensure that I received accurate topping. He should have signaled some way on the computer to let the chef know that I wanted exactly that, that way time would have been saved and could have been used for better customer service, which was already great without question.
My experience today at McDonald’s has made my beliefs stronger about the servers at McDonald’s. I can definitely trust the restaurant servers for quality and accuracy. The McDonald’s Management team is doing a great job, as a team, and I’m proud of them.

Did D,I,S,C evaluated my managerial skills accurately..?

In our class activity on Monday,April 7, 2008, we used personal profile system called "D,I,S,C" to evaluate our managerial skills. Each letter in the term D,I,S,C refers to a unique managerial style. "D" stands for Dominance style of management. "I" stands for Influential style of management. "S" stands for Steadiness style of management and "C" refers to conscientiousness style of managing.
People who score high on "D" style are very active in dealing with problems and welcome challenges. They are also considered demanding, determined, ambitious, aggressive,and strong willed. This person desires an environment that gives him an authority, power, prestige snd opportunity for advancement. he also requires freedom from controls and supervision, and is more open to welcoming new and varied activities.
Secondly, people who score high on "I" are capable of influencing others through their way of communicating with others. This type is also considered to be emotional type. The person with this type care more about making a favorable impression, creating a motivational envirionment, generating enthusiasm and entertaining people. This person desires an environment that leads to popularity, social and public recognition, freedom form controls and details, and creates democratic relationships. Of all the four type this type is considered the most effective.
Thirdly, people scoring high on "S" demand a steady pace, predictable, and secure path to doing things. These people are calm, relaxed, patient, and tend not to take think from emotional perspective. These people try to resist instant changes in their way of doing things. They prefer routine tasks, and demand credit for their accomplishments at work place. They try to identify themselves with some group and resist identification as an individual. Our management professor also belong to this category, that should give you some idea of what kind of person this type is refering to.
And finally, people with high score in "C" tend to lead a structured life where all the directives and standards are fully understood. They tend not to make mistakes and get it right the first time. They people are analytical type who are very diplomatic with people. They desire an environment where all the regulations are fully set forth. An environment that values their qualities, and that demands expertise.

After choosing between long list of vocabulary words that best suited my peronality, and graphing the results, the test concluded my type to be "D high I", meaning I was high on dominance style and Influential type to be my second highest trait. I think that test was quite accurate in judging my management type. I am always looking for immediate results, deciding and finishing up things quickly, sometimes I do try to take charge of things and try to enforce my perspective on things. I also like it when people distignuish my accomplishment as an individual. I also like to try and learn new and different ways of doing things and be better at doing things than others. I definitely hate it when someone tries to dictate rules and limit my perspective on certain issues. I also don't like to get to answer indirectly, I like the direct way of reaching to conclusion. Simple, I think it was quite close.
At first, when professor was describing each type of styles. He mentioned that best of all four type was Influential type, I instantly wished that I was that type. But when he said that both D and I were pretty much best of all four ways, that relived me alot. This also took away the doubt that I was not the best, but after finding out that D and I were not that much different, my tension went away, and I said to myself that at least I'm good enough.
I really think this kind of test is helpful to a person because this allows them to see where they stand in an actual life. This also always them to think differently when faced with future problems. Let's say I'm "D" and I know it, but I feel that "I" is better, next time I will do something, I can try and be less directive and act more as an "I" type and reduce the effect of "D" in my management style. After taking the test, when I went back to the workplace, I attempted to stop at certain times and try to act differently so that I can improve the relations and better understand the other perspectives.
If you haven't tried it yet, try taking it and see how different you perceive things...

My vision to be the owner of undisputed auto service company... "We keep them running!!"

In life, I have my dreams to make true. Be rich, earn alot of respect, tour the whole world, have the most loving family, live a luxurious life, be the best street racer, play street basketball... it continues. On the back of my head, I also know that not every one of these visions are going to be true for me. You just can't lead all sorts of lives all at once. Since high school all of these visions seemed realistic but the first day I walked into college, I started to learn the harsh realities of life. I had to choose among all of these what I meant the most to me. Of all those visions I decided that I wanted to run an auto service company that provides the best auto service in the whole industry. That was that. Surely, making such a vision into reality required alot of effort and capabilities, as well as a wide variety of knowledge, not just in auto mobiles as well as business management.

Since, that day I have made this my life. I always had an opportunity to work with automobiles since my family was in auto business for last ten years. That was motivating and encouraging, now that I had some place to begin. I needed to know how to manage this business. I started visiting my dad's repair shop every other day. I learned alot about automobiles, even though I only managed the shop. At college, I have declared my major as management, so that I can learn about different ways of managing businesses. I hope to expand my dad's shop as i get my degree from college. Even though I still go to college, I try to visit the shop at least three to four times a week. Only thing I know now is that all that I have worked with since yet is automobiles. I never worked any place else in my previous life. If not best, I will it make it something, where people would love to bring there cars at.

That was my vision, whats yours...