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...

Importance of vision in our lives!!

I really liked the video that we watched during our lecture today, regarding the importance and need of vision not just at corporate level but in our everyday activities. The point that video was trying to make was that having a vision in mind does play a role in how things work out in our lives. It is what makes our actions worth something. It also emphasized the relationship between actions and vision. Taken from the video, "vision without action is a dream; action with vision is passing time and vision with action is making a positive difference" by Joel Barker. Another thing I liked about the video was it gave us an allround perspective on the the idea of having a vision. It emphasized how having vision in mind relates to different things around us. Not just in corporate life, but also in schools, times of hardships and at the times when one lacks tools to make something come true.
I have to say, it did made a lasting impression on me. And made realize how vision has been playing a role in my life. Even though I didn't really thought about it in actual life, I'm having a feeling that it actually have some truth to it. I believe that if you really visualize something, you want to work towards it and make it true. It sets a sort of objective or goal that you can look forward towards. It allows you see whether what you actually visualize correlates with what you achieved.
Here are few quotes that I really found interesting about the idea of having a vision in mind:

"We are limited, not by our action, but by our vision"- author unknown.

"Everytime an artist dies, part of vision of manking passes with him" by Benjamin Franklin.

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” by Helen Keller.

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.” by Ayn Rands.

Hope your vision becomes better as you move on with your life not just in your career but also with other activities that are part of your day to day activities.. mine did..

What do I want to do with my first Exam Grade?? Drop... curve...drop the class....

The in-class activity on Monday about decision making was an interesting experience. It was the first time, any of my professors allowed us an opportunity to decide amongst ourselves to how to account for our grade on the exam 1. Even though he limited us to a point, at least we got the say to decide what we wanted to do.

Some limitation and rules that were set forth by professor:
-Decide how to account for your first exam grade and the format of the second exam.
-our time was limited to one hour
-our decision should have say of every student in the class, meaning 100%.
-After we have concluded, professor would make the final call, even though he gave his opinion along the way.
-Nothing we come up with has to do with final exam or other activities like blog or participation.

First reaction: I wanted to just get up from my seat and get my hands on the computer and drop the course, and find some other professor next semester. But then I thought it wasn't worth dropping it, because it better to learn things hard way than looking for easy gains. Tests are not the only thing that matter. It's what we learn, from that perspective this class is pretty good. Finally, I said lets do something about this grade, since he is giving us an opportunity to do so. At this point, I left the idea of avoidance and changed my strategy towards getting the most of this opportunit, in conceptual terms, I decided to compete and grab all that is possible off the table. At first, I thought it would be piece of cake, because I think no one would say no to free gifts. After few failures among the group, I start to have a feeling it was not going to be easy. One of us, attempted to get up and get everyone organized and steer the talk in a desireable direction. Unfortunately, his technique failed to get everyone on the same page. He suggested that we all divide into small group and come up with some idea and then by picking one representative from each group would make it easier to make the decision. As soon as he finished he idea was criticized and he had to step back. I have to say, I also supported that criticism, because the time constraint does not allow us with enough time to divide and regroup and then decide. It seemed to be good idea to remain in a group of one and do everythink collabrately.
After the first failure, two students try to be leader and lead the group. Both of them attempted to gain feedback from some students and create few options for the group to choose from. Even though not every student was part of the feedback, majority compromised the options. Many were also trying to stick to practice avoidance. By the time, we got to this point we were already half a way through our time. I started to get really mad at all the others, because this would keep us from getting any thing at all. I attempted to talk everyone through but was useless and criticized most of time. So I tried shut up, and letting the group go along themselves. After alot of argument between a very small minority and a large majority, we agreed on the option of curving the exam and dropping the lowest grade of both exams. After this issue resolved, I got some satisfaction. But we were almost nearing our deadline, and we had to decide about the format of the exam. And I was already hurt by the existing format, I suggested we drop the essay part because it was not fair to poor writer but people were so much amazed by their grade on their essays that they want to keep it. I decides to accomodate with the group. And decide to avoid rest of the conversation regarding the format, because it was already against my thoughts. I did get some peace when they added extra points to the exam.
It was hard sticking to one strategy because at times it feels like you are only one following that strategy. In the end, it was enough for me to remain competitive for a good grade in the class.

Management and NBA..

The recent trade of Shaquille O'Neal to Phoenix Suns has put Suns' team management team in a decision making position. The Suns' team coach and advisors are trying to figure out how to fit Shaq into the lineup. because by acquiring Shaq, Suns have two options for a center position. Whether to have Shaq or stoudmire run the center position. Another questions they are facing is that whether their decision of acquiring Shaq a valid one, especially while they are nearing the end of the season. Up to this point it does not seems great, but since last night game, it seems like the Shaq and Nash combination is starting to work. Suns are 4-6 since they have acquired Shaq. It is the season ending that will tell, whether it was worth azquiring Shaq at this time of the season. Good Luck Suns????

Gas prices continue to ruin sales in the Auto Industry

According to a recent report in New York Times, as gas prices rise to $100 a barrel, sales in auto industry fell by 10 percent last month. The data on the sales also indicates that Honda is the only manufacturer company that have experienced an increased in their sales as compare to Ferbruary of 2007. The increase accounted for only 0.7 percent. While Honda and other Japanese manufacturers like Toyota continue to sell automobiles at an increasing rate each month, American manufacturers like Chrysler and General Motors experienced a double digit decline in their sales.
Most of the vehicles that these American companies manufacture include sport utility and heavy SUVs that use alot of gas in its engine funcitons. And as the gas prices climb, it is becoming more unaffordable for people to continue to drive such vehicles. So majority of the car owners are switching their tastes towards small compact car or hybrid cars that use battery power to keep its engine functioning. These cars can be very good for our environment because they would result into less pollution and more hands towards fighting or reducing the effects of global warming.
The management decision that are facing these car companies are to whether to shut down or downsize their projects of manufacturing more SUVs, and invest more money into manufacture small compact cars to continue to compete with Japanese manufacturers. The main force driving their decision is that most of thr revenue earned by American manufacturers is through the sales of these large SUVs. They believe the sales of thousands of these small compact cars would only equal sales of several hundred SUVs. They should consider re-evaluating their strategy and broaden their perspective to continue to make more sales. They can consider manufacturing these compact until gas prices become more stable or some other effective method is imposed. This way they would continue to generate enough sales to remain competitive.
The question that also arises from this situation is that why Japanese manufacturers are not facing the similar dilemmas? The answer is good strategic thinking. They were able to visualize the demand of small compact and hybrid cars, way beyond time, so they started to design and manufacture vehicles with such qualities years before this problem became prominent. Today, the demand of these vehicles is rising constantly, and they are taking good advantage by fulfilling these demands, while others manufacturers like General Motors are looking for ways to remain in business.
Let look at the future of just New York City, people have started to rely more and more on subway and other means of public transportation. City is planning on impose on toll on entering thorugh bridges and tunnels. Another important step City is taking is restricting the future use of Ford Crown Victoria to be used as Taxi. The city has already decided that following September, only Hybrid vehicles would be used as Taxi. So what we can see from this is that with in few years, they are going to be more hybrid vehicles in city than any other car. I think City has taken excellent steps to fight with rising Gas prices in return not just helping the consumers but also the society at large. Hopefully, combined efforts by all would bring promising results.

Work Cited,
Bunkley, Nick, "Vehicles Sales Fell by 10% Last Month" New York Times, March 4, 2008.