Experiences with Organizations

     This class seemed rather interesting to me because I am an economics major, and it is my senior year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. What that means is that I am working as hard as I possibly can to find a job once I graduate in May. Most of the companies that I have applied to, or the companies that I am looking to apply to, are large organizations. I think that by taking this course I will gain insight as to how exactly these large companies function, how they profit, etc. Basically, I think this class will show how an organization stays on top of every detail within the company, how each employee has a different task, or a different piece of the puzzle, and that when each employee is given incentives from the company, how well most employees respond, and function as one. 

     I wouldn't say I am overly experienced when it comes to knowing the process behind a successful organization, but for the past two summers I have interned at a pretty large publicly traded company. The company that I worked for is called CTI Industries, and I worked in the accounting unit at one of their branches in Lake Barrington, Illinois. I definitely gained some insight into the corporate world, because day in and day out I worked with the same people, and started to see how each one coincided with the next employee. While some employees are being paid more than others, and their position may be higher than someone else, I felt as if each person contributed in an orderly and even fashion. What I mean by this is that I saw a team of employees rather than a bunch of individuals. Every morning the controller and I did consolidations together, every afternoon accounts receivable was on the phone looking for payments, and at the same time the CFO was in meetings with future customers, etc. It was quite an enlightening experience, and I feel as if I really did learn a lot.

     When I was looking at the selection of economics courses for the spring semester, I tried to look at the classes that would most benefit me in my future. This class stood out over the rest, because I know I will be able to take what I learn and use it in my hunt for a job, and once I find a career. It will be very nice to get to know all of what happens within a company that most people never get to see. The part of the class that I look forward to most is the general idea of entrepreneurship, solely because my best friends father opened up a golf and fitness facility that is now very popular, and quite successful, and by doing so he has influenced me in the sense that I now see that opening a company is possible. What I am interested in is how do you create a company that is both productive, and profitable. There are so many questions that go along with my last sentence; What incentives should employees be given? Who can you trust to manage your company? How do you get people to gain interest in your company? I just added this class so I have yet to attend a lecture, but I look forward to our discussion come Tuesday.