Semester End

       I loved the way that our class was setup. I have taken so many large lecture courses with powerpoints and weekly homework that I am sick of that structure. This was a fresh new type of class structure that gave freedom to the students to express themselves and discuss with one another and the teacher. I think there should be a lot more classes setup in this fashion at the university. I don't take as much away from the class when it is taught in a giant lecture hall with powerpoints that have been used for ten years. I thought the class covered a good curriculum, and also had flexible boundaries, allowing us to explore surrounding topics as well. While there was only a small number of students in the class, I feel as if that only helped the discussion, because we started to feel comfortable talking in front of one  another. The group presentations were a nice change of pace as well. It allowed the instructor to evaluate our study of certain topics, and it made us get in front of the class and actually teach our peers. I thought that was a good way to evaluate us rather than giving us tests. I think tests are very structured, and a lot of teachers use tests as ways to evaluate students. I think this class was not setup for tests because the material was quite dense, and it is more beneficial to discuss these dense topics rather than cramming for a large test. The blogging was also very different than most classes, and I think it was rather effective. Not only did everyone blog about what the teacher came up with as a prompt, but we also commented on each others blog posts, allowing multiple ideas, and thoughts to come out in discussion. I would like to see more classes run in this fashion rather than the normal lecture and test routine.
       The course taught me a lot about organizations, and I think the last few chapters were some of the most important. Power and politics play a big role in corporate America, in and out of the office. Politics within the office is how you climb the ladder within the organization. If people like you in your office, you will be more likely to get promotions as long as you are doing a good job on your work. If people outside of the office like you, then they become possible associates and clients, which in turn leads to a better seat in your office. Networking is a lesson that I truly took away from this class. I have always used my resources when it comes to school, and work. Networking is how you get in contact with influential people, and influential people can obviously affect your life. Organizations in general, can be thought of as places where people work with one another, and battle for position with one another (jockey for position). An ecosystem forms where the organization as a whole competes and integrates itself with other organizations. I never really thought about organizations as a whole, especially not from an economic standpoint. I think the class offered up some great lessons that will better my work experience in the near future.

Students vs. University

I thought about this one for a long time, and I feel as if universities have power over students, but most decisions are focused around the general happiness of the students. What I mean is that the students are like the people of our country in the sense that we have a voice in decisions that matter or pertain to our university (country). University decisions are made with careful thought, and if the students do not support the decision, often times they protest or strike. With the economic downturn of recent years, universities across the country had to make cuts in their programs outside of academia. This is a decision that the university was forced into (no money = no program). While students don't have a voice in the matter when it comes to the cutting of a few programs, they do influence the decision in other ways. Generally, universities who are forced to cut programs look into which clubs or sports are most popular, or which programs draw the most focus from the students. These programs are the ones that stay, while the clubs and sports with very few members, or very few people attending events are usually scrapped. I think that the university and students work as a partnership in an indirect way. The students influence campus wide decisions, while the university implements programs and classes that students will both attend and enjoy. I don't think that the administration has ultimate power over the students, but I do believe that they have final say in most decisions on campus. If students wanted more power in these decisions, actions like petitioning, and gaining information about what the students on campus want might help their cause.

Leadership

I can only really think of one circumstance in which I empowered somebody to do something that would better themselves that I consider an important situation. My friend and teammate growing up was a great kid, but came from a tough family. A family who had a tough time supporting my friend, and a lot of the opportunities that I experienced, he could only dream of. Not only was he a hard worker, but he was one of my better friends too. When it came to senior year in high school we discussed what we were going to do for college and what not, and my friend told me that he had no intention of going because he was pretty sure that his parents could not afford it. I told him about student loans, or to look into the community college near our town. He did just that, and he ended up going to the community college for two years. Once he got to school, I urged him to tryout for the basketball team, and he did just that. He tried out, and not only did he make the team, but he became a starter in his first season. A kid that was never recruited heavily in high school became a starter on a community college team, and all of a sudden he was getting scouted by some decent teams in the Chicago land area.

After his two years were up at the community college, I urged my friend to look to play at a 4 year university, and finish up his bachelor's degree. Again, my words influenced, or "empowered" him to stay motivated, apply to different schools, stay and basketball shape, and ultimately land him a walk on spot at a pretty good school in the city. Friends really do have an empowering influence over one another, and there are certain situations (like the one I just described) that are great, and there are other situations where you have to just make your own decision. I know that if I had not pushed my friend to continue to fill out applications, continue playing ball, etc. that he would be working full time hours at some junky job, and now he has a much brighter future ahead of him. I never really thought about the whole situation, but it was actually quite beneficial for me as the friend to stand by and see that I made a difference in one of my closer friends lives. I don't think I was trying to persuade him through anything but sincere words, and beliefs, and I really think that plays  large part in empowering another person to do something.

Power

There have been many times in my life where I have encountered situations in which there was someone who had authority over me. Growing up in a great school district, I had many teachers that had authority over me. One that stands out in particular was my Varsity basketball coach and English teacher. The relationship we had was one based on respect, dedication, and hard work. He expected the best from me and because of his high expectations, I was able to produce quality work in the classroom and on the basketball court. I never felt that he abused his authority over me, but rather used it to motivate me to succeed. He knew that I respected him and his opinion, which made it easy for him to communicate with me as a student and a player. This relationship of coach-player was one that fostered my dedication and work ethic, because I was receiving feedback and advice from an authority figure that I trusted and respected. I do not think that authority figures can always have this kind of influence, because many figures of authority abuse their power, which creates a sense of animosity between the authority figure and their subordinate. My coach created a balance between his role as a coach and his role as a mentor. This created an extremely successful relationship that was based on a mutual respect. I feel that power can be handled differently from person to person, but I feel the way that my coach handled his power can relate to a business setting in the sense that power can be used as motivation, which can lead to increased output from the subordinate.

On this same team, I also had some power because I was named Captain of the basketball team my senior year of high school. This power was given to me by my coaches and surrounding teammates because they trusted my instincts and hoped that the other players would model their work ethic off of my own. From this source of power, I felt that I was motivated to achieve at a higher level in order to lead my team to a successful season. The team and my coaches counted on me to set a good example and work hard to bring our team to victory. I had some influence in the decisions being made for the team because my coaches valued my opinion. As previously mentioned, I had a great relationship with my coaches and we opened the lines of communication so that I knew they valued what I had to say. My opinion was considered when determining the skills that needed to be worked on, as well as our game time strategy. I reacted positively to the role I was placed in and believe that I thrived as a Captain. It is always nice to be given some power and feel that you have some impact on the outcome of a situation or in this game, the outcome of a game.

Working in Groups

       Ever since I came to college I have enjoyed group projects in classes, because not only is the workload shared between a few different people in a group, but also because if one person struggles with a certain topic, your teammates are there to guide this struggling person. I had never really had a problem with a group project up until my sophomore year. I do remember that it was an economics course, and the project was a bit extensive, but I can't remember what class it was specifically. In any case, our class was broken down into teams of three, because it was a pretty small lecture, and numbers broke down easiest in threes. Our teacher assigned the teams, which is not usually the case. In most of my other courses who use group projects as a tool for learning, our teachers usually give us, the students, the freedom to select our own teams. He announced our team numbers, and then at the end of the class he said we had five minutes to meet with our team and discuss our presentations. I walked around the class looking for my team, and after a bit of looking I found them. One of the students was a foreign exchange student from Japan, and the other one was a student who I had never seen in class before (I assume this was the first lecture he had come to because the syllabus specifically stated that groups would be formed on the current date). We got to talking, and it was extremely difficult to understand the student from Japan, while the other kid had no idea what our topic was. Not only was it hard to communicate with my teammates in our first five minutes, but it was hard throughout the entire project. I attempted to e-mail my two teammates, waited a day or two, no response. Our next lecture I pulled them aside and said we should meet at the UGL at this time, on this day. They both agreed, and we took down each others phone numbers. Turns out, the foreign exchange student shows up, and the other kid does not. The foreign exchange student and I struggle to graze over the easiest of our subjects, and after an hour or so of tough communication, I assigned him a certain part, and I took the other. Within an hour I had made slides for my portion, and so I looked over at my teammate, and he was on Facebook writing something in Japanese to some girl. The group project quickly became a project that was left in my hands, and so I finished the whole thing on my own. I sent the powerpoint to my teammates and hoped that they would look over it before the presentation the following day. This time, the foreign exchange student doesn't show, and the other kid does. Personally, this was one of the most frustrating group project experiences that I could think of, and it led to a very poor grade.
       A story to oppose that strenuous first story would be a group project that ran smoothly, which in turn led to an A grade. Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of my teachers who use group projects for grading purposes usually allow the students to pick their own groups. A couple friends and I decided to take an elective course together, and a couple of weeks into the semester we were asked to form teams for group projects. My friends and I teamed up and worked perfectly together. We only had to meet one time, the communication in our group was excellent. We each took a portion of the project, finished each part in about an hour or so, and then we added each of our parts together and created our overall presentation. We went a little above and beyond with a funny video that was relative to our topic, as well as a little skit that we performed  in front of the class. The presentation went very well, and we got out A that we were really looking for.
       The thing about working in groups is that some people like it, and others like to work alone. For me, when working with people I know and trust, I really enjoy group work. If I am working with people I don't know, I still think group projects can be fun and effective as long as my teammates put forth effort, and maintain communication throughout. These examples both correlate to the business world, because a lot of tasks in corporate America require teams and groups to take care of them. Creating bonds with co-workers is a huge part of the longevity of your career at a certain place. If people in the office like you, and you work hard, there is a very low chance that you will lose your job, and most times, you will be rewarded for your good work (In examples the A grade vs. the bad grade) through a raise, or a promotion.

Employment During Downturn

       While the recession, or downturn negatively affected millions of people nation wide, many people maintained, or flourished in these bad times. I have three examples that play out different scenarios during the recession, and I feel as if they all led to good things in the present. It was extremely hard to find a job that met the requirements that many employees were looking for during this period. The economy and job market was so unstable and unpredictable that a safe and stable job was what everyone was looking for. With that being the case, there was so much demand for jobs that positions became quite difficult to find.
       One of my good friends dads was laid off during the recession, and it changed the entire dynamic of their family. The house that I used to enjoy to go to became a somewhat depressing place to be. There were arguments quite frequently, and everyone was just moody when I was there. I talked to my parents about what was going on there, and they told me that he got laid off, and that their family was having a really tough time dealing with the situation at hand. It is understandable, because he had a great job for years and years, but the company just had to make cuts and let him go. Everything in life has some relation to money, so all of their decisions became a little bit harder, especially because this family had two kids in college at the time. It becomes hard because this family was so comfortable for the entire time that I have known them, and all of a sudden student loans become a realistic decision, which is something that I know my friends dad did not want to force on his kids. It's tough to see someone close affected by something like this, because it wasn't his fault, and he had no say in the matter. After a couple of years of struggle, he finally found a stable job, and the family that I once knew and loved, started to bounce back from their downturn.
       The second scenario that I want to touch on is the idea of maintaining some stable job during this recession. My father did just that, but was stressed out and annoyed with all of the adjustments that he had to deal with. He had a group of workers who worked underneath him in various situations, and he was advised by his boss to let some of them go. So my dad had to let go guys that he had become very close with over time, and he had to keep the ones that produced the best work. Needless to say, firing one of your friends and coworkers is a tough thing to do, and the stress of this situation led to my father having a heart attack. My dad survived the attack and had a procedure to unclog over stressed arteries. While my father pushed through the bad time and maintained his pay, while supporting our family, he pushed back his emotions. Just recently, he quit his job with his previous employer, and took a job with a different employer, because he was sick of the stresses that came with his old job. Not only is his new job better, but it is also closer to where we live, so the bad situation that he once had to deal with became blessing in disguise.
       The third scenario deals with the idea of owning your own business during a recession. My best friend's dad owns his own investment firm in Chicago, and he didn't take hit at all over this period. I believe this has to do with the close ties that his company forms with all of their clients and partners. The company literally feels like a family, and the recession did little to take anything away from that feeling. I do not know too much about their financial maneuvers and such, I do know that my friend's dad has been doing quite well, and it seems as if the recession was a non factor for him.

Incentives

       There incentives all over the place when it comes to making personal life decisions, but one of my personal experiences that I have with incentives relates to one of my former jobs when I was younger. From age thirteen until age eighteen, all of my personal money came from refereeing soccer games. A first year referee in the area that I live in gets paid around twelve dollars for a "house" recreational league match. There is incentive to continue your refereeing career past year one to gain the option of refereeing travel matches (these matches paid eighteen dollars, and were only ten minutes longer than the house matches). The next incentive was the three year pay increase. After being a referee for three years you become a senior referee, which allows you to become a head referee, rather than just a sideline referee. This bump up in position also came with a bump in pay, so a house match paid twenty dollars, and a travel match paid twenty five. Basically, incentives of money or salary made it much easier to continue working as a referee rather than finding another job. The other incentive that this situation relates to is the idea that the incentive to climb the "job ladder" within a company can really affect performance.
       When discussing incentives in regards to school, the type of class that I think of would be a large lecture course that does not monitor attendance. Many students (inlcuding myself) can be lazy from time to time, so a class that does not monitor attendance could lead to absences from class. Right there, the incentive to sleep, rather than listen to a lecture might cause you to miss class on a repeated basis. What I have found out is that these types of classes are really not beneficial to students who skip class because the whole process of the class is thrown out. What I mean by that is students are supposed to attend lecture, listen, process, and attempt to comprehend what the professor speaks about. If as a student you decide to miss class, you miss out on this process, and will likely attempt to cram before tests and get by like that. This might lead to a worse grade than you could have possibly received had you attended lecture more often. So in essence, a student who has no reason to attend class, may not. If this student decides not to attend class on a regular basis, he/she might struggle. Incentives are important in keeping people in check, or doing what they are supposed to do. In this case some sort of monitoring of attendance would lead to an incentive for students to attend lecture, which in turn would lead to better grades (incentives guarantee performance).
       When it comes to school and risk aversion, I think getting things done early reduces risk for me as a student. I can procrastinate from time to time, but I have made a concious effort to get homework and studying done early, rather than waiting until the last minute to do so. My performance usually suffers when I wait until the last minute to get things done, so I have incentive to avoid risk and uncertainty by taking care of business early. Another example that I can think of where I attempt to avoid uncertainty and risk in regards to school is when I keep up to date with class materials on a regular basis rather than having to catch up later in the semester. Cramming before tests leads to bad grades for me, and I find that by keeping up to date in my classes makes my performance better, as well as my grades.