Motivation

          Employees working in different fields perceive their jobs differently. Depending on a person personality and interest in the job can effect how they perform. If an employee enjoys their job it will influence their performance. According to the ancient story, the man building the cathedral may be more enthusiastic about his position because he is part of building a very important place, which makes him feel worthy. The man carving a single stone will probably not have enough drive or feel as appreciated as the man building a cathedral.

            I think people follow Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, which impacts their needs of performance. Corporate employees have high needs of satisfaction in the work place. Employees feel high responsibility for having an important job where they encourage receiving high status, praise and recognition. Also, at this level they feel the need for job flexibility, making decisions and challenge in their work. These factors influence their performance and give them the motivation to achieve high status in the company.

            To motivate workers to perform well and feel worthy within a company, I would suggest making them feel included in the company. This would be done by listening to their ideas, including them in important meetings, giving some sort of incentive to accomplished workers, and keep them up to date with the companies achievements and goals. These are some ideas to motivate employees to have high performance in a company.

Individual Behavior

A individual behavior that I wish my former boss would understand is part of the “Big Five” personality traits concerning openness to experience. This trait is a person who is open minded, imaginative and open to new ideas. Although this is not the most important personality trait for a manager, it is very important for running a successful company. With times changing and technology advancing companies must adapt to these changes.

            My former job was at a chiropractor office. The office has been open since the 70’s by the parents of the current chiropractors. Barely any changes have been made to the place since then. The place is old looking inside and out, needs new rugs and walls and nobody can convince them to make any changes. Up until 2 years ago, they never used computers for make appointments everything was done in a book. These are minor changes but can impact a company. I don’t believe they will loose business over it because they are reliable, excellent chiropractors. But as new patients come, they will want to be in a place that looks clean and presentable. If the owners were more open to change and new ideas within the company the building can be fixed inside and look much cleaner and have a better overall atmosphere.

Outstanding Leader

           An outstanding leader in one organization can move into an entirely different organization and still be an outstanding leader. An outstanding leader posses qualities that make them stand out. An outstanding leader has qualities such as having a strong attitude, strong mission, clear vision, good interpersonal skills and a strong ability to achieve and inspire. These qualities can transfer from one career to the next because an outstanding leader is always looking out for the organization and can bring his traits from one career to the other.

            A great football coach that possesses leadership ability can become CEO of a company because of their ambition to always be successful. The coach would have to adjust to a different atmosphere but his traits can be transferred into the company. They will know how to motivate employees and bring inspiration to the company and encourage all of their outstanding leadership qualities into their new career.

            I don’t believe expertise is as important as having outstanding leadership qualities. Leaders should have basic knowledge but they do not have to be an expert to bring success to a company. Today being successful in a business involves possessing outstanding leadership qualities. Being able to be persistent, have determination, strength, attempt the impossible and never giving up. An example of a leader I thought of who has changed careers is Joe Torre. He was a manager for the NY Yankees and brought great success to the team, and now he is the executive vice president for MLB. His job as manager and commissioner are both related to MLB but his duties, as a manager and a commissioner are different. His ability to lead and create success was brought from his management role into his commissioner position. Being able to adapt to different atmospheres and work hard to achieve greatness is what makes someone a outstanding leader

http://www.peterborner.com/2012/05/13/what-does-it-take-to-be-an-outstanding-leader/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Torre

HRM

A problem at my old job working at a Chiropractor Office as an aid/secretary my friend and I were going away to college so the boss needed to hire new employees. Since they waited till last minute to look for new employees the boss was hiring anyone who was available quick without thinking of the future and how they will need them with their business. They hired two new girls. One worked out, and the other slacked off, complained and just sat around instead of doing her job. If the recruitment selection was took into more consideration, they would not need to fire this girl and take the time out to yet again look for another employee.

A way to avoid such situations in the future is to establish a selection process that will find out about the interviews past experiences and also take their life and objectives into consideration. This was a young women, who never had a job before and was going back to school and newly married. She wanted something to do with her "spare time". Although, it had potential to work out, taking that information learned in a quick interview, she doesn't seem reasonable for a steady position right now. I think the decision of choosing an employee in a small company like theres should be taken seriously because you do not want people coming and going all the time. I understand they were rushing to get someone in but in the long run, now they have to repeat the process over again, which takes time, money and effort that can be spent elsewhere. 

Three Career Objectives

            I am currently junior status in Baruch College. I plan to graduate next year with a degree in Corporate Communications. My first career objective is getting a high GPA (3.5) for the rest of time at Baruch, my second goal is to get an internship within the next year, and my third goal is to graduate from Baruch in May 2014.

            Working hard throughout the semester will contribute to getting a high GPA. Having a high GPA will help me achieve my other future goals. A strength that will help me achieve these goals is that I like to be prepared for my exams; therefore I put a lot of time and effort into creating review sheets/ flashcards to help me do well. Also, now that I have declared my major I have more interesting classes, so I find myself caring more about my recent classes than I have in the past. My weakness is when a test is in front of me I make careless mistakes due to rushing Also, I get distracted often while doing work.  I think these are some of the things that have held me back in the past and I plan to try hard to look over my work and do the best possible job I can to achieve a high GPA for the rest of my time at Baruch and life’s tasks overall in my life

            Gaining an internship will give me experience and create social networks, which will hopefully help me find my path for my career. A weakness that can hold me back from getting an internship is, I always assume since I don’t have experience, people don’t want me, so I do not try my hardest to look for internships. I always wait for things to come to me, and in this case that is not going to happen. I need to get out there through the Internet etc. and apply everywhere in order to find an internship. Also, I am lazy and that contributes to not putting enough effort in to finding an internship. A strength for me would be, when getting the internship I will put my full effort in to do well and succeed, the dilemma for me is getting my foot in the door.

            Graduating form Baruch in May 2014 is my plan. Strengths that I have to lead me to graduation in 2014 are my motivation to do well, pass all my classes and finish college. Also, I have planned what courses I need to take, which helps me be organized with what I need to do for the next year and a half. Some weaknesses are, I usually have taken 4 classes each semester so taking 5 may be a struggle for me. Also, I have no room to slack off, fail or drop any classes or it will delay my graduation.

Plan of Action:

To Achieve a 3.5 GPA, I am going to put more effort into my work. I am going to devote more time to my studies each day by reading over my work from that day and preparing for the next class. I’m going to focus more on my work instead of going out with friends. I will not be lazy and do all my work ahead of time.

To gain an internship, I will put stop being lazy and try and search for internships with my interests. If I take out time each day and apply for 1 internship a day, I will (hopefully) eventually hear from someone.

Graduating from Baruch in May 2014 is my plan, I have been set back a year due to transferring but I believe if I put in 15 credits for the next 3 semesters as well as taking a summer class I will finish up the necessary credits I have left for graduation. Also working hard and devoting myself to my studies for the next year and a half, and not slacking off will get me closer to graduation

Next School Crisis for Chicago: Pension Fund is Running Low

          The Chicago schools teachers pension fund is running dry creating a crisis for the city.  The school district of Chicago has not put enough money away to pay their retired teachers and was forced to sell investments and figure out where they are going to get this money from.  For the district to barrow money, raise taxes or adjust classroom amenities is not possible, therefore the school district of Chicago must go to the state for help.

            According to the New York Times article, experts says the funds can collapse within a few years if something is not done soon. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is focusing on improving the quality of public education by extending the school day and making teacher evaluations more meaningful. He attempts to fix the crisis by raising the retirement age and increase the employee contribution rate. Governor Pat Quinn and mayor Rahm Emanuel have both decided on increasing the amount the workers pay toward their pensions. Although this is not a permanent fix for the Chicago school district, but it can help for now.

            I believe the school district of Chicago followed the six steps while dealing with their crisis. They knew what the problem was and the facts behind it and what they needed to do. They came up with a temporary fix because efficiency is necessary under these circumstances. I think they handled the situation well. Also by trying to improve the school system, it will help keep good teachers in and acknowledge the hard work they put in. Acknowledging this will impact the main reason for saving for pension funds in the future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/teachers-pension-a-big-issue-for-chicago.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Will India Ever Be Able to Tackle Corruption

After reading Scandal Poses a Riddle: Will India Ever Be Able to Tackle Corruption I recognize there are ethical dilemmas for Mr. Jayaswal and Mr. Dadra. Mr. Jayaswal had an ethical dilemma because he had a decision to break rules and become wealthy or follow rules and not be so wealthy. Mr. Jayaswal behaved unethically because he owned coal fields and sold them illegally for millions of dollars and used the money to benefit him and his family instead all of India who is in need of money and even the coal. According to this article, in India it seems the people believe that in order to be wealthy, you have to act unethically. Mr Dadra being apart of the Indian government had the decision of following the rules or get involved with a businessman who is taking illegal actions. Both Mr. Jayaswal and Mr. Dadra knew what they were doing was illegal but were only concerned about the millions they were going to profit.

An advantage for Mr. Jayaswal committing this act was he became very prosperous. His daughter was on “My Big Fat Indian Wedding” that her father paid for 350 friends, business associates and politicians to attend. I believe the only advantage was having a rich lifestyle. Disadvantages for Mr. Jayaswal's decision are that he has ruined his reputation and embarrassed his country, himself and his family. Instead of helping India financially he only cared about himself, which shows no respect for the people of India who are suffering. There is an electricity shortage in India where over 300 mil. people are living without electricity. Mr. Jayaswal was being selfish; this money could have greatly helped India. Nobody will want to do business with him due to this act he committed and the trust he has lost.

Moral reasoning that possibly motivated Mr. Jayaswal was from article 23; “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable condition of work”. He probably thought since this was work for him, he could do it. He was apart of coal mines, so if these mines were around, and nobody is using them, I will put them to use. Mr. Jayaswal may have believed he was working hard, producing money, making people happy and helping his family.

According to an article I read there was a study “2010 India Corruption Survey” by the Centre of Media Studies, a non-profit organization that showed there was corruption between 2001-2005 in hospitals and currently the number has dropped 40%. In schools it has dropped from 45% to 35% in the last 5 years. The CMS is still asking themselves why we cannot get to 0% corruption but the situation stands and there is hope for the future as the numbers slowly decline.

http://cmsindia.org/mediacoverage/believeitornot.pdf

Zara International

Zara International is a stylish clothing company that keeps up with upcoming fashion trends. Zara uses elements of the classical management approach. The classical management approach includes efficiency in the work place and fair management approaches and duties. Zara creates efficient production through work observation and time management. Zara employs a creative team who keeps up with the latest fashion. It only takes Zara two weeks to update clothing trends. If a store is not producing revenue from a product, they get rid of the product and quickly produce designs that customers seem to like. Zara can even order a “hot item” in less than an hour if an item is selling quickly. Zara definitely developed a good technique for determining efficiency in their production.

Zara also takes insight from the behavior management approach. Behavior management follows the theory that organizations influence individuals and their motivations. The Zara International Company has 1,500 stores around the world. Zara has even made it to the popular 5^th Ave in Midtown Manhattan, which has become Zara’s largest and most popular spot. Zara is one of the most profitable and largest brands. Zaras organization has become such a success that employees are motivated to contribute to the accomplishments. A company cannot expand like Zara has without such influential workers. People in the Zara Company must be dedicated professionals to create such a successful company.

The contingency thinking concept also relates to Zara. It explains the best way to manage depends on the circumstance. I think this relates to Zara because in this generation, people always want to keep up with what is new. Technology is a huge part of this generation.  The use of technology gives people quick access to information, and people always want to be on top of what is “hot” and what is not. I think Zara has created an impressive way to keep up with its customers. Zara has created a successful company by always having new and fast fashion for their customers.

Today Zara has about 600 stores around the world. Zara is continuing to produce new products. Zara manufactures more than 11,000 products a year. They produce new retail every few weeks instead of just once a season. The NY times states that if Jennifer Lopez appears in a ravishing new item, Zara can create a version of it and have it in stores in a few weeks.  Zara International shows no signs of decreases in sales and continues to be a successful company.