A Will to Lead

A Will To Lead

Didn't know until my 5:50 class
How vital management is
And not just a class I need to pass

Without management there would be no stores
There would be no schools and there would be no chores
It's management that gets us through every day
Without management there would be no work
And certainly no play

Being a manager takes patience and skill
You need creativity and a never ending will
I will to go further, a will to succeed
And most importantly, a will to lead!

To blog..or not to blog?

Management 3120 was one of the two classes in which I was required to post blogs on a somewhat weekly basis.  Although at times it was very difficult to keep up with, I feel it forced us to think about what we discussed and class and actually get something out of the lesson!

I won't say that every single post made an impact on me, however there were definitely certain posts which I found very interesting.  Also, I enjoyed reading other people's posts and see the similarities and differences between the two.  For instance, the blog topic based on our "vision of the future" was a topic I truly enjoyed writing about.  Because I had no choice but to think, "wow..what DO i wanna do with my life?"  After writing mine, I visited other blogs to see what kind of goals other people in similar positions/situations planned to do with their lives. 

As far as the blogs being an integral part of our grade, I think it was something all of us could/should have managed in order to get the best possible grade.  However, I do feel that at times there was so much going on that it was difficult to keep up with the blogs, for me at least.  I'd become overwhelmed with other class assignments as well as midterms (in this class as well).  That is in no way justified, as I should have just remembered to do them (a.k.a. start keeping a planner rather than trusting my memory so much).

Realistically, I probably won't continue to write blogs after the semester is over, as I feel I already have so much going on (school, work, and family) that I don't think I'd be able to consistently blog.  Of course, I don't know what/how I'll feel in the future about blogging but as of now, it isn't something I enjoy to do in my free time as opposed to reading or even sleeping! Haha.  However, this blog system made me manage my time a lot better and think about what exactly we talked about in class rather than let it go in one ear and out the other.

Can I take your order? I don't know, can you?

Welcome to McDonald’s Can I Take Your Order?

                Being a vegetarian, I don’t think I’d ever ordered a hamburger in my life before today.  And of course, when I do it has to be a completely twisted version of an order.  It took me not one, but two attempts before I actually was able to complete the assignment, however the results were rather interesting.

                Walking into the 47^th street and 6^th avenue McDonald’s, I knew I was walking into pure chaos.  I was actually really nervous as I walked in because with a crowd of hungry, working people, I was afraid I’d get attacked for taking so long with my oh so specific order.  But nevertheless, when my turn came, I began placing my order.  The first thing that came out of my mouth was, “Now this may sound like an unusual order, but try and keep up with me.”  I started off by order a small hamburger with five pickles, and made an effort to stress of FIVE PICKLES.  The guy looked at me like I was retarded, to be honest.  However, he said alright and asked me to continue with the order.  But before placing the next part of my order, I asked to make sure he’d actually put “five extra pickles” on the receipt, but he stressed that he cannot specifically write five pickles.  I again, urged him to put that on the receipt but he said it wasn’t possible for him to do so and gave me an alternative to write “extra pickles” instead.  At this point, the cashier next to him was giving him the- Haha you’re stuck with the weird customer.  Good luck-look. 

                After arguing with him for a good two-three minutes, I decided to go on with the order.  I then asked for a small order of French fries (well done) with Big Mac sauce on the side.  I again, requested that he put Big Mac sauce on the receipt, but he said he couldn’t.  I mentioned that I’d gone to a different McDonald’s in the city and they had easily put it on the receipt (I had earlier attempted the extra credit assignment at the 23^rd street location but lost the receipt).  Yet he insisted there was no button on his cash register to add that on.  Disappointed with him not being able to put the five pickles, I kept stressing the importance of putting the Big Mac sauce on the receipt, but couldn’t convince him for the life of me!  I then looked at the woman next to him, getting the feeling that she is somewhat of his superior and asked her about the sauce.  She then, not in English but Spanish said something to my cashier about Mac sauce being available in their McDonald’s.  The little Spanish I had held onto from high school, I was able to understand their conversation, discussing how even though they can give it to me on the side, they don’t have a button to put it on the receipt.  At that point, I understood that they really couldn’t place it on the receipt and let it go. 

                Once I’d placed the order, I took my receipt and saw they wrote “extra pickles” but not “five” and wrote, “small french fries” but not “well-done.”  I knew writing five pickles wasn’t possible but I again attempted to have them re-do the receipt and at least have well-done written for the fries.  However, the cashier immediately began taking someone else’s order and ignored me.  Within two minutes, I had gotten the burger, however was told I have to wait five minutes for the well-done fries.  Soon enough, I was given the small fries, but low and behold, there was no Big Mac sauce.  I had to practically yell saying “EXCUSE ME” to the guy when he was running back to get other orders and asked, “Big Mac sauce?”  He apologized for forgetting and quickly ran back to get me the sauce in a small cup, of course without a cover on it.  At that point I was rather irritated and walked out with my order without giving him a second look.  

                I came back to work and immediately began writing my paper.  And half-way through the paper I realized that in the assignment it clearly states that without getting the exact order written on the receipt, I wouldn’t get any credit.  I decided to give it another shot and went to the McDonald’s on 47^th between 5^th and Madison.  I noticed that this store was much less crowded, and bigger.  I instantly felt I’d have a better experience here.  I went up to the first girl that was vacant and began placing my order.  I was met with the same response as earlier when she said that she couldn’t write five pickles.  But when I insisted and she decided to ask her superior if it was possible.  A little iffy at first, the superior fiddled with the cash register and was able to put it on the receipt.  Next I asked for the small fries well done with Big Mac sauce on the side and she was able to easily put that on the receipt as well.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easily my order was taken at this McDonald’s as compared to the one I went to earlier in the day.  When I got back to work I saw that everything was correct, even the five pickles.   Even though the first McDonald’s also had it correctly, the second one not only had the order correct but gave me no problems in writing it in the receipt as well. 

                Looking at the second McDonald’s I went to from a manager consultant view, the organization of the fast food chain was actually very good.  I was able to see what was written as my order when I saw someone looking at the monitor with my order clearly written on it.  Within minutes, my order was given in full and not in installments.  The fact that wasn’t given any attitude and was able to receive my order without any weird looks was very nice (especially since I couldn’t mention why I wanted such a bizarre meal in the first place).       

                I only dealt with two of the McDonald’s employees but even between them the communication seemed very clear and to the point.  The superior worker always listened attentively to me as well as the other employee when she was asked a question about the cash register being able to put something specific into the receipt.  I would imagine that she’d get fed up and just say no it can’t but done, but she was actually very easy to deal with.  She also patiently explained to my cashier how to put certain things down when she didn’t understand how to do so.  This was a completely different experience compared to the McDonald’s on 6^th avenue.

                I wouldn’t say the employees were perfectly trained, as they should be able to put down whatever the customer asks onto the receipt if needed.  However, despite their restrictions they were able to put down what I asked for onto the receipt.  I think McDonald’s should begin training the employees to be able to satisfy any customer’s request regardless of how random or bizarre it may be.  Although I have to admit, the employees I dealt with would get a 10 based on customer relations/satisfaction and I never felt frustrated or disrespected while I was placing and receiving my order.

                The superior officer was the clear leader as far as this order was concerned.  Even my cashier was the one who physically took my order and gave me the receipt/food, it was her superior who was helping her step-by-step from creating the receipt to making sure she places the Big Mac sauce with the fries.  People think working at McDonald’s is the easiest thing in the world and needs minimum training, however after this assignment I must disagree.  Regardless of what you may me servicing, it is vital that an employee knows his/her product and business functions thoroughly.  After my first experience at McDonald’s, I honestly felt like I never wanted to go back as the employees there made me feel like they wanted me out of there as soon as possible.  While the second one I went to, the people were extremely patient, helpful and as precise as possible.  

                Though this assignment started off on a really bad note, upon realizing the specificities of the project, I’m glad I gave the assignment another shot.  To be honest, the first time I don’t think I pushed the employees enough as I felt embarrassed with all the people behind me waiting to get their lunch in a rush.  However, when I went to the second McDonald’s, not having a crowd helped me calmly place my order with all the specifications.  The sad part is, the first McDonald’s is probably the rule and the second the exception, as most fast food chains have a tendency to rush everything (hence FAST food).  Overall though, places like McDonald’s need to improve their training and communication skills within the company and learn how to have an answer for every possible question the customer may have. 

Who woulda' thunk it!

I never knew a simple test could give me so much insight into my management "type."  To be honest I thought at first it was all bs, but when I saw the results I was (pleasantly-at times) surprised!  I bet at this point you'd love to know what I got...well here it is:

My management type turned out being: "Ci"

The "C" stands for concientiousness and influence, and is apparently by dominant personality.  In such a personality, one is diplomatic when dealing with others, very detail oriented, and rather analytical.  People have come upto me saying I'm a "people person" but never really understood until I got the results of this test.  Afterwards I realized I am pretty good at handling sticky situations and keeping everyone happy.  Not going to lie, this definitely made me feel good about myself! Haha. 

the "i" stands for influence.  This supposedly means that I'm articulate, create a motivational environment, and make a favorable impression on people as well and generate enthusiasm within a group.  At first, I didn't really understand how I speak "articulately," however after this test I went to my cousin's birthday party and met a few of her friends.  The next day she said, "Oh my friend so-and-so really liked you.  She said you speak very well and are easy to talk to."  I instantly started laughing and said, "wow these tests can be right sometimes."  I'm not saying that these tests are 100% accurate, however its interesting to see the few similarities you see between yourself and your results sometimes. 

Do I think one can change their management personality?  Well, I mean if you make such a HUGE effort to purposely act differently or something I guess you can, but I don't think it'll last.  Your natural reactions will come out at some time or another and I think its better to be yourself rather than change yourself and be fake.  I personally wouldn't want to do that.  I mean sure, if a certain aspect of your personality is detrimental to you doing your job well then yes, you should work on improving yourself but not to the point where you can't recognize yourself.

As far as taking such tests, yes I think they're fun and interesting.  Do I think they're necessary?  Probably not.  On the surface you may not see any problem with such a test, but sometimes seeing a certain result may cause someone to have a preconceived notion about you which may or may not be true!  One's personality can be seen pretty easily just by interacting with them, I don't think a test is something one needs to determine how a person is.

A bird...A plane..My vision

Ever since I was a little girl, I'd wanted to become a teacher.  Then in highschool my father told me I should go into business, it has more of what he likes to call.."scope."  So being the obedient daughter I am, I chose to enroll at Baruch College to earn a business degree.  However once I got here, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life, aka my major.  For the past three years I've been getting advice, and taking classes to see which field I'm most interested in.  But it wasn't until this semester that I realized what I really wanted to do.  My goal is to manage my father's gemstone business upon graduating college. 

Initially, I thought I'd be a marketing major.  However, since my sister was going away to school once again to get her MBA, she needed me to begin going to work with my father (something I'd done maybe twice in my life).  Just like that, I was given the responsibility of not only managing the accounts of the company but the status of existing and new orders, and shipping.  Even though in the beginning it was extremely overwhelming and intimidating, I've begun to take a keen interest in the business and plan to make it a career later in my life.

One of my first goals that'll help me make this vision become true is to eventually have a full and clear understanding of stones and their specifications.  For instance, I'd love to be able to tell a fake and real stone apart, identify the quality of a stone, and even the rates of each stone depending on its specifics.  I can accomplish this goal by not only regularly get training from my father, but by going to India to learn more about stones from our factory (something I'm doing this coming winter break).

Another goal of mine is to have a good amount of knowledge not only in the management field, but marketing, and accounting as well.  Management, for obvious reasons but marketing because I'd like to maximize the amount of customers we can have as well as learn how to target the correct market for our specialty.  Though I only need a basic understanding of accounting in order to take care of the comapanies client accounts, I'd like to become more confident in dealing with numbers (as I constantly make errors).  I'm already in the process of achieving this goal, as I'm taking such classes while attending Baruch.  It's crazy how much these classes really relate to the business I'm dealing in.

Lastly, I'd want to learn to manage my time a little better.  When running a small business, most of the time you're stuck doing several things at once with minimal help from others.  One of my main problems is that I get nervous and overwhelmed when I realize how much I need to cover at work in a short amount of time.  I'd want to check this off of my goal list by becoming a bit more organized and trying NOT to do everything last minute.  A possible solution may be to keep a task list (which my sister always insist I use).  One way I've already begun solving this problem is by sending daily order status emails to our team in India, so I don't lose track of what orders are complete and what are pending.

Once I can accomplish these goals, my vision will be much clearer and easy to reach.  Hopefully I can make it happen.

All Part of the Plan?

Recently, my team and I were given a challenge to create a contraption in which we'd place an egg and throw it from 10 feet above ground.  Oh the catch? Of course there's a catch; it can't crack.  Given nothing but straw and masking tape to create this device, we were given 25 minutes to plan and then 10 minutes to create the contraption as well as fit the egg into it.  There were parts of the "Planning Process" that we followed, while there were certain parts that we didn't exactly go through.

As far as the first step is concerned (define goals and objectives), this is something we actually followed.  We made sure we all understood the idea that even the tiniest crack in the egg, would disqualify us.  Once we all understood that, we went forward with the process.  Next, it was clear that we had a hands-on team when one member began creating possible designs for the device, while the others gave their input or began mapping out the resources we had and how we should use them.  So we actually ended up following the second step as well.

After that came step three, in which we had to develop strategies and possible outcomes.  Our group thought of several ideas, and immediately began throwing out pros and cons to the possible design.  That way we heard everyone's ideas and discussed the outcomes in detail.  One of us even went to the extent of creating prototypes using paper and scotch tape.  At this point of writing the blog, I am surprised that we're actually following the "planning process." Haha.

Now came the time to actually finalize our game plan, a.k.a. step four.  We decided on a plan a and plan b (just in case the first doesn't work of course).  I being the clutz I am, decided to stay as far away from the egg we were given as possible (since if it broke, we'd be out of the competition).  Instead, I decided to help make the actual device in which we were going to place the egg.  One thing we didn't follow in step four is actually allocating a job to each person.  We decided instead to just take it as it goes.

Finally, we began making the device.  Surprisingly, everything went rather smoothly.  I was happy to see how easily we all gelled with eachother.  There was minimum chaos or arguments over the design and we finished within the 10 minutes we were given.  Unfortunately, our design didn't save the egg from getting slightly cracked, but to see how close we were felt great!  Of course getting the 10 points would've been 10x better but just the satisfaction of working together and actually making a device that would work felt great =)

After leaving class, a few of us talked about how if we had just used a little more tape here and an extra straw there, it wouldn't have cracked.  However, we were really happy with our design and impressed with how it was rather accurate, since none of us really had much experience with this kind of thing.

Definitely not New York

I've been going to India every other year to visit family ever since I can remember.  And as I grew older and began to notice my surroundings more and more, I realized how different India was to the U.S.  Be it the way people dressed, spoke, or acted in particular situations.  The first two are obvious, however the cultural and social traditions of India are extremely different from ours.

 For instance, when you go into someone's home in India, it is very normal to take your shoes off at the door.  In fact, if you don't it can even be considered rude and disrespectful towards the home you're entering.  Another cultural difference is that a lot of times, instead of greeting someone with a handshake, you fold your hands together and say, "Namaste."  When invited to someone's home, it is almost impossible leaving without having something to eat.  If not an actual meal, one MUST have a cup of tea.  Tea seems to be the national drink of India, while coffee is the winner here in the U.S.

Also, while Americans respect their elders, Indians hold their elders at a complete other level.  Especially in joint families, whatever the eldest of the family decides is what goes, even if it may not be everyone else's decision.  The way girl's are looked at in society is also an aspect to observe in India.  While they are legally equal to men and are given all the opportunities men are, they are still treated extremely differently from men.  For instance, if the curfew of a son is 12am, the curfew of the daughter will be 9pm.  If asked why, "that's just how it's supposed to be." 

It is true that India has been developing and modernizing rapidly throughout the years, however where certain aspects are concerned, it continues to sustain it's unique culture.