Blog Topic #3

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. I don't think anyone would have thought that the Professor would have given us options as to what to do with the first exam and the format to the second exam. There were only 2 requirements, there needed to be 100% agreement and the decision had to be made within the class time. From MGT 3120, we learned several ways people behave during decision making conflict: "Compete to Win," Avoidance, Compromise, Accommodation, and Collaboration. When the class was presented with this issue, I feel that it created tension amongst the group because everyone had their own self-interests. There was also a sense of excitement, the possibilities were endless, within reason.

I first started trying to compromise within the group, understanding everyone had their own self-interests. This was more important during the second-half of the decision concerning the format of the second exam. I feel one of my biggest contributions to the group was the decision to use the whiteboard to write down our options. I was one of the first people to realize that without writing down our options we wouldn't get very far. This gave the group a chance to visually see the ideas on the board and decide collectively which options they saw fit. Once the professor stepped away from the decision, everyone is equal in the class, therefore everyone deserves to have their voice heard.

As ideas started getting thrown up on the board, I took more of the accommodation approach. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the grade that I received, however it wasn't the worst case scenario. Once the professor showed us the curve he was going to use, I would have been satisfied with just that; anything over and above that was a bonus to me. I'm sure there were plenty of people who received a lower grade then I did, therefore this decision was much more important to them then it was to me. It's not that I was withdrawing from the decision, but I saw several people taking charge and I decided to let them come up with a solution. Looking back at it now, there was a certain risk involved with that decision. I was willing to trust my classmates because I knew that they would try and boost the grades as much as possible.

During the decision on the format of the second exam I saw the group taking more of a collaboration approach. There was bargaining and negotiation based primarily over the idea of the essay. Most of the class did not want an essay on the exam for one reason or another. I personally would have like the entire exam to be multiple choice, but that's just my opinion. There was this idea of an "extra credit essay," which I actually thought wasn't such a farfetched idea, however I don't think many people would have time to write it at the end of the exam. In the end, we left the decision up to the professor, which was the easiest solution if we wanted to achieve 100% agreement. I believe there was only one student who chose the avoidance approach, she decided to leave the class with or without the understanding that she wouldn't receive any of the benefits.

After knowing the patterns of communication, the reaction of classmates, and the results of decision making, I saw much room for improvement. There was major lack of communication within the group. At one point, it seemed whoever could yell the loudest would get to speak. I know for a fact that some people, like myself, who weren't going to yell over others and didn't get chance to present their ideas to the class. This is unfortunate because who knows if they had a better idea. I liked the idea that the professor had come up with, splitting us up into groups, however I don't know if this would have made the decision more difficult. Next time, I would like everyone to get the chance to speak to have their voice heard. Maybe it would be beneficial to create some sort of order to give the chance that everyone would be able to have their voice heard. Overall, I feel we did an "okay" job with the decision, I'm glad that we were able to achieve 100% agreement and I was happy with the options that were decided for the first exam, as well as the format for the second exam.

Decision Making Grade = B

Blog Topic #2: Planning

I felt our group did an “OK” job with the project, but there is much needed improvement in some areas. One of the greatest attributes of the group was the understanding of the goal and the task at hand. Our goal for the project was to develop an enclosure that would prevent the egg from cracking upon impact. We also understood the time constraints that we were faced with.

Our objective was to develop this structure with a limited amount of supplies. We had only 8 straws and 2 feet of tape, and of course the egg. Now came the strategy portion of the project. I personally feel this is what led to our group’s downfall and failure to meet our goal. During the 25 minutes of planning, there were so many ideas on how to develop this structure. Of course, we we’re trying to bounce ideas off each other, but I feel we spent too much time coming up with alternative ideas. There was no one idea that we could perfect.

At the end of the 25 minutes, we had agreed upon an idea we felt would be most sufficient. We hadn’t even gotten to the most difficult part of the project and I knew it wasn’t looking good from here. We had received the supplies from the professor and with only 10 minutes left to create the enclosure, it seemed as if our group completely ignored the previous ideas that we had come up with in the planning stage of the project. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was even feeling the pressure and I was only in charge of holding onto the egg. But, that’s beside the point; time management was a major issue within the group. I think the countdown on the projector led our group to panic and come up with an idea on the spot that we thought would work.

The egg did wind up cracking in the end. But, the effort was there! With the lack of planning and allotted time that we were given as a group I think we did the best we could. It was fun to see what the other groups had developed. I really liked the idea the one group had of attaching the tape to the egg to weaken the drop. If we had more time, our group had thought of filling the straws with water to lessen the impact. I would have liked to see if we would have been more successful that way.

Overall, this project was a great experience. Planning is by far one of the most important components to project management. Without a good plan, your project is sure to fail. One of the most important lessons I learned from this exercise was time management. Our group would have been much better off if we had a better understanding of how long the enclosure would take to complete. This would have prevented any panic from occurring and more of a focus on perfecting the egg structure, ultimately leading our group to a more successful outcome.