Class reflections

Final days of the winter term and I can cross two more classes off the list of requirements for my major. I figure I've got about another 12 to 15 months of classes to go before I'm done, and that's accounting for part-time status when baby is new. Sigh. The finish line is still a ways off, but I'll get there.

But I'm not here to wax poetic. Nope, readers. 'Tis time for another assignment. Last blog assignment for my Ethics class. Woohoo!

So, looking at the class objectives - where did I succeed? Where am I lacking? I got the most from learning about the different biases we use in our decision making. I enjoyed the Enron documentary and the comparison to the sevel levels of integrity. My weak spot in this class, I feel, is my final paper. For some reason, I could not settle on one topic or narrow one down enough to keep it contained to the 15-page minimum. I feel like my paper was rushed and unfocused, although that would be no one's fault but my own. (Extra points for honesty? Anyone? Anyone?) Of everything, I think I'm taking away an improved sense of my own decision making process and biases and considering the course is called "Ethics and Decision Making" I guess that means I've done okay. :)

Decision making for dummies... er, managers

Getting close to the end of another term, another book finished. This was "Judgment in Managerial Decision Making" but it sounds much worse than it really is. It was actually quite interesting, gave me some insight into some of the questionable decisions made by supervisors and coworkers over the years.

(Because I would never made questionable decisions and my judgment is always spot on.)

(Hey, it's my blog.)

But in all seriousness, it made me think about some of the biases that I'm guilty of - most without even knowing it. Ease of recall, retrievability, misconceptions of chance, anchoring - they're all biases that until this class I didn't even realize existed - except that I was applying them to decisions in my personal and (semi) professional life. One area that I know I'm guilty of, and actively work to downplay, is bounded awareness. I've always had trouble seeing the forest for the trees - and the theory of bounded awareness explains why.

I'd like to think that more people are aware of these types of biases but I don't think that's the case, Like I said, having read the book, I have a better grasp on some of my previous supervisors and their thought processes. Where before I just assumed they were jerks, now I can see that they were jerks that had fallen prey to normally ineffective and inefficient managerial cognitive processes.

(I jest.)

(Except for that one guy. He was a jerk.)

Integrity, ethics and the impact on me. (Oh my!)

We've finished "The Seven Layers of Integrity" for MMC 640. Interesting read, especially when applied to the numerous corporate scandals of the last few years. I think I can say that I've encountered a number of integrity breaches in the jobs I've held over the years; some of them were breaches of integrity on the part of my employers, others were mistakes that I made. It's not always easy to see that you are compromising your personal ethics and morals until you look back at a situation; other times, the decision is obvious - but not necessarily any less difficult.

I guess, for me, the biggest impact came in the visualization of the different layers of integrity when accompanied by the documentary, "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room." I'll admit, having no ties to the Enron situation a decade ago, I paid little attention to the scandal as it unfolded. The readings and the documentary were really enlightening for me, in a disgusting, train-wreck-you-can't-look-away-from fashion. The decisions made not only by the members of upper management but also the peons, the analysts were awful; their attitudes about their decisions were even worse. Did they get caught up in the company's mentality or were they people that had little ethical backbone to begin with? Does it matter, in light of the damage done?

I can understand that it's easy to fall into step with an unethical company when you're reaping the benefits of unethical activity. But for a company as public as Enron was, held to government regulations and oversight as they were, it's surprising that so many people were willing to be sheep for so long. The compensation and benefits must have been incredibly lucrative; other than outright fear of losing your job, I don't know what else would allow your conscience to overlook a such a blatant lack of corporate responsibility.

Except maybe a latte machine in the break room. Or free lunch, I'm a sucker for a free lunch.

(Maybe I'm unemployed for a reason.)

Baaaa.

Ethics? We don't need no stinkin' ethics...

Welcome, classmates! Again, I'm Janelle and this blog is where I've been dumping my life for the last few years. Since I've started a family, blogging has been sporadic at best but I keep it alive with a post every now and then in the hopes of finding the inspiration (and time) to blog regularly.

Down to business. Looking at the course objectives for MMC 640, I first worry that my contributions to the course will be minimal, based on the fact that I don't currently work outside of my home. Prior to being a stay-at-home mom, I worked in a variety of fields and can relate my past working experiences to our discussions but I can't provide that "in my workplace" perspective and can't apply many of the principles learned to a current occupation. (And truly, I'm not seeking affirmations on the importance of my position - I am perfectly content as a stay-at-home mom and I feel that my position is one of the most important ones there is. However, trying to educate a two- and three-year-old on the approaches to business ethics will be as well received as turning off Blue's Clues before all three clues are found.)

This class is a requirement, but I do think it will be interesting. Ethics is a gray area in business. What's right to me may not be right to you; you, of course, can have your opinions and I may or may not agree with you. (And then there are those that believe that ethics don't belong in the workplace, operating on the principles that if the IRS or the local police aren't kicking in the door, they must be doing okay.) I look forward to the discussions - hopefully the topics will inspire some interesting discussions among classmates. Good grades aside, we're here to learn and my classmates will hopefully have some good examples of ethics in the workplace, or a lack of ethics in the workplace. Since I don't leave the house for an office everyday, I'll just live vicariously through them for the next 10 weeks or so.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled... nothingdom.

Readers!

(I know you're out there. I can smell you. You smell like beef and cheese.)

So have you read my last few posts? Are you wondering what in the hell is going on? POST? Reflections? Whaaa?

If I hadn't written them, I'd be just as confused as you.

As is the norm for the SJ, I'm in school. My course called for the creation of a blog, or share the blog you currently author. Shazam! Finally! Six years of bitching and whining and complaining has finally paid off - because I didn't have to set up a new blogger and get all creative with it. That's pure awesomeness right there. Awesomeness and laziness. Whatever.

But I've written the last of my school-related blog posts. And now we return to our regularly scheduled nothingness. Because, let's face it - I wasn't exactly burning up your screens with my witty daily posts. But you never know. I could make a comeback. I could Brett Favre my way through this thing and continue to comeback until I'm permanently cross-eyed from concussions and waaaay past my prime.

To be continued...

Reflections: Interactive group technologies

The word "reflections" has positive connotations for me - reflecting warmly on the holidays, reflecting on the good ol' days... I can't say that I'm going to reflect positively on the technology used in our group assignments in our class. The technology was cumbersome and counter-intuitive in many cases. Perhaps it can be chalked up to operator error; or group procrastination. But to me, the technology was lacking in overall usability.

The initial set up to even find the group wiki was not where it should have been. We had a set of links under our group heading, but our wiki was not one of them. The wiki was buried under another button and part of a separate and extremely slow loading type of collaboration software (but apparently not the collaboration link under our group heading - weird). The links in the wiki were oddly placed - again, it could be user preference, but having the links on the right side of the screen doesn't seem natural to me. (Am I being overly picky yet?)

I attempted to set up alerts when our wiki pages were updated; this never worked for me. Maybe it's because our group was slow to add and update our information, maybe it was the technology itself. It was hard to tell when pages had been updated. Our group discussion board operated the same as the Blackboard discussion board - I had no trouble with this section.

I wish the technology had been a little more user-friendly. Maybe it would have prompted more group interaction if it had been easier to use and navigate.