Wrap-Up

It's a little late but here is my reflections wrap-up. Throughout the semester as I was writing these reflections, I felt myself improving slowly. More so than my writing, I realized that I had changed my way of thinking. For the first couple of weeks, it was difficult for me to write enough on a topic. I had things to say, but they weren't conveyed properly. The depth was shallow and the connections were weak. Sometimes, it felt as though I was writing an essay to please someone rather than my own thoughts.

As the semester progressed, I was was able to organize my thoughts on paper before writing. I was also able to discuss more on topics by exploring them a little deeper and trying to connect them to my own experiences. It was easiest to write when I felt stronger with topics that personally related to me. I also tried to create new ideas and methods of organizing ideas so that I can effectively convey my message across. In conclusion, the four reflections that I picked were the ones that I put the most effort into. The topics connected and resonated within me.

1st Quarter - September: Establishing a Conversation
4th Quarter - December: On classes towards major
Choice - November: Opportunities to meet upperclassmen
Choice - October: Alignment

To be very honest, I had a difficult time choosing the four reflections that I did. There were different merits to each piece that I had written. From the beginning, I had chosen a very informal style of writing. This is actually something that I am unaccustomed to doing. I had chosen to write as though I were there physically speaking to someone in person. I feel that the best way to hold a conversation or to convey a message to maintain a familiar contact. Sure, there are times to be formal, however, daily conversation is exceedingly informal and yet very organized and informative.

Well, it is the end of the semester, but I don't think that it's goodbye just yet. I think that I will continue to keep this blog updated for a while. It is a fun way to speak your thoughts out loud and to clear your head by writing down everything that you're thinking of. I enjoyed the class this semester and felt that we accomplished quite a bit. I certainly learned a lot and changed my views on a lot of things.

On Cheating

This topic has come up several times in our classes this semester. It is certainly prevalent in all of our class to a degree and gradually becoming more popular. We mentioned Sange theories in connection with cheating that the spread is thanks to reinforcement. As more students cheat and get away scotch free, other student see and follow their example. This is certainly a problem that could be solved by designing for effective change. (Perhaps it could serve as the problem to solve in the next section of our class in the future.)

From the perspective of a student I can see it happening all around me. People are copying homework assignments at the last minute. Large portions of papers are plagiarized. Students are even cheating on exams. I remember once during my sophomore year when I walked into my professor's office hours just to ask a question when I found him, questioning a student who had cheated on his exam. I have heard other stories where due to the large size of the class, students are seated side by side. One just has to peak a little bit to see his neighbor's paper. Moreover, there are stories where the professor just sits at the front reading a newspaper or listening to his ipod.

To put is simply, there isn't an effective system in place which is a deterrence to cheating. Students feel safe enough that they will not get caught. The penalties are harsh if you happen to get caught, however the odds are very low. A few TAs find it too bothersome to check every homework assignment and then question the student to check to see if they had copied it or not. A professor of mine this semester started giving out group homework assignments. Since we are working together anyways, we might as turn in one assignment as a group rather than having someone copy it off others.

When I take an exam, there is one huge deterrence to me cheating. Other than the fact that cheating is wrong, I feel a deep fear from the pit of my stomach from the chance of being caught. This is true of many students. Every time, you raise you head from your paper, there is always a proctor watching you. His eyes seem to penetrate you and read your thoughts. However, there are students who do not feel this fear, or simply do not listen to their conscience. The most the proctor can do is to maintain the tension of an exam and keep everyone aware of the risks of being caught.

I recently had the chance to proctor an exam for a freshman class. I was advised by the professor to constantly be on the watch and pacing around for the entire length of the exam. This was the first time for me to be in this position and to monitor students. I came in with the idea that I will be sharp and immediately be able to spot cheaters with my student perspective. Yet, for the first time, I felt the challenges faced by the proctors. In a huge classroom, with around a hundred students spread around, it was impossible to keep an eye on all of them. I kept walking around the classroom, and realized that the most I could do was to keep the students aware of my presence. If they felt that I was always watching them, they might be deterred from cheating.

Apart from the idea proposed by professor in class, which was to change the questions on every examination, there isn't much more that the faculty can do. It is within each and every student whether to cheat or not to cheat. For someone very determined to cheat, there is nothing to stop them.

Mutlimedia Connection

This is just a short post to connect my presentation to the course. From the start the objective of our course was "Designing for Effective Change", which is to say we are trying to bring change to the world.

To do so, we identify a problem and then propose a simple (ideally) and effective solution. I wanted to connect the presentation to the class project that we've been working on. Although we can identify the problem with class disengagement and we can propose a possible solution (peer mentoring), we still can't seem to completely solve the problem.

We understand that the mentoring plan could possibly be very effective and it can solve the problem, but there are problems in creating a mentoring program and carrying it through. There are still kinks that need to worked out.

Similarly, the solution to the Asian Carp problem is to kill them. However, there is no effective way to just take care of the carp alone. Poison is known solution and it has worked in the past in other places. Yet, this kind of solution still isn't perfect.

In our goal of Designing for Effective Change, we may often come across a problem where the solution is known and yet we can't do anything to make it work to the best efficiency.

I'm not quite sure how to make my connection more prominent, but everyone can take away a different connection from this presentation and our class. The invasive species could be compared to the spread of polio in Better. I also tried to make the message "sticky", a least a little memorable thanks to the jokes.

Mutlimedia Presentation: Asian Carp

So here is my video on Asian Carp. It's been in the news lately and I would just like to point out the issue and question the solution proposed.

This took a looooong time (hours...)to post. I would find a little mistake here and there between the transition from powerpoint to slideshare (especially with the fonts). I also had to figure everything out myself just by search through google.

Anyway, enjoy and please comment if it's too fast and whether I should make any changes.

Asian Carp

View more presentations from clock12.

On classes towards major

I'd like to talk about required classes that one has to take towards their major and whether they are necessary or not. I currently feel that the required classes are a good idea to maintain “roundness” but they shouldn't be enforced very strictly.

This is actually a topic near and dear to my heart. I feel that the current curriculum is restraining and enforced excessively strict. Electrical engineering is closely tied with computer engineering and they are both housed in the same department (ECE). This means that a lot of classes overlap between the two majors. This is convenient when someone actually has interests that cross over but for the others it is actually very difficult. As an electrical engineer, I am well aware that I may never again work with topics covered in the required classes.

It is really frustrating to be forced into a class in which you happen to have no interest. After all, I chose to be a EE not a CompE. I realized that my interests did not lie programming or otherwise and therefore chose a different major. Instead of forcing me into a class, I would at least prefer to chose one amongst many. It's not like I hate all the CompE classes; there was one that I thought was fun. However, that was only one class and I will be taking one more class in the future which I am dreading.

Now moving on to classes outside of our major that are still required. I value classes in the Physics and Chemistry department but we do not need to take so many. Thermal Physics has be the most useless class that I have ever taken. I have never used anything from that class nor do I expect to in the future. This is the same with the chemistry classes, apart from learning the basic knowledge there is no need for the extra classes. If a class happens require advanced knowledge the chemistry class could just be listed as a pre-requisite. At this point the student has the option to choose whether to take the class or not.

Next, I feel that the math classes required for engineers is actually very apt. Calc III is a required basic knowledge that everyone should know. DiffEq is also very important but we so not need three different first-level DiffEq classes in the math department. The ECE department requires us to DiffEQ plus which basically covers one more chapter as compared to the other DiffEq classes. This is very personal for me since I actually took a DiffEq class in a different university while still in high school. However, U of I is unwilling to give me credit for the plus class. There is only a minor difference between the two classes and I don't want to take the entire class again just for the sake of one chapter. Additionally, since I am a junior now I have already covered the difference in material in my other classes. I am confident in my knowledge of differential equations and I feel that I should get the credit that I deserve and not miss out on graduation thanks to a single chapter in a math book. I would be extremely happy if they just gave me a bye. After all, I did take the class (albeit in a different university) and I got an A. I know DiffEq enough to do well in all my current and future classes.

Finally, regarding free electives it's a good idea to have more available as a part of graduation. In addition, we really don't need all the categories like social sciences or humanities. Personally, I have little or no interest in social sciences and a lot in humanities. If I could replace all of my free electives with social sciences with humanities that would be great. Also, I noticed recently that there are classes that do not fit anywhere,notably CHP classes. Even if these classes do not fit in either social sciences or humanities, they should at the very least fulfill free electives. There are other classes that do not fit any category and become black holes in my schedule that suck up my time without giving me anything in return.

To summarize, I don't have any major problems with the current systems, but I would like a lot small changes to occur.

Opportunities to meet upperclassmen

I think there exist several opportunities for freshman to interact with upper level students but those exists primarily in the social setting. This is just my perspective, and it may be different elsewhere, but while it was not easy to meet upperclassmen, it was not overly difficult. In my situation, I was the only one from my high school to enter U of I. Therefore, with no friend base I tried to explore and reach to many other people by joining activities.

It was relatively easy to make friends with other freshman. Every freshman is required to live in university housing. You meet your floor mates even before school begins and tend form groups to eat together in the dining halls. From there, you meet their friends and then suddenly you happen to know a lot of people. Another thing that I did was to just walk onto a tennis court and request to join them. If our levels were close, we would meet again to play. Lastly, there are many freshman introductory courses in which you meet other freshman in the same major. You meet many people quickly and realize that you will be together with them until graduation.

As I have mentioned, it is very easy to meet other freshmen. It is much harder to meet upperclassman and generally people from other majors. You are herded along with other first years to take required introductory courses. Typically few or none of the upperclassman attend these courses. This is true especially for the classes in your major. Most of the seniors that I met freshman year were from classes outside of major like Physics or Gen Eds. These were also dependent on the credits the students came with to skip intro classes.

An option that I personally like to meet seniors was to join a club or RSO. The Quad Day is great idea in this respect to introduce incoming freshman to the many clubs available on campus. After joining a club you meet a variety of people of varying class standings. Bound together by a common interest, there is good chance to make good friends.

Now from the perspective of an upperclassman, I feel that I don't necessarily “mentor” the freshman that I know. Sure, I help them when they need it. I also give advice on classes and general campus life, but it's a different king of relationship than mentoring. As you have questioned, there is a transfer of knowledge, or wisdom if you will, but typically it's subconscious.

I have had the opportunity to be both a mentor and a mentee so far. My perspective has also varied vastly between the two positions. As a mentee, I look up to my mentor and I sometimes feel awkward establishing contact. As a mentor, I try my best to smooth things out for my mentee and perceive things from a different perspective. What I realize in the end is that each mentor-mentee relationship is different and everything comes down to compatibility. Similar to our class project, when two people are pushed into this kind of relationship, the outcome will vary across the population.

When someone meets an upperclassman in a more natural things also appear less forced or enforced so your relationship with them is more of a friend and than a mentor. In the end, most of the work falls onto the mentor to maintain the relationship. Mentoring programs are always a good idea and proving good results but, depending on how motivated the mentor is, there is a larger chance of our program to be a success.

Learning from Experience

Hey everyone, I'm finally back. Look forward to class on Monday.

The obvious answer would be Yes. Yes, I have learned from past experiences. Although courses are one good example of the situation, it does not cover everything. As we progress further into academia and college, we encounter material that we have faced before. Several classes often have required pre-requisites. Once we have taken a course we are expected to have learned the basics and then apply the knowledge towards the next level. This is a natural progression of learning through experience where the learning can be quantified.

However, more often than not, I notice that I learn from having more experience. For example, after repeated practice in tennis by body takes action in a game before my mind does. The learning come through a mass of experience either through practice or match experience. Another example on a smaller scale and that which is more personal: minesweeper. That's the game that is available on every pc with a Windows OS. In the beginning, I felt that they game was very hard and I couldn't understand some of the nuances. Later, I suddenly found myself playing the game at a rapid pace and defusing the mines using intuition rather than logical reasoning. I became familiar with certain arrangements so much so that I no longer need the reasoning process.

As seen from the previous example, I believe that “learning” does not posses “scale.” Learning can be “transformative” but it is not required to be so. The small things that we experience in life are as important to our learning experience as life-shattering incidents. Everything makes up for who we are. Although, I do not possess a definitive example, many story books often involve characters that have vastly different personalities even with the same background. However, I digress.

The question is whether we can introspectively recognize whether we have learned anything from an experience and consciously “use” your learning, even transfer it. I do not often notice whether I'm actively using a lesson that I have learned from past experience. I feel that it depends on at the point of learning whether I was active or passive. If I came in with the objective of learning, I actively participate in the experience. Then as I become aware of the knowledge gained, it is also easier to pass it on to others. I often help my friends in their class work and evidence of my learning is transfered to the professors through testing.

During passive learning, these are often the skills one refers to when they mention someone with many years of experience. When one collects experience with many years on the job, they sometimes may not be aware of the changes within themselves. In addition, they cannot easily pass on this knowledge to others since they did not amass it as one does in school. I can label this somewhat along with intuition similar to when I play video games. I often make decisions that others might consider as a waste of time simple because after many hours of playing the game I just know when and where to speed up/slow down or to buy/exchange weapons atc. The gaming knowledge is something I gained through experience and not everything is transferable since a mjor portion of it is intuition.

Lastly, I think that everyone judges learning differently. In the class setting, grades often lend themselves as a measure of student learning. However, some students are content with a B, others A and few who strive for the A+. Their standards do not match up amongst their peers. There are also the cases when an engineer in a history class does not desire to learn more that what's necessary to pass the class. The engineer and the history major have different objectives which changes their perspective on learning. So for an engineer simply knowing the year in which the Magna Carta was signed may be impressive, it would be unthinkable for a British history major to not know every detail regarding who signed it, when, why, etc.

Book Review: The Essential Drucker

The Essential Drucker by Peter Drucker is a quintessential book dealing with management. It is composed of a selection of pieces from Drucker's many books over a period of sixty years. His uncanny insight in business has made him one of the world's preeminent philosopher of business. The Essential Drucker highlights important topics covered over three major elements of management: the Management, the Individual, and the Society. Drucker brings these three elements together in order to bring about a managerial environment. In particular, the section on the Individual is poignant and Drucker's theories appears to be rather common sense until one realizes that they are actually uncommon. This essay will attempt to connect Drucker's principles with everyday instances of management.

The first section in the Individual, Effectiveness must be Learned, discusses what it means to be effective in the workforce. To begin with Drucker separates the workforce into two fields by job type. The first is the manual worker. In the past they were the predominant workforce and their effectiveness was measured by the quantity and quality of their output. In the modern society, the knowledge workers is the primary workforce. They are expected to think, analyze, and apply their knowledge in their jobs. Their effectiveness cannot easily be measured since they deal with ideas or concepts rather than a concrete physical output. However, their ideas are essential to the world of business and must be effective in order to progress. Drucker identifies these knowledge workers as “executives” due to their responsibilities and importance to the organization. Going along with this flow, it may be appropriate to consider everyone in this world as an executive. Everyone has responsibilities, everyone creates a daily plan (mental or otherwise), and everyone has daily needs that require management. From this perspective, we can apply all of Drucker's principles to our daily lives for the sake of self improvement.

The next section, Focus on Contribution, focuses on the responsibilities of an effective person. As mentioned previously, the “executives” have a responsibility to perform and be productive. The ultimate aim of these workers should be the results rather than the effort in order to be effective. This is acutely exemplified during the polio eradication chapter Better by Atul Gawande. Pankaj was the executive in charge with the responsibility to ensure that the operation was properly executed. When he interviewed a local medical officer regarding the microplan, Pankaj simply focused on the job. He did not attempt to alleviate the officer's stress when the mistakes were uncovered. The objective was to vaccinate as many people as possible, not to dwell on mistakes and become less effective. That's not to say that one should ignore mistakes. It's best to focus on the goal and correct mistakes instead of placing blame when they occur. Pankaj's commitment to the job also makes him effective. His strong internal motivation enables him to focus solely on his contribution.

Know Your Strength and Values. Drucker mentions that increasingly, the people in the workforce will have to “manage themselves”. They will have to position themselves accordingly to make a contribution. This relates to the idea of motivation that was discussed in class. In order to manage yourself, there must be a motivation to learn and improve. Regardless of the type of motivation (internal or external), one must be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and concentrate on the strengths and remedy bad habits. Drucker mentions that rather than trying to change yourself, it is better to train to improve the way you perform. That is, once you know yourself focus on a duty that fits your strong attributes and do not choose one that does not compliment you. This is an extremely important principle. For example, even the decision to choose a major in college could go wrong if you position yourself outside of your strengths. As we've discussed in class, motivation is often the factor which drives one to succeed. For example, we study hard to get good grades. We understand ourselves such that when we notice a weakness (maybe a class is hard) and realize that in order to succeed (get an A) we must work (study) hard.

Next, Drucker focuses on time management: Know your Time. Effective knowledge workers begin by charting the flow of time and minimize waste. Time is a rare resource therefore it is very valuable and it must be well managed. The best way to manage time is to record and be aware of the demands on your time. Then after disposing of the waste, we can become more productive. I am personally well aware of my time demands. However, it is still difficult to manage it well. There are days where I've felt as though I have done a lot, but after a few moments of introspection, I realize that nothing was productive. This is probably quite normal for many people, and it easily be corrected by recording and analyzing one's time.

Effective people do not make many decisions; they make Effective Decisions. Effective decisions are decisions on a higher, conceptual or abstract level of thinking. Rather than wasting time on many generic problems, solving a few problems on a higher level may yield more outcomes. For example, President Obama follows uses effective decisions when dealing with the current health care issue. By proposing a possible solution or idea at the governmental level, he can attempt to help more people at one go. The first step in the decision process is the realization that the problem can only be solved by a decision that established a rule. Then, after meeting the specifications of the problem, we can work upon compromises, adaptation and solutions, The government is an organization that typically follows these principles.

Since the improvement of media and the introduction to the “flat” world, communication has become more important than ever. It is integral to success of an organization. Yet too much chatter makes us numb and lowers productivity. Drucker believes in Functioning Communications which is based off four fundamentals of communication. Communication is perception, meaning it is a two way street. A single person talking is not communication until there is someone to listen to it. This ties in to the fact that communication is expectation. People perceive what they expect to perceive. We can communicate effectively if we can cater to the recipients expectations. Next, communication is demand. There is a demand for recipients of information. Lastly, communication is different from information. Information yields logic and facts, it is also impersonal. The CIO interview helped the class understand the importance of communication. The CIOs are well aware of Drucker's ideas since they have learned it through experience. Frequent communication can help prevent problems from arising. In addition, it serves to inform everyone involved of progress. Drucker focuses on communication that deals with marketing. However, that can also overlap with other purposes. If the university wishes to start a new program, for example our class project, they would need to apply Drucker's principles before implementing anything.

One of the most important things to an organization is excellent leadership. As a member of a board in a RSO on campus, I understand this very well. A good leader can take an organization to new heights, resurrect a failing one, or destroy it. Drucker discusses Leadership as Work. Rather than “leadership qualities” or charisma, Drucker places performance as the essence of leadership. It is a very boring perspective, however, it explains it well. From a personal point of view, I look forward to an effective leader who can “get the job done”. Although many leaders have had charisma, their effective side has gone by unnoticed. Drucker present President Eisenhower as a prime example. As the president during the Korean War, he was very influential and dealt with many issues effectively. However, he did not possess the charisma or qualities that one idealizes a leader to posses. Choosing a president should be based around their effectiveness rather than their personality or so-called undefined “leadership qualities”. I can understand this perfectly from my position on the board. Everyone on our board is focused on our work and our responsibilities. The organization depends on our performance and we have a large impact on its future. We have to ensure that the organization can survive without us by leaving precedents and effective change.

Talking about the future of an organization, innovation is key to progress. However, innovation is not a result of spontaneity, or flashes of brilliance; innovation is process. The Principles of Innovation involves analysis and systematic hard work in order to be effective. The process begins with an analysis of opportunities available. Next, we seek customers to serve and create a simple but effective innovation. It can be something very small or elementary but it serves a purpose so that it can be a stepping stone for the next innovation. Lastly, leadership must implement strategies to take advantage of the innovation. This process makes it easy to innovate. I had an interview the other day where I was asked to sell a product. However, the “product” was simply a toy with many parts. It was impossible to identify the purpose of the toy, perhaps it was even broken. So in selling the toy, you look at a possible market and then identify the opportunities present. Finally, you market the toy by stating the advantages that it introduces. Given that my “product” was virtually unknown, I ended up selling it as an invention which can improve a cat's diet. Even, I could see that it was perhaps very silly but, it's a better and more realistic idea than selling it as something that can revolutionize the toy industry. I picked a niche market, identified something small as an innovation.

When looking at the future, it is difficult to see where you could be in forty years from now. You may still be working, however it a different environment and maybe in a different company than now. In fact, your current company may not exist in the future. Therefore, Drucker poses the question what to do with The Second Half of Your Life. “Midlife Crisis” has become a popular phrase in the news lately. Baby boomers dramatically changing their lifestyle after becoming bored with their previous job. Many are retiring late and switching to new jobs. Tim Allen, in Home Improvement, even decided to buy a beach house on a whim. Managing oneself will require preparation for the future. There are three solutions as outline by Drucker to this midlife crisis. First, is to change your job, which often involves just transferring to a different type of organization. Second, is to develop a parallel career. This is typically done by engaging in either a part-time organization or non-profit. Lastly, they can start something on their own. However, one must begin to plan for these three options long before they enter this phase. Preparing for the future, not only gives you a sense of security but also a fulfilling experience.

The last of of discussion in the Individual section is The Educated Person. The long and the short of it is that the educated person now matters. Regardless of the classifications of what “education” is, the educated person is a representative of society. Our society is requires knowledge to run it. The educated person's role is to apply their knowledge to the betterment of society. In addition, knowledge spurs on the advance of new theories and ideas which leads to new knowledge. The educated person now becomes a necessity for the sake of the future.

Drucker has touched upon many ideas with this book. He outlines several simple principles which show amazing depth which has never been analyzed before. I can relate to his remarkable insight and my viewpoint has changed. When I see the world through Drucker's eyes, I see an unbiased, balanced and rational world. My daily interactions and behavior are Drucker's principles which I perceive as common sense. However, as I have mentioned before, his common sense tends to uncommon in our real world.

The average worker does not think of himself as an executive. He does not have a physical record of his time management. He may not position himself to his strengths and finally, he may tend to dwell on mistakes and not have a clear goal in mind. In the office, everyone typically has their own responsibilities and few may strive to the most effective. Why does the average man not follow his common sense? I can't really answer that. I myself am sometime included amongst those who aren't very efficient with their time. These simple principles can be followed by someone with a strong motivation and hard work. It is difficult to gather internal motivation as we discussed in class and lets face it, not many people like to work hard.

From the sense of the book and the style of the author, we can see that Drucker intends this book to be similar to a guide book to management. The topics that I have detailed before are bullet points that can followed one step at a time to become a more effective worker. This also ties in with our course objectives directly as a method of designing for effective change. Drucker is focused on the idea of efficiency, productivity and effectiveness. There is a lot to be learned from this book which can help us be successful in our venture.

My reason for focusing on the Individual section is that it is the most informative section which can be tied to anybody working in any field. The goal is self improvement rather than a method to success.

Quick Draft Before Final Check

The Essential Drucker by Peter Drucker is a quintessential book dealing with management. It is composed of a selection of pieces from Drucker's many books over a period of sixty years. His uncanny insight in business has made him one of the world's preeminent philosopher of business. The Essential Drucker highlights important topics covered over three major elements of management: the Management, the Individual, and the Society. Drucker brings these three elements together in order to bring about a managerial environment. In particular, the section on the Individual is poignant and Drucker's theories appears to be rather common sense until one realizes that they are actually uncommon.

The first section in the Individual, Effectiveness must be Learned, discusses what it means to be effective in the workforce. To begin with Drucker separates the workforce into two fields by job type. The first is the manual worker. In the past they were the predominant workforce and their effectiveness was measured by the quantity and quality of their output. In the modern society, the knowledge workers is the primary workforce. They are expected to think, analyze, and apply their knowledge in their jobs. Their effectiveness cannot easily be measured since they deal with ideas or concepts rather than a concrete physical output. However, their ideas are essential to the world of business and must be effective in order to progress. Drucker identifies these knowledge workers as “executives” due to their responsibilities and importance to the organization.

The next section, Focus on Contribution, focuses on the responsibilities of an effective person. As mentioned previously, the “executives” have a responsibility to perform and be productive. The ultimate aim of these workers should be the results rather than the effort in order to be effective. This is acutely exemplified during the polio eradication chapter Better by Atul Gawande. Pankaj was the executive in charge with the responsibility to ensure that the operation was properly executed. When he interviewed a local medical officer regarding the microplan, Pankaj simply focused on the job. He did not attempt to alleviate the officer's stress when the mistakes were uncovered. The objective was to vaccinate as many people as possible, not to dwell on mistakes and become less effective. Pankaj's commitment to the job also makes him effective. His strong internal motivation enables him to focus solely on his contribution.

Know Your Strength and Values. Drucker mentions that increasingly, the people in the workforce will have to “manage themselves”. They will have to position themselves accordingly to make a contribution. This relates to the idea of motivation that was discussed in class. In order to manage yourself, there must be a motivation to learn and improve. Regardless of the type of motivation, one must be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Then concentrate on the strengths and remedy bad habits. Drucker mentions that rather than trying to change yourself, it is better to train to improve the way you perform. That is, once you know yourself focus on a duty that fits your strong attributes and do not choose one that does not compliment you. This is an extremely important principle. For example, even the decision to choose a major in college could go wrong if you position yourself outside of your strengths.

Next, Drucker focuses on time management. Know your Time; effective knowledge workers begin by charting the flow of time and minimize waste. Time is a rare resource therefore it is very valuable and it must be well managed. The best way to manage time is to record and be aware of the demands on your time. Then after disposing of the waste, we can become more productive. I am personally well aware of my time demands. However, it is still difficult to manage it well. There are days where I've felt as though I have done a lot, but after a few moments of introspection, I realize that nothing was productive. This is probably quite normal for many people, and it easily be corrected by recording and analyzing one's time.


Effective people do not make many decisions; they make Effective Decisions. Effective decisions are decisions on a higher, conceptual or abstract level of thinking. Rather than wasting time on many generic problems, solving a few problems on a higher level may yield more outcomes. For example, President Obama follows uses effective decisions when dealing with the current health care issue. By proposing a possible solution or idea at the governmental level, he can attempt to help more people at one go. The first step in the decision process is the realization that the problem can only be solved by a decision that established a rule. Then, after meeting the specifications of the problem, we can work upon compromises, adaptation and solutions, The government is an organization that typically follows these principles.

Since the improvement of media and the introduction to the “flat” world, communication has become more important than ever. It is integral to success of an organization. Yet too much chatter makes us numb and lowers productivity. Drucker believes in Functioning Communications which is based off four fundamentals of communication. Communication is perception, meaning it is a two way street. A single person talking is not communication until there is someone to listen to it. This ties in to the fact that communication is expectation. People perceive what they expect to perceive. We can communicate effectively if we can cater to the recipients expectations. Next, communication is demand. There is a demand for recipients of information. Lastly, communication is different from information. Information yields logic and facts, it is also impersonal. The CIO interview helped the class understand the importance of communication. The CIOs are well aware of Drucker's ideas since they have learned it through experience.

One of the most important things to an organization is excellent leadership. As a member of a board in a RSO on campus, I understand this very well. A good leader can take an organization to new heights, resurrect a failing one, or destroy it. Drucker discusses Leadership as Work. Rather than “leadership qualities” or charisma, Drucker places performance as the essence of leadership. It is a very boring perspective, however, it explains it well. From a personal point of view, I look forward to an effect leader who can “get the job done”. Although many leaders have had charisma, their effective side has gone by unnoticed. Choosing a president should be based around their effectiveness rather than their personality or so called undefined “leadership qualities”. I can understand this perfectly from my position on the board. Everyone on our board is focused on our work and keeping responsibilities. The organization depends on our performance.

Talking about the future of an organization, innovation is key to progress. However, innovation is not a result of spontaneity, or flashes of brilliance; innovation is process. The Principles of Innovation involves analysis and systematic hard work in order to be effective. The process begins with an analysis of opportunities available. Next, we seek customers to serve and create a simple but effective innovation. It can be something very small or elementary but it serves a purpose so that it can be a stepping stone for the next innovation. Lastly, leadership must implement strategies to take advantage of the innovation. This process makes it easy to innovate. I had an interview the other day where I was asked to sell a product. However, the “product” was simply a toy with many parts. It was impossible to identify the purpose of the toy, perhaps it was even broken. So in selling the toy, you look at a possible market and then identify the opportunities present. Finally, you market the toy by stating the advantages that it introduces. Given that my “product” was virtually unknown, I ended up selling it as an invention which can improve a cat's diet. Even, I could see that it was perhaps very silly but, it's a better and more realistic idea than selling it as something that can revolutionize the toy industry. I picked a niche market, identified something small as an innovation.

When looking at the future, it is difficult to see where you could be in forty years from now. You may still be working, however it a different environment and maybe in a different company than now. In fact, your current company may not exist in the future. Therefore, Drucker poses the question what to do with The Second Half of Your Life. “Midlife Crisis” has become a popular phrase in the news lately. Baby boomers dramatically changing their lifestyle after becoming bored with their previous job. Many are retiring late and switching to new jobs. Tim Allen, in Home Improvement, even decided to buy a beach house on a whim. Managing oneself will require preparation for the future. There are three solutions as outline by Drucker to this midlife crisis. First, is to change your job, which often involves just transferring to a different type of organization. Second, is to develop a parallel career. This is typically done by engaging in either a part-time organization or non-profit. Lastly, they can start something on their own. However, one must begin to plan for these three options long before they enter this phase. Preparing for the future, not only gives you a sense of security but also a fulfilling experience.

The last of of discussion in the Individual section is The Educated Person. The long and the short of it is that the educated person now matters. Regardless of the classifications of what “education” is, the educated person is a representative of society. Our society is requires knowledge to run it. The educated person's role is to apply their knowledge to the betterment of society. In addition, knowledge spurs on the advance of new theories and ideas which leads to new knowledge. The educated person now becomes a necessity for the sake of the future.

Drucker has touched upon many ideas with this book. He outlines several simple principles which show amazing depth which has never been analyzed before. I can relate to his remarkable insight and my viewpoint has changed. When I see the world through Drucker's eyes, I see an unbiased, balanced and rational world. My daily interactions and behavior are Drucker's principles which I perceive as common sense. However, as I have mentioned before, his common sense tends to uncommon in our real world.

The average worker does not think of himself as an executive. He does not have a physical record of his time management. He may not position himself to his strengths and finally, he may tend to dwell on mistakes and not have a clear goal in mind. In the office, everyone typically has their own responsibilities and few may strive to the most effective. Why does the average man not follow his common sense? I can't really answer that. I myself am sometime included amongst those who aren't very efficient with their time. These simple principles can be followed by someone with a strong motivation and hard work. It is difficult to gather internal motivation as we discussed in class and lets face it, not many people like to work hard.

From the sense of the book and the style of the author, we can see that Drucker intends this book to be similar to a guide book to management. The topics that I have detailed before are bullet points that can followed one step at a time to become a more effective worker. My reason for focusing on the Individual section is that it is the most informative section which can be tied to anybody working in any field. The goal is self improvement rather than a method to success.

Precis

Admittedly it is very late and short, but I have a lot of material to cover and my precis would end up paraphrasing my rough draft if I go into any more detail. There is a lot of material for the paper so it should be of a reasonable length.

The Essential of Drucker by Peter Drucker focuses on three major aspects of the idea of management: the management, the individual, and the society. These three elements together bring about a managerial environment which Drucker intends to analyze and yield its most efficient form. Each aspect covers a tremendous amount of ground and hold many intricacies so I will focus my book review to The Individual.

The reason for limiting the discussion to a single theme is that I find that I can relate to many topics that Drucker covers in this section. Each chapter in this theme develops another aspect of the individual's responsibilities.

Effectiveness must be learned
Focus on Contribution
Know your strength and values
Know your time
Effective Decisions
Functioning Communications
Leadership as work
Principles of Innovation
The second half of your life
The Educated Person

I would like to focus on each chapter and first discuss Drucker's principles. Then I will give a few examples of current practices in large corporate organizations and maybe compare them to University related issues from a student perspective. Finally I'll share a few personal experiences and tie in the material to what we discussed in class.

Although this is only one small section of the book, there are many examples to delve into and several connections that can be made. For example, the Functioning Communications chapter ties in closely with the CIO interview. Effective Decisions can be tied to Better, regarding the polio eradication incident.

I will explore Drucker's ideas in detail and then attempt to branch out into real life situations, give examples and tie in other material that we may have discussed in class. This paper can be interpreted as an analysis of the Individual section.

For the most part, I agree with Druckers insights and theories. They seem rather common sense and touch you. There are also not very difficult to implement from the individual's perspective. His style of writing is not very formal and is frequented with examples from his personal experience. It emphasizes that his ideas are not revolutionary or random. It's just that no one has ever set out to identify key qualities of management. Finally, his goal to spread this knowledge so that everyone is capable of basic management skills.

Alignment

I agree with Drucker that alignment is a big issue. I have been a part of several groups that have faced problems when someone hasn't pulled their own weight. Not only is the entire mission pushed back, everyone then has to take on the added burden. It feels frustrating to know that you have done your best and yet the result of our group efforts are torn down by a single person.

This is an example from high school when our society was responsible for setting up a banquet. The planning started off very well with everyone volunteering to join a particular group. Each group was then in charge of various aspects like setting up, getting sponsors, food, etc. In the beginning things were looking well with all the groups moving according to plan. But later as we approached the day of the banquet we noticed that the all the groups were on target except of the one in charge of entertainment.

The banquet would last a couple hours since it was also a celebration party for the special Olympics athletes. So entertainment was sorely needed in order to keep things throughout the entire banquet. As we pushed for results from the entertainment group the entire group broke down. Now everyone else had their own projects to work on however, tis matter took priority. After a lot of discussion, it was decided that we would supply the entertainment ourselves due to the limited time available in order to hire someone. People volunteered to dress up as characters and everyone else scrambled to create games, compile music and come up with homemade ideas. In the end the banquet was a success with good responses but the entire process took a large toll on us especially since we did not expect the extra workload.

In this scenario, I can't exactly say that the management was bad. We had set up weekly sessions to monitor each groups responsibilities and progress. There is also a fine line between discovering the problem late or taking action too early. Each group had its own set of problems in the early weeks but managed to solve them later. Technically, I suppose that its the entertainment groups fault for not performing their tasks.

It's easy to place blame but its harder to correct mistakes. In our case, everything was perfect at the end. Its just that we had to deal with an unnecessary excess burden. We discussed this in class the other day that Drucker has also mentioned everything is the managements responsibility. Its the management fault if the end result was poor or if any mistakes occur. It is a rather harsh, or a cut and dry assessment but I agree with his viewpoint. Our method of handling this situation reflects that.

I think that this is true of most organizations without an official management board. Our club's assessment was that regardless of who failed, it is a failure of the entire club. The success of the event depends on all of our efforts and rather than waste time and place blame, we must work towards the completion of the event. When looking at today's corporates, upon a failure they simply sacrifice the management but the original problem is not yet solved.

Back to the main topic, I think that alignment is brought about through communication. The CIOs we interviewed in class also mentioned that the most important thing to foster teamwork is frequent and direct communication. It is thanks to this that our problem was caught early and we were able to create an alternative plan.

This is example form freshman year when we had to write a group research paper. The entire group met regularly for meetings, however one member did not turn in his portion of the drafts on time. This happened during every group meeting we had set up for the drafts. However, all of us had various things to do and we did not communicate properly. Finally during our final draft we realized that he had not written his piece at all. The rest of us then scrambled to finish his piece without a good understanding of his topic. We did not have enough time to research on it since we had our own project. We ended up “fudging” his part of the paper and instead embellished upon ours. If we had maintained proper communication throughout the project we would not have written a lower quality paper.

It is important when many groups or individuals are working in parallel but towards to same goal to be aligned. If not, they may end up pulling each other behind and create more obstacles in the way of progress. From personal experience I can see that this problem can be solved just through the use of communication.

Taking Stock

This is our fourth week of blogging this semester; however, I still don’t feel as though I’ve gained a particular style of writing. I’ve maintained an informal tone since these blogs are our reflections. Rather than a paper, I’ve tried to write down my thoughts as though I were speaking to someone. But in the end, I’ve noticed that I don’t delve too deeply into the topics that we cover. I only go over the theme on the surface and I don’t have any particular example to talk about.
This can easily be solved if I just think about the material a little more and do some extra readings to gain perspective, but I don’t think that the problem. I’m a reserved person by nature, and I do not express myself freely. To put it simply, although blogging is fun, it’s not my cup of tea. I like to debate, exchange opinions but I’d prefer to talk to someone personally. I also do not like broadcasting my opinions to the world.
There are also certain topics that I feel more comfortable about, where I have an opinion or material to discuss. To improve myself, I think that I must take my time and think more deeply. I should also attempt to read more about the topics. In addition to both things, I should also try to be expressive in my writing. I can try to improve my style of writing so that my thoughts are easier to understand and focus on a single item of discussion rather than being very broad. I tend to look at things from a larger perspective so I miss out on a lot of minor details that are also interesting to discuss. If I focus on something, I may have more opinions on the topic and therefore to write about.
I'm certainly better able to connect ideas discussed in class to my own experiences by writing these blogs. In that sense, I still feel that writing weekly reflections is a positive step that I wouldn't have taken otherwise. I'm glad to be in this class and I want to improve myself so that I can gain the most from this experience. I'll try out some new things as the semester progresses to take my reflections to the next level.

Establishing A Conversation

“ In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.”

This is a somewhat famous line from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Ben Stein, the economics teacher, with a lot of effort attempts to get the class to participate. As he tries to pause for effect and wait for answer from the class, the students appear to either uninterested or in a state of deep coma. Although the movie tended to exaggerate the affairs of a high school student, I could personally relate to this particular scene. In my life there have been many moments where due to a lack of conversation there is either a lull and/or an awkward silence.

This happens quite frequently in many of my classes. The professor poses a question and waits for a response and finally ends up providing the answer himself in order to continue the lecture. Often, the questions are very easy and it appears as though the entire class knows the answer and yet no one raises their hand or their voice. A few professors have gotten smart and pose questions in different ways such as, “Does anyone not understand this topic?” So when no one raises their hand the professor just continues on with his lecture. In many cases, the professor either ends up picking on someone or giving up altogether. Lately, I’ve noticed that professors carry around a class log with photos and then pick on students to give answers. It may be a faster method than waiting however, before he picks someone the entire class ends up in cold sweat as if awaiting Armageddon.

Personally, I’m not a fan of choosing students at random. There are days where I feel more talkative and other days where I’m just not in the mood. There may be a few people who love to stand out in class and others who are just shy. In the worst case, you just simply don’t know the answer and yet you are forced to become an example in front of the whole class. In the last example, one also fears punishment from the lecturer, or embarrassment from the peers. At this point, a few professors are kind and simply point out your mistake, however a few others also make fun of the student. I don’t feel like participating in a class where the students exist just to prove that the professor is a genius.

The classroom setting is not the only place where a lack of conversation can occur. There is also the everyday social setting. When meeting someone for the first time, you can introduce yourself but sometime the other party may not respond or just not show any interest beyond the pleasantries. It’s rather difficult to establish a relationship without both side being open and at the very least interested. You can’t force the other person to open up, as they may shy away even more. That’s not to say that just because they don’t cozy right up to you that they’re antisocial. Some people just take a little time to warm up and build a good relationship.

In most cases the most you can do is act pleasant and not to be pushy. Just give the other party the time and the freedom to open up at their own pace. I don’t believe in making someone talk when they don’t wish to. When you feel that the other party has no intention to ever have a conversation, the most you can do is at least show that you yourself are an open persona and easy to talk to. You could interest them by talking about topics that they are familiar with or they have any opinion about. This is typically the case where one party would like to understand the actions of the other. A personal experience is when you parents yell at you for something that you have done. It’s just another way of them trying to understand your actions. At this time I silently stare at the floor with nothing to say as I am getting disciplinary lecture. Even this could be a form of conversation because at the end I at least understand what my mom was trying to convey.

The final conclusion is that it is impossible to have a conversation with a brick wall. If the other party refuses to talk there is nothing more you can do than to just wait for the time when they are willing to have a conversation.

Impossible Problems and Group Efforts

As I read Better, I realize that there are a lot of parallels between what Gawande has written and things that we experience everyday albeit on a different scale. There are a lot of topics that we can relate to ourselves. We discussed in class about the hand-washing and the eradication of polio. Both are important to the global population but appear to be impossible to implement. Especially the part about eradicating polio, there are many more disease out there in the world that need to be eradicated. In the same section of Better, many people mentioned that diarrhea kills many more children in India than polio. Instead of spending millions of dollars trying to wipe off polio from the world, it might be better to create better sewage and irrigation systems, or improve nutrition among the children. In addition, cases of malaria and TB are more prominent and deserve recognition too. I agree with Pankaj’s response that the eradication of polio is worthwhile.

Rather than attempting to solve everything at once, it may be a better idea to improve the world’s situation one item at a time. An example of problems that we face close to us is underage drinking. Especially on a college campus, there are many underage students who drink alcohol. Police bust parties every year and fine drunk students on the streets. Yet, these actions taken by the law do not seem to affect the population. There are many contributors to this problem. Bars admit students above 19 years of age, however only those over 21 may drink. Those underage are constantly in the presence of those drinking and may occasionally get an urge to try it. There are many more factors including the media, and peer pressure.

There have been many attempts to try and reduce the number of people who drink underage. The campus sponsors a yearly program where incoming freshman must attend. The program details danger of underage drinking and the legal penalties that are imposed. Many organizations have advertisements that caution people at drinking and driving. A few of these are targeted at the underage population. This problem is so serious that even high schools hold seminars every year. The many groups have poured in millions of dollars to educate children from an early age.

Then again, I don’t think the problem is just that someone below legal age is consuming alcohol. The detrimental effects of drinking are just that the person easily loses their judgment and their reaction time slows down. The ultimate aim of these groups is to prevent alcoholism and accidents. These programs are initiated to help people be more conscious of their actions and to prevent any unnecessary harm that they can do while impaired. You often hear stories of drunk drivers killing others while remaining relatively unharmed. For example, most countries in Europe have a different legal drinking age limit imposed. They can drink at 16 however, they can only drive after they are 18. It is also known that those countries don’t have as big a problem on underage drinking as the United States.

Actually, things have improved with the combined effects of many organizations. Although many incidents still continue to happen, the population is more aware of the ill effects of alcohol. It is quite impossible to eliminate underage consumption however, the situation is slightly better after their efforts.

Test Post

This is just to test to see if the blog is visible/readable on IE and Chrome.

Course Expectations

In the beginning, I wasn’t planning on taking this class. I have already completed a seminar and I’m not obligated to take another one. However, as I looked through the classes offered for this semester on the CHP website, this class immediately struck me. As Prof. Arvan mentioned in class the other day, the title was somewhat grandiose: Designing for Effective Change. So I read the description and the class seemed very exciting. I have considered management for graduate studies for a long time and this was an opportunity to learn a little more outside of engineering and get some experience writing papers.

My writing skills have always needed a little work and in the past year I have not written many intensive papers. The only way to improve is through practice and this course requires a lot of it. Although it does seem a little daunting right now, as I get started the entire process should get smoother and I’ll improve with time. In addition, the topics are very interesting and the books are excellent reads so the class itself is rather enjoyable.

The biggest reason for taking this class is to read the books and articles recommended by the professor. I like to read primarily fiction but I’m also interested in several non-fiction works by a few authors. It’s difficult to find a book that fits my interests and I’m somewhat picky. However, the books suggested in this course are actually very appealing and thought provoking. I’ll be able to read books that I find interesting for a class and discuss it with others who hold similar interests. The class discussions provide new insights and perspectives that have previously never occurred to me.

The topics that we cover in class are very relevant to the world right now. People are experimenting with various methods to bring about a change. But what is “effective” change. Does that just mean that their method worked or is there more to it? It is an interesting topic to think about and the meaning changes depending on your perspective. It is also interesting to see what causes change and the ideas that are implemented. Mohammed Yunus defied common banking norms to create a program which many people support today. To go against intuitive logic and yet implement change that yields successful results, it makes one wonder if there are many other cases that we identify as normal but can be turned around. It is also interesting to think about how small actions can cause a big change. In Better, Gawande discussed how just by washing hands doctors can reduce the risk of spreading infections by over 90 percent. It may seem as common sense to us but doctors visit several patients everyday and to spend few minutes washing hands after visiting each patient adds up and begins to get irritating. Hospitals are finding new ways to simplify the process by introducing alcohol gels which are more effective. However, infections are still common.

Overall, I expect the class to fun and interesting. I would like to learn more about change and what it entails and talk to the guests and learn from their experience. I think it would be very helpful in giving me a little experience in management. Lastly, since this is an interdisciplinary class, I get to hear a lot of viewpoints and discuss varying topics with other like minded people.

Greetings

Hi everyone,

This is my first time blogging and even writing something similar to a journal, so a few things may take a while. However, I think its great that everyone in the class is writing one. It's going to be a fun class this semester and I'm looking forward to it.