A630.4.4.RB_How Companies Can Make Better Decisions_ReyesCassandra

After viewing the video in the previous activity, reflect on the following questions in a well-written post on your Reflection Blog.

Marcia Blenko argues that decision effectiveness correlates positively with employee engagement and organizational performance. How do you think that employee engagement relates to decision effectiveness?

What are some impediments to good decision making?

Blenko suggests that there are four elements of good decisions: quality, speed, yield, and effort. In your opinion, is there anything missing from this list?

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

No organization can be successful without the ability of its leaders to make good, effective decisions. In order to achieve this, corporate leaders and their counterparts must be able to be consistent with their choices and also take some strategic risks in whatever market or business they are trying to tap into. Like anything else, there are many barriers to decision making effectiveness but if implemented correctly, the choices made by organizations can lead them to major success if they focus on the factors and considerations that entail the necessary examination and adaptation to ensure proper timing and placement of decision making selections.

            In the Harvard Business Review Video, How Companies Can Make Better Decisions, Marcia Blenko argues that decision effectiveness correlates positively with employee engagement and organizational performance (HBR 2010). In my personal opinion I would have to agree with this statement as I have been on both ends of reaching a high level of employee engagement and a low level of employee disengagement. In a position I held some time ago, I was extremely empowered and motivated by upper level management. I was told to be creative and take initiative and that it was okay to make mistakes as we learned from them. I had never felt so empowered in any other jobs I had held and it had allowed me to grow in both my personal and professional goals and aspirations. After holding this position for quite some time, I was promoted and was therefore placed under new management.

In this new position I held, the management I received was very degrading and stifling. I was immediately disappointed as I believed the promotion at the time was a step in the right direction for me in order to enhance my creative abilities and implement new and improved strategic changes in my organization. Instead I was faced with a decreased level of interest in my new role as those creative abilities and level of empowerment and engagement were completely stripped of me. I was left micromanaged, frustrated and asking myself why I had ever taken this promotion. It was as though I took a step backwards instead of forward.

“Engagement is an outcome. People choose to become engaged if they have sufficient opportunity and motivation. You can create the conditions so that people to do things because they want to, rather than because they were told to. ” (Partovi, 2013). This was a clear message my management at the time was missing. Instead of being motivated and empowered I was stifled and stripped of all potential abilities to be outgoing, creative, and influential in the decision making processes that were taking place. There are always impediments to achieving desired results. A true leader must be able to recognize those impediments and do their best to ensure that those barriers are kept to a minimum so the organization is able to experience the positive contributions made by staff members.

Some of the impediments to good decision making include a foggy or inaccurate vision of the organizational expectations or goals and non-existent implementations of employee engagement, empowerment, motivation and recognition. If the organization experiences a lack of trust, ownership or strategic planning and abilities this could also lead to ineffective decision making. As decision making can be quite difficult at times it is important that organizations recognize that good decision making is a skill set that can be developed over time. The more and more decisions that are made, the better and better you will get at making them, however it is also important to remember that on this journey mistakes will be made along the way, some of which can lead to organizational distress, which is why it is important to always educate oneself on all factors of the effectiveness of decision making. In the words of Mike Wyatt in his blog 6 Tips for Making Better Decisions:

You cannot separate leadership from decisioning, for like it or not, they are inexorably linked. Put simply, the outcome of a leader’s choices and decisions can, and usually will, make or break them. The fact of the matter is that senior executives who rise to the C-suite do so largely based upon their ability to consistently make sound decisions. What most fail to realize is while it may take years of solid decision making to reach the boardroom, it often times only takes one bad decision to fall from the ivory tower. As much as you may wish it wasn’t so, when it comes to being a leader you’re really only as good as your last decision. (Myatt, 2013).

            In order to make good decisions one must consider the elements of what good decision making is all about. In the HBR video discussed above Marcia Blenko states that her team defined decision making by the quality speed, yield and effort of the decision being made (HBR 2010). While I would agree that each of these elements plays a true factor in the success of decision making, I also feel as though boundary conditions of decisions should also be taken into consideration as almost any decision made will have barriers placed before it and it is important to know how to get past those barriers in order o be successful. I also feel as though feedback of decisions are important because it allows for all factors, opinions, views and suggestions to be considered before a decision is implemented so that the organization can be successful in all of its ventures.

            What I feel I would take away most from this exercise is how to be more cognizant of organizational barriers and decision making effectiveness and my personal responsibility to stay active in building these skills and implementing them as best as I can in my place of work despite the organizational or management difficulties I may face in the future. I think that I am better prepared to prioritize the factors that good decision making entails and better able to reflect upon the pros and cons of any strategic plans put forth in my department or position that I hold now or will hold in the future. I also believe that the video has helped me to think more objectively about decision making skills and the abilities that it takes for leaders to effectively make decisions sometimes based off of the very little information they have. I feel more prepared and inspired to make effective decisions in both my place of work as well as my home life as each environment offers very different aspects and goals of success.

References

D, J. (2009, March 19). 5 Elements of an Effective Decision Making Process : Sources of Insight. Retrieved from http://sourcesofinsight.com/5-elements-of-an-effective-decision-making-process/

Harvard Business Review (2010, October 13). How Companies Can Make Better Decisions, Faster [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbxpg6D4Hk8&feature=player_embedded

Myatt, M. (2012, March 8). 6 Tips for Making Better Decisions - Forbes [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/03/28/6-tips-for-making-better-decisions/

Partovi, M. (2013, May 26). 8 tips for improving employee engagement — Let’s make organisations better! — Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/lets-make-organisations-better/eb98c7a48704

A630.3.3.RB_A Day in the Life of the Culture Committee_Reyes,Cassandra

            Southwest Airlines is one of the most profitable airlines in today’s aviation industry. Because of their success in both internal and external accomplishments they have been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the most profitable airlines among its competitors. For 34 years Southwest has been profitable every single quarter bringing their net income to $499 million dollars in 2006. What’s even more remarkable is that Southwest has won the Triple Crown award for five years in a row. This award is given to airlines who are “number one in the most on time flights, least lost baggage and fewest customer complaints” (Cooper, Lopper and Trammell, 2007).

While Southwest offers flights at an affordable rate and works hard to ensure that they are providing top notch customer service to their customers, what makes Southwest so successful has nothing to do with profits, or statistics. Their success has plenty to do with how they treat their customers, but even more so Southwest is successful because of how they treat their own people. Colleen Barrett is the President of SWA and works hard to consistently bridge gaps between departments and employees to ensure that every member of her organization feels appreciated and respected. Barrett’s idea of servant leadership allows for the employees of Southwest to recognize and encourage one another in their efforts and contributions to the organization.

“In today’s organizations, change leaders are seeking to make a more fundamental shift in the capabilities of their organization. They are not looking for marginal improvements; their goal is to reinvent themselves” (Brown, Pg, 62, 2011). In order to keep the Southwest spirit alive and thriving, Colleen Barrett and Herb Kelleher, the founder and chairman of the board for SWA created the Southwest Culture Committee which has become the foundation of SWA’s fun loving spirit and takes appreciation and recognition to a whole new level. Barrett’s unique vision and innovative ways of showing gratitude exemplify the definition of a corporate culture.

Barrett’s ability to implement change is contagious. She has worked tirelessly to strategically create a team dedicated to establishing a positive, productive and rewarding culture for SWA. The Culture Committee’s mission is simple; “to help create the Southwest spirit and culture where needed; to enrich it and make it better where it already exists; and to liven it up in places where it might be floundering” (Cooper, Lopper and Trammell, 2007). Southwest believes that their customers come second to their employees. Each member of the Southwest team puts in their efforts to help promote the feeling of family and cohesiveness that many organizations are lacking today. Instead of members working to tear each other down, like you may see in other competitive organizational environments, Southwest employees do just the opposite. They work extra hard to build each other up. “A corporate culture must achieve goals as well as satisfy the needs of the members if the organization is to be effective” (Brown, Pg, 65, 2011). With Southwest being named number one for Fortune magazines “100 best Companies to Work for in America” (Cooper, Lopper and Trammell, 2007), I would say that they have not only met this challenge, but surpassed it.

While Southwest seems to have truly figured out the element of success for a dedicated culture amongst their members, I believe that other organizations including my own could incorporate just a touch of the culture for change that SWA has implemented into their organizational structure. In order for my organization to benefit from such an enhanced and effective culture, I believe that it should begin with bridging together the gaps between departments and tiers that we currently have. There are a lot of grey areas in some of our current processes and procedures and I don’t feel as though each department understands or respects what their various departmental counterparts accomplish on a day to day basis. I think that sometimes many members of various departments are too quick to place blame or simply overlook all of the duties and responsibilities of their colleagues around them. I feel that if we incorporated various training and “get to know you” sessions we could begin to start to trust one another rather than place blame where it shouldn’t be.

Herb Kelleher has said that “culture is one of the most precious things that a company has, so you must work harder on it than anything else” however the difficulty with culture is that “an organization may also have subcultures with differing or even conflicting corporate cultures” (Brown, Pg 64, 2011). This statement has made me realize that while an organization may do their best to implement a positive cultural environment, they are unable to control the subcultures that may be unexpectedly finding their way into the organizational hierarchy. Therefore I believe that employee support and recognition of one another would be a great change to start implementing into our organizational structure. This would help with creating a more internalized and identified and influential corporate culture that we could all follow. By following a more defined Corporate Culture Index, we could enhance our contributions to “member identity, team emphasis, people focus, autonomy, control, and risk tolerance” (Brown, Pg, 65, 2011).

Corporate culture is defined as the “tangible and intangible characteristics of an organization including aspirations, reward systems, behaviors, assumptions, performance, rituals, communications and heritage” (Brown, Pg, 63, 2011). In order for a balanced vision to take place in an organization, it needs a model for change that is attainable and respectable. In order to accomplish this, I question how Southwest deals with resistance to cultural change or the implementations of change strategy. I question how new strategies are devised and executed in order to ensure their success especially when faced with technological, social and global challenges. I would also ask, what small scale changes Southwest may implement when a large scale change needs to take place but may be inhibited at the time due to certain regulations or policies and procedures. Lastly, I would want to know how Southwest deals with those who oppose change or are not welcoming to it. When commitment to the organizational culture is challenged, what steps are taken to ensure that one bad apple doesn’t ruin the bunch? While I am sure that SWA does experience barriers to their successes, it is clear that what they are doing is working, and their dedication to organizational culture has a lot to do with it.

Cassandra R.

      References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development(8th ed.). Upper

            Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

McGee-Cooper, A., Looper, G., & Trammell, D. (2008). The Power of LUV: An Inside Peek at the Innovative Culture Committee of Southwest Airlines. Reflections, 9(1), 49-54. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/ehost/detail?sid=18beacdb-0bd1-4187-a44d-8ae929b6fa39%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=118&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=32040287

A630.2.4.RB_21st Century Enlightenment_ReyesCassandra

Change is inevitable. We face it every day and every day we are challenged as individuals, as families, as workers and as a society to consistently move forward with change in the hopes that our contributions to ourselves and those around us are sufficient enough to ensure success in our separate endeavors either to ourselves or to one another. We have not just seen change. We have experienced it and even more so, we have contributed to it. Transformations of change have been witnessed for days, months, and years and will continue to be witnessed for decades and centuries to come. Even if the change that we hope for is not accomplished in the lifetime we live, we move on to the hope that our friends, families and offspring experience this change in their own lifetimes and benefit from the many opportunities it may have to offer.

            Change isn’t a secret. It isn’t a shadow lurking in the dark and it isn’t something we can run from. The only way to deal with change is to take it head on. Allow for it to show its full potential and its expectations of us, so we can then push forward with implementing our own conscious decisions and creative solutions in dealing with the revolutions that organizations, economies, cultures, technology and society will throw before us. We “exist in an ever changing environment and therefore must have the capacity to adapt.” (Brown, pg 33, 2011). But with all of the competition, the negativity, and the challenges we face, how is this possible? How can we ensure success and development, when the challenges and barriers of change are always staring us dead in the face?

            Matthew Taylor’s RSA Video Animation the 21^st  Century Enlightenment tells us how we can do this. The idea behind RSA’s video is to show the history of society and remind us of where we came from and where we have the potential of going. It begins by pinpointing some of our nation’s greatest pioneers and philosophers such as Copernicus, Newton, and Galileo and the ideas and inspirations that stimulated a movement toward a change to better our world and society as a whole. I believe the video is called the Enlightenment because it focuses on a progressive outlook on today’s society and “invites us to return to core principles of autonomy, universalism and humanism, restoring dimensions which have been lost and seeing new ways to fulfill these ideals” (Taylor, RSA Essay, Twenty-first century enlightenment).

            In the video Matthew Taylor states that in order “to live differently you have to think differently” (Taylor, RSA Animate, 21^st Century Enlightenment). To me this is a challenge for society to branch out of our traditional views and ways of thinking and become more innovative with how we approach or see things. Taylor invites us to strategically promote new ways of thinking and challenges us to stimulate our minds into achieving a new level of social innovation that is rarely seen these days. I think that the challenge Taylor sets before us is one to experiment with more ways in becoming proactive rather than reactive to situations and the challenges we face as a society. The driving force behind society’s successes and failures stems from its contributors and to be successful, everyone involved must ensure that they are doing their part to unleash revolutionary ideas, products and creations that have the ability to reform and renew themselves moving forward.

            Taylor moves on in the video to state that we need "to resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange" (Taylor RSA Animate, 21^st Century Enlightenment). I think that Taylor means that in order to advance and move forward with becoming innovators and strategic thinkers which will help to advance our society, we must place ourselves in uncomfortable positions and stop being so quick to make choices that are less intimidating and more obvious to us. When we do this, all we are creating are conceptual blocks within ourselves and others which inhibit us from creative problem solving solutions. When we place negative emphasis on things that seem strange to us or that we are uncomfortable with we are creating a conceptual blockage of constancy, commitment, compression and complacency to our ways of thinking resulting in reduced innovation and creativity of ideas.

            Constancy “occurs because individuals become wedded to one way of looking at a problem or using one approach to define, describe or solve it” (Whetton and Cameron, Pg 186 2010). When we do this surviving the changes on our global society becomes impossible as we are not able to effectively manage our social, technological and environmental constraints. While we hold a commitment true to the successes of our past, present and future, too much commitment can create issues as it can also stifle creativity in decision making. “Two forms of commitment that produce conceptual blocks are stereotyping based on past experiences and ignoring commonalities” (Whetton and Cameron, Pg 189, 2010). When we follow through on a “particular point of view definition or solution” (Whetton and Cameron, Pg 188, 2010) we risk individual and societal progress.

            Many different types of conceptual blocks occur on a daily basis in professional as well as personal environments making it that much more difficult for organizations and its members to remain successful in their competitive environments. “Every organization must have enough stability to continue to function satisfactorily and still prevent itself from becoming too static or stagnant to adapt to changing conditions” (Brown, Pg, 34, 2011). My current organization experienced a recent organizational restructure which challenged its place in institutional effectiveness and challenged its employees to move with the change of times. While upper leadership promoted the efficiency of what the change would bring many employees conceptual blocks  of compression and complacency didn’t allow them to see the vision our organization had for us and our students.

            Compression occurs when individuals look “too narrowly at a problem, screening out too much relevant data and making assumptions that inhibit problem solutions” (Whetton and Cameron, Pg, 190, 2010) and complacency occurs because of “fear, ignorance, insecurity, or just plain mental laziness” (Whetton and Cameron, Pg, 190, 2010). It was clear that with the new organizational changes that would be implemented many staff member had their blinders on and were hesitant on accepting them in fear of how the reform would positively and negatively affect them. According to Taylor individuals need to be more proactive, positive and engaged by the reform that society faces. He moves on to state that we should be more involved in the choices that are made, and give permission to our leaders to make positive long term decisions for us. Lastly, Taylor states that society has to be more cognizant on how our own behaviors and actions shape the choices that are made for us. (Taylor, RSA Essay, Twenty-first century enlightenment).  

            I would agree with Taylor when he states that we should spend more time developing empathetic citizens as it promotes an environment of citizens who are more emotionally aware of others as well as self aware of the emotions, actions and intentions. While achieving global empathy may seem impossible, I believe that the positive effects of our efforts are what we make of them. Improvement of more simplified factors such as social and emotional awareness can lead to larger changes in the technical, structural, psychosocial and managerial subsystems we all experience within our organizations as well as environment. Implementation and promotion of these changes can lead to effective sociotechnical systems which can increase the effectiveness of high performance teams within businesses and the global environment. Increased efforts in social values can also lead to individualized effectiveness within civilians, teams, and a vast majority of organizational systems.

            Taylors suggests that “what we aim for can be as important to our well being than what we achieve” (Taylor RSA Animate, 21^st Century Enlightenment). He plants a seed in us to make us work harder, think more creatively and look past the simplistic things in life and of change so we can all be held responsible for creating a more sustainable environment by looking past inadequate ideas of freedom, justice and progress and recreate humanistic ideas of who we are rather than who society believes we should be and preferably create visions of who we aspire to be. (Taylor, RSA Animate, 21^st Century Enlightenment). In order to creatively incorporate solutions to society’s problem’s we must first define them, find alternatives to our global issues, implement positive resolutions and reverse our traditional views and ways of thinking. As an individual we are only one, but as a society we are one of many. In order to execute change we must instill it within ourselves first so we can be ready for it and be accepting of it. One person can change the world with one thought. Imagine what the rest of us could do if we stopped being such pessimists or pragmatists and joined the world of visionaries, and power players.

            This video was inspirational and offered me a number of ideas on how I can make positive contributions to my organization as well as society. In order to do this I will be asking myself challenging questions on the changes I am instilling in myself and how I can positively promote effective actions and knowledge into society on a global level. I have to do my part to research proactive opportunities and engage in positive actions. I have to want to see a difference in people, cultures, norms and other societies so I can know how to move forward in making my own instinctive, optimistic and constructive additions to our own norms and conditions. Lastly, I have to reject negative and pessimistic thoughts and actions and promote environments of tolerant, spiritual and inspirational adaptation. In doing this, I will then be able to make a change not just in myself but in others as well.

Cassandra R.

         References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development(8th ed.). Upper

            Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Whetton, D. A., and Cameron, K. S. (2010). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Prentice  

            hall

Taylor, M. (2010). Twenty-first century enlightenment. RSA. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/33366439?access_key=key-2la2zx82dem8d3i2uzvw&allow_share=true

Taylor, M. (2010, August 19). RSA Animate - 21st Century Enlightenment [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo&feature=youtu.be

A630.1.4.RB_Board of Directors_ReyesCassandra

After viewing the Youtube video, A Tale of Power and Vision, reflect on your organization or a past organization. In a well-written post to your Reflection Blog, describe a situation from your organizational life that was similar to the situation from the video. Describe the situation in detail making sure to discuss how the organization was able to work through the difficulties to enable real change to occur.

                I am currently a Senior Enrollment Counselor with Embry-Riddle Worldwide and have been in my position for about three years now. When I first started working full time for the organization I was excited to be working for the University from which I obtained my degree. I knew what it was like to be a student of the institution and I was familiar with some of the difficulties our student population experienced on a daily basis. I was eager to work hard and make my contributions to alleviate some of the pressures and frustrations our prospects would encounter through the application process.

            The first two and a half years of the position went fairly smoothly with no real bumps in the road. While there were times the application numbers were down, we were moving forward and meeting our goals for the year for the most part. Even with all of our successes, there were a number of things that could have been changed to make the process of obtaining prospects, that much easier for us. Some of these factors included better communication templates, more campaigning initiatives, more effective reporting and statistics and more community outreach. While upper level management wanted to better these initiatives for us there were more important organizational development strategies taking place that were taking precedent.

            A few months ago our organization experienced a large organizational restructure that hit our department like a ton of bricks. The Regional Offices of our institution had already closed and with all the changes we didn’t know what exactly would be coming our way. The tension of the changes created apprehension in the office. We weren’t sure if they would be eliminating our positions or if we would instead be merging with another department. Everything seemed to be up in the air and we were along for the ride.

             “Organizational development comprises the long range efforts and programs aimed at improving an organizations ability to survive by changing its problem solving and renewal processes” (Brown, 2011). My team and I knew Embry-Riddle Worldwide was moving forward to become more adaptive to its environment and further achieve corporate excellence, however we were unsure as to how exactly this would affect us. With the new strategic initiatives that were being implemented I knew that the organizational development efforts that would soon be coming into effect were “planned, systematic approaches to change” (Brown, 2011). There was a planned intervention taking place and everyone, including our department was a part of it.

One day, our Director and Associate Director called our team 4 members into the office for a departmental meeting. With all of the changes going on around us, we knew it was time to hear how these changes would transform our unit. In a nutshell, my team and I were told that we would be losing our Director and Associate Director as they would be moving to other departments and we would also be losing a team member who would be moved to the Marketing department to take on other responsibilities that had been placed before her. The last three members of the team would be merging with the Admissions department and Enrollment Operations would dissolve and be no more.

In hearing all of this news, the team didn’t really know how to feel. In some ways we were excited to embark on a new journey but in others we were hesitant to move to a department that was unaware of what our team actually did on a day to day basis. We understood that the changes were supposed to make both departments more effective however with the disconnect between knowledge of departmental processes there were a number of individuals who had a very pessimistic views of how this change would actually take place. While there were some who just did not happen to see the potential of changes from the very beginning, there were a few colleagues who did not particularly want the change but did their best to see how this merge could become an opportunity for something better for both departments and the organization as a whole.

  Upper level management on the other hand seemed to be very excited for the change and the power and vision behind the organizational development that would be taking place. They were focused solely on creating a cultural change in the organization and wanted us to do our best in adapting to the change in social and cultural conditions we would be experiencing. As the change started to take place, those who were weary but accepting of the restructure at first offered a very pragmatic view to the changes we were encountering. In front of management they were positive and uplifting yet when discussing the change with colleagues their views were more in line with the pessimists who did not see the convenience of the restructure.

The environment we experienced became more stressful and increasingly complex and it was clear from the very beginning that not all factors of the restructure had been fully taken into consideration. While the thought of completing a merge was good in nature, it was evident that managing the new environment for some proved difficult and very important factors started to get lost in translation, leaving workers, frustrated, worried and hesitant in accepting the change with open arms. “In an increasingly complex environment, it becomes even more critical for management to identify and respond to forces of social and technical change. In attempting to manage today’s organizations many executives find that their past failures to give enough attention to the changing environment are now creating problems for them” (Brown, 2011). We knew that with any change their would be issues but we didn’t know how much of a challenge it would be once it had been officially implemented. Working through the change proved challenging yet, everyone involved in the restructure did their very best to move forward and continue to provide excellence in the service they were providing both externally as well as internally.

“Most company cultures are so mired in urgency they fail to see and focus on the truly important” (Covey, 2007). While the concept of the change was great, the fundamentals of it were not as effective and efficient as they should have been. In order for our organization to maintain its flexibility and innovation the organization would need to retract its original plan and implement a new one that would promote the organizational culture they so desired. After a few months, upper level management realized that the change that was currently being implemented wasn’t working as effectively as they had originally thought it would. Instead of creating a streamlined process, the process for each of the departments seemed to become less simplified with the added job duties and responsibilities that both departments would have had to take on.

After much conversation of how to proceed, the Enrollment Operations department was back up and running in just a few weeks. As our Director, Associate Director and team member had been promoted or had moved to another department, our unit was left as a team of three with no direct management for a few weeks until the position was filled. The organization soon recruited another Associate Director for our department and we immediately began our recruitment and enrollment initiatives with even greater emphasis than we had ever before.

New templates for email communications were now being sent out as better individualization for our prospects and we were campaigning hundreds and thousands of emails out to our students, informing them of program opportunities and assisting them through the application and admissions process. Our department now had meetings to better implement our reporting and statistical data and systems processes were updated and improved. Little by little things were getting better, our initiatives were coming together and soon enough our hard work would be recognized. It is without a doubt that this time around, all elements of the restructure had been taken into consideration and there were strategies and techniques that were put into place to ensure the success of our department as well as out other counterparts. “Intellectual capital is intellectual material - knowledge, information, intellectual property, experience - that can be used to create wealth. It is collective brainpower, it is hard to indentify and harder still to deploy effectively. But once you find it and exploit it, you win” (Covey, 2007). Embry-Riddle had done its best to change with the times and in the end they were able to stabilize their ineffective strategies and make our organization that much more of a competitor in the educational industry.

    References

Covey, S. R. (2007). Training. Organizational Development, 44(4), 1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/203422861

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development(8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

A634.9.5.RB_A Reflection of our Learning_Reyes,Cassandra

Reflect on the three key lessons you take away from the course. Reflect on your perceived value of this course. Include both positive and negative aspects of your experience. What might you have done to improve your learning experience? How might the University or your instructor provide additional support for your learning? Were there topics covered that seem particularly relevant or irrelevant to your experiences and to what you expect to come in future courses?

             The first key lesson I have taken away from this course is not to judge a book by its cover. While discussing the ethics of our choices I have learned that there are so many people in the world from so many walks of life and it is unfair to judge anyone by what they may look like from the outside or how they may act. While I knew that society and social status played a role in the façade some of us put forward, I don’t think I ever realized how much of that really impacted the decisions that we made and why. The stories my classmates shared on their personal experiences as well as our reading of Marilee Jones really made me think about the pressures of society and how we work to conform to the parameters of what society views as successful, beautiful, good, or bad. I learned that the decisions we make sometimes have nothing to do with what we are feeling or thinking but make actions based on how society thinks we should acting or feeling.

            Another lesson I have learned is that moral decisions are not as easy to make as some of us may have thought prior to this course. We were each placed into difficult decision making processes where the outcomes were not favorable in any situation and had to make calls on what we do. I found that some of the decisions I made were to benefit my family and I and despite the good I had in my heart to do good for others, I would put my family before anyone else. I learned that sometimes decisions you don’t want to make are put before you and the consequences of some of those decisions may sometimes be difficult to live with as it can test your character and integrity.

            The last big lesson I have learned is that I can always be a better version of myself if I always do my best to be virtuous and true to who I am and who I want to be. I believe that I am a good person at heart and while I can be a little rough around the edges sometimes, it is more because of the way that I grew up than the way that I would truly like to be. I learned that your experiences growing up and the lessons that you learned and were taught are what shape you to act in certain manners and sometimes it can take many years before those feelings can be undone. I thought that Ben Franklin’s 13 virtuous were a great way to set precedence for myself to act in the way I wanted to act rather than the way I felt I should act because of the positive or negative experiences that befell me growing up. I now think that having something like the 13 virtues is good to have as it allows me to challenge myself to meet the criteria of who I want to be without all the other pressures of, religion, status and society trying to tell me how I should be. It allows me to make my own rules and goals and not have to meet any that have already been set for me.

            To improve my learning experience I believe that I have to make myself more open to others and do more charities and fundraisers to help those less privileged than I am. I believe that giving my time and energy to others will help to educate me on the difficulties others are experiencing all over the world and how I can do my part to help them. I think that a good way for our instructors to help with this is to give us a charitable assignment. For instance, instead of researching a paper on ethics or writing about the hardships others may encounter, I think students could learn much more by being asked to take action.

If I were an instructor I would create an assignment asking that each student take an ethical action for that week. It could be anything from volunteering at a homeless shelter, providing food to a food bank or clothes to the Salvation Army, or anything that we could do to help society or become more virtuous in our ways. I think that if possible, some of the assignments should include pictures or videos of what we encountered and how the experience has changed us. When we write papers we tend to feel the restrictions of the APA format and having to be politically correct in what we are saying or writing. Pictures and videos don’t do that. They allow for freedom of expression, and as they say a picture can speak a thousand words. I think that a visual collage of our actions may be a better way of expressing the experience a collage like that could create for someone, rather than just another written assignment. I think we can become a bit more creative with the assignments that we give our students so they are better challenged to instill change in themselves as well as others.

I think that many of the lessons I have learned have been relevant to my everyday life as they have made me think and rethink about past decisions and what I can do in the future to ensure that I am living the life I want for my family and I . I have always done my best to be a good person and make good decisions, but after this course, I wanted to challenge myself to be that much better. I believe that incorporating knowledge of others circumstances and culture will help me to see how blessed I truly am in what I have, rather than always concentrating on what I don’t have. I know now that life is what you make of it and not what society or others believe you should make of it.

Cassandra R.