Chapter 9 Discussion

1. Dysfunctional Managers: can be toxic to the environment because a lot of the time they stifle good ideas and can drive away employees. Some of the behaviors causing this are intensity to others, inability to be a team player, arrogance, poor conflict management skills, inability to meet business objectives, and inability to adapt to change. There are programs that can help with this.
2. My experience with this has been that when I worked at a scrap booking store my manager was afraid of me because my dad was one of the owners of the company. She would always tell all the workers that they had to work hard when I was around. It made me really mad because it shouldn't matter if my dad owned the company or not. Everyone should be working hard no matter what.
3. I think in this situation it would have helped to treat me the same as all the other girls. I had an interview like all the rest, I had to be trained just like everyone else. I think it would be hard being a manager but I have seen many effective managers and I think they are that way because they are well balanced, kind but stubborn when she needed to be. I hope I can one day be able to master the art of being an excellent manager.
4. My question would be why might people not try hard when they are the manager? Don't they realize they could put their job in jeopardy. I just think you would want to work harder to keep your position because a lot of time it is better than being an employee and getting paid minimum wage.

Chapter 8 Discussion

1. Rating Behavior: there are a couple different ways to measure behavior. Critical-incident method, Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS), Behavioral observation scale (BOS), and Organizational behavior modification (OBM). All of these ways helps companies

2. I know that for me my employers have always just interviewed me and then as the time goes on they make the changes that are needed for the company to run the way they want. They might ask me to change some things and then see how well I do it and how well it works for both of us.

3. I think the point that I thought was the most effective is the OBM. the three things that happen in this one are:

1. Define a set of key behaviors necessary for job performance.

2. Use a measurement system to assess whether the employee exhibits the key behavior.

3. Inform employees of the key behaviors, perhaps in terms of goals for how often to exhibit the behaviors.

4. Provide feedback and reinforcement based on employees' behavior.

4. How is the most effective way to find out future employees behaviors before you hire them?

Chapter 6 Reflexion

I thought the guest speaker did a fabulous job in helping me understand proper training better. I think that a lot of companies do not train properly and run into problems. There are also those that only focus on the training and don't give that trust to their employees. They end up with robots instead of critical thinkers and problem solvers. I hope that I can have a happy medium of training when I start a business and that I can trust my employees enough so they can think on their own and be able to help the company progress.

Chapter 6 Discussion

1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Interviewing. It is important to know how your employees will communicate with those around them. A lot of the business does well according to the customer service of the company so it would make sense to pick the employees that will accomplish that for the company. But then again there can be problems with interviews. Like for one it takes up time from the employer. It can be based on certain peoples biases. You can run into discrimination problems.
2. I think that only one of my jobs had a great and effective interview and that was for my nanny job. My job at the bakery and at a scrapbooking store weren't very effective. They just asked me the stupid questions that they have been asking people since they first started the company. I want to feel important and like the employer is actually thinking hard on whether to hire me or not, not just going through the motions.
3. I think it is good to have interviews but I don't think they have to be the only thing that decides if the person should get the job. Some people get nervous and may not be themselves in an interview. I think it is important to see them actually perform. I think it is important to figure out what would be the best questions to ask those that want to be hired and then figure out if you want them to answer what you want to hear or be truthful.
4. How do you have a comfortable but formal setting in a job interview? What kinds of problems do you think will occur in the company if you choose not to interview? What are your opinions on Interviews?

Chapter 7 Discussion

1. Needs Assessment- A way to figure out who needs training, what training, and how will you train. If they find these three things out they can create an effective training meeting. Sometimes new skills are learned, new equipment is installed or new technology is learned in order for the employees to perform properly.
2. In most of my jobs I was never trained and it was the hardest thing to do to read your employers mind and to be able to do it exactly the way they wanted you to do it. I would have been able to perform better and also been more comfortable at my work if I had had at least the basic training. I think that is the main reason I have quit two of my jobs was that they didn't train and expected all their employees to do a perfect job.
3. It is key to figure out what exactly you need to change. Who may need more training, what area, how can you train them and so on. You have to be paying attention though and figuring out where you want your company to go, then you will know what you want your performance to be and maybe how to get it where you want it.
4. My questions would be. How do you know what is the best amount of training? You don't want too much or lack of enough. What have been the most effective ways of training? training meeting are great but what usually gets most employees actualy up and running?

Chapter 5 Discussion

1. I got reading the chapter and thought it was very interesting. It is the 1st step in human resource planning. In personal forecasting , the HR professional tries to find the supply and demand. The primary goal is to predict what area of the company will experience labor shortage or surplus.
2. I used to work for a Bakery and I feel that there HR was not very good. Especially their forecasting. I'm sure it can be hard but it is important for a business to do well. We always had too many people or not enough. We never had the right amount. Sometimes we would have tons of leftovers and other times we were having problems selling stuff because we only had like a dozen donuts.
   
3. I think you should map out what has gone on in the future but also be flexible to change and have it not be exactly how it was last year or the year before that. I think it is also important to know that every business is going to be different and so you need to figure out a way that works for your company. Also make sure to keep records so that you can figure it out as you go or have future reference.
4. How might someone go about fixing this problem? How can someone keep from forecasting wrong and losing lots of money? How can you stay in control of your company instead of it taking hold of you?
   

Chapter 5 Reflexion

I thought it was so interesting when we talked about Temp. Workers. Some of the people in my group have been Temp. workers or have trained Temp. Workers. I think it would be hard to come in an environment where everyone knew each other and was very comfortable and you were the new awkward one. I think there are also good things about it. You are able to have a job for a bit which some people really like--probably not with the economy how it is today though. I have never been a Temp. Worker but think it would be fun and exciting to experience it at least once in my life.

Chapter 4 Discussion-accidentally did wrong chap.

My cousin works a flextime and absolutely loves it. I think that it can be a great help to many people to have the opportunity to come early and be done early or to come later and maybe stay later in the evening. I think for me this would be extremely hard because I have a hard time pushing myself to get things done early. I am a bit of a procrastinator. I also thought job sharing is a very interesting idea. I wonder if companies have jobs with these two things. What if the work doesn't get done on time or right or at all? I guess my main question us how does the company figure out who is qualified for these different flexible work schedules? I'm sure there are some people that can't have these schedules because they would not get as much as they needed to finished or they wouldn't complete their hours.