Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Ethics & Decision Making Class - Final Thoughts
And now-- the time has come...
Ethics & Decision Making was a great class! It certainly helped to have a great professor that made the class fun and interesting. The professor allowed us to be creative and express ourselves so that we could study and research many ethics and decision making points from a whole different perspective.
As we end this course, I feel confident that I can identify major ethical issues in business and be able to look at different levels of ethical conduct and have a good feeling about understanding business ethics in the workplace.
The two books we studied in this class were The Seven Layers of Integrity (George P. Jones and June Ferrill, Ph.D.) and Judgment in Managerial Decision Making (Max H. Bazerman and Don A. Moore). These books provided an abundance of key information that helped me meet my own personal objective of looking at ways to apply ethics and decision-making processes in the workplace, and recommend strategies on how to communicate effectively on this topic in an organization.
Finally, I enjoyed using the software, Photo Story 3, to create my own commercial on Ethics and Fair Housing in Real Estate,as well as my final research paper on this topic that was presented to my class.
I am confident about what I have learned in this class and look forward to moving on to the Fall term classes in this Masters Degree program at Bellevue University.
Until next time...
Bye for now,
Laurie
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
My Learning Journal - Ethics & Decision Making
My Ethics and Decision Making class just finished the book, Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, by Max H. Bazerman and Don A. Moore, 2009.
Some of the areas in this book that stood out for me was learning about Bounded Awareness. Bounded Awareness is what people have that prevents them from noticing or focusing on useful, observable, and relevant data. I feel that tis is not good, because important information is left outside the awareness of most decision makers and useful information will remain out of focus for the decision maker.
An example of Bounded Awareness that I can remember was when I had experienced the Chicago Flood Disaster of 1992 that hit the underground tunnel sysem in the Chicago loop. This major disaster affected my company and we were forced to evacuate our building because we had no power and our sub-basement and basement levels of the building was flooded. We had to relocate or business to alterbate office space on the other side of the loop. Because I was the Facilities Manager for the company, I was involved with some of the major decision making with management during this memorable event.
The whole process thatI went through personally and professionally brought back many emotions that I had gone through, and I remember every detail as if it happened yesterday. This was a situation that started out to be a Negative Bounded Awareness and eventually turned into a Positive Bounded Awareness once people were able to give input and come up with the right solution. They made decisions that resolved some of the issues associated with this disaster, keeping in mind that it was for the good of the company's best interest.
Another section of the book I found interesting was on Negotiating. Negotiating is when two or more parties need to reach a joint decision but have difference preferences, they they negotiate. I learned that there is a Decision-Analytic Approach to Negotiations. That is, each party's interests and the relative importance of these interests provide the foundatin for thinking analytically about a negotiation. I also learned about Claiming and Creating Value in Negotiation, as well as what tools you need for creating value in negotiating.
This section in the book on Negotiating brought back many memories if my experiences with negotiating early on in my vareer in Facilities Management. I have had to negotiate different plans and ideas to implement that would continuously improve the services that the department would offer the company. I also would negotiate with manage management the purchasing of cost-effective items that would save the company money in the long run and would be a good investment. Something else I was very proud of was negotiating the need for the company to implement a Fire and Life Safety program that would train and encourage employees to participate and enhance the safety and security awareness level in the company. All of these components that were implemented in he companies I worked for were made possible as a result of negotiation a decision making.
Judgment in Managerial Decisin Making is an excellent book and a gret tool for learning or improving your judgment and decision making techniques, as well as learning about or enhancing your negotiation techniques. This book also creates many ideas for opportunities to make better decisions.
Bye for now-
Laurie
Some of the areas in this book that stood out for me was learning about Bounded Awareness. Bounded Awareness is what people have that prevents them from noticing or focusing on useful, observable, and relevant data. I feel that tis is not good, because important information is left outside the awareness of most decision makers and useful information will remain out of focus for the decision maker.
An example of Bounded Awareness that I can remember was when I had experienced the Chicago Flood Disaster of 1992 that hit the underground tunnel sysem in the Chicago loop. This major disaster affected my company and we were forced to evacuate our building because we had no power and our sub-basement and basement levels of the building was flooded. We had to relocate or business to alterbate office space on the other side of the loop. Because I was the Facilities Manager for the company, I was involved with some of the major decision making with management during this memorable event.
The whole process thatI went through personally and professionally brought back many emotions that I had gone through, and I remember every detail as if it happened yesterday. This was a situation that started out to be a Negative Bounded Awareness and eventually turned into a Positive Bounded Awareness once people were able to give input and come up with the right solution. They made decisions that resolved some of the issues associated with this disaster, keeping in mind that it was for the good of the company's best interest.
Another section of the book I found interesting was on Negotiating. Negotiating is when two or more parties need to reach a joint decision but have difference preferences, they they negotiate. I learned that there is a Decision-Analytic Approach to Negotiations. That is, each party's interests and the relative importance of these interests provide the foundatin for thinking analytically about a negotiation. I also learned about Claiming and Creating Value in Negotiation, as well as what tools you need for creating value in negotiating.
This section in the book on Negotiating brought back many memories if my experiences with negotiating early on in my vareer in Facilities Management. I have had to negotiate different plans and ideas to implement that would continuously improve the services that the department would offer the company. I also would negotiate with manage management the purchasing of cost-effective items that would save the company money in the long run and would be a good investment. Something else I was very proud of was negotiating the need for the company to implement a Fire and Life Safety program that would train and encourage employees to participate and enhance the safety and security awareness level in the company. All of these components that were implemented in he companies I worked for were made possible as a result of negotiation a decision making.
Judgment in Managerial Decisin Making is an excellent book and a gret tool for learning or improving your judgment and decision making techniques, as well as learning about or enhancing your negotiation techniques. This book also creates many ideas for opportunities to make better decisions.
Bye for now-
Laurie
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Journal Entry for Ethics & Decision Making Class-MMC640
As we end week 4 of this class, I am happy to say that we have finished reading the book, The Seven Layers of Integrity, by George P. Jones and June Ferrill, Ph.D. This book gave me a clear understanding of what ethical behavior is and how the Seven Layers of Integrity is used as a learning tool and a decision-making mechanism. Learning about and relating various ethical issues to my everyday life, especially with my job or prior jobs, helped me put things into perspective and aided me in understanding more about business ethics in a corporate culture and how it ties in with human behavior in a business environment.
Week 3 of this class focused on Relationships and Values and doing the assignment was a real eye opener for me. I was forced to go through all of the emotions and feelings, both personally and professionally, as a result of the Enron scandal. Our assignment was to watch a video documentary called, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, as well as read an article called, "Enron Scandal At-a-Glance." We were required to write an essay examining Enron from the perspective of the Seven Layers of Integrity,and choose which layers seemed most important to the case and which layers were less important. We also were required to include a visual aid in our essay that related to what we wrote about.
I must say that after I watched the video and read several articles about this scandal, I was outraged all over again-- this time more angry though, which I know came out in my writing of the essay. Even after almost 10 years since the Enron Scandal took place, I found myself still getting emotional and upset over it. So this was kind of like "therapy" for me to express myself and write about it in this class.
You see, at the time of the Enron scandal, I was employed as a manager at the Chicago headquarters of Arthur Andersen and had worked there for almost 10 years. Andersen was Enron's auditor and the Firm was convicted on March 15, 2001 for obstructing justice relating to the Enron case. As a result of this conviction, Andersen was forced to close their doors and 29,000 employees lost their jobs, including mine.
I was devastated when this happened and could not believe it, because Arthur Andersen was a great company to work for and, from my perspective, was all about being professional and having a code of ethics to follow and was very proud to work for one of the Big Four accounting firms in the world.
When you work so hard to accomplish and achieve your personal and professinal goals and something like this happens that you have no control over, it does affect you deeply and can change your life forever. One thing that I learned from all of this, is that you can never take anything for granted or think that you will never change your career path, especially if you love your job, because one day you have it and the next day it could be gone. The Enron-Arthur Arthursen case will go down in history- like the sinking of the Titanic!
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Bye for now-
Laurie
Week 3 of this class focused on Relationships and Values and doing the assignment was a real eye opener for me. I was forced to go through all of the emotions and feelings, both personally and professionally, as a result of the Enron scandal. Our assignment was to watch a video documentary called, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, as well as read an article called, "Enron Scandal At-a-Glance." We were required to write an essay examining Enron from the perspective of the Seven Layers of Integrity,and choose which layers seemed most important to the case and which layers were less important. We also were required to include a visual aid in our essay that related to what we wrote about.
I must say that after I watched the video and read several articles about this scandal, I was outraged all over again-- this time more angry though, which I know came out in my writing of the essay. Even after almost 10 years since the Enron Scandal took place, I found myself still getting emotional and upset over it. So this was kind of like "therapy" for me to express myself and write about it in this class.
You see, at the time of the Enron scandal, I was employed as a manager at the Chicago headquarters of Arthur Andersen and had worked there for almost 10 years. Andersen was Enron's auditor and the Firm was convicted on March 15, 2001 for obstructing justice relating to the Enron case. As a result of this conviction, Andersen was forced to close their doors and 29,000 employees lost their jobs, including mine.
I was devastated when this happened and could not believe it, because Arthur Andersen was a great company to work for and, from my perspective, was all about being professional and having a code of ethics to follow and was very proud to work for one of the Big Four accounting firms in the world.
When you work so hard to accomplish and achieve your personal and professinal goals and something like this happens that you have no control over, it does affect you deeply and can change your life forever. One thing that I learned from all of this, is that you can never take anything for granted or think that you will never change your career path, especially if you love your job, because one day you have it and the next day it could be gone. The Enron-Arthur Arthursen case will go down in history- like the sinking of the Titanic!
Bye for now-
Laurie
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
My Learning Journal - Ethics & Decision Making
I am a business professional with over 30 years of work experience in management and I feel that I have developed my skills in communications, especially in the workplace. That is why I am working hard to complete a Masters Degree in Managerial Communication at Bellevue University. I am thrilled to be taking this course because, even though I am somewhat experienced, I feel that I still have a lot to learn, especially in Business Ethics and Decision Making.
As I reflect back to a couple of weeks ago when I began this course, I remember how excited I was to start learning and was thrilled to start reading our textbook, The Seven Layers of Integrity, by George P. Jones and June Ferrill, Ph.D. I especially have been enjoying weekly Professor Artz' Video Overview, Thought for the Week, and the Image for the Week. This technique is such a creative way to get the students to really think about ethics and puts things into perspective. Plus it's a lot of fun!
For the Main Discussion Posting, I like the fact that students can choose one of many questions to answer and write about each week. I think that each one of us can relate to at least one question and can relate it to our current job, which allows us to write freely and elaborate if we need to. It is such a great learning experience when the students can interact with each other and give feedback to each other's weekly posts. Also, this class is designed to encourage students to give constructive criticism, yet be supportive and encouraging to each other, and I appreciate all the feedback I can get.
My expectations in this class is to relate my own business experiences with others and be able to identify major ethical issues and understand why and how to deal with them. I would hope to continue analyzing various cases regarding ethical conduct and what the outcome would be, as well as identifying and knowing what to do when their are problems in ethical decision-making. Most of all, I hope to gain knowledge on how to effectively recommend commuication strategies in all aspects of ethical decision-making.
I enjoy writing in a blog because it allows me to get my thoughts in order and to keep track of my progress as I move along in this class. I also enjoy sharing information with others and feel that this is a great communication tool to do just that!
-Bye for now
Laurie
As I reflect back to a couple of weeks ago when I began this course, I remember how excited I was to start learning and was thrilled to start reading our textbook, The Seven Layers of Integrity, by George P. Jones and June Ferrill, Ph.D. I especially have been enjoying weekly Professor Artz' Video Overview, Thought for the Week, and the Image for the Week. This technique is such a creative way to get the students to really think about ethics and puts things into perspective. Plus it's a lot of fun!
For the Main Discussion Posting, I like the fact that students can choose one of many questions to answer and write about each week. I think that each one of us can relate to at least one question and can relate it to our current job, which allows us to write freely and elaborate if we need to. It is such a great learning experience when the students can interact with each other and give feedback to each other's weekly posts. Also, this class is designed to encourage students to give constructive criticism, yet be supportive and encouraging to each other, and I appreciate all the feedback I can get.
My expectations in this class is to relate my own business experiences with others and be able to identify major ethical issues and understand why and how to deal with them. I would hope to continue analyzing various cases regarding ethical conduct and what the outcome would be, as well as identifying and knowing what to do when their are problems in ethical decision-making. Most of all, I hope to gain knowledge on how to effectively recommend commuication strategies in all aspects of ethical decision-making.
I enjoy writing in a blog because it allows me to get my thoughts in order and to keep track of my progress as I move along in this class. I also enjoy sharing information with others and feel that this is a great communication tool to do just that!
-Bye for now
Laurie
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Reflection of the Processes of Electronic Group Interactions
I had a geat experience with all of the interactive technologies for my group work and this class. The tools were user-friendly and worked very well for me. These tools are great for an online class and especially for me as a student that needs flexibility. I especially enjoyed the Wiki Tool and I liked using the Discussions tool reviewing our readings, sharing experiences, and interacting with my fellow classmates. I felt that these tools were designed to give valuable feedback and constructive criticism from the classmates or the instructor, which is designed to allow students to improve their thought process, as well as writing and communication skills in order to move forward in the class, as well as future classes.
The one tool that I would have liked to have used was a Virtual Blackboard, where we could have a live chat on a particular topic of discussion and could interact live with everyone in the class. When I was working on my undergraduate degree, I had a couple of classes online that required a live chat classroom and it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience to be able to interact "live" with the other students in the class, as well as the instructor. You could share files live and give and receive immediate responses.
These online classes work very well for me and I wouldn't do it any other way. Part of the success of these tools is that they are easy to use and work very well for electronic group interactions. I also learned a lot about the value of social networking and even enjoyed creating this wonderful blog which now belongs to me, and I will be able to keep going with it whenever I want. Technology is a beautiful thing!
By for now-
Laurie
The one tool that I would have liked to have used was a Virtual Blackboard, where we could have a live chat on a particular topic of discussion and could interact live with everyone in the class. When I was working on my undergraduate degree, I had a couple of classes online that required a live chat classroom and it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience to be able to interact "live" with the other students in the class, as well as the instructor. You could share files live and give and receive immediate responses.
These online classes work very well for me and I wouldn't do it any other way. Part of the success of these tools is that they are easy to use and work very well for electronic group interactions. I also learned a lot about the value of social networking and even enjoyed creating this wonderful blog which now belongs to me, and I will be able to keep going with it whenever I want. Technology is a beautiful thing!
By for now-
Laurie
Monday, March 28, 2011
-The POST Method for People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology within the Real Estate Market-
I work for a major Real Estate company and my role is the Director of Agent Services. In addition to several administrative management functions, one of my primary job responsibilities is to educate, recommend and assist all Real Estate Agents in my office with their Real Estate businesses, including promotional marketing, advertising, business solutions, client management and information technology training on all programs provided by the company for Realtors to maintain and advance their Real Estate business.
In using the four step planning process, POST, I am ready to assemble a plan for building a foundation of groundswell thinking where I work. Since the Real Estate Agents are independent contractors and can be very competitive, an office blog would be an excellent way to bring them together as a team in the office to share common goals, strategies, successes, and all other information that would be helpful to anyone in the Real Estate business.
Let's break it down:
People: The Real Estate Agents are the internal customers. They are already computer saavy and use social networks for personal and business use, as well as interact with potential customers & existing clients. The are already using Real Estate software programs for managing their business in the Real Estate market. Each Realtor has an Agent Profile Sheet that promotes their education, designations, qualifications, professional experience and much more.
Objectives: To motivate and empower our Real Estate Agents by helping them identify and discuss areas for improvement, set personal goals, team goals, and objectives, as well as implement roundtable discussions based on client feedback, and conduct training sessions for Agents to enhance their Real Estate business. This would not only satisfy clients, but would meet or exceed the business goals of the company.
Strategy: By setting up this office blog, the Management, Office Staff, and Agents would have an opportunity to continuously correspond and post valuable information on the blog, especially when it can sometimes be difficult to get everyone together in the office for meetings and special training sessions. A blog is a great way to get out valuable information to everyone in our office and they can read or comment on their own time. Communicating internally is a great way to build a communication network providing valuable resources to everyone!
Technology: Internal Blog
Bye for now-
Laurie
Monday, March 21, 2011
Laurie's Introduction
Hello-
Let me introduce myself. My name is Laurie Giller and I live in Bourbonnais, Illinois. I am a recent graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences at Governors State University. This past summer, I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a Concentration in Business Management. I am currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Managerial Communication program at Bellevue University and my goal is to graduate in approximately 18 months. I have over 30 years of professional work experience in the Facilities and Operations Management field and have worked for several large corporations over the years. For the past five years, I have been working for a major Real Estate company near my home, since I have returned to school. I have been married to my husband for almost 20 years and have two stepchildren and two children living at home. I know that this online degree program will allow me the flexibility I need to work full time, manage my family and volunteer for community service activities. Once I received my Masters Degree, I would like to find a job in the Communications field and move forward in my career.
Bye for now-
Laurie
Let me introduce myself. My name is Laurie Giller and I live in Bourbonnais, Illinois. I am a recent graduate from the College of Arts and Sciences at Governors State University. This past summer, I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a Concentration in Business Management. I am currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Managerial Communication program at Bellevue University and my goal is to graduate in approximately 18 months. I have over 30 years of professional work experience in the Facilities and Operations Management field and have worked for several large corporations over the years. For the past five years, I have been working for a major Real Estate company near my home, since I have returned to school. I have been married to my husband for almost 20 years and have two stepchildren and two children living at home. I know that this online degree program will allow me the flexibility I need to work full time, manage my family and volunteer for community service activities. Once I received my Masters Degree, I would like to find a job in the Communications field and move forward in my career.
Bye for now-
Laurie
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