Simulations is over

It seems weird to say that is class is over. We technically as I write it is not and won't be over till we get our grades but the class is coming to a screeching halt. I feel as though we just walked into the plain room with the typical desk and blue chairs as we realized we were going to have to take a test the very next time we came to class. I never thought I would end up staying I enjoyed this class or learned anything from it but I did.

Although, I wish I would have been able to take this class a semester earlier because everything in my life with moving and graduating has been crazy I have realized that I did not dedicate as much time to this class as I should have due to all of that. Just because I said I did not dedicate as much time do this class as I should have does not mean that I did not give this class any of my time. At times in the semester this is the class that I dedicated a lot of time to and at others very little I should have tried to find a better balance.

At the end of this class I do not feel defeated as I have twice before in this class. I feel a sense of relief because I have made it through and I feel a sense of accomplishment for getting through the class and the struggles that came with it. As I wrote this blog I remembered the exact way I felt when I was excited in the class, nervous, or even when I felt like I never wanted to come back to the class. As I look back at my blog I can remember that exact day in detail and it helps me remember the whole semester that has seemed to fly by much quicker than I have wanted it to.

This class has taught me as well as our whole class what team work requires inside and outside of the class. I understand how some students come into this class thinking it is pointless and not worth our time because I was one of them but I realized that I was completely wrong. This class is important for all communications majors to have because it teachs us what the real world job maket is going to be like. I also think that other majors should have something similar to this class to teach their major students what the real world job market is going to be like once they get into it.

The Disappointing Trade Fair

As the trade fair was approaching me and the other GCB members were very nervous about getting middle age people there on that Thursday. So we decided to make flies and hand them out the week before the trade fair that way the teachers could schedule time to come. As we went around and handed out the fliers some teachers seemed very responsive and others could have caredless that we were there. We got the teachers emails that said they would for sure come and emailed them back the day before the trade fair to remind that that they said they would come. The day of the trade fair we made fake tickets to pass around as fliers to grab last minute extra people to come. When 9:30 am arrived the GCB sat at the front of the Effingham room becoming more and more nervous. As the teachers that both the GCB and AJ asked to come showed up so did three other teachers and then there was no one. As members of the corporation kept coming up to the table asking how many people were coming we got more and more nervous than we were before. We kept telling the the different members of the corporations that we were not sure but we passed out 150 fliers and were hoping that some of them showed up. As we and the corporations realized that only four of the teachers that we invited outside of the ones we invited as did Aj we were so embarrassed. I felt as though we have let the corporations down. In the end we realized that that middle aged people are just as unreliable as college students.

If I could have made changes I first would have started off by picking the target market instead of letting the class make the decision because they were not the one that were going to be getting the target market in attendance. I would have picked high school students because we could have held it in their gym and had the students come for a class or we could have done it at a nursing home where the elderly people would have loved our company. It would have been more realistic if we would have held the trade fair in a place like a high school or a nursing home where the target market was easily at our finger tips. Another option would have been to hold the trade fair in a different location than the union such as someone in Coleman where teachers would have easier access. Finally we should have found other groups outside of offices around campus and teachers for example parent groups or church groups. Another problem trying to get middle age people to the trade fair was the fact that it had to be a 9:30-10:45 during our class period and many people have to work during that time frame. Overall there were many changes that should have been made to hold a better trade fair for our corporations but we did not accomplish what we should have which really disappointment me and the rest of the GCB members.

Weekly Simulations Newspaper

As Caitlyn and I began to create our newspaper for the second cycle we were really confused. We first thought we wanted to use publisher but we had a major problem trying to import the pictures into the format. After using the publisher format and not succeeding we changed and used the indesign format. We tried to different two different formats before choosing our final format. The first two formats that we used were in black and white and when we imported the pictures they did not show up in color and we wanted our newspaper to be in color. The final format that we chose was the same on the other GCB cycle used. I was a little disappointed in the fact that we had to use the exact same one that they did but it was the only format that was in color so we tried our best to make it different. My favorite aspect of our paper was the fact that we put all local Charleston advertisements in it and also that fact that we listed things to do in Charleston, Illinois. I also liked that our slogan for our newspaper was "How you see the problem is the problem." We tried to insert a lot pictures of past trade fair and the location which our trade fair was going to be held. As we meet in the library I thought that is wouldn't take us too long to put the newspaper together but after we had failed attempts it took us much longer than we ever thought it would. We left very frustrated but glad that it was completed. Sarah then went and took the newspaper to copy express to have the newspaper printed out for each corporation. The last GCB cycle did not pass out a copy of the newspaper so that was something else we did that the other cycle did not. Overall the newspaper turned out really get and was one of the things that I was proud of that we accomplished as the Second Cycle GCB.

Hierarchy in the corporations

Hierarchy: usually refers to the vertical levels of an organization. It represents the distribution of authority among organizational roles or positions.
Smaller organizations usually don't have such a high pyramid. Hierarchy is something that is prevalent in any corporation or organization.

The pyramid in our Simulation's Class goes as follows....

Professor (Aj Walsh)

Professor's Teaching Assistant (Ashley Thomas)

Government Control Board (Sarah, Brittney/Me, Caitlyn)

Corporations (Need A Nerd, Great Getaways, Pure Day Spa, Chez Cuisine, Fitness For Life)

Everyone organization or corporation needs a boss someone to set the rules and guidelines and to make sure that the company is ran the right way so it portrays the right image to the community. For example Aj would be the boss or the CEO, Ashley would be the president, the government control board(GCB) would be the vice presidents enforcing the rules and making sure task get accomplished, and the corporations would be the employees. In the real world outside of our simulations class corporations have to follow certain guidelines through the state and the govern. It is important that every corporation follows the rules that are give to them so they can be a successful company. page 21

Cheney, G, Christensen, LT, Zorn, T, & Ganesh, S. (2004). Organizational communication in an age of globalization . Prospect Heights: Waveland Press Inc.

Team Work vs Group Work

Team: a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach, for which they hold themselves accountable.

-have shared leadership roles, mutual accountability, a specific team purpose that is distinguishable from the organizational mission, and collective work products.

Group: simply a collection of people with something in common; six people wait at a bus stop can be considered a group, but defiantly not a team.

All employers today would rather have a team of people than a group of people. Just like in our Simulations class we need to have teams of people that make up a corporation not just a group. It is important that each corporation and the GCB are a team because with the shared leadership one person would be doing all of the work. This still could happen in this class but since everyone in the corporation has to do their own speech it makes it much harder to depend on one person to do all of the work. The GCB is also a team we depend on each other to do everything and we each pick up the slack when someone can't be there. For example I could not pass out fliers one day so Caitlyn and Sarah went and took care of it and another example is when Sarah could not meet to do the newspaper Caitlyn and I pick up the slack and then Sarah went and printed off the newspapers the next morning. That is the definition of a team for this class helping each other out when you need but also holding your own and doing your part.

Page 225

Cheney, G, Christensen, LT, Zorn, T, & Ganesh, S. (2004). Organizational communication in an age of globalization . Prospect Heights: Waveland Press Inc.

What is Leadership?

Leadership is knowing how to use everyone in your team so the puzzle fits just right.

Leadership is one of those words that many people have a hard time defining but many people say it is vital to get a job or makes you a better candidate for a job. Many people believe that although it is hard to define leadership it is a quality that you can see in someone. Most people agree that leadership is an influence process, that it involves influencing people's attitudes and actions(page 180). I became a leader in our Simulations class when I joined the GCB. The GCB stands for the government control board and is in charge of setting the rules for the class. Our GCB did a good job of setting the rules and following the the rules that were set to make an example for the rest of the class. As the GCB it is important that we act as the leaders of the class and showcase the rules exactly as there are supposed to be followed. An example of how one of the members of the GCB was not a leader was when Sarah came into class looking like she just got done shacking(or also known as sleeping over at a boys house). She was wearing Old Navy gross flip flops which we tell everyone else they can not wear, a t shirt that is loose and says Pissers on it. This is outfit would not be acceptable to wear to work on a Jeans Day and so I told Sarah not to dress like that to class anymore because it was setting a bad example. She is saying to the class that they can dress the way she did when in all actuality they can not or they will get fined for it. This made me really upset when she came into class looking like this I wanted to be like SARAH!!! NO ONE ELSE CAN DO IT WHY DO YOU THINK YOU CAN!! If your boss at work walked into work one day looking like a slob you would think that you could do it and get away with it too. Alicia also confronted Sarah about being dressed like that and Sarah told Alicia,"Ya I know I am not supposed to be dressed like this but I slept at a guys house, you can talk points off my grade." I think it was good that Sarah admitted it was her fault but I do not think she should have said she slept over at a guys house that is not something that anyone in the class needs to know or is appropriate for the workplace. It is vital that leaders lead in an example and use the process of leadership to get things done through people.


http://www.pinetreeweb.com/whatis.htm

Cheney, G, Christensen, LT, Zorn, T, & Ganesh, S. (2004). Organizational communication in an age of globalization . Prospect Heights: Waveland Press Inc.

Qualities of a Good Leader

With the help of the websites listed at the bottom I chose some of the most important qualities one should have to be a leader. It has always been hard to define exactly what a leader is so the best way I have found to do this is to define what qualities a leader should have. Although not all leaders may possess each one of this characteristics they should strive to. A leader does not have to be put into a leadership role to be able to step up and take on the leadership. Leader are not born they are created and transformed. I was not born to be trustworthy instead my parents taught me to learn what being a trustworthy person is. There are also many people that believe that they are a leader and many other people do not see them as one. It is a fine line to cross and there is one person in particular in our class that believes she is a leader but many people in the class find her annoying. Yes she does posses some of the leadership qualities such as high self esteem, has a vision, creative, dedicated to the job, and is assertive but she also posses the qualities of being unfair, manages more than she leads, and does not have humility. These three qualities tend to override her positive leadership qualities because it makes others annoyed with her. Leadership qualities are highly important to the simulations class because each group has to have a key leader to stand up and take on the responsibility. Without leaders in this class the class would be a complete chaos.

My Top 15 Qualities of a Well rounded Leader

1. Inspire people to work towards a vision
2. Be self aware and insightful about your impact on other
3. Accept responsibilities for your actions
4. Lead verses Manage
5. Have high self esteem
6. Has a vision
7. Has integrity
8. Dedication to the job and the employees
9. Magnanimity- meaning giving credit where it is due
10. Having humility
11. Be Fair
12. Be assertive
13. Have a sense of humor
14. Be creative
15. Be Trustworthy
    

http://www.leadership-and-motivation-training.com/qualities-of-good-leadership.html
http://www.hrworld.com/features/top-10-leadership-qualities-031908/