5 Points Poem

During this course,

I felt remorse,

For taking this course.

This is a joke,

I liked this class,

Far more than a pain,

In my…ear!

I learned about planning stuff,

And putting things in schemes,

And the way to make the steps,

For my vision and my dreams.

Managing is tough without the proper structure,

Formal and informal which can lead to destruction.

Therefore, effective communication is a key,

For environment to be conflict free.

Don't Forget To Blog !!!

During the course of this semester I found the blogging part much more interesting than I have thought it would be. I thought of it as an annoyance at first because after so many english and history courses, and after so many written papers I grew tired of writing. However, this was different since I had to write about stuff that happened in class or something about me personally and it is worth 20% of the grade! What could be better than that?
The blogging is defenitely a good tool to get to know people you spend time with in class. You can learn what other people think of certain issues and get to know them better like that. However, I also think it can be a hassle since many people are busy and don't really have much time to write blogs or comments to other people. There is facebook for that and until recently I used to spend so much time chatting or commenting but after  a while it gets boring. I think it can also apply here. I think writing a blog is not a hassle, but commenting other blogs can be. It is good to read other peoples blogs and know what they think, but by saying "reply to..others" it looks like an unappealing thing. Also many times I wanted to read other peoples blogs but I couldn't because they didn't write anything. Maybe commenting other people should not be mandatory because if one is interested and likes or dislakes what other person is saying, s/he whill comment the blog regardless.
The blog should defenitely be kept. Many people just forget to write it on time or do not write it at all, but I guess that is one lesson of management; do the task well and on time. Will I still write the blog after this course? The chances are really slim. I will probably forget about writing and I will be occupied with other things. I liked your blog about writing every day and getting more inteligent by doing it, but I don't find blogging very helpful in that way.    

What Kind of Manager Am I?

According to the leadership/management diagnostic we conducted in class, I am Sd; stable/dominant type of leader/manager. I think the test did evaluate me correctly because it identified many traits that I do possess. For example I am a status quo person. I like routine and I don't like too many changes. If something is working well I am reluctant to try to find an improvement to work even better. Also I do try to create a pleasant environment around me, especially at work environment. I am a loyal person and I very rarely lie to anyone. If there is some misunderstanding or even a fight between people or even when I am involved, I am usually the calm person who try to calm the people and find a solution that works for everyone.
However, I do not agree with the letter d which I got because I think that I do not possesss many traits of the described dominant personality. I think the influental/creative personality describes me better. This diagnostic test is helpful in describing what "type" of manager one is, but we should always be cynical about these results because they cannot be 100% correct. This test can reveal some interesting facts about someone's personality.

I Have A Vision!

I have a couple of goals for my future which i plan to accomplish in the next 5-10 years. For starters my first goal is to finish Baruch College with the degree in accountancy with the GPA of 3.5 or higher. Clearly the only way to accomplish that is by studying hard and doing well on the exams. Also, in order to get a good job after I finish college, I have to take some internship and learn how to use my knowledge. Therefore, my plan is to find some internship during the next year or during the Spring of 2012 before I graduate. So for now my 3 primary goals are to finish college in Spring 2012, go to the internship during that time and get a job afterward.
After I get the job my plan is to look for a way to transfer into Europe. In order to do that I either have to look for a company here that needs people in Europe or I have to make enough money so that I can move there by myself and find another job. My ultimate goal is to go back to Serbia and live there. Hopefully I can get a job here that I can also do over there. In case that I don't find such a  job, I will have to stay here for another 7 years in order to make enough money so that I can live comfortably in Serbia and find a job there. Therefore my optimal vision is to leave US during the next 5years, maybe spend a little time somewhere in Europe and go back to Serbia.

Whatever You Decide

When the professor was explaining the behaviors during the decision making conflict, I instanty recognized my reaction from the class activity as accommodation. Since I was satisfied with what I got on the test and I knew that there were a lot of people who were not, I simply did not take a part in the decision making. The way I thought was that people who did worse than I did needed those extra points. Therefore there was no need for me to fight for something because I knew that whatever is decided it will benefit everyone and I will accept the decision. I think there were a couple of more people who were in the same situation as me, but there were also many who choose the avoidance and did not participate because they saw that it's difficult to get to an agreement with everyone. There were a couple of them who were sort of in between the compromise and compete to win behaviors and I really admired them because they showed great effort and were willing to make the decision that would be good for all of us. I am not sure if my personal decision making behavior was right or wrong. Maybe I should have stated my opinion since my grade was at stake as well, but I don't think there was much need.

Cracking the Shell

During our 25minutes of planning we were throwing out ideas of how should the egg protector look like. Everyone contibuted and we arrived to the idea of braiding the straws and putting them around the egg. We all defenitely knew what our goal was and the deadlines. We came to the conclusion of what we have to do before the time ran out. We did not pick a leader, but I don't think that was our weakness since at such a short period of time we pretty much agrred on many ideas and the general communcation between us was very good.
We were discussing possible outcomes of our plan and we tried to make our project better. For example we thought of what if the egg falls and then bounces to one side and breaks itself. That is why we had to change its position a bit and use the tape wisely. We decided who is going to braid the straws, who is going to sketch the egg, who is going to let it go from the top of the table etc.
The 10 minutes of creating the project was very tense, especially the last couple of minutes. Everything had to be done fast and somehow we managed to get it done by the last second. Unfortunately, our egg did not succeed. However, I think that as a group, we were very successful and that if we had more time or a little more practice we would make it.

Tolerance

When I came here about five years ago I was not very shocked to see many different things and different ways of living that exist in NY. We all know that what you see in American movies is not a real image of America and especially NY, since most of the movies are made in NY, but one gets accustomed to seeing all those tall buildings, big lights and different people. I guess I saw so many movies that when I came here almost nothing was very surprising to me.
 Some things did make me feel a bit annoyed. For example many people in NY are loud, wear pants much lower than they should, chew loudly...But also what i noticed is that there are no street dogs or cats which was weird to me because where I come from one can see a cat or a dog anywhere, and can even play with them sometimes. What surprised me the most was that almost no one has his/her own washing machine in the apartment. Everyone from the building use the same machines and if you live in a private house you have to use the laundromat outside. That was very strange to me because in my country everyone has a washing machine in the house or apartment and the process of washing is longer and better. Therefore clothes over there lasts much longer and one does not have so many t shirts, pants or pairs of shoes.
NY is very unique because you get to meet people from any corner of the world. I have friend from many different places and I had a chance to learn about their cultures and points of view. Out of all the people i met I got a chance to meet very few "real" Americans who were born and raised here. But somehow all people are acting American in the way that everyone is watching his/her own business, time is very organized and precious and getting to know a person or becoming close friends is extremely hard.