Tuesday, November 16, 2010

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.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

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.

Friday, October 22, 2010

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.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

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.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

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.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Introduction

Hi! My name is Boško Radaković. It is probably easier if you read it as Boshko. I come from Serbia (former Yugoslavia). I'm junior at Baruch and I'm majoring in accountancy. I like sports, especially soccer. I also like to try different things and experience new stuff. This class is also one of the new things that I'll try out and i hope it will be interesting.