One for all, all for one

The situation that I chose to discuss is fictional from the comedic show, Modern Family.  For those of you who are not familiar with this TV series, it follows three very different families, and each episode revolves around some sort of family problem.  The three families are all related and interact with one another; however, they are also individual entities.

In one particular episode, one of the characters, Mitch, wants to quit his legal job.  Mitch is unhappy with the work environment and the lack of respect he receives at work, and he decides he wants to leave the firm.  The kicker is that Mitch can’t muster up the courage to actually quit.  He has trouble communicating with his supervisor and every time it appears as if he’ll actually quit his job, Mitch chickens out and his supervisor assigns him a new task.  In the end, he finally ends up communicating his desire to quit and leaves the firm.

In this situation, communication is one of the main problems.  Mitch does not communicate with his higher up about his desire to quit or his unhappiness at the firm.  He simply carries on and completes his assigned tasks.  On the other hand, Mitch’s higher up also has a problem when it comes to communication.  He is clearly not observant or interested in the happiness of his employee, and therefore, fails to realize that there is a problem.  A crucial part of communication is listening and engaging those around you, and his supervisor fails to do this. 

The lack of communication also reveals inefficiency within this team relationship.  Since Mitch feels as though he cannot communicate openly with his supervisor, Mitch may have also passed up previous opportunities to relay new ideas, opinions and viewpoints.  Conversely, his supervisor should have been more open and accessible so that this situation would have never occurred. 

In reference to chapter 8 in Bolman and Deal, another road block in Mitch’s relationship with his supervisor is their inability to “recognize that group effectiveness depends on members’ ability to understand what is happening and contribute effectively” (184-185).  Both members in this conflict were unaware of the others’ needs.  They knew their own personal desires, however, they did not listen, communicate and build a general consensus on how to deal with the issue. 

This situation could have easily been avoided.  Had Mitch and his supervisor had a more open, honest relationship, Mitch may not have wanted to quit in the first place.  If Mitch had conveyed his goals, needs and hardships to his employer, he would have enjoyed his job much more.  Similarly, if Mitch’s supervisor had initiated ground rules that promoted open communication, listening and some sort of way to discuss conflict, the situation could have also been avoided.

I think that this situation demonstrates how important it is to set rules and guidelines for group work early on in a group relationship.  When an environment is presented as one that is open, honest, cooperative and respectful, I have found that group members respond more positively and have a better experience overall.

This definitely relates back to the work experience that I mentioned in my last post.  Before I began my internship, guidelines for communication and general expectations were discussed.  I think it was crucial that my employer promoted open communication and regularly checked in on us to make sure that not only our project was going well, but also that we happy.  This type of concern for one's employees promotes a healthy, communication-friendly relationship at the work place. 

There's no 'I' in team, but there is 'me'

This past summer, I had an internship position with a small consulting firm.  I interned with another individual, and for the majority of the summer, our task was to complete the firm’s annual volatility report.  We were asked to track turnovers at the CEO, CFO and COO levels for Fortune 500 and S&P 500 Companies (around 800 firms) in addition to measuring various demographic factors such as age, race, gender, undergraduate degree, etc.  We ran countless regressions to find trends within the data (for example we created a formula that we used to estimate the total turnovers for 2014), and we were also asked to add our own creative flair to the report, specifically through additional creative data topics.

At the beginning of the internship, our managers told us that we would be rewarded at the end of our summer term with a bonus.  This bonus was dependent on the new ideas and contributions that we brought to the Summer 2014 Report.  It was irrelevant who “came up” with the ideas since they told us that we would both receive the same bonus at the end of the summer.

In this scenario, I see an element of complete fairness.  Unlike the scenario that Haidt describes, there was no need to divide uneven earnings.  We both “pulled the rope to the marble jar” and received the same payoff.  Though this may be fair in the big picture, I’d argue that this method of reward isn’t always the best way to go about things.  In a situation such as the one Haidt describes, it may be true that though both individuals are pulling the rope, but one of the two may be putting in more effort to pull his rope than his partner.  This extra effort lacks a designated reward when the two equally divide the marbles.

In hypothetical situation similar to the one I described from my own experience, let’s say that one of the two interns was the only one to come up with new ideas.  These new ideas led to the most press coverage that the firm has yet to see due to their volatility report.  Is it then fair to equally reward both individuals just because the idea-less intern was present when the creative intern thought of said ideas?

Though we should share our earnings if a situation presents itself in which equal work is done by each individual, I am a firm believer in the idea of rewarding people on an individual basis.  I believe that singling an employee out for a job well done is not only positive reinforcement for that individual, but it is also the more fair thing to do because they put in extra effort to present their best work and should be rewarded.     

Our Choices Define Us

I am in the process of job searching/interviewing, and it’s a job in itself.  As I enter countless interviews, I am beginning to realize that I will have to make some big decisions in the coming months.  I think I want to go into some sort of consulting, but as of now, everything is up in the air. 

As I’ve become more familiar with the job market and what companies “look for” in a candidate, I’ve come to a few realizations.  An ideal candidate is “well-rounded” and has a good school-extracurrircular-social life balance. I had a hunch that this would be something companies would be interested in, so I became very good at managing my time early on in my college career.  I spread myself across various activities, whether it be through my sorority, the Society of Women in Business, volunteering at the food pantry or various honor societies, in order to insure that companies know that I am driven and can juggle many things at once.  Not only is it important to have extracurricular activities, but it is also important to have meaningful activities that can be somewhat applicable to your future.  Almost every organization that I’ve partaken in throughout my college career has helped me be successful in attaining internships and other work opportunities, and in times such as during behavioral interviews, it is crucial that you have experiences to pull from outside of the classroom. 

Besides outside involvement, I’ve self-insured myself through my academic performance.  I think that applying for jobs is very similar to applying to college; both evaluate not only extracurricular involvement, but also your grades.  Keeping a relatively high GPA throughout college has definitely been a reason why I have been swamped with interviews this fall.  I think that if my GPA had been lower, I would not have been as desirable of a candidate.

Choosing a college major was also an important decision that will impact my future.  Before applying to the University of Illinois, I was torn between applying as a political science major or an economics major.  Luckily, I realized that an economics would be a better investment (at that time I wanted to go to law school, which looking back upon, was ridiculous), and I decided to major in econ.  I added an additional major my sophomore year, Spanish, and I also believe that this was a good decision.  Majoring in Spanish has allowed me to be more qualitative, and in effect, balance out the quantitative qualities of my economics degree.  I think that the two degrees combined relay a “well-rounded” impression to employers.

Overall, I think my ability to be versatile and adapt has gotten me far in life.  This isn’t always a learned characteristic, but it is important when taking on the job market and figuring out what you want in life.  Versatility in addition to goal setting has allowed me to gain some sense of direction when it comes to my future.  I ultimately want to end up doing something that I actually enjoy, and I think that my choices in terms of majors and outside activities accurately reflect my interests and who I am as a person.  Thus far, I believe I've managed future risks well through various decisions that I've made in college, but only time will tell.  Then again if all else fails, I’m lucky to have an amazing family that will support me no matter what I decide to do with my life. 

Illinibucks: a Headache or a Time-Saver?

Illinibucks tie perfectly into transfer pricing.  The University would be setting a certain Illinibucks price for priority standing in certain conditions.  I think that ideal situations in which Illinibucks could be applied to would be waiting in line at the dining hall, class registration and, if possible through some sort of reciprocal agreement, bar entry.

I can imagine many students using their Illinibucks to cut the line at the dining hall.  My freshman year, I lived in Illini Tower (IT), so I didn’t have any issues waiting in line to eat since IT is private housing and doesn’t get very congested at meal times.  However, I know for a fact that many of the public housing dining halls are quite different.  I’ve only been to the Ikenberry Commons once to eat, but when I went, it was chaotic and stressful.  The line was extremely long, and we had to get to the dining hall about 25 minutes before opening for dinner to go wait in line.  Applying Illinibucks to this situation would drastically alter things.  Students could choose certain days to skip the line and use their Illinibucks as a sort of fast pass (like at Six Flags) to skip the line and get swiped into the dining hall wait-free.

Another situation in which Illinibucks could be applied to is class registration.  To my understanding, class registration is based on the number of credit hours a student has completed, and this means that younger students oftentimes get the short end of the stick when it comes to registering.  Since they normally have one of the last registration days, they don’t have as much choice when it comes to desirable class times or even desirable classes.  (However, this does not apply to various groups, such as James Scholars and athletes, because they receive priority when it comes to registration.)  Illinibucks could be used to change one’s registration date and/or time, and this would allow students to register earlier.  In the past, I definitely would have used my Illinibucks for this purpose because I’ve had many classes that I would’ve liked to take at a different time, but couldn’t because my ideal section choices were taken by the time my registration time ticket started.

A third situation that I could apply Illinibucks to on campus is bar entry.  Since one must be 19 to enter most of the bars at the University of Illinois, the lines are oftentimes long, and it is quite a hassle to wait in line when it’s snowing and 20 degrees outside.  Therefore, I think that many students would utilize Illinibucks to skip the line at various bars and receive immediate entry.  This would be similar to the use of Illinibucks at dining halls, and students could skip the line on any given night without pre-registering.

Applying the concept of Illinibucks to the University of Illinois would be difficult.  If the price were too low, students would overuse their Illinibucks.  On a given day, there would be tons of people skipping the line at a bar or in the dining hall if it was a good going out night or there was a good meal.  This would most likely cause congestion, and people would be waiting in yet another line for entry.  On the other hand, if the price of Illinibucks were too high, not enough people would utilize them and it would be a waste of a system.  (However, in terms of class registration it may be useful, but this could also create an influx of users simply for registration and for nothing else.) 

I think that this would create the need for individual night/meal pricing.  Skipping the line on a given day would be calculated based on various factors.  In the bar situation, these factors would include: temperature outside (more people would want to skip if it was colder), night of the week (Thursday-Saturday are the most popular nights to go out), drink deals/events at the bar (if these things are occurring, the turnout will be larger) and various other factors.  In terms of skipping the line on for a meal, factors that would need to be considered when pricing would include: specialty meals being served (some dining halls do themed nights, and these increase the turnout), night of the week (some nights are more popular to eat at dining halls than others), type of meal (more people would be present at dinner than at breakfast due to class schedules) and various other factors.

Overall, I think that Illinibucks is a good concept in theory, but it would be a headache to implement due to pricing issues.  The University would be putting a lot of effort in just so that students wouldn't have to wait in line.  After all, what's so horrible about lines?  Patience is a virtue, and lines teach you this, right?