"80 minutes" by Leah HeeEun Jeon

I wrote a Haiku poem, which is a very short form of Japanese poetry.

Haiku combines form, content, and language in a meaningful, yet compact form. Usually the themes include nature, feelings, or experiences. The most common form for Haiku is three short lines. The fist line contains 5 syllables, the second line 7 syllables, and the third line contains 5 syllables.

My Haiku expresses the feelings and experiences I’ve had from taking this management class.

"80 minutes"                                                 Leah HeeEun Jeon

                                                                                                          

                 From strangers to friends,                                              

                 All changed in 80 minutes.                                             

                 Extraordinary!                                                                 

                                                                                                         

"We change, whether we like it or not."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

            On the first day of management class, our professor informed us about the blog assignment. Initially I thought “OMG- another annoying assignment for this semester.” But even before the 2nd blogging assignment, I found myself  enjoying blogging!  I realized that I actually love the concept of putting my thoughts in words and sharing ideas with other people. What a great experience!

             The fact that blogging provides 20% of our grade which was not test related-helped me to be less stressful throughout the semester! J  I mean…what better ways to get 20% of our grade, meanwhile we share our ideas and make friends through blogging?!

             I’m not sure if I will be constantly using this blog, but I would love to create another one in the future to use it.

I LOVE BLOGGING NOW :D

"I'd like a McGangBang Burger please :D " -Leah

I live in Staten Island and I always had bad experience with McDonald’s. So in order to complete this assignment, I needed my friend to go to the McDonald’s with me. Even then, I was still afraid to order a ‘McGangBang Burger’ due to the crowd behind me, because they were bunch of High School students (all boys) making jokes about anything.    So scary.. :’(     So I decided to let them go before me and yes, that helped me to order myself a burger when there were fewer people but I had to encounter with a very angry manager, because one of the boys got into an argument with her!

             It was finally my turn to order and I said, “I’d like a McGangBang Burger and small Milkshake, please.” This girl at the counter said, “Excuse me?” So I repeated what I said very slowly as the look on her face changed from “CONFUSED” to “AMUSED.” As I tried to explain what McGangBang Burger is, she cut me off by saying, “ I know it. Hold on.” After which she asked another girl next to her to discuss what they can do with this special order. The other girl looked at my friend and me and laughed ,and then she went to the back to explain what the McGangBang burger is. Few seconds later, she came back with a smile saying “it will be ready soon.” After 2 minutes of awkward waiting, I got my burger and the receipt. I asked if I can get a sign on the receipt proving that I ordered McGangBang Burger. THIS IS THE MOMENT THAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!! My encounter with very angry manager. She came up to me and gave me the nastiest look and signed the receipt for me. I pulled out my camera and asked politely if it’s okay if I take a picture of my McGangBang Burger at the counter. That was when the manager exploded out of frustration. She stood right in front of me yelling, “EXCUSE ME- YOU CAN’T TAKE A PICTURE HERE. PLEASE LEAVE RIGHT NOW.” I asked again, “ Just ONE picture please! ONLY ONE picture of this BURGER!!!!!!!” We argued for few more minutes and finally after explaining that this was for my class, she allowed me to take a picture. The Burger came out as I requested (as you can see) and their service was very good until our ANGRY manager came out and yelled at me.

             If I was a management consultant to the McDonald’s I visited, I would rate them 5 out of 10. I would personally give 9 out of 10 for the employees at the counter, but just about 3 out of 10 for the manager. It seemed like all the other employees were communicating very effectively to handle the situation except the manager who was caught up with her personal issues. She lost her temper and acted unprofessionally in front of the customers. Those girls at the counter did not know how to handle “extra special” order, but they calmly responded to prepare this order. They were the ones who displayed true leadership more than anyone else!  If it wasn’t the manager, my experience at the McDonald’s could have been the best out of all!

Leadership is influence- John C. Maxwell

The Result of DISC Management/Leadership Diagnostic exam for me was "IC"- Influence & Conscientiousness.

Influence: Optimistic and outgoing. They prefer participating on teams, sharing thoughts, and entertaining and energizing others.
Conscientiousness: Concerned, Cautious, and Correct. These individuals are often focused on details and quality. They plan ahead; constantly check for accuracy, and what to know "how" and "why."

             This test was very accurate for me, because I am very people oriented, optimistic, interdependent, (=I traits), as well as deliberate, calculated risk taker, and perfectionist (= C traits.) But this doesn’t mean that the test will be ALWAYS accurate for everyone. Therefore this test shouldn’t be the only factor the companies use to fully understand the people, but it can be very helpful to determine people’s management “type” to better understand them at first.

The soul never thinks without a mental picture. ~ Aristotle

After watching “The Power of Vision” video I spent most of my spare time trying to figure out what I want to do or where I want to stand in the future. I got upset and frustrated as I spent more time to think through, because I realized it used to be so much easier for me to come up with something that I want to do and ACTUALLY do it-back in the days.

I am still in a process of figuring out what I want to be in the future and my list of goals is incomplete, but let me share what I have for now:

(1)          I want to be a Director!

 I love THEATRE! I am currently taking Theatre-Directing class and my minor is theatre. Theatre brings out very passionate side of me- so I want to continue to have theatre in my life. 

(I have learned that VISION without action is a DAYDREAM. ACTION without vision is a NIGHTMARE. )

So in order to achieve this goal, I am going to continue to take the courses related to Theatre and also try out for a school play to gain more insights on theatre life!

(2)          This was my very first dream I had in my life: To be a Gayageum teacher.

Gayageum is a traditionally Korean (string) musical instrument.    I have been playing Gayageum for 11 years thus far- and I just love playing this instrument. The sound of Gayageum calms me down and i just can't stop playing! ;)

Gayageum is now more of a hobby- but I will continue to play and perform when I can!       [ Maybe I can tutor kids in my church! J]

(3)         I want to be a Human Resource Manger in Fashion Industry Company like Burberry or Marc Jacobs.

I mentioned Burberry; because they went through the period of economic stagnation due to their old fashioned ideas and still stays strong!  

I also mentioned Marc Jacobs, because they always try something new with their designs. They are very creative and that is their strength!

 To achieve this goal, I am planning to major in Human Resource Management and start getting internships in this field and work my way up! J

"The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision" - Maimonides

     When people are faced with conflicts during decision making, they tend to show one of the following behaviors: 

1) Compete to Win: Being aggressive or assertive to get one's own way

2) Avoidance: Withdrawal from decision making process

3) Compromise: Work as mediator among extreme opinions 

4) Accommodation: Seeing issue as more important to others than yourself

5) Collaborating: Real bargaining and negotiation among group

      During my management class, we all had to come up with a proposal to request some changes on our future exam methods. We also had to reach to an agreement to improve our grades for the first exam. As soon as the professor sat down and allowed us (and only us) to start a discussion, there was CHAOS. 

     Everyone started putting their ideas on the table and it was just chaotic, I couldn't  hear anyone clearly. Then naturally, leaders-or rather a mediator-stepped out and took charge. I sat down and followed "accommodation" method which means I'm allowing others to discuss and decide for me, not because I was lazy but because I thought in that way, we will come up with a solution quickly.  But with 73 people in the classroom, it seemed almost impossible to come up with an idea to satisfy everyone. 

     Then I just got confused and lost during the decision making process. I wanted to know what was going on, so I stepped out and followed "compromise" method. I tried to listen to others and talk to other people in front to figure out what we should do. 

    It was very challenging to finally come up with the solution, because we were all under the time constraints and uncertain if our proposal will be approved by the professor. Maybe we could have not made any decision like someone said in our class. We can try to avoid making choices by doing nothing, but even that is a decision! So I think we did the right thing in the end.  It may not be the best decision for all of us, but at least it is better than nothing :)

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is a progress. Working together is a success.” - Henry Ford

            If someone asks you to come up with a plan to prevent an egg from breaking when it falls from ten feet above the ground, by only using few straws and tape- (not to mention that we had to do this assignment in a certain amount of time) What would you say?

Maybe you will say, “coming up with a plan to protect an egg? Piece of cake” or maybe you will say “uh-oh that is not going to be easy.” I was the one who said this is not going to be easy if I do it on my own. That is why when the professor told the class to work as in a group, I was relieved and thought, as long as we follow the “steps in the planning process” and work with the team members, we will be able to come up with a solid plan. However, after the first set of time we have given to brainstorm for our egg, “EGG DROP” (yes. That is our egg’s name,) I realized we made several mistakes as a group. 

           My group stated off very well by clearly understanding the task and following the first step: Defining our goals and objectives. Then we moved onto the second step: Evaluating the resources compared to objectives. We thought the resources as the given objects, the straws and tape. Therefore we never discussed about the skills or talents of each individuals which we could have used to make everything much easier. Everyone was only focused on the facts in front of us; we ignored the Human recourses, which we could have used so effectively during this assignment. Starting from here, we started to fall apart as one group. By the time we reached to the third step: Developing premises and several alternative strategies, everyone was not communicating effectively. We were not listening to each other, but rather all busy putting their own ideas out on the plate. We spent almost all of our time on the step 3 which was the horrible mistake on our part.  Step 4: Analyzing Alternatives and making a tactical plan did not happen, due to our poorly managed team work. When we had to go up in front of the classroom to implement our plan, we have FAILED miserably. 

           We were not even done with the protection around the egg, because we were just all talking at the same time and never really acted together as ONE for our ‘Egg Drop’. 

         The result of lack of communication, team work, and poorly managed time was brutal. 

But, at least I have learned to pay more attention to the time and each individual members  in my group for next time!  

“It can be culture shock in reverse” by Susan Fitzgerald

“Culture Shock” is a term we use to describe the confusing and nervous feelings a person may have after leaving his/her own culture to live in a new and different culture.

      When I moved to Ireland, I faced a lot of changes which were exciting and interesting, but also overwhelming. I had no choice but to adjust myself to a new culture, no matter how hard it may be. At first everything was surreal to me, because of their looks and behaviors. I realized the culture has huge influence on how you look, act, and communicate. Therefore it is normal for us to experience “culture shock” when we go to a new place.  

      “Culture shock” is considered to be a temporary thing but sometimes, I think I still go through mild culture shock.

     Since I was very young, I have learned to show RESPECT. That is the most important aspect in Korean Culture. We show respect to everyone-especially to those who are older than you or who hold higher authority over you. When I greet my professors or my parents, I should bow. Just saying ‘hello’ or waving your hand is not enough. It is considered to be rude. We even have formal and informal ways of speaking Korean and we must use formal language to them.

       I’m sure you can imagine how shocked I was when I came here and saw people calling each other in first name basis!

     To me, Americans and many others are very ‘friendly’ in their own ways and being ‘friendly’ must be perfectly normal- but it was unusual to me. I’m so used to saying good-byes by waving my hands- so some people misunderstand me and say I don’t hug or kiss them on the cheek BECAUSE I don’t like them.

*Please note* Koreans may not hug you or Kiss you on the cheek to say good-byes. BUT that doesn’t mean we don’t like you! We are just not used to that ;)

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”-Plato

Hello! Before I start blogging about Management and related topics, I will first introduce myself. 
      My name is HeeEun Jeon- you can also call me Leah. I'm currently a sophomore and is pursuing a major in Human Resource Management and a minor in Theatre. 

In my spare time, I like to eat and play Kayakum, a traditional Korean instrument, which I have been playing for eleven years thus far. 

I love traveling, which is probably due to my ever-changing location. I was born and raised in South Korea until I was eleven, then moved to Dublin, Ireland for three years untill I settled in New York City. 

Thank you for stopping by! Please feel free to make some comments or anything in the future!and know that I will always return the favors, comments, and visits. :)