ISU, University or a big Company?

When students choose a University to attend not only do they look to see if the school has a good program for their major but also how much it will cost them to attend that University. That is why most students end up getting a part-time job once they go to college to pay for expense or to have extra money coming in. Looking around for part-times jobs could be difficult but a great place to start is within the University. A lot of students overlook getting a job at ISU because they do not know the opportunities that ISU offers for them.

For students who work for the University it is easy for managers and bosses to motivate the workers. The biggest motivator for student workers is PERKS. Not only are alot of the jobs easy but they have different perks to them which keep students working as hard as they can. Most jobs offer perks such as minimum wage, priority class choosing and extra flex dollars. Another motivator (but not a lot of people look at it as a motivator) is the flexiblity of the job. The job hours are scheduled around that students class schedule.

This link below is a link the jobs website which talks more about the different perks that jobs that are hiring have.

https://www.jobs.ilstu.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1322783316889

-Avery Smith

Four Motivation Mistakes Most Leaders Make

This is a great article on leadership and where mistakes can be made. It helps you think about where you are as a leader and what types of things you do, or can do to make your motivation practices better. Leadership is a very important aspect of how organizations thrive or die. In class we discussed how a leader is not necessarily a manager. A leader has a more collective view on the overall goal and sees the ultimate vision. How leaders organize and motivate others to get to that vision is the issue at hand. How did Steve Jobs inspire action and motivation to his employees? How did Larry Page and Sergey Brin motivate their vision at Google? How did Warren Buffet inspire people around him to complete projects and business goals? These are all leaders who have used a motivation of some sort to push others and make them believe in the vision they were in pursuit of. This article discusses ways in which you shouldn't try to motivate others and also give insight on how to motivate. Ironically this article briefly touches on the social aspects of leadership as discussed in Chapter 5 this semester with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. People have basic needs that they need to fulfill and they probably don't believe in the organization as much as you do. This is one of those issues you have to deal with as a leader, and I firmly believe in what the article states about lots of little rewards rather than a monetary award. People seem to be more appreciative when their work is recognized and their achievements are "seen" by leadership. This relates back to the Acquired Needs Theory. That theory talks about need based approaches to motivation. Most people have a high need for achievement, and rewarding them for their efforts regularly is a great way to encourage. Over the course of this semester we have all selected good articles on leadership and motivation. This is an article that touches on how to not motivate or try to lead. It is important we ask ourselves if we are a victim of using these leadership styles. After reading this post and this article take a look at your own leadership style. Do you motivate in a way that is good or bad? Have you used anything lately to be a better leader or motivator? It is important to remember how to lead and how not to lead. We need to be aware of the right and wrong ways to things to better ourselves. Leadership to me isn't just something you do for a couple things, it's a lifestyle. Leadership is an important aspect of how we work with others and leadership by example is an important aspect of your ability to motivate others. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/four_motivation_mistakes_most.html

Whole Foods Market

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/values/corevalues.php

After searching around for a company that I thought motivated their employees, I found Whole foods market. After reading over their core values I can see why Forbes has included the company on its 100 best companies to work for. Whole foods market 3rd core value is supporting team member excellence and happiness. What Whole foods market means by that is the want to have an empowering work environment, self-responsibility, self-directed teams, open and timely information, incremental progress and shared fate.

The way they have an empowering work environment is they are dependent upon the collective energy and intelligence of all their team members. They appreciate when there team members put in effort and reward them when they do. The two factor theory for need-based theories has hygiene factors and motivators, one of the motivators is receiving recognition which whole foods market strives to do for employees who put forth effort in their job. Another motivator that Whole foods market offers is responsibility. In their core values Whole foods market list self-responsibility where they take responsibility for their own success and failures. They celebrate success and see failures as opportunities for growth. The self-directed teams that Whole foods market has is another reason why they are a great company to work for because they are all working towards one goal and not just working to accomplish their task. Being part of a team you are part of the success of everybody, which for myself motivates me to get my job done so that I can be a part of that success.

Overall Whole foods market seems to be another great company to work for. With how they feel for the environment, communities, and employees shows me that they want to make the world we live in a better place.

Eric Marek

Mercedes-Benz USA

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/about_us/careers

For this blog I decided to search through the top companies in America until I found one that interested me. I settled on Mercedes-Benz, mainly because I like their cars, however when I was done watching the video, that is included on the company website, it was quite evident that I made a good choice. Mercedes is number 15 on the list of best companies to work for in terms of benefits, environment, and employee value. They have a nationwide organization employing over 1500 people with 355 associated dealerships that employee over 21,000 employees across the country. They focus on diversity amongst the company because they feel it offers the best solution to their problems. With people from all walks of life working in the company, they have the benefit of getting to see multiple perspectives on any particular issue. This diversity also leads to a high level of creativity within the company, which is something they are quite proud of.

Another topic discussed in the video was the Autonomy of the company. Employees say each day is different and that they have the ability to work on whatever they feel is necessary. They also talk with a particular women who started working at the company as an engineer but was later released form the engineering department. Rather then leaving her unemployed the company found a great fit for her in the Public Relations Department. To me, this is a very important attribute for a company to have and as an employer it shows the employees that they can rest assure that the company will find positions for them some where, even if their starting point isn’t the perfect fit.

This video also touches a bit on the companies new plans to incorporated fuel-efficient technology into their already prestigious name. This shows that the company is rooted in ethics, rather then solely focusing on what parts they can use to maximize profit, they are spending money to better the fuel emissions problem with their vehicles worldwide.

-Zach Borgetti

Apple Is Not Just A Fruit

http://www.apple.com/about/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/technology/23apple.html

Apple is a technological organization that is a leader in
its extremely competitive market that is changing daily. New technology is
brought to the market everyday and the only way to stay ahead of the competitors
is to “one up” the competition. Apple has had a history of increasing its brand
name with the help of their former CEO, Steve Jobs. With the creation of the
iPod and assistance from their Mac computer, they have been able to create an
organization that is a symbol of their accomplishments and their determination
for improvement. An organization of this magnitude cannot be established
without an internal organization that supports their continuous growth.

Apple takes their organizational environment very seriously
as they attempt to create the best fit for their employees. The firm tries to
match the skills that their employees possess with the needs of the company
which is known as person-job fit. Their organization is highly committed to
protecting the environment as they have a large section of their website
dedicated to maintaining the area where they operate in as they indicate how
they have reduced their environmental footprint. This can be extrinsically
motivating to employees who also care about the environment. This is represented
by the hygiene factor of the Two Factor Theory which was created by Frederick
Herzberg. Hygiene factors that help avoid job dissatisfaction which is needed
to seek overall satisfaction within the organization. Apple allowed its
employees a rather high level of autonomy where people had the freedom to
decide how to perform tasks on the job they were working on. Giving employees a
level of autonomy can inherently increase intrinsic motivation. This is
represented in the Two Factor Theory as well but these factors are called
motivators where the inspiration for the individual is derived from within
themselves rather than an extrinsic force or reward. Since Apple has the
ability to increase employee’s internal and external environment, it’s no
wonder how they are a leader in the highly respected industry. Steve Jobs
created an environment for employees to work in that made employees feel that
they could help the organization grow. He believed that the employees can positively
work together as a whole organization to meet the goals of Apple. This is
represented by Theory Y developed by Douglas McGregor which stated that human
nature assume that employees are not lazy, can enjoy work, and will put effort
into furthering organizational goals.

Apple created an extremely secretive company where its
employees were not to discuss any of the projects that its employees were
working on. This could have positive and negative effects on its employees. It
would hurt the organization because its employees may not feel that they have
the freedom to openly discuss what was being developed inside their organization
and may make some parts of the job not as attractive as other occupations where
communication across other organizations is necessary. However, being secretive
can provide positive effects for the organization because it can give the
employee a sense of comfort because they would know that Apple is trying to
protect their investments in new project. In turn, this indicates that the
employees are being protected from competition that would be attempting to
extract knowledge from Apple.

-Nick Meyering

5 Keys to Business Leadership for Small Business

This is a great article on Leadership in small business. It says, small business, however this article definitely is relevant to all forms of leadership within an organization. This divulges back to some of the Theories of Motivation we discussed in class and how they are motivated either externally or internally. Additionally, I believe that your locus of control is a large factor in if you are a leader or not. Chapter 6 discusses "Designing a Motivating Work Environment". I think this is a large factor in being a leader. As a leader it is important to foster an environment that creates motivation for employees. They need to feel empowered and be able to feel that you are supportive. From our book, there are a majority of models and theories that are relative to being a leader. SMART goals are another thing that are important. You want to make sure that your goals are tailored to be successful but also reach new heights. You want your goals to be attainable and realistic. Leaders know how to evaluate employees and set attainable goals for their organizations. The thing I appreciated about this article was that a leader promotes an action step in whatever they do and they lead by example. A leader is always pushing and sharing their vision to make it a reality. Like I said, this article really ties into Theories of Motivation. We see through Maslow's Hierarchy of needs model and the ERG model that people have certain needs that they need to facilitate, and things they need to get in order to be satisfied. Great leaders inspire and motivate employees. They use their personal skills to assess employees or team members and motivate them in a way that best fits to their characteristics. A leader should use their education to realize issues and then assert their skills to team members problem areas. Overall I felt that this was a great article for leaders in the field of business; not just small business owners. Lastly I think that people are very indulged in the Acquired Needs Theory. People have these needs for affiliation, achievement, an power. I believe a leader can assess that and find out where to place the person to deliver value. This theory seems to be on the basis of a need for value in certain instances. Great leaders can create value for teams, ultimately having members buy into the vision and reason they all do what they do to succeed. Great article on leadership, and great way to analyze the article with some of the theories of motivation. http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/smallbusinesslearning/a/leadership1.htm

CSI

I think Avery is exactly right when assigning who had what rolls, Erik, Nick, Avery, and myself mainly played the roll of the completer while Blake contributed more as the contractor(leader). I think we did a great job of playing our parts and working our way through the case however more communication was definitely needed. Though in a way we all were displaying attributes of the communicator role, non of us really stepped up as the actual communicator, had this happened I think we would have had an easier time discovering that the sheets all had some minor differences that ultimately were needed to solve the case. After completing this team exercise I would have to say our team is in the performing stage. I feel like this because we can work together and bounce ideas of each other effectively.

JET BLUE

http://www.jetblue.com/about/work/

I chose to do a little research on Jet Blue, a rising airline company. I thought they would be interesting because somehow, even in these poor economic times, they seem to be thriving and continuing to innovate. The company started in 2000 with the idea of quality at the helm. They wanted to keep customer costs low while offering an array of things other airlines couldn't. For instance, every seat on Jet Blue's planes has their own personal TV. I reviewed the companies mission statement on this website and I understand their success now. Jet Blue offers some of the best benefits of any airline company in existence. Every medical insurance available as well as a stock purchase plan caught my eye as some of the most impressive. I also think that their view on diversity is a major reason for their success. They have instated programs to help those that are differently abled and they also support and make a conscious effort to employ veterans. On top of all this, the website also has a section that contains real stories from current employees that are all about their experiences with the company. Personally, I have never seen that on a company website before but I do think it is a very strategic move. It gives applicants confidence when applying and it also helps support the work community at Jet Blue.

CSI Normal

1. Which of the ten roles (task/social/boundary spanning roles) did you see people playing in your team? What role did YOU most play? (See Figure 9.7, p. 217, in Chapter 9 of your book). I saw people mostly facilitating the task roles in our group. We didn’t have a lot of the things from other categories. I personally saw myself facilitating the contractor role for this activity. I made an effort to organize the details of the case, and made a timeline of everything that happened. I believe I facilitated that role for the exercise. 2. Which roles were/would have been most helpful to your team’s success in solving the mystery (for example, in discovering that your sheets were different)? Well a communicator role would’ve been much better. That would have helped our team figure out that there was a difference in the documents. Additionally a calibrator role would’ve really helped our group to stay focused and generate more group discussion. We needed a lot more people to facilitate those roles rather than relying on mostly an individual attempt from everyone in our group. Our group did not have really any of these factors to solve the case. 3. What stage of development do you think your group is in? Why do you say that? In my opinion we are stuck in the performing stage. We get stuff done, but the quality of our work isn’t the greatest. We need to pay more attention to how we do it and the quality of the work applied to the issue or problem. Overall we can communicate semi-effectively but we need to better assess how to get something done and the quality. This will be very important for our team paper. In conclusion, I believe we are stuck in performing stage. From our past performance and the grades we have received thus far, that is why I conclude or think this way.

Ning

http://vimeo.com/19275127

This video talks about a unique company called Ning. They helps users create custom-branded social networks such as Amy Poehler’s network to get girls into politics and a 500,000-strong community for the “Twilight” teen vampire movies. offers catered lunch, unlimited snacks and other perks, but what employees like about working there is the horizontal hierarchy. What that means is that everyone, no matter whether they’re right out of college or have 20 years experience, collaborate together. Also, the company has a “no limit” vacation policy, which means they can take as much as they want, as long as they get their job done.

Jason Rand, one of the newest employees at Ning said “I like that, at age 25, I work alongside the executive team and the CEO, They literally sit across from me, they know who I am and what I’m working on." The work style of Ning reminds me alot of when we talked about Zappos. The enviornment of the work place causes employees to work more and like going to work. This motivation style is very unique and works!

-Avery Smith