So today in The Management Practices of Great Organizations, we had an activity where we were spread out and limited to very specific functions. We had one person who could move the finished materials for everyone from one station to the next. Horrible inefficient, I know. But it was supposed to demonstrate that. It also showed that the managers were more concerned with overall quality. The individual pieces were only worried about their parts. The more exposure we have to the rest of the world, the more we are concerned with how our pieces fit.
So this brings up an interesting question. As we become more important, how do we balance the quality of the world with the quality of our parts?
We are supposed to increase our efficiency and throughput as we spent more time in a place. At the same time, we should be taking on more initiative and responsibility. So, that’s a lot to deal with and keep track of and if the company is growing, so is the need for initiative and responsibility.
That’s why managers make the big bucks.
So, I started to wonder in class, did I completely fail at that? My level of responsibility jumped in my last coop. Did I suddenly see the big picture and how everything fit together and tried to apply my same idea that everything should be perfected in the first go around? If so, did it make my mind melt? There was a lot going on, both in and out of work. It was a mess on some days.
Some of that, however, is back to normal and I’m now back in class. Here we come to my classes this semester. I’m trying to balance a logic class, the above mentioned management course, an international business course, a computer sociology class and a random “give a presentation on some stuff” class. I forget what movie it was in, but there was a machine that pulled a person by each of their limbs. Some nights, that’s what it feels like.
So, here we are, it’s senior year, I know what I want to do but I can’t do it yet. I know where I’m going to live and I can’t live there yet. And I’m in classes where it feels like the professors are trying to cram in just a little more before we finally have freedom.
May 6th can’t come fast enough. Interview tomorrow, wish me luck. I may need it.