Gabes MGMT 453 Blogs

Before going over this weeks learning materials, i always thought labor unions were just organizations that helped workers negotiate for better pay and benefits. However, afterwords i realized there is a lot more to it, and have a better understanding on the advantages and disadvantages or labor unions.

The learning materials talked about how employees would join labor unions if they were unsatisfied with their jobs. As they believed it was the best way to get fair treatment or they wanted protection from management decisions. Unions provide employees with a group voice through bargaining, allowing negotiation on pay, benefits, schedules, and working conditions. However, it also talked about how employers tend to resist unions as employees part of the union tend to receive higher pay, better benefits and union contracts can limit management flexibility through seniority and scheduling rules.

After doing some outside research, many of the points talked about in our learning materials were still supported. According to Maryville University, union workers usually make more money, have better benefits, and enjoy greater job security compared to nonunion workers. However, there are also some negatives to working in the union, including membership dues, limited individual flexibility, and promotions often favor seniority over performance. According to Kristof (2015) they argue that the decline of unions has contributed to growing economic inequality in the US and weakened an important voice for middle class workers.

Something that i took away from all this is that unions aren’t entirely better or worse than nonunion work. The effectiveness of working in the union depends on the workplace and the relationship between employees and management. Personally, i wouldn’t immediately look for a job in the union. If i found a job that treated employees fairly, communicated openly, and provided competitive benefits and pay, i wouldn’t feel the need to join the union. However, if that wasn’t the case i would likely support a unionization effort.

Referances:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/nicholas-kristof-the-cost-of-a-decline-in-unions.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0

https://online.maryville.edu/blog/pros-and-cons-of-unions

After i completed the Life Stress Inventory, Coping Management Skills Questionnaire and the Type A Personality Survey. It taught me many things about how i handle stress in my life. My life stress inventory score was under 15o, which shows that i have a fairly low chance of undergoing stress related health problems in the future. These results made sense to me because even though i’m very busy with school, work and athletics, I feel like i do a great job managing my responsibilities in a way that limit stress.

My Type A Personality Suvey score was 56/100, which put me in the mix of both Type A and Type B personality traits. This also made sense to me as i can see both sides of this in myself and don’t feel like i lean one side or the other. As a student athlete at Oregon State, i consider myself to b very goal orientated, competitive, and motivated to succeed. At the same time, i don’t really feel in a rush or overwhelmed and tend to remain calm when faced with challenges. The results from this test showed me that while ambition can be a great strength, it’s important to avoid letting competitiveness create unnecessary stress.

I think that as i advance into my professional career path, i can manage stress by maintaining healthy habits like exercise, sleep, and setting realistic priorities. Working out has always been a big part of my life and a stress reliever. I think by continuing to make this a priority, it will help limit stress in my life. I also believe that time management and maintaining a healthy work/life balance is key to limiting stress as my responsibilities in life continue to increase.

There are many organizations that recognize the impact stress can have on a employees health and productivity. More companies continue to add Employee Assistance Programs, mental health counseling, wellness initiatives, flexible work schedules, and stress management training. For example, the business my dad works for just implemented a program that allowed employees to work from home 2 days a week and does wellness checks. Research shows that stress can lead to anxiety, depression, heart disease, and burnout. If organizations invest in employee wellbeing, they can improve job satisfaction, reduce turnover, and create a healthier workplace. I think that these kinds of programs benefit both employees and employers, as they help workers be more productive, engaged, and physically healthy.

A situation that comes to mind for me when i think of compensation influencing a decision or behavior is when one of my friends left their financial advising job at the bank to start her own financial advising business. When she worked at the bank it was good as she had a stable salary and benefits, however she felt limited by the compensation structure and the amount of control the company had over her. She worked long hours and built great relationships with her clients, but a large chunk of the profits and commission went to the bank rather than to her. Over time this created frustration because she felt her work and performance wasn’t being rewarded.

I think that compensation played a huge factor in her decision because she realized that working independently could potentially bring a greater return on her effort and work. Starting her own business also gave her more control over her commissions, pricing, and client relationships. The possibility of higher earnings and long term financial growth was a major motivation for her to take the risk. I think this connects to the equity theory as she compared the amount of effort and value she brought to the bank with the compensation she received and felt there was an imbalance.

I think her decision also relates to the idea from the article On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B. As the bank wanted employees to build strong relationships with clients and grow the business, however the compensation system didn’t fully reward employees for the effort. When she started her own business, she became more motivated because her pay was connected to how hard she worked and the amount of success she had.

References:

Compensation (Lectures 1-3)

Kerr, S., (1977) Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping for B

, Academy of Management Executive, 7-14 (weblink to article through OSU Library)

A training experience that i thought was very beneficial to me was when I first started working at Case Printing Solutions. When i first got there I immediately started with hands on training. Rather than watching a presentation or reading through manuals, they trained me by have me actually work with the equipment and was able to learn how to do each task on my own. Now if ran into a problem they would come over and guide me through it. In the begging, the employees who had been there a while showed me how to operate different machines and how to troubleshoot common problems, as well as what to do with each ink cartridge. I really enjoyed this training experience as it made it easier for me to understand what I was doing by allowing me to connect directly with the job I was learning. The week 6 lectures talked about how effective training should provide employees with opportunities to practice their skills and connect their training to the real task at hand. Which is exactly how my training went and why it allowed me to reach a point where they feel like i can work anytime and they can trust me to get things done proficiently.

On the other hand I have taken a couple classes throughout my time at Oregon State that I felt like weren’t very beneficial in training me to succeed in the real world. These classes focused on long heavy lectures that required a lot of memorization and incorporated very little interactions and real hands on work. The material was important, however it was very difficult to remain engaged as there wasn’t many real world examples or opportunities to apply what we learned. Looking back I think these classes truly lacked what makes training effective, like active participation, feedback, and real life application. Our lectures this week spoke on how training should be meaningful and designed around how employees or students will actually utilize the information taught. I believe this is something those classes really lacked.

Overall, I believe that these ideas connect well to what we read about in the UPS article. As it talked about how younger employees learned better though hands on simulations and realistic practices/application rather than strictly lectures. Overall, I believe that the most effective training comes when people can actively participate, practice their skills, and understand how the information they are learning applies to real life scenarios.

References:

Lecture 1: Developing Training Programs (W6 Lecture 1 – Training.pptx) 
Making of a UPS DriverLinks to an external site. (web link to the article on Fortune.com – archived)

Ive been through a lot of interviews, but none of them have been fort jobs. Almost every interview i’ve done has been related to wrestling, whether it was about my performance, thoughts on the year, how i’m preparing for an tournament, or my experience as an athlete. I think because of this most of my interviews have felt like more natural conversations rather than something formal. Thinking back on it this made them feel more comfortable, however it also made them less effective in a way.

I think the most effective parts of these interviews is when the media people or coaches asked specific questions about my mentality, work ethic, how i handle different kinds of pressure, or how i contribute to the team. I believe these questions hold more validity because they are unique to my performance and behavior in a competitive team/individual environment. The learning materials also talked about how interviews are more validity when they focus on specific job related skills or experiences.

Since many of these interviews most likely lacked structure. Many of the decisions seemed to be made on first impressions, personality ir how well we connected. I think this reduces reliability, as not every athlete is interviewed in the same way. Our learning materials talked about how unstructured interviews can lead to bias and inconsistent decisions. Based on my experiences it felt like likability and reputation played almost as big of a role as your actual ability to compete.

If i could go back i would suggest they make the interviews a little bit more structured. I think they coaches could have a set group of questions to ask every athlete, just to compare answers and see where people stand. I know they already review competition and how athletes preform. However, i think adding in some kinds of review of athlete work ethic in the practice room and classroom would be helpful in improving decision making.

Overall, i felt like my interviews flowed naturally. However, i think they could be improved on by being more consistent, structured and focused on measurable performances rather than just impressions.

References:

Lecture 2: Introduction to Selection (W5 Lecture 2 – Introduction to Selection. pptx) 

Knight, R. (2018) 7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Processes, Society for Human Resources Management.

In the past I have never really thought about job descriptions. However, after reading over the materials i started to understand just how important they are. They are the foundation of everything involved in HR, from hiring to training, performance reviews and decisions on pay. When job descriptions aren’t clear it can create a lot of confusion for employees, leaving them stranded and unsure on what to do. The article a Job Worth Doing talked about how job descriptions directly connect to nearly all parts of HR and employee management.

I think one of the biggest challenges with job descriptions is keeping them updated and accurate with time. The world changes with time and so do jobs, however the descriptions often remain the same. Which can cause confusion on responsibilities and make it more difficult to accurately evaluate an employees performance fairly. I also think that it can be challenging to make sure the job descriptions are detailed enough without being too overwhelming. Our lectures this week talked about how a great job analysis should be able to outline tasks, duties, and the essential skills or KSAO’s. However, obtaining that information will take time and effort.

Having a poor job description can also cause bigger problems in the long run. As it could lead a company to potentially hire the wrong people, struggle with training them, and face lower productivity because employees aren’t fit for the role or don’t completely understand their role. It can also increase employee turnover as employees may feel confused or a lack of support. It can also make workforce planning more difficult as companies may not have a complete understanding on the roles and skills they need.

To combat these challenges i think that companies should hold job descriptions to a higher value, by checking in and updating them regularly. I also think that by talking to employees and managers companies could make them more accurate to current times. Overall, i think that if companies put a little more effort into job descriptions it can make a big difference in how effecientley they operate.

Citations:

Tyler, Kathryn. “Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions.” SHRM, 1 Jan. 2013.

” Job Design and Job Analysis.” Course Lecture/Notes, Oregon State University, 2026.

“Workforce Planning.” Course Lecture/Notes, Oregon State University, 2026.

I decided to look at NVIDIA, Delta Air Lines, Zillow Group, and Trek Bicycle’s. After looking into them and seeing what the employees have to say about each company, it helped show me the importance in how a company treats its employees. These companies in particular seem to do a great job creating an environment where people actually feel motivated to work, rather than forced to do a job.

At NVIDIA employees mention transparency and strong communication from people of leadership positions. This connects well to what we read about with how important it is for employees to understand the goal of the company and how their work fits into it. When employees feel included and are informed they are more likely to be motivated to do their best work.

At Delta Air Lines, they go above and beyond when it comes to employee support, especially when times are tough. Having a culture like this really builds trust and loyalty amongst employees. Its a great way of showing just how important employee relations are, as when people feel valued and cared for they are more likely to stay with a company and put in their best work.

At Zillow, they strive to stand out for their benefits and flexibility. Offering fully remote work and strong healthcare support, that all goes into helping employees maintain a good work life balance. This ties into with what we learned about in that employees tend to preform better when they feel like their personal needs are met and respected.

At Trek Bicycle, the employees expressed how they felt heard and valued by management and people of leadership positions. When employees feel like their work and ideas matter, they are more inclined to be engaged and invested in their work.

If i were to hold a management or leadership position in the future i would want to create an environment similar to these companies. One where people feel respected, valued, supported, and motivated. As it creates a good culture and good employees. I think this is where HR plays a big role, through things like training, communication and pay. In my i think the hardest part about being a manager would be having to balance the goals of the business and keeping employee moral up. It can be tough to make decisions that benefit both sides. However if you use data and pay attention to your employees it can help influence better decisions.

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