Integrity (page 346)

Integrity is something we all have. We are expected to not lie, cheat or steal. We are expected to tell on someone who is doing something inappropriate because it is the write thing to do. When you live your life you are faced with issues that you can do the right thing and keep your integrity or do the wrong. At my work the job is all about integrity. We are trusted not to steal or damage out anything for ourselves. We know that we are not allowed to eat the food that we are about to throw away. And we know that if someone else is breaking the rules then we are to report them. This is all included in the paperwork that we all signed when we first got the job. Integrity is a huge subject when at work because once you do the wrong thing then your job is gone.

Training

Whenever you start a new job you must go through some sort of training with that company. Training is the subject that I became interested in learning about in chapter 10. Companies make you go through several hours of training before the send you on your own. They do this to make sure that you know how the company works and so that they know that they can rust you. If you are unable to complete the training in a timely manner then you may not be suitable for the job and you should look for another one. Training is also good for the new employee to figure out if the job is for them or not. If they feel that they are unable to do the job then they should be able to get out before something terrible goes wrong. Overall I believe that training is a very good idea for all companies.

Chapter 9

This whole chapter was talking about leadership. When looking at life you can see that people use leadership daily. You can be one of those people who let other people lead them or you can stand up and show your leadership skills.

When I work I have to use my leadership skills to teach other people how to do certain parts of their job. I would say that if I was not a leadership person then I do not think that I could be doing the job I am. I have to teach people daily about how to talk to others and how to interact with others.
I think that people take advantage of their leaders because they do not want to do the job. Leaders do need to learn to stand up to themselves.

Teams Page 236

The section in chapter eight that interested me the most was the type of team’s that cooperation’s can have. I know that when working teams are formed to help make the company better and more efficient but I did not know that those teams could be classified into smaller teams. Even though there are many different types of teams described in the book. I believe that they are all their to help make the company better. If the company was doing the best they thought that they could do then they would not be forming teams to help increase sales or make the interaction with a customer more enjoyable.

Powers (Page 168)

Power is something that we see every day. It could bee seen at work or even in the household, which is why I found it interesting to learn about the different types of power. When it comes to my work we see a variety of powers being used among the employees. The manager uses two types of power, the Reward Power and the legitimate power. These two powers are what work the best. If She wants a task that she knows people wont want to do she uses the reward power to attempt to make things more enjoyable. When she knows that someone is deliberately not doing his or her job then she will use the legitimate power. She does not enjoy telling everyone that she is his or her boss so she attempts to use the reward power more. These two powers I believe are the most common powers in my life because my parents use them to get me to do extra things around the house.

A Practical View page 137

When reading about a practical view in chapter 5, I found what the authors to explain about top companies to be very realistic. Companies that are on top and want to stay on top show their employees as well as their customers that they care and want to do what they can to make things easier and less complicated. When working I have started to notice the standards change from pushing a sale to trying to start a conversation with a customer. They want the store to have a more relaxed feeling to it. Since this change we have more returning customers and people are more willing to open up about what they are looking for. I find it to be a much easier environment to be in and I personally enjoy it.

Goals (Page108)

Everyone in the world has a goal. Whether it is to make more money, have a better future, or just get a job. Without the goals that we make every day we would not know what to do with ourselves. Companies are the same way. Most of the time a company’s goal is about money but if you look at goals on a smaller scale, a company will always have something for an employee to do. It could be to get the store cleaner, or to finish some paperwork, whatever it is they are all goals. I don’t think that people realize how often they make these daily goals. But whatever the daily goals are that they are making it normally helps them get a little bit closer to to their main goal. So basically I believe that goals are done in steps. You have a main goal that you really want to reach and then you have a bunch of small stepping stone goals that will hopefully help you reach that main goal. With out these daily little goals then we may not have anything to do all day.

Happy Employees and Supportive Relationships in the Work Place(Page 90-91)

Supportive relationships and happy employees go hand in hand. If there is not supportive management then it is very hard to enjoy the job. When working you had to feel like you are needed and you also want an open communication line with your boss. If you feel that you do not have that open relationship with your boss then you can become very stressed which can make the quality of your work fall.

When I once worked for target I was feeling over worked and tired. They were using me in every department because I was good at my job. When I spoke to my manager about how the workload was too much she basically told me to deal with it. This caused me to have an unhappy relationship with my boss. Once I was upset with the management I slowly started to hate the job that I was doing. When I went back to her again she would not hear me and told me that if I didn’t do the job that she knew I could do then she would write me up. It was then when I put in my two weeks notice. I was so fed up with the bad relationship that I had with my manager that I did not want to work for her anymore.

This shows that if there is not a stable and healthy relationship between manager and employee then the employee may not want to do all the work that he or she is able to do. Without stable and happy relationships in a person’s life then people become distressed and end up leaving a job that they previously loved.

Workaholic (page 22-23)

When people work to much it can cut into personal relationships and create many problems. “Family relationships and friendships are often abandoned in favor of relationships with co-workers of other workaholics.” (Page 23) I feel that this statement relates to me because my father was a workaholic.

When I was a child my family did not have much money so my dad became a workaholic to try to give the family a better life. In the process of moving up in the company I lost touch with my father. I rarely saw him because he traveled extensively and was never home early. He always talked about how he hated the hours that he was working and that it would soon change. But soon turned into 5 years now, he is ahead in the company and staying home more. However, he has had to work hard and learn about his family all over again. He believes that even though being a workaholic did help make a better future he feels that he was left out of many experiences. He may have gained a better position but he gained it at the cost of his personal relationships.

I feel that sometimes people need to take a look back and attempt to think about how their work is affecting loved ones. They need to open their eyes and see some of the pain that being a workaholic can cause. If they are able to do this then they should be able to level out the work load and try to separate work from family and friends.