Topics that are my Favorite

My favorite three chapters on governance concepts are social networks, decision-making, and corporate relations. Social networking is capable of building opportunities and opening doors to alliances and careers. After reading the Topic of Decision Making, I discovered that sound decision-making is a vital part of optimizing the productivity of the person at work. Effective decision-making can transform the behavior of a company and affect the lives of others. Communication in organizations is a very crucial issue for administrators, and the ability to communicate efficiently is vital for efficient control, management, organization and planning. Social Networks Social networking is capable of creating possibilities and opening doors for partnerships and jobs. Networking enables an individual to establish connections with successful people and access information that is not readily available. Initiating connections and relationships with other people provides an opportunity and ability for one to effectively control his future and gain power, although sometimes social networking might feel uncomfortable and awkward, it is an and necessary part of maintaining and establishing a career.

The online social networking sites are crucial in the networking process for people both personally and professionally. LinkedIn, the popular professional networking site in the world has more than 60 million members in more than 200 countries in the world. Facebook has over 350 million users all over the world. These online sites provide new opportunities for allowing individuals to move out of their normal society of business, school, and industry to network. This topic taught me that most employers have started searching online for information about current and prospective employees (Lampinen, Tamminen & Oulasvirta, 2009).

I also learned that the online social networking sites had become a tool for business. For instance, LinkedIn is targeting working professionals and helps them to maintain a list of business connections which help in gaining an introduction to individuals using mutual contacts. The social networking power flows in both directions. Recruiters use their online accounts to view employment history, individual skill sets, and background information and compare with the submitted applications. On the other hand, job seekers can look for mutual contacts and review the profiles of the top management firms (Lampinen, Tamminen & Oulasvirta, 2009).

I also learned that networking is about managing relationships and building your brand. Currently, many people use social networks as a way of marketing one’s self through making professional connections to land jobs. In this progressing digital and high-tech world, it is essential to know about the digital footprint we make.

Decision Making

After reading the Topic of decision making, I learned that rational decision making is a crucial part of maximizing an individual’s effectiveness at work. Effective decision making can change the culture of an organization and influence the lives of other people. For instance, the consulting firms and executives of Enron made a decision that led to the loss of employee retirement funds, thousands of employees lost their jobs and a $60 billion loss for investments. Sherron Watkins, a famous whistleblower, reported the accounting errors and tried to effect change. Similarly, the U.S. economy is negatively affected by the decisions made by companies to engage in mortgage-backed securities trade. These individuals made a decision, and now they are living with the outcomes of their decisions (Ogilvie & Research and Education Association, 2006).

Another lesson I learned from this topic is that decisions made in organizations have an ethical component. In management, it is important to consider whether the decisions being made by a manager or employee are ethical. Therefore in making decisions, one has to consider the organizational aspects such as organizational rules, integrity, and the organizational outcomes.

Not every decision require a lot of thinking or have major consequences, despite some decisions having a far-reaching nature. For instance, when you wake up, you make habitual and simple decisions like what to eat, and what to wear. These type of decisions are referred to as mundane decisions because they require little time. However, vital and unique decisions require careful consideration of alternatives, information gathering, and conscious thinking (Ogilvie & Research and Education Association, 2006). These kinds of decisions are known as non-programmed decisions. Decision-making model in this topic has vital lessons for decision makers like me.

Communication in Organizations

Communication in organizations is a very important topic to managers because the ability to communicate effectively is necessary for successful controlling, leading, organizing, and planning. Communication is essential to organizations because it is how we achieve goals and coordinate actions. I learned that in most work places, miscommunication could interrupt work flow by causing interpersonal strife and delays. In places such as airplane cockpits and operating rooms, communication is a matter of life and death (Putnam & Nicotera, 2009).

Miscommunication can also result in lawsuits. For instance, in 1997 a malpractice suits study, indicated that the main factor that determined whether a doctor is sued is the communication style of the doctor. For organizations and leaders, miscommunication wastes time and costs money. Thus, effective communication skills is an important asset for individuals and organizations (Putnam & Nicotera, 2009).

Good communication can enable an organization to retain its best workers. Thus, good communication can improve the market value of the company. When organizations foster internal communications, the employees will be more satisfied and will be able to communicate effectively with the customers.

This topic enlightened me on the three basic functions of communication. The functions of the communication are sharing feelings and emotions, coordinating the effort, and transmitting information. These are the most important functions in any organization. In an organization, coordinating effort help workers to work towards the same goals. Sharing feelings and emotions establish bonds by uniting people in times of crisis and celebration. Through effective communication, people can build rapport with others and achieve consensus. And the first step of communicating is to comprehend the communication process (Putnam & Nicotera, 2009).

Applications of the Lessons Learnt in the Three Chapters

Despite schools being hesitant to adopt social network, social networking has become part of my everyday life. I mostly use social networking to discuss my schoolwork, my friends, and classmates, when I am at home. Social networking in my academic environment enables me to communicate school-wide with teachers and friends. The tools of social networking have improved my motivation and engagement in class work (Lampinen, Tamminen & Oulasvirta, 2009). Through social networking, I have developed a more social view of learning through creating a connection to the real-life learning.

As a management student, social networking has helped me build my career in the present and future. Managers need high social skills to be able to interact well with other employees in the organization. Managers also need to socialize well with other managers in different companies and the customers for effective development of the organization. Learning of social networking has improved my social skills on a personal level. Today I have many friends than I used to have before I learned how to create social networks. During holidays I usually go out for tours in some parts of the country, and my acquired social networking skills have made me meet many people in life.

The topic of decision making has changed the way I see things and decide. In my academic environment, I have learned not make decisions under the influence of emotions and feelings because the outcomes of the decisions made under emotions are usually negative. This topic has enabled me to decide on my study habits and the type of friends I hang out with in school.

Decision making is a crucial topic that as a management student should be conversant with. In my future career as a manger, I will be encountering numerous problems that lack immediate solutions. Therefore, as a manager, the organization will be looking upon me for decisions that will build the company and ensure the success of the company. In my personal life, I encounter problems daily some of which need a proper problem-solving mechanisms. For instance, when I wake up feeling exhausted one morning and feel like I do not want to go to school or work, I have to make the right decision.

Communication is the heart of education. Communication in school is an essential part of education success (Putnam & Nicotera, 2009). For instance, if I fail to understand a concept in class I will approach my teacher after class for clarification. The way of communication between my tutor and me will determine how effective I grasp the knowledge. Therefore, communication is a powerful tool in the learning environment.

In my career as a manager, I cannot avoid communicating with my colleagues and staff members. Excellent communication skills with the staff members of an organization will determine the success of the organization. Thus, as a manager, this chapter of communication in organizations is important for my future career. Excellent communication skills are necessary for an individual’s personal life. This chapter has made me improve my relationships with friends and family members because of the good communication skills I acquired.

References

Lampinen, A., Tamminen, S., & Oulasvirta, A. (2009, May). All My People Right Here, Right Now: Management of Group Co-presence on a Social Networking Site. In Proceedings of the ACM 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work (pp. 281-290). ACM.

Ogilvie, J. R., & Research and Education Association. (2006). The Best Test Preparation for the CLEP Principles of Management. Piscataway, N.J: Research & Education Association.

Putnam, L. L., & Nicotera, A. M. (Eds.). (2009). Building Theories of Organization: The constitutive role of communication. Routledge.