Blog 20: Exit Interview

1.) What is your essential question and answers? What is your best answer and why?

• EQ: How can an operations manager best motivate their employees to achieve a successful evaluation?
• Answer 1: An operations manager best motivate their employees to achieve a successful evaluation by setting clear goals and expectations.
• Answer 2: An operations manager best motivate their employees to achieve a successful evaluation by being an effective communicator.
• Answer 3: An operations manager best motivate their employees to achieve a successful evaluation through positive reinforcement and discipline.
• The best answer to my essential question is Answer 2. Compared to the first and third answer, finding research for ‘effective communication’ was a lot easer and the answers were more concise; goal-setting is based on Locke’s Goal Setting Theory and positive reinforcement and discipline is a still a new concept for me to understand. Although ‘communication’ runs the gamut, this was an answer I understood clearly and could actually apply it to my life; part of my answer emphasized authoritative/supportive systems that a leader (in this case, a manager) can use. My mentor Brice Cocjin had worked at Costco Wholesale prior to Unical Aviation and has dealt with a number of people, in successful and unsuccessful ways; his background helped me to solidify this answer. My fourth interviewee, Kerwin Cocjin, has mentioned that employee relationships are one of the most difficult things to encounter as an employes; he previously worked at Borders prior to Gilead. Both of them helped me to realize that effective communication is ideally what makes a manager successful in the long run.

2.) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• I found that my first answer was vague and I personally couldn’t materialize a situation in which clear direction or goal setting produced anything; although there are numbers to prove goal-setting does have an affect in management, I realized I wanted a more thorough answer. When I was gathering more research for my first answer, I came across an article titled “Communicating As a Manager”, written by Lynne Gaines and Adelaide Wilson. The article entailed 7 key ideas that a manager should follow in order to be “effective” in leading. This article helped me a lot in terms of deciding on my second answer; my mentor and fourth interviewee ensured me that my second answer was going to be the best answer.

3.) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

• The immediate problem I faced was right about the time of Lesson Plan 2. I knew what to talk about in terms of mentorship and breaking down my EQ, but when it came to getting an answer for it, I had no idea. My Answer 1 isn’t my favorite by far but it was my first answer for a reason; unfortunately, I was only able to come across any beneficial research on it much later. To avoid another disastrous scenario like that, I made sure I grasped a general idea of what I wanted as an answer. I did this for my second answer; I found a number of articles on communication. For my third answer, I asked my mentor what he personally considered the best means of motivating an employee and that was positive reinforcement and discipline; my fourth interviewee confirmed this notion. In the long run, what really helped me resolve the problem I had first time around was looking up more than I needed; that way, I could shuffle through which pieces of research I could draw from most.

4.) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• My two most significant sources were written by the same individuals; Lynne Gaines and Adelaide Wilson both authored the articles “Communicating As a Manager” and “Leading & Motivating As a Manager”; the former comprised of 7 key methods a manager should use in order to communicate with their employees; the latter entails 10 keys that could be used to manage and motivate employees. In terms of effective communication, I was able to dissect parts from each article that I personally found true and that were most applicable to my EQ and answer.