Senior Project Reflection

1. Positive Statement
I'm proud of the dedication and time I devoted creating my final presentation and ensuring I knew what I was talking about and that my activity worked as I wanted it to. Personally, I found this final presentation the most "polished" compared to my Lesson 2; as such, I'm very much proud of that. I worked on each slide with the intent of explaining nearly everything on the slide -- I needed to demonstrate my knowledge of my research and topic itself and I feel that I was able to fulfill that.

2. Questions to Consider
a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

AE    P    AP    CR    NC

b. What assessment would you give yourself on your overall Senior Project (self-assessment)?

AE    P-    AP    CR    NC

3. What worked for you in your senior project?

What worked for me during my project was my research, my mentor, and an interview I conducted. "Communicating As a Manager" / "Leading and Motivating As a Manager" by Lynne Gaines and Adelaide Wilson; "Locke's Goal Setting Theory"; "Heron's Six Categories of Intervention"; Brice Cocjin; and my Interview #4 were all major sources that helped me not only proved beneficial in my project, but played a significant role in shaping my answers and final presentation.

4. What didn't work? 

If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Senior Project if you could go back in time?

I would have tried to implement an actual book dedicated to general management or a specific book on the behavioral aspect of motivation. If I were to have used any of these two sources, I feel that they would have served as a solid backbone for everything else to be built upon. Also, I would have liked to have been able to have better prepared myself for the preceding presentations. Sadly, hindsight is always 20/20.

5. Finding Value

How has the Senior Project been helpful to you in your future endeavors? Be specific and use examples.

As a whole, the Senior Project has definitely proven to me that spending an inordinate amount of time to something will surely yield results. There were a number of parts of this project that I procrastinated on, and as such, I had to hustle to find certain articles for an answer or so. Taking the time to do that, however, helped me better establish my answers and provide better understanding for my peers. 

An example of this is with my first answer; goal setting alone was vague and the initial sources I researched were often unfounded and biased. Coming across Locke's Goal Setting Theory helped me have a foundation for the importance of goal setting in management. 

Another part of senior project that I enjoyed and found fulfilling was creating my activity. The "test" (a double-sided paper with 20 statements) I issued worked cohesively with my second answer, effective communication. For this answer, I wanted to emphasize the importance of understanding the behaviors and personality types of employees -- no two employees were the same. I was able to look into the different personality types (appropriately categorized as Blues, Reds, Greens, and Hubs) and explain the specifics of each.

In spite of the rough patches I've had with this project (and there were many), I feel fulfilled for having gone the extra mile with designing my presentation and my activity. In terms of future endeavors, this project has definitely proved to me that I need to continue picking myself up regardless of how difficult I believe the situation has become.

Blog 21: Mentorship

Literal

• Mentorship Log.

• Brice Cocjin
• Operations Manager 
• Unical Aviation, Inc. 
• (626) 224 - 4711

Interpretive

• Despite not doing anything truly hands on, what I gained from this experience was that the profession of being a manager is definitely a difficult job. By difficult, I don’t mean impossible. In terms of difficulty, I’m referring to all the duties an operations manager has to be responsible for and the importance of communication. For example, my mentor not only has to deal with employees but also with clients from various airlines. The reason I consider communication difficult is because it is a skill that can only be improved upon over time; my mentor has been in management for a while and going through failure and successes is something he knows. As I am now, I know I’m not the best communicator. But this is only something I can become better with over time. Being in a warehouse environment and attending IPoly has certainly opened my eyes to the amount of communication I will have to do in the future.

Applied

• While my topic of warehouse operations management was not particularly hands on, the principle of managing and being an effective communicator were as clear as day. Going over reviews and reading that the responses had to be well meaning justified the importance of feedback for employees; it’s obvious that if an employee is conducting unsatisfactory work, then they will most likely receive a less than satisfactory evaluation. The forms of motivation that I focused on were less external and more communicable by the manager. My mentor himself has been a great help for this project, especially in terms of motivation, which is the heart of my essential question; he helped me craft my second and third answers.