Motivation

A job is perceived differently by everyone who works no matter what level of work they do, whether it be corporate or not.  Two people who may have the same exact job title and description may not presumably enjoy what they are doing.  One of them may absolutely hate anything and everything he is doing at work, while the other one enjoys his day to day routine at work.  Just as the example stated, every time the young man asked all the workers they each had a completely different response, one said it was back breaking work, the other said it was to build a building  while the last one who was enthusiastic responded that he was building a cathedral.  Involvement and enthusiastically participating varies whether a person loves/has passion for what they do.

Let's use a CEO and a small time level employee as our example.  The CEO makes well over 6 figures, went to college, got his masters and PHd in the field of his interest, while the small time level employee just needs the job to make ends meet.  He has no level of interest in anything he does and just needs this as a quick check.  There is no way he will fully dedicate his 100 percent into work that he has no care in the world.  The CEO on the other hand, invested his time into something that he has interest in.  It can also work the opposite way as well, it truly depends on what they're receiving out of it.  There are many people that leave good paying jobs because they don't enjoy what they are doing.  How they perceive their jobs can really influence their working methods.

One way I would influence a subordinate is by setting a positive reinforcement to their behavior.  They are rewarded each time a huge task is completed well.  It can be any sort of incentive that will allow them to work better.  Now that they have a goal, they will be able to perform better as to oppose to those with nothing to work for.  Incentives can either be, money, vacation, days off, bonuses anything that the employee may need to make work more goal oriented. 

Individual Behavior

I have worked for several employers since I began working when I was in high school and one thing I can say is that every employer had a complete and different approach on how to treat employees, thus creating a different atmosphere or work, some resulting in good and others bad.  In one the old establishment where i was employed was great, but at times the manager had a tendency to drive the staff crazy due to the fact that they couldn't handle their emotions. As we learned in class "emotional stability" is one of the big five personality traits and it states that a person who is lacking emotional stability is anxious, nervous and tense.  This can result in a lot of negative performance from employees if your adding unnecessary stress on issues employees have no control over.  Another big five trait I believe one of my old employers should take a closer look into is "conscientiousness".  In class it states that a person who is conscientious is dependable, organized, and focused.  Someone who isn't is careless, impulsive and not achievement oriented, which was a trait that is very important to have when managing a business with a large staff where every week you must plan accordingly to achieve a goal corporate has instilled.  Being familiar with these traits allows business to run a lot smoother with less stress and confusion.  If an employers is tense and nervous, his/her mind is not clear and can make wrong business decisions.  If they're calm and steady they can think clearly and make the proper decision as oppose to an impulsive one. It best to have a knowledge of all five traits which will result in a well rounded manager, one who will make rational decisions and have a staff comfortable to speak to.

Career Planniing

I'm very interested in pursuing a career in the music industry.  I know it sounds cliche due to the fact that everyone in the mother is a "rapper" or an "artist" which is a term I don't like use loosely to describe some of these people.  For the next five years my three career objectives would be to become a certified audio engineer, intern at a record label and become an A&R.

My personal strengths that would allow me to obtain these goals is my ambition and passion.  The fact that I know what I want to do and have begun to achieve some of these careers has placed me in a great position. I have audio engineering on my own for about a year, I took the liberty to learn on my own by reading books and watching tutorials online.  I was able to save up money and buy the equipment necessary to allow me to engineer audio.  I take several hours of my day to sit down and navigate the system in or to familiarize myself with the program.  Another strength of mine is the ability to learn quick and adapt.  I was using another program and was introduced to a new more advance program with more capabilities than the one I was familiar with.  I've gotten a lot of good review from individuals who audio engineering for a living along with recommendations on how I can better myself.  These strengths will allow me to reach my career goal and excel in what I want to do in life.

As a human being no one is perfect and with many strengths will be several weaknesses.  Personally, my main weakness that some times prevents me from giving my 100% into what I love doing is procrastination.  At times I feel myself doing any and everything that has nothing to do with what my goal entails.  I find my self slipping away and digressing from the matter at hand.  A lot of times it has to do with amount of things I have to do during the day.  For example, going to school, working, studying, making music, at times I feel as if time isn't on my side and there isn't enough of it to do what I truly enjoy doing.  I stay up extra late at night to compensate, but I end up paying the consequence when I'm exhausted in the morning.  Prioritizing and time management are just a few things I can improve as well.

Action Plan

Audio Engineer

-Graduate College

-Enroll in A.I

-Complete Audio Courses

-Obtain Certification

Intern At Record Label

-Enroll in music clubs

-Submit Resume to labels

-Obtain position

-Work to get a job after graduation

A&R (Artist and Repertoire) 

-Work my way up from entry level

-innovate and create new ideas
-scout varies talents
-present them to execs
-Obtain position as A&R at label

Tylenol Crisis Management

I decided to take a look at a classic case study that I went over a few years ago.  On September 29, 1982 Johnson and Johnson had to recall their Extra-Strength Tylenol product from shelves.  The product was recalled off the shelves because it killed seven people because it was tampered with cyanide, which is a highly toxic chemical compound.  They recalled over 31 million Tylenol bottles with no charge and lost millions as a result. While many predicted that Tylenol wouldn't repossess the image it once had, it took them about two months for the company to get back into the market after a horrific incident.  Although they spend millions on recuperating they were able to bounce back and gain a better name for the actions they took to bounce back from this crisis.

It's clearly evident that the five steps in decision making was used in order to resolve issue that they were placed in.  As stated in the text the first step is to Identify what the problem is.  In this case the problem was that the Tylenol medicine was laced with cyanide and in result killed several people.  Step two is to generate and evaluate alternative courses of action.  What Johnson and Johnson did was come up with a plan to recall every piece of Tylenol Extra-Strength that was on the shelf and pull them off the market.  Step three is to decide on a preferred course of action, and in this case Johnson and Johnson decided to go with the recall idea even though it hurt them financially.  The fourth step is to implement the decision.  As stated in the article, about 31million bottles of Tylenol were recalled and the company lost over 100 million in making this decision.  The fifth and final step is to evaluate the results.  Sure Johnson and Johnson did lose millions during the recall, but they did something that was never done before.  At that time items weren't recalled, although many presume they would crumble, it took the company two months to bounce right back.  Their stocks went up and the chairman, James Burke, was commended for how well he was able to manage this tragic event.

After learning about the steps in decision making and reading this Tylenol article about crisis management, it is safe to say that the manager who was managing Tylenol at the time did a fantastic job in abiding by the six rules of crisis management.  He was placed in a very horrendous predicament, and instead of folding under pressure he identified the issue, made a plan, pulled it through and garnished wonderful results.  A perfect example of how crisis management should be handled.





Links
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/your-money/23iht-mjj_ed3_.html

Will India Ever Be Able to Tackle Corruption

Manoj Jayaswal and Mr. Darda are both doing is very unethically incorrect.  They're both abusing their power to benefit them financially, while the remainder of the country suffers due to no electricity being distributed into the country.  Jayaswal is involved in a $34 billion dollar coal mining scandal where he and other politicians are gaining large profits by control large portions of the country's natural resources.  The country of India has over 300 million people living without having electricity being distributed to their areas, which is resulting in them living in a blackout.  The leaders of the country had proposed a pledge to spread power plants to insure electricity in every edge of the India, but it has yet to be fulfilled.  These wealthy men have no interest in social sustainability, but just in their personal wealth and well being. Mr. Darda is a locoal lawmaker, who is a good person to keep on your side to be able to bend the law to your liking.

The only advantage Jayaswal is seeing is this situation is the wealth.  People with this kind of power keep these coal fields and either sell them to sell or aluminum plants for millions, or keep them as assests for future use/investments.  There are way more disadvantages, such as the downfall of a country where the majority of its inhabitants are struggling, while the few wealthy are able to maintain a good life and not worry about economic issues.

The moral reasoning that motivated Jayaswal decision to engage in this conduct would have to be "individualism view. Individualism view: "does a decision or behavior promote one's long-term self-interests?".  Clearly Jayaswal motives are to benefit himself, and making sure that whatever economic moves he makes will benefit him in the long run.  As its quoted in the text
"whoever has a master key wants to eat up all of India.  whoever doesn't have a key is struggling to survive".

Upon reading this article, I was able to look up other issues that are going on in that country and have come to the conclusion that corruption is no where near on a decline.  According to http://www.bbc.co.uk, there have been been several telecommunication scandals going on.  "In February 2012, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecommunications licences to companies in 2008."  Apparently a former prime minister was mis-selling bandwidth to the country. This was called one of the countries biggest scandal.  Also




Links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12769214

http://www.economist.com/node/21560301

Zara International

Fast fashion has become very popular through out the years and has become a serious when it comes to bringing styles of the runway into the hands of stores in the in a matter of days.  One of the leading clothing businesses that is excelling in this fast fashion and has learned the ropes of making this style of business work has been none other than Zara International.  As quoted in the text, "no business does fast fashion better than Zara International".  With shoppers all around the globe, 77 countries to be exact, they have been able to provide customers with the latest of fashion trends without charging them an arm or a leg.

Elements of the classical management approach can still be found evident at Zara International which is a leading cause in their success at attempting fast fashion.  Classical management consists of three different techniques.  Fredrick Taylor's scientific management sought efficiency by identifying the best way to perform tasks.  According to the text, Zara has been able to remove wholesalers and intermediary partners from the middle, which allows them to cut profits and keep more for themselves.  They found that the best way to be more efficient and getting the products out to the consumers quicker is by internalizing may points in the supply chain.  They design, distribute, produce and control retail sales internally helping their profits, which is up 63%.  Another look at Taylor's scientific management can be seen in how Zara's parent company, Inditex, has been able to supply customers with fast fashion by eliminating shorter delays in products that were showcased on run ways.  The company has a team of over 200 professionals to stay on top of the latest fashion, with this being the most efficient way to perform this task, it only takes the company two weeks to update trends and get them to the stores, and new styles hit the market twice a week.

Operations Management can be seen clearly in the way Zara International operates.  Operations management refers to the administration of business practices to create high level of efficiency possible, the company has been able to improve its inventory management by having store managers track sales by handheld computers.  This has enabled them to keep track of items that are selling quick and which aren't.  This then lets designers know to put together another style and remove the one that isn't selling.  New styles are taken into the store in matter of days and many others styles are not replenished which gives them exclusivity and makes the consumers buy them immediately.

Contingency thinking by definition, is the best way to manage depending on circumstances.  Zara has been able to still open up over 1,500 stores around the world, and has generated 72% of international revenue and 67% of revenue to the Inditex Group.  How can a company do so well while we're in  recession? Well Zara has used some brilliant strategies to stand out while many companies fail.  For example, the company strategically places its stores in high end shopping streets such as New York's 5th Ave near flagship stores of very high end fashion brands.  With prices much lower to those of the high end brands, this attracts many customers and helps them gain the sales. They successfully managed a company despite some economical circumstances, and have gained victory against competitors such as H&M and The Gap.

After reading this article on starts to wonder if Inditx and Zara are still doing as good as what has been read.  Well according to abs-cbnnews.com, Inditex and Zara has been doing very well.  In this article that was posed on 6/15/2011 it states that for the first quarter profit, February-April, they have totaled 332 millions euros, which is up 10.3% compared to the previous year.  In the financial year ending on the 31st of January, they have reported a 33% jump in profits, as well as opened up a store in Australia.  There have been reports that many of the clothing provided by Zara have been considered a bit too small for the American consumers (www.economist.com).  The article states that the company has been struggling a little bit in the United States due to its slim cut which may not necessarily fit many of the women.  The company has been aware and has combated this problem by now providing extra large sizes according to an article at www.tmcnet.com.  Inditex has seen this issue has fixed the problem by providing a larger size to fit those who aren't so slim.


Links:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/06/15/11/zara-owner-sees-soaring-profits-international-expansion

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2012/06/02/6342690.htm

http://www.economist.com/node/21551063

About Me

Good Evening Everyone,

My name Is Axel Aquino and I am a Corporate Communications Major with a minor in Japanese.  The reason why I have chosen this major is because my goal is to work for a major music label by the time I graduate Baruch College.  I am a very huge music enthusiast and would love to work in a field where my passion lies.  Eventually I plan to move up and become an A&R, or Artist and Repertoire for those who aren't familiar with the term.  It entails scouting for new music and developing artists as well as serving as a direct link from the artist to the record label as well as handling negotiations, discovering songwriters and producers and reviewing demos.  I have also been audio engineering for several years and would like to attend school to develop this skill further.  Through out the years I have opened up to various types of music and have become very interested in the jazz genre as well as classical music.  I'm opened ended to any form of music and would gladly listen to it with an open mind.  Personally I'm very big on Hip Hop, I know there is a lot of negative connotations with this genre, but mainstream has polluted and tainted with this art is really about. Also, I love instrumentation and I'm fascinated by the sounds of the guitar, saxophone, violin, piano, drums and countless other instruments.  Eventually I would love to own my own label and recruit artists that truly have a passion for music and what it stands for.  I'm an advocate for good music and believe that good music will always be heard.  Thanks for taking the time out to read a little bit about me, if there is any questions don't hesitate to ask or make conversations about music.  Although I'm shy and quiet at first, I'm very amicable and laid back.

-Axel