Jacks MBA Journey Blog

Dr. Gertmenian's list of 100 books set to Kindle and half.com vendor search

2007-02-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

This term I am taking Dr. Gertmenian for Economics. I am finally in the class I fought so hard to get into. A couple of weeks back, Dr. G referred to a list of 100 books that every educated person should read as they will be referred to throughout their professional career in some shape or form.

I found where the list was maintained in the class' Yahoo Technical Groups and put together a small procedure that set the book titles as searches into EBAY's Half.com site. Half.com is a terrific market for buying books if you are not in a terrific hurry to receive them. My recommendation is when selecting a seller, find one with a high rating and close to you. Most sellers have their locations listed. Avoid any seller below a 97% rating.

Most links below are searches on the general phrase AUTHOR/Title, some variations will exist, but since some of the variations had interesting options (especially on the harder titles), I left the additional results rather than going to the specific title Dr. G recommended. Where ever possible, I included references to free versions of text (e.g. the National Archive for the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, bible gateway for books of the gospel and USC for the Qur'an)

Note that I have updated this list on goodreads.com so that there are more web 2.0 features and information avaailble on each title. You can view the list without becoming a member or you can become a member and add your own comments adn keep track of your progress.

ANOTHER NOTE IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING A KINDLE: Many of the books on the list are beyond their copyright and are public domain. If you ever considered getting an Amazon Kindle, this is the perfect opportunity. Most public domain books can be downloaded for free and their text to speech functionality is enabled. Only a few of the books are not available on Kindle, or if still copyrighted, the publisher is being very greedy with the digital rights. So books like these fall to the bottom of my priority list.

As of July 27, 2010, I have included a kiss of death icon for any book that either is not published for the Kindle, published, but has it's "Text-to-Speech" (TTS) disabled, costs an exorbitant amount or is not available in the United States in a digital format. Other means may be able to get this book electronically, but in my opinion, these authors and publishers have to wake up and smell the 21st Century. This area of publishing is dynamic, so if you happen to find that one of these books becomes acceptably available, please let me know. I will still read these books, but they are on the bottom of my list for when my Kindle becomes obsolete by the newest whiz bang technology.

For those that are available on the Kindle, an icon has been used with a link to the Kindle Store search where you can choose the version that best suits your needs.

Dr. Gertmenian's List of 100 books:

35 Completed as of 12/2/2010

ADLER How to Read a Book * READ FIRST (Completed 7/15/2007)

AESCHYLUS Agamemnon + HOMER The Iliad

AESOP Fables (Completed 8/8/2008)

ARISTOTLE Politics
AUSTEN Pride and Prejudice (Completed 10/17/2010)
BALDWIN The Fire Next Time (Not available in the U.S.)
BIBLE Job and Matthew (Completed 10/16/2010) + KORAN Chapter 47 (Completed 7/16/2010)

BOCCACCIO The Decameron
BUCK Good Earth ($12.99 and no TTS, $12.85 at Audible.com)

BUNYAN Pilgrim's Progress (Completed 9/26/2010)
BURTON Arabian Nights
CAESAR Gallic War Commentaries + VIRGIL Aeneid

CAMUS The Stranger
CARLYLE On Heroes and Hero Worship
CARROLL Alice in Wonderland (Completed 6/21/2010)

CERVANTES Don Quixote
CHAUCER Canterbury Tales
CHURCHILL Blood, Sweat, and Tears
CLAUSEWITZ On War (Completed 9/11/2009)+SUNTZU The Art of War(Completed 9/18/2009)

COLERIDGE Ancient Mariner
CONFUCIUS Analects + LAO-TSE Tao-Te-Ching

CONRAD Lord Jim (Completed 12/2/2010)
COOPER Last of the Mohicans
CRANE Red Badge of Courage
DANA Two Years Before the Mast (Completed 11/9/2009)

DANTE Inferno
DARWIN Voyage of the Beagle (Completed 7/27/2008)

DEFOE Robinson Crusoe (Completed 12/1/2007)
DICKENS Tale of Two Cities (Completed 2/4/2010)

DOSTOYEVSKY Crime and Punishment
DOYLE Sherlock Holmes (Completed 11/18/2009) + COLLINS The Moonstone (Completed 12/1/2009)

DREISER American Tragedy (No TTS)
DUMAS Count of Monte Cristo (Completed 6/18/2010)

DURANT Story of Philosophy
EINSTEIN Evolution of Physics
ELIOT Silas Marner
EMERSON Essays (Completed 2/24/2010)

EURIPIDES Medea + SOPHOCLES Oedipus Rex

FAULKNER The Sound and the Fury
FLAUBERT Madame Bovary
FITZGERALD The Great Gatsby
FORSTER A Passage to India
FRANKLIN Autobiography (Completed 7/27/2010) + SCHWEITZER My Life and Thoughts

GOETHE Faust
HALE Man Without a Country
HAMILTON + MADISON Federalist Papers + The U.S. Constitution

HARRIS I'm OK -- You're OK
HAWTHORNE Scarlet Letter
HEILBRONER Worldly Philosophers (Completed 2/20/2007)

HEMINGWAY Farewell to Arms (No TTS)
HUDSON Green Mansions
HUGO Les Misérables
HUXLEY Brave New World (No TTS) (Completed 7/22/2007)

IRVING Sketch Book
JAMES Turn of the Screw + O'HENRY Gift of the Magi

JEFFERSON Declaration of Independence + ROUSSEAU The Social Contract

JOYCE Portrait of the Artist
KELLER Story of My Life
KENNEDY Profiles in Courage
KHAYYAM The Rubaiyat
KIPLING Captains Courageous
LONDON Call of the Wild (Completed 10/1/2009)

MACHIAVELLI The Prince (Completed 9/30/2007)

MALORY La Morte D'Arthur + TENNYSON Idylls of the King

MELVILLE Moby Dick (Completed 9/4/2009)

MILL On Liberty
MILLER Death of a Salesman
MILTON Paradise Lost (Completed 11/22/2010)
MICHENER Tales of the South Pacific
MOLIERE Misanthrope
MOORE Utopia
ORCZY Scarlet Pimpernel
ORWELL Animal Farm (Completed 10/25/2009)

OVID Metamorphoses
PAINE Common Sense
PARKMAN Oregon Trail (Completed 10/22/2009)

PLATO The Republic (Currently Reading) + MARX Communist Manifesto

POE Tales
POPE Essay on Man
RAND Atlas Shrugged ($18.99) (Completed 9/17/2010)
SAROYAN Human Comedy
SARTRE No Exit
SCOTT Ivanhoe
SHAKESPEARE Hamlet
SHELLEY Frankenstein (Completed 7/1/2010)+ STOKER Dracula (Completed 7/16/2010)

SHAW Pygmalion
SINCLAIR The Jungle
STEINBECK Grapes of Wrath
STEVENSON Treasure Island
STOWE Uncle Tom's Cabin
SWIFT Gulliver's Travels
THOREAU Walden (Completed 9/1/2007)

TOLSTOY Anna Karenina
TOYNBEE Study of History Volume 1: Volume 2 (abridged): + HART The 100

TWAIN Huckleberry Finn (Completed 9/25/2010)
VERNE Twenty Thousand Leagues (Completed 10/26/2010)
VOLTAIRE Candide
WALLACE Ben Hur
WILDE The Picture of Dorian Gray (Completed 6/26/2010)

WILLIAMS Streetcar Named Desire (Currently Reading)

Honorable Mention:
SEUSS Oh, The Places You’ll Go (Completed 12/31/71)

xbstore.com, the new look of internet piracy?

2007-02-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

A little off-topic, but this is an interesting phenomenon I ran into this weekend:

There is a new scam on the internet may be an interesting story. Some foreign sites are setting themselves up on price grabbing sites such as Google's Froogle, MySimon and BizRate with prices for consumer electronics at 20% less than what the lowest competitor charges. The low price moves them up in the price grabber rankings and makes them more visibile to technophiles that are looking for a good deal on electronics and probably have a good amount of money to spend. The sites look legitimate, but when a customer tries to purchase an item they learn they have to place a minimum order of $650-$700 dollars and the sites do not accept creidt cards. The sites require payment by check, money order or wire transfer. The sites are setting themselves up in a fly by night fashion, with a simple template, they go up, lure money out of consumers worldwide and shutdown within a couple of months. A perfect example of this problem is a site called xbstore.com, the site is hosted by ixwebhosting.com in Kentucky, but the business is really run out of Spain. xbstore.com has only been up since mid-January, the unscruipulous owner picked it up from an expired domain list in November. I believe this is the same people that ran another rogue site called MercadoMall.com also from Spain that was shut down in December and Elmpoint.com which was shut down in the fall. The chain of deception continues not only from this business, but to other businesses. Some shoppers are skeptical of the practices at sites like xbstore.com, but then use the prices they find published there to get price matching from other sites and brick and mortar stores that will match any advertised price. I was recently shopping for a replacement stereo faceplate for my current system when I stumbled on the xbstore.com site from a Froogle search. After looking closer at the policies and newsgroups that were starting to report on xbstore, I then contacted ixnethosting and the Federal Trade Commission regarding this site in hopes of getting it shut down. I think this would be an interesting investigative article for consumers and business owners alike. Telling people what to watch for when shopping online couple be useful as well, a good source is http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/payments.htm. This new scam is in it's infancy and will grow without public education and regulator involvement.

***UPDATE***
On March 8, 2007, ixnethosting suspended xbstore.com's website. I don't know if my complaints to them or the Federal Trade Commission shut them down, but I am pleased that the site no longer shows up and froogle listing associated to them no longer exists. While these scammers may have lost this site, I am sure another is in the works if not already running. Caveat Emptor!

Prentice Hall and the Kotler's Marketing Managment 12e MP3 study guides

2006-03-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

What a bunch buffoons at Prentice Hall!

Long story short, if you are looking for Kotler's Marketing Management 12e MP3s, go to http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_PEAR_000002&BV_UseBVCookie=Yesdo not use Prentice Hall, especially if you are in a rush. See the full story below....

I already have issues with the college textbook industry (Now being a proud member of CALPIRG) and how they have the audacity to charge $180 for Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller's Marketing Management 12e in the United States and yet charge 495 ruppee's (Or about $11) in India for the same book. With my newly learned marketing lingo, I now understand how obscene price discrimination can get.

Anyway, since the class started over 10 weeks ago, one of the interesting add ons to the book was an MP3 study guide (Marketing Management, VangoNotes Audio Study Guide, 12/E ISBN: 0-13-228147-3) from Vango (www.vangonotes.com). I was highly interested back in early January when the class started, but according to Prentice Hall, the materials were not to be available until February 1. Fair enough, midterms would still be a few weeks off. Prentice hall also referenced Vango's website, incorectly http://www.vangonotes.comhttp://www.vangonotes.com, but I was able to use my superior technological abilities to figure the issue out and get to the website, try out the demo and set my mind to purchase the item. Note Vango Notes does not sell directly or provide any contact links on their site. Strange, but whatever.

8 days later and still no availability, so I contact Prentice Hall, I alert them in an email that their available date is past due and their link to Vango Notes is incorrect. They thank me for the information about the site (Still broken at that point) and I am told to contact the local rep, Nicola Greenfield regarding the release date. No repsonse to emails or voice mails from Nicola, but they do finally fix the URL for VangoNotes.

On February 14, I finally get word back from Prentice Hall that the new release date is expected to be March 1. Woo Hoo! Midterms be damned, at least I can get it for the final in April (I Hope).

On Monday, February 27, our prefessor receives an email from Prentice Hall that the MP3s will be made available. I have optimism that if they are contacting the professor that they will meet their commitment.

March 1 came and went, again I submit another support case. Where are the MP3s? On March 3 I receive a response:

"Dear Mr. Brown,
The Kotler, Marketing Management, VangoNotes Audio Study Guide, 12/E was delayed in production but is now complete. They are still determining the exact live date but expect to have this product posted for sale by mid-March at the latest.
We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Should you have additional questions relating to this issue, feel free to reply to this message so that we may assist you further..."

So I faithfully check every day. Nothing! Availability date still estimated as 3/1/2006. Meanwhile, one of my classmates was smart enough to check other MP3 websites and found it already availalble!!! Why Vango does not list available sources or Prentice Hall do the honorable thing and point me to Audible.com is beyond me. Now I am going to download and purchase form Audible. I am contacting the rest of my classmates and getting them to purchase their copy from audible.com.

So another purchase from an American student lost for Prentice Hall (2 semesters I have bought their books in Grey Market version from http://www.half.com) I didnt get the ruppee price, but still paid less that a 1/3 than the bookstore's price. One of my team members recommended I enter the Business Plan competition undercutting the bookstore by flying to India each trimester and buy everyone's books for them there and booking the miles hahaha.

3/22/2006 Update. The Audible files will download in a proprietary .aa format. This makes the audio files less than portable. I still think this is great resource, but will require a little elbow grease. If you are a new Audible member, you can get the audio files for $9 (1 free download with your subscription). I would then make sure you download the Audible Manager. Then go to Goldwave and download their audio studio application. With about 10 minutes of playing with Goldwave, you should have it down. With the Audible Manager loaded, you can easily convert the files from .aa to .mp3 with Goldwave. The key is to reduce the bitrate to 48 kbps. Default conversion rates triple the file size. At 48 kpbs, the files only increase 50%, but all the chapters will be about 230Mb, easily fitting on an MP3 jukebox CD or flash drive.

Oh, and still no MP3s available on the Prentice Hall site. ;-)

3/25/2006 Update. Prentice Hall finally made the product available, however it's a link, guess where it goes? Back to Audible. Do yourself a favor and go to the link at the top of this post directly to avoid Prentice Hall getting a referral that they dont deserve.

Working new objectives

2005-12-20T22:37:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am in the off weeks between school and work so I am trying to take care of business around the house and work and career and personal growth and and and...

I am working on the Personal Power tapes duing my commute (Sure beats the radio). Anyway, at this point I found it pretty releiving. I kind of wish I had listened to this during or prior to OB as it would have helped in a few situations. And now to get off on a rant, I couldnt stop laughing at a radio ad where someone made the suggestion about putting a picture of some kids on their desk to avoid being overworked and the voice over said "You give losers a bad name!" That last night was so painful and so full of bad advice and self-loathing, I still wont shake that last session for a while.

OK, back to topic. My main issue areas were:
Fix up the office
reduce the pain pile
manage time better
work out and lose weight

Here are some reasons why I really need to fix up the office:
Its a mess
it is hard to find things
it makes it hard to concentrate
it smells bad
the furniture is not coordinated
I cant find books in the bookshelf
the entertainment center makes for a crappy storage cabinet
the walpaper is disturbing
Much of the stuff can be thrown out
Its not condusive to a work envirnment, it gives my daughter a bad impression on how to maintain a home.

Benefits: Accomplishment, Pride, easy to work in, look better, better storage, ability to find things, value to the house.

Reduce the pain pile
It is costing me money
it leads to procrastination
It will prevcent me from excelling in school
I could get in trouble
it adds to the clutter
it is annoying
it makes me unhappy
it takes up more time the more it grows
It keeps me from being responsible
It stresses me out

Benefits: More money, less stress, less clutter, completeness.

Manage time better:
I do not finish tasks on time
I cant seem to get ahead
The more time goes on, the more gets stacked behind
it affects the quality of my work
It makes me appear undependable
I will need to work more hours
I wont be able to enjoy a personal life
I will be stressed
I wont appear capable
It will make it difficult to lead

Benefits: Ahead of the game, able to manage better

Lose Weight and Work out:
It is making me unhealthy
It makes it harder to keep up with my daughter
it will cost me my life
my clothes wont fit
I wont have energy
I will have to go on medications
I wont be in good condition
I wont be able to play sports
I would not be able to drive a race car again
I will be less attractive to my loved ones

I will be strong, fit and appreciate my body more.

To reset pattterns I will:
Make the Kerns Woot!Woot! noise
ask "how is this debate is adding value to the team's mission?"
Be honest in my opinion, not just say what the person wants to hear
try to reach points to back down with an adversary

4.0 Baby!!!!

2005-12-18T01:08:00.000-08:00

Grades are in, and A's in both the classes. In break right now, but I am working the Personal Power II cds, fresh off of ebay. Anyway, I plan on incorporating this journal into the other one. The 2 things I plan on doing is call my mom, we have had a tiff for a while over finishing some eBay transactions for her and getting back to the gym. There's my day 1 goals. We'll see where it goes from here.

Term 1 Wrap Up

2005-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well, Term 1 has finally come to a close. Although I was a bit disappointed with the outcome of the first term classes, I am glad that I am in the program. Behavior in organizations kind of fizzled in its final weeks. I had a thought go through my mind that I just could not shake. Why am I paying $300 a night to listen to a bunch of other people who spent $300 a night regurgitate what I just read in a book. The professors involvement towards the end was limited and very little new insight was generated. Same with quant. I did pick up some nuggets and hopefully I did ok on the finals. Next term will be just one class and it will be more practical for my career, marketing. I also hope to feel out how the new job will be on workload.

Mahoney for Governor

2005-11-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

This was interesting for our Power and Politics section, my former neighbor in Tujunga, Eric Mahoney, has declared his candidacy for Governor in 2006. He and his wife are really great people and I have really enjoyed reading his position on what he would do as Governor. Although he has a tough fight in front of him, I would give him my vote. An interesting thing about politics is how it creates affiliations and groups. Many people have the desire to vote for the winning team and not with their hearts or minds. They tend to pick the candidate that is part of their group, their affiliation, their party. They use indirect matters of trust for their affiliation. I really appreciate Eric's drive and conviction and have been watching his blog about his run for Governor. www.MahoneyForCalifornia.com.

I have also been a big fan of Theodore Roosevelt since finding a family link between him and myself. My great great great (give or take a great) uncle, Frank Frantz, was a captain in the Rough Riders on Theodore's charge on San Juan Hill/ I have read both Edmund Morris books and can hardly wait for the "Rise of Theodore Rooosevelt" movie to come out directed by Martin Scorcese and starring Leonardo Di Capprio in a few years. (I had envisioned this pair doing this movine a few months before it was announced (SPOOKY!)). I have always appreciatted his independence and passion and I keep this quote over my desk at work:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevel“Citizenship in a Republic,”Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Anyway, I left my encouragement and quote on his blog site and got a wonderful note from Eric tonight:

That is a fantastic lift to my spirit and the quote from Roosevelt will be a part of this campaign from here on out. Thanks for the support.

It was a great lift for me as well.

Parting Ways

2005-11-20T20:30:00.000-08:00

It has been a great 12 weeks so far, the classmates in both my classes have been very close. The team that went through the OB weekend has been particularly tight. But now we are starting to prepare for our second term. I have decided not to follow the main group and focus on marketing as some of my personal career decisions have made it evident that this is going to be a priority for over the next few months. A few people have noted their regret that I wont be following the group, but one of the great aspects of this program is the ability to move between campuses and workload. I know the next 2 terms will be tight and I will probably throttle back my efforts to finish in 2 years to 3 years. My goals are working faster than I planned, now I need to strengthen some of my core bisiness areas. I also want to network a bit more. Although my group is great, very few have the same background that I do or in the industries I work in. so I think mixing it up will help. I also want to try out the West LA campus, just their track didnt include marketing this term. It's going to be hard as the final weeks come up, but I made some great friends and I hope to keep in touch with them all during our adventures through Pepperdine.

Power and Politics

2005-11-20T19:31:00.000-08:00

Power and plitics is one of my weak points. I have not really been interested in politics and I have not really had the opportunity to weild power until recently. I think I have spent limited time working for any one company. Although I have been working professionally for almost 20 years now, I have never heald a job more than 5 years. I also have been working the last 7 years in positions that were in consulting. In these poistions you don't get a lot of power in the organizations you are insterted too. Lsao I think politics are kept to a minimum, granted they are not completely missing, but they are much less a part of the daily interaction because in my position, I am not expected to stay on. I think it is in areas that a person is trying to build a position and organization in a career move where politics are much more apparent. With my new position, I am hoping to get into more Legitimate power from my position of formal authority and reward with compensation plans. When running an organization, I hope to give some sort of ownership back to my people. I think that getting their buy in is crucual, I also would want to set evaluation as a 360 that includes customer feedback so that service is respected and the consultantrs do not get a prima donna attitiude. I think we would have to be focused on the needs of our initial customers, but that over time, we could branch out to produce productized solutions.

Interview with a Professor

2005-11-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

Haha, I couldnt resist the movie title. Th interview a couple of weeks ago went well. I had just finished a big personal decision that I got ome assistance with earlier and so I didnt get so much of a strectch challenge as other people have received. I still think I need to work on my ocnfidence level and my poker face. The professor was recommending that I work on displaying my confidence better. or "Fake it until you Make it" and how to deal with other personality types since I usyually try to be so helpful. I have r3ead some confidence building sites, but they seemed for the acutely shy. I don't think I am that bad, I just want to go in feeling like an expert, keeping my ears focused and not getting off track when I spreak. When I know the tpoic inside and out, I am pretty good, but when I do not have a full grasp or interest, I tend not to do so well. I also want to try to prepare for alternatives as well as possible, or think on my toes a little better. But again, I think that comes from confidence, wether real or synthesized that would help in this area. THe personal moves I have made in the last few weeks should help there since I will have a much stronger support systems.

Balancing work and personal life

2005-11-20T17:14:00.000-08:00

Balancing work and personal life has been pretty challenging lately. Depending on how how you throw school into the mix, it could be seen as additional work or personal time. I have been tryint to treat it as a separate entitity or as a third aspect of my life. I think it helps me both personally and career wise and is sort of the diametrically opposed aspect of a nicomacean ethic as I could have. I try to distribute my time across all three, I just dont think I can get a quality job across all three as I should. It seems like I need more hours in the day, or as I should probalby think about it, put it more into perspective of the Steven Covey principles, concetrate on the imp0rtantr, non-urgent stuff I think once my financial situation changes, I would like to get a housekeeper to get the house in a little better condition. I also want to start getting the house fixed up some. This term was pretty tough with both of us going to school 4 nights a week. Next term should be easier in that Sylvia nad I are only taking one class and I hope to alternate bewtween one and two classes a term. although I will probably be working my butt off at my current employer come next term, but we'll see. I should probably set monthly goals, weekly seem too small and annual goals just dont seem to be taken care of. But I should make sure I am maintaining some structure. Another thing I need to lookout for is changes to the routine, it seems like I can maintain some structure if it is regular, but through in something like a family emergency, change to weekend or work schedule, and I have a difficult time adjusting. I need to remember to find a solution for that. I am also trying to get a copy of Tony Robbins personal power II. A few friends have recommended it as one of his strongest series, so I am trying to snipe it on eBay and have something to follow up on over the christmas break.

Also I think its a little bizarre trying to find work life balance during this point in our lives. Since we are going to school, it is a time of sacrifics to our personal lives, we just need to try to minimize the impact. But I cant see with the schedule we had that we could truly take thanksgiving off or pursue general hobbies. I just try to give my daughter some time each day and show my wife that I lve her and try to keep things going.

Communication and Conflict

2005-11-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

This is the chapter I did my topic presentation on. This was an interesting topic as I also saw this area as a personal weakness area that I wanted to improve upon. THe inforamtion was also very timely in my life.I found the negotiation topic interesting because between the books information and outside research I did, I found many topics points relevant for a personal negotiation I was going through, I learned to stay calm and not get pulled into the emaotion of the subject. When I didnt flinch, it seemed like the other person folded. The conflict section was also helpful, to know the different states. I found that I either tried to avoid or compete. Now I try to collaborate as much as possible. Preparing for the presentation was also pretty interesting I tried to keep the topics interesting so peopleo wouldnt fall asleep. I also put together a class activity to try to keep the topic interesting. I went ahead and put together a negotiation game to see how people worked with negotiation. All went pretty well except I brought the wrong answer worksheet for the high and low scores. It was interesting hw people worked around the rules to. I put a hard constraint on negotiation for education reimbursement, but no other hard requirement. People worked all around that rule. One team negotiatited so they got a purse from the HR manager! funny stuff. I was people asked for copies of the presentation afterword, and peoples slide shows are getting a lot more animated. haha. Although I need to concetrate on a different subject next term, people said they are ogoing to miss my power point skills.

In all it was a good exercise.

Understanding Work Teams

2005-10-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is a good chapter. We have been working in teams for our team presentation and the chapter is quite relevant. I would say that our team has been pretty strong. everyone is a good performer. We have had the setback of one team player, but from the sounds of the other groups, that isn't very bad at all. We are doing our presentation on Crisis Management. At this time the team seems to be firming up pretty well. Although one person has been off to a shaky start, he is trying to commit and we are working with him to get him back on track. I think one of the hardest things can be communication. WIth the one person on the team only showing up to 1 of the 1st five meetings, it was hard to keep him on track. He was also slow to answer voice and email. but as we keep the pressure on, he is performing as tasked. It will be interesting to see if the team accepts him back into the fold again. I really see these exercises more about teaming than presenting our topic and I let the rest of the team know my opinion, so rather than continue on without this member, I think we will do better in the class with him.

As far as the chapter topic, I enjoy work teams. I have worked under Integrated Product teams for quite some time. Many projects I work on involve teams, and I think it is important that we do not just work within departments. Teams tend to collaborate better, there is less chance of building borders within teams, but more subversive confilct can take place. I also work alot with virtual teams. I think Robbin's text finally hot the nail on the rhead with virtual teaming, non-verbal cues, limited social context and ability to overcome time and space constraints are an issue. I think he also left out that virtual teams tend to with more formally that face to face. You usually have constraints that resist break down groups from forming quickly and brainstorming is more difficult. Also if people are meeting in a room, it is difficult to capture graphical data, such as someone drawing on a whiteboard without expensive equipment. I have consulted a couple of times where I did not have any face to face interaction and I found it kind of difficult to work. But it beat getting on a plane.

It's kind of curious why this was written as such a controversial or new topic, I think teams have been around for quite some time wand will be there for quite a while as well.

Influential Leaders

2005-09-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today's topic is to write about influential leaders in our lives. I don't think I have had an all out perfect leader that I have admired, but there are many leaders that I have admired that have created a patchwork of great leadership. If I had to narrow it down to one leader, then first and foremost to me would be Theodore Roosevelt. From what I read about this man, he was one of the last great presidents our country has had. I admire the dichotomies of his personality and relationships. Researching his life on the internet, he is a hero of conservatives and liberals, international world order and separatists, integrationists and segregationists. A man of war who charged San Juan hill, killing an enemy with vengefulness using a gun recovered from the bombed and sunken U.S.S Maine, yet receiving the Nobel Peace Prize several years later ending Japans relentless assault on Russia.

Fiercely passionate about his causes, he was tireless in just about any fight (Seems about the only person to get to him was my great, great, great uncle, Frank Frantz, Roosevelt's Company A Captain on the charge of San Juan Hill and last territorial governor of Oklahoma, who had knocked Roosevelt out 3 times boxing with him at the White House). At one point, when attempting to run for a third term, an assassin shot him, yet he continued his speech, as fierce as ever. Since I started studying his life, I admired how he turned his life around. Set backs did not phase him. A sickly and asethmatic child, he fought to gain strength. As a young adult, he lost his mother and wife on the same day, but remained strong and was able to rebuild his life. I admire the life he led as a positive (although sometimes overbearing father) role model to his children. I admire how he was able to negotiate major changes in government, from anti-trust legislation, to breaking up of the political machines that dominated New York. I also admire his scientific mind. I would love to have a photographic memory and book smarts that he had. As a child, he created his own scientific drawings of wildlife and a keen sense of strategy. At 21, he was able to write a landmark book on the strategy of Naval Warfare of 1812. A book that was regarded one of the top in the field even 40 years later. Another area was break from the status quo. He did not like to be a member of the old political machines of the time. Tammany Hall, noted in Scorcese's "Gangs of New York" was a major target of Roosevelts throughout his career, but even the Republican machine did not fair much better. Also, I admire his ability to seek both sides of a story. Although he publicly dismissed Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" as socialist propaganda, Roosevelt still requested private investigations into the claims that lead to sweeping regulations in the meat packing industry.
Lastly underneath it all, I admire his ethics and morals. Although I do not have the same moral fiber as him, I think his underlying foundations made him the strongest of the modern presidents. Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, even Bill Clinton did some great things in their time, but their underlying moral and ethical issues played against them in the overall scheme of things. I am fascinated that Scorcese will be directing the "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt". I think this will give a modern audience a view into a legendary man and leader that time was hiding his great impact on this country.

Leadership and Creating Trust Readings

2005-09-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

3 of the chapters were very motivating and 1 was a little dark. Non-Verbal Communication was the topic I had the most interest in. In our offsite, I was able to get our team to come up with a good amount of material for the presentation, although our ending was awkward, the topics were well received. I think I found that I had to be a more empathetic listener. The decoding and concentration have been hard parts for me. Sometimes I still wander, but I am trying to build a better habit of understanding what the other person is trying to get across. I still think I have issues trying to restate my point if I don't say it clearly, but I continue to work at it. I have taken a notion similar to the construction mantra "Measure Twice, Cut Once" In communication, I am trying "Think Twice, Act Once".

For Trait and Behavior Leadership, I have always felt that leadership can be behavioral. I have seen people reset their priorities and ascend into leadership positions. Some through focusing on talent and others through coercive behavior that resulted in achieving results. Although the result was achieved, I can't see how it can be rewarding. I think the character and ethics of those sorts of people are challenged and sometimes even compromised. I think a leader that is compelling and authoritative must work harder but the long term results are much greater.

Power and politics was a much darker chapter. Consulting for a large bureaucratic corporation. I always run into people that hoard information power and the politics behind it. I have always tried to share what I know and what I don't know. I think that has made me a stronger person that has more trust and better relationships that trying to lie about my knowledge. I also think that responsibility plays better in the big picture. Ownership of issues has always been something I strive for. It been interesting though watching some of the coercive power struggles going on in the organization I consult for. One leader has threatened security actions to get a problem resolved rather than just requesting a plan of action to close the issue. He had an interesting statement when we were communicating one day "If I can walk through this place one day and not find any problems, I know things are working well", I responded with "If you can walk through this place without finding any problems, it probably means you are not looking hard enough and nobody wants to tell you what they know." With his acts of coercive leadership, no one wants to identify issues because they will probably receive the brunt of the repercussion. This individual took over from a very person oriented leader, people were free to bring their issues to them and he would help guide them to the correct path. He easily shared his experience. His successor is definitely process oriented and it appears to be a shock to the organizational culture. I still think he can have process oriented goals, but should follow a more authoritative and approachable personality to achieve his results.

Personal Development Workshop

2005-09-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on our retreat to do the Myers Briggs assessment and teaming exercises. The content was thoroughly enjoyable, but the facilities and logistics were a let down. Lets get the 'housekeeping' out of the way first. The facility lended absolutely no value to the content. The room was 10 miles from our usual campus location and within 20 miles from most of our houses. It was not as though we were at some retreat, we were at a camp wedding lounge, the place reeked of smoke and the rooms were not that great. The room we had to meet in was half the size of our classroom and boasted even worse ventilation. If we truly went somewhere, like San Diego, or Lake Arrowhead, maybe there would be a reason to stay at a hotel. Maybe someone who argue that it was to keep things punctual. All I can say is don't go there.

OK, all of that is now out of my system, back to the content. It was very good. I took the Myers Briggs test with a little skepticism thinking it would match up, and I was pleasantly surprised how it fit where I wanted to go. I do have some things that I still practice that fall out of my norm for being an ENTJ, but according to Dr. Lynn, I will find out more about that when I do my personal development interview. Anyway, I think the meeting was effective. I have a strong bond with the class. You could see the difference in our quant class where the common students between quant and OB contrast pretty deeply. The quant only students seem distant and there is more of a bond with the OB folks. It will be hard to leave this group when I go to West LA next term.

Some of the exercises were tough. There was one exercise where we had to pick a partner to do an exercise explaining a high and low point in our lives and pick a person we admire. I picked Claudia to meet someone I had not talked to before. I probably spilled to much about my fathers death, but I think with Ralph Cleary, a former neighbor, and, Scott Bliefer, Karen Bleifer's brother tragically killed by circumstance on his bike on PCH near the main campus, just hit me. I had been strong for Bonnie and Karen, like I had never been before. But taking myself back again to where they were now just seemed to open a wound for a little bit. But everytime it opens, it seems to heal a little better and life goes on.

In the end, I did come out energized, but probably came out too strong. I don't know if its because of the class, but I seem to be seeing people acting with a different character. So that first day was great, but I was mentally burnt on the second day, a bit up on Wednesday, then crashing on Thursday and back up today. Each swing in my mood and thinking not as far as the day prior. Good stuff and I am wanting to compile all my data for the professional development piece.

Packet Chapter 1 Notes

2005-09-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

The Psychological Contract

I have always felt there are some sort of psychological contract at my last two employers, but it was never apparent until I read this chapter. The interesting thing is I have had some difficulties that have been pinches, but like my current employer, they started down a path of Sharing information and "planned" to negotiate, but then let the issue fall to the wayside and the manager hoped the contract fell back into the stability zone. What appears missing to me is that there is no point where pinches eventually become crunch points. As in the employee feels that multiple issues have not been resolved to the point they tip over into a choke point may turn into a resentful termination.

At a previous employer, benefits and satisfaction were being eroded away, year by year. There were many pinches, but I don't think all were adequately negotiated and clarified. When another pinch point happened, downsizing dictated by finance, but not communicated between organizations, it caused a crunch and eventually a resentful termination. It almost seems like there needs to be some sort of scale of satisfaction coming out of negotiation and clarity commitment. The scale would represent the emotional balance of the employee and employer. This sort of indicator could be used as an alert if the next pinch could cause a disruption of shared expectations more easily than if the balance was zero.

Packet Chapter 3 Notes

2005-09-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

Individual and Organizational Learning

I had to crack open the packet we waited so long for today, it was a disappointment. The only clear page was the one not to copy the document (Unlike what the school did). Page numbers are missing, the assignments do not correspond the syllabus, and the quality of the print was so poor, the assignments were not clear. I made fun of my Eastern Economy Edition version of the class text for it's quality, and I take it back now. It is far superior to this package.

But I trudged forward anyway. This chapter has brought me back to all my ideas on how to improve learning in Internet Virtual Organizations. I used my experiences from my consulting company experience where everyone is pulled from the field for a week and put through a training program that is not necessarily relevant or timely for them. Great expense is taken to get all these people in a central location and the depth of the training is usually pretty shallow. I think that this sort of training could be greatly improved if it was only done online, broken up into roles, functions and processes and could be used just in time for engagements or phases of a project where they are practical. Getting the groups together is still a good idea, but it can be done over a shorter time period. Use that time for communicating the state and vision of the company and allow people to celebrate their successes and network with their employee contemporaries. The online training should be done through the year keeping the first Friday of the month for every month except January and August to learn new applications or dive deeper into existing ones. This keeps the training fresh, constant and more relevant.

Depending if I did the Learning Style inventory assessment correctly (The print quality was so bad, I was unsure if I was supposed to add up all the columns because the shading was gone), but it appeared I was Active Experimentation focused and a converger. I think I pretty much agree with the assessment. I was semi-centric in the converger quadrant, so I think it showed my leaning accurately. Many of the other exercises required group activity, so I did not perform them except answer individual questions.

Chapter 14 Notes

2005-09-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture has been interesting to watch between my old company with about 600 employees and my current employer of 6,000. When I joined my old company, there were about 300 employees. The company was very nimble and responsive. During the waning days of the internet bubble, we grew close to 800 employees. The feel and characteristics of the company changed. It still moved quickly, but you could feel the bureaucracy grow through the company. At the new, larger employer I work for, they have gone through major changes, being spun off one of the major information service providers, but still have not shook their culture very far from them. Things move painfully slow internally. Upside is not trickled down to the lower levels of the organization and the emphasis feels like it is more on maintaining a position than trying to aggressively grow a business. The culture of this organization may not be able to meet the culture of the competitive landscape.
I am looking at this issue as an opportunity, either by being able to show that we as a company, should provide a better response, or by branching out on my own and providing the response. I just lack the financial resources to make it happen. I also thought it was interesting about what the book talked about how the ultimate source of a culture is with its founders. With mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs, there is no founder to this organization. Business in this day and age is kind of like trying to piece together hamburger with my current organization, the business has been sliced and diced so much, I don't think anyone would know.

Its also interesting seeing the culture in my customer. Two major aerospace companies that merged 10 years ago, one a major player in the western US, the other in the Easter US. Both have been integrated tightly in information systems, but the processes are deeply rooted in their founding companies. Both are trying to find common ground, but when the rubber meets the road, previous culture takes precedence.

I am also liking the socialization model in this chapter and have applied it to the admissions process. Pre-arrival is the introduction, application process, GMAT, etc. Encounter was our orientation and first couple of nights in class, Now the metamorphosis begins. We work to start to encounter assignments and tests and accept our place at Pepperdine. It will be interesting to see how the Productivity, Commitment and Turnover turn out.

Work spitritualization is something I will take to heart. I think having an manager that can motivate and provide meaning to work is important. Jobs become less trivial and there is more ownership . I liked in Steven Covey's book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, how the one hotel he stayed at, he got superior service. That service was found from ownership of the mission at all levels. The company had a mission statement, the hotel had a mission statement and each function had a mission statement. Ownership in what you are working on provides a lot of pride and satisfaction, whether the job is complex or menial.

Chapter 13 notes

2005-09-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Organizational Structure - Well, I am happy to say that I have lived through just about all of them and some sorts of hybrids. Consulting over the last 6 years has blurred the lines of organization, but I really liked the picture Professor Newman put on the whiteboard "Make those below you, alongside you and above you successful, and you too will be successful". I work in a mostly bureaucratic, decentralized, virtual organization. I am with a software company providing services to a customer. I have not had a desk or an office at my employer for over 6 years. I travel with my bag and cell phone. Many customers give me a home. From a hardwall office to the edge of a printer table, usually some sort of cubicle, but I rely mostly on technology for my office. I was kind of surprised about the answer the book gave on virtual organizations. Which were more about outsourcing and off shoring than about lack of physical interaction and location. Many people in my profession are simply people. No office, no central location, constantly on the road. Connected occasionally, but usually comingled in organizations as subject matter experts. None of the organization definitions in the book discussed this, which was kind of odd. The boundaryless organization sounded like it was the closest to it, but appears to have a lot of holes in its technique as well. In time of crisis, a chain of command giving clear orders is essential. The organic structure like we saw in New Orleans for the response to Hurricane Katrina did not work. Should federal authorities handle the problem? should the municipalities? mayor gives one order, the chief of police another conflicting order, National guard another, the govenor another.... Each structure finds its fit through size, market, competitive forces and evolution. I've seen too many companies try to do things based on another companies success and touting. I imagine we must try on each one to see how it fits, but I think for my 4 options, my structure would be an updated definition of the virtual organization based on the technical employee's environment and needs to collaborate effectively.

Chapter 1 comments

2005-09-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

Chapter 1 was an intriduction to the topic. More of a definition than anything else. It may not be the easiest subject to comment about, but it gives a sense of the roots to HR issues that come through the channel. Performance reviews, goal setting, ethics and harrasment training. I find it kind of interesting how many of these topics are practiced by companies since they have been burned by them in the past. Either through a lawsuit or being outperformed by a competitor. Also it is interesting how some of the skills or techniques taught through OB are practiced. I am in a unique situation where I can watch how 4 companies operate daily. My employer, who is a software and service provider, two of the largest aerospace firms and a small services company that is managin our project. The aerospace companies are very large and bureacratic, point systems and square footage of an office or cubicle has a very distinct presence in this environment. My company is a large company for its niche and somewhat resembles the aerospace companies, except it is a lot younger. The project management company is very successful, but small and shows lots of potential. I see the impact of organizational behavior as strong in my first career choice with the software company and weaker as I compare each of the following choices, primarily because each of the other choices has fewer people involved, groups become less diverse. Also, as poliically incorrect as it sounds, I am not a strong believer of diversity training. I believe in equal rights and I am against racial, sexual and religious discrimination. But fostering an awareness in differences only seems to validate divides in the workplace. We are asked frequently today to team, to act as one, to be a good corporate citizen. But the book makes it appear like we come to work to express our family values, sexual preferences, and cultural differences. I don't think that is was I get paid for, I get paid to provide a superior product or service, not to spout my spiritual beliefs into my product. It could be possible to use diversity training to recognize the diversity of my customer, but I have problems trying to right the wrongs of the past by swinging the pendulum against prior generations of oppressors.
That was about my only hard point with that chapter, other areas like improving customer service has always been a personal mission. I have worked 38 hours straight at a customer's site to meet an objective on time and on budget. I am glad to see books like this, and Steven Covey's recognize this type of behavior.

Getting Started

2005-09-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

OK, I finally have everything in place and I am ready to start my journal. I think this is an insteresting assignment for my behavior in organizations class, so I will take the effort to continue updating this throughout my studies at Pepperdine.

So here I am, I am finally in the door. It seems like its been a few year since I felt that I had a goal and objective, but I am finally doing something for myself again. My previous employer was a great company, but really absorbed my time. Although I miss some of the intensity in my new position, my new employer has given me a chance to catch up with myself.

My goal is to improve my career aspirations with this program. There are several options I have for the future that I am looking toward:

1. Is to continue up the management path at my current employer using the skills I learn in this program.
2. Build my own services company providing assistance for PLM solutions
3. Build a practice for a third party service provider that recognizes the opportunities available in this line of software and can provide the resources to build the practice.
4. Build my own company providing a completely different product or service outside of my area of expertise.

My plan is to study each new topic in my classes through these paradigms. Apply what is taught in each subject and use this time as a research project. To find which goal makes the most sense or if a new opportunity exposes itself. "Nothing fades as fast as future -- Nothing clings like the past"

For the journaling, I have a little bit of make up to do. I was able to use a cunning tactic to get my Sharepoint community site up and sponsored by the company by becoming the Sales Manager for the Pepperdine account. Tonight I moved my Teamcenter Community site out of its shadow location and into its new domain. Hopefully, I can use it for teaming once we get into our projects.

The class demographics are pretty interesting, a real mix of diferent types of people and backgrounds, I am one of the older people in the class, but not by very much. I was afraid the composition was going to be like a casting call for "The Apprentice", but most of the folks are pretty down to earth and intelligent. The competition does not appear intense and the teaming appears like it might work pretty well. It will be interesting weighing what I am learning against what I have been reading recently in "Good to Great", "The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership", "7 habits of highly effective people" against this course and it's literature.

As chapter 14 points out, I think I am in the encounter phase, a little surprised of the logistics issues and level of technology being pretty far behind, but I am sure I can adapt to this environment pretty well.

First Post

2005-09-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

This blog will be used (to start) for my journaling in my Behavior in Organizations Class.