Workspaces

As I mentioned in my presentation last week, workspaces can have an impact on the creativity of a company.  In the endeavors of my research I came across a journalist that wrote for the New York Times.  Nancy Holt  wrote a column called "Workspaces" which talked about a featured manager or CEO in each article.  Her workspace articles can be found on ProQuest through the KU library website.  The one that I found the most interesting was the one I mentioned in class.  I found some of the pictures in my presentation from an article here.  What caught my attention was the conference bike.  An as it is stated in the article, it is not a workspace.  However, it brings up an interesting point.  Could something like a conference bike   really help brood creativity?  Would another group activity inside the workspace help?  Or are things like this just a giant waste of time and people just need to sit at their desks and get their work done?  I am personally a fan of group activities that promote collaboration.  On the other hand I am not necessarily a fan of wide open workspaces.  Honestly, I think that has something to do with the fact that I can get easily distracted.  I would like to hear more from everyone about their workspace's.  Are you allowed to decorate your workspace?  Does it help you get through your day?  What would you change if you could about your companies workspace?

Red Tape

Once again it is that time of the week.  Time for yet another blog from yours truly.  And yet again it took me forty five minutes to figure out what I was going to blog about tonight.  Thats when I started looking for ideas online and came across this idea.  Red tape is probably a concept that many of you are familiar with.  I think that this is something that can be seen in all businesses.  I found the topic of Red Tape from this website: here.  All industries are regulated by the government in some way.  There are some that must deal with stricter regulations than others but the red tape is still there.  Many times the red tape aggravates us.  The government or more specifically here at the university have a lot of red tape.  These bureaucratic road blocks are probably needed for someone at some time for some reason but to us here and now it seems very unnecessary.  As I did some research into this term I found that it has been dated back to the 16th century.  If you go here, you can find the short Wikipedia article on the term.  What I found most interesting was that the term is referenced on The West Wing, which I used to watch back many years ago.  What I would like to know is: what kind of red tape do you face every day in your jobs?  Is red tape worse in some industries compared to others?  How can a manager deal with red tape when they get asked about it?

When is it Time to Quit a Job?

I was looking around trying to find another topic to write about and this is what came up.  I found this article that talks about when it is right to quit a job.  I found the picture at the top of the article to be humorous as well as very true.  There is a ramp up of saying that you love your job and everything is happy.  Inevitably there will be down sides in your job.  As I am sure everyone agrees, a job is a roller coaster of ups and downs.  The key is to know when their are more downs than ups.  At that point it is time to get out.  As is mentioned in the article there is one situation that this would not fit and that is relying on the job to stay in your home.  I feel that this issue is of importance in this economy where around 10 percent of our population is out of a job.  It is an issue that I would like to get your responses on.  At what point in a career is it best to cut ties and more on?  Is an annoying coworker enough or does it need to be completely unbearable?  Should we be completely grateful just to have a regular paycheck?

“The Customer Is Always Right”

I was working on some more research for my paper and I came across this link. Here is the link.  The article is titled "Top 5 reasons why “The Customer Is Always Right” is wrong" and it talks about how that slogan is basically going out of style.  I am curious to see what others think about this topic and how it relates to their businesses.  Personally working with entrepreneurs daily I am kind of in the middle of this debate.  It is very difficult to tell a client that their idea is not feasible because even the craziest ideas can work.  On the other hand, if a client feels that they can get a billion dollars from a bank then it is my responsibility to give them as much information as possible to show them that there is no way on Earth that a bank would loan them that kind of money.  The author does make good points though.  Especially when the employer sides with the customer every time.  Saying that employees have to listen to customer complaints all day and then get told that they are right no matter what does take a toll on employees.  This is because there are times when a customer is flat out wrong and they must be told so.
I am also wondering what others think about the woman who didn't like any part of Southwest Airlines and continued to fly with them.  It makes me wonder if this woman was just looking for arguments or if there was something else wrong.
Another thought that just occurred to me is that my circumstance may be different because I work in an environment where my services are free to the public.  Does this have an impact on whether the customer is always right?

Radiolab

So a few weeks ago my friend introduced me to Radiolab.  Here is a link to it.  If the link doesn't work it's real easy to get to at radiolab.org.  So anyway, Radiolab is a program that is put on by WNYC.  It is basically a talk radio show hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich.  They have podcast that are either 5-25 minutes long called podcast shorts or they have the full length hour long shows.  These shows are really interesting to me because they discuss topics that I wouldn't think of but still grab my attention.  One that got my attention the other day was titled "Is Free Will Really Free?". Here is a link to the specific podcast. As I listened to the 20 minute podcast I started to think, how does this influence different aspects of our business lives.  When someone goes into an interview and the interviewer has been drinking a cup of hot coffee, is that a good sign that they will like you?  Are we making decisions based on credible information or do we make our choices based on things that happen to us every day that we just don't notice.  I am interested to see how I would have reacted to the study that was conducted.  I feel like I wouldn't be swayed by simply holding a cup of coffee for about a second.  On the other hand I do understand what they talk about when they say that we naturally look to and are comforted by warmth since we were a baby.

Managing Creativity Abstract

Managing creativity is something that all managers should be aware of and thinking about.  This is because no matter what field a manager is in, creativity is within all employees.  Sometimes creativity deals with businesses such as advertising but often it deals with managing the way all employees use their own creative talents.  The problem is that many managers do not know how to get the maximum creativity out of employees.  This paper will discuss what makes a good manager of creativity, how to manage creativity and some examples of managing creativity in different industries and environments.  The paper is a general overview of the topic to be used as a tool for managers.  This paper will give managers an insight into creativity management that can be taken to the office and applied.

The Water Cooler

The water cooler has long been a topic of debate.  Some managers seem to think that it has a negative effect on productivity or the bottom line.  I like many love to "chat around the water cooler" with fellow employees and even management.  It seems to me that managers in my old job were more okay with side chat when they were involved in the conversations.  On the other hand, if employees were talking amongst themselves it was seen as less productive.  This is something that I have found to be not so true.  As the following link shows, a professor at Arizona State University agrees.  Here is the link.  The article talks about how managers should encourage the interactions between coworkers.  He says that it is more important to employees to have a good working relationship with the coworkers closest to you than it is to have financial rewards or to like the company that you work for.  I agree with this because it is the daily interactions that take the biggest toll on your stress.  The author also makes the comment that it is hard to put a worker in this management position if they do not have proper coaching and training.  I also understand that you can not put all to much focus on this idea.  Too much time spent talking over the coffee maker or water cooler can lead to a lack of productivity.  This boils down to a basic idea that is used everywhere.  "Everything comes in moderation"