Two football coaches have a lot to teach screaming managers

The book defined motivation as the process of arousing and sustaining goal-directed behavior. With that said, the article compares the practices of two very distinctive coaches in their methods of motivating players in an effort to increase their productivity. On one hand, you have the coach that stares into silence as a way of coping with disappointment, and on the other you have the coach that screams and hollers insults to get his message across. Based on my past experiences, the usage of sarcasm and belittling employees is very ineffective. Sure, raising your voice to express dissatisfaction may attract attention at first, but the continuation of losing your temper displays the message to employees that you’re not in control of your emotions and it’s also a tad bit over dramatic to say the least. An effective leader should be composed in time of crisis and should employ the use of emotions (screeching out insults, physically throwing a temper tantrum, etc) with caution. People beneath you watch your actions and leadership at all times and therefore, shouldn’t give them a reason to think you’re anything less than in control.

MBTI

The MBTI describes me as an extrovert, sensate & intuitive, judging & thinking individual. Overall, the MBTI test is a pretty accurate instrument for measuring my preferences in the four basic scales of (1) extraversion/introversion, (2) sensate/intuitive, (3) thinking/feeling, and (4) judging/perceiving. I am a person that tends to over analyze in a lot in my decision-making process and for the most time, that’s a positive attribute, but it can be overbearing as well. Especially when I map everything out and a surprising, unwanted interruption occurs and blows my plan out-of-order. I realize that I need to refocus my attention of the big picture and allow the small unimportant things to let go.

Jesica's Story

After ready Jesica’s miraculous story of an inexcusable medical mistake gone horribly wrong at the hands of her surgeon, my first reaction was the anger expressed from her parents that overcame impossible barriers to make sure that she gets the best medical care. Then my perspective changed to sorrow and remorse for the unfortunate surgeon that regrettably overlooked one simple oversight for her blood type that resulted in her death. He at least stepped up and took full responsibility for his mistake, although it was unavoidable. Immediately following the incident, people started to point fingers and initiate blame. Santillan's transplant surgeon said he takes responsibility for the organ mix-up. He didn’t reproach the nurses that should’ve verified the blood type, but rather admit that he was liable for the negligence. Because a surgeon is technically in charge of the surgical case, Dr. Jaggers assumed accountability for the medical error. I think in this situation no human error along is to blame. The medical error that took Jesica’s life was the result of system design failures.

Work Matters

Bob Sutton provided an insightful notion in his blog “Work Matters” that individual who consider intelligence to be changeable or “malleable” are prone to become smarter. This is because people who recognize their flaws and “glaring deficiencies” will take in the effort to improve and adjust, whereas individuals (especially ones that have consistently succeeded in the past) will ignore them and continue their ignorance. I agree with his argument. I think some people who are overly confident may overlook their shortcomings and perceive them to be signs of weakness rather than an opportunity for improvement. There will always people who are naturally born to be intelligent, but to be successful in all endeavors, intelligence certainly plays a role in the process, however it is motivation and dedication that I consider to be the primary characteristics to success.

Learning by Case Method

Learning by the case method by John S. Hammond explain that this is the most relevant and practical method to learn about managerial skills. I agree. Initiating the discussion of real-life situations allows readers to put themselves in the position of managers facing difficult condition. This permits the readers to analyze the event, come up with the best applicable approach, and provide an opportunity for them to share their insights with a group of people who all can contribute to the discussion. I find this methodology to be more effective than reading and rote-memorization from a text book. Readers might be able to ascertain the theoretical and philosophical information of situations, but confronting the event heads-on in real-life is a different story. I look forward to our conversations in class pertaining to this subject.

Teaching Smart People How to Learn

In Chris Argyris’s Teaching Smart People How to Learn, he emphasizes the issue that most businesses and organizations suffer is from the inability of individuals to learn from their own failures. Highly education professionals (as he explains) who are always successful and victorious in their past endeavors fails to recognize their own ignorance when they encounter adversity. To most people, these past accomplishments are greatly valued and respected. However, in business, failure to recognize when one has failed has detrimental effects. Business success depends on the ability to learn and recognize mistakes but most people in these organizations don't know how to learn. Learning is not just narrowly defined as problem solving created by external forces, but to recognize that in order to learn, one needs to look inward at one's own behavior.

From the lack of exposure to failures, individuals in high positions become immune to learning new concepts and methods. When confronted with a difficult situation unexpectedly, these people get defensive, repel criticisms, and convey the “blame” on others aside from themselves. They rarely fail and do not know how to learn from failure. This is a self-protective mechanism to prevent admitting to wrong-doing, which they perceive as signs of weakness. Instead, they continue to ineffectively manage the organization without changing their behavior and without bring about “real” change. Argyris states there are two kinds of learning which he names single loop and double loop. He provided the metaphor that a single loop is similar to a thermostat set to 68 degrees that turns up the heat whenever the temperature drops below 68. On the other hand, a double loop requires a higher level of thinking that challenges the underlying question itself “why is the thermostat is set to 68 degrees?” and “is that the optimum temperature?”

From reading this article, I can honestly relate the assumptions in my everyday life. When an event takes a startling turn and ends up unfavorably, it’s within human nature to lay the blame on others rather than self reflecting on my own behaviors and actions. In my earlier years of working in the education field, when something goes array I can almost systematically divert my attention to blaming other people, students, budget cuts, and other factors that wasn’t related to me. As I matured through the process, I now focus on myself when a situation turns problematic and ask myself “what could I’ve done differently to change the results and what preventative measures can I take to ensure the same pattern doesn’t occur twice?” I have come to the conclusion that if I can change my method of thinking, then I will ultimately change my behavior in the long run (with a few bumps and curves) long the way.