Management Poem

To be a great manager
is to reduce costs
is to create opportunities
and to make the company productive

To be a great manager
is to have a vision
is to communicate the vision
is to have a plan to make the vision reality

The great managers
deal with people
deal with problems
deal with performances

A great manager
Learn to do it all
Lead by example
and become a leader.

The Reality of Blogging

Since management is the science of dealing with people through interaction, communication, and motivation, blogging was the perfect tool to motivate us, management students, to interact and communicate among ourselves.

Since business and business communication are moving online, blogging is the most contemporary way to express ideas in a long format. Topics to be blogged in this class required individual formulation of opinions about specific subjects taught in class. In another words, we had to express our own point of views about theories, and to do so we had to understand and reflect about them.

Finally, blogging engaged this class in  a way I've never experienced before. I knew what my classmates visions, gols, dreams, and personalities were in such an intimate way but without not really knowing them.

I will definitely continue blogging. It is a powerful asset for an interview. I actually have another blog: http://behindthescenesofsocialmedia.blogspot.com/

Thanks professor Kurpis, for the inspiration and motivation

DISC leadership/management diagnostic

The result of my test was Id. I was initially surprised with this result. I've always thought I was a C person, but then I concluded I like to think I'm a C person but in reality I'm not. I like to think I'm analytical, logical, rational, conscientious, detailed, and not impulsive. It makes me feel smart and intelligent. But I don't think I can become this person I've always wanted to be, this is just not me!!!
However, the older I get the more I get to know myself and to appreciate who I really am. The test only came to confirm it. I'm definitely a natural born leader, but not a dominant person. I like to influence people and logically convince them to do and think the way I want them to. Many times it happens unconsciously (I hate the idea that I'm all the time trying to get people to do and think on my way, but in reality this is how we live).
From my I side, I like to contact people and I'm very communicative (my major is communication), so I'm all about making a favorable impression and verbalizing with articulateness. I also believe that people must be motivated and act because of incentives. I like entertaining people, participating in a group and I'm a very optimistic person. I believe in freedom of expression, democratic relationships, coaching and counseling, and favorable working conditions.
From my D side, I definitely make quick decisions, like to get immediate results, solve problems and question the status quo. I also believe I'm more productive when I face difficult challenges, as well as many new and varied activities, and when I have freedom from controls and supervision.
It is definitely useful to determine a person's management type. By doing so, companies can distribute employees among tasks based on their personalities, therefore ensuring productivity and efficiency. Every company needs Ds, Is, Cs, and Ss. The problem is that not all types are good to do everything. This is why it is so important to determine who they are and delegate them the right assignments.

The power of vision.

The video's central message is how by envisioning our future, we can make our lives richer. It says that in though times, people only think about the present and forget about the future. And this capacity to think about, dream and envision the future is what distinguishes leaders from managers.

Inspired by Frank Pollack (The image of the Future), Benjamin Singer, and Victor Frankl (Man's search for meaning), the author Joel Arthur Barker created this motivating and inspiring movie about the power of vision. According to him, Vision is the result of dreams and action. Significant vision precedes significant success. Leaders envision, share their vision with communities (create a supporting structure and motivate people to extraordinary achievement) , and make the vision a reality.
The video also talks about values as the way to measure the rightness of our directions; they protect us from making unethical decisions. However, values don't determine direction. To determine direction is the role of vision

My vision of the future is to finish school at the end of this year, to move back to Brazil, and get a great job in the marketing communications field. I envision to stay there working for 2 years and then go to London to do my MBA.
Everyone must have a dream. It is key for our futures. And education is essential to achieving our dreams.
I envision spending time with my family who I have been apart for 9 years and catch up with my country, culture and favorite places and things I miss so much.
I plan to achieve my vision by being loyal to my values and working hard. Being proactive, smart, and ethical is a good strategy to getting where I want to!!!
I learned a lot while living here in New York and I'm sure I'm ready to stop dreaming and act towards my vision.

I know I can make it!!!

Japan's Nuclear Plant Crisis due to Bad Management.

The Fukushima Daiichi Plant in Japan operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company must solve its management and culture crisis first if it wants to achieve any positive result.
As management guru Peter Drucker said, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." TEPCO failed in doing both. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that when the earthquake and the tsunami struck, TEPCO hesitated to flood overheating nuclear reactors with seawater because of worries about ruining their investment, even tough these steps were included in their emergency plan (contingency plan). The media reported other delays in taking action by the Japanese government, the military and other agencies.
A lot could be avoided if the Japanese Nuclear Plant had an effective management that at least followed its contingency plan.

Book recommendation

I" m reading an amazing book that really changed my perception of Management. It talks about Management as an essential part of business enterprises in the 21st century; the evolution of Business and Management; the Managers' function, tasks, and work; the history of Management; and the Management theories we studies in class.

"People and Performances"
by Peter Drucker
Harvard Business School Press

Decision Making.

Well, the Mid-Term was not as good as the class thought it would be but we were given a chance to collectively decide on a way to change the grades as well as to create an easier test format for the class. However, the way the decision making process was handled by the class was quite chaotic. Because of the sensitivity of the issue, everyone was trying to make the changes that were better for themselves (what is normal, we are all human beings). Each one of us had different difficulties and results in the exam, therefore wanted different changes. It seemed that everyone was Competing to Win, until the professor said that the decision had to be unanimous in order to be effective. This information made the class collaborate towards a conclusion that would benefit the group and compromise that everyone would vote for the agreed changes and would not change their minds.
I initially accommodated due to the big confusion and difficulty to be heard by the group. But when I heard that the class could lose the curve and the extra-credit I decided to collaborate and compromise with the group's decision.
When everyone is forced to cooperate in a decision process in which the result interests everyone equally, the best approach is to collaborate and compromise.

An Eggs-cellent Way to Plan

This was an unexpected way to learn Management Planning. I never thought I would learn Planning out of egg shells... but I learned that planning is everything. Although the process is divided in four parts, if any of the parts fails, the entire plan fails. For example in my group, we had a very efficient planning but our execution din't deliver to the expectations of our planning, which drove us to failure... or in egg shell breaking.

Our planning process was:

1) GOAL:
 To drop an egg covered by straws without breaking it.

2) OBJECTIVE:
To drop an egg into a basket without breaking it, using the time allowed, the material given, and all the components of the group fairly.

3) STRATEGY:
Our group was divided in between taking inventories, strategic management person, design person, executive design person, timing person, etc... Our strategy was to cover the bottom of the egg, thinking that the egg would fall in the basket and be protected by the air inside the straws.

4) TACTICS:
To cover the bottom of the egg with air filled straws and enjoy success (which meant 5 points in the mid-term)

In a management planing perspective I believe we were successful but our execution failed. In a real-life business world we could go back and re-plan it, but it was a classroom and we had a single shot... no 5 points in the mid-term. We have to study harder!

Brazil's oil: now a question of good management.

Brazil has found oil in the cost of Rio de janeiro. But with its discovery came a big problem: how to manage it to efficiently extract the oil and use the money to bring wealth to the country?
I read this article at "The Economist" magazine and was astonished that after finding oil a country faces so many difficulties to explore it because of management issues...http://www.economist.com/node/18065645?story_id=18065645&fsrc=scn/tw/te/rss/pe

what culture has do to with management?

We are all here trying to learn how the most successful businesses (Apple, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft) became what they are. We analyze their stories over and over, trying to learn and create equations that we could use ourselves to succeed... not so easy task.

They are all different from each other but they all have one thing on common: effective and efficient management. 

As business goes global, understanding differences among people is essential for any business that wants to succeed. 

For example, I moved to NY from Brazil in 2003 and one thing chocked me the most: the beaches here are not as recreational and fun as in Brazil... They have so many rules and schedules.

In Rio de Janeiro we can go to beach everyday (24/7), it's so accessible, without rules... totally freedom. So, when I went to Long Beach, I was amazed that I not only had to pay to get to the beach, I could't consume alcohol, nor have music... and worse the beach had a closing time (5 pm).

After 7 years living in NY, now I understand the reasons why the beach's norms and culture here are different than in Brazil. 

So, the very successful companies are what they are because they manage to understand differences... Its's about being global and at the same time being local...

About Myself

My name is Allan Santos. I'm a senior student at the City College of New York, majoring in Advertising and Public Relations. My career goal is to become a marketing communications specialist.
This blog reflects my point of view about what i learned in my Introduction to Management course. So much happens every second in this field, that is just impossible to report every single detail of the business. I'm here, selecting few information that I find relevant and maybe shaping the future of everything related to Management.

Germany's effective management enhances productivity.

The Economist magazine called it an "economic miracle." Germany had a very strong recession due to a decline in the manufacturing industry's business activities. However, due to a great management, its economy expanded by 3.6% in 2010, far faster than many other rich countries.
By keeping its finances under control it did not experience property or credit crises, and by focusing on exportation it has kept unemployment down and grow its GDP per head.
The country management strategy was to use its skills and excel in profitable niches, then focus in being the best in them. The state strongly supports research institutions and middle size companies. In addition to having reforms that made labour markets more flexible, work a bit more attractive, and focusing in nurturing of talent.
As an example, it intelligently chose to produce what a booming China wants: from luxury cars to the machinery that enables Chinese factories to function.