MGMT 100 AMU Week 4 lesson Developing People Human Relations American Military University
- Week Four
Lesson Overview
This week we will focus on the topics for the final paper.
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Decide on the topic and character for your paper and turn in an outline
In this lesson, we will discuss:- How to develop a fictional character
- Applying the principles we learned and use them in a story
- Develop a fictional character that demonstrates three management traits
Outline submitted in the Forum portion of the classroom
Week 4 Forum
This forum will help you get ideas and maybe help defeat any writer’s block. We will discuss your idea for the research paper to include an outline and reason why the topic is important to you
Introduction
Who has not heard of Apple computers? Or for that matter any Apple products? What comes to your mind when someone says…”I have an Apple” It goes without saying that they revolutionized the smart phone market and made it a “must have” for everyone. Mr. Kawasaki speaks of the 10 rules of enchantment during the video, and that was one of Apple’s core strategies, to “enchant” the customer with their products. Now ask yourself, are you enchanting your boss, your employees, your peers or your customers? What is your attitude like? Do you go to work with a good attitude or is it just a day on the job that you have to drudge through. Let’s examine attitude first.
Attitude
Lamberton and Minor (2011) define attitude as “an evaluation of people, ideals, issues, situations or objects” (p82). Attitude is made up of three parts, thoughts, feelings and actions.
These three parts are separate but they affect each other, sometimes without you even realizing it. Take the following example, you think that Mexican food is too spicy because of the peppers and method used to cook it, your feeling is that you would not enjoy it and that it could upset your stomach, while your action is to choose another place for lunch with co-workers.
Attitudes can range from positive to negative ones and have been found to not change over a period of time. Your attitude is crucial in how you interact with others and can impact your relationship with others. Hopefully, you are not one of the EeYores (the hangdog donkey from Winnie the Pooh) that has a bleak attitude and feels like a rain cloud is following you everywhere. If you do feel that way, good news, all is not lost! There are numerous studies that have shown that you can make yourself have a positive attitude.
Characteristics of Positive People
How can you have a great new attitude or try to help your co-workers, friends or boss have one? David Meyers, a psychologist lists the following characteristics that people with positive and great attitudes have in common.
- HEALTHY SELF-ESTEEM
- OPTIMISM
- EXTRAVERSION
- PERSONAL CONTROL
HEALTHY SELF-ESTEEM
What is self-esteem? Self-esteem is the feelings that you have about yourself and how you relate to others. Self-esteem is tied with confidence and how you think others view you as well. Your respect (for yourself and others) also factors into self-esteem. People with low respect for themselves normally have a low respect for others.
So start liking yourself and you will be happier!
Faking Happiness Can Bring True Happiness
As we discussed earlier, you can change your outlook and the way you react to others and events. Myer’s also discusses that if people were even just to “act” happy, it can actually make yourself feel happier. You can “fake” happiness and it will make you feel better. Take the example of Amy Cuddy, she “faked it” (being smart) while pursing a Ph.D. at Princeton. Here is the description of the TED talk from Amy Cuddy:
“Amy Cuddy wasn’t supposed to become a successful scientist. In fact, she wasn’t even supposed to finish her undergraduate degree. Early in her college career, Cuddy suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, and doctors said she would struggle to fully regain her mental capacity and finish her undergraduate degree.”
Amy Cuddy’s car injury caused her numerous physical and mental obstacles to overcome. While at Princeton she was almost ready to quit because she felt that she could not do the work, her advisor told her to go out there and “fake it” make people think she was smart and belonged at Princeton. Eventually, she “made it” and did graduate with a Doctorate degree from Princeton. She recommends not to just fake it until you make it, but to fake it until you become it.
McGregors’s Two View on Employees
Hopefully, you will not have too many employees that you have to tell to “fake it until they make it.” My desire is that you are able to help and assist all of your employees with good sound advice and insight. How do you view your employees? A psychologist (McGregor) found that there are basically two views of employees that mangers have, the Theory X and Theory Y view. Both of these views cross not just socio-economic barriers but age and yes, even genders.
THEORY
XTHEORY
Y
As an employee, what type of view do you think you boss has towards you? Do you want to change it? This can be done; you only have to “fake it until you become it.”
Character
What is character in regards to a leader? As you read move your cursor over each letter, don’t just think of the positive characteristics, but also the negative ones. Remember, we learn as much from bad leaders as good ones, and if you desire, as I mentioned in the paragraph above, you can make your character bad. Everyone enjoys it when a terrible character has a turnabout and becomes a