MGMT 535 5.3 DIKA model

In my organization, especially our department, we use the D-I-K-A model almost daily as our regulations can change very quickly. Our federal regulations can change anywhere from one a month to several years. We must be diligent with our policies and federal guidelines to be in line with the department of Education.

DATA: this is a representation of reality but it can be flawed. We may not have all the data or it may be outdated so we need to make sure that all the data we have is correct. My director and I are constantly checking to make sure that all our policies are in place, our procedures are clear and concise and we are following the federal regulations completely. We have a quality assurance person who works multiple reports to ensure that we are paying our students within the federal guide lines. Occasionally we come across a regulation that has changed but we may still have outdated data.

INFORMATION: this represents the data that can provide clues and/or news that may be relevant for our job. We must make sure that we are relying on relevant information for any problems we may face within financial aid. When we face a problem with information we must assess the situation. How will this affect our students? How will it affect our department? Our organization? Recently, we came across a regulation on repeat courses. The regulation states that a student can repeat a previously passed course (D or better is passing) one time. Any failure or withdrawal doesn’t count against the student. One part of the regulation contradicts another sentence and this is where it got tricky for us. I read the regulation the way it was explained to me but my director, the manager and the counselor read the regulation to mean that a student cannot repeat the course because he had already taken the course 3 times. This is when my director and I agreed to email the Training director for our region. I explained the situation and gave him examples and he told me that I was indeed correct. This was a good exercise to ensure that we are keeping up with our regulations and we can pass that information on to our counselors.

KNOWLEDGE: this represents the framework for organizing the relationships between pieces of information. We have two types of knowledge at work here; tacit knowledge which is like the mental framework that lays just under the surface, it helps guide our decisions. Then you have explicit knowledge where you put models, formulas and rules are put into play. Tacit and explicit knowledge go hand in hand and good managers need to be ready to use both. The repeat courses policy is tacit knowledge for me because I work the repeat courses report before the start of each term. I know the regs backward and forward. Because there was a question on understanding the regs we had to rely on our explicit knowledge (using the rule of thumb) to ensure we are correct in our processes.

ACTION: this represents the decisions made based on knowledge. In financial aid we are required to take corrective action from time to time, especially when there is an update we may not have been aware of. Usually when the regulations come out each academic year, they will label it with a NEW label or a caution symbol but sometimes they aren’t labeled and we don’t realize it until we are underway in the academic year. With knowledge, comes the responsibility of taking action when needed and required. As soon as we got the answer regarding the repeat courses, I updated the policy to be more clear and concise so that there is no confusion on what the regulation is explaining.

With the D-I-K-A model, it is important to get feedback during each phase to ensure that we are on the right track. With the ACTION phase, you are putting into work all the other phases, the data collected, information we have, the knowledge used to make the model must effective.

MGMT 4.3 The Future of Lying

This was a great video about the future of lying! I remember when my daughter was little and my rule was that we shouldn’t lie because it is wrong. Then comes the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus…eek. I thought about it and decided that a little white lie when it comes to the “magic” of childhood is ok but is it really? As she has gotten older, she has questioned me on Santa Claus, “mom be honest, is Santa Claus real?” to which I reply, “yes Yasmeen, there really is a Saint Nicolas.” A technicality, right? Now that she is a teenager, we have talked about social media and the importance of being honest. Facebook is huge and daily I am sure you can find someone “calling out” another on their post without coming right out and saying that the person is lying.

I am on LinkedIn and I have viewed many profiles of people I want to connect with and those that want to connect with me. What I have found is when people I connect with that I do not personally know will rate me on things like leadership, team building, IT, etc. which I find interesting because these people don’t know me at all. How can they rate my skills? Some have even sent me a message asking me to rate them since they rated me. I tend to ignore these because I would be lying if I rated them on their job skills if I had no idea what they were capable of or not capable of doing.

I have come across a couple of LinkedIn profiles where I felt my colleague was stretching the truth on what they did. It came down to how it was worded so “assisting” on a project became “led” a project. Is it considered a lie or more like being the “butler” as stated in the video. For the most part though I have found most of my colleagues are more honest on LinkedIn. On my profile I have had people suggest that I “fluff” my profile on some things to make myself more marketable. For example, I don’t work with budgeting in my department but it was suggested that I list that because I have previous experience (from about 26 years ago) but I don’t feel comfortable doing that.

Social networking though it has many advantages it is a gateway to unethical behavior from something small like lying about where you are or how good of a parent you are to being a cyberbully. It seems to be so easy to lie on social media and phone but, people are still honest when it comes to emails. Perhaps because you can really say how you feel in an email without being interrupted like you would on a phone call or via text message. I know that for me it is a lot easier to communicate via email when I need to get something off my chest.

I have become more distrusting of media and of people in general these days because it is so easy to tell a lie that lies are the new truths. Think about how fast an article or missing child post is spread on Facebook without anyone doing any research to ensure that they are sharing something that is truthful. Everyone takes everything at face value without doing their own research. My undergrad Pysch professor used to tell us. “Believe nothing, Question everything”. That is what I am trying to teach my daughter, do your research don’t be a follower just because that is what everyone else is doing. Think for yourself. Lead by example.

MGMT 535 A Story of Organizational Culture

On a recruiter trip in 2014, I was able to chat with the executive director of Enrollment Management and some other upper management. We talked about how the morale seemed to be down in EM and how we were lacking the corporate culture. The director asked me what I would do to improve morale and the culture of our area. I threw out some quick ideas and he told me that we would meet after the trip.

In that meeting I talked about how we could make little changes that would improve morale and give the employees a feeling of belonging and be appreciated. After talking about my ideas, he put me in charge of a team that I would hand pick and if I kept him in the loop about what we were doing we could do pretty much anything we wanted as long as it was within reason. I had a team of seven and we had several brain storming sessions to decide our mission statement, our values and goals and of course a name; Enrollment Culture Committee. We had monthly newsletters where employees could write articles, submit poems and drawings, as well as recipes. Each member was charged with a part of this project and we collaborated well together.

We kicked off our committee by have a breakfast where the Director talked about what the ECC was about and that he was excited for what we were going to bring to our departments. At the end of the breakfast we had so many people come up to us and tell us how excited they were to have something like this where employees who work side by side could get to know each other better. Each month we did something creative such as a Spooky Trick or Treats day where the employees could decorate their cubicles for a prize, make their favorite Halloween treats to share. At Thanksgiving we had a progressive potluck where each department was in charge of a dish such as desserts, sides, etc. At Christmas time you could see stockings hung from cubicles and everyone got into the spirit of giving by dropping in notes, cards, and little gifts to brighten someone’s day.

These things helped the culture of our departments by encouraging each department to mingle, get to know each other as well as feel comfortable enough to ask questions on the behalf of students. Morale increased significantly and we were able to start a recycling program in our building. Most employees just want to be appreciated, told they are doing a great job and given a opportunity to be able to blow off some steam so that they can rejuvenate themselves. We also had a Gear Award where an employee could nominate a peer to be recognized for going above and beyond.

Because of budget cuts, we were not able to continue with the ECC but we still host pancake breakfasts from time to time and it always makes me happy to see the smiles on our staff members and of the chance to get to know each other better. I feel it is vital to have a strong culture within any organization to let employees know they mean something to leadership. Being invested in your staff goes a long way in making everyone happy in the long run.