The Importance of Planning

The importance of planning cannot be overlooked.  I was reminded of this during our (awesome) class activity the other day.  Here's how it went down: immediately after class began, the professor broke us up into groups of 5.  We were given 25 minutes to plan to build some sort of contraption that would protect a raw egg when dropped at a height of 10 feet.  The materials for this contraption included nothing more than 8 flexible straws and 2 feet of masking tape.  The catch: over 50% of the egg shell had to remain visible.  Also, we were not given the materials until after the planning process.  After the planning process, we were given 10 minutes to execute our plan.  10 minutes to build our contraption and get to the front of the room ready with the contraption in hand, along with a piece of paper with some details (a sketch of the contraption, the group members names, etc).  

The reward for completing this task successfully (meaning the egg stays intact after it is dropped from a height of 10 feet): 10 extra credit points added to our next test grade.  Needless to say, we were all trying hard to succeed at this task.  Not a single group in our class was successful, which begs the question: what went wrong?  Our professor assured as that usually there is one group that succeeds.  There was most likely a problem in our planning.


The 5 basic steps in the planning process are as follows:

1. Define your goals and objectives. (know where you want to go; understand deadlines.  Be specific enough so you will know you have arrived when you get there and/or how far off you are along the way)
2. Determine current status compared to objectives. (Know where you stand in reaching the objectives from the start; identify resources, group strengths that work in your favor and group weaknesses that can hold you back.)
3. Develop premises and several alternative strategies.  (generate alternative scenarios for what may happen; identify for each scenario things that may help or hinder progress toward your objectives.  Evaluate alternatives to assess strengths and weaknesses of each.)
4. Analyze alternatives and make a tactical plan.  (Choose the action alternative most likely to accomplish your objectives; describe what specifically must be done to implement this course of action; allocate jobs/roles throughout the team.)
5. Implement the plan and evaluate the results. (take the planned action; measure progress toward objectives as implementation proceeds; take corrective actions and revise plan as needed.)

As I examine these 5 steps and relate these to what we did in our group, I can see right off the bat where we strayed from the right path.  The first thing we did was to define our objectives and to identify our resources and whatnot.  Basically, that's steps 1 and 2.  We failed, however, to analyze our group strengths and weaknesses that could work for or against us.  OK, that's not such a big deal, so lets move on to step 3.  


We came up with one alternative to our original plan, but we hardly compared it with our original and we failed to assess the strengths and weaknesses of it.  In other words, we liked with our original plan and stuck with it; we were not too open to alternatives.


Our next mistake pertains to step 4.  We did not allocate specific jobs and roles to the group members according to our skills and talents.  We did not discuss at all how and who would be building this contraption, who would draw the sketch, etc.  This was probably our most fatal mistake; when it came time to execute our plan, we panicked a bit and we all scrambled to get the different tasks accomplished.


Finally, we implemented our plan and evaluated the results.  As we were building the contraption, we had to fix a few (fundamental) design flaws, so we revised our plan accordingly.  In the end, we ended up with a cradle type contraption that provided egg-cellent (I know, cheesy, right?)  cushioning to our egg.  We were confident that we would win those 10 extra credit points... until we saw our egg fall to its messy demise.  

Culture Shock

As a native New Yorker living in an ever-increasingly global society, I find it important to appreciate--and respect--different cultures.  Undoubtedly, ignorance to other cultures can lead to huge missteps--both personally and professionally.  For anyone working internationally, it is imperative to know in which country the "thumbs up" gesture is perceived as extremely rude and in which country the "OK" gesture is unacceptable.  But, beyond the lists of "do's" and "don'ts", it is equally important to gain a deeper understanding of other cultures.

I am going to share with you my experience of the most extreme culture shock I've endured: my trip to Tehran.  The streets of Tehran starkly contrast to those of New York; they couldn't be much different.  Of course, the main elements were the same: paved roads, bustling taxi cabs, sky scrapers.  Upon a closer look, however, the differences couldn't be clearer.   

The barrage of advertisements you would likely find on the side of a New York highway were replaced by religious and state propaganda.  Instead of traffic cops and crossing guards stationed near schools and busy intersections, military soldiers--in full gear, guns loaded and all---guarded each street corner.  And of course, Iran is an Islamic state, so the place of women in practically nonexistent (women have a much higher role in private settings; many are considered the head of their households).  Furthermore, a stroll through a residential street in Tehran couldn't be further than that of a residential street in New York.  Private homes in Tehran are surrounded on all sides by 10 to 15 feet high walls.  The main purpose of these walls is not security, as one may guess.  Instead, these walls mainly provide privacy.  Most Iranians are very secular (in private), and only act very religious in public out of fear of persecution.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this slight glimpse into Persian culture and, more importantly, understand that having a deeper understanding of other cultures is key.

First blog entry!!!

Welcome to my blog!!! 

As part of a course I'm currently enrolled in, I have to create this blog.  But that's not to say that this will be some mediocre blog that I will use only for my assignments.  I intend to make full use of this blog beyond the scope of this course!  (exciting, right?)

To provide a little background info: 

My name is Jim (hence the blog title) and I am currently enrolled as a full time student at Baruch College, which is part of the City University of New York.  I am in the midst of pursuing a Master's of Science in Accountancy; fortunately, Baruch offers a 5 year program (undergrad/grad combined), which seems to be gaining popularity every year.

I'm also employed full-time as the general manager of the Glen Cove Theatres--a 6-screen, independently owned theater situated on the Gold Coast of Long Island.  We exhibit first-run Hollywood movies (our line-up consistently includes the top 5 or 6 highest nationally grossing movies) for our customers and we specialize in children's birthday parties and theatre rentals.  I look forward to applying much of what I learn in this course to my own management style and techniques (for those of you who don't know, this blog is for a management course).