stress management
Friday, October 15, 2010
Can We Figure This Out Already?
The class results for our first management exam came out to be rather disappointing, so the professor wanted to give us a chance to change this. He decided that if the entire class could vote on a way to improve our grades, and what type of format we wanted on our next exam (by the end of the class), he would let us have our way. So it started off with people just calling out ideas, until 2 people decided to take charge and be the leaders, who would write down the suggestions and keep everyone in order (like who would talk). People called out ideas, disapproved of ideas, added on to certain ideas, etc. Some people really had a "compete to win" behavior, and really just wanted their ideas to be the ultimate decision, but others were quite compromising, and took those ideas and made it so it could be fair for everyone. Some people wanted a curve, and others wanted extra credit or to drop the lowest grade. The decision of the format for the next exam was worse. Some people wanted to keep the essay part, or short answers part, some wanted to get rid of it, some wanted only to have true and false and mutiple multiple choice questions, and so on. Some people didn't talk at all, and I was one of them. I had a rather accommodating behavior. In all honesty, I couldn't care less because I was in a good position when it came to my grade on the exam, and I didn't have a problem with the format of it either. So I just let everyone else fight it out while I listened and absorbed, and thought that everyone had pretty sensible ideas. It started to get a bit frustrating, and it seemed like we would never get a 100% vote on a suggestion. If I were to handle this, I would emphasize the fact that if we all didn't agree on something, we would get nothing at all. I would also make sure that only one person spoke at a time, to avoid chaos. Other than that, I don't think I would change the way the class went about making the decisions. In the end, compromises and negotiations were made, and the professor asked for the final vote. The decision was made that we would all receive a curve, an optional extra credit assignment, and a drop of the lowest test grade (between the 1st and 2nd) to help our 1st exam grades. The other decision, regarding the exam format, was that we would keep the current format, but with the essay being optional. Overall, the class was a success and everyone was happy...more or less.
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It definitely was hard coming to a decision that everyone in the class would agree on. I also sat back and just listened to what people were suggesting. Although we had 2 leaders, its still seemed to be quite chaotic as people wanted their way to be the only way. The format of the next exam was even more difficult to agree upon. It seemed that many people had many different ideas about the format about the next exam. With limited time, a decision was finally made.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is hard to make the decision. Different people has different ideas.Even thought in the last minute we still don't get every one agree this class decision.
ReplyDeleteYes it was a little stressful to get to the decision and at one point I thought that we have decided the right thing. However, when everyone started arguing and some people didn't understand the proposal everything became hectic. That is why we who are in good position should step up and help everyone rest to get to an agreement that will benefit everyone and help everyone communicate.
ReplyDeleteThat is true! People could not agree on one thing I guess because everybody had different ideas and some did not understand what the proposal was and this just added to the confusion and the frustration.
ReplyDeleteEveryone was happy- more or less. It seems a large group may not satisfy everyone, but I think you're right when you said that it was a satisfying decision overall.
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