Upon further reflection of the Crisis Management Seminar, it made me ponder some of the recent scandals I’ve seen. One that I have a personal connection with is the St. Louis Cardinals’ Scandal that was revealed over the summer. As a fan of the Cardinals, I was distressed to hear that the Cardinals were the subject of an FBI Investigation. The Cardinals Organization was being investigated for the hacking of the Houston Astros’ internal database and stealing information.
When news of the FBI Investigation was made public on Tuesday morning, June 16, the Cardinals’ Organization was at the center point of a scandal and everyone wanted to hear the Cardinals respond. However, it wasn’t until Wednesday evening, June 17, that the Cardinals’ Executives addressed the media for the first time. Both the CEO and General Manager expressed they had “zero knowledge” of the hacking until the FBI informed them of the hack “several months ago”.
Of course, now that everyone knows the allegations, people want answers and action. The Cardinals provided the answers they could legally give, but people were still craving action. Almost three weeks after the Cardinals’ Executives spoke for the first time, the Cardinals Organization announced the termination of the contract with their Scouting Director, Chris Correa. Correa admitted to hacking into the Astros’ database, but there were additional hacks and leaks that the FBI was investigating.
Professor Rein would commend the way the Cardinals’ Organization handled the scandal. The Cardinals’ Executives answered the media’s questions appropriately and maintained their credibility. They did not respond immediately, but waited a day to sleep on it before they addressed the media. The Cardinals’ Executives also kept their comments short stating that since the FBI Investigation was “ongoing,” they were not permitted to speak on the subject for sensitivity reasons. The Cardinals Organization also took the proper actions to remove an employee who participated in the hack.
Since the firing of Chris Correa, there have been no new (public) developments regarding the scandal. After speaking with Professor Rein about the matter, he believes Major League Baseball will punish the Cardinals Organization for their actions – but it likely won’t be severe.
Countless MLB analysts and writers have praised the Cardinals Organization for their winning ways and successful drafts in the recent decade. They are repeatedly referred to as a “model franchise” for their operations both on and off the ball field. Even at being rocked by a scandal, the Cardinals Organization continues to operate in a model fashion.
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Initially, I wasn’t too crazy about the idea of attending a week-long Practicum. It meant using precious Vacation Days to attend school. The mere idea seemed contradictory. Nevertheless, I woke up Monday morning and committed to arriving at the Hilton Orrington Hotel with a positive attitude.
Each day of the Practicum Week was invigorating. All the professors who spoke were entertaining, challenging and stimulated my brain to think critically about different topics such as Crisis Management, Organizational Behavior and Business Ethics.
Through various group activities, my classmates and I were able to mix and mingle with each other. We introduced ourselves to classmates outside our elective courses that we had not met yet. We garnered greater respect and empathy for one another as we shared about challenging life experiences. We enjoyed partaking in meals together and shopping with one another for Christmas gifts at the local Northwestern Gear Store on Sherman Ave. Strangers became Acquaintances and Acquaintances became Friends.
After I had completed the four required Practicums on Thursday, It was time for me to return to work on Friday. However, I woke up Friday morning a little depressed. Instead of going to the daily Practicum to learn about a new topic, I had to go to work and start responding to the hundreds of emails in my inbox. I found myself deeply missing the opportunity to learn as well as socializing with my classmates.
This Practicum Week was one of the best experiences I’ve had so far in the MSC Program. It was like I was back in high school: going to class in the morning, having lunch with friends, class in the afternoon, and hanging out with friends after school. I wish this week did not have to end. It reminded me how much I missed the structure of school and valued the wisdom of my college professors.
Once I wrapped up my day at work, I raced over to the MSC Holiday Party Friday evening to see my classmates and friends. Walking into the party felt like walking into a family reunion. I felt instantly welcomed and at home after being re-united with my classmates and Alumni of the MSC Program.
As sappy as this may sound, when you are a member of the MSC Program, your classmates aren’t your competitors, they’re you’re family. You support each other through the rigorous class assignments and Saturday courses. You learn about each other’s activities, experiences, and trials. You offer advice, wisdom, and comfort to one another. Seeing the Alumni’s euphoric reaction to one another is further evidence that the relationships we’re forming will last well after we graduate.
It pains me that I don’t have another Saturday class until the New Year. Even though a break is needed, I will definitely be looking forward to seeing everyone again on January 9th.
Practicum week. When you hear this you think about 5 long days filled with PowerPoint slides and lectures. While this is true, it is way more than that.
We are required to attend four of five practicum sessions, which originally seemed like a lot but in reality, it was worth the trip.
I started on Tuesday, learning about Management in Social Enterprises. The lecturer for the day is the CFO of a small company, which is very successful. We discussed social sectors, which are nonprofit organizations and private sectors, meaning for profits.
My favorite part was when we broke down into small groups and discussed a specific nonprofit in Mexico that concentrates on health care for the less fortunate. We had to decide whether or not this company should stay a social sector or change to a private one, and the pros and cons that come along with each.
Day two was on Multiple Perspectives of Organizational Change. The lecturer talked about three lenses that exist, strategic design, political and cultural. How we achieve our goal, who has the power to influence, and the belief system and values we each have.
My favorite part was discussing Lulumelon. The company started out well and was very successful. Then they ran into controversial issues, and have been accused that their pants are see-through. The founder made a statement about heavyset customers wearing their clothing.
Check back and see how the next two sessions go.
After my first Practicum Day, I was exhilarated by Professor Rein’s Lecture and instruction regarding Crisis Management. First, we learned the various stages of a Crisis and how Management responds to the Crisis. Then, everyone in the lecture was split into groups and during a working lunch, we had to prepare to defend an individual who had done something scandalous. Examples included Charlie Sheen for keeping his HIV status secret, Carly Fiorina’s terrible job as CEO of HP, and R. Bowen Loftin’s job as Chancellor at the University of Missouri. After the brief planning session, each group role-played their individual to the rest of the class as the interrogating media at a press conference.
My group was responsible for defending Dan Synder and his decision to keep the Mascot name of the Washington Redskins football team. Even though the mascot name is insensitive and offensive to Native Americans, Dan Synder refuses to change the name. I ended up playing the role of Dan Synder during the press conference role-play and had to make a statement to the press.
I was feeling pretty confident after reviewing the statement my group had prepared and thought answering questions from the media (my classmates) would be challenging, but manageable. I severely underestimated the experience I was about to go through.
As soon as I reached the front of the room and turned towards the media (my classmates) and saw a video camera recording the class session that I previously hadn’t noticed, I froze up like a deer in headlights. Nevertheless, I sputtered through the minute-long statement my group had prepared for Dan Synder (me) to say. Then, the media barrage began.
The professor started by asking some questions trying to poke holes in the statement I had just spoken. My classmates started questioning whether I was racially insensitive to the African American football players on the Washington football team or if I used slurs in my personal life.
After what seemed like an eternity of answering questions, (in reality, about a minute,) I was petrified and lost my ability to think clearly or process the questions – let alone answer them. During these press conferences, it is imperative that the person speaking answer questions quickly, clearly, and decisively so the audience, (television viewers,) believe what the person is saying and saves their credibility.
Thankfully, after my brain had pretty much shut down from the interrogating questions, members of my group who were serving as representatives for Dan Synder stepped in to answer the additional questions, even if they were still directed at me. My group members did an outstanding job defending Dan Synder and bailing me out.
I never realized how challenging it is for someone to answer media questions in a press conference. The media are purposefully trying to trip you up and make you look like a fool. The next time I see someone answering questions during a press conference-whether it’s after a sports game or a political scandal-I will have empathy for them. I may disagree with the decision(s) they made to put them in such a position, but now I know how tough it is to answer those questions.
Here we are, finishing our first quarter of the MSC program. The amount I have learned the past 10 weeks is unimaginable.
Learning about changes within a company, how to make the changes work, what doesn’t work and the different kinds of personalities within an organization will help us all in our real world professions.
We learned about having a voice, and ways to make changes go over smoothly. Electing a representative to speak for a group of people is one way to have your voice heard. You can also ensure you are heard by having a diverse committee, covering all opinions of those involved.
However, the best way to make sure a change will go over well is to listen. When people feel like they are listened to, they become more accepting and willing to adjust.
If a person or group does not feel like their opinion is heard, and it was just an act, they will alienate themselves and want nothing to do with that specific organization or company.
Here’s an example. If a board of directors for a high school is going to introduce a major change, like closing one school, the community is bound to get upset. But, if you let the community voice what they think should happen, like which school should close, it increases the acceptance rate.
Even if the vote does not go in their favor, at least they feel like it was taken into consideration.
We all want to be heard and feel like we matter. If you ever feel like you are not being heard, find others who agree with your thinking on a matter and elect a representative to fight for what you want.
Have a great holiday!
Recently, I had the good fortune of transferring apartments in my building. This also means I had the bad fortune of moving all my belongings from my old room to a new room on a different floor. Nevertheless, when the cost savings are a couple hundred dollars a month, you bite the bullet and make the move.
So, I contacted one of my new MSC classmates and asked the question we all dread – “Will you help me move?” My classmate graciously agreed and as a reward for their services, I promised to treat them to a meal at Portillo’s. My classmate is an international student in the MSC Program and had never been to Portillo’s which made me super-pumped to treat him to this Chicago-Style Restaurant we all know and love.
I ordered all the classics for my MSC classmate. They received an Italian Beef, a Chicago-Style Hot Dog, and a piece of Portillo’s famous Chocolate Cake. After consuming our meals, my classmate was thoroughly satisfied and so was I.
Our topics of conversation were equally satisfying as we discussed the history of Portillo’s, current events, and my classmate’s home nation amongst other things.
I am very thankful for the wonderful opportunity the MSC Program provides us. By creating a diverse student body, we are interacting with people varying from a wide range of ages that come from all over the world – not just the Chicagoland area. I learn more about my classmate’s nation every time we talk and far more than I ever learned in my high school Geography or World History courses.
There are many graduate programs to choose from, but I’m especially glad to be a part of the MSC Program. In addition to honing my communication skills, I am also become more culturally aware as I socialize with my classmates. I look forward to every Saturday to hear my professor(s) lecture and continue fostering new relationships with my classmates. I have a couple new reasons why Saturday is still my favorite day of the week.
As we begin the holiday season, I’ve been thinking a lot about thanking. Not just thankfulness – I am thankful that I’m in this program, that I have a job, and that my family is in good health. I have spent lots of time the past two months thinking about how I can more effectively engage the volunteers I work with through thanking.
The questions I have been struggling with over the past several months are common to many nonprofits. How can I thank my donors more effectively? How can I make sure I’m thanking the right people at the right time? In the non-profit world, we know it’s important that we thank donors and volunteers for everything they do for us throughout the year. But the key is making sure we do it effectively.
My elective this quarter is marketing and I’ve been able to apply so much of what we have learned in class directly to my job. I’ve started thinking about segmenting the donors and volunteers I work with into more manageable groups. Using the lesson that Professor Kolsky repeats often in class, “It all goes back to the customer”, I analyzed those groups and thought a lot about how to make my approach more personal for their characteristics. I developed a plan and a few weeks ago, I started targeting specific groups with different messages.
These ideas are definitely experiments and I have no idea if they will lead to an increase in volunteer engagement. But the MSC program so far has given me some tools to look at different parts of my job in a different way, ultimately making me a more effective employee. I’m excited to see the results!
I started writing this post eight weeks ago, during the first week of school. It’s hard for me to believe that was eight weeks ago. EIGHT whole weeks – a lifetime when you are on the quarter schedule. If you’ve never been on quarters, they hit you hard and fast and before you know it – it’s 10 weeks later and you’re not exactly sure how you’re writing your final paper.
Before the first day of school, I spent the week prior mourning the loss of my Saturdays. Saturdays are my day to sip coffee while catching up on the news or watching Netflix. I treasure my Saturdays – they are my reward for a week’s worth of hard work and frustrations. I get to be creative or laze around or go for a walk in this beautiful fall weather. I built it up in my head that not having my Saturday’s was going to be a challenge.
We’re almost done with the first quarter and it’s okay because I realized that I foolishly mourned the loss of my Saturdays. They haven’t died – I now just spend them in Evanston instead of on my couch. I can sip coffee just as effectively in a class on Change Management as I can at home. And I still have my Saturday night and my Sunday. As long as I plan ahead, I can still relax and get caught up on the world or a friend’s life before diving into readings for the week.
It took several weeks to stop feeling rusty. I’ve attended a lot of professional development throughout the last few years which prepared me for sitting in classes. But my brain – like most students who don’t go directly from undergrad to grad school have probably realized by now – has not had to make connections between theoretical, lectures, case studies and in-class discussion for quite a while. It’s been a bit of transition.
I’ve been a faculty member in departments of communication and communication studies for over a decade, and I cringe a little bit every time a student tells me that they are getting a degree in communications or calls me a communications expert. At first blush, I realize this looks like a grammar lesson. I promise, its not (though I am a bit of a grammar nut). Instead, I think that the extra “s” signals a lack of knowledge about the breadth and depth of the humanistic and social science field known as communication or communication studies.
The short version is that the “s” is generally added when we are talking about technology systems used to transmit information (i.e., telecommunications, information systems) and the s is omitted when we are talking about how humans create messages and interpret meanings. Communication, without the “s”, encompasses a lot more than media or the study of information systems.
As a field, communication studies encompasses a wide variety of contexts including, but not limited to, interpersonal relationships, group and team communication, organizing and organizations, media, new technologies, and healthcare. It is a wide field whose contributions extend well beyond telecommunications.
As a humanistic field, the study of communication, has its roots in the study of rhetoric in ancient Greece and Rome. The social scientific study of human communication dates back to the early 1900s. The Wikipedia article outlining the history of the field provides some details. There are several academic societies dedicated to scholarship surrounding evidence-based, effective communication including the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association.
The MSC degree is informed by a deep knowledge of the scholarship and practice of human communication. Using that knowledge, students are able to analyze the complexity of the modern communication environment, lead other collaboratively, and communicate elegantly. The study of communications is a part of that, but its a small slice of a much larger pie. The MSC degree: the C stands for communication.
Can money buy you happiness? It can buy things that make you happy such as a new car, a vacation, or that snazzy leather jacket you’ve been looking at for the past few months. So yes, money can indirectly buy you happiness – the real question is for how long? The new car gets a scratch, vacations end, and someone spills their Frappuccino all over your leather jacket in the crowded coffee shop. The truth is happiness is fleeting. So, when a company wants to make a change, is offering incentives the best option to convince the employees to accept the change?
This is one of the ideas Dr. Roloff posed in class last week. There is no doubt that offering incentives such as raises and bonuses can make employees adopt change more quickly. The short-term effects are very beneficial, but the long-term effects can be detrimental to the company environment.
One of the worst things about money is that it turns an intrinsically motivated person into an extrinsically motivated person. The once joyful employee who loved working for the subtle nuances suddenly loses that joy as their attention turns toward the next raise or bonus. Since intrinsically motivated employees produce better effort and quality over extrinsically motivated employees, companies should be weary of using incentives.
Another downside of adding additional incentives is that it produces reduced organizational citizenship behavior. What was once done on an uncompensated basis such as working longer hours or tiding up the office is gone. The employee starts performing the tasks only listed in their job description. This can damage the work culture as everyone starts becoming more selfish and focused on their own work.
Some of my favorite co-workers are the ones who do things that are not expected of them. Gitta baked treats at least once a month for all the people in our office before she retired after 50 years in the organization. She also took care of the plants in our office which only has three windows for 35 people. Manny always fills the printer with paper, even if it isn’t empty and genuinely wants to know how you’re doing when he asks. These intrinsically motivated co-workers do the little things that make a significant difference in the work environment.
Even though money can hasten the change process and produce short-term compliance (or happiness), it won’t last in the long-run and isn’t the best way to encourage change. Instead, Dr. Roloff posed a better solution. People will accept change if they feel the company cares about them. Rather than giving everyone a little extra money, it’s better to put that money in discretionary funds or personal training for the employees. The money still goes to the employees, but it creates the sense that the organization supports them – which makes implementing change easier.
It’s fascinating theories like these that keep my mind active and attentive during Dr. Roloff’s lectures. You never know what you’re going to learn next in the MSC Program!