Class Reflection

I enjoyed our group discussion about chapter four. We had a good discussion about the benefits of utilizing everyone's skills and abilities. Just like in Pike's fish market, it is important to allow everyone to offer what skills they bring to the table. this does two things. First the employee feels more valued, and the employer is able to utilize these skills as assets for the growth of the company. In this way "Pike's was not just selling fish".

Chapter 4

This chapter has some interesting points about the importance of the right people for the right job. This seems like it is common sense, however, who knows what is common? The employer must give a detailed description of what a job entails. The job seeker must verify that he is qualified for the position. Then the manager must also verify that the candidate is qualified for the position they are trying to fill.

An interesting point was also discussed, however. Although the above process is essential, an employer must also recognize other skills that an employee or job seeker has and try to utilize those skills. By doing so a number of things occur. The employee becomes more valuable, and by be more valuable finds greater enjoyment is his job.

Thus finding qualified employees and utilizing further skills becomes vital in the development and stability of a company.

Bio

A Little About Me
My name is Jardin Gleason. My father thought that he invented that name when my parents named me, but later we found out it means garden in all the Latin based languages. I was born in California, Orange County, and lived there until I was seven. My family and I moved to Oregon in search of work during the real estate boom in California. Once in Oregon I learned to enjoy many outdoors sports including: fishing (first and for most), biking, hiking, and camping (all of the “-ings”).
My father has always been an entrepreneur at heart. Whether by decision or circumstance, he often had some project/company he was working on. Consequently I too have an interest in business and more specifically entrepreneurship. I started my college education when I was seventeen and quickly decided to study business. Since studying at UVU, I have decided to have an emphasis in entrepreneurship. For this reason I am taking this class, Human Resources. I didn’t give it much thought when I signed up for this class; I just did because I knew I needed it. However, I have gained a greater interest in what I will be able to learn and how I will be able to implicate the principles taught into my daily life.
Human Resources, as we have discussed in class, is often miss understood. When I think about human resources I think about Toby on the Office, but I also think about all those who communicate, manage, train, or work with people in general. I believe this includes most everyone. In one way or another most people, if not everyone, works with other people. Thus, having Human Resource skills would be beneficial to any and everyone. Knowing how to communicate with others is a valuable skill in any profession. I am excited to be able to learn more about the right way to communicate with people. I think that this is a great struggle among many managers and trainers in our society. We just care about getting “it” done and not about who is doing it. I have seen the effects of this folly.
While serving a mission for the Church or Jesus Christ, I learned the hard way how important it is to care about the laborer not just the labor. I have not shared this with many, but I feel it is important to correlate this with the principles of Human Resources and how important it is to put them in action. My first experience with the importance of caring about the laborer occurred while training a new missionary. He was from Salt lake city and from his appearance looked like any other missionary ready and willing to serve. For this reason, I placed more importance on how I was training instead of whom. I overlooked his needs a few times in the attempt to show him “how it is done” and by doing so stifled his creativity and overlooked his needs. He decided, after three weeks, that he did not want to be a missionary and went home. I do not know if it was because of my folly that he left, or if it was his own; but I do know I could have been a greater support to him had I recognized and addressed his needs sooner. The principles that I hope to learn in this class would be how to recognize others need so that they can be addressed. I do not blame myself for my trainee’s decision, but this experience will forever haunt me as a reminder of how important it is to care about the laborer and their needs.

Chapter 3

I thought the introduction to this chapter was kind of interesting. It talks about how HR was responsible for certain changes and policy of this major forest products company. The intro mentioned that because of an increasing market of hispanics in the society, they thought it would be beneficial to hire more hispanics that might understand this new market. So, they hired a diversity of employees? I thought that this conclusion to hire blacks, women, and hispanics was kind of wierd. To hire someone because or their race is racial and the reasoning behind it was not satisfied by doing so. I am all for hiring those who are qualified be them black, white, or purple. As an entrepreneur I have realized that if a company wants to reach its full potential it must hire those who will be an asset regardless of external differences. A company can not reach its full potential if it is carrying someone who is not pulling their own weight.

Reflection on Class

I really enjoyed the last lecture. I think that there were some fundamental information that can be a great advantage when working with people. I think overall the main lesson I learned was that to achieve the greatest outcome one must utilize the talents and abilities of all those who are part of the organization. By allowing everyone to contribute a synergy develops that is extremely powerful.

I loved the video about the fish market. What a classic example of utilizing everyones strengths and helping eachother with their weaknesses. I think that the real reason why this fish market does so well selling fish is because they are not just selling fish they are selling an experience and they love each other. That is what makes the difference. You can buy fish anywhere and if it is more convienent or less expensive that is where you will usually go, however, this fish market offers more and for that reason people go out of their way and possible pay more to be able to buy fish there.

I believe that the old way of selling goods just to turn a profit and not to provide the customer with special attention will lead to the downfall of any merchant that is not willing to step it up.

Response to the Blog Assignment

At first I was a little skeptical about this assignment. I did not see the value in what has been termed prior as busy work. However, after considering it, I am excited more than anything for the experience to make a blog and get myself up-to-date with the technological world.

I hope this assignment will act to solitify my understanding of HR topics, so that I may be more successful in the business world, my personal life, and general interaction with others.

We were asked what we thought HR means or intells on the first day of class. My thought was that it is the art of communicating and dealing with the