Module 1 : Write your own 1 page story

Module 1 : Write your own 1 page story to either better inform That Company employees on company values or to motivate that companies employees.  Post your story on your blog – Due by October 7.

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Dear fellow company employee,

Let’s get together and honestly look around us , how many of us know all the values of our great company that we work for and how do we link our day to day operation to its values.

The values of the company are the basics that it runs on. It’s the heart and soul of our operation without it we can’t go anywhere. One general way to make it better is to learn our values and relate them to our daily operation and actions.

Imagine that the company is owned by you. And your employees are wasting its money and not following the values. What do you do to solve it ??? My suggestion is before any action you do is always consider this your own company and think … would you do this ?? .

Our first national CEO started out as a mailman in the company. He loved the company so much that made him go step by step, fight all obstacles, create new processes, invented a new way of operation . Went up the ladder and worked almost everywhere in the company to reach what he is now the highest level in the business of our company.  He started from scratch and reached the top.

Any one of us could be him one day if we thought of the company and put its interests in front of everything else. He is a hero that we all would want to be someday.

He used to be one of us, he is still one of us but he is one that took an extra step ahead. Thought of this company of his own and wanted to take it to the top.

If everyone one of us ( just try this ) posted the values of the company in his office and whenever he had to do any decision to an employee , to vendor and took a fast look at the values and related him answer to one of them. We will have a great task force that we are and even make us better. The winners always look at the solutions and not the problems. Looks at the development of others as when they go up they take you with them.

Innovate, always think of how to make changes, make things better. Be creative and the company will reward you one way or the other. And if not rewarded now you will be rewarded by yourself satisfaction that you did your best and you stood out in your own crowd.

One word that the company should be proud of in its field that it only challenges itself and no one is in its way but itself.

We are a great workforce doing miracles to the world and with your love and passion to the job we can always do better. Don’t let anyone stand in your way of success if you want something done do it and find ways to get it done.

You’re the work force and future that will build things that will leave a message for generations to come. And not make your kids and spouse proud but also the world

All the best,

From me : Omar Bader

Team Performance Assessment Reading Assignment

Please find here the answers to the Team Performance Reading Assessment Reading Assignment

1. After reading “Team Performance Assessment” (pp. 25-43), respond in your blog to the following question:

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–      Is it a good idea to remove individual performance evaluations and focus only on team performance as model #4 suggests?

Answer : is it a good idea ? no / focus only on team performance ? no , it has to be a combination of both . as eliminating the individual performance might lead to having some of the individuals working more than others and receiving the same rating . and that does effect the moral on the long term . as well can have some of the personnel depend on the high performers that want to get the job done for them .

i think what should be done is what most of the large companies do . upper management are evaluated on goals related to the corporate objectives and that drills down so that even the employee knows how he is relating his tasks and jobs to the bigger pictures. and evaluated for completing his tasks along with close follow up during the year with his manager to know how he is doing in achieving the company objective . along to that the individuals skills in team work and sharing knowledge and information should be monitored and evaluated along to achieve an overall assessment of the employee .

having the right competencies is very important for an employee to excel in his job . on the other behalf relating merit increases to the performance is sometimes not really good especially when force ranking or having a certain number of promotions a year is limited where it could lower the moral ( not all but at least for the first couple of month from receiving what wasn’t expected ) sometimes its just great to say you have done a great job but the increase this year will be low for everyone but not force rank an employees performance although leaders know he did a superior job.

Leaders have a great task to do where they have to balance and frequently update their personnel of the performance and know all what they do so that the employee feels that he is worth the position and is looked at positively . training and HR development is always a positive thing any employer should do to give a chance for the employee to get our of the work environment , learn and come back to practice his learnings and skills grabbed from that training .

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–     Deadline: Due by October 2

Assignment Related to Teamwork

this is in respond to the assignment related to team work about that company i have discussed with the team  for the PR & Marketing course :

After reading “How to Make Teams Work Together Effectively,” respond in your blog to the following questions:

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–     How would you characterize work teams that currently exist at That Company ? Specifically, what makes them highly functional?

Answer : the Company in discussion is a large company with different cultures within and is different from one organization to another depending on how that culture is . once i have known that there was a Silo syndrome going on in a certain part of time . that started to be so visible to everyone . that is when the management interrupted and asked for clarification on details of tasks and accomplishments. in a vertical organization it was not easy to kill the Silos but with the support of the team and middle management and enhancing the communications channels throughout that organization the Silos ended and employees felt supported by that action .

in General that company has Great dedication from its Personnel to getting the job done, i have seen in some areas personnel don’t look for individual credit as much as looking for the team and corporate image . and that is great for the new generations leaders and team . most important that the management has look out for usually is the appreciation and motivation of its teams . sometimes the word thank you is enough . and i can see a great shift in the way the leaders are working with the new hires and future leaders . by giving them more support and more ownership of tasks assigned .

what i really liked is that one of the leaders once said “we need to stop the YES SIR mentality and give the personnel a chance to correct us when needed” this was a very motivating quote that lead to Chang in the organization behavioral and the dedication and delivery of work from its personnel.

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–     How have you dealt with dysfunctional teams at That Company ?

Answer : working with a dysfunctional team is not easy , it needs lots of diplomacy and needs one to be aware of what is said and how it is perceived by others. usually understanding the situation and listening more than talking would be a great strategy . not giving up and increasing the jobs completed will at the end show who is really working .

taking lead in clarifying the goals of the teams task and highlighting them is one solution that will bring the team back on track and get solutions not add problems . ” to have success you have to look at the solution not the problem ” i think having all the team directed to work for the goal will result for getting things done . and being transparent is very important .

I think one has to keep on working for his goal and not let Silos or anything block his / her career . giving up is the easiest way out of the game of success in any business . if you fail ones its not a problem , but the problem is fail again . we have to always learn from our mistakes and ensure we try our best and do the changes within first before we look at it in others .

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–     How do you keep teams focused and moving towards common goals?

Answer : before we start any task we need to identify the goals and how it will benefit the organization , we need to keep the team focused and to the point . having many long meetings will kill the motivation of the team . having meetings in other than the office area will always keep the team fresh and motivated to give ideas and brainstorm to achieve . when a team focuses to achieve results that is when it works best . i have a way as a leader telling the team that i am team member with benefits and my job is to ensure they can achieve the results with my help and support . so a team has to be one and has to be transparent to achieve its goals . giving credit to the team and informing management its a team work and getting them to meet the team always works in that company to deliver results as the team feels the ownership and the need to do this for the company . which reduces the ( whats in it for me ) and makes it ( whats in it for the company and organization ) .

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–     Does the organization have a strategy for having “courageous conversations”? In other words, how does that Copmany  facilitate employees’ abilities to broach difficult topics and talk about them within teams and how effective is it?

Answer : As mentioned in one of my previous answer . one of the leaders once said “we need to stop the YES SIR mentality and give the personnel a chance to correct us when needed” this changed the attitude and the participation of everyone in the team where it became more transparent and more productive. so yes the organization has a strategy to enhance communication throughout all the levels to ensure productivity and self expression . but my advice usually is that everyone has to put themselves in the listener shoes to evaluate whatever comment , discussion and words are said to ensure that it doesn’t effect in stepping on others responsibilities or interfere in a way . everyone has to always be diplomatic and say the right  statement in the courageous conversation at the time in the right place to the right person .

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–     Respond to at least two of your team members’ blog posts.

Responded to

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–     Deadline: Due by September 30^th

Hello world!

Welcome to my First Post !!

My Name is ( Omar Bader ) i am a Saudi national , Born in the United States on December 18, 1976 .

i work for Saudi Aramco , which has a great human resources program that support the education and entrancement of its employees . it has recently worked along for the past year on a great PR & Communication Certificate program with one of the top Universities from the United States ( Michigan State University ).

the goals of this course is to enhance and direct us to the best understanding and ability to communicate internally and external  useing the latest tools that the current and future generation are using and learn the correct tools and basics of implementing corporate messages and practice storytelling within our day to day activity and for us ( future leaders ) when representing the company one day.

I love PR as it is part of my day to day practice . and im really interested of becoming a better leader ( peoples manager ) to communicate better and have a more creative workforce using the right tools and ways. as communication is an every minute tool that is now a days needed.

after creating this blog i hope i will be able to communicate from here most of my activities notes , comments about my readings to hopefully have a pool of followers whom will connect to me more , know me more and understand me through my way of communication that i hope will be better after this program .

( Go Greeen —> Go White ) is the MSU words used …..and by luck is it the Saudi Arabian flag Colors …..

with this i would like to end my first blog note by saying MSU & Saudi Aramco ……. Thanks a million for your support