Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Job Transition

Is it better to have time to transition from one job to another or be thrown into a new position to figure it out for yourself in the sink or swim fashion?  When I started my job the office manager was already gone from the company.  The girl who was filling in that position was also gone already.  They had even hired a new manager who had stayed for 1 month and then quit.  The tasks of the position were very chaotic and very behind schedule by this time.  I was hired and handed the piles of work that needed to be accomplished.  Everyone that worked with me was very helpful to answer questions, but I was sort of on my own to read through things and dig for answers.  The learning curve is tough in this job scenario.
On the other hand, I'm aware that I will receive a promotion in June next year.  My supervisor is retiring and is aware of my promotion.  In fact, she and I get along very well and she has know that I would take over for her since I was hired.  She's been planning towards this end for about 5 years now.  Now that the time is actually approaching her retirement, I'm trying to just continue doing my work as normal and observe as much as I can of her job.  I feel like I'm expected to be able to step in at any given time to make the appropriate decisions as if I am already in that position.  Then there are times when I volunteer to do things that seem simple and within the bounds of my current job as office manager, and my supervisor tells me that she's not gone yet, and doesn't want to feel useless.
What a predicament to be in.  I find myself saying "not my department" quite a bit now.  It's tough.  I'm not sure which way is better to take on a job.  Any suggestions or opinions?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Micromanaging

I'd like to know the very specific definition of micromanaging.  The reason I want to know is because it is very difficult to work for a manager who is a micro manager.  What do you do then when you are instructed to follow in these same ways?  Here's the scenario.  Let's say you are a hard worker who has been in management for many years.  You are hired into a management position and given a lot of room to do your job.  As time goes on, you continue to acquire more and more responsibility.  Along with this responsibility comes inside knowledge of how things really work behind the scenes.  You begin to see all the managers for who they really are and not who they appear to be in front of everyone else.  Now you are really noticing that the complaints you have been hearing over the years about being micromanaged are actually noticeable.  So, going forward, you decide this is definitely not for you.  You have no intentions of ever managing like this.  You've always been really good about hiring good people that you can trust to do their jobs well so you don't have to micromanage them.  You've always been taught that if you give your employees their instructions and trust them to do their jobs, they will follow through.  If you treat your people well, they will work well for you.  You have now spent many years working for a manager who is a micro manager.  You are also well aware that his manager is a micro manager as well and pushes for things to be done that way.  You are going to be promoted within a year and your boss is retiring.  You are beginning to find yourself falling into the trap of micromanaging as well.  How does this come about?  How do you fix it before it is too late?  How do you not alienate your employees during this transition period?

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Glass Ceiling

I'm thinking about writing my research paper on the glass ceiling.  I have hesitations about this, and I'll tell you why.  I want to approach it from a viewpoint that in the last 10 years the glass ceiling has been challenged and shattered in some cases.  I want to believe that it is becoming more and more obsolete.  My concern on this topic is will I be able to find the research in periodicals and journals with it being a relatively recent time frame or will I only be able to reference websites?  I tried to log into EBSCO host through the library website but alas, in this tech age, I have to physically walk into the student union building to some office I've never heard of to fill out a paper form and show photo id to get a card that has a number on it that I can use to log into the online library. So much for the modern age.  I'm digressing.  Back to my topic.  I am hesitant to choose the glass ceiling topic for this big reason.  I am female. I do not like to use any excuse for not succeeding.  I want to believe that I hold my own destiny in my hands not that someone else my feel that I should be successful just because I'm female and they need to fill a quota.  I'm insulted at that line of thinking.  I am perfectly capable of working and earning my way to any position that I desire to achieve.  If I do not achieve a goal, I have no one to blame but myself.  That being said, I've never really worked at a place that I felt viewed females as lesser employees than males.  I am pleased that I can say that.  Also, I am pleased that where I work now, the general manager is female and very good at her job.  I am the office (usually female) and production (usually male) manager.  I hold a hybrid position and have had no difficulties doing both jobs because of being female.  We have several male managers as well.  In fact I feel we have a good mix.  We all seem to work well together and I think the dynamic of personalities work well together too.

Time for Blogging

I have had some fun with some of my friends since I started this class.  On the first night of class we starting talking about blogs and wikis and Twitter.  Right away, I had to start talking about it to my friends and make them feel old because they had no idea what I was talking about.  I work in a great job with great people who for the most part are on the motor head side instead of the techy side of life.  They look at me like I'm nuts saying words like blog and wiki.  It's entertaining for me to razz them.  That being said, I don't generally participate in blogs and things like that because I find that I get lost in them and want to edit, comment and play with backgrounds.  All of a sudden I find that time has almost disappeared.  I work about 43-45 hours a week at work.  I have a husband, daughter and dog to take care of in the evening.  Once Sami (my daughter) goes to bed at 7:30, I get my work back out and put in another 1 1/2 hours at home most nights and at least one weekend day most weeks.  This semester class gets added in one night a week and somewhere in there, I have to find time for homework.  I hold every moment precious at this point and worry that blogging will quickly eat more moments than I want.  So far, I've been able to keep it under control, but I am trying to be vigilant with focusing on class work only.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Background

My name is Becky.  I work at Tom Sturgis Pretzels in Shillington.  I have worked there for 6 years now.  I absolutely love where I work.  I am a manager and have had the privilege of hiring my own employees to work with me.  Of course, having said this, I love who I work with in the office.  About 1 1/2 years ago my job duties expanded to include production.  I work full time plus in the office as the office manager, and I am the on call manager for 24 hour production as the production supervisor.

As for my home life, I have been married for 10 years and have an adorable 3 year old daughter.  She loves coloring and playing with play dough.  She is the best and most trying thing in my life.  If you don't have kids you can't judge me on that statement.

I am just over half way done getting my MBA.  I started about 4 years ago.  I put off going back to school trying to decide whether I wanted to get my MBA or get my RN.  After thinking about it for about 3 years, I finally decided to go with the MBA program.  Of coure, I promptly got pregnant.  I took 3 classes while I was pregnant then took about a year off after having my daughter.  Now, I'm trying to balance a 3 year old, a husband, a job and school.  Some semesters are easier than others.  Fall is our busy season at work, so this semester looks to be super stressful.