APRIL FOOLS!!!!
I am sure some of you were a bit interested.. and maybe a few were applauded. Now that I have your attention, today is really the first day of the A-Z challenge, it means almost 1000 bloggers have signed up to write a post using the letters of the alphabet as there subject.. Some do it in order, other like a bit of an alphabet soup approach. This is my second round.. I joined Lee last year.. and met lots of great people.
I am taking a business course.. on line for the first time ever. Some of you might remember that I am a school teacher by trade.. and I am creative.. BUSINESS MINDED not.
So some of you might be turned off by this vocabulary... but I just read a chapter on Algorithmic versus Heuristic Business approaches... what does this mean???
well
An Algorithm is an effective method for solving a problem expressed as a finite sequence of instructions.
A heuristic is a "rule of thumb", an educated guess, and intuitive judgment or simply common sense. A heuristic is a general way of solving a problem.
So I want to excel in my new business but what makes me excel?
What drives people to perform? IS it money or fear of punishment or rewards?
An algorithmic task is one in which you follow a path to get a conclusion.
A heuristic task involves some trial and error to discover a solution.
So do you have a Algorithmic job or a heuristic job?
I feel my new job is a bit of both.. Heuristic jobs involve more creativity and doing new things often.
Some Algorithmic jobs can be replaced by technology. Travel agents are becoming obsolete. Some cashiers at the grocery store are being replaced by self-check out. Heuristic jobs usually involve personal contact. Public relations happens to be a job I am very interested in.
Going to college and taking teaching classes years back.. we talked about Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic rewards... .. I like a good reward... but sometimes..then a employee or a student only works for the rewards not for themselves....If a student gets a prize for reading three books.. some of them won't read a 4th.
During the reading of business books.. I am realizing that I am creating a new Autonomy for myself. Mothers are people who feel they loose their autonomy to their husbands needs, children's demands and life. The fact that I am choosing to try to run my own business helps me feels some much needed autonomy. I still do research, and I still have meetings.. and I am interested in the products and services.
Some people argue that plumbers, cashiers and car salesmen.. have no autonomy.. and they might not.. but they need to ....
I learned that the company ZAPPOS.. ( e shoestore) Zappos is a young company but it consistently ranks one of the best companies for customer service in the United states... ahead of Cadillac, BMW and APPLE.
Zappos is one of the companies I am learning about that is giving some measure of individual freedom in some of the jobs.I am sure many of you know that many enterprises are offshoring work to low-cost providers overseas.. which when you call some customer services you get someone who you may have a difficult time understand.. as they may have a heavy accent or may not be familiar with some of our language and or slang. Some companies are doing the opposite and are "homeshoring" and this means that instead of customer service reps driving to work... to sit in a large call center.. the calls are routed to the employees home.. This helps provide autonomy over how they do their jobs.Jetblue has also done this.
There is so much to learn about how and why we shop and how and why we achieve things.. but I won't bore you today... be sure to stay tuned for more ... A-Z fun this entire month.. Thanks again LEE....and for
more great posts go to .....
Tomorrow Is letter B....I am going to talk about a local fundraiser... called Bloom where you are planted.
www.tossingitout.blogspot.com
6 comments:
Wow, that's a complicated and fascinating post, if I ever came across one! Thanks for visiting my blog :)
Happy blogging for the A-Z Challenge!
Stopping by to say hi from SITS. You were directly above me in roll call this morning. I try to visit a couple new blogs each day. What an idea blogging topics from the alphabet! Sounds like a tough challenge, good luck to you and with your new job.
Very interesting post and now I want to check out Zappos. Hmmm. I may not remember the words tomorrow, but I think I have the ideas you wrote about nailed down. Great, instructive post.
Lisa,
This is fascinating; I have a degree in Business, but didn't use it till later on. I worked in a hospital before, in a people person type job. I am a people person, creative type, not meant to be tucked in an office. I admire those who do...we all have talents and have to figure out what style works for us best. Great subject! xXx
Great post. I had no idea what the formal term for rule of thumb was. Very interesting subject. Best of luck in all your endeavors.
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