Second Shift

Second Shift; Ch. 7; page 207

This is not the first time I have heard or read about the second shift concept. I think the second shift is no longer only considered routine for women. I myself (a man) have a second shift every day. I used to have three shifts in one day actually. I used to work two jobs and go to school full-time. So really I had four shifts a day. My routine was go to work in the morning, go to school in the afternoon, go to my internship at night, and then go home and take care of stuff around my apartment (general upkeep like vacuuming, doing laundry, emptying the dish-washer, etc.). My fiance also lives with me and she has a second shift life as well. She works all day (9-5) and then comes home to cook dinner and take care of other things. It will be interesting to see how drastic our second shifts will be when we start having kids!

Practical View of Organizational Culture

Practical View; Web Lecture on Metaphors & Culture

I have heard on more than one occasion that the objective for our company is to be as practical as possible in order to be effect. When I read the description of practical view for our web lecture I thought of the operations as practical. Management makes the necessary changes to company operations and those changes are directed from the top down to the bottom of our employee rank structure.
My second thought on this topic was a practical joke. A practical joke can be a trick on someone and everyone thinks it's funny, including the person being tricked. Practical jokes are also a common occurrence at my job. It's all in good fun...

If you would like to share a practical joke you played on a co-worker, comment on this post and tell me about it.

Concertive Control

Concertive Control; Ch. 6; page 177

The author of our text describes concertive control as occurring when "employees police themselves, developing a means for their own control" (p. 177).
There are times at my job were employees must be able to display concertive control because a manager may be away to lunch or at a meeting. There also has been much negotiations between staff and managers for consensus on the company rules. Many of the rules have changed from when I started working for the company 7 years ago. I do feel many of the changes have worked out for the best. For instance, when I started working every employee had to wear black pants while working. Now the rule is employees are not allowed to wear torn pants (they don't have to be black).

Turning Points

Turning Points; Ch. 5; page 149

Our text describes turning points using students as examples, as well as from employees' perceptions. I would have to say that I haven't yet achieved a turning point in my employment career yet, but I can definitely describe a turning point in my hockey career...
The turning point in my hockey career happened when I was recruited to play ice hockey for San Jose State University. The coach approached me and told me he would like it if I tried out for the team. I was currently going to West Valley College and didn't feel ready to go to a University yet like San Jose State. However, I tried out for the team and (of coarse) made it! Those years of playing for San Jose State were truly some of the best times of my life. I went from playing in a little-known adult hockey league to playing in the ACHA Div. II for my hometown college of San Jose State!

Rituals

Rituals; Ch. 5; page 128-129

Every year my company puts together the best of its employees that play hockey for the annual Tahoe Cup and Bash Hockey Tournament. I didn't play on the team this year, but the team did make it to the championship game (but lost). The company owner pays for the tournament fee so that all the players can play; all the players have to pay is for their hotel stay. This ritual of playing in a hockey tournament is a big deal to the many hockey players working at my company. Since my company is a ice skating rink many of the employees play hockey at various levels. Everyone appreciates the fact that the owner of the company pays the tourney fee. It is a great perk for working there. I think he also pays (or reimburses) employees who want to raise their coaching training for hockey. This is a benefit to the individuals who take advantage of this opportunity and it is a benefit to the rink so that the coaches achieve the highest coaching training available.
I can honestly say that I haven't heard of any similar rituals by any of my friend's organizations.

Feedback

Feedback; Ch. 4; p. 109

Usually the kind of feedback I hear most often is negative (deviation-countering). Customers seem to complain more than they complement. It seems every time a customer does make a complement about one of the employees or our programs it seems odd almost. The sad part about it is that my company doesn't have a system set up to record those complements made by customers about an employee. For example, if one of the skating instructors helps a child get up from fall and the parent notices and reports the occasion to me praising the instructor, I can only tell the instructor, "good job for doing that." It doesn't benefit their employment come raise time. It is really bad, I know. How are employees supposed to be evaluated yearly or bi-yearly if managers cannot record comments made by customers about certain employees. We do, however, have a system set up for complaints made by customers about employees. For example, if a customer approaches me and says the cashier was very rude to them, I ask the customer exactly what happened (to get their point of view). I then (usually) apologize to the customer on behalf of the employee and tell the customer I'll talk to the employee about their behavior. Later I will have a discussion with the employee in private about what happened. If the employee can explain their behavior abjectly I usually just tell them to be more aware of the customer. However, if they become defensive or deny it happened, the employee is given a written warning (write-up). If the employee has three written warnings they are suspended. If the employee is suspended three times, they are fired on the third occasion.

Division of Labor

Division of Labor; Ch. 3; p. 71

The aspect of division of labor helps every organization run efficiently. Where I work there are several divisions. We have skating instructors who teach the students how to ice skate or improve their figure skating skills. We have skate counter employees that greet and hand out rental skates to customers. We have cashiers to help customers with their questions or for purchases. We have managers on duty who oversee the operations of the staff and drive the Zamboni for ice maintenance. And finally we have the General and Assistant-General Manager (usually at least one is there at all times) who oversee the entire staff. This system helps the rink run effectively and when unexpected occurrences happen the staff is trained to handle it or find the proper employee to handle the situation.