A511.5.3.RB-Mid-term reflection- Trey McNeil

Over the last five weeks, I have had the opportunity to learn about several theories of leadership. One thing the multiple studies of leadership have proven is that it is not a once size fits all, and a great leader must choose the correct style that gives their team the best opportunity for success. Some of the theories we have studied focus around traits, skills, situations, leadership behaviors, and follower/leader relations. Each of these styles has their pros and cons, but if utilized correctly can be an effective style of leadership. The most efficient method of leadership is determined by the combination of leader characteristics, the situation, and most importantly the follower.

In a 2009 TED talk entitled “Lead like the great conductors” Itay Talgam discussed several prominent orchestra conductors and how their style affected the musicians. I enjoyed how Talgam was able to connect the conductor’s leadership styles to theories studies in our course. In his speech, Talgam (2009) lightheartedly stated that he was tempted to think the performance was all about the conductor. An excellent orchestral performance is not all about the conductor just like a great accomplishment in business is not directly linked to the leader. The musicians/followers play a significant role in the success. Talgam (2013) stated that the conductor and musicians must work together to form a partnership.

The first conductor discussed was Carlos Kleiber. Talgam (2009) showed many different clips of Kleiber. The first clip showed Kleiber happily conducted an upbeat musical piece. The manner in which he was conducting reminded me of a leader who gets joy out of enabling their followers. I would liken this conducting style to the supportive approach of situational leadership. Nothouse (2016) described the supportive approach as a high supportive-low directive style where the leader is not focused directly on goals but utilizes supportive behaviors to draw out the follower’s skill and accomplish the task. Though Kleiber was energetically directing the musicians, it was not in an authoritative manner.

Another clip showed Kleiber making eye contact and hand gestures with an orchestra member who did not play the exact note on three different occasions. Each time the musician altered from the music, Kleiber’s gestures and facial expressions became a bit more telling. Kleiber’s manner of dealing with a mistake was similar to the directive leadership theory of path-goal leadership. Northouse (2016) described directive leadership as giving followers “instructions about their task, including what is expected from them, how it is to be done, and the timeline for when it should be completed” (Northouse, 2016, p. 117). In this clip, Kleiber was a bit more authoritative about how he wanted the music to sound.

The second conductor that Talgam (2009) used as an example was Riccardo Muti. The brief piece conducted by Muti was exquisite, but his style was not nearly as happy and supportive as Kleiber’s. Muti’s facial expression and hand gestures were much more severe and direct. Muti’s conducting was similar to the authority-compliance theory of the behavioral approach to leadership. Northouse (2016) stated that the authority-compliance theory places more emphasis on the task at hand, and the people are simply tools to get the job done. Though Muti conducted beautiful music, the musicians were not particularly fond of his style. He was asked to resign in a letter signed by all 700 musicians in the orchestra. They believed he was using them as an instrument and not trying to form a partnership.

Another conductor shown in the video is Karajan. Karajan has an entirely different demeanor than the two previous conductors. His chosen style is to close his eyes and not have dramatic gestures.  Karajan’s conducting style is similar to the delegating approach. Nothouse (2016) described the delegating approach as a low supportive- low directive style where the leader offers less input and support allowing the followers to draw upon their motivation and confidence to reach the goal. Karajan once said that the worst thing he could do to his musicians is demand them when to play. Karajan’s style of leadership develops teamwork. The orchestra must rely on each other as followers to work as a team to play the piece of music.

My favorite conductor was the final example. Talgam (2009) did not mention this conductor’s name, but his style was fantastic. He was standing in front of the orchestra making no movements. He did not make a gesture or order the musicians when and how to play. He was just simply smiling and enjoying the music. He had total confidence that the members of the orchestra would play the music correctly. At that moment he was just a fan of the beautiful piece of music. Northouse (2016) stated that a leader should build trust and respect with each follower when describing the leader-member exchange theory. The final conductor was a perfect example of an individual who trusted his followers.

Talgam (2013) was able to link conductor’s styles to many of the leadership theories we have studied in the first half of this class. I learned that, just like leaders, there is not just one way to conduct an orchestra. Many styles of leadership will work, and a couple could get you relieved of your duties like Muti.

References

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7^th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Talgam, I. (2009). Lead like the great conductors. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like_the_great_conductors

A511.3.3.RB-Directive and Supportive Behaviors- Trey McNeil

This week I had the opportunity to learn about Rotter’s Locus of Control scale test. A follower’s desire for control is a factor in path-goal theory. The internal and external dimensions are the two divisions of the desire or locus of control. Northouse (2016) stated that followers who possess an internal locus of control believe that they are in charge of the events that happen in their life, where followers with an external locus of control believe the opposite. These individuals believe that fate and chance are the major factors determining what happens in their life.

Rotter (1966) found that an event perceived as a reward to one individual could be seen differently by other people. One factor of a person’s reaction is the degree to which they think their behavior defined the reward’s basis compared to the level that it was an outside force or fate (Rotter, 1966). This thought process led to Rotter developing the Locus of Control test to determine if a person’s control is internal or external.

I had the opportunity to take the test this week, and as I was reading the questions, I had an idea where I would rank. After completing the test, my suspicions were correct as I scored an internal locus of control. I have always had the mind-frame that I can control most things in my life. There have been some cases that were just bad luck or fate, but those were rare occasions. I have never lived by the motto “If it happens, it happens.” If I want something to happen in my life, I do whatever I can to put myself in the best position I can to succeed.

In reflecting if this style of control affects my leadership behavior and my responses to others leadership behavior, I would have to say it does have an effect. Recently, an individual in another department caused a report that was due to the state to be late. When I went to talk to this person, the excuses started to flow. My co-worker said they were out of the office for a couple of days before the report was due. Then when they returned there was an emergency that came up. After that, the individual had computer problems that hindered the report’s completion. On the day the report was to be e-mailed to the state, I believe there was a sick family member. My co-worker had an external locus of control and felt that all of these unfortunate things just happened, which caused the report to be late.

I have written many times about my obsessiveness with preparation and fear of failure. In this instance, I do not believe it was a series of unfortunate events that led to the report being e-mailed to the state a day late. In my opinion, the tardiness was caused by lack of preparation. The report is due each year around the same time, so the due date was a shock to nobody involved in the process. Having an internal locus of control, I would have done my portion of the report before going on vacation, or stayed late one night after getting back from vacation. Fortunately, the report was accepted a day late without penalty. I am not the leader or supervisor of this individual, but I did have a chat with them about why we have to stick to deadlines and prepare for all events that may affect our work.

After determining that I have an internal locus of control, I thought about how it affects my responses to others leadership behaviors. The state of Florida recently changed the process of how they award funds to the twenty-seven state colleges. The process now involves examining criteria from previous years, where the college did not perform at a high level. The new measures caused the college to be awarded less money from the state. The conversations around the college (mostly from the upper-level management) revolved around how unfair it was that the state looked at criteria from past years where our performance was not great. 

In my opinion, all the colleges were judged on the same period, so we should admit that we did not perform well and vow to correct our performance. I never agreed with the notion that fate or luck played a role in the college losing funding. We were not awarded our full amount by the state because we did not do our collective job as a college. The employees at the school took the unsatisfactory performance to heart and increased production in the judged areas. This year we moved up in the rankings and were rewarded more money due to our improved performance.

As long as I can remember, I have always felt that I had control over most things that happen in my life. After taking the Locus of Control test, I realize that I have an internal basis of control. Observing how this control affects my professional and personal behavior moving forward will be interesting.

References

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7^th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Rotter, J. B. (1966) Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80, 1-28.

A511.2.3.RB-Reflecting on Leadership Traits-Trey McNeil

The trait approach to leadership or “great man” approach concentrated on characteristics or qualities that make up a great leader (Northouse, 2016). There are certain traits that I possess that improve my ability to lead, but there are also several characteristics I have that hinder my ability to lead. First, I will discuss the qualities that are unfavorable to my leadership ability.

One characteristic that has held me back for as long as I can remember is self-doubt. Northouse (2016) defined self-confidence as the capability of being assured in one’s skills and abilities. Self-confidence is something that I do not possess. I always doubt myself when entering something new. When I started college, I was convinced that I would not be able to catch on to the material and would be forced to leave school. When I began my current position as an accountant, I believed that I would never grasp the new concepts and would end up getting fired. When I started my journey toward obtaining my MSLD degree in April, you guessed it; I was scared my writing was so poor that I would not make it out of MSLD 500. Even as I write this blog, I doubt myself a bit.

In all three examples, I was able to succeed, so I am not sure why I always doubt myself. When I face an anomaly at work, I will usually go to my supervisor with a half-hearted solution on how to fix the problem. Most of the time my manager will tell me that is a great solution, so why am I so self-confident about my thought process? I know that self-doubt is something that I must overcome to become an effective leader, and is something that I have worked on over the last couple of years. How can I lead a team if I do not believe in my abilities? Why would anyone follow a person who does not believe in themselves?

In my blog last week, I described how my preparation was a trait I possess that improves my leadership. While this is true, preparedness can also be a quality that hinders my ability to lead. I rely so much on preparedness that when something unplanned comes my way, I get flustered and bogged down. When I get flustered, I lose the ability to articulate my thoughts and it is very messy and unprofessional. I lack the capacity to improvise, and this causes the previously discussed self-doubt to creep in. According to Sabourin and Pratt (n.d.), improvisation in the business world is a great trait in dealing with unexpected challenges in the workplace. For me to be a good leader, I must learn how to adapt to situations when they do not go as planned.

A trait that I own that improves my ability to lead is integrity. Northouse (2016) described integrity as honesty and trustworthiness. I have mentioned in prior blogs that, in my opinion, people are the most important thing in an organization and life in general. I have a solid moral compass and believe that people deserve fair treatment. Mintz (2013) discussed a survey asking CFO’s what traits were most sought after when grooming a future leader. Integrity beat out interpersonal skills, initiative, motivation, and business knowledge as the number one skill needed. I believe that if my followers trust that I will be fair and honest with then, then they will also be trustworthy and honest with me. Trust must be a two-way street which will lead to a better relationship.

Another trait that improves my ability to lead is determination. Northouse (2016) defined determination as the drive to get the job done. I do not like to leave things unfinished and will work tirelessly to make sure work is complete. To complete all work by the deadline, I will stay late when necessary. I also take great pride and responsibility in my job, so I do not want to leave projects unfinished or incorrect. I believe this will trait can increase my ability to lead because my followers will witness that I will not give up and hand it over to someone else to complete. If my followers are able to feed off of my determination and persistence, then the team will be closer but also more successful.

In describing sociability, Northouse (2016) stated, “Social leaders have good interpersonal skills and create cooperative relationships with their followers” (p. 28). I am ambivalent towards the trait of sociability. I have always been able to establish collaborative relationships with all of my coworkers. I have a great working relationship with all of my current workers, and I believe that is grounded in the respect and integrity I mentioned earlier. The one area I fall short regarding sociability is strong interpersonal skills. As a Millennial, I tend to rely on social networking, texting, and emailing as my preferred forms of communication. To develop stronger interpersonal skills, I must break away from my reliability on computer-mediated communication and get back to the trend of face to face communication. To build a stronger connection to my followers and be considered sociable, I must find a way to strengthen my interpersonal skills.

For me to be the most effective leader that I can be, I must learn how to let go of the self-doubt and constant reliability on being prepared. These traits detract from my ability to lead. On the other hand, I must learn how to strengthen my integrity, determination, persistence, responsibility, and sociability. If I can find the appropriate mesh between the skills that hinder my leadership ability and the skills that increase my leadership ability, then my followers will be following a much more efficient leader.

References

Mintz, S. (2013). Integrity: The most important trait of leadership. Retrieved from http://www.workplaceethicsadvice.com/2013/02/integrity-the-most-important-trait-of-leadership-.html

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7^th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Sabourin, R, & Pratt, R., (n.d). Attentional and interpersonal characteristics of improvisation professionals vs. business executives: What executives can learn from improvisation professionals. Retrieved from http://www.anderson-sabourin.com/Characteristics_of_Improv_Professionals_vs__Executives_Biz_Improv_v2.pdf

A511.1.3.RB-Two-Way Street- Trey McNeil

I was not in the boy scouts for long as a child, but the one thing that I took away was their motto always to be prepared. Taylor (2010) stated that preparation is the number one foundation for business success. I credit the obsession of preparedness with my fear of failure. Taylor (2010) also said, “You must take responsibility for everything that can impact your preparation and performance. To ensure that you are doing everything you can to achieve your goals, you must take responsibility for everything that might influence your efforts” (para. 9).

I am always thinking of obstacles that may get in my way as I attempt to complete a goal or project. I want to do my best in every situation, so I try to think of everything that could hinder my performance. I also always try to have things completed early in case anything unplanned does come up that affects the project. Northouse (2016) stated that leadership is a process in which the leader affects and is affected by their followers. My preparedness is one of the areas where I have influenced my current leader.

I work as an accountant for a college and our books are in a fiscal year, so June 30^th is our “new year’s eve.” All of our journal entries and transfers must be made by June 30^th to be in the right fiscal year. Being the prepared and worried person that I am, I always try to have the journal entries that I know must be entered each year completed the week before June 30^th. Some of the information needed to complete the journal entries comes from other departments of the college, which worries me every year. My supervisor always told me to finish the journal entries when I get the information, and everything would be okay because everyone in the college knows we must close the books on June 30^th.

A couple of years ago my fears were realized when problems arose while closing the books, and we were not able to get everything in by June 30^th.  The IT department had to recreate a corrupt file which presented a problem. The recreation process took a couple of days, so the funds were not able to be moved on time. Another problem occurred due to computer complications where a journal was not able to be input on time. We received the information needed for the journal entry late in the day on June 30^th, so the computer problems pushed us past the deadline. I reference this uneventful accounting story to say this instance caused my boss to begin to listen to me about preparedness.

She now seems to be more prepared in all aspects of the job. I noticed that she will now ask me a couple of weeks before the due date about the progress of a report due to the state. We just went through another June 30^th last week, and my supervisor was able to help me get all of my journal entries in a couple of days before the deadline. She contacted the other departments and made sure they were prepared in getting the accounting department all of the pertinent information needed to close the Fiscal Year. We have even had conversations discussing what we would do if some unfortunate event were to take place to plan around the event.

The relationship between my leader and me has developed nicely. She understands my need to be prepared and has taken steps in not only making sure I am prepared, but her other employees are also prepared. We get along great and work together as a team nicely.

One way that our relationship has impacted me is by knowing that I did have some influence in the department. I feel accomplished that I was able to help the organization in a positive way. It is a small thing but preparedness has always been crucial to me, and it is nice to know that my passion for being prepared influenced my leader.

Another area I am passionate about in the workplace is ethics. I think that we as humans should always do the right thing when it comes to work and life in general. Horton (2016) stated “Building on a foundation of ethical behavior helps create long-lasting positive effects for a company” (para. 2). When I began working at the college, my previous supervisor asked me to alter some numbers while preparing a board report.

She was not asking me to change the bottom line but just some of the categories shown on the report. The request floored me. I remember going home and thinking to myself “what am I going to do?” I was new to the organization and did not want to go above her head or cause friction between us. I convinced myself that since I was not changing the bottom line, I would do what she asked of me this time.

To my dismay, this was not the only time she would ask me to do this type of thing. The following quarter, I was also requested to change some numbers in the board report. This time, I had to have an uncomfortable conversation letting her know that I did not believe this was an ethical thing to do and did not feel comfortable making the requested changes. I told her that the board should see the correct numbers and not the altered numbers that show what they want to see. I believe her fear was that she did not want to answer to why the figures were not what they were seeking.

Eventually, I was able to influence her to show the accurate reports each quarter. If the board had questions, then they could be addressed at that time, but the numbers should not be skewed even if it was not changing the bottom line. This relationship was never as friendly as the relationship I have with my current leader. I honestly could never trust or respect her due to her unethical actions. I believe my supervisor hired me because she thought I was young and would do what I was asked. When I did not feel comfortable, she was never pleased with my disobedience. Unfortunately, she was let go a couple of years ago due to disagreements with the new CFO of the college.

The one thing I did take away from this relationship was self-confidence. I was in my mid-twenties, and this was my first accounting job. I was terrified to have a conversation with her about not agreeing with her request. In this instance, I was forced to stick to my beliefs and was not sure about the outcome. In the end, everything worked out well, and my confidence began to grow.

When I first read the prompt for this blog, I thought I am a follower and have not influenced any of my leaders. After contemplating the assignment a couple of days, I realized that my belief in ethics and being prepared did have an impact on my leaders.

References

Horton, M. (2016). Why are business ethics important? Investopedia. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/040815/why-are-business-ethics-important.asp

 Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7^th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Taylor, J. (2010). Business: Ten laws of prime business preparation. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201009/business-ten-laws-prime-business-preparation

A500.9.3.RB- Course Reflections- Trey McNeil

As I sat and reflected on my first graduate level course, there are so many great things I took away from it. The first value that I got from this course was self-confidence. Nosich (2013) described assumptions as anything taken for granted when you think about a subject or idea. I had the assumption that I would not be able to do well in a graduate level class. I had been out of school for 13 years and doubted myself for thinking I could go back to school. I also had just witnessed my girlfriend go through the Leadership program and excel. I watched her put long grueling hours into her schoolwork and thought to myself “I’m not sure I could have the motivation to go to grad school.” Also, this being my first ever online class I was not sure I would be able to succeed in an unfamiliar way of learning. The final think I was very self-confident about was my writing. I was never a strong writer in school so that has been one hurdle in this course. This course has made me realize that if I do put the work in that I can succeed. 

Another value I got from this course was critical thinking. Before this class began I did not really understand critical thinking and definitely did not use it in my everyday life. This class has taught me to be more cognizant of my thoughts and to think about my thinking. Nosich (2012) described critical thinking as thinking around the circle using the elements of critical thinking. This is something I have tried to be more aware of over the last two months. The final value this course has added to my life is purpose. It has given the confidence to work toward something that may better my professional life.

With all of the positive aspects of the class, there were also a few negatives. I’m sure all new grad students have that moment where they ask themselves “what have I done getting back into school?”  Oddly, my moment came in week 2 in the “tell your story” blog. Looking back, I have no idea why this assignment was so difficult for me, but it is the one that caused my “what have I done” breakdown. I am sure it had to do more with the writing self-confidence than it did the actual assignment but it was rough. Eventually, I was able to convince myself that this is information I knew before I started this class and was able to get over that hump. The learning curve for week 4 and 5 was also a little difficult. I had never been asked to complete an annotated bibliography or literature review so they caused a bit of an issue.

As I contemplate what I could have done to improve my learning experience, I am not sure I have an answer. I do not believe there is anything I could have done differently. I know in my heart that I gave everything I had to each assignment. I was well prepared with the readings. I run at 100% all of the time and had the same level of input throughout this class. The couple of issues I had with this class had to do with my own self confidence. I feel like I was able to overcome those issues throughout the class in order to have success.

I do not believe the instructor or university could have offered any additional support to improve my learning. The university offers the Hunt library which was very useful in gathering the research for my action research project. Also, the modules were very easy to navigate each week in gathering the assignments. My instructor for this class was great. I could not have asked for anything more in my first Masters class. He offered great feedback in the grading process. If there was an issue with APA (which I am sure the entire class had at some point) he suggested what pages to look at in the APA book in order to correct them for the next assignment. He also sent out weekly announcement not only encouraging us but also giving advice how to complete each assignment that particular week.

When reflecting back on the course I do not think anything we learned was irrelevant to my experience. I enjoyed everything that was offered in the class and tried to see the value in it all. Some of the things I found particularly relevant were learning APA, critical thinking skills, and SEE-I. I have mentioned my struggle with writing. This class helped me to learn APA, though I still need work on some of the areas. I know this will be invaluable as I continue in this program. I have already touched on how much I took away in terms of critical thinking. One thing I found very relevant in this class was the SEE-I method. I have used it various times in my writing and know it will come in handy throughout my next eleven classes. A module I found relevant was module 3. I especially enjoyed Sheena’s Ted talk. The reflection on her talk made me realize that the assumptions American’s have about choices can be wrong in certain situations.

I have an unfair advantage regarding what I expect to see out of future leadership courses since I watched my girlfriend go through the program. I do not remember all of the subjects that were touched but I do believe the courses go deeper into the types of leadership and how they are seen in organizations. I also remember her taking an ethics course that sounded interesting. I know one thing for sure, if I am able to learn as much in my upcoming classes as I did in this one then I am very excited to see what the future holds.

Reference

Nosich, G., M. (2012). Learning to think things through: a guide to critical thinking across the curriculum. Pearson Education, Inc. Boston: MA.

A500.8.3.RB-_Good Presentation Design_Trey McNeil

This week I had the opportunity to read about effective presentation design. Most presentations I have attended involved the use of PowerPoint and an individual regurgitating the plethora of information listed in the bullet points. When this occurs my attention span is lost rather quickly. So, what is a good presentation? How can information be presented and still hold the attention of the audience? To answer these questions, I would like to discuss two presentations I recently attended that were well designed and really held my attention. The characteristics the presentations contained were: humor, creativity, simplicity, passion, personal connection to the audience, and use of technology in order to hold the attention of the audience.

Earlier this week, I was forced to go to mandatory training as part of staff education days. In the past these presentations have not been much to write home about so I did not have very high hopes as I arrived on campus. The two presentations that I was placed into were customer service and Microsoft One Note training. My expectation was that would need a strong cup of coffee that morning to keep from having a nice nap. As I was sitting in orientation I realized that there would also be a third presentation which related to safety preparedness regarding public mass violence. I have always had an interest in campus safety so this made me feel a little better about the morning. A video was shown that I had viewed in other mandatory meetings so, thinking it would be the same presentation I have sat in before, my little bit of excitement began to fade. Turns out I was wrong about the presentation to be given this morning.

The guest speaker was a 24 year veteran captain in the Daytona Beach Police Department and his presentation was simply amazing. He was able to hold everyone’s attention throughout the hour and fifteen minute speech. He was definitely passionate about the subject which made his approach to informing much more effective. He had several slides that contained stats or information but they were not the star of the show. It was evident that he was the star and the stats and info on the screen were just the costars.  It also appeared that he cared about the safety of everyone in the room. He was not just going through the motions and delivering his speech which made it so much more enjoyable in my eyes.

 He told personal stories which allowed us as an audience to relate to him. The stories were not glitter and rainbows but served the purpose of teaching us how to stay alive in a dangerous and life threatening situation. The topic of mass shootings such as Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Aurora, Colorado are not something that most people want to discuss, but the captain was able to stress the importance of knowing about these situations so that we can be prepared if this ever happens to us.  He was not all doom and gloom and was able to work some humor into his approach. The video we watched had a scene with a lady cowering in the corner crying as the gunman was approaching the room in which she and her coworkers were hiding. He made a joke and said in that situation he would pick up the woman and beat the bad guy with her if it was able to save both their lives.

The one thing I will always remember from his presentation is the warning he heeded about preparedness. He said that unfortunately this will happen in our community and we just have to hope we are not present when it happens. If we are present we need to be prepared to do anything we can to get out of the situation alive. He asked us to promise him that we would try to survive because the police were coming and there would be a lot of them to help. I write this today with an extremely heavy heart because over the weekend a mass shooting tragedy did occur in our area and 49 individuals were not able to survive. It was very emotional to watch the news this weekend and this event made me hold what the captain said even closer to my heart. I have made a conscious effort to be aware and always have a survival plan everywhere I go just as he suggested.

The second presentation I would like to discuss was a TED talk by Hans Rosling (2013) named The best stats you’ve ever seen. This presentation contained statistics on childbirth, life expectancy, and average salary for various countries around the world. If you would have told me that was what the presentation was about before I began watching, I would have begun to glaze over before even pressing the play button. But even the name of the presentation had me intrigued.  Like the captain, he was able to take a topic that could be considered unpleasant or boring and create a great presentation. The first thing I noticed was the way he used technology while presenting his statistics. These were not the usual PowerPoint slides I was used to seeing when stats were being presented. He was able to create dynamic tables and graphs that were constantly moving to as he spoke about how the numbers changed over the years. It was a very interesting take on how to present numbers and statistics.  He was also able to add humor to the subject which made the audience laugh and hold their interest.  Another thing that was obvious about this presentation was the passion and excitement coming from Hans as he spoke. He was energetic and lively which also kept the audience interested.

If I was asked a couple of  weeks about my current thoughts on good presentation design I would have probably said anything that didn’t make me want to go to sleep, or anything that did not use PowerPoint as the resource. I still have negative feelings for PowerPoint but my answer would now be a presentation that contains passion, humor, excitement, creativity, and a use of technology to present the stats.

Reference

Rosling, H. (2013). The best stats you’ve ever seen [TEDGlobal]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usdJgEwMinM

A500.7.4.GA-Quantitative Research reflection- Trey McNeil

This week I had the opportunity to read about and inform myself on quantitative research methods. Unlike last week with qualitative research methods, I had an idea about quantitative methods before I began my readings. Quantitative research involves experimental methods and statistics to test a hypothesis.  (Hoepfl, 1997) Qualitative and quantitative methods differ in the reasoning behind the research. Qualitative research tests the how where quantitative methods test the why. (Mamia, nd) Quantitative is the more common type of research method and the surveys usually involve multiple choice questions in order to prove or disprove an idea. Quantitative research involves numerical terms that can be analyzed by statistical methods. (Mamia, nd) The study group for a quantitative research study is usually much larger than with a qualitative study. ”Quantitative data is based on precise measurements using structured & validated data-collection instruments” (Xavier University Library, 2012). One disadvantage of quantitative research is that is static and is difficult to produce a dynamic view of the research. (Mamia, nd) After my reading I was able to come to the conclusion that quantitative research involves numerical or statistical data gathered over a large scale to prove an idea or hypothesis.

As a person that deals with numbers on a daily basis, I found quantitative research much more understanding. I know some people do not work with numbers as often as I do so this type of method can cause some people to glaze over. I believe this type of research can be made more enjoyable in the correct setting. I used to be an annual pass holder at Disney and occasionally, as I was leaving the park, would get asked to take a short ten minute survey about my experience at the park that particular day. I would observe some other people not want to partake in the survey due to being too tired or the kids being grumpy. I always relished in the opportunity to fill out the survey. The survey would ask questions regarding the most preferred ride, food, or how to make the park more enjoyable. I always thought it was cool and hoped one day they would take one of my recommendations on the few open ended questions. I asked myself why not put it out there so the things I love can be kept and the things that leave me wanting more can be hopefully adjusted.

I recently had the opportunity to create and administer my own quantitative survey. I had the fortune of asking my coworkers nine questions regarding their level of followership in our department. I would have loved to ask them many more because I have become very interested in this subject and outcome. I was able to synthesize and study the data and was pleased to realize that a pattern unfolded to tell our department’s story regarding followership. I know it may be naive but I would love to take this data and help our leadership grow the department’s level of followership. I am optimistic that we can grow to be an even greater department and I would like to be a part of that growth.

Though the statistics and methodologies behind quantitative methods can seem dry at some times, this method is very useful in the world of research. Maybe everyone does not want to make Disney a better place but taking the time to answer a survey for a cable or phone company has the possibility for useful change that could add value (or at lease limit frustration) to your experience.

References

Hoepfl, M. (1997). Choosing qualitative research: a primer for technology education researchers. In M. Sanders (Ed.), Journal of Technology Education, 9(1). Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v9n1/hoepfl.html

Mamia, T. (nd). Quantitative research methods. Retrieved from https://erau.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-14114959-dt-content-rid-38257535_4/institution/Worldwide_Online/MSLD_Courses/MSLD_500/msld_500_quant_research_methods_lecture1_tero_mamia.pdf

Xavier University Library (2012). Qualitative versus quantitative research. Retrieved from http://www.xavier.edu/library/students/documents/qualitative_quantitative.pdf