Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Review and critique for Econ 490

During this course, I have learned many useful aspects about organization. The one that influenced me the most is about triangular tension in companies because it might be common in my future working place. As I have mentioned before, I want to become a financial advisor after graduating; therefore, I might be involved in this "triangular tension" between my boss and clients as well. Methods including having enought conversations with supervisors and clear regulations are important for me to solve possible problems.

During class, I believe it might be useful for students to form small groups and discuss topics; therefore, students can be more involved in and prepared during classtime. For blogging, I think the current way is fine. However, I do suggest that students are required to comment in different peers' blogs instead of having only one or two partners for the entire semester. In that way, students can get different perspectives from different students and be more familar with more students. On the other hand, I learned a lot from the current blogging system as well by having professor and one classmate commenting on and improving my opinions. Also, blogging allows me to take more time thinking about topics that I have never thought before such problems in organizations.

When I was doing Excel Homework, I read over classnotes, ppt and videos, if there are any,  in advance in order to be more familar with the topic. Then I began with the Excel from the start. If I faced any difficulties, I would turn back to notes or asked through comments. For blogging, I would read the relevant pages of textbook to get the basic idea. I would also search on the Internet if necessary, especially when I was not familar with the topic. After gaining enough backgrounds about the topic, I would begin writing.

I believe this course is pretty much it is. I am very satisfied with experiences in the class as well. If we can add more discussions and activities during the class, I believe it would be more interesting.

4 comments:

  1. Your comment about doing small group work is probably on the money. I haven't yet found a way to do that effectively. The first time i did this I had students present as a group. I found that not very satisfying, but perhaps I should do this try this again in a different manner.

    On reviewing the materials, I didn't hare in what you said whether they were useful or not. Do you have any suggestions for improving them?

    As to whether you will confront the triangular principal-agent problem in your work as a financial advisor, I presume your employer will be well aware of the problem. It would be interesting to find out what sort of methods there are in actual practice for dealing with the issue.

    Thanks for your comments.

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    1. One thing that I might think of to improve the course materials is that I would like this class more if you can simplify the mathematical parts. I am not a maths person at all; therefore, some calculations took me much time to understand. Excel homeworks were much easier though. Therefore, it might be better for people like me to have easier materials during classes.

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  2. I, like professor Arvan, am a huge fan of the small group idea. It would allow classmates to get to know each other a lot better, and would greatly facilitate student understanding of the material.

    Your process for the homework and blogging was pretty similar to mine. I too used the comment portions of the class web page to make the excel homework a lot easier. Often, it was my go to place to find the information I needed to finish the homework.

    I appreciated reading your posts all year long. I must say, it would be nice to have an opportunity to read and comment on other peoples' posts. I feel that Professor Arvan would like this as well, since we would be able to interact with more than one or two of our fellow students' writing. However, I feel he maintains this group format in blog commenting since it makes it a lot easier for him to keep track of if we are commenting or not.

    Other than that, like I mentioned in my reply to your comment on my blog, your writing was very refreshing. It was also nice to analyze another student's perspective who shares the same majors as I do. I wish you well in all your future endeavors, and I feel you will find yourself to be very successful as a financial advisor. I wish you all the best.

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    1. Your posts and comments were always more than mine. I could see your efforts from those writings.

      I almost forget that we are in the same majors. I might see you in other courses in the future as well. Thank you for sharing your ideas with me throughout the semester!

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