Connecting the dots
There are a few themes that I habitually mention throughout my posts. The first major theme that I generally have throughout my posts is mentioning transaction costs. I have gone into depth how transaction costs play a role in almost all of the organizations I'm involved with. For example, I mention working for the dining hall and there are transaction costs for workers being managed by two different authorities. This theme was also present in my post where I talked about working for the Illinois football video team. For the video team there is a different kind of organization, but there is still a dual authority in place. Like in my dining hall job, there are also transaction costs that arise form working under a dual authority.
Another theme that I see in my posts is opportunism. I focused an entire post on how I could have acted opportunistically, but decided not to in relation to having to pay an Uber driver extra. However, the theme of opportunism taking place at work was also present in some of my other posts. For example, when I worked for the dining hall there were times I could have acted opportunistically, but decided not to. The reasons behind both of these instances came down to my own morals. I could not act opportunistically in either of these cases because I had a strong sense of empathy for those I would be screwing over. At the end of the day I knew not acting opportunistically was the right thing to do. However, I have not mentioned anytime where I have observed other workers acting opportunistically. I might try to tie in some of my personal examples of people acting opportunistically in the workplace as I have observed it in working for both the dining hall and for the Illinois football video team.
There are a couple themes that connect my posts besides directly addressing the prompt. Many of the reasons I gave for my behavior and responses to situations in my blog posts were because of intrinsic motivation. This type of motivation was present in many of my posts regarding my own behavior in an organization or a hypothetical. For example, my post about deciding to spend all my Illinibucks on priority registration was intrinsically motivated. I wanted to take classes later in the day to fit my preferred schedule. Also, choosing to leave my dining hall job had to do with some intrinsic motivation because I wanted to find a more interesting job.
My processes for writing these posts have evolved with each subsequent post. In the beginning I would spend a little amount of time thinking about what I wanted to write and instead tackle the prompt right away. After working on a few blog posts throughout the semester I found it was easier to come up with all the ideas and topics I was going to write in my blog beforehand than devote an entire paragraph to each individual idea. This way I knew the layout of my blog post beforehand and could make all my ideas flow better.
One thing I would like to see is more connections to earlier posts. Many of the topics we discussed in the beginning of the class aren't mentioned in my later posts, but could definitely be applied. I think tying in ideas and concepts throughout the entire class into future blog posts will help my overall understanding of the subject material. I could also incorporate some of the main ideas discussed in the excel homework into my blog posts. This could potentially help me improve my quiz scores.
Another theme that I see in my posts is opportunism. I focused an entire post on how I could have acted opportunistically, but decided not to in relation to having to pay an Uber driver extra. However, the theme of opportunism taking place at work was also present in some of my other posts. For example, when I worked for the dining hall there were times I could have acted opportunistically, but decided not to. The reasons behind both of these instances came down to my own morals. I could not act opportunistically in either of these cases because I had a strong sense of empathy for those I would be screwing over. At the end of the day I knew not acting opportunistically was the right thing to do. However, I have not mentioned anytime where I have observed other workers acting opportunistically. I might try to tie in some of my personal examples of people acting opportunistically in the workplace as I have observed it in working for both the dining hall and for the Illinois football video team.
There are a couple themes that connect my posts besides directly addressing the prompt. Many of the reasons I gave for my behavior and responses to situations in my blog posts were because of intrinsic motivation. This type of motivation was present in many of my posts regarding my own behavior in an organization or a hypothetical. For example, my post about deciding to spend all my Illinibucks on priority registration was intrinsically motivated. I wanted to take classes later in the day to fit my preferred schedule. Also, choosing to leave my dining hall job had to do with some intrinsic motivation because I wanted to find a more interesting job.
My processes for writing these posts have evolved with each subsequent post. In the beginning I would spend a little amount of time thinking about what I wanted to write and instead tackle the prompt right away. After working on a few blog posts throughout the semester I found it was easier to come up with all the ideas and topics I was going to write in my blog beforehand than devote an entire paragraph to each individual idea. This way I knew the layout of my blog post beforehand and could make all my ideas flow better.
One thing I would like to see is more connections to earlier posts. Many of the topics we discussed in the beginning of the class aren't mentioned in my later posts, but could definitely be applied. I think tying in ideas and concepts throughout the entire class into future blog posts will help my overall understanding of the subject material. I could also incorporate some of the main ideas discussed in the excel homework into my blog posts. This could potentially help me improve my quiz scores.
On your last paragraph, I will say something about that in class on Tuesday. It is definitely a good thing to be doing.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the issue of student jobs on campus and intrinsic motivation in the work, it might be that the video work for the football team is the closest you come to that. I am unclear on whether that is purely volunteer work or if you get paid for it. As a rule, volunteer work will typically entail intrinsic motivation (or why else would you do it)? But if you work for pay and the job is something you could have just as well done without having your college education, for example in years past I've had students who delivered food such as for Jimmy John's, those sort of jobs are comparatively abundant and clearly are done to give the student some spending money in college. Asking for the work to also provide intrinsic motivation may not be realistic.
It really is a different matter when you think about your career after you graduate. There, the work itself might be quite enjoyable, a big part of which might be meeting interesting people - both co-workers and clients. You can't count on this. Some jobs are dead ends and don't produce this sense of satisfaction. But it is more likely to find interesting work when to get it you need to have your degree.
It does sound that you have a writing process that works. One suggestion I have is to ask about further thoughts, after you've started with the post. Sometimes one thing leads to another and that second thought is the more interesting one, though it didn't immediately occur to you. So you need to give it a chance to develop.
I liked how you tied in the intrinsic motivation with a lot of the common themes of your blog posts. I think it's a really strong factor that a lot of people over look because it varies so much from person to person. I saw strong signs of your moral compass in your football video team and your dining hall posts.
ReplyDeleteI also had the same general trend occur for me when creating my blog posts. My first few, I just jumped in and now I spend about half the time on the prewriting. I like your idea for more connection to past posts as well.
Working for the video department of the football team is paid. Although, my job with the video department has nothing to do with my planned career it is still more enjoyable than working for the dining hall. This is in part because I am a big fan of football. I would agree on you that certain more interesting ideas come after you have started to write. I will take this into account for my future writings.
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