Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot

Culture and Negotiation

Posted by: Owen on Wednesday, 30th Apr, 2008

Interesting chapter in my Negotiation text tonight about the emphasis some people place on recognising differences and similarities in particular cultures and the reality of how irrelevant it sometimes is. Here’s a poignant section from the text:
It is important, however, to recognise the existence of cultural diversity and it is advisable to acquire knowledge of [...]

The “sell cheap, get famous” ploy

Posted by: Owen on Sunday, 27th Apr, 2008

Here’s a great paragraph from the chapter of my Negotiation text I was reading this evening:
We are all familiar, I hope, with how advertisements refer not to ‘low wages’ but always to ‘good prospects’, and how buyers speak not of ‘oneoff low priced orders’ but vaguely of ‘the possibilities of high volume purchases’. The ‘Chinese [...]

How to deal with strike action

Posted by: Owen on Wednesday, 23rd Apr, 2008

Excellent snippet from my Negotiation text:
In the UK we constantly watch government spokespeople and employers fall into the trap of reinforcing the behaviour of difficult negotiators, though, no doubt, they feel they are undermining it. A strike takes place, for example, and government spokespeople queue up to tell the media just how ‘damaging’ the strike [...]

The paradox of bargaining

Posted by: Owen on Monday, 21st Apr, 2008

Here’s an excellent paragraph from my Negotation text:
If we negotiate because we value things differently, it is in the bargaining phase that we focus on the differing valuations. Nothing, absolutely nothing, should be given away, no matter how little it is worth to you. The paradox of bargaining is that those things that are worth [...]

B in Organisational Behaviour

Posted by: Owen on Thursday, 17th Apr, 2008

Yeah! I managed to get a B in Organisational Behaviour. I would have preferred to get a better grade, but seeing how I managed to read the book, study and revise for the exam in just two months, I don’t think it was too bad an effort. The great thing is that I feel that [...]

Social Sources of Power

Posted by: Owen on Monday, 10th Mar, 2008

Another interesting snippet from my Organisational Behaviour text. These are the sources of social power within an organisation:

Legitimate Power:  The power your superior has due to his position within the organisation. This is formal power delegated to a particular role.
Reward Power: The power someone has to allocate rewards. This is normally associated with legitimate power, [...]

Performance and Rewards

Posted by: Owen on Thursday, 6th Mar, 2008

I’ve just finished revising a chapter from my Organisational Behaviour text that’s all about measuring employee performance, goal settings and rewards. Pretty informative, but I’m going to struggle to memorise it all for my exam next week!
I think the most interesting section talked about different trends in executive rewards, and how the different components of [...]

Organisational Behaviour

Posted by: Owen on Tuesday, 26th Feb, 2008

Phew, studying for Organisational Behaviour is tougher than I expected. It’s not that the subject is particularly hard, but I gave myself 2 months to read the text and prepare for the exam and it’s proving to be a hard slog. Anyway, I’ve pretty much cleared myself for the next 2 weeks to get some [...]

Passed my Project Management

Posted by: Owen on Wednesday, 30th Jan, 2008

Woohoo! Just found out that I got an A in Project Management! I did the exam in December and have been waiting for the result for a few days now. It’s a great relief knowing I’ve passed and have another MBA exam under my belt. I’m planning to do Organisational Behaviour in March, which is [...]

Exam Over. Time for a Holiday.

Posted by: Owen on Friday, 7th Dec, 2007

So, the Project Management exam is over! It wasn’t all that bad, though I don’t feel as if I’ve aced it. But, as long as I manage to get a decent grade, I’ll be happy. Next topic to turn my sights on is Organisational Behaviour. I’m hoping to do this in March/April, so I’d better [...]

Wish me luck

Posted by: Owen on Wednesday, 5th Dec, 2007

The clock is ticking. My Project Management exam is in less that 24 hours time, so I’d better get started on my final revision. It’s been a crazy week so far, I wish I had had more time to study more, but hey, what can you do. The good thing is that this probably one [...]

Passed my Strategic Planning

Posted by: Owen on Saturday, 21st Jul, 2007

Excellent news! I’ve just received the result of the last exam I did: Strategic Planning and it turns out that I’ve managed to get a B. I would have preferred to get an A (of course), however the problem with this particular exam was that there’s no wrong or right answer to the questions that [...]

Business Magazines

Posted by: Owen on Wednesday, 2nd May, 2007

I was flying through Gatwick yesterday and was looking for something to read. After browsing through business magazines, Sudoku and all sorts of other things, I finally picked up a copy of PC Pro which seemed to be quite interesting. I realised I hadn’t read a computer magazine in ages !
What I really wanted to [...]

I really must study!

Posted by: Owen on Sunday, 29th Apr, 2007

I realise that I was distracted when after browsing around the web I found myself look at a website dedicated to boxing equipment. I’ve never boxed before, and am not really interested, but I found myself browsing around looking at how the website was built. The problem was, I should really have been focusing on [...]

Putting Comment Email Responder to bed

Posted by: Owen on Saturday, 21st Apr, 2007

I’ve spent the last few days refining on the Comment Email Responder plugin for WordPress and it’s now at a place where it’s clear of immediate flaws and I’ve addressed most people’s requirements. It’s come a long way since Andrew Flusche let me play with it, but the code engine is still mostly his original [...]