James Buchanan Econ 490 Fall 2019

I found this prompt a bit difficult to my own experiences. I feel that I have not encountered many situations like this, as I do not have much experience in the work place with this idea. I tried to think of an example, but I think this addresses this model in a more indirect way. When I was in high school, I was involved with the Youth Running Program. Members of the high school team mentored elementary school students with running track. I think this looked great for the school district, as many places did not offer track opportunities to children so young. It was definitely a good experience for me, as I was able to actually teach about running, something I genuinely enjoy. Also, it was good for the kids, as they learned something new, and good for the parents: they have something to brag about for their children. Throughout my time as a mentor, I encountered many competitive parents who wanted their kids to be the best at track. They were extremely competitive about their kids ev...

Overall, I think that when people have to work together, there is always some area in which conflict arise. Most people do not approach problems the exact same way, which is what makes collaborating so important. However, most of us think our solutions are optimal, and this creates forms of conflict. I will provide an example of this from my internship last summer. Last summer, I was a data analyst at a company, and interns had to work together on a final project to present and show what we learned throughout the summer. Although all of us had the same title in the company, a college student interning for the summer, some people definitely felt more highly of their contributions. When the five of us worked together, immediately, some students assumed a leadership role and others were followers. This does not necessarily create conflict, but I know that when one of the interns constantly referred to their contributions to the company in a more arrogant way, I was slightly annoyed. I k...

Overall, I think that constructive criticism is important in the work place: it enables workers to complete the task assigned in the best way possible. Additionally, if managers or leaders do not specify the expectations for assignments, it makes it nearly impossible for employees to be able to complete the task to the best of their ability. Therefore, clear communication and expectations is a necessity for a productive collaborative environment. This past summer I had a remote internship. I was a data analyst, so I mainly dealt with organizing data and identifying trends in the successes and failures of the marketing team. Overall, I think I had a good experience. My boss set the expectations for what I should do very clearly, and whenever a chart or analysis powerpoint was not up to her expectation, I was notified immediately. I greatly appreciated this clear form of communication, and I respected her input. I knew that I had not taken part in similar activities before, so I listen...