Final Post
I chose this class because I did not know much about economics in organizations at all, and thought I would learn valuable things from this class. The concept that stood out to me the most was Conflict Management, as it is very applicable in every organization due to the dissonance of goals between members of the team. In addition, it is very difficult to provide constructive criticism especially to colleagues without making them feel offended. The supervisor-subordinate example in lecture was especially profound because even with the subordinate's stubbornness and arrogance, the supervisor was able to optimize her choice of words to get the subordinate to work under an experienced employee so that he could improve. Earlier in the semester, the transaction cost topic was very interesting to me, as I mentioned in the corresponding blog post that I recently interned at a decentralized location of a large financial company that I was not sure how justified their high transaction costs were.
I really liked the blogging aspect of this class because I like storytelling, and it helped me apply what we learn in class a lot. I enjoyed talking to my parents who have been business people for most of their lives about some of the topics we learned, like principle-agent problem and opportunism, which made me realize how relevant the topics are in actual business organizations (which I lack personal experience in). The soft deadlines for these blogposts were very important to me personally, as I have 2 other weekly assignments due on Friday as well. Spacing out the blog post until a few days later helped me concentrate on writing a lot more rather than just cramming out nonsense.
The excel homework assignments were a great balance for the non-technical nature of the course, As a student with a strong mathematical background, I appreciated these assignments because sometimes a lack of technicality in some classes might make me feel like I am not learning concrete material (which I know is far from the truth). I feel that I learned a great deal of economic modeling theories in every excel homework, and every green "correct" I see after trying to figure out a difficult problem was very rewarding to me which motivated me a lot.
Regarding attendance, I unfortunately took advantage of it being not-mandatory. I went to class for the start of the semester but stopped going a few times after as the professor was great at posting new blogposts on the topics we learn and the presentations he uses in class. I definitely would attend the class a lot more if it was mandatory. As the professor mentioned himself, undergrads are most often "night-owls" and I indeed fall into that category, as I tend to procrastinate on my assignments which largely contributes my irregular sleeping schedule. I definitely see myself attending a class a lot more if it has mandatory attendance, and I can more easily maintain a good sleeping schedule during internships because of the mandatory clock-in hours.
I really liked the blogging aspect of this class because I like storytelling, and it helped me apply what we learn in class a lot. I enjoyed talking to my parents who have been business people for most of their lives about some of the topics we learned, like principle-agent problem and opportunism, which made me realize how relevant the topics are in actual business organizations (which I lack personal experience in). The soft deadlines for these blogposts were very important to me personally, as I have 2 other weekly assignments due on Friday as well. Spacing out the blog post until a few days later helped me concentrate on writing a lot more rather than just cramming out nonsense.
The excel homework assignments were a great balance for the non-technical nature of the course, As a student with a strong mathematical background, I appreciated these assignments because sometimes a lack of technicality in some classes might make me feel like I am not learning concrete material (which I know is far from the truth). I feel that I learned a great deal of economic modeling theories in every excel homework, and every green "correct" I see after trying to figure out a difficult problem was very rewarding to me which motivated me a lot.
Regarding attendance, I unfortunately took advantage of it being not-mandatory. I went to class for the start of the semester but stopped going a few times after as the professor was great at posting new blogposts on the topics we learn and the presentations he uses in class. I definitely would attend the class a lot more if it was mandatory. As the professor mentioned himself, undergrads are most often "night-owls" and I indeed fall into that category, as I tend to procrastinate on my assignments which largely contributes my irregular sleeping schedule. I definitely see myself attending a class a lot more if it has mandatory attendance, and I can more easily maintain a good sleeping schedule during internships because of the mandatory clock-in hours.
It seems as if you combined both prompts with this post. So let me be brief, but ask a question. In retrospect, would you describe your own behavior as optimal? Or did you make decisions in the present, which seemed right at the time, but perhaps you regretted them after the fact. I'm particularly talking about what you wrote regarding your attendance in the class. I'm not sure where you are on that. If it truly was unfortunate, why didn't you come? If not attending was your preferred way of dealing with our class, why not say that?
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