Sunday, November 28, 2010

Assignment 11 - The Final One!!

When I originally signed up for the class I will be honest I did not think I would learn much besides the Microsoft programs(Office, Power Point, Excel, Access).  From what the syllabus had listed that's what it seemed we'd be spending most of our time working on.  After spending the semester in this class that feeling has changed dramatically, I've learned much more than just the programs.  But when I signed up for the class I had just thought we'd be going more in depth with the Microsoft Programs. 

The one computer concept/idea that I learned most about was how a computer operates and functions.  Learning about how much goes into not only maintaining a running computer but also how much memory and pieces of equipment are in a computer to have it operate correctly.  I had no idea that there was so much communication that went on with the computer and the networks just to get on the internet and even if I wanted to open up a program.

The Microsoft application that I learned most about was Excel, that's what we spent the most time on.  I had no idea how to do simple tasks like merge and center, change the theme and the background or anything that seems easy to me now.    After learning how to use Excel in this class I keep most of my logs on the application (workout log, food chart and etc).  Without this class and the information I would not be using Excel for storing most of my information. 

The one aspect from the class that I've benefited from the most is learning how to use the Microsoft applications.  I really only knew how to use Word, Power Point and Excel I barely knew how to use and Access I had never used before.  But this class has gone more in depth on how to use the 4 programs and also has made it easy for me to remember the basics of each program.  Without this class I would still only know how to use Word well and not the others.  I've also benefited from taking the tests and quizzes involved with each program because it helped confirm how much I learned from the lessons. 

Monday, November 22, 2010

# 11-1: Do You Work Harder When Someone is Watching? (page 422)

I chose to read the section about whether or not people work harder while someone is watching because it interested me compared to the other option.  Also I think at some point or another we all have wondered if people work harder when being watched.  Also considering I believe it is true and have worked harder at something when I know I'm being watched intrigued me more to read this article. 

I do believe that you work harder when being watched, especially when your being watched by a boss or higher up authority.  The fact that your boss or higher up authority is watching you work makes you work harder because most people want to keep their job so if they do bad in front of the boss they may get demoted or fired.  I think no matter where you are or what your doing if you have someone watching you do that work your going to work harder at it.  My opinion about the Hawthorne Effect is that it is true and has the statistics and research to back it up.  The Effect just confirmed what I already believed about working harder while someone was watching you.  I would agree with this research 100 percent and I think anyone with doubts would too if they also saw the statistics they had.  I do think though however that it is ethical but will have a psychological effect on employees.  It's a mind game when your being watched working because you want to do well in their eyes but you don't know what their thinking or saying about your work ethic/how your working.  Observation is a good data gathering technique in a system study if productivity increases because anytime you can increase productivity in a certain field its always good to try its effects on another field.  If the productivity increases during observation than it would be a effective way to put that technique when getting data in a system study.  I think no matter what your doing or where it is, anytime your being observed or watched productivity is going to increase and be better because your being closely watched and you don't want to mess up.  So yes I believe its a good data gathering technique in system study.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Assignment 8 - Ch. 9

I searched three databases and came to the conclusion that http://mytaskhelper.com/ was the best database out of the three I selected.  For this database I had to sign up for a account and after that I went to create a new project.  For entering data into this database all you have to do is type in the blank space what you want it to say and put whether you want it to be a single line, double line or many of the other options listed.  After that you hit add the field and that part of the database is complete.  You keep doing that until your done with the data and complete with your database. 

Now this was the easiest one to be me by far because of the fact that the hardest part was just signing up for a account.  The fact that you also can export this into a excel file makes it that much more accessible and convenient.  This database also worked the best for me because it saves your database you created with the latest information you provided, so you can go back to where you left off.  The fact that the other databases you could not export into excel directly from that website like this one was the final contributing factor.  These are the main reasons why this database worked best for me and not the other two.