Tag Archives: proposalproject

Week 7: Here we go again

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After another week of research, interviews, and discussions with Ron, we are inching forward–toward finding the “better” solution to our problem. “There is no perfect solution to a wicked problem. Just good ones and not so good ones,” Ron reiterates to me as I sit in frustration during office hours. After having revisited the problem situation over a dozen times, I believe my group and I have finally touched upon the true issue. It was during Wednesday’s class exercise when we started figuring out the true problems behind the situation.

Situation: International students are not finding jobs in America, after graduation, within their allotted time.
Why it’s important: They are paying for the same education, opportunities, and experiences as domestic students, but they have to over come more challenges. It is LCB’s responsibility, as an educational institution, to provide optimal resources for all students.
Critical drivers of this issue: Legal issues, cultural differences, and stereotypes discourage employers from considering international students as valuable employees.
Goal: Raise international student’s potential to gain employment after graduating from LCB. Eventually, this will raise LCB’s reputation and competitive advantage.
Solution: Provide an International Student Liaison within the LCB Career Center to help international student’s with the legal aspects of OPT. Start an International Student Mentor Program with domestic students to help break down cultural and language barriers. Both of these aspects combined will help international students be more prepared and confident going into a job interview.

After conducting interviews with the International Affairs Advisor, the Director of the UO Career Center, and the Assistant Director of Career Services of LCB, we have a better understanding of the problem issue. I am fairly satisfied with the progress we have made over the last couple of weeks and I am excited to see it all come together in our proposal and presentation.

NACE

Week 6: Researching & Filtering

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Observe. Research. Find the problem. Research, research, research. Analyze. Find a solution. Test it.

These are the straight forward, highly-summarized first steps to our “Flipd” process of solving a wicked problem. After going through the process with my group, I realized that breaking down to the basics of the process was the hardest part. During this process, I had difficulty not incorporating my own biases and problem ideas into the conversation. Thinking objectively while researching and holding interviews proved to be much more useful than leading with previous assumptions. Prior to hunting down the students of LCB, my teammates and I had already formed ideas and assumptions about the problem topics we were assigned. To our downfall, these assumptions led our interviews, research, and solution into many dead ends. Through the continuous cycle of “Flipd”, I realized how important it is to view and analyze every situation objectively. After we changed our approach to gathered information, we were able to find much more dynamic data.

Coupled with process of gathering information, is the process of filtering information. This operation is almost more complicated than the previous. To start, you must have a detailed  and clear understanding of your goal–what do you want the audience to take away? Then, after relentless hours of gathering and sorting data, you must decide which information is actually worth using. I find this process difficult, because I have a tendency to consider all data as “some-what” useful. To combat this issue, I have been revisiting my goals and objectives list frequently to make sure that I am still on track with my data research.

Think objectively. Don’t make your own assumptions. Understand the situation and the goals. –All ways to make the “flipd” process run more efficient & effective.

Too much information

Week 5: Group Operation

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Looking back at the last couple of weeks, working with my group, I believe we have made positive progress toward better collaboration, productivity, and cohesion. We meet every Tuesday morning to review and work on the week’s to-do list, and during the weekends, when we have major assignments to finish. During this time, we focus on the tasks at hand, getting our parts done, and setting goals/deadlines for future meetings.

Although we have productive meetings, I wish they were a bit more focused and efficient. At times, usually when we find ourselves stuck on a part of an assignment, we lose track and get off topic fairly easily. I understand that distractions happen when working in a group environment, but I hope as the project progresses and we have more finalized ideas, our productivity and efficiency will improve. Since group corporation is a major factor in efficiency, I believe our group is very capable of utilizing our time better.

While my group works well together, I wish they would be more vocal about their opinions and ideas. After spending about 8-10 hours with my group every week, I’ve come to realize that I practice more advocacy and they do more inquiry. In general, I am a fairly open, opinionated, and outspoken individual when it comes to my ideas, but my group is just the opposite. Even though, I don’t believe anyone necessarily shies away from speaking out or answering questions, many times ideas will “hover” in the room, without discussion. I would like to see my team members take more initiative in contributing to shared ideas and insights in helping us improve our proposal.

Overall, I am interested to see how our group will work through the next couple of assignments and make progress toward creating a well versed proposal and a professional presentation.

Group Projects

Week 4: Wicked Problem

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This past week, the class has begun research and preparation for our problem description presentations. My group has been going at a steady pace in regards to interviewing stakeholders, researching information online, and figuring out how to bring personality and emotion to our presentation. Our goal for Monday’s presentation, is to evoke sympathy and inspire action from our audience using a personal story and strong evidence to support our claims.

Frame: International students need a way to find jobs with higher placement rates, because they pay money to learn with the hope of starting a career.

We want to address the issue regarding international students success, or lack of success, in finding jobs and becoming fully integrated in America’s job market. After stakeholder interviews with international students, we found that many of them believe LCB lacks adequate resources tailored to mentor foreign students through the process of preparing for post-graduation job searches. With 21% of the current business school undergraduates studying as international students, we want LCB to adjust its approach to preparing foreign students for joining the American work force.

Learn: It’s especially true at the Lundquist College of Business that language and writing becomes an obstacle for international students to communicate professionally, cultural barriers make interviews more difficult, and legality reasons lengthens the job search process.

After interviewing Jessica Best, the Assistant Director of LCB Career Services, we realized that many variables play into the success of an international student’s job search and employment. In addition to language and writing barriers, every foreign student to overcome the major cultural differences in America’s job market. While language and writing can be improved through academic classes and tutoring, cultural integration occurs with experience and involvement. Currently, LCB career center only provides personal advising and one workshop per year, to help mentor international students with understanding “our way” of doing business.

As a domestic student, I find internship searches, resume and cover letter construction, and professional interviews extremely stressful–I can’t even imagine if I had to do this whole process in a foreign country.  As a business college with high rates of international student enrollment, LCB must put more emphasis on addressing their specific needs.

Wicked problem