Fluent Essays

Help needed  Instructions are attached https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rLQSWxLXKAtMNSGin8qSxU41aMWeW4Ro/view https://libguides.lsus.edu/c.php?g=1110980&p=8099535 Draft of the Research Paper Submit a draft of your research paper here. By midnight on Sunday, I will provide feedback in a screencast to you regarding your paper. This draft will go through Turnitin, so be sure to cite your sources! For the draft due, you must turn in the following MINIMUM: · 100 words of your summary · 250 words of your critical analysis · 750 words of your synthesis  As you can see, I do not expect that you will have the entire paper completed. I want you to turn in enough of each section so that I can make sure you are on the right track. However, keep in mind that the more you submit here, the more feedback you will get.  The instructions for the research paper are located here in the  syllabus .  As the syllabus states, your paper has five distinct sections: 1. Title page 2. Summary of your chosen book 3. Criticism of your chosen book 4. Synthesis with 7 Habits and Critical Analysis    5. Works Cited page For your draft, make sure that you have written a good part of each section. In other words, do not turn in 5 pages of a summary!  I need to see how you are developing each section.  Document all of your research carefully because I will be checking all of your sources to ensure they pass T he CRAAP test .   Additionally, this draft and your final paper will go through Turnitin. Make sure to cite your sources! The draft is worth 25 points. These are all or nothing points. If you turn in a completed draft (5 pages) on time, you earn 25 points. If you do not turn in a draft, do not turn in a draft on time, or do not turn in a complete draft, you do not earn 25 points. FULL RESEARCH PAPER INSTRUCTIONS: Research Paper Your research paper will be based on the two required books for this class:  Covey and the book of your choice.     Format requirements: · title page · single spaced with double space in between paragraphs--no indents · Microsoft Word · font size 11 points · one inch margins · paginated · appropriate headings—each section starts on a new page and each section clearly identified with headers · altogether approximately 5-7 pages single spaced with double space in between paragraphs · professionally designed Content requirements:   1.       Catchy designed title page with an interesting title, your name, name of your chosen book, and author of book prominently displayed.  I expect you will incorporate a professional report format—not an academic format.  You may use a report template that you find online, or you can create your own. 2.       Summary of your chosen book.   · 250 word synopsis/summary/highlights of your chosen book.  Do not go over 250 words!  3.       Criticism: List any criticisms you have or points you disagree with in the book and why.  · 500 word critical analysis that refers to specific statements, theories, or concepts that you find not usable, inadequate, or irrelevant.  Also, you may point out areas in the book that are over explained, under explained, not supported by adequate research,  and/or that deviate from the primary purpose/message of the book. · You must use at least one outside research source in this section.  This source must in some way provide support for your critical analysis. Look for experts and leaders who have written on the same topic and/or written critically about the author and the book. · It’s common for students to say “I can’t find anything to disagree about in my book.” When I hear that, my response is you are not looking hard enough. 4.       Synthesis with 7 Habits and Critical Analysis · This section is the heart of the research paper!  This section must showcase your analytical, critical thinking, and research abilities · 1500-2000 word critical analysis of how your chosen book overlaps with Covey 7 Habits. What would Covey say about this book? Where do these two books intersect (agree)? Where do they disagree?  How does each one of the Habits correlate to one of the key points in your chosen book?           · You must include a discussion of implications of acting on the information in the two books that you see for individual behavior, for group processes, and for managers/supervisors’ effectiveness in the workplace. In other words, how are the two books practically applied in the real world? · Report research you find that supports, detracts from, or adds to both books’ effectiveness as a guide to becoming a better person. This section should address the question of whether the information in the books is supported in the current literature as improving a person’s effectiveness.    · This section must include a minimum of three outside researched sources. 5.       Include a bibliography and citations. · A minimum of four quality research sources are required · The Covey book and your chosen book are not to be included in your bibliography, nor are they considered researched sources.  However, I do expect that you will quote heavily from these books. · May use MLA or APA format—whichever is most familiar to you    Leah Federico 7/11/2013 Highly Effective Decision Making Summary Making decisions is a difficult task for some to accomplish. The writers of this book carried out research to understand why it is hard for people to make good decisions. Several reasons hinder us from making good decisions, like our overconfidence, supporting our own ideas while not giving enough attention to other ideas, and letting our short-term emotions cloud our judgment. The authors created four steps to take when making a decision. In most cases, people already have an idea about what the best solution is for their decision. When creating a list of pros and cons for their decision, they may alter those aspects to make their choice solution win over all of the other solutions. This may cause the individual to choose a solution that may not necessarily be the best for them. In the first step of the Heath brothers process is to ‘widen your options.’ Several ideas are provided to help counteract the above from happening. A person basically needs to find, or think of, different ways in which they can solve their problem/decision. Another issue that people may face while making decisions is choosing an option that won’t really work for them. In this case, a person will stack up all of the pros for the option they most want to choose, but they will find out later that this option is not really the best option for them. In a way to combat this issue, the ‘reality-test your assumptions’ step was created. Here we are given good ideas of how to see if the solution we really want to choose is actually going to work for us. One idea in this section is to take small actions to see if it is really the right choice for you, they call this Ooch-ing. Next, people tend to make decisions when they are very emotional about the decision. This could be when a person is buying a car or being offered a new job. In these situations a person is feeling a lot of emotions, and those emotions can cloud their judgment on what choice is really the best for them. ‘Attaining distance before deciding’ is a step that can help in this situation. The basic lesson here is to wait a little while, maybe a week or two, before making the decision. In doing this, the person’s emotions have time to die down, and they will be able to better consider all of the possibilities and options and make a better decision. Another lesson under this step is to make sure that you know what your core priorities are. What do you want most in life? Answering this question can help make a difficult decision easier. One last issue that people can encounter when making decisions is being too confident in their decision. We think that we know more about the future and what will happen than what we really know about it. This causes some of our decisions to be wrong or unrealistic. The Heath brothers created the step ‘prepare to be wrong’ to help with this issue. Here, they give ideas of looking at a range of possibilities from good to bad in the future. In this case, a person can be better prepared for more than just one outcome. Also, putting deadlines in place can help people know when to make a decision on whether to continue on or stop. This book is outlined in an easy and clear way. It is filled with many examples to help explain each step and their ideas. These steps are not an easy set of rules to just follow when making decisions, but a person needs to practice these on a regular basis to make them second nature when confronted with a decision and to make the decision easier. Although they take work to master, it is easy to grasp the concept of each of the steps. This book also makes you challenge yourself to think outside of the box when it comes to making a decision. There are some creative and unordinary ways of thinking in this book which can make it challenging to implement. Criticism Although I felt that the authors did a really good job creating a unique and helpful decision making process, there were a few things that I did not think needed to be included. To start with, I thought the example of opportunity costs for avoiding a narrow frame of mind wasn’t really relevant. I thought people tend to already think of that when making decisions. The book gave data from a study that was done asking people if they would “(a) buy this entertaining video” or “(b) not buy this entertaining video. Keep the $14.99 for other purchases.” (Heath, 43). To me, that’s a natural thing that people consider when making a purchase, and it was not necessarily needed to help people learn how to avoid a narrow frame of mind. One example that was given for finding someone who’s solved your problem was to look for a person who has had your same problem and see what their solution was. I think that this could work in some cases, but I also feel this will not work in just as many cases. There is not always a solution that someone else has had that will fit your problem. Also, I think this can cause people to not think for themselves, become dependent on others, or maybe even develop a narrow frame of mind. It’s better to try and use your own imagination to find solutions to your problems, because “it is very necessary to get a problem or problems solved as soon as possible and preferably without depending on others.” (Admin, 2007) This can also cause people to make worse decisions. If a person chooses to use a solution to someone else’s problem it may not be the right decision for them, even if it is a good solution. Next, an example under the ‘consider the opposite’ idea was asking disconfirming questions. I believe that these questions would really only work in certain situations. One scenario that was given for this example was how to ask disconfirming questions when you buy a used iPod. The book presented data saying that if you ask more specific, or disconfirming questions, you will get a more specific, or better answer. I think this depends on the person who is selling the product. If the person is dishonest and wants to sell it, they probably will not be honest when it comes to the product’s problems. I, also did not think this was an example that was needed to help get the point across of reality-testing your assumptions. For the Ooch-ing idea, the book had an example of not predicting the success of future employees by interviewing them. I agree with the fact that we do not gain enough information about the quality of someone’s work simply by asking questions. I, also think that this is an extremely popular process that will not go away. So, it is a good idea, but I do not think that it is practical for most people because this is the most widely used method for employing people. Without including this example, the book still would have been able to effectively explain how Ooch-ing can help us reality-test our assumptions. Critical Analysis The Covey book and the Decisive book do have some overlap in their topics. To start, Covey’s Habit II overlaps with the Decisive book’s ‘honor your core priorities.’ Both books want the person to figure out what they live for or what they want out of life. Covey approaches this topic by having the person think about their own funeral, and what they want people to say about them. In the Decisive book, they want you to think about what matters most to you while weighing the options to your problem. This could be done by giving the criteria of each option a number ranking them based on how much each piece of criteria matters to you. Each book encourages you to try to understand yourself better, which in turn can help to improve a person’s effectiveness. If a person knows what matters most to them, they can make a more effective and informed decision. Our priorities will not only help us out individually in making decisions, but will also help us when working with others. When we know our priorities, we understand why we do the things we do, and when we understand that we can work more effectively with others. Knowing why you work for a company can help give you a greater understanding of the work you do. When you understand what you do, you can also understand what others do, and how you can work with others in your company to make the best decisions to effectively complete your work. Another similarity between the two books is the idea of synergy. Although synergy is not specifically stated in the Decisive book, there is still reference to the idea of synergy. In the Decisive book, the idea of ‘consider the opposite’ reminded me of Covey’s habit of synergy. The Decisive book says, “Surely it’s possible… to imagine a set of evidence that would persuade us to change our minds.” (Heath, 99). To me, this goes with synergy, because both people are “looking at the problem, understanding the needs, and working to create a third alternative that will meet them.” (Covey, 273). The people are creating a “whole [that is] greater than the sum of its parts.” (Covey, 263). This is the essence of synergy. Synergy can positively impact several areas of a person’s life. In work, synergy can positively affect the relationship between co-workers, and it can help a person become better at what they do. In a person’s personal life, synergy can help build relationships with loved ones. Also, it can help us to reach the best solution to problems. If managers implement the use of synergy in their teams, ideas and solutions to problems will be more effective and will work for everyone affected. Synergy can help a person’s effectiveness by being able to work better with other people. According to the article Sizzle with Synergy, “you don’t just get the benefit of 2 persons but it multiplies exponentially to the extent of receiving at minimum 4 times the feedback of individuals.” (Champion School, 2013) Not only are they contributing ideas, but they are also trying to understand the views and ideas of others. Covey’s Habit IV Win/Win goes along with the idea of avoiding a narrow frame of mind in the Decisive book. An example given for avoiding a narrow frame of mind is trying to figure out a solution that gives you everything you want. The Decisive book says to use ‘and’ not ‘or’ when thinking through your choices to a decision. This example was more geared toward decision making for individual use rather than for a group of people. The Covey Win/Win habit is more geared for a solution for more than one person. Habit IV states, “Win/Win means that agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial, mutually satisfying.” (Covey, 207). The two books are not completely in sync with the ideas being discussed, but I think that they are still very similar. From a business stand point Win/Win can help improve people’s work by increasing their team work. When in a team, if everyone is trying to come to the best conclusion where everyone will be happy with the outcome, this will improve their view of others. This can also help create a more positive view on the company if a manager is encouraging this type of interaction. The process of Win/Win in business can create very positive results. According to Bob Kelly, “teamwork affords people the opportunity to challenge the ideas of each other and come up with a compromise solution that contributes to the successful completion of the task.” (Kelly, 2013) For a person’s own personal decisions, trying to find a solution using ‘and’ instead of ‘or’ can help a person think more broadly and gain perspective of possibilities. Lastly, Covey’s Habit V ‘seek first to understand, then to be understood’ is similar to the ‘bookend the future’ idea in the Decisive book. Covey’s Habit V is concentrated more toward communicating with others, while the Decisive book is more geared toward making better predictions for the future, but there are similarities between the two. Bookending the future is a way to try to consider all of the possibilities that could happen as a result of your decision. A person is looking at the good, the bad, and everything in between to try and make the best decision for them. To me, they are trying to understand what may happen, before just doing what they want. This can be translated to Habit V, because a person should try to consciously listen to the person who is talking without thinking of their response. In this case, listening to the person with all of your attention is like looking into the future and thinking of all the possibilities that can happen. Next, the person should try to use that information to better help them make their decision. This goes along with someone restating a person’s statement by rephrasing the statement while including how it makes the person feel. Conscious listening can help a person be more effective in work, because they will be able to listen to what others are saying, and they can better understand what is being said as well. An article I found to help support this states, “sometimes the ability to listen to a teammate describe a challenging situation can be enough to help strengthen team bonds and improve the efficiency of the group.” (Anderson, 2013) Also, a person can think of more possibilities than just the good or bad outcomes to better make a decision. If managers were to seek first to understand, their employees would probably feel more respected and appreciated by their attempt to listen and understand their employees’ needs. Also, a manager may have a better game plan if they know the different possibilities of their decisions. This can create a more positive and healthy working environment if all employees attempted to listen whole heartedly to each other. I believe that Covey would think that this book has some good ideas along with some ideas that are not necessarily needed. He would probably make some of the same connections I did, and he may even find others. I think that this book would give Covey some new ideas and help him to make his decisions better and easier to choose. Bibliography Admin. (2007). Creative problem solving - solve your problems creatively. Retrieved from http://management-training-guru.com/2012/05/creative-problem-solving-solve-your-problems-creatively/ Anderson, A. (2013). How are listening skills important to employees?. Hearst newspapers. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/listening-skills-important-employees-11898.html Champion School. (2013). Sizzle with synergy. Retrieved from http://www.championsschool.com/Industry-knowledge/Sizzle-with-Synergy.php Covey, S. (2004). The 7 habits of highly effective people. New York, NY: Free Press. Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2013). Decisive: How to make better choices in life and work. (1st ed.). New York: Crown Publishing Group. Kelly, B. (2013). Importance of teamwork in organizations. Retrieved from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/importance-teamwork-organizations-12033.html Page | 3 Leah Federico 7/11/2013 Highly Effective Decision Making Choice book : Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work by Chip and Dan Heath Leah Federico 7/11/2013 Highly Effective Decision Making Choice book: Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work by Chip and Dan Heath You Want Me to Do What? Presented by: Michael Bridges From the Book: How to Get People to Do Stuff By Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D. Summary It is said that there is a science behind almost everything. We can all go out and attempt to learn things on our own like golf, photography, and even cooking; and we may eventually turn out pretty good at some of these things. However, there are specific methods, a science, to these things that once known, will make you an expert. For instance, did you know to get more power in your golf swing you need to have a late release of your wrist hinge (Kaspriske)? For better close up photography of babies in natural daylight you should choose an ISO of 100-400 and use a wide aperture (f/2.8-f/8) for a shallow DOF (depth of field) (Ramos). Did you also know that you can boost the flavor of food by using Umami? U-what? In her book How to Get People to Do Stuff, Susan Weinschenk explains that there is also a science behind what motivates people. Susan explains that “If you understood the science and knew how to apply it to a particular person or group of people in a particular situation, you would be able to get people to do stuff” (Weinschenk 2). Susan explains that there are seven drivers of motivation. These are seven things that people want, need, desire, expect and experience. These seven things motivate people to take action or to perform a certain way. By knowing how these seven drivers of motivation affect people, you can use different strategies and techniques to get them to do different things or behave a certain way. The seven drivers of motivation are: · The Need to Belong · Habits · The Power of Stories · Carrots and Sticks · Instincts · The Desire for Mastery · Tricks of the Mind In the book she describes each one of the drives, gives a little research behind it and then lists some strategies that can be used to get people to do stuff. Criticism One of the main criticisms that I have with this book, and Susan herself talks about, is the ethical standpoint. Is it ethically correct to use information, based on psychology, to get people to do stuff? I would say that if you are trying to get people to stop a bad habit or you are trying to get them to eat right or get physically fit, then it is OK to use this information. Using the knowledge of what drives people to get them to do things for your own personal gain or satisfaction however would be unethical in my opinion. One important point to remember though is that even if you know what motivates others and what to do to get them to do things, those people have to want to do the things you are proposing. As Susan explains, “You can encourage people to do stuff, you can set up situations where their own motivations and drives will kick in, but you don’t have total control. The goal is to get people to want to do the stuff that you want them to do” (Weinschenk 6). Another point that I disagreed with in the book was Susan’s strategies on using messages of fear and death. While I understand that these strategies have research behind them and they may cause people to “wake up” or take action, I personally think that there are better and more creative ways to get people’s attention. I believe the use of novelty, safety, familiarity, choices, food and sex are some better choices to grab someone’s attention than using fear and death. This, of course, is just a personal choice and I can understand where some people would want to use those references. Chapter 8, Tricks of the Mind, was a little lengthy and some of the strategies Susan incorporated seemed to be common sense. All of the other drivers of motivation contained anywhere between 7 and 15 different strategies to use to get people to do stuff. The chapter, Tricks of the Mind, contained 52 different strategies. It felt as if she may have had a page goal and she was trying to stretch the length of the book by adding more strategies. I didn’t feel the need for all of the strategies at the end of the book. Also, some of them seemed to be self-explanatory. For example, strategy 88: “When you want people to make a quick decision, make the thinking easy for them”, and strategy 89: “When you want people to think things through, make the thinking more difficult for them” (Weinschenk 127). To me, these ideas are common sense. If you ask someone to solve a difficult problem, they will take the time to think it through. If you ask someone an easy problem, they will most likely give you a quick answer. Overall, I thought the book How to Get People to Do Stuff was interesting and insightful, however, I think there were some basic concepts included that most people should already know and should be already implementing in their daily lives. Synthesis and Critical Analysis Effectiveness is a word that can be used to describe the lessons taught in both Susan Weinschenk’s book How to Get People to Do Stuff and Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. They each describe, to a certain extent, how to be effective at what you do. This is an important word. Merriam-Webster dictionary tells us that effective means, “producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect”. Some related words are: competent, accomplished, adept, consummate, experienced, expert, masterly, proficient, skillful, versed, and many more. Who wouldn’t like to be described with all of these words? But what really is the true definition of effectiveness? Susan tells us that to be effective, we need to understand what motivates and drives others so we can get them to do stuff. Stephen, on the other hand tells us that to be effective, we need to understand what motivates and drives ourselves so that we can ultimately be a well-rounded, interdependent individual. These two books certainly talk about many of the same subjects; motivation, habits, understanding, balance, mastery and so on. However, each author uses different strategies to get the reader to reach different goals. The main strategy in Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is to get individuals to live by correct principles and “natural laws” so they can experience a life full of happiness and success. These principles include fairness, integrity, honesty, human dignity, and service. They incorporate excellence, potential, patience, nurturance and encouragement. Covey describes it as a “New level of thinking”. He explains that, “This new level of thinking is what Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is about. It’s principle-centered, character-based, ‘inside-out’ approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness” (Covey 42). The structure of the book enables the reader to look at personal traits and habits that may need adjusting to become the absolute best person they can be. I’m not so sure that Covey would agree with Weinschenk’s guidance on getting other people to do stuff. Covey’s main goal is for people to look at themselves and to change different aspects of their lives so that everything else around them will fall into place. I think Covey would be one of those people that think Susan’s ideas and directions could possibly be unethical. At the very least, he would say that there really isn’t a need to change other people’s thinking if everything in your own life was in order. Covey states in his book that, “Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve greatest success” (Covey 49). I guess it would be possible for Covey to agree with some of Weinschenk’s principles as long as everyone involved is working together to reach a certain goal. I can see using the information presented in each of these books dependent on particular situations. Covey’s direction in his book is more geared towards the individual and achieving personal balance. He writes that, “The inside-out approach says that private victories precede public victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others. It says it is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves” (Covey 43). This approach says that if you can maintain a correct balance in life, consisting of the correct principles, then you will “come to know yourself in a deeper, more meaningful way – your nature, your deepest values and your unique contribution capacity” (Covey 61). In contrast, Weinschenk’s objective is to get the reader to look at how other people act and react to situations. I believe this direction would work better in a group environment or a workplace setting. Susan talks quite a bit about getting groups of people to succumb to what you want them to do. She talks about getting people to buy into your way of thinking. She mentions workplace habits and group settings more than she does individualized scenarios. Covey’s Habits 4, 5, and 6 do examine dealing with other people and probably come the closest to intertwining with some of Weinschenk’s ideas. Habit 4, Think Win/Win, closely parallels Susan’s chapter on Carrots and Sticks. By using rewards and reinforcement to get people to do the things you want then do, it ends up being a win/win situation because both parties are happy. Susan’s whole book revolves around understanding and knowing what motivates others. Covey’s Habit 5, Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, can relate to this by suggesting that we listen and understand others first. Covey tells us to “diagnose before you prescribe” (Covey 243). Well, this is exactly what Susan tells the reader in her book. She explains that we must first know what drives other people (diagnosis) before we can use certain strategies (prescription) to get them to do things. Covey’s Habit 6, Synergy, discusses the use of mutual trust and understanding and by using the combined efforts of everyone involved in resolving a conflict. Weinschenk also states in chapter 2, The Need to Belong, that, “when people feel they are working with others as a team to reach a goal, they are more motivated to achieve the goal, even without extrinsic reward, than if they are working alone” (Weinschenk 10). So, which book better describes effectiveness? Well, it depends on the readers goals. I personally believe that everyone should be mandated, somehow, to read Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book is inspirational, developmental and practical. The principles that are covered in the book would be of great value to anyone seeking success in their career, family or any other aspect of their life. These principles do not happen overnight and even require “sharpening the saw”…a constant refresher and reminder that all aspects of your life need to be in order to lead an effective, balanced life. If the reader’s goal is for personal enlightenment and enrichment, then 7 Habits is the right book. Susan Weinschenk’s How to Get People to Do Stuff revolves more around effective persuasion and motivation. Does the book make the reader more effective at these tasks? Sure. It gives great insight into the drives and motivators that make it easier for you to get others to do stuff. The strategies are not guaranteed, and as I mentioned earlier, some of the strategies and techniques are common sense. However, all of the drivers of motivation that Susan explores are backed by psychological research and can be used to create an effective personal, working or social relationship. The bottom line to remember is that the goal is to get people to want to do things. Susan explains, “Ultimately it’s not about manipulation – it’s about understanding” (Weinschenk 163). . Bibliography Anderson, Neil. Effectiveness: 7 habits of Highly effective people - Stephen R. Covey. 2011. Video. VimeoWeb. 09 Jul 2013. http://vimeo.com/21682196 Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: RosettaBooks LLC, 2012. eBook. Kaspriske, Ron. Swing Sequence: Nicolas Colsaerts. Golf Digest. Jul 2013: n. page. Web. 17 Jul. 2013. http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/swing-sequences/2013-07/photos-nicolas-colsaerts Ramos, Patricia. Baby Photography Tips. Exposure Guide. DISQUS. Web. 15 Jul 2013. http://www.exposureguide.com/photographing-babies.htm. Rock, Dr., David. 5 Big Discoveries About Personal Effectiveness in 2012. Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 27 Dec 2012. Web. 20 Jul 2013. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/201212/5-big-discoveries-about-personal-effectiveness-in-2012. Weinschenk, Susan M. How to Get People to Do Stuff: Master the Art and Science of Persuasion and Motivation. San Francisco: New Riders, 2013. 201. Print. 3 You Want Me to Do What? Presented by: Michael Bridges From the Book: How to Get People to Do Stuff By Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D. You Want Me to Do What? Presented by: Michael Bridges From the Book: How to Get People to Do Stuff By Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D.