I can't believe this is my last post, it seems like I was just writing the bio post about William Baumol. In thinking back over my time in the class, I really enjoyed most of the topics and our class discussions. The class approach was different than many of my other classes which was refreshing to partake in.
One of my favorite lessons I learned in the class was about the principal-agent model and the role of capture. In thinking about organizations I never really considered the negative sides involving bribes or other ways in which one agent can capture or take advantage of the principal. It was also informing to consider the difference between having one agent or two. There seems to be a lot more conflict in the second case due to the influence of capture. This lesson also makes me think back to the lesson on opportunism. I found it interesting that most people in the class explained how they avoided opportunism in their blog posts and in class discussion. It was difficult for people to think of a time in which they were opportunistic as often times it is done subconsciously. I think this can be a major problem in organizations if people sacrifice the good of the organization for their own personal gain.
I liked the way the class was structured in that the blogging related well to the class discussion. It helped me get a better understanding of the topics by reflecting on my own experience and making solid connections to the material. The one thing I would have liked to get more out of discussion would have been to have more context prior to the excel homeworks. The excel was often difficult to understand at first and I needed the explanation in the next class session to truly comprehend the material. I think it would have been helpful to have a little preview of the homework before it was assigned.
The blogging process was actually quite enjoyable. I was nervous at first because I am not one to put my opinions and thoughts out there for anyone to read. After a while, I used it more as a learning tool and almost forgot that others would be reading it. I also really liked getting comments on my ideas and responding to those comments. I learned where things were poorly explained through the questions asked in the comments. This helped me improve my writing over the course of the class. The blogging didn't take too much time and as I got into it, the time seemed to go by rather quickly. The excel homework was where most of my out-of-class time was spent. It was often difficult for me to understand the concepts as I had little context or knowledge about most of the topics before attempting the homework. I was able to complete all of the assignments, but I definitely needed our class sessions to explain the meaning behind the math. These assignments varied from taking 45mins-1 hr 30mins depending on the assignment.
One comment I have on the way class is run is that we often went off on tangents and then didn't ever get back to the main point and instead continued on with the lesson. While the tangents were enjoyable and informative, I often lost some of the meaning in the lesson because I couldn't decipher between the class material and the tangents.
I would again just like to say that I really did enjoy the class and feel like I learned not only about organizations but also useful blogging skills that I can bring into the professional world.
