Humble Beginnings for Jeremy Shockey!

Getting old in the NFL can be an eye-opening experience. One reason for the humbleness of age is the fact that turning 30 can be a sign of the end of days for a NFL veteran. First, your body breaks down like a 60 year old roofer ready for retirement. Second, your production sets like the sun on hot and humid day. The things you use to do seem harder now. Then last, your organization drafts your replacement, yes that young guy that can come in and do what you use to do. There is no new contract for you; you’re looking at the waver wire soon. We’re seeing a similar scenario play out for Saints Tight End Jeremy Shockey. Shockey is a 4 time pro bowler that has seen his glory days in the NFL since being named, Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the year after his 2002 season. The outspoken and colorful man from “The U” once captured the media’s attention with outlandish comments and boastful remarks. Today, Shockey has become a lot more humble; maybe because the veteran hasn’t started more than 12 games since joining the Saints in 2008. Shockey’s contract ends in 2011 and the chances of him remaining with the Saints may be fading like his career. He’s still a talented tight end but he is loosing leverage with all of the injuries the past few years. In the 2010 draft, the Saints drafted what many people are saying, is the next Antonio Gates in tight end from Miami, Jimmy Graham. We have seen the Saints jettison older players once their production suffered. Remember Deuce McAllister and Charles Grant? Remember Joe Horn? Those players were extremely popular with the fan base and yet the team was ready to move on without them once production suffered. The Saints behavior has become more Patriot-like since Payton took over some years ago. This is how great teams continue to be great. Replace the old and dying with the young and vibrant. The NFL is a young man’s league and Jeremy Shockey is in the midst of finding this out. His body is breaking down, his production is decreasing and the front office has drafted his replacement. The humbleness of age is setting in on a once raucous player. The signs are on the wall and history continues to repeat itself in the NFL. Jeremy Shockey is still talented, but only the fountain of youth will prevent these humble times he continues to see.

Odds Stacked against Bryant’s Resume.

Do you remember the very first job you took in your career? You probably struggled the first few months as your mind drowned in all of the pressure of living up to your resume. You were supposed to make an immediate impact, chances are you didn’t. You had to first learn how to perform on your job. Just like in your situation, it will be extremely hard for rookie Wide Receive Dez Bryant to live up to expectations. The Oklahoma State star missed a majority of his junior season due to the controversy concerning his relationship with former NFL player, Deion Sanders. This means by the time the NFL regular season starts in September; Dez Bryant will not have played a meaningful football game in almost a full calendar year. One has to be concerned about his overall football shape. Remember the video we seen of him bent over in rookie mini camp? Rookies in the NFL are already behind and the lack of playing time this past year will surely hurt Bryant.

The contract negotiations are another problem that can keep Bryant from meeting those high expectations. The upcoming uncapped year is preventing owners from signing rookies to the deals they’ve seen in the past. Many agents see a possible rookie salary cap coming down in the future and they want to ask for as much cash as possible. There is a good chance that Bryant will end up in camp late because of the situations concerning the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. The later a wide out comes into camp, the longer it takes for them to contribute. Braylon Edwards held out during his rookie season and struggled to crack the number 3 wide out slot the entire year.

Dez Bryant must go against history if he wants to be a top contributor for the Dallas Cowboys. Over the past five years, there have been 17 wide receivers taken in the 1st round of the draft. Only one receiver, 2007 1st round pick Dwayne Bowe of Kansas City, had more than 65 receptions. That year Bowe totaled 70 receptions and 5 touchdowns on the year. The 2009 draft class produced last season’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, Percy Harvin of the Minnesota Vikings. Detroit receiver Calvin Johnson was expected to be an absolute beast in his 2007 rookie season but only cranked out 48 receptions for 756 years and 4 touchdowns.

Most receivers have struggled historically in their first season in the league. They are no longer facing corners that will be bagging groceries at Kroger in a year or two. In the NFL, young receivers are facing the biggest, the fasters, and the strongest corners week in and week out. They have to learn that giving 85% will no longer guarantee you 100 yard games. Cowboys’ fans will have to realize that Dez Bryant must go through this learning curve as well. We want him to live up to his resume but like us; he has to learn how to perform on his job.

HOW MY WORLD CHANGED!! APPRECIATE YOUR PARENTS & YOUR FAMILY!!

I remember being about 10 years old and I began to enter that phase of my adolescent life where I took everything for granted. Remember you were a toddler? You would cry when your parents left you at the kindergarten steps. Your heart would sink when your parents would purposely hide from you in the grocery store, only to teach you a lesson not to stray far away from them. Family was important to you and all the other worries in life that adults had seemed to be silliness to you. Those days seem like they were centuries ago to me. My world changed for me years after my 10th birthday and it had nothing to do with hormones or puberty.

One Sunday morning I decided that I wanted to skip out on a family gathering because I wanted to be alone at the house and watch football. My mom had just cooked some butter beans and was getting dressed for church. I hadn’t paid her too much attention that morning; after all, I was fourteen years old and I had no desire to hang with my parents all day at some stupid family gathering. I decided to act up and tease my younger sister which resulted in her screams of “STOP,” all morning. This plan was genius on my part because my mom yelled in the background that she didn’t feel like dealing with this today and that we could stay home. Momma must not have felt good that morning because she seemed a little lethargic.

Hours after my parents left for church I got a phone call from my dad. He said that my mom got sick and that they would be home late because they were at the hospital. This really alarmed me because I didn’t her much assurance in my father’s voice. I sat there on the couch for a minute and thought to my self, what would I do if my mother died? Naw, that can’t happen! Momma will be home later and I’ll fix her a plate of butter beans, which were still simmering on the stove. I can remember a caravan of cars pulling up in front of my house around 3 o’clock that day. As family members began to poor into the house I can remember a certain stare. Nobody said anything. I asked of course in a trembling voice, “where is mom?” My aunt grabbed me and began to sob. I knew that my life had changed forever.

This was an event that has helped appreciate family and loved ones. I did not get along with my dad for years but I always think about how I could loose him without warning one day. I decided not to spend that day with my mom which was her last day here on earth. I know now that you must spend as much time with your loved ones as possible. Never take them for granted because you never know when you may loose them. You should always cherish your parents and grandparents to get as much out of them in your life as you can.

Resolution of Ethical Conflict in Corporate America.

The are steps to the "Resolution of Ethical Conflict," that are important in any work place. We've all seen these list that normally comes from the Human Resources department at any major company. I have personally seen this list of steps at more than one company that I have worked for. The steps are designed to keep conflicts to a minimum in the work place. People know how exactly to handle them and who to report to in the case of a severe conflict. The purpose of each step is crucial to the overall resolution of conflicts in the office. Each step is important in its own way and must be followed to ensure the proper handling of any corporate conflict.

Discussing a potential conflict with your manager is very important. This will provide you the ability to track your escalation process. Once you notify management than a potential conflict is now documented and made aware to your higher ups. It also provides you with a way to move the conflict off your responsibility and gives management the burden of making sure the conflict is resolved peacefully. If the conflict involves your immediate supervisor the step requires you to report to the next level. Make sure that you communicate your problems with your supervisor so that a clear understanding is present in the conflict.

Talking to a counselor is a good idea as pointed out as one of the steps in the process. You want to always make sure that your issues are of an ethical nature and a counselor is a good source to start with. Discussing this in a meeting with your counselor will also secure more documentation of the present issue at hand. Anytime there is a conflict at your job you want to make sure that certain steps are documented and the proper people are notified at your company. A counselor can also help you determine the best course of action in the event the conflict is not resolved in the proper manner. It is important that you get a third party’s opinion on how to handle the situation since their opinion will be nonbiased in nature.

When you follow steps one and two of the resolution you have basically made sure that you are not the only one that knows about the conflict. If the conflict was to get out of hand and only you and the other party knew of it, then there could be negative ramifications on you. Companies want to know, what the potential problems in their office or place of business may be. These steps are designed to make sure that a small conflict doesn’t become too big.

Consulting with your own attorney is important because you want to make sure that you are not exposed to any legal actions that can be taken against you. So much publicity is given to certain conflicts in big companies that it is important to have legal representation on hand and ready. You never know when an ethical conflict at one of the country’s biggest or most important companies is going to end up on the news. Keeping your bases covered in this event is smart not only for you but for your company. Your attorney can also provide you with advice as to how to protect yourself in a civil case if the conflict escalates

Following these steps will ensure that any ethical conflict that arises on the job will be handled properly. You want to make sure that management knows what’s going on and that you also have good legal advice. Conflicts escalate everyday when they are not handled property. These three steps are designed to makes sure that a small problem never escalates into a huge one. You will see that most companies have some kind of conflict resolution bill like this one. Make sure you follow them in the event that there is a problem at your job.

Delivering Bad News to an Employee!!

I can remember a long time ago I was working for this company for about two years and things started off great. At one point during my employment, I had decided to go back to school to pursue a career in radio broadcasting. I would get up in the morning and go to work for eight hours, than spend the next four to five hours at school. I was pretty tired at the end of the week and can remember falling asleep at work as well. At that time I was dealing with a great deal of stress in my life. I had just got evicted from my apartment and things were tough for me in my personal life. I tried not to bring my issues to work each day; however, I began to have several problems with the quality of my work. Things seem to creep up on my pretty fast and before I knew it I was being wrote up by my boss and faced a 90 day probation period. I was a little troubled at how management treated me despite the encouraging and understanding language they used. I thought to myself that I would handle the situation much better.

Putting myself in that situation at this mid-sized company, I think I may decide to handle a troubled employee a little differently. As soon as I would have noticed the substandard performance, I would schedule a meeting with the employee to discuss expectations. I would ask the troubled employee if there were any personal problems that I could help them resolve. Maybe the employee is like I was at my company and just needed some time off or a restructuring of his schedule. Maybe I could offer a training class on time management for the employee. Anything I could do to help this person without actually getting into the details of their issues would be considered. Once I would ask about the employee’s possible life problems I would inform them of the growing concerns I have.

Letting the employee know that I’ve noticed certain issues like substandard work would be the main objective of the meeting. I would tell him that I wanted to help him out in any way I can so we can get things back in the right direction. When I had an issue at my company, I never felt like management was on my side. With this employee I would present options to help them improve their performance. Most companies offer career development classes and I would point this employee in that direction. Talking to him about his career desire and what it would take to get there would help him understand that I am there to help and not to scold him. My goal in this situation is to present a positive face to the employee to show that I do value this employee as a competent individual. (Cahn & Abigail 2007) Since the employee is confrontational, I would anticipate some anger from this individual. In that situation I would make sure that I ask the employee questions to see if we are on the same page. Making sure that the employee understands me and doesn’t take my statements the wrong way can diffuse a hostile situation.

Effective managers must use S-TLC System in situations like this one. Once I have “Stopped,” and realized the problem, thought about how to communicate with the employee, and listened to possible outside issues affecting their work, then it’s time to communicate a solution. Once I have covered my bases and established a commitment of my time and efforts to help this individual, I will inform them of the next step if we cannot resolve the issues. I will emphasize the importance that we fix these issues A.S.A.P. or there is a strong possibility that both parties will have to part ways.

My situation was much different from what I’ve just suggested I would do. I never got a choice in the matter and it might have clouded my opinions about management. Managers should always consider the fact that employees want to see that there is a team and not just hear that they are a part of a team. True team members help each other and as the leader of a team, managers are supposed to make sure their troops don’t get left behind. I rebounded from my issues and remained with the company for five more years. I have no hard feelings toward management but I do think it could have been handled differently. I would hope that my attempt with this employee would be more helpful than my actual experience.



Sources:

Cahn & Abigail (2007) “Managing Conflict through Communication”
Responding to Conflict. New York 2007.

Learning how to Communicate with other Cultures..

Okay, I can tell you that these Ten Commandments will serve me well during my trips to the nearest Fiesta grocery store. For those that don’t know, Fiesta is a grocery store chain in Texas that caters to the Latino community, more so our brothers and sisters south of the border. I’m from Louisiana so the store does have some things that I normally buy throughout the year like live crawfish. During my numerous personal encounters I have to take into account the difference in culture and communications. Some folks will broken English and finding someone who can carry a full conversation in English is like finding a ten dollar bill stuck underneath your tire….it doesn’t happen.

One of the biggest problems I have had is getting annoyed by the person that is breathing down my neck while standing in the checkout line. We love our space in America and most people require at least a few feet of space between each other in public. This space requirement is not as valued in many Hispanic cultures. Once I was so annoyed that I told a lady standing behind me to back up. I was ready for the confrontation that could ensue because her husband was standing right there. At the time I let my emotions get the best of me and I was willing to show that I was not going to back down. I was a little younger at that time as well so that played a role in it.. Due to their culture values, Mexican people tend to avoid confrontation all together so the lady simply backed away. (Buzzle 2010) I know I should have shown more cultural sensitivity in this situation but of course I didn’t know how to tolerate the differences. I’ve learned from experience that patience is an important virtue in dealing with different cultures. I found that one very interesting in the Ten Commandments, that’s for sure.

Language Barriers

I’ve found that if you are aware of the language barriers and you try to be tolerate and work with people; you will find that they will try harder to understand what you are trying to say. The first time I visited Fiesta I couldn’t find the crawfish boil. I ask someone who could barely speak English for the location. They gave me the lost stare and I knew in order to communicate what I wanted I had to be creative. I pointed to the crawfish and tried to talk slow and use the most important words. She eventually pointed next to me which is where the boil was because I had overlooked it. I felt dumb of course, not because we couldn’t understand it each for a minute but because the box of crawfish boil was right in front my eyes the entire time.

Here are the ten commandments of Intercultural Communication that we all should consider. Ths list is from Ezinearticles.com:

I. Be aware of differing social values;
II. Be aware of differing status symbols and how to demonstrate them;
III. Be aware of decision making customs: not all people like to make decisions quickly and efficiently;
IV. Be aware of concepts of time: not all people like to see time as money;
V. Be aware of personal space: people from different cultures have different 'comfort zones';
VI. Be aware of cultural context: people from certain cultures (called 'high-context cultures) rely less on verbal communication and more on the context of nonverbal actions and environmental settings to convey meaning. People from low-context cultures like the USA rely more on verbal communication and less on circumstances and implied meaning to convey meaning;
VII. Be aware of body language: learn the basic differences in the way people supplement their words with body movement;
VIII. Be aware of different etiquette rules or manners: what is polite in one culture may be considered rude in another;
IX. Be aware of legal and ethical behavior;
X. Be aware of language barriers: English is the most prevalent language in international business, but it's a mistake to assume that everyone understands it.


Source:

M. Hahn Ph.D (2010) "Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communications"

http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-Commandments-of-Intercultural-Communication&id=120247

(2007) "Difference in Mexican and American Cultures"
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/difference-in-mexican-and-american-culture.html

Media Technologies.

I was thinking about four media technologies that people use today and wanted to summarize them for you. When people think about media technologies, they often think about the most used device of our time which is the cell phone. I remember a time when there were no cell phones and people would use pay phones at the near by gas station to briefly call someone when they were out. Today folks can’t even sit in their cars 3 minutes before they crack open their phones to chat with someone while flying down the highway at 70 miles per hour. I know because I’ve almost been ran off the road by these individuals here in Texas. I’m sure some of you may remember how people had to function before these four devices came into existence:

Video Games:

The video game industry has grown tremendously in technology and popularity over the last 50 years. Developers knew that it was important to make their product available for play in the home to ensure the growth of their product’s popularity. In 1972 Odyssey, which was the first commercial video game for TV was released. It was expensive because of the numerous electronic parts and the lack of technology during the 70’s. During the 80’s, video games became less expensive and graphics improved which lured the attention of children to the products. The first video game I fell in love with as a child was the Nintendo game called, “Super Mario Brothers.” The concepts and missions in the game were appeasing to me as a child. Games during the 80’s had a cartoon-like look to the graphics. The industry grew as I did in the 1990’s and so did the graphics. The video game industry kept those cartoon-like graphics for certain games to keep each new generation interested in their products. Smartly, they also improved the graphics with more adult like characters to keep the initial aging population interested.

Video game audiences have changed since the 70’s and 80’s because of the improvement of graphics and game content. Children once dominated the demographics; however, today we see that the popularity has spread through each age range in America. People under the age of 18 only make up 25% of gamers, while the average gamer is 32 years old. (onlineed 2009) Most people playing video games today are between the ages of 18-49, making up 49%. In the future we are going to see the audience, in the above 50 year old range grow, as the current 18-49 year old group gets older. Here is a website with more interesting stats on video games:

http://www.onlineeducation.net/videogame/

iPods:

These unique devices have many different functions. Some iPods can be used to play video games but most people use them as a data storage device for music. I have a co-worker that loves to buy music for her iPhod via iTunes at work. It takes her just as much time to download music as it does me to change CDs’ in my hard drive. People love the fact that it takes minutes to download new songs onto their iPod whenever and wherever they feel like. Built by Apply and released in 2001, iPods can hold anywhere from 2GB to160 GB of data. Unlike tape and CD players, iPods are compact in size which is a plus for people who engage in outdoor activities. Just going into the gym every week I notice tons of women on the treadmill listening to music on these devices. Music lovers prefer the iPod because of the high quality the music sound in the headset. The quality of the audio is high because of the digital MP3 compatibility of its computer system.

A 2005 study found that iPods were more popular among men than women 64.4% versus 35.6% at that time. Almost half the users, 46% are between the ages of 18-44. (Pilotta 2006) A typical iPod user has a few things in common:

They love to listen to music.
They consider themselves gamers.
Enjoy surfing the internet daily.
Love watching television.

We have found that most of the audience is professionals who are into the latest entertainment gadgets or computer based products. The ipod popularity will continue to growth as Apple continues to release new and improved versions. We can only look forward to the expansion of users and technology in the product.


Internet:

When I was 20 years old in 1998 I could remember thinking of the internet as a whim. My experience with it was nonexistent and I never thought it would dominate people’s lives as much as it has 15 years later. I now use the internet everyday of my life along with almost 2 billion others. (Nielsen 2009) Before my time, the internet was developed and used by the United States military as a robust distributed computer network in the 1960’s. Research and development in the private sector lead to the commercialization of the internet in the 1990’s, which is how tons of people got rich in the dot-com era.

Electronic communication is almost exclusively used through the internet. People use certain communication via the internet like: telephony, email, and video conferencing through webcams. Information is also being shared by people across the globe via popular websites like podcasting and live streaming. Day time traders use the internet to buy and sell stocks from home while others use it to shop or sell items to people hundreds of miles away. Social and professional networking websites like Linkedin.com draw millions of people onto the internet each day to stay in contact with friends and co-workers.

Just about everyone uses the internet today regardless of race or age. Children are now exposed to the internet in elementary which is why more children are online today than every before. Young adults have to be internet savvy for most professional careers and colleges now include internet education in their computer classes. Middle age and older folks are using the internet to manage bank accounts and develop their professional careers. Even my 64 year old father is now using the internet which wasn’t the case some 5 years ago.

Interesting Internet Stats & Source:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm


Computers:

Computers are so valuable to our society because of the numerous functions they provide. Mainframe computers are used by large organizations to process large amounts of data. Supercomputers are used for weather forecasting and other scientific jobs. Most of us use the microcomputer or the PC in our professional and personal lives. The most universal use of computers, is its link to the word’s numerous network computers to share and transfer information from one source to another. Computers have become such a huge part of how our society works that the sales of computers climb each year. We rely on computers now to complete tons of tasks like: edit video, audio, pictures, purchase and sell items, record keeping, etc.

I live on the computer at work spending most of my time updating excel spreadsheets and access databases. My company uses the information I enter to produce reports to enhance profit and prevent loses. Accounting work and record keeping is so much easier with computers because of all the functions they can do these days. People can build databases on computers to spit out an answer to a complex formula that usually take minutes for a person to figure out. Even our cars use computers now to regulate the intake of oxygen and gasoline or even control functions like braking and cooling systems. The military uses computers in numerous weapons systems to improve accuracy and efficiency. Most ballistic missiles have computers embedded in them to control flight and targeting.

Just about everyone uses computers everyday in their lives. Most of us use them for entertainment purposes to surf the internet, while others use them to make a living. Computers have a huge audience from scientist to children; from Commanders in the military to the bombs being dropped off an F-18 Super Hornet. Our lives are dominated by computer usage no matter who the individual may be. A recent study by Kelton Research Group found that 65% of Americans spend more time with their computers than their spouse. Now how about that?



Sources:
“Types of Computers and Uses:” The Buzzle (2008) Retrieved June 5, 2010 from
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-computers.html

“Types of Computers and Uses:”The Buzzle (2008) Retrived June 5, 2010 from
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/uses-of-computer.html

“If you had to choose your spouse or your computer”: Digital Trends-Kelton Research Group: Retrieved June 7, 2010
http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/if-you-had-to-choose-computer-or-spouse/

iPod Sources:
“Surprising iPod Audience:” IMedia Connection (2006) Joe Pilotta; Retrieved June 7, 2010 from
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/8567.asp

Video Game Sources:
“Video Game Statistics:” Retrieved June 6, 2010 from
http://www.onlineeducation.net/videogame/

“History of Vide Games:” Retrieved June 6, 2010 from
http://www.adigitaldreamer.com/articles/history-of-video-games.htm

Internet Source:
“Internet Usage:” Internet World Stats: Nielsen Online: Retrieved on June 6, 2010 from
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm