This document contains two self-reflections from organizational behavior courses. The first reflection discusses how the course helped the writer better understand perceptual biases and how they can affect work performance and turnover. The writer was able to apply lessons to improve efficiency and reduce turnover at their company. The second reflection discusses key lessons learned around management styles, empowerment, and sources of motivation. The writer realized they had taken a "Theory X" approach in the past and wants to be more empowering and challenging in future roles.

1. Hector Flores
MGMNT 302
Professor Habich
June 13, 2017
Self-Reflection
I took this course with a premise that it would be an easy
course, after all I have been a member in many organizations in
the last 20 years. In my mind, there was nothing in this course
that I have not seen or experience; I have experienced the
theory that this course is going to teach. This course was mainly
for the new generation that never has stepped into the workforce
or has done it for a short period of time. Well I can honestly say
that this was not the case, not only did I have to participate,
listen to other perspectives, but also present my own case
utilizing what I have learn, explaining the reasoning behind the
cause and effect of the case.
Indeed, many of the subjects lectured were areas that I had
experienced or had to deal with, and even though I knew how to
approach the situation, I did not know the cause or reasoning
behind it. For example, Chapter 3 gave me in insight on
perceptual biases, how we perceive people effect their
production or efficiency. I am sadly aware now that I have been
seeing people differently without even realizing it. How the
team halo effect and similar-to-me-effect had caused people to
think that I show favoritism to some of my workers. What is
worse how I have fallen exercised the Golem effect in the past,
perceiving that certain workers with similar work
appearances/ethics would perform the same way as others in the
past. Failing to see that work performance is based on many
variables.
Do to this course I have a better understanding of why my
workers perform the way they do. This course has open my eyes
to many of the errors we are currently doing at my company,

2. and I am currently applying the knowledge I have learned. In
the past, our company has had a turnover of 45%, I thought the
cause was due to competitive pay around the area, because we
are surrounded by many other DC’s. However, I made some
changes in my area, after learning that people are not always
motivated by pay, but instead look forward to being challenged
and want to job satisfaction.
After empowering some of my leads and key associates, as well
as warehouse workers, our turnover has dropped to 35%. I had a
meeting with each group and asked for their input, to my
surprise each group had many things to add. With their help, we
improved some of the inefficiencies, and by applying some tips
from chapter 4 “boosting employees’ self-efficacy”, not only
did our turnover dropped, but also our efficiency increased.
I am glad that I toke this course, not only was it a challenge and
eye opener, but also a great tool that has helped me improve in
my career. Now that I have more time, I will be dissecting the
book and plan to take more courses like this to improve my
knowledge of not only for career improvement, but also to
become a better manager. Thank you for your guidance and the
how you taught your course, I know that it was challenging at
times, but saw how what you teach is utilized. I hope to take
future courses with you and to be challenged.
Lejandro “Alex” Mendoza
Professor Habich
Management 302, MW 4pm
December 5, 2018
Organizational Behavior Class Reflection
Organizational Behavior. If you had asked me before this
course began what exactly these 2 words meant or what I
thought this class was going to be about, I really wouldn’t have
known where to begin. In fact, to some extent, I still wouldn’t

3. know where to start. Yet there I was on the morning of the first
day of class sitting in my HR Manager’s office, hopefully
optimistic and secretly excited about the intellectual adventure I
was about to embark on. At the time, I really wasn’t quite sure
what I was about to get myself into but, judging from the
reaction on my HR Manager’s face, I knew it was going to be
good. He said, “pay attention, and good luck—this will be some
good stuff.” Having never failed me, I went with my trusted
Manager’s word and unapologetically dived into the material.
What followed was much more than I originally had expected
and bargained for: a treasure trove of practical theories, ideas,
and approaches that only served to validate and embolden my
position on some of the stuff I had already been putting into
practice, while at the same time exposing me to new material
that I was able to effectively apply at work to the benefit of all.
Communications was one of the areas in which I felt I was
already doing fairly well, specifically when speaking in terms
of listening. The class reinforced the idea that in order to
effectively communicate across all levels of the organization,
one must regularly practice this lost art of Listening. In order to
maximize a mutual respect for each other’s views and goals at
the workplace, and by this way develop the cohesiveness
necessary to effectively unite a team with the purpose of
achieving common goals, listening is a must-try skill to put into
practice.
On the flip-side, Organizational Behavior helped me address
and correct an area of Communications of which I had been
struggling with for quite some time now: Emails. Sometimes too
much, sometimes too little. The Media Richness Theory helped
me address this area by helping me see that various levels of
communication call for different types of approaches. Its ok—
emails don’t always have to be long and detailed, over-the-top,
and oozing of over-achiever eager to get the next promotion.
Sometimes, less is more. Sometimes, emails aren’t necessary at

4. all when a few words will do just fine or even better. The Media
Richness Theory helped me find a better balance between the
various communication approaches that one can choose to
employ. My flawed, head-strong approach use to “turn off” and
rub people the wrong way. Now that I’ve been able to temper
and balance my communications approach somewhat, I’m
finding that I’m having a lot more success at getting other’s
buy-in to my suggestions and ideas. And although not perfected,
I feel like we’re finally on the right track and getting
somewhere.
Trust. I truly enjoyed and loved the topic of trust. To be
trustworthy, one must be reliable, sincere, and competent. I was
really intrigued by this topic, because as people, we tend to say
“I don’t trust you” or “I do trust you” and stopping just there,
without going through the trouble or putting much more thought
into the our reasons why we choose to trust or not trust
someone. I learned that Trust is actually broken up into 3 main
parts, all of which directly impact whether or not you have more
or less trust in a person. By clearly identifying these 3 elements
of trust, no longer do we have to resort to making blanket
statements regarding our trust in a person, or lack thereof. By
identifying these 3 elements, we can more easily identify which
of these areas a given relationship is most deficient in, from
which we can then proceed to move forward with applying the
necessary and relevant corrective action that would more
effectively serve to help repair or reinforce this bond of trust.
I found this topic of trust and the way it is broken down so
intriguing, that I proceeded to write it down prominently on a
whiteboard for everyone at work to easily see shortly after
having covered this subject in class. Almost immediately I
caught people’s attention. Some laughed, smirked, and
dismissed this as just another arrogant, pretentious, self-serving
action on my part. Personally, I feel these ones secretly felt
threatened that for once, someone at work had some real theory

5. and substance behind their stance and position. But mostly—and
the part that ingratiated me the most—I got a lot of curious
questions wanting me to expand on the 3 elements of trust. It
was obvious that this place (my workplace) had been lacking
this kind of elevated input for quite some time. In one case, a
fellow manager (tenured) responded “See! This is the kind of
stuff we’ve been missing around here all along: some real
theory! Keep bringing this kind of stuff!”
Because I had already learned some key aspects about
perception and communication by this time, I refrained from
speaking too highly of myself and instead, opted to hold my fire
and enthusiastically offering to unselfishly keep bringing and
sharing whatever relevant information I came across while at
school. This move helped me win back some of the flock I had
recently lost through my head-strong approach to
communication.
Last but not least, Power. I appreciated the section of power and
more specifically, on how to maximize your reach and circle of
influence within an organization. My boss and I have been
going back and forth on this subject for quite some time now—
me wanting/pushing for another promotion, him wanting for me
to prove certain changes can occur before granting me that rite
of passage. The Power section we covered showed me that we
were both right. He was right in the sense that power is not
always absolutely necessary to get things done—one can
effectuate change at the workplace by maximizing his/her circle
of influence in various ways. At the same time, I was right in
the sense that there are instances in which positional power is
helpful and necessary to effectuate change, as is the case with
trying to turnaround long-standing cultures/bad habits, as well
as in dealing with difficult employees or those who tend to
resist management’s wishes. Sometimes you need to put a little
“oomph!” behind your words and actions, and I’m certainly glad
that I was able to find that scientifically-based theory to support
my position actually exist.

6. Organizational Behavior. I still wouldn’t know where to start,
or how it should end. But if I had to guess, I would tell you that
it certainly feels much more like a start than it does the
opposite. The start of empowerment, engagement, and
actualization by enacting some of the secrets in this class
regarding how to realize our true potential as leaders, co-
workers, and friends through the use of techniques presented in
this course.
Thank you Mr. Habich for helping us unlock some of the secrets
leading to our own empowerment as business leaders of this
world
Jason Sheets
MGMT 302-05
Professor Habich
June 10, 2017
Organizational Behavior Final Self-Reflection
I was fascinated by the course content in Organizational
Behavior this spring. I learned that I still have a lot of growing
to do if I want to be a good leader and a fulfilled employee. The
key topics for my growth were “Theory X” versus “Theory Y,”
empowerment, and sources of motivation at work.
Our “Theory X” and “Theory Y” discussion of management
styles showed me early in the quarter that I need to evolve if I
want to be an effective manager. In the past, I was a manager at
a customer-support call center, leading a team of people that
were all poorly trained and under immense pressure from the
CEO to finish as many calls as quickly as possible. He mostly
took a “Theory X” approach and that trickled down to me and
the other managers. We were constantly pushing our teams
harder and harder. Morale was terrible. I was distrusting of the

7. people on my team and assumed they would be a lazy as I would
allow them to be.
If from day one there was a “Theory Y” approach at the call
center, I think the organization would have been very different.
The low interest I perceived in my team was partly a result of
the way they had been treated. “Theory Y” says that people will
work hard if they are appropriately trained, and that they have
an innate desire to find achievement through their work. I saw
glimpses of this in my time there. In the future, I would want
my team to learn how to properly complete the tasks their
customers needed, so they could get some satisfaction through
their accomplishments.
I can see now that my call-center experience was also a lesson
in empowerment. Because I did not trust my team, I gave them
very specific guidelines for how to do their work. They had
little freedom. Learning this quarter that people thrive on
empowerment, I would like to give people more autonomy and
freedom to decide how to accomplish their tasks.
The other important lesson for me this quarter came from our
discussion on motivation. I would have imagined my ideal job
involving the completion of a series of easy tasks each day and
hopefully necessitating minimal interaction with other
coworkers. This could have been a recipe for an unsatisfying
career. I have now learned that people thrive when challenged
and when part of a supportive team. I need to be considering
these variables when I start my job search. I need look for
opportunities to push myself and be proactive about working
together with my fellows.
I am grateful for my experience in Organizational Behavior. I
am walking away with several new insights. If I want to be a
good team leader I need to ensure my team is thoroughly trained
and that they feel sufficiently rewarded. People want to be

8. empowered. I need to get out of my comfort zone to find real
satisfaction at work. That means taking on challenges and
finding motivation through the support of a team.
1
Marcial
Miguel Marcial
Professor Matthew Habich
MGMT 302-06
March 20, 2019
Final Reflection
When I first enrolled into this course, I thought it was
going to be another class that consisted of a straight monotone
lecture. Despite my initial thought of the course, it was the
complete opposite. Throughout the winter quarter I listened and
learned about concepts and theories that I have never heard of
until the day they were discussed in class. It was my first time
hearing some new words like Machiavellianism or Operant
conditioning. Some concepts that were discussed struck me
more than others such as Self-fulfilling prophesies, Emotional
Labor, and Stress. As the class went on, I found that I had
already experienced many of these concepts throughout personal
aspects of my life.
When we first discussed self-fulfilling prophesies, I
immediately related the concept to myself. The Pygmalion
effect which I saw that directly tied to my current employer,
UPS. In my primary job I work in a team of ten other hourly
employees. During our morning PCM (Pre-work
communication) meetings our supervisor always takes the time
to remind us that we are the #1 crew at the Ontario Ramp who
can unload/load aircraft faster than all other crews on our shift.
“Crew 155 can do anything on the ramp no matter what anybody
else thinks”, my supervisor always says. I’ve noticed since my
supervisor first started pumping us up at the beginning of our

9. shift our crew starts our day off positively and ends the day in a
positive note as well. This has had an optimistic effect and has
helped my crew accomplish all our assignments & tasks with
speed, efficiency, as well as taking safety as our top priority
under the extreme time constraints that we face at the airport. In
the near future after I have settled in a manager’s position, I
will incorporate self-fulfilling prophesies like the positive form
of the Pygmalion effect and set high expectations to those that
work under my leadership in order to encourage performance. I
will also apply it to any group projects I might be part of in
order to inspire teammates to perform excellent.
The second concept that struck my mind was emotional labor.
The first job that I worked for was for a thrift store named
Deseret Industries. During my time at Deseret Industries I was
primarily on the sales floor working cashier. Every day was a
tough one when working the sales floor. Having to hold back
your emotions and keep a smile on my face while customers
were being difficult was mentally exhausting, and left me
wondering if the job was worth keeping. Deseret Industries did
not have a database that contained all priced items available in
the store, instead the production team located in the second
floor would price each individual item manually with price tags.
Before customers would make their way to the front to check
out, many of the daily regular customers would swap higher
price labels with lower ones in order to pay a cheaper price. Our
store believed that the customer was always right, despite
knowing an obvious switch such as a two-dollar tag on a new
pair of pants, we had to hold back our emotions and not argue
with the clients. Customers would always get offended when
told that a supervisor would have to review the price to see if it
matches the item. This would aggregate them and initiate an
argument. When I wanted to yell, fight, and throw a big “I told
you so” to the customer, I had to hold back my emotions and
display the appropriate ones in order to do my work
successfully. I did not know what emotional labor was until it
was discussed in class. Now that I understand it, I will apply it

10. more than ever it into my life in order to be successful at any
future employments, classes, and my personal life. I will keep
my emotions in check in order to be professional, successful,
and express a satisfactory demeanor.
Lastly, the discussion over Stress stuck with me in the sense
that I was not aware of its significant concerning factors. I work
two jobs and attend two different schools. I feel like I am
stressed out 24/7, yet I never understood what to do about it.
When I would hear stress, I thought about it as a momentary
thing. I would have never guessed that it can cause an array of
health problems from medical, behavioral, and psychological if
not properly managed. I normally sleep between 4-6 hours each
day due to my hectic school & work schedule. I experience days
where I feel physically exhausted with little to no energy, or
tiredness all of the time with frequent headaches. During this
discussion I learned that I experience burnout quite often. I also
took from our discussions how to manage stress and incorporate
it into our daily life. During stressful moments at work between
coworkers I will do my part not to aggregate another employee
who might be on the verge of losing their temper. While a
chaotic episode might be happening at work, I will encourage
everyone to stop and take a breather in order help calm
ourselves so we can gather our thoughts to make efficient
decisions. Also, if someone that I know might be having a bad
day I will ask if there’s anything I can do to help alleviate any
tension. I will manage my time by prioritizing my activities by
making lists or keeping an agenda with my to do’s. By properly
managing my time it will help me find an appropriate sleep
schedule so I can fully rest and eliminate burnout as well as the
symptoms that follow it. I will find time to eat well balanced
meals and exercise more often than I normally do to help reduce
the effects of stress.
To conclude, my initial thought of the class was not what I had
initially expected. For instance, I grasped new, interesting
concepts that I had already experienced but did not know
anything about. From the Pygmalion effect which I experience

11. daily when my supervisor at UPS sets high expectations of us
and this results in my crew always performing better, to
emotional labor when I had to hold back my emotions during
times when I wanted to do the opposite, and the effects and
dangers of stress. This class was very informative and helpful; I
perceived a great deal of valuable knowledge that I will carry
with me for my entire life. Thank you!
Amber Olson
MGMT 302
Professor Habich
June 9, 2017
Final Reflection Paper
The end of this spring quarter brings the end of my
presidency at a club here at CSUSB; my duties as President
included but were not limited to: inspiring and empowering
others, managing conflict, balancing being a leader and a
manager, rewarding behaviors, and maintaining and innovating
our culture. While I feel pretty confident I did decently in these
tasks, I am sure that if I had learned about these concepts
covered in MGMT 302 I could have done a better job. However
hindsight is always 20/20, and there is not anything I can do to
change the past. What I can do is prepare the next board for the
future, and as Past-President that is what I hope to accomplish-
using the concepts I learned in MGMT 302 to build a better
club. In this final reflection paper I will outline some of the
ideas I hope to implement as Past-President and student adviser
to the club, drawing on my experiences as President to explain
why I feel such concepts are applicable.
One of the concepts I plan to implement is expectancy theory.
According to expectancy theory, if I can help the new board
members understand that their efforts are linked to their
perceived performance and that performance is clearly linked to
valued rewards I should be able to better motivate them. I will

12. use this idea to help me plan the board training beginning in
Fall 2018 so from the get go they can understand how relevant
their actions are to the club.
One of the things that I also hope to accomplish in this training
is to help them feel empowered, and empowerment requires
three things: accountability, autonomy, and access to
information. With this in mind, I have to remember that I am
no longer president and that means I cannot force my own
agenda onto them. They need autonomy and that requires me to
not micromanage their every move, and instead give them the
freedom to make their own decisions. Thusly, when I meet with
next year’s president, I will not begin by telling him everything
I did and explain how to repeat it and better it- essentially,
forcing my expectations onto him. Instead, I will ask him what
his goals are for the club (autonomy), how he will know he is
successful (accountability), and then provide him with the
information I have to help him. Then I will trust him to not
mess up all of the effort I put into the club during my
presidency. I had always wanted to empower my board, and had
no idea how to go about it. I think this was the most
meaningful lesson for me; that to empower them is to “set them
free” in a sense.
On the subject of trust, in class it was mentioned that by sharing
a personal piece of information one can make decision making
vastly more efficient. As past president, I am going to make
sure that our annual retreat will have a personal information
sharing section that emphasizes connection. I want people to be
able to understand each other’s goals and integrity so that they
will have the relational type of trust (identification trust) rather
than relying only on swift trust; swift trust occurs when people
assume that a person is trust worthy and then later verify that
assumption.
CSUSB requires all student to go through annual sexual
harassment training. While learning about it, it dawned on me
that my club has no formal procedure for dealing with sexual
harassment! This occurred when professor Habich mentioned

13. how important it is for organizations to have a clear procedure
for reporting instances of sexual harassment. Therefore, over
summer I am going to research policies on sexual harassment
and draft a clause for the club. Sexual harassment ruins the
trust that exists within the club, and is an abuse of power.
I also want to draft a clause on conflict resolution. Within my
year of presidency there were two individuals who can never
seem to get along. I know now that this type of conflict is
called “affective conflict”; it is the type of conflict that occurs
when two personalities clash. It is not easy to resolve this type
of conflict; it would still be nice to have some kind of
procedure for reporting and dealing with conflict- a bit like the
contracts we created for our group presentation. Another type
of conflict that can occur within an organization is called
“process conflict”; it is the conflict that occurs when people
cannot agree on a process. Substantive conflict is when people
cannot agree on the rational premises of a decision. If we had a
pre-set conflict-resolution process, people would know how to
go about handling their conflict rather than letting it fester.
Oscar Wilde once said that “Experience is the hardest kind of
teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson afterward.”
My presidency was the test and MGMT 302 was the lessons that
came afterwards, and yet because of it I think I have come to
appreciate the value of the lessons even more. Still, I care very
deeply for my club and my regrets nag at me. I take comfort in
the next quote (could not locate the author): “It doesn’t matter
what you’ve done, what matters is what you choose to do from
here”. What I am choosing to do is use this knowledge to help
the next set of board members.
I know that within this paper I focused only on how I planned to
use this new found knowledge to help my club. You should also
know that by applying my knowledge I will create skills that
will help me in my future career (whatever that may be, because
I have no idea what I want to do…yet). MGMT 302 was a very
insightful class, and I am glad to have taken it.