Target Bingo

While visiting my local Target today, I saw a product, a Rachel Ray Oil Dispensing Bottle, that I decided would be a nice addition to our kitchen. I put it in the top part of my cart, the part for children, but where I put fragile or small items. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to raise the barrier that closes the leg holes. Without pushing the cart more than a foot, the bottle fell out one of the leg holes and shattered with an embarrassingly clamourous crash. At the same moment, two women passed the aisle and gave me a look. Still, I cannot ascertain whether it was pity or disgust. 

I went to the end of the aisle to find a Target associate so I could report my wrongdoing. Alas, I saw no employees in the red and khaki uniforms. I walked around a little, still without success. Finally, I went to one of the customer service phones placed throughout the store and confessed to causing a ruckus on aisle 30-B. As I was speaking to the representative who reassured me my mess would be cleaned, an associate walked by and asked if I needed help. I hung up the phone and explained that I was reporting a broken item. She said, "Oh, I thought I heard something smash." Another associate, I'm guessing a new employee, entered the scene. The woman who had asked me if I needed help then directed the newcomer to the location of the shattered bottle for a clean up job. With some sympathy, to make it seem a little less horrible, she told the cleaning designee, "At least you can add it to your Target Bingo Card!" 

I moved from my shamefaced state to curiosity. "A bingo card! Is that real or just a joke?" She explained that it was real, and the first time an associate completed certain tasks, they could check off the job. At that point, she had to take care of another customer, but I was fascinated. This type of activity could enliven entry-level or routine jobs to promote motivation and engagement. It's also something that could be used in training, either to demonstrate evidence of learning or to identify training needs.

If any readers have access to one of these Target Bingo Cards, please send a copy my way!

McDonald's Spending Journal: Beneficial or Patronizing?

Last week, Stephen Colbert did a story on the spending journals that McDonald's provides its low-wage employees. Are these journals helpful to the employees - or are they patronizing?
McDonald's Spending Journal

Times Magazine Commentary

Multitasking Mayhem

In a story on NPR's Science Friday, Professor Clifford Nass outlined the disadvantages of doing more than one thing at a time, including distraction, poor concentration, and decreased creativity.

Stephen Colbert did a hilarious piece on this story as only he can! LINK

We all think we are good at multitasking and that it saves us time, but often we pay in mistakes and wasted time when we have too much going on at once.

Marissa Mayer Increases Shares, Decreases Turnover at Yahoo

Wall Street Journal reports that one employee said, "It's no longer shameful to work at Yahoo."

Die Hard 2

On Sunday mornings, HBO often airs older movies. From my office, I can hear my husband watching Die Hard 2. It's been decades since I've watched that movie, but my ears perked up when I heard a scene that reminded me of the power and influence unit in OB class.

A character was trying to reach a government decision maker whose administrative assistant answered the phone. The character had urgent news about the facts on the ground and needed to convey them before the decision-maker selected a course of action. The administrative assistant, or gatekeeper, put the character off, saying her boss was busy and couldn't take any calls. The character threatened, "If you don't put me through, you might as well start typing your resume."

What type of power and what type of influence strategy does this represent - and how is the administrative assistant likely to respond?

Brain Doubles

This reminds me a little of implicit egoism as well as the attraction paradigm since we are so apt to be attracted to people and things that are similar to us. It also made me wonder about the implications for teaching. How can faculty help stimulate "clicking" among students so they can really experience the material?