Thursday, March 29, 2007

Apprentice LA, Episode 10 - thoughts

POHDCC: The Apprentice Los Angeles, Episode 10 is available for download here: http://pocketknowledge.tc.columbia.edu/home.php/viewfile/20997

Subscribe to the feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/pohdcc

Once again Whitney Cook saved the day, filling in for Serena (who's feeling much better now, thank you!).

There's a lot for us to talk about this week. Nicole is sent to Kinetic, and swears revenge against her former teammates. Tim is torn between keeping the trust of his team and repairing his temporarily estranged relationship with Nicole. Arrow and Kinetic participate in a sales task on the same turf using very opposite approaches. Kinetic claims the ethical high ground, but loses the task.

We raised a couple of questions on the podcast, and would love to hear your thoughts:

1. Do you think James made the best choice in sending Nicole over to Team Kinetic?

2. Have you been the newcomer to an established group, or had to transition a newcomer into an established group? At what point did you feel like part of the group, or feel like the newcomer was part of the group? Tell us your story!

3. Kinetic took what they perceived to be the ethical "high ground" during the sales tasks, while Arrow's hardball tactics were much more effective. What would you have done?

Later this week: Our interview with Apprentice candidate Derek Arteta, an OHDCC discussion led by TC alum Adam Vane, and a talk by Professor David Buckner on cultural integration in organizations.

As always, thanks for listening!

Warren (and Carl, and Serena, and Whitney)

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Episode 9 is available for download!

Hi all,

We hope you enjoy listening to Episode 9 as much as we enjoyed recording it!

One correction (among many, I'm sure): I keep talking about the "Dual Factor Model." What I was actually referring to was Pruitt and Rubin's dual concern model, which is a useful tool to identify the various styles that people use when resolving conflicts.

During the episode, we touched on an issue that was highlighted as a result of the conflict between Muna and Kristine-- how do you best accomodate religious beliefs in the workplace? We'd love to get your thoughts and hear about your experiences-- please feel free to leave a comment!

Download it here: http://pocketknowledge.tc.columbia.edu/home.php/viewfile/20770

Thanks for listening,

Warren

Friday, March 16, 2007

Chillin' with Surya (Yalamanchili)

This week Serena and Warren had the opportunity to speak with Surya, former project manager for Team Arrow. Take a listen as Surya sets the record straight-- this is one of the most fun interviews we've had so far!

Download it here: http://pocketknowledge.tc.columbia.edu/home.php/viewfile/20571

Episode 8 is available!

Episode 8 of POHDCC: The Apprentice is available for download. We talked about, huge vitamin costumes, the voice of doom, the Mighty Ducks, and brainstorming gone wrong. Carl is away on vacation, and Whitney Cook fills in as co-host.

Download it here: http://pocketknowledge.tc.columbia.edu/home.php/viewfile/download/27903

Interview with Marisa DeMato

Carl Fudge and Serena Shulman interview Marisa DeMato, former candidate on "The Apprentice: Los Angeles."

Download it here: http://pocketknowledge.tc.columbia.edu/home.php/viewfile/download/27899

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Interview with Aaron Altscher

Midterms set our schedule back a little bit-- but now that it's Spring Break we can continue releasing our archived interviews. Today: Carl and Warren interview Aaron Altscher, of Team Arrow. Coming soon: Carl and Serena interview Marisa DeMato, of Team Kinetic.

Download it here: http://pocketknowledge.tc.columbia.edu/home.php/viewfile/download/28213

Monday, March 12, 2007

Let's Talk !!!

I don't know about you, but all this talk on the POHDCC PodCast - just seems to beg for more conversation! Carl, Warren and Serena have whet our whistles with tidbits on various hypotheses and theories, but we'd like to go further! Right? Right!!

So...we are opening up this blog for some greater conversation.

Our first topic will be about leadership. Gulp... that's a biggie isn't it? Any of us who have taken Warner Burke's class know that it takes a least 8 weeks just to cover where we've been and get caught up to the present on this topic. However we also know that leadership is a fascinating topic - for a reason. It's just so darn important!

A couple of questions to get us started...

It seems like the recent project leaders on The Apprentice have had a tough go of things (perhaps that's par for the course given the set up of the show). Even when they win - they don't win the hearts and minds of their teams (can you say Surya)?
So how come?

3 questions to ponder:

Is Surya failing to inspire because he has the wrong style for the situation (a la Fiedler)?

Or is the team unwilling to be led by Surya for other reasons, perhaps related to something like Bion's Basic Assumptions (related to group dynamics)?

What other theories or hypotheses are out there to consider?


Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, opinions and ideas. There is no "right" answer - but it sure is fun to hear what others think!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Episode 7 of POHDCC: The Apprentice

Episode 7 of POHDCC: The Apprentice is up. We talked about NBC giving us too much information, Surya and white boards, Derek and "white trash," Jenn and go-carts, division of labor in small groups, mutiny, motivation, and Sesame Street.

Download it here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/pohdcc

We got a little hung up due to midterms, but we have a ton of content to send your way soon. We've got a couple of Apprentice candidate interviews for you, and some OHDCC business as well. Stay tuned!

Sunday, March 4, 2007

What would you like to talk about?

POHDCC was created to serve the community of Organizational Psychology students at Teachers College, and to connect with other interested schools, programs, and people. What topics interest you? What would you like us to cover? Do you strongly disagree with a point we've made on one of our episodes? Would you like to leave us some glowing feedback? We'd love to hear from you!

If you've got a burning topic, send us an email at pohdcc@gmail.com and we'll post it to the blog so that others can put their two cents in.

Thanks,

Warren, Serena and Carl
POHDCC