Connecting the Dots

I believe the concept that connects all of these past blog posts is the idea of organizations which makes sense considering the class in named Econ of Organizations. While I did not write a post on structural change and transaction costs, I am able to see that these concepts show that there are sacrifices to be made if organizations want to move forward. Structural change can help optimize processes but might come at the cost of disorder during the transition period. Similarly transaction costs tells us that there are trade-offs in the market and it is important that what you are gaining is more beneficial than what you are losing. The post on opportunism presents the dilemma of an organization being able to gain an advantage or benefit but at the cost of disregarding ethics and potentially ruining their image. Blogging about the structure of teams shows me that an efficient, well working team is vital to the success of any organization as it allows for better performance at a lesser cost. Finally, the concept of Illinibucks is an example of pricing items based on their worth to consumers. A price too high and you'll have a surplus. A price too low and you'll have a shortage. Ultimately all these blog posts point to the idea of organizations and aspects that affect their success.

Something that was not apparent to me before was simply how many factors there are that can impact the success of business but it makes sense if you think about it. Obviously teams are vital to the longevity of a company but if a team is not optimal, changes have to be made; however, everything has a cost. Changing a team can cause unrest among employees and can lead to inefficient transition periods which is only exasperated when changing managers or other employees with authority. Also optimization can lead to layoffs which might seem unethical in the eyes of the public. There's also the volatility of trends in supply and demand which surely would impact the company. It's easy to forget  about the decisions that have to be made and the process involved when looking in from the outside.

As I continue to write these posts, I have been able to evolve my writing process so that I can more completely answer the prompts. My post on opportunism was very lackluster and showed me that I should fully understand the concepts taught in class before writing these posts. As my grasp on the material has strengthened, I have had an easier time relating the ideas to parts of my life, and it has made writing these posts much easier. This is reflected in my following posts about the organizations of teams and Illinibucks being much more fleshed out. In addition, the feedback given has allowed me to improve the content of my posts. In the future, I would like to spend more time on just thinking about the prompt. I think this would help improve the quality of my examples and make better connections to the topic on hand.

Personally, I'm not sure what to change about the prompts. As they are, I think they do a good job of making students comprehend what they are learning in class by making them apply it to something familiar. This gives them new insights that might have never been discovered in other ways. I appreciate the comments as they give the class a more personal feel and open the door to feedback. This in return allows students to improve as they continue to answer posts and move along in the class.