Monday, May 13, 2013

Socialization and uncertainty in the work place.

For me jobs have been portrayed in many different ways. On TV you have the typical desk jobs that work long hours, and those people typically have low satisfaction and no advancement. My parents always talk about working hard and giving 110%. Not only working one job, but maybe two, or even three! If you aren't busy then you are lazy. So growing up I have had many different points of view. So what is work really like for a college student?

College students typically work in very classical type jobs that can high turnover due to a high labor pool. Some though don't follow the classical approach and require skill. Sometimes it can be a skill that you are unsure of, or even an atmosphere that takes getting used to, or that you really are not sure about.

I joined the OSU Telefund back in August of 2010. I became a student caller. When I first walked in I saw about 20 people and several calling stations like what telemarketers use. I was a little spooked the first time I saw this. I thought to my self. "is this really something I want to do for 10-12 hours a week?" So I went through training and began calling asking alumni and trying to raise funds for the school. when I was going through training I had some referent uncertainty. I wasn't really sure what i would be doing and how I would be calling. As I began calling I realized that it was a very hard job. Not a lot of people like you calling them and asking for  money. It was very stressful. I started going through appraisal uncertainty. I wasn't sure if I was cut out for this. I'm mostly an extrovert and very friendly, but something about talking on the phone made me squeamish. But after a couple months on the job I really fell into my own. How did I overcome this uncertainty? I observed, third parties, and asked questions. I asked not only supervisors but fellow callers who had been here a little longer than I had. I observed them and listened to their calls to make myself better and pick up a few tips.

At my job I worked with several different people. I had fellow callers, 5 supervisors and a manager. All the supervisors were much different and the manager was fire cracker. She was very knowledgeable about the job and very personable, but not necessarily the best manager. Dealing with all these personalities gave me a little relational uncertainty. How I overcame some of this relational uncertainty was plain old conversation. I tried to connect with everyone and get to know how they worked and their experiences on the job. This gave me a feel for how they managed and what they liked to see out of me and the other callers. This helped with my job as well because the whole point of calling alumni is to build that connection with a friendly conversation and asking for money at the end.

After about 7 months of calling I became a supervisor. I have been a supervisor for over two years now. Being here for a long time, I have seen lots of turnover and a few new fellow supervisors. As new supervisors come in you I have a bit of newcomer appraisal uncertainty and even transformational uncertainty. Some of the supervisors you aren't sure of their skills and what they can bring to the table. I swear I can show some of them how to do something and they can never remember. I even have them do it while I watch so I know they can do it. For transformational uncertainty I always wonder how this will effect my tasks and whether I will still get first priority for scheduling and what not. It all works out in the end and it all takes time.

What I have here is a link of what I think is an example of relational uncertainty. Its a scene in dodgeball where they meet there new coach. He throws wrnches at them and you can tell no one knows how to act or think of him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMWdnkSMPGM

1 comment:

  1. Haha great scene from a great movie! You provided some excellent examples of the different types of uncertainty from both the newcomer and veteran perspective. Remember to define all terms, like the information seeking tactics.

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