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How Many People Work as A Contingent Employee? 

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How Many People Work as A Contingent Employee? 

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We discussed a little about if we would hire contingent or part-time employees, and when I first opened the module I didn't know that contingent meant temporary.
Contingent workers are those who work temporarily on one job at a time. There is usually no contract to continue employment after their contracted job is completed.

Surprisingly there were nearly 6 million contingent workers in 2017, men and women equally applying and working as contingent workers. Another surprising thing is that 44 percent of these people usually carry a bachelors degree or higher.. One third of these being in the education and health service industry.

After researching for hours being a contingent worker may have the cons of being flexible, work when you want when you want to. You can work as little or as long as you like only accepting jobs you want to do; but there is no health insurance, no money being put towards retirement, some of these places are 1099 based which means you are responsible for your own taxes.

I think the bad out way the goof, and I wouldn't want to hire and train new people constantly to get one project.

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I think a lot of people look at leadership as a way to take control of something and now you're above everybody, but that's not what it is at all. You don't need a title to be a leader, and leaders aren't found in just companies or organizations.

" Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others towards the achievement of a goal. "

In the definition leadership comes from social influence, not your title or how high you are in the hierarchy ladder.

Its important as a leader to influence good behavior of any individual in a work place.  Pointing your team members in the direction of a goal and achieve good results. Leaders are not like managers that command, leaders are to inspire new ideas, persuade others to work fairly, honestly and kindly, and encourage everyone to reach the goals of the company or organization.

Leadership is not a manager, but someone who is able to use social influence to reach a common goal effectively and willingly!

Here's where I grabbed my information.
https://www.feedough.com/importance-of-leadership-business/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/?sh=14556efb5b90

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Why knowing your leadership style is important. 

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" Self-awareness is the foundation of a good leader".  Being self- aware means you know your emotions and how you're going to react, but are able to control them. Knowing this information allows you to plan how you handle your emotions and avoid unnecessary conflict.

It's important to know your leadership style in order to lead effectively, and can also help choose which jobs would be a better fit for you. There are a few questions you can ask your self to be able to figure out your leadership style.
Do I value goals or relationships more? , do I believe in strict structure or freedom to choose within the structure? do I want to make decisions on my own, or together with a team?  Are short or long-term goals my main focus? do I motivate from empowerment or direction ? and what is a healthy team dynamic and how do I make one?

Leadership styles should be natural not something you need to train yourself into. Seeking for mentors to help find and incorporate your leadership style into your job can be beneficial.

Whatever your leadership style is, and if you don't know, its normal to go through trial and errors before being able to effectively lead.

Here is where I grabbed my info from.
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9789-leadership-types.html

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We got a vague definition of a control system in module 6 but I wanted to look more in depth to employee handbooks, pros and cons, and why they are a good asset to a thriving/ growing company.

Having an employee handbook can be a chance to show your company values and company culture. This could be a starting point to some one who is new and isn't familiar with the values or mission of the company.

You're able to list out the many policies and procedures that are expected throughout employment with your company, along with the consequences of going against the policy and procedures. This is a good way to lay out boundaries and ground rules and also let there be known that going against these rules could be detrimental to not only the company but their job as well.

Making sure to update the employee handbook when new laws and regulations change, the company makes changes or even when the there are new social/technology changes that are super important in todays world is very important, this lets employees know you pay attention to the world around you and respect the new advances in laws and other changes in society.

There aren't really any cons to a handbook. The only one I could see there being is handing out a hard cover of the handbook and asking the employee to read it on their own time, at that point they can just say they read it and they really didn't. If this happens often, rules can be broken and there will be many people that will have to leave and many people you have to hire and re-train. Establishing time in the work day to read the handbook thoroughly and also administering self-checking test may make sure they information is being properly  distributed.

Here is the link to my information: https://www.thehrteam.com/blog/up-to-date-employee-handbooks-are-a-must-have-for-any-business/

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I got pregnant in 2019 and had my son 2020. During this time covid-19 was full blown and everyone was getting sick. My husband risked his health to work while I stayed home and cared for our child. I got my first away from home job after two years December of 2021. During my current employment our son was sick for at least a month, meaning i had to be out of work for at least a month as daycare would not care for him while he was sick (for good reason). I asked my job about working from home and I was denied and told they weren't set up for any of us to work from home even though i know at least  3 other employees currently work from home. I wanted to research what percentage of companies actually participate in the FWA and how it has affected their employees, their productivity and the work environment.

Disclaimer:
A lot of my information is from blog posts and articles that may or may not be factual so for this post I just wanted to state that this may or may not be factual information.

A lot of companies that were impacted by the loss of employees and sales during covid-19 have reverted to work from home positions or at least hybrid positions as a way to keep anyone with a virus from spreading germs. Companies were able to downsize to smaller offices and reportedly their employees have stated the remote work they engage in has positively impacted their view of the company and its values.  It's also said that remote work has made employees more productive and engaged. They stay in a comforting, germ free environment with chat rooms that allow you to contact  management or see the goals for the week or tasks for the day are, just as if you were in an office.

Now with marketing teams, zoom and other video services have been openly accepted, so instead of management picking one person from one of their buildings and departments, everyone who can best represent their team especially in other countries are able to join, which is a big benefit.

While remote work is beneficial, coming together as a team is important. We need to be able to see how people react as a group and how they're able to navigate tasks within the different departments as a team.

flexible schedule i feel is important. We still need to come to work once in a while but we can benefit from working remotely in the safety and comfort of our own homes.

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I work in the legal field and I knew there was a Hierarchy but didn't think to look it up and see how it relates to what we are learning. So in the legal field when we say 'authority' or 'primary authority' we mean the LAW. secondary authority is material that is not the law, which is interesting because I never knew that. There are three different levels in the court: Trial, appellate and court of last resort. Trial is the basic level, appellate is the middle level and then you know 'court of last resort' its in the name. its the highest level in the court. The chain of hierarchy goes; District Court, Circuit Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court of the United States

Super interesting. I read the whole website about this and I could probably sit here for hours typing away. If you would like to learn more here is the website I pulled my information from!
https://library.famu.edu/c.php?g=276173&p=1842542

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Me again, learning about the people who contributed to all this information we learn about today.
Stan McChrystal, Retired FOUR-STAR, YES I said FOUR-STAR general, the former commander of the ISAF and also the JSOC. He developed many strategic tactics in Afghanistan, and also an organization of counter-terrorism. Not only was he in the military he also taught at Yale University's Jackson institute for Global Affairs. He didn't just write Team of Teams referenced in our module this week, but he also wrote a memoir called My Share of the Task: I read the intro and the book describes all of the tough parts of his career and how he worked with many amazing leaders, but also some bad ones that he ultimately learned what not to do from. This was one of New York Times best sellers!

There isn't much more information on him unless it's coming from some not so credible sources! he is a pretty interesting man and I would like to learn more.

If you'd like to read more about him or his company you can visit the site here:  https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/people/stan-mcchrystal/

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While the module is focused on the five forces that were brought about by Michael Porter, I wanted to know more about him as a person and how he had come to his success and discovering these five forces we learn about today. Michael Porter is an economist, researcher, author, advisor, speaker and teacher. He studied at Harvard Business School and made many theories on all of the problems that corporations today face in the economic area, along with other areas in the competing market. Porter started his work by being a pioneering in the industry competition and company strategy and used all his knowledge on economic theory to help develop a better understanding on competition and the choices companies make in that competition.  He has released many books, articles and even a 'Porter Hypothesis' in early 1990s that explained his theory that the restricting environmental standards did not block a companies profit or competitiveness but actually enhanced it.

He not only studies and produced all of these theories pertaining to business and competition in business, he also expanded to health care!.

There was so much information and I could sit here all day typing about it, but if you'd like to read more yourself, here is the website I pulled information from.
https://www.isc.hbs.edu/about-michael-porter/biography/Pages/default.aspx

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April 20,2010 A boat that was partaking in offshore drilling exploded, which ultimately burned the whole boat down and caused it to sink. 11 people died and it was estimated that 134 MILLION GALLONS of oil went into the Gulf. The company responsible for the offshore drilling did not have a plan implemented for a disaster like this. Instead, after the fact, the Marine Mammal Commission had to devise a plan for the recovery and restoration of the waters mammals and ecosystem. The NOAA initiated a Natural Resource Damage Assessment process. This was carried out as three phases; 1. Pre-assessment, 2. injury assessment and restoration planning, 3. restoration implementing.

The first phases allowed researchers assess that the water has been severely damaged due to the spill. They initiated the next phase whi9chw was to observed and assess the damage done to the animals. During the second phase they would capture nearby dolphins and other mammals and take samples to determine how much of the oil they had been exposed tp weather it had been internal or just external, and even both.

I could not find much information on how the Gulf is doing today, but it was referenced in several articles that organisms that were big parts of the waters ecosystems such as  coral and other plants, have not recovered and they are still devising a plan on how to restore those plants and organisms.

This goes to show that planning out for disasters such as this is very important. They could of had plans on how to stop the oil from flowing, or plans on how to relocate the oil to another boat. How to plug the oil from spilling until they could retrieve the barrels from the water. Many of those plans would have prevented us from trying to save the Gulf's wildlife from suffering and recovering. Its been over 10 years and they still have not recovered from the negligence of the drilling company.

If you'd like to learn more, here are the articles I pulled my information from.
https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/offshore-energy-development-and-marine-mammals/gulf-of-mexico-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-and-marine-mammals/

https://www.epa.gov/deepwaterhorizon

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In module 3 we are given the definition of Economic union: Which is to eliminate internal barriers, adopt common external barriers and permit free movement of resources. I wanted to find more information about this since its seems to be a big part in how we understand other policies in different economies. The definition from Corporate Financial Institute is : ' An agreement between countries that allows products, services, and workers to cross borders freely. To do this we have to understand Monetary and Fiscal Policies and be able to coordinate all polices that are within the agreement.

There are many Economic Unions but one of the largest ones is the European Union. The import goods and services between hundreds of other countries. They are also one of the LARGEST exporters in the world. Their currency is in EURO's but they do use common currency's at fixed exchanged rates to be able to sell to other country's sometimes at a higher or lower price based on what their currency is in that country.

There are many other examples of Economic unions on this site if you'd like to learn more!
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/economics/economic-union/

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While the chapter in our current module states the different organizations and what globalization is, I did not see much information on when it began, or who even started the idea of globalization. Scholars like to say that Columbus during his journey to the new world is when globalization started to come about, but it's all speculation. In the earliest parts of grade school we learn about the Silk road which were trade routes used between 50 B.C.E and 250 C.E.. This is the EARLIEST well-know example of the start of globalization. For example; there was the discovery of METALLURGY (field of science and technology concerned with metals and their production of purification). This is when the people during this time figured out how to create coins.

It would take days for me to go over all of the advances that we had during the Silk road era, but for now this is what i have for you!

If you'd like to read more I pulled my information from this website. It's super interesting and goes into detail about how we created currency and how we traded other things that innovated many objects like, transportation.
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/globalization

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Workplace Diversity came around 1964 (maybe a little sooner, I couldn't find a clear answer). In todays society Diversity is now more than racial, gender, and religious differences. We incorporate, personalities, sexual orientation, thinking styles and many other traits that influence the way people see the world. Once diversity is achieved the next step is to make sure everyone is engaged socially and professionally. I tried to look up more information that is credible but a lot of the websites representing information on work place culture and diversity were blogs, which did not have references.

So from what I've read in each article, and also from our textbook, I can conclude that work diversity and culture is important because it allows people from difference races, genders, sexual orientations, people of different thinking styles and preference, come together in the work place and help expand and grow the company but also giving the employees a sense that they belong and are wanted regardless of all those characteristics.

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Positives and barriers of Diversity in the work place 

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Positives and barriers of Diversity in the work place 

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Even though I read about this in the module i wanted to look up more information regarding what diversity brings to the table in the work place. Diversity has been studied and proven to increase creativity in the work place. With the many different backgrounds this allows people to learn different ways of doing things and understands others values to be able to incorporate this into the work place creates a positive welcoming environment.

The more diversity, the more productivity. Everyone in the office won't be the same in terms of skills, abilities or even critical thinking. This will incline productivity and also ideas.

Diversity in the work place is a lot of the time what people seek when applying for a job. If someone doesn't feel they fit in this creates a bad environment an a higher turnover.

Even though diversity creates so many positive outlooks for many companies it's not always easy to achieve. Most places may find transitioning an employee into the office to be proven difficult. Many companies don't have the right training or classes to help with the transition as well. The biggest issue with this is language barriers. English is of course a big language but with everyone expanding their vocabulary and the many people migrating from other countries that speak other languages, it could be difficult for a non-native speaker to help someone of a different language transition into the work place.

This is the website I pulled my information from if you would like to learn more.
https://www.wgu.edu/blog/barriers-benefits-diversity-workplace1906.html#close

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Around the same time Mr. Taylor presented his Theory of scientific management, Mr. Weber was defining bureaucratic management and producing tons of theories based on effective management, which is in fact still used today in the corporate industry.

Max Weber was born in 1864 and was a German sociologist. He too wrote a book, it was named " The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" in 1905.

Before his book, he came to the United States in 1904 to study our capitalism. While he observed our ways he notices that we shared economic relationships in the chain of management. He started to think that Germany did not share anything; Instead people of the higher status were the rulers of economy. These people that controlled the economy in Germany only connected with those of higher social statuses, or that of family and social relationships. He also recognized that resources obtained for the business were used for the gain of the owners and not to invest in the growth and development of the companies.

Upon observing the two economies, Weber came to the conclusion that rational organization would be the best route to set up a company. He came up with the definition for Weberian Bureaucracy; 'Bureaucracy is an organizational structure that is characterized by many rules , standardized processes, procedures and requirements, number of desks, the meticulous division of labor and responsibility, clear hierarchies and professional, almost impersonal interactions between employees'

He believed that this structure had to be dispersed throughout all big organizations.

If you'd like to read more about Max Weber here is the website I used to gather my information: https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/max-weber-theory-of-bureaucracy-2/

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After learning about Henry Fayol I took it upon myself to research other people that were involved in the beginning stages of management, and how they contributed. Frederick Winslow Taylor, born March 20, 1856 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was married and had 3 children. Mr. Taylor was a mechanical engineer that wrote a book by the name of " Principles of scientific management" in 1909. He wrote about how to keep things simple in the workplace, and how simplicity would improve work productivity. He also believed that instead of a manager assigning work to an employee, that both needed to work together to achieve productivity.  He formed this opinion around the fact that during the industrial revolution in the many factories, managers had no communication with any of the employees working under them; which led to his belief that this made workers more unproductive.

If you'd like to learn more about this here is the website I grabbed my information from.
https://www.greatmanagers.com.au/management-theory-origin/

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I've been very vocal to my family about finishing up my degree. This class is going to leave me with 12 more notes left towards my Associates degree. While learning each note takes time, with a little practice I hope to reach First soprano by the end of the semester. The road to a degree has been everything except for easy, but even with all the flat notes and the tune ups I've been able to add some sharp ones in the end .

I am 23 years old with an almost two year old son named Ezra. I work full time at a small law firm downtown, and have started being more active at them gym. After a year of taking off school because of my traumatic c-section and recovery , I am back and ready to finish to better my future.