WEEK 15: Final Reflection

Basically what I have learned from my applied study experience was how to be a better communicator and how to multi-task. In being a student of the Interdisciplinary program at Arizona State University it has taught me how to deal with many different situations all at once. I feel that having two concentration areas instead of one has taught me to be a more well rounded individual. In studying two different concentration areas I believe it has prepared me for what lies ahead in the near future. Wherever we end up as individuals there is always going to be diversity and we have to learn how to overcome these obstacles. Many times when one person gets caught up in one area of study they have tunnel vision when it comes to thinking outside of the box. I feel confident that over the years I have learned to think outside of the box and part of this growth has been given credit to he BIS program at ASU. I have gained so many skills that will be essential to my future growth as a young adult. First the skill of communication. I feel college has prepared me to now go live life in the "real world" and hopefully has set me up for success. Also having the skill to be able think for myself will hopefully make me successful in my near future. I am a big believer that if you follow your heart and continue to strive for your passion success will be reached in time. I definitely feel for the most part that this was a positive experience for me. I have really started to reflect on my life in the last few weeks or so thinking how hard I have worked and how far I have come to finally become a college graduate. Becoming a college graduate is something that is not easy, many people never finish this task so I am proud of myself for that. It has been a struggle at times but I am glad I will finish, persistance is key and that is what will continue to make me succeed in life after college.

WEEK 13: Organizational Problems

I believe that sometimes my company could improve in their communication skills. Sometimes when customers come into our shop they are not greeted properly. People on the sales floor will sometimes let the customer wonder around for quite some time before the customer is asked what their specific needs are. The company could achieve a greater level of success if they came in with the attitude that we need need to meet each and every individuals needs right away when they walk in the door. Basically integrating ideas of communication with customer satisfaction would be a good way to go about fixing this problem. By greeting and communicating with the customer this will allow the company to gain more positive feed back. Due to the customer walking out those doors with a smile on their face and being satisfied with their experience in our store it will make us have continued success. This will also lead to new business due to us having referrals through word of mouth spreading on the street. I basically would make this happen if I were the boss by having a paid work meeting so all of my employees didn't feel like I was waisting their time. I would once again stress the idea of making our work place an interdisciplinary manner and make sure we are all working together to reach the same goals. In order to do this we need customers walking through our doors and if we don't greet them properly we will not have continued business and customers will go else where. I would really stress the importance of working together to make sure our business will run as smoothly as possible.

WEEK 12: Applying your 302 qualitative skills

I recently just conducted an interview with Sean the person I followed at my internship this past week. On a daily basis the types of challenges he faces is being able to keep all the customers happy on a daily basis. In order for a company to run efficiently you need to be able to satisfly as many customers needs as possible. This is one of the largest tasks he says because if your not taking care of your customers needs then your cliental obviously will not return. Basically when dealing with the stress of the business he says he copes with it by taking in a deep breath and just trying to understand the person he is dealing with at that specific point in time. He also said that it is a pretty laid back job in the sense of deadline stress. There is not really any specific quotas he needs to meet on a daily basis. He also said that there is absolutely nothing that he dislikes about his position because he is working in a music shop! His dream is to someday own his own shop so he looks at it as good experience. He also enjoys working with others in the shop, he likes me the boss and all the other employees who are employed with the company. It is important to get along with all your co-workers in order to make your company run efficiently. Sean is currently enrolled in school and is receiving a degree in business and music and feels that specific degree will work perfect for his career goals. He obviously loves music and by learning how to run a business will help him to achieve his goals in the future. Sean also respects our boss alot because he says he looks up to him hoping to be able to run a successful business like him one day. He just hopes that I am also getting alot out of my intership and that he will also be successful in his near future.

WEEK 11: Shadow a Colleague

Since I am working in a small music shop I pretty much have shadowed every individual that works there for at least a day or so. The individual I shadowed recently was one who worked the front desk and did all the side work for the business. Basically they walked in and then clocked in, after this they would confront the boss and see what activities needed to be completed for the day in order for the shop to run efficiently. Basically they would greet the customers who walked in the front door and see if there was anything they could help them with, then they would direct them in the right direction of the product that would best fit their needs. That is basically it, just basically helping customers, putting stock on the walls, tuning guitars for the customers to play etc. Basically everything I did when I shadowed this individual was common sense, just making sure the customer is always satisfied the moment they walk through your doors. After the day came to an end we would count the droor and straighten up the shop and vacuum. After all of these tedious activities were completed, like all shops, we would clock out and then lock up. Many of the activities I participated in like I said earlier was common sense but it is good to study another individual and get some extra pointers on how to successfully run a business.

Week 9: Letter to a prospective employer

Dear Fender,

My name is Chris Bandusky and I am currently finishing my final semester at Arizona State University. My two areas of concentration include (Business and Music) which I believe would be a perfect fit for your company. On the business side of things I have completed courses in marketing, finance, computer web design development and much more. In the music side I have completed courses in performance, music history, music theory, aural perception, fretboard harmony etc. I understand that when you work for a company such as Fender, you need to know more than just music. You need to have an understanding of how a business works and how to work with other people whether they be co-workers or clients. Many people fail to realize that when pursuing a career you have to educate yourself the best you can to be prepared for what lies ahead. I feel as an ASU graduate (coming up) that I have prepared myself the best I can for a position with your company. I have been a musician since the age of 8 and continue to pursue it today. When I started college I also decided to receive a degree in business because I felt this would compliment the music side extremely well. I feel I would be a strong asset to your company because I am educated, motivated, and have a strong desire to succeed in life. I am also a great people person and can communicate with anybody. I am a very loyal and passionate person and really have a strong desire to work for your company. The company I currently work for I have been with them for over 4 years and have stayed committed to them just as this would carry over to you. I really hope after examining this letter that you gain a strong sense of my desire to work for your company. Thank you again for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,

Chris Bandusky

WEEK 7: THINKING ABOUT YOUR FUTURE

When thinking about my own future and how my applied study site relates makes me feel confident I am interning in the right place. This is something I could totally see myself doing in the future because I am interning in a music shop. Being a musician I obviously love music and just being around other people who have the same passion for it that I do. Interning in a music shop gives me an opportunity to be around other individuals who have a strong passion for their craft. After I graduate my future career goals are to relocate to Nashville and perform and do studio work for a living. When I get a bit older I then would not mind opening up my own music shop and offering quality products to the community I would be located in. Every day is a new experience and I take it and digest it as best I can so I can learn and apply it to my goals for the future. The only thing that I don't like about my site is that I am not the owner! Sometimes I wish I could just run the shop on my own cause I feel I would have so many great ways of advertising and promoting the shop to generate more business. I am very passionate and a hard worker at what I do and feel I could succeed in my own business. The skills I am learning at this site is mainly how to run your own business. I have always been a people person so I am not too worried about communicating with customers, I am just learning how to run and operate the business because there is so many tedious parts that take place to run it properly. Since I am not an educational major I would not consider working in that field but I would love to be successful in the music industry!

WEEK 5: Concentration areas to applied study site

The first concept I would like to start out with is the idea of communication. Communication is key for any business to succeed whether large or small. At my internship I make sure I communicate with the boss on a daily basis to make sure we are on the same page. If I failed to do this there could be problems such as: wrong orders, wrong prices etc. Even though I seem to understand everything that is taking place in this environment I always make sure I ask him what specifically needs to be done for that day. With communication comes the right preparation in order to help your business succeed. Next I would like to discuss the idea of creativity in the workplace. I make sure that all of our product in our store is in the best positioning for its intended purpose. By doing this will hopefully catch the attention of the consumer and make them want to shop in our environment. I believe creativity plays a big role in the success of a business. The idea of "thinking outside the box" is something every business must address when attempting to promote their product. By being productive and creative in the work place will help better the sales for your company. Another concept is the idea of self expression. By expressing yourself in the workplace you can bring new ideas to the table. If you are thinking "outside the box" and have a suggestion for your boss, he/she might really enjoy the idea and pursue it. Also with you speaking up and giving suggestions might get you recognized for a promotion one day if it is to come along. Being able to follow directions and communicate with your colleagues is important but also expressing your opinions is another important aspect to contribute to the work place. Lastly, I would like to discuss the idea of wisdom. With experience comes wisdom, so I make sure I listen to my boss everyday very closely. Even though I may not agree 100% of the time with his ideas, I still know he has had more experience than me. Through his experiences he has gained the knowledge to run his shop successfully, so I make sure I just listen and focus on what needs to be done. Like I stated earlier, every now and then I will throw out some suggestions but for the most part I take his advice and then contribute to making the music shop a more successful environment.

Often times many organizations tend to take a multidisciplinary approach to their business sometimes without even realizing it. Taking a multidisciplinary approach means that each individual is working in their department on their own tasks they need to complete for their company. In doing this (even though they do their part to help the company) they sometimes tend to fail communication with other departments within their organization. In doing this employees sometimes have no idea what the goal or the final outcome is that the company is trying to achieve. Now if they choose to work in an interdisciplinary manner employees will still perform their same tasks but tend to have more communication between departments. This now opens up a higher level of communication and each employee knows exactly what each and every individual is trying to achieve. This leads back to the old term "team work" which is essential for an organization to strive for success. The organization I am doing my internship with does tend to work in a more interdisciplinary manner. Since it is a family owned music shop they communicate with each other (including myself) to make sure each individual is on the same page. We make sure each employee knows when shipments are coming in, orders need to be made, parents for their childrens lessons need to be contacted etc. With this type of communication taking place it makes the business run very smooth. We don't necessarily have teams or different departments in the music shop since it is a small family owned business. Like I stated earlier though we work as a team in an interdisciplinary manner and this sets the business up for success and with hopes of expanding in the future. I would also say the overall organizational structure of our workplace is most likely a matrix style. We frequently use teams of employees to accomplish work in order to take advantage of the company strengths.

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WEEK 2: Introducing myself, my blog and my applied study site.

Hows it going everybody my name is Chris Bandusky and my two concentration areas are Business and Music. I chose these two areas because obviously I am a musician and I wanted to have some good credentials to go along with it which is why I chose Business. These two concentrations are reflective of my identity because I have a passion for music but I am also a very social person as well. In order to be successful as a musician you also need personal skills to sell yourself and your business on why it is better than your competitor and this is where business gets applied. The site of my applied study is located in a music shop where I am operating the desk, repairing instruments, and learning the business side of things by ordering product etc. What I also hope to learn from my site academically and personally is just how to operate your own business. Everyone knows if you choose to open your own place it is not an overnight success, there are many long and hard earned hours that are put into it in order for it to succeed accordingly. I hope that with this internship I will just get a better sense of what would need to be done in order for me to run my own business one day. The responsibilities I have accomplished there so far is like I stated earlier just being able to run the music shop on my own in many different ways: sales, desk work, ordering product, promoting product etc. All of these responsibilities come into play into what I have been studying in many different ways. On a daily basis at ASU I learn about different styles and genres of music while in the business program I have done finance, marketing etc. All of these classes go hand in hand if you want to run your own shop successfully. Since graduation is just around the corner for me (in May) my future goals are to obviously be successful at my passion. I have plans to relocate to Nashville Tennessee in hopes of getting my start in music and then take it from there with the business side of things. I hope to be able to perform for a living first and then later on in life open my own business and continue developing and distributing musical product since music is my life! Once again, after I graduate college this May it is only the start but I hope my near future is a promising one since I have worked so hard to achieve my goals so far!!
- Chris