Financial Mismanagement

Reflection 1DebbieGlenfield

In this reflection project I am presenting a situation in which I cause a problem for someone else and reflect on my viewpoint, her viewpoint, management concepts that apply to the situation, and how to apply the management concepts in order to avoid the situation in the future.1

Negative Account Balance HUH ??? What happened?

Slide 2Setting- Bank ATM -I try to get cash and receive a receipt with a negative balance. How can that be? I am confused and angry, it must be an error, Im in a hurry and just need cash to grab some lunch and get back to work. I am worried about outstanding payments and checks that can cause disastrous financial repercussions if I dont find out right now what is happening and do some damage control. Im supposed to be back at work soon and call my supervisor and let her know that I need to take care of this now and promise to make up the time needed to keep up production before the end of the week. Some of the knots in my stomach were loosened when she told me it wasnt a problem as long as production was made by Saturday midnight-I can do that!

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Damage Control Find Error Tell

Slide 3Task Damage control---I am so nervous about what is wrong, Ive got to find the error with this account, I hurry home and pull up my online account, pull out the check book, try to find the error and check the status on any outstanding payments or checks. I find that the only check that has not cleared is the one I paid to LaNiece several days ago. LaNiece is a long time friend of my daughters that does housecleaning for us. With two small children and her husband out of work, I know that money is very tight for her. I feel awful that I am imposing further financial distress for her and embarrassed to call her and let her know that the check I wrote wont pay out.

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Take Action Apologize Explain & Offer Solution

Slide 4 Action - I call LaNiece and tell her that I have a problem with my account and there arent funds to cover the check I gave her. She deposited it last night and pulled up her online account and found that besides my check not going through, she has a charge for $35 on that and two of her other payments are returned and stamped insufficient funds. I feel horrible about this and offer to get the cash for her and pay for any over drafts fees.4

Apologize and Pay up

Slide 5Result - LaNiece calls back letting me know her bank charged her a $35 fee for the check I wrote, but agreed to remove the other fees in lieu of a cash deposit covering my check and the fee for that. I apologize, feeling awful for the problems Im creating in her day, get the cash I owe her and bring it to her.

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Reflection 2

LaNieces Viewpoint

Slide 6LaNieces Viewpoint

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Broke & Busy Mom

Setting I am at home with the kids busy with my daily routine of taking care of the babies, preparing meals and cleaning up. Debbie calls and says the check she wrote is going to bounce. Oh great, Im thinking-I really dont need one more problem to take care of today! I thought I had cash in my account to get diapers, a few groceries, and put some gas in the car.

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Check Account for Damages

Slide 8Task Im worried about what overdraft fees Ill be charged and check the online account. Debbies check was returned costing a $35 dollar fee and causing two other checks to bounce and incur more fees. I really need the money to get diapers tonight. Im not sure theres even enough gas in the tank for the extra runs I need to make now!

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Call Bank and Explain

Slide 9Action- I call the bank feeling frustrated about the situation and explained what happened. The associate was understanding and agreed to remove the insufficient funds charges for the checks I wrote and to resubmit them for payment after I make a deposit.

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Arghh! Busy Day Turned Hectic! Paid Too Much!

Slide 10Result Im so relieved that the bank removed those fees and Debbie got the cash to me quickly, but annoyed that now I need to pack up the kids, get gas and run to the bank.

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Reflection 3Management ConceptsMotivationControl

Slide 11Two of the management concepts that apply to this situation are motivation and control. The textbook on page 241 defines motivation as a set of forces that energize, direct, and sustain behavior. Both internal and external motivations play parts in this situation. The text book further explains on page 388, that to control means to adjust or bring about conformity to specifications or objectives that have been set. In this situation, I learned that my objective of paying as promised has not been met and that I need to make adjustments and to take control. To avoid having this embarrassing scenario repeat itself, a tactical approach, budgetary control, would need to be implemented along with continuous process improvements as detailed on page 364.

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External Motivation

Slide 12External Motivation: Punishment is an example of external motivation, in the book it is defined as an unwanted consequence that follows undesirable behavior that is intended to decrease the likelihood of that behavior being repeated (p. 255). In this case my punishment was the embarrassment of my financial problem affecting someone else and a $35 fee. This is motivation for me to take another look at my financial control process.12

Internal Motivation

Slide 13 The values I hold were an internal motivation and are what drove me to call LaNiece immediately to make amends by finding a way to get the cash I owed to her ASAP. Internal Motivation: Values. Values are defined in the texts glossary as fundamentally important behaviors, activities, and outcomes (p.486). My values are an internal motivation for me in this situation, it is important to me that I follow through with financial obligations and that the people I interact with are shown integrity and honesty.

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Tactical Control

Page 388 in the text says that to control means to adjust or bring about conformity to specifications or objectives that have been set. In this situation, I learned that my objective of paying as promised has not been met and that I need to make adjustments and take control. To avoid having this embarrassing scenario repeat itself, I need to gain control of my finances by taking a tactical control-budgetary control and implement continuous process improvements. P 364 14

Continuous Process Improvements

Continuous process improvements will be very useful for me to keep control of my finances. In the text on page 364, there are several processes that would help prevent this problem. The objective, or what I want to achieve, is an accurate knowledge of my financial situation. Many areas need to be taken into consideration. Impending bank fees, changes in their policies, debts owed, income, as well as other factors are important to the whole picture in the process improvement step. I need to take the time to consider all of these factors in order to achieve control.

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Reflection 4Self Evaluation

Self EvaluationImpulsive

There are several personality traits and characteristics I have that led to the behavior (writing a bad check) that created this situation. Impulsiveness led me to take on a financial situation before considering all of the relative data. My complacency in reviewing all the bank fees and policy changes gave me a false sense of security when checking the online balance for the account.

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Lessons Learned

Take Tactical Control

The lessons I learned in this situation will help achieve me to achieve effectual behaviors by applying important management concepts to my finances such as tactical control and continuous process improvements. By implementing these concepts I hope this situation will never recur.18

Understanding Situation

Reflecting on this experience from different viewpoints as well as assigning applicable management concepts has taught me a few things about how my personality traits led to my behavior and what management concepts I need to apply to improve. It has made me take a second look at the complacency I have acquired with the ease of online account accessibility. Another important management concept that I have neglected is continuous process improvements. This project has given me a deeper look into this situation and an understanding of what changes I can make to prevent this from occurring again.

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Improvement

This experience has helped me learn the importance of keeping accurate financial records and watching details closely. In order to maintain healthy and productive relationships in the future, I must show integrity in my financial dealings. By applying tactical control and continuous process improvements I can avoid further similar situations that will hurt my reputation as an honest person with integrity. 20