#3- Organization of a Team

Over the past three summers I have worked as a senior deckhand (first mate) on a architectural river boat that traverses the Chicago River. Each boat consists of teams of five people: one captain, one senior deckhand, and three ordinary deckhands. The captain is the leader of the crew and the main responsibility is to drive and dock the boat safely for each tour. It is his job to check the engines and make sure everything mechanical is working correctly and that the boat is safe. The captain has to have a captains license specific for large passenger vessels obtained through the United States Coast Guard. Next in line is the senior deckhand, or first mate. He has been trained by the captain and must pass tests given by the company and the Coast Guard in order to be certified. His main responsibilities are to make sure everything is secure and is in charge of any problems that arise with the passengers during the tour. He also is responsible, if anything were to happen to the captain, to get the passengers docked and to safety. The senior deckhand will take orders from the captain and pass them along to the deckhands. The main job of the deckhands is to make sure that the boat is clean and looks good for paying customers. Depending on experience level they can be given more responsibility, but if something were to go wrong blame would come down onto the captain and the senior.

The team works much in a fashion of the simple hierarchy described in Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. There is a group of people at the bottom, or deckhands, who have very little interaction with the boss, or captain. In between those two levels lies a mediator, the senior deckhand, who communicates with both levels but handles most of the problems with the lower levels on his own and doesn't get the boss involved.

Over the past few summers I worked my way up from deckhand to senior deckhand. Once I obtained the title of senior deckhand my main responsibilities were to make sure that the deckhands were doing what they were supposed to , passengers boarded the vessel safely, and that everything was safe and secure on the boat during the trip. Since the captain is in a pilot house at the front of the boat he cannot effectively see what is happening behind him on the main and lower decks and very rarely has any interaction with the customers. We typically worked in the same group of five people everyday. Each boat had their own "crew" and for efficiency reasons thy would keep the crews together everyday.

In order for the day to run smoothly the crew had to work together and has to respond efficiently to any problems that arise during the day. Parts on the boat break, there are unruly passengers, recreation boats causing havoc on the river, and weather are just some of the obstacles that the crew has to overcome everyday. One way the team to be effective team has to have a common commitment toward the their working relationships. In order for everything to run smoothly people need to talk about their specific roles with each other and work to gather to try and make everyone happy so that the boat can operate successfully. Also, in order for the team to be successful we need to hold each other accountable if anything were to go wrong. If something goes wrong blame shouldn't necessarily fall solely onto the captain, but rather everyone who messed up should take blame to keep the tensions low and have an productive work environment.

A couple of problems arose last sumer, such as both the generating and engines failing. However, with the proper teamwork and training we were all able to work together and keep passengers calm, and fix the problem enough to get everyone off the boat and to safety. The captain was able to relay to me, the senior, that there was a problem with his steering and throttling and I was able to relay that information to the deckhands and we were able to work effectively because everyone knew there role and how to properly work together as a team.

#2 Opportunism

There was a time this summer when I acted in a pretty opportunistic way. My girlfriend, five of my other friends, and myself went to go see Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line, both country bands, this summer at Tinley Park Amphitheater in Chicago. If you don't know anything about Tinley Park there is a stage, then maybe 30 rows of seating, and then behind that is a huge hill full of first come-first serve basis. Well anyways, we had all bought lawn tickets for a pretty cheap price, and decided to go and have a good time, All of my friends are 21, so in the parking lot before the game they had quite a few drinks. I was the "designated driver" and didn't have any but was still planning on having a good time seeing some of my favorite bands in concert.
The concert was absolutely packed, but my friends refused to hurry along in the parking lot so we got some pretty low quality seats very high up in the stands. They didn't really care because they were going to have a good time no matter what, but I was kind of upset because I purposely got there early so that we could get good seats, and we still managed to make it happen. Well after the opening band played my girlfriend and I had to use the bathroom. The bathrooms at Tinley Park are a disaster and the lines are usually like 30 minutes long and it gets kind of rowdy. While I was in line I met a guy who was doing undercover security at the venue. We had a nice talk and at right before we got to the bathroom he told me to grab my girlfriend when she was done and he could get us down into "the pit" right in front of the stage.
He told us that he could only get us to into the pit so I had to make the decision between going back and hanging out with my friends or ditch them for a little bit for an opportunity for a once in a lifetime concert experience. I decided since they were already drunk enough and were the reason that we had such crappy seats to begin with, I was going to follow this guy to get down into the pit. We got in and it was one of the best experiences of my life. After the concert,we were able to find our friends again. It took a long time and we were some of the last people out of there because there is literally zero cell reception at the concert venue, but I was happy to have found them. We explained why we had disappeared and they were not too happy but it the end of the day it was pretty clear they were just jealous.
I made a selfish decision to ditch the people I went to the concert with, but I felt like I made the right decision. Also the concert venue lost money because I paid far less for my ticket than the other people in the pit who actually had to buy those tickets at full price. It was a great time though, and was one of the best nights of my life. If faced with the decision again i would definitely do the same.

#1-Transaction Costs

For the past year or so have been the the house treasurer for my fraternity. I am in charge of sending out bills and dues, making sure the house bills are getting paid, and keeping track of the houses finances. As accountant I am also on the so called "executive council" which consists of the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Risk, and a few other positions for a total of 8. The executive council is in charge of making sure everything in the house runs smoothly and is in charge of making rules for the house and disciplining people who break those said rules. Having 8 people making decisions leads to a lot of inconsistency and arguing amongst the members on the way that things should be run. It gets especially chaotic when dealing with fines and disciplinary measures. It makes it especially hard because sometimes you have to discipline some of your closest friends which no one ever wants to do. Another thing which makes things run less smoothly is that the leadership positions typically change every semester. With a mostly new board of people with new thoughts and ideas every few months, rules and regulations get changed quite often.

There are many transaction costs that go into making rules and regulations for the house. You need to make it a safe environment where everyone can call home, but on the other hand it is a house full of boys and sometimes they like to have some fun. You must create rules that are fair and reasonable and also ones that still allow people to stay happy and not turn against the leaders so that everything can run smoothly. With everyone so busy with school work, meetings and committees must be quick and efficient, which is a very difficult task when trying to make 8 people's opinions and concerns heard and satisfied.

Ronald Coase's Biography

Ronald Coase was born on December 29, 1910 in England. He was a Law professor at the University of Chicago for many years and also published many notable papers which include: "The Problem of Social Cost", "Nature of the Firm", and "The Lighthouse in Economics". Coase wrote one of his most famous papers, "Nature of the Firm" in 1937 at only 26 years of age. This paper discusses why people chose to organize themselves in business firms rather than having each one independently contracting for themselves. He is said to have introduced the concept of transaction costs and use that term throughout all his papers. Transaction costs are the costs each party incurs in the course of buying and selling things.

One of his other more famous papers is called "The Problem of Social Cost". This paper discusses his belief that government intervention is the only way to restrain people and companies in ways which are harmful to others. The paper also divulges into property rights using the famous example of the farmer and the rancher. Ronald Coase is also famous for the Coase Theorem which states that when conflicting property rights occur, bargaining between parties involved will lead to an efficient outcome regardless of which party is ultimately awarded property rights, as long as transaction costs are negligible.

Ronald Coase was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1991 for "his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy." Ronald Coase was an inspiration to many and his views changed the way we look at economics today. Ronald Coase passed away about a year ago on September 3rd, 2013 at the age of 102.