Part 7: Control System Design

 

MGMT 2026: Management and Leadership

Part 7: Control System Design

Charlie Alix

 

 

The team I decided to report on is my recreational hockey team. Our team is called The Dogglers, and usually every season(October to March) has twenty members to it. Our common goal we strive for every year is to win our beer league Stanley cup. Though winning is a driving force on our team, some of our other goals is to get a decent work out in and to have a camaraderie between our teammates.

 

Output control- Since Output control focuses on measuring and managing results, it could be applied to our recreational hockey by setting some sort of performance goals for our team. We can set a number of penalty minutes that our team is allowed to take during our games and by that, tell which players are causing our collective team problems. Since it is hard to tell if a player is to directly to blame or if the referees just do not like us. Using output control, we will be able to emphasize the results to the player that Is causing problems, rather than their specific action.  

 

Behavioural control- Behavioural control could involve setting clear rules, standards and guidelines for our teams on ice conduct like sportsmanship and respect for the refs and other team we are playing against. The best way to demonstrate this is to lead by example. One of the ways we can monitor this control is by looking at penalty minutes and the number of suspensions for each individual player. Also, communication between individuals is I think the best way to reinforce these guidelines

 

Clan control- Clan Control fosters a positive culture where everyone feels valued and motivated. Having these shared beliefs within our team will help regulate our behavior, and to help achieve our desired outcome of not loosing our cool and winning a championship. This will help build a positive team culture based on our camaraderie and shared goals. We could participate in team bonding activities like group outings to help a cohesion among team members.

 

Our team constantly has problems with controlling their emotions and showing sportsmanship. By having all three forms of control guiding our team to a more positive, safe and bonding experience for everyone involved. We can measure through the use of output control. Setting clear standards with the behavioural control and setting an example of positive culture through Clan control.  

 

Part 6. Managing a Diverse Team

 

MGMT 2026: Management and Leadership

Personal Learning Cloud / e-Portfolio

Part 6. Managing a Diverse Team

 

By: Charlie Alix

 

The interview I had decided to do my research comes from a Ted Talk. In this Ted talk, a woman named Lesa Bradshaw gives her perspective on life as a disabled person in the workplace. Lesa is a business entrepreneur who has become well-recognized for her influence in building a disability- confident economy. She works with employers, public and private institutions, and a collaborative network of allies to reposition the value of disability to business.

 

An example of challenges she addresses that people with disabilities in the workplace tend to face is pre-determined judgement based on somebodies’ disability. They tend to judge somebodies’ abilities based on what they see. She says this comes from a lack of understanding of disability. With a lack of understanding, people tend to have a low bar set of expectations and getting credibility for doing regular things. She talks about when she tells people that she is going to a work conference, people will tell her how brave she is, and her thinking to herself” Not really, I am not a fire fighter, I am just going to work”. Or she will hear somebody say “ Wow, you champion”, and she will think “ Not so much, really”

 

The problem with this in the workplace is if they set low bench marks, then they will not see the value that the person brings or can actually add to your organization. With this, organizations can also tend to assign which jobs they feel are suitable for people with a disability.

 

Some strategies people in the workplace can adapt to help people of disabilities are to stop deciding what people with a disability can and can’t do. Focus on the abilities, skills and talents of the individual. Emphasize on what people can do besides on what they cannot. Along with this we can promote Self-determination to empower the individual.

 

Some other strategies organizations can use to help with people of disability are training and awareness programs. Train employees to raise awareness about disabilities and educate them on how to interact respectfully and inclusively with work mates that have a disability. Create a culture of understanding and acceptance. Certain policies and procedures could be put into place that promote inclusion and prohibit discrimination based on disability.

 

Challenge any discriminatory practices. Being aware of any attitudes or discriminatory practices that would potentially limit the opportunity of an individual with a disability.

 

Most importantly, you can lead by example. Demonstrate leadership of respect, empathy and inclusiveness in the workplace. Set expectations for inclusive behavior and hold people accountable for upholding these values.

By adopting these strategies and principles, organizations can create and environment where individuals with disabilities are empowered to reach their full potential, contribute meaningfully to their workplace and thrive in their respected careers.

 

 

Part 5: Organizational Structure Design

Charlie Alix 

 

The organization I have chosen to research is the True North Sports entertainment. They are partly responsible for bringing the Winnipeg jets back to Winnipeg and have partnered with Thompson and Richardson to get it done. I am not a member of the organization, but I am an avid fan of Winnipeg jets hockey. True norths Vision is to establish themselves as an integral asset to the City of Winnipeg and Province of Manitoba, and to be a consistent source of ourselves of pride for our entire community. There Mission is to provide superior patron experience in all of our facilities, developing championship caliber hockey teams, nurturing, and providing opportunities for our colleagues, and collectively making a meaningful and consistent contribution to our community.

 

Some of the organization’s external environmental factors that have had an impact on the company was covid-19. Covid was one of the toughest times the company had to dace for multiple challenges. They state that even though the year had brought unforeseen challenges, it also demonstrated the resilience and the results of what a group who share a common purpose can do. Navigate through covid obstacles, safely resume events, and continue to make a meaningful and consistent contribution to our community. Currently the organization does have some troubles with fans not having spending money as they once had, with the current state of the country’s inflation. A lot of fans stay at home now and watch from there televisions instead of being at the game and spending money on drinks and food for the families. Lower attendance is concerning for the organization, but the owners have publicly stated that Winnipeg does not have to worry about loosing there team again as they state, “ Hockey belongs in Winnipeg.”

 

True North has ten entities under its umbrella including Canada life center, the Winnipeg jets franchise, and the burton cummings theatre. They are backed by one of the richest people in Manitoba ( Dave Thomson). These are all sources of income for the organization. True North also has volunteers to help work games and a valuable Human resources program that offers great benefits to  all of its employees. They offer and help pay for employee programs that lead to better positions in the organization.

I think the ideal structure for True norths organization would be the Functional Structure. With thousands of people employed, it is important that the right people are doing the appropriate job. For example, people with proper accounting degrees would be hired into finance. People who are more entry level positions are able to work the front doors scanning tickets or can work the convivence stands. If someone is training to becoming a police officer, they can do their tenure as a security guard. With so many arrays of jobs available, this kind of organization has a high degree of specialization available.   

 

 

References:

: https://jetsmedia.ca/tnse/

https://www.tnse.com/news/at-true-north-everything-goes-back-to-the-vision-mission-values/

Part 4: Applied Motivation

 

Dogglers is a hockey club that I play/manage for every winter season. Every year our goal is to win the championship. My role is to find a few members usually. We do have a core that plays every year, but some go every year. I must collect the monies from everyone to pay the league. I also must collect the fines we get handed for people getting to rowdy. We  have to manage people’s emotions to. Hockey is a high paced, exerting sport that can bring out the emotions of people, even in beer league.. A lot of the motivating I must do is to actually get the guys who paid monies to play, to come out. As we get older, everyone is getting busier, everyone is also getting more tired. So, it is up to us to constantly get them to the games regularly.

 

We will go with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation techniques. Using internal sources of motivation such as commodore and getting better at the sport. Also, extrinsic motivation with tangible rewards such as beer and wings, a good workout and winning a championship. I will now go through each motivator and explain why I think they will increase motivation.

 

·         Winning a championship- Using goal setting for the next couple of motivational actions, it is a challenge our team must face but it is achievable. To win the championship! This is our ultimate team goal to keep us motivated throughout the season.

·         Rewards with beer and wings- Along with the goal setting theory mentioned above, we can motivate the fellers with rewards of wings and beers for after the game. For some players there pure motivate to the game is to have some wings and to hang out with the guys.

·         Commodore- Ranking third in Maslow’s Hierarchy, the need to bond with other humans with friendship is an effective way for motivating players to come out. Half of beer league hockey is the commodore with the fellers!

·         Learn to get better- Using the expectancy theory, regularly coming out will result in a favorable outcome of just getting better at the game. It is much more difficult to get better at the game when you only play once out of five games.

·         Good workout- Going along with the expectancy theory, one of the components is Valence. The reward of a solid workout will benefit the player ten folds with the everyday life. The amount of exercise you can get out of a competitive game does make up for the cheeseburger after.  

·         Build up my teammates- Motivating our teammates by giving them positive feedback about good plays they have done or letting them know about the progression they have had through out the year. This will help keep them motivated to continue to come out and play.

 

In conclusion, the overall motivation plan will need a team effort. Some of the strongest motivators I find are achievements, recognition, growth, and advancement. With communication and reinforce support, out team can achieve its goal.

Part 3: Personal Leadership Philosophy

 

MGMT 2026: Management and Leadership

Personal Learning Cloud / e-Portfolio

Part 3: Personal Leadership Philosophy

By: Charlie Alix

Table of contents

-Personal Leadership Philosophy

-People I admire.

-Visual representation my leadership philosophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personal Leadership Philosophy

The type of Leader I want and think I can be is someone who listens to there team. Someone who takes in input from there team and can use these inputs to make better decisions and to help reach our common goal. I like active involvement from my peers and would expect honest praise and criticism. I think the ideal leadership style for me is the Democratic leadership style. According to IVEY Academy, a democratic, facilitative, or participative leadership places a high value on the knowledge, skills, and diversity of their team. They develop confidence in their leadership by utilizing the collective wisdom their team has to offer, they are leader- breeders. This is my type of strategy as I feel I do work well with others and help others build confidence. Some characteristics of a democratic leadership style is inclusive, collaborative, and trust-building. All of these I think have been demonstrated at red river when working and completing group assignments.

 

The behaviors I want to set forth  as a leader are confidence or self- confidence, to lead by example and to lead with honesty. Being confident in yourself and confident in the decisions you are making is a vital part of being a leader I feel. Leading by example and holding yourself to the same standards as your peers is also a great motivator. Finally, being honest and truthful with my team. These are all great behaviors of a leader I have but are also great ways to build trust with your team. Which brings us to the next topic beliefs.

Some of the beliefs I think are important to being a leader is trust and sense of vision. Trust is particularly important to me. Trust that the things will get done. Trust in collaboration and teamwork. Trust in your team. To me a successful team cannot function unless they trust in each other. Having a vision is critical in being a leader as well. Always being forward looking and having a clear focus on what needs to get done. Having a vision that you employees can see helps maintain a purpose in their work. These are important traits to me, and I bring these types of traits to the workplace.

 

The values I will use to direct me are empowerment, empathy, and resilience. I want myself and my team to be able to face adversity and be able to recover from setbacks. This can go back to the behaviors and leading by example. Addressing problems as soon as the occur and minimize impacts. This is being resilient, and I feel is necessary in being a leader but also in the workforce and in life. This can lead to a behavior we had talked about in confidence, but it could also empower somebody. Having your colleagues trusted, capable, being able to produce solutions and to get better at there jobs is the leader I strive to be. Finally, empathy. Empathy has always been important to me. Being able to build genuine connections with your team creates a stronger team- bond, which I believe results in improved efficiency, productivity, and overall happiness. All important in being an effective leader and traits I feel I have demonstrated one way or another.

 

 

Behaviors	Beliefs	Values
Confidence	Equality	Empowerment
Lead by example	Vision	Empathy
Honest		Resilience

 

 

People I Admire

Sidney Crosby-  Sidney Crosby is a Canadian Ice hockey player from Nova scotia. He has won at every level of hockey you can play from juniors to a Stanley cup, to an Olympic gold medal. Crosby has never had a scandal that could tarnish his reputation but has just played hockey and led his teams to championships repeatedly. Some characteristics of Crosby is, he is a collaborator and makes everyone around him better. He empowers people. He is always a pass first guy and does not look for the limelight. He always has the mindset of continuous improvement. Whether its on the ice or off the ice he is proactively trying to better himself.

 

Joe Sakic- Joe Sakic was my childhood hockey hero, that I looked up to as long as I can remember. He has been retired from the NHL for quite some time now, but his leadership will always be respected in the hockey world. Joe set examples of continuous hard work right from junior years. He was soft spoken. A lot of times he would not have to say a word but more lead by example. He was also very unselfish and empathetic. To me this was Sakic’s best quality. He really emphasized this when they had one there second Stanley cup. Instead of raising the cup over his head, he had passed it to a man that had been in the league for 22 years and had never won in. Excellent show of sportsmanship and unselfishness.

 

Elon Musk-  Now this one might be controversial, but I do feel Elon is a pioneer in today’s world and leading by example. From developing PayPal in the 90’s, Tesla (electric Cars) or Star link. All these things are beneficial and useful in today’s world. PayPal (or Online Money transfers) is used more than ever, electric cars are now the future and Star link has been beneficial to people all over the world and say in northern communities, especially in Canada. Some characteristics Elon has that I have notice is imagination. He had to be imaginative to be able to produce these ideas. Resilient or Self- Confident is another characteristic. He once had his own heroes (Neil Armstrong) express doubts on the projects he was doing. He continued even though these comments really hurt him. Having a clear strategic vision, Elon has demonstrated over and over that he has a vision and how he wants to get things done.

 

Visual representation my leadership philosophy

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/academy/insights/2020/01/13-common-leadership-styles/

https://www.villanovau.com/articles/leadership/democratic-leadership-style/

https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/leader-values

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Ilyafs  ( Picture)

MGMT2026- Part 2 Decision Making

 

MGMT 2026

Case Name: A Good Team Player 

Topic: Leadership  MGMT06

By: Charlie Alix

 

In this case, a man named Steven ( Assistant Department manager) meet the newly appointed supervisor of Steven’s work section Kristin. Kristin had asked if there was any suggestions on how to make the payables section a better place to work. Steven replied with something on his mind for a little while, that some people seemed to him to gain promotions and be given opportunities to work overtime based on who liked them, and not by quality of their work. Kristin politely stated she would do everything that she could to see whatever steven was talking about would have no place in the team.

 The next day he got called into her office. Kristin basically wants him to tell on the managers/employees that he was referring to and to keep her informed on anyone else that could be hurting the company. Steven now has to come up with a response to the new supervisor. 

 

Decision Criteria-  The value of the decision to be made is based on what I feel is important to me and the company. Things like honesty, trust, company loyalty, fairness, and friendship.

 

	1	2	3	4	5
How the new manager will feel about me or possibly treat me			X
How my colleagues will feel about me telling on them					X
How H.R or the Union would feel about me not discussing the situation with them					X

 

 

Alternatives

1^st)Tell her you are a team player and will not “rat” on your fellow teammates. Instead offer a solution of some how keeping track of who gets more promotions or opportunities.

2^nd) Tell her who you feel is getting the opportunities. If you do this, you must be able to back up your information.

3^rd) Consult human resources, Union rep. or higher management. They could possibly help or give guidance on the proper way to deal with these situations.  

 

Evaluate Alternatives

 

1^st) The first alternative would give me a score of 5/13. This would affect the way the new manager looks at me. My fellow employees would be really happy I took this route. This alternative does not take into consideration on what is the ethical or proper protocol to take with H.R or union reps of the company.

2^nd) The second alternative really looks out for the new manager, this weighted criteria would be a 3/13 as it only takes into account how the new manager feels. My fellow employees would be really disrespected and upper management might tell me that is the improper way of handling this situation.

3^rd) The third alternative's weighted criteria would be 13/13 as it takes into account all angles. It considers the new manager, upper management and could be looking out for fellow employees.

 

 

 Selecting the best Alternative

 

3^rd) Consult with upper management

The third option is the best option as it fills the weighted criteria (13/13) and it covers all the basic’s to protect yourself and your fellow employees. Taking this situation to Hr., Union reps, or just upper management will make sure you are doing to proper procedures without burning any bridges with your friends or your new manager. While ultimately covering your behind.

MGMT-2026 Part 1: Planning

Personal Vision:

It is hard to imagine where I see my career 10 years from now, I would like to think I have a career in sales or procurement somewhere. If not that I could see myself in a logistics company as well, maybe CN, CP, or bison.  I could also see us keeping the family business going. Basically, i would like to have a good stable career. 

 

Personal Mission Statement:  To help with my vision I will continue to do the best work I can and help the most people as possible. I will finish school and continue to network and develop relationships with peers at red river. I have met some many wonderful people that have continued to keep in touch with, even if we haven't had a class together in a year. These relationships could potentially help me in the future, as i could potentially help them as well.

 

Smart Goals (3): 

1 Short term Smart goal: Continue to quit smoking. Currently at the 1 month 

Specific- Continue my Goal of quitting smoking cigarettes. 

Measurable- I can measure this goal by the amount of money I have saved from buying packs of cigarettes. 

achievable- This is achievable as I have attained this for two weeks now and will continue to stay off them. 

Realistic- This goal is within reach and realistic. I must continue to stay on this path for the betterment of my health.

Timely-  This goal has started January 1, 2024, but will continue for a long time. there is no end to this goal as it will be a challenge for a little while longer. 

 

1 Medium Term Smart Goal: A medium term goal could be Buy a house/

Specific-Simple Medium-term goal is to buy a house. It was once a long-term goal but now seems more realistic.

Measurable- This can be measurable by the savings in my bank account but as well as the physical house. 

Achievable- With completing college, and continuing to save money, I have the skills and resources to achieve this goal.

Realistic- This goal has become more realistic as the time has passed. Years ago, this seemed more like a pipe dream that is no attainable. 

Timely- A date for me to accomplish this would be at the end of this year. This leaves me enough time to continue saving, finish school, get the resume ready for a better career and be set and happy.

 

1 Long Term Smart Goal:  Graduate from Red River. Was once a long-term Goal turned short. 

Specific- This goal is to finish and graduate at red river with the business degree. This was a two-year goal that is now on the last quarter. Not only finish school but finish with at least 3.8-4 gpa. 

Measurable- This can be measured by the current grades I have accumulated over the past year and half. Basically, must keep up with what I have been doing.

Actionable- Actions I must take to complete this goal is to continue to complete all assignments that are given to me. Continue studying the textbooks.

Realistic- Again in 2022 this goal seemed very difficult, almost impossible for me as someone who never took post secondary school, has become more realistic then ever. 

Timebound- I should finish this term by April 2024. This started in 2022.