Discipline Investigation Essay

INTRODUCTION

A Discipline Investigation essay is a type of essay which guides students to explore the profession that they hope to join. After interviewing a professional of a particular field of study and doing outside research, students will learn the rules and patterns of a specific field that they wish to start their career in.

I choose business administration with a specialization in international business because I want to take a leadership role, such as a manager or a chief officer in a company. Since globalization has become a trend in doing business, an international business degree would provide me with sufficient knowledge to do business with people outside the U.S. This degree provides me with necessary skills to plan, organize, direct, and control an organization. Throughout the program, I will be studying theories and principles of accounting, finance, statistic, marketing, management, economy, and decision-making. All of the knowledge in my major will provide me with a framework to achieve my goals in my future career path, and the understanding of business administration encourages me in dealing with entrepreneurs such as the chief operating officer, business owners, managers, customers, etc. One of the reasons that leads me to choose this career is that I want to stand out from the crowd. I am a fluent user of many languages such as Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Therefore, I want to take advantages of knowing multiple languages since I believe multilingual users have competitive advantages when they do business internationally. I know that being a manager of a firm is very stressful; however, it pays a high salary. Most of the time, managers have the opportunity to travel abroad for business. By traveling to different countries, managers would have a chance to learn new things and meet with people from different cultures.

My interviewee is Mr. Ivan, and he is now the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at company X. Company X is in the medical device industry. He has worked in the medical device industry for ten years. In this Discipline Investigation Assignment, I will introduce Mr. Ivan’s background and career path, his role and responsibilities as a COO, and his communication skills. At the end of this assignment, I will share my thoughts about what I find in my interview and research.

INTERVIEW REPORT

Background and Career Path

Mr. Ivan is Chinese-Vietnamese. He can speak Vietnamese, Chinese, and English. He immigrated to the United States of America when he was twenty-two years old. Life was not easy for him when he first came to the USA. He encountered many difficulties like language barrier, culture barrier, financial difficulties, etc. It took him eight years to obtain his first college degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley because he had to work and study at the same time. I asked Mr. Ivan what motivated him to pursue higher education since he had to work full time to survive. He told me that he believed education is proportional with income; it means the more you learn the more you earn. Mr. Ivan was not the only one who believed that education would help people become more successful. In the article “IMF recommends ways countries can fight income disparities without slowing economic growth” by Christopher S, the author presents one suggestion to reduce income inequality from International Monetary Fund (IMF) is that “Governments should ensure that poorer citizens have access to higher education and health care. More education can help low-income people earn more and move up the income scale.”

Mr. Ivan informed me that at the time, when he came to the USA, anything related to medical industry could have a good potential future; this was the reason why he started his career in the medical device industry. Mr. Ivan worked at many companies prior to the start at company X, and all these companies are in his field of interest. Mr. Ivan started working as a technician at a medical device company since he was in community college. After obtaining a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, he worked as an engineer. After two years working in his initial position, he was promoted to manager, and then director. He worked in Research and Development, and Manufacturing Departments. Since he was the director of a company, he realized a need for obtaining a MBA degree. He said that a postgraduate degree could assist him to move to the top position. In the article “When having an MBA is Important” by Beth Braccio Hering, the author cites the book The MBA Student's Job-Seeking Bible by Elizabeth Freedman to emphasize the importance of having a MBA degree, and she cites: “Having an MBA -- as opposed to just a bachelor's degree in business -- is sort of like traveling someplace by plane instead of taking the train. With either business degree, you may eventually wind up at your final 'destination' -- but the MBA will get you there faster.”

After he had obtained his MBA degree from the University of Phoenix, he decided to leave the company and started his company X. Ivan’s position at company X is now Founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Mr. Ivan said that it was not easy for him to be the COO of the medical device company because not only did he have to acquire business management knowledge, but he also had to get a good grasp of mechanical engineering. He said that the qualification for COO at his company requires a BS, MS or PhD in engineering. Therefore, to him, a degree in Master of Business Administration is highly desirable. There are specific trade skills that are helpful such as medical device manufacturing technology, plastic processing technology, accounting, project management, human resource, and communication skill.

Mr. Ivan’s company has been operating for ten years. At the beginning, on one hand, Mr. Ivan had to look for investors in order to seek funding for the company. On the other hand, he had to work very hard to manage the company. He told me that writing was very important because a good writing skill would contribute a lot to a successful business plan. Having exceptional writing skills enables Mr. Ivan to compose remarkable business plans, in order to attract investors to fund his company. After putting tremendous effort to run company X, Mr. Ivan’s company is in good shape; however, Mr. Ivan also mentioned that a current job market in the medical device industry is quite unfavorable. Since the product takes a long time to achieve FDA approval, and it is costly to develop. Therefore, not a lot of companies in this field are established.

Role and Responsibilities

Mr. Ivan’s responsibility as COO consists of developing business strategies, hiring capable teams, managing budgets, designing products, overseeing manufacturing operations, interacting with a variety of people (customers, investor, physician and FDA) as well as executing marketing strategy. Mr. Ivan said that the biggest challenge is to hire the right people and keep them focused. He mentioned that it is not easy to find an employee with both technical skills and interpersonal skills, that is, someone who was capable and got the right skill set, and someone who had the right attitude, and willing to learn. In the article “Facing Down The Biggest Challenges In Manufacturing Today” by Tom Bonine, President, National Metal Fabricators, Bonine also presents the same point of view; in his article, he said that one of the most challenging issues in American manufacturing right now, from a manufacturer’s view, is finding good employee. Bonine said:

Manufacture companies today have a hard time finding employees who will show up and be on time for work, stay at their work stations, and, bottom line, stick with their jobs. When it’s hard to find reliable personnel, employers have to spend excess time hiring and training new employees, then rehiring and training new employees. This is difficult both in terms of financial costs and efficiency.

I questioned Mr. Ivan about as the COO, what smaller day-to-day tasks and skills are involved. Generally, he said that his daily tasks involve many meetings, phone calls, project reviews, talking to investors, calling meetings, reviewing budgets, and checking emails. He has lots of email correspondence. He said that every day is different. Some days he has to look at product with the design team, then reports to his investors. He also needs to talk to the CEO of the company to review complaints and resolve human resource issues. He said that the good thing is that he has his administrative assistant, who usually reviews his schedule at the beginning of the day.

Mr. Ivan also noted that his position requires lots of traveling. Some trips are to see customers and for training, others are for doing offsite tests. He also visits investors to seek funding for the company. He said that learning foreign languages would have many advantages when doing business with international partners. He mentioned that it would be easier to approach a foreigner if you can speak their language and understand their culture.

Communication skills