Delgado
B.o.C.
5/25/11
If I Were a Box of Crayons...
If I were a box of crayons I would be the 120 count box. The reason for this, though the
same philosophy does not hold true on an educational level for me, is that in the corporate world
a mix of different people are needed to get the job done. In order to relate to all of these different
people, I would need a lot of different aspects to my own personality and these different aspects
would be represented by the 120 unique colors in my box. Each color could represent a part of
my personality, knowledge, or skill. For example, pink could represent that I am usually a very
happy person which connects well to others; while black on the other hand, could represent my
focus side that can leave out emotional entanglements to focus strictly on the facts.
I think the better you are at recognizing these different aspects of yourself, the better you
will be able to read others and identify how to best get them to work for you if that is what you
want them to do. I often use this aspect to start debates as well as it makes people think,
sometimes, and as a result, a great conclusion can typically be reached. However, as a box of
crayons, I also like the size of the box as it represents a large structure to me. I am a large
corporation kind of person as I believe that they are more work orientated when compared to
smaller companies where it’s more of a emotional and “family” oriented work place.
I believe that hard work is what I am getting paid for at a company and so I have never
felt pressured to socialize all day long as others do who have no aspirations for promotion or
moving beyond the world they are currently in. I have large dreams and have the ability to
realize that acquaintances and connections are great to have, but you cannot take friends with
you, especially if you move up within the same company. Friendship actually is a huge block to
promotion from within in many major corporations and the reason why so many management
positions are filled externally. So, as you can see, I believe in being able to identify people’s
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Delgado
B.o.C.
5/25/11
strengths, weaknesses, and usefulness while using my “colors” to steer those in the direction that
I so choose in order to focus on the work at hand, not the socialization.
In addition to these two factors, most of the larger crayon boxes also have a pencil
sharpener within them or on the back of them. No matter the location, it means that you can
have tools that are sharpened and ready to be used. I dislike feeling dimwitted or unprepared for
any given situation and definitely feel the same dislike towards people who fall into those
categories as well. Due to this, the pencil sharpener represents preparedness in me. With this
being said, it is then useful to tie these attributes into Organizational Behavior.
One definition of organizational behavior is: “actions and attitudes of individuals and
groups towards one another and toward the organization as a whole, and its effect on the
organization’s functioning and performance”. By this definition, the attributes I have listed that
were represented by a box of crayons are then my actions and attitudes that I would bring with
me and use on others and the corporations itself. Now, if I was in a corporation, were most
others were like myself, then this would more than likely have a positive effect on the
corporation’s functioning and performance; however, if I was in a company, where everyone just
wanted to relax and “chit-chat” about what little Stevie did last night, then I would be the
overachiever than ended up feeling frustrated because nothing was getting accomplished and this
would more than likely result in a negative effect on a corporation’s functioning and
performance. So overall, I believe that this look at being a box of crayons simply reflects the
attitudes that we, as individuals, bring to add or subtract from organizational behavior.
My paper stopped on page 2, but I found this quote I thought you would really like for this
project:
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Delgado
B.o.C.
5/25/11
Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the eight-color boxes, but what you're really
looking for are the 64-color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64color box, though I've got a few missing. It's okay though, because I've got some more vibrant
colors like periwinkle at my disposal. I have a bit of a problem though in that I can only meet the
eight-color boxes. Does anyone else have that problem? I mean, there are so many different
colors of life, of feeling, of articulation, so when I meet someone who's an eight-color type I'm
like, "hey girl, magenta!" and she's like, "oh, you mean purple!" and she goes off on her purple
thing, and I'm like, "no - I want magenta!"
~ John Mayer
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