Last Updated 022214

Full Name:
T#:

Tyler Westfall

T00807455

Email: Twestfall93@gmail.com
Phone: 818 404 0516
College:

Business

Major:

Econ

Title of Project: Ergonomic Solutions

Mentor/Advisor for EDGE Project: NA
Expected Project Start Date: 1/20/2015
Expected Project End Date: 4/30/2015 (I will un attached the monitor arms)
Other team members if it is a group project: NA
Section 2 Abstract
My project, above all things is to provide the school with the knowledge it could
use on Ergonomic Solutions. I believe that ergonomic tools allow for a lot of
benefits in a working environment. For the past two years I have been working with
a Commercial furniture dealership in my free time. While working there I was able
to gather the knowledge on ergonomic tools, and their benefits. I also gained a lot of
experience in creating budgets, and running projects. I am proposing to put an
Allsteel Dual Monitor arm into the library and take data from it that will tell me if
students will want to use a station that is outfitted with the tools. I believe that the
faculty and administrators will automatically see benefits from them.
Section 3 - Brief Autobiography
My name is Tyler Westfall, and I am a second semester junior. For the past two
years, I have been working for Westfall Commercial Furniture. We are a furniture
dealership that is able to get large discounts from furniture manufacturers. We are
then able to turn around and help our clients get, the office they want in a cost
effective way. Our scope of work ranges from getting a chair for the regular worker,
to outfitting a brand new office. With acknowledging lead times and clients needs,
I have been able to gain the knowledge of project managing the delivery, and
installation of the product. Thus providing our clients with a very easy experience
where all they need to do is make necessary decisions on fit and finish.
Section 4 - Brief Report on Leadership
After looking through my sources about leadership I realized that a lot of these
characteristics, qualities, and methods, in my opinion couldnt be taught. In my opinion most

Last Updated 022214

people are not willing to go outside themselves and act as a leader. Not to sound clich but I
believe a leader is only born, and cannot be taught. However there are many qualities in which
you can define a leader. According to the American Library Association can be broken into seven
main groups: Physical, Emotional, Social, Intelligence, Communication, Experience,
Trustworthy (www.ala.com). Throughout the website they offer different situations where a
leader shows their strength. When it comes to charisma, the bottom line is other mindedness.
Leaders who think about others and their concerns before thinking of themselves exhibit
charisma. (Maxwell, John). This was a quote that I found during my research, and I felt that this
sums up what a leader needs to be perfectly. An empathetic leader will gain the confidence from
his peers, and co-workers. The moment a leader begins to think he is better than his
infrastructure, he has lost all of his leadership skills. A leader is only as good as their employees,
and if your employees do not want to work for you, you will not be able to do anything. My
source that is written by John C Maxwell has many offerings and great insights on how a leader
is to act, or acts. Competence goes beyond words. Its the leaders ability to say it, plan it, and
do it in such a way that others know that you know how- and know that they want to follow
you.(Maxwell, John) Without a base knowledge of what you are doing, people will not want to
follow you. I completely agree with Maxwell here because I feel a necessary step in being a good
leader is being confident in yourself, and the decisions you make. Another characteristic of a
good leader in my opinion is one who will listen to the people and act not act then listen to the
people. I believe that Maxwell said it great in his writing A good leader encourages followers to
tell him what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear (Maxwell John). Being a leader one
would need to motivate their infrastructure, I believe that people will only want to work for you
if you want to work with them. I hope to enhance my abilities to work with people, as well as my
ability to be confident in my work. I feel I will not be able to lead in a career setting unless I
utilize the tools I have now to grow my knowledge of said business. Another characteristic that I
hope to gain/ enhance is the ability to act calm under pressure, and almost strive within it. A
leader will have many stresses that are involved with leading a school project, a nation, or a
business project. It is how the leader acts while under these stresses where his/ her worth comes
in. All in all I think the most important characteristic a leader can have is the ability to listen and
act, instead of vice versa.
Works Cited
Leadership Characteristics. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from
http://leadership.uoregon.edu/resources/exercises_tips/skills/leadership_characteristics
Maxwell, J. (n.d.). The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from
http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/courses/communicationskills/leaderqualities.pdf
Effective Leadership - What Makes an Effective Leader. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from
http://www.notredameonline.com/resources/leadership-and-management/what-makes-an-effectiveleader/#.VL_2GC7F-gM
Leadership Traits. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2015, from
http://www.ala.org/nmrt/initiatives/ladders/traits/trait

Section 5 - Anticipated Outcomes:

Last Updated 022214

Primary Outcomes (Personal outcomes you plan to achieve)

1. Gain more experience stepping outside myself, and creating work opportunities.
2. I hope that this is a step forward in helping the campus with all of their furniture
needs. I hope this experience can help me instill the trust of SUU, so that they will
want to work with me in the future.
3. I hope to gain notoriety from working and speaking with different administrators
Secondary Outcomes (Outcomes you anticipate for others)
1. To benefit from ergonomic tools throughout the school.
2. Utilizing the grants that are given out for the progression of the campus
3. I hope to see increases in productivity, as well as decreases in strain that is caused
from prolonged sitting.
Section 6 - Initiative, Independence and Adaptability:
To begin my project I went around the campus asking different administrators if
they believed that this edge project was even feasible. After speaking with a
member from IT they gave me the go ahead to put in an ergonomic monitor arm in
the library. I have also spoken to people at the library to make sure that they are
okay with me doing this. This pertains to leadership because I believe I am showing
the qualities of a good leader making the necessary steps to move my project
forward. As of January 20th, 2015, I have installed a dual monitor arm, and have set
up with James Shakespear a way to take the necessary statistics I need to help the
school.

Phase 2

Last Updated 022214

Section 7 - Action Plan

Timeline
Anticipate
d
Completio
n Date
1/6/2015

Activity

Person
Responsible

Purpose/Notes

Meet With Edge Personnel

about feasibility of project

Tyler Westfall

1/8/2015

Meet Matt Nickerson to see if

project is possible

Tyler Westfall

1/14/2015

Meet James Shakespear to see

if we can implement a monitor
arm, as well as make a survey
for data.

Tyler Westfall

1/14/2015

Set up meeting with Jim to

install monitor arm in the
library.
Met Jim at his office to then go
walk over and install the
monitor arm.

Tyler Westfall

1/21/2015

Emailed with Jim about the

survey. Received a website to
then watch the statistics.

Tyler Westfall

I spoke with Todd Peterson, who

then told me that I should speak
with Matt Nickerson (a dean for
the library). Todd seemed
enthused by the idea
Met with Matt Nickerson at about
3 o clock. He said it seemed
interesting to him, but that I
should talk to the IT department.
Said that I should speak to Jim
Shakespear, and maybe see if we
can make a survey.
Met with Jim, said that they had
looked into it in the past, and that
it was too expensive to go
through with it. Said he would be
happy to help me with the project,
and was excited to be able to get
some data from students.
I went to the library, and look at
the desks to make sure they could
handle a monitor arm.
After meeting Jim at 11:30, we
then walked to the library to
install the monitor arm. After
deciding the best place we place
the monitor arm in LIB- 074. Jim
then told me that we could easily
set up a survey for this specific
computer. I then emailed him
later with three questions I hoped
to be on the survey. Jim has been
very helpful.
Have not done survey, nor told
others to. First two days only 6
people reviewed.

1/23/2015

Went to Jim Shakespears

office to talk about the
possibility of putting in another

Tyler Westfall

1/20/2015

Tyler Westfall

In wanting to get more reviews, I

realized it was beneficial to add
another monitor arm.

Last Updated 022214

1/25/2015

1/27/2014

demo.
Drove to Las Vegas to get
monitor arm from warehouse.

Tyler Westfall

Went to Jims office to talk

about the installation of
monitor arm.
Met with Jim at 1:30

Tyler Westfall

1/28/2015

Spoke to Matt Nickerson

briefly.

Tyler Westfall

1/29/2015

Speak to Todd Peterson

Tyler Westfall

1/30/2015

Keep checking review website

Tyler Westfall

2/10/2015

Speak with Jim, about how

long he thinks we should run
the survey

Tyler Westfall

1/28/2015

Tyler Westfall

In purchasing them prior to the

edge project, I was able to gather
them from our warehouse.
We spoke about meeting up
around 1:30 the next day to then
install the second monitor arm.
Meeting Jim at the Library, we
then started to install the monitor
arm on LIB-063. As prior Jim
helped me with the process, and
also helped install the survey on
LIB-063 also.
Thanked him again for helping
me, and told him that the two
monitor arms were now installed.
Hopefully be able to speak with
Todd, and thank him for his help,
also let him know that the
monitor arms are installed.
Will keep in touch with Jim,
about the reviews, as well as any
questions he has.
The surveys will both have been
running for about two weeks.

Things to do
2/20/2015

Meet with Jim Shakespear

Tyler Westfall

Hopefully I will be able to meet

with Jim and go over the statistics,
of a span of a month.

2/21/2015

Take photos for newsletter.

Tyler Westfall

I hope to have been able to have a

good amount of pictures

3/15/2015

Speak to someone at the

purchasing department.

Tyler Westfall

3/15/2015

I hope to have a rough draft of

the 20 slide PowerPoint to
present as my UNIV 4925
project.

Tyler Westfall

I hope to be able to have enough

evidence and support to bring a
well thought out proposal to the
purchasing department.
With the data of about two months
I hope to have a PowerPoint with
my findings as well as information
from sources.

Last Updated 022214

3/30/2015

I hope to have finished most of

my UNIV 4925 checkpoints.

Tyler Westfall

I hope to have completed my

resume, Press Release, Newsletter,
as well as my digital portfolio of
the experiment in process.

4/10/2015

I hope to have spoken to the

purchasing department, and
would like to hear their
feedback.

Tyler Westfall

With having about two weeks

with the proposal, I would want
to see if they would like to
proceed or not.

4/15/2015

Hopefully be completing all of

my UNIV 4925 requirements.

Tyler Westfall

4/15/2015

Hopefully I will be in the

preliminary stages of helping
the purchase of the ergonomic
tools.

Tyler Westfall

4/20/2015

I hope to have turned in all of

my UNIV 4925 requirements

Tyler Westfall

4/30/2015

I hope to have things firmed

up, about the outfitting of more
monitor arms, or I will take
down my two sets of monitor
arms.

Tyler Westfall

I hope to be able to be done with

all of the phases of UNIV 4925,
and be able to complete the
course with a passing grade at the
end of the month.
My hopes are to be working with
the purchasing department in
finalizing the delivery,
installation, and purchasing of
some monitor arms.
I believe the class would be
ending at about this time, and I
hope I will have everything for
completion
Unfortunately, unless I can be
paid for the monitor arms, I
would have to take them down.
At this point the monitor arms
will have both been in place for 3
months.

Budget
Item
(1) Allsteel Dual Monitor Arm
(1) Allsteel Dual Monitor Arm

Cost
$259.00
$259.00

Funding Source
Tyler Westfall
Tyler Westfall

Purpose
Installation on LIB-074
Installation on LIB-063

Last Updated 022214

Section 8 - Plan B
My plan is to hopefully help the school outfit the computers with ergonomic tools.
However if they find that the costs are to high to be able to do that, then my hopes
are that they are able to use this information for the future. Also I hope that my
actions will the school will be incline to me maybe bringing in some other
ergonomic demos, such as chairs, and keyboard trays. Truthfully, if the school
completely decides to not entertain the idea of ergonomic solutions, I will just be
happy to have had a great learning experience, and also the ability to work with
some very nice faculty members.

Section 9 - Reflection & Dissemination:

UNIV 4925 Assignment
Newsletter
Requires photos and a quote from
your journal.

Press Release
A direct quote from someone else
about your project and an action
photo will be important to have.

Resume
Include a brief list of skills you have
acquired during your project.

Digital Portfolio
A professional webpage or other
digital medium in which you present
your experiences, photos, resume,
and things you have produced.

Multi-Media Presentation
You are required to do a
presentation of some sort. The LEC
will host a Pecha Kucha event each
Fall and Spring. To participate, you
will need a 20 slide presentation in
which the slides automatically
advance every 20 seconds. You can
fulfill this requirement with this 6
minute, 40 second presentation, or
through a number of other ways
presented in UNIV 4925.

What I will do during my project to be ready:

I will be taking pictures of my products that are in
the library, hopefully with students using them.
I will ask a student who is currently using the
monitor arm what they think about it. I will also
take a picture of them using it, if they think it is
acceptable.
I believe I worked on my ability to be outgoing,
as well as project planning.
I will make a portfolio and hopefully add it to the
SUU LEC Facebook page. This would probably
be in the form of a power point.
I will make a slide that comprises my data that I
have taken as well as numerous case studies
where ergonomic tools helped companies with
productivity, and stress.

Last Updated 022214