Personal Development - Essay Example

?Answer: No Learning is a practice of obtaining information through different experiences. Aul (2008) s, “Learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skill through education and experience”. One can never disagree with the significance of learning in bringing transforming an individual’s behavior. Learning means to acquire information through a variety of experiences and incidents, which a person comes across during the span of life. A person cannot express emotions or behave in a proper manner without learning different types of human behaviors. Learning theories also emphasize on the fact that behaviors form through experiences, and without having a diverse range of experiences, it is not possible for a person to shape his/her behavior in a suitable or required way. Learning is a course of action, which makes a person ideal in all fields of life. We can consider the case of a country’s laws that the government of that country develops to make people live their lives in a well-defined manner. Laws are of critical importance for the progress and stability of whole nation because they provide right solutions to all types of social and social problems. Every person living in the country needs to respect the laws in order to live a systematic and peaceful life. If a person violates a law, the law-enforcing unit of that country takes proper action against that person top make that person obey the law in future. The punishment consequently acts as a process of learning for that individual based on his/her experience. As the result, he/she does not try to disobey any law again in life. Learning plays its part in all aspects of a person’s life, such as, decision-making, social interactions, education, and professional life. As Thompson (n.d.) states, “learning is therefore important because it helps us to keep in tune with trends and developments in our own field”. Learning is an unending process in education. A child starts learning right from the first day of his/her life and keeps on learning a variety of behaviors and emotions with every passing day of life. Learning those emotions and behaviors are critical for a child in order to survive in the society in an appropriate manner. Education is necessary for learning because it makes people aware of different issues and concepts of which they are unaware. It is the role of teachers to make students view life from different perspectives in order to strengthen their process of learning. Students get awareness of different behaviors and educational concepts in schools and express the obtained knowledge in different professional and social settings. Learning also enhances social interactions between people in an appropriate manner. People learn a variety of behaviors and expressions from other people around them and use those behaviors when they interact with other people. A person needs to have effective social interaction skills to succeed in society. When a person has requisite knowledge of the way to communicate successfully with other people, he/she does not face any difficulty in improving his/her social interaction skills. Moreover, a person can never communicate properly with other people without having a sufficient knowledge of effective communication skills. Learning is that process, which develops and refines social interaction skills of a person by making him/her acquire required knowledge of effective communication basics. Learning also helps people progress in their professional lives. “A new employee who wants to be successful on her/his job is likely to look for someone who is successful and in high regard and then attempt to imitate that person’s behavior” (Fox 2006, p. 38). In professional settings, an employee needs to interact with other employees, such as, colleagues and managers, to acquire required information and knowledge. Acquiring knowledge becomes a part of that employee’s learning process, which ultimately helps him/her progress in his/her professional life. Effective workplace communication skills are also critical for the professional success of a person. An employee cannot achieve success in his/her professional life without learning the ways to do effective workplace communication. An employee needs to learn the ways to communicate effectively with other employees around him/her to increase the chances of professional success. As Aul (2008) states, “Learning is vitally important because it helps us make informed choices about our own lives and the societies that we live in”. Learning is a process that helps people improve their decision-making skills. One cannot take right decisions without sufficient amount of knowledge as decision-making needs a person to have knowledge of all aspects of an issue. Learning is the process, which injects the required knowledge in mind of a person based on his/her experiences, which ultimately helps him/her take accurate decision concerning any matter. It is also a fact that proper growth and development of a person requires sufficient knowledge of positive, as well as negative aspects of life. Learning provides that knowledge to a person and shapes his/her behavior accordingly. When a person observes different types of behaviors of people living around him/her, he/she shapes his/her own behaviors accordingly in order to move in the society with confidence. Learning is a usual and daily life activity just like any other daily life activity. The variation between learning and other activities of life is that learning is based totally on experiences, whereas other activities, such as, eating, sleeping, or walking do not require experience. Whatever a person goes through in his/her daily life, puts a positive or negative impact on his/her mind, and that impact calls upon the process of learning for that person. Every person continues to observe different types of behaviors whole day. When a person experiences something nice or inspiring, it makes the person form a positive behavior. On the other hand, when a person faces something unpleasant, it puts an off-putting impact on that person shaping a negative behavior based on his/her experience. Summing it up, we can say that learning makes a person improve his/her personal and professional lives. A person gets valuable knowledge from a wide range of experiences and applies that knowledge to carry out his/her daily life activities. Therefore, learning is really the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities that make a person bring a positive change in his/her behavior. Answer: No: 2 Employees’ attitude plays a vital role in the success of the employees, as well as in making companies achieve their goals and objectives in an appropriate manner. Lo (n.d.) states, “Employee attitudes can make or break business profitability and sustainability efforts”. The attitude of employees regarding their job responsibilities needs to be positive and dynamic so that their companies should become able to achieve competitive advantage and domination in the market. Raynal (2012) states, “Poor employee behavior and performance must be addressed quickly and skillfully to ensure that departmental and organizational goals are achieved”. If employees’ attitude will not be positive, it will affect the professional progress of employees, as well as it will adversely affect the productivity of employees and the company. Due to this reason, managers tend to observe the attitudes of their employees because it helps them change negative attitudes of employees while making them productive for the company. It is the attitude of an employee that shows whether the employee will prove him/her successful for the company or he/she will become a problem for the company by showing unprofessional attitude towards his/her job responsibilities. There is a difference between the act of monitoring of employees’ attitudes and that of bringing changes to the attitude of employees. Monitoring employees’ attitudes means to observe or monitor all types of behaviors of employees and comparing those qualities or attitudes with the needs and requirements of the company. Changing employees’ attitudes is different from monitoring because it is concerned with bringing positive changes to employees’ attitudes and behaviors. When managers complete the process of monitoring, they put their attention towards bringing required changes to employees’ behaviors in accordance with the result of monitoring. When managers find some particular employee behavior inappropriate for the company, they take proper measures to modify that attitude of the employee. Change in employees’ attitudes plays a critical role in the market success of a company. Managers need to monitor and change organizational structure, management policies, and employees’ attitudes to make them contribute to the success of the company. Those companies face difficulties in moving along with the pace of competition, which do not analyze the need for change in order top implement a positive change in policies. Along with bringing changes to the organizational structure and policies, managers also need to focus their attention towards bringing positive changes in employees’ behaviors and attitudes. It is the responsibility of the managers to hire and train employees, as well as to develop the attitudes of their employees in such a way that they become a productive part of the company. HR managers hire employees considering their experience, qualification, and skills, because these factors play a vital role in making hired employees productive for the company. Once managers hire employees, they provide them with effective training in order to improve their job related skills. Training brings a number of benefits for employees and companies, such as, increase in efficiency, improvement in skills, increase in productivity, and improvement in the quality of the company’s products and services. Achievement of all of these benefits depends on an employee’s attitude towards his/her job responsibilities. If an employee shows dedication and commitment towards his/her work, he/she can prove to be valuable for the company by helping the company achieve its goals. However, if an employee does not adhere to the job responsibilities properly, he/she can never become useful for the company. In such cases, it is the responsibility of the managers to change the irresponsible behaviors and attitudes of such employees to make the productive for their companies. Managers are required to go beyond the typical training programs to bring positive changes in employees’ attitudes. They need to learn the ways to make employees a beneficial part of their companies, as well as the way to make employees utilize their skills and abilities in the achievement of goals in a more effective manner. It is a fact that employees do not develop negative attitudes when they believe that their company considers their needs while developing policies. Therefore, managers need to consider the needs of employees properly in order to make them feel valued by the company. Managers also need to motivate employees and encourage their performances in order to develop positive employee attitudes. Employees need appreciation and positive feedback from their managers as the return of their hard work. “Listening to employee complaints and offering constructive feedback and resolutions encourages positive thinking” (Lo, n.d.). As a manager, I will use some effective ways to bring positive changes to the attitude of employees. Some of those useful ways will include: 1. Engaging employees in open dialogues in order to keep an eye on their attitudes 2. Keeping all employees informed of all workplace policies and company’s business strategies 3. Carrying out team-building activities to promote unity and harmony among employees 4. Encouraging employees on showing hard work by implementing an incentive system in the company 5. Recognizing employee efforts and performances by providing them with certificates, bonuses, and promotions 6. Taking care of employees’ needs and demands while developing company’s policies 7. Encouraging positive employee attitudes and motivating them to show good performances, and 8. Providing job satisfaction, job security, workplace safety, and incentives to all employees These were some of the ways, which I would use to improve employees’ workplace behaviors, as well as to make them productive for their companies. Answer: No: 3 Before going to discuss the barriers to communication and the ways to overcome those barriers, let us get a better understanding of what communication actually is. Sachdeva (n.d.) states, “Communication is the exchange or flow of information and ideas between one person and another”. Communication is the transfer of knowledge or information from one person to another. It is the exchange of words, expressions, or symbols between two or more people. If we talk about communication from organizational perspective, we can say that communication is a process that takes place between the employees of a company to reach company’s goals and objectives. Workplace communication is different normal communication to some extent. Normal communication is less formal and it can take place anywhere, whereas workplace communication is formal, and involves employees of the company. In today’s competitive marketplace, effective workplace communication is critical for the success of any company. It is a fact that poor communication skills and negative attitudes put adverse effects on the professional progress of employees. Therefore, it is imperative for employees and managers of a company to be able to do effective communication in order to work towards achievement of goals, as well as to strengthen their working relationships. Meverson (2005) states, “Poor workplace communication skills will have negative effects on your business relationships and may result in decreased productivity”. Along with the need to do effective workplace communication, there exist different types of communication barriers, which managers of a company need to overcome in order to promote effective workplace communication. Barriers to effective workplace communication mean those difficulties or problems that influence the process of communication between employees. These barriers affect the process of communication by preventing messages from reaching the other end properly. Some of those barriers include physical barrier, language barrier, poor listening skills, and lack of feedback. Let us discuss these communication barriers in some detail in order to know the way they affect the process of workplace communication. We will also talk about the way managers can overcome these communication barriers. 1. Physical Barrier Physical barrier arises when employees of a company have to use telephones and emails because of not having physical access to each other. Some of the main types of physical barriers include difference of locations, closed office doors, and noise. As the manager of my company, I will take proper measures to overcome physical barriers. I will ensure communication processes to take place at proper locations. I will also ensure silence at the workplace so that employees do not face any difficulty while communicating with each other. Moreover, I will implement rules to do proper dressing during presentations to avoid physical barriers. 2. Language Barrier Pillai (2010) states, “Inability to converse in a language that is known by both the sender and receiver is the greatest barrier to effective communication”. Language barrier arises at the workplace when the language selected for communication is not understandable by all employees involved in the process of communication. As Garner (n.d.) states, “language that describes what we want to say in our terms may present barriers to others”. As the manager, I will not let anyone use such language, which can make communication between the employees and the managers unproductive. I will ensure use of such language and expressions at the workplace, which should be understandable for every employee involved in the process of communication. 3. Poor Communication Skills Barriers to communication also arise, when some employees have poor listening and communication skills, and due to this reason, they cannot communicate with other employees effectively. In such situations, people do not get the message properly which results in making communication process unsuccessful. Some people do not listen properly to others. “Failure to actively listen can result in mistakes and misunderstanding” (Rosen n.d.). As the manager of my company, I will make my employees improve their listening and communication skills by arranging training programs. 4. Lack of Feedback Another barrier to effective communication is the lack of feedback from other employees to the presenter. Feedback plays a vital role in making the process of communication successful. It makes the presenter aware of the credibility of his/her ideas. The process of communication runs in one direction without proper feedback. The reason is that if a presenter does not get a proper and instant feedback from the audience, he/she will not know the way others perceive his/her ideas. As the manager, I will encourage my employees to give proper feedback to each other during communication. Summing it up, I would say that effective workplace communication is the key to success of a company in today’s world of competition. Employees of a company need to communicate effectively with each other because ineffective communication and expression of bad attitudes and poor behaviors can block a company’s way towards success. Answer: No: 4 22 March 2012 The Human Resource Manager PO Box 111 Address of the Company Dear Sir/Madam Re: Assistant Manager Position I am applying for the post of Assistant Manager, which the company advertised in ‘name of the newspaper’ on Wednesday 15 February 2012. I have over 3 years of experience working as Assistant Manager Employee Relations at Nexus Tire manufacturing company. I have also completed a 5 months training course related to management of employees and tackling complex employee issues. I have worked with full commitment and dedication in my previous employment position without any supervision, and that is the evidence of my ability to handle all of types of tasks related to my job in an independent manner. I have excellent conflict resolution and decision-making skills. I am also able to lead the company’s employees effectively and efficiently. Moreover, I am skilled in maintaining healthy relationships with customers. In the company where I have worked before, I always tried to maintained excellent working relationships with employees and the upper level managers. I am a disciplined and never compromise on ethics and principles. The company, where I worked before, is a high profile company. Now, I would like to take the challenge of working in this company as the Assistant Manager Employee Relations. My qualification, experience, and knowledge of all issues related to the post of assistant manager make me a suitable candidate for this position. I have enclosed my resume with the letter. You can contact me anytime for the interview. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully, Your name Curriculum Vitae Please attach the cv here References Aul, K 2008, The Importance of Learning, viewed 22 March, 2012, Fox, W 2006, Managing Organisational Behavior, Juta & Co. Ltd, Cape Town. Garner, E n.d., Seven barriers to Great Communication, viewed 04 March, 2012, Lo, R n.d. How to Change Employees Attitudes, viewed 22 March, 2012, Meverson, H 2005, Top 7 Keys to Effective Workplace Communication, viewed 11 January, 2012, Pillai, M 2010, Barriers to Effective Communication, viewed 22 March, 2012, Raynal, B 2012, How Improving Employee Behavior Impacts Performance, viewed 11 January, 2012, Rosen, K n.d., Skills To Becoming The Most Effective Listener, viewed 11 January, 2012, Sachdeva, S n.d., Effective Communication - That's is just what I mean!, viewed 11 January, 2012, Thompson, N n.d., The Importance of Learning, viewed 22 March, 2012, Read More