Networking for Business Success - Essay Example

? Learning journal Learning journal Summary It is just over a year since we began our of master’s degree inbusiness administration. We were quite a number of students and, although learning has been challenging, we managed to achieve both individual and group objectives. We submitted business report on community project. We also evaluated each other’s performance and participated in various activities. Personally, I found the one-year experience more challenging that I ever thought before. I made significant number of mistakes but I was able to learn from them, as my professor would put it that what does not kill you can only make you stronger. Being a foreigner from Saudi Arabia, I spent a considerable amount of time trying to adapt to the new environment both academically and socially. Despite all these challenges, I managed to come through and the reflective journal presented me with an opportunity to take account of the events that shaped my first one year in the university as a master’s student. It provided me with an opportunity to note down my history so that I could learn from it as it is normally said that if you do not learn from your history, it repeats itself. It was the tips that made me recognize the value of learning journal that it is a means to keep tract of one’s academic progress. It presents one with a chance to maintain course, change course or start all over again with respect to learning. I realized how I could be able to reject habits that did not contribute towards y academic and constructive social objectives. Orientation week: brief overview of the key events My life in the university in Canada started on a rather low note because I had neither friend nor a relative in the country. The process of making up new friends with diverse cultural background was a daunting task. The orientation process was conducted successfully but personally, I did not gain much because everything was new and strange. However, it was conducted normally and we were taken through the entire institution’s infrastructure, learning resources, recreational facilities, services, programs and other important details. I think the process of orientation should have been more at least two weeks because for foreign students like me, one week was not enough to start the life around a mix of native and foreign students from all over the globe. In fact, not to me alone, the first few weeks of learning is awfully strange because people are not very free with each other. Almost all students share very little for nearly the entire semester. Learning process is also very slow because students spend time trying to reach out for each other and to accommodate each other’s cultural background (Michael, 2010, pp. 97-123). After a week of orientation, the class sessions begin almost immediately. A number of students still found difficulty in finding their way around in the institution because of slow mastery of the new environment. I did get lost on several occasions and being reserved, it was difficult to even ask. Apart from student’s life, the most affected of all is the learning process that picked up very slowly because of the mix of diverse cultural background, fear, shyness and new order of process (Heike & Helen, 2013, pp. 17-30). Foreign students such as me are affected the most because native students easily understand every process and entire institution. However, I must say I benefitted a lot from interactive forums that were organized to try to break the uneasiness among the students and to start normal socialization process that makes the society of the institution lively. These forums fostered understanding and opened up students to try to get to each other and regard one another naturally. Learning process begun when these forums were initiated but, according to me, the learning process begun after these forums. Training on leadership The sweet dream of pursuing master’s degree in business in Canada was first marred by social challenges that I came to be aware of in the first week in the university. I was not the only one affected by this diversity in social order. Many other students found it equally difficult. The social diversity brought about uneasiness among the members of my class. We were reluctant to form groups with each person relating remotely with the others. There was a noticeable reservation among students of my class. I remember the class groups and group discussion were slow to pick up. It made learning process in the class quite challenging because a larger percentage of learning was delegated to group work. I particularly, was more reluctant; I never wanted to be aggressive especially during integration in class. I would respond when given chance by the lecturer. This went on even in group work. It reached appoint I feared members of m group would push me to be aggressive and take responsibility. From my fears and the experience I had, I learnt the value of being aggressive; how it enable ones grab competitive opportunities that would not be spared by others. I learnt how people would want you to take responsibility when faced together by a common problem and how the same people would grab away any opportunity that pits several individuals against each other. Being aggressive enables one to gain a competitive edge in opportunities where very many people are qualified. I learnt that aggressiveness reflects high self-esteem, self-concept and perception. Due to nature of my course, these, as I learnt, were values that are required for leadership and if I had to successfully pursue my degree, it was inevitable that I acquire these traits. As a business student, my professor advised, I am required to take responsibility and lead from the front, not to wait for anyone to alert us. I therefore, begun to crawl out of my introvert nature and forge esteem, perception and self-concept. In the process of becoming more and more vocal and open, I actually learnt that an idea can grow if it is shared. An idea that is kept secret remains as a secret and never gets to see the light of the day. In business, ideas are meant to be shared so that interest can be invoked and investments can be made on the ideas. Training on business management As members of class, we also developed business plan for real business projects that the class intends to implement. Different individuals were given different responsibilities depending on the areas they best perform. All of us were initially charged with the responsibility of coming up with a viable business concept. The lecturer emphasized that this is important form each student because it is the most likely responsibility that awaits each of us after graduation. The rest of activities can be delegated and therefore, we were to divide them according to interest and talent. After the idea stage, the class was divided into those who conduct market research, those who carry out financial analysis and planning, strategists, those who design the product and services and one person to lead the entire process. I was a member of the strategist group and our work was to act on the report by the market research group and plan for our product mix, production process and marketing strategy. We were also charged with the responsibility of product pricing strategy. Currently, the business plan development is in the process of development and is almost complete. We have high hopes that it will be rolled in the market and have an impact on consumers. I was the leader in my group and I gained a lot of knowledge in leadership. My lecturer had earlier told us that leadership is going to be a recurrent theme in our training and that each one of us must make an effort to acquire effective leadership skills. Because of this, our class had a lot of leadership experience from several training workshops and seminars organized by our department.My learning journal is divided into events that shaped my learning process over the time since I joined up to date. In these events I learned various things that are discussed. Networking events We attended various networking events as a class both internal and external. One of the main aims of networking was to bring together students from diverse cultural background to get to cooperate in joint activities effectively. As earlier mentioned, diversity in cultural, economic and political backgrounds greatly affected the beginning of our training because each person considered himself or herself different from the rest. The other aim of networking that was also delivered in the form of a lecture by my professor was to create a foundation upon which business relationships are built. In these networking events the professors who gave us lectures on networking emphasized that networking is important as primary marketing tool. Whether an individual is conducting a business or is searching for employment networking is inevitable. It was pointed out that most networking is done by a face-to-face method. Written communication such as letters, emails, articles and phone calls perform s supportive role in networking. In this concept I learnt how a communication skill is an important quality in business because it enables one to perform leadership roles and to carry out networking effectively. At class level, the professor emphasized that networking is important if we are to enhance our career prospects because it opens doors to new ideas and intelligence, (White, 2004, pp. 1-3). Classroom experience This formed the largest source of my experience. I developed study modes that I believed would see me through the learning process. There were three approaches that I used to conduct my studies. Firstly, I worked out a study schedule that I used to program my daily study activities while incorporating other important activities. My professor emphasized that I should not wait until the need to study strikes because chances are high one may wait until the exams begin. Some of the factors I considered in drawing up my study schedule included work, chores and the times when I am most awake and alert (C. & Robbert, 2001, pp. 1-10). I also factored in the duration over which I can effectively study without fatigue or falling asleep. I learnt that the value of a written schedule is to increase commitment to study and enhances responsibility to learning process (Weiten, 2008, pp. 28-31). While setting up each study plan, the entire schedule should be broken down into smaller study sessions with specific objectives. I used this method successfully and I realized the benefits of fulfilling smaller objectives that build onto the bigger objective. Additionally, achieving smaller tasks and gathering knowledge reduces the need to cram for exams in the last minutes for exams. Cramming is an ineffective way because it strains the memorization capabilities, can tax an individual’s energy level and can stoke the fires of test anxiety (C. & Robbert, 2001, pp. 5-10). Average cognitive skill can be enhanced through continued effort and desire to learn more (Susan, 2008, pp. 10-20). In the process of planning for the study schedule, the professor urged me to avoid the tendency of procrastinating major tasks such as term papers and reports. The professor reiterated that people have a tendency to settle and become satisfied with doing simple routine tasks first and saving larger tasks for later when they supposedly will have more time. This practice, he said leads too many students delaying working on major assignments until it is too late to do a good job. Research points out that the difference between successful and unsuccessful college students suggests that successful students monitor and regulate their use of time more effectively (Weiten, 2008, pp. 10-20). The second key to successful study is to distinguish between a studying environment and a social environment. Most students mix studying and entertainment such as TV and radio. This is common in college where each student is responsible for their learning process. The urge to study is lower in senior students as compared to younger students in lower echelons of academic ladder. For this, the professor pointed out that masters students are more difficult to handle because of their significant indifference to study. In this respect, the professor also urged me to differentiate between study session and discussion session. Study session involves quest into ideas or facts that enables one to understand a concept. Discussion sessions should be used to study ideas that are more open-ended and require wide range of arguments to arrive at the most preferred alternative. The use of discussion session for working out individual assignments has the effect of reducing originality and impairing personal reasoning. Therefore, the professor urged me to use each mode of study – individual and group discussion, for its proper function (C. & Robbert, 2001, pp. 1-10). The third and the most interesting study strategy is the process of rewarding studying. The reason why it is difficult to get motivation to study regularly is that the actual payoffs are in the distant future. The ultimate reward for study is a degree like master’s degree that is years away or better grades that are months away. In order to overcome this dilemma, one need to consider the very things that make up his or her idle time such as chatting with friends, favorite TV show or movies, games such as swimming among others. Using this concept, I set up specific study goals and rewarded myself when I met them. For example, I would set up particular goals such as accomplishing assignments, projects and term papers. The successful completion of each would be accompanied by taking some time out with friends or participating in some sporting activities (Weiten, 2008, pp. 20-23). Symposiums The intuition organized for our class various symposiums where we discussed various business related issues. According to me, these were not mere interactive sessions. I actually made use of my intuition to know how different nationalities perceive certain academic point of interest. Participants were drawn from renowned institutions all over the globe. The countries that were represented included United States of America, India, Australia, Britain, china, South Africa, Egypt, Netherlands among others. In these symposiums, I gained a wide experience on networking process and its significance. Various themes of business were also learnt including global trade and global economy. These symposiums, I discovered were avenues through which one can gain understanding of foreign economies and borrow ideas from other nations. Performance evaluation Being conscious of the double effort I had to make in order to cope up in the learning process, I must say with certainty that my performance is commendable. I start by evaluating how I spend my time because this is the source of my academic achievements while in Canada. Each day I set aside a small amount of time for conceiving and planning about my responsibilities. I drew a schedule and accompanied it with specific written goals alongside deadlines to achieve for each goal. My professor noted my efforts in terms of the outcome of assignments and short-term projects. I was commended for the efforts and this revived my esteem, self-concept and perception among native students. I was able to achieve these goals because each day I would make a “to do” list wherein I arranged items in order of importance with the most important ones given priority. I became notorious of implementing the infamous 80/20 rule, which states that eighty per cent of one’s effectiveness comes from achieving only twenty per cent of the goals set. Although I never conducted a numerical audit of this rule but I knew it worked altogether because I achieved most of the goals I set. In my schedule, I integrated an element of flexibility to absorb unexpected situations. I would compensate for any wasted study time by drawing more time from leisure activities. This intensive planning of my time bore significant fruits. I successfully completed my projects and assignments with significant contribution from my professors. However, I must admit that the challenges were considerable. It was difficult to try to learn the learning process in a very new environment. It involved mastery of the process of using the learning facilities, time management and learning process. These were involving but after putting a lot of efforts, the results were encouraging in terms of successful projects and assignments. Summary of key learning experiences The first and the most important thing I learnt during my study in Canada are about time management. Time management is important because there are so many tasks that an individual is charged with and these tasks may conflict if they are not organized. The important thing is to assign priority to each task and schedule each task to its specific time according to priority. With the goals of each task set and the mechanism of achieving these goals planned for, I learnt how one can easily become successful in his studies. I also learnt that there is no such talent as being studious. The habit of studying is acquired through deliberate effort and everyone can acquire it despite different cognitive capacities. Being successful in studying require learning and gaining experience to be able to perform well in examination and research. I learnt that it is imperative that one is endowed with sufficient experience in order to come up with a good thesis and to develop and design a successful research for master’s program. I also learnt that success builds up on small individual successes that are planned for. These small successes create a positive mind that invokes interest in learning process. Using small goals that make up part of the bigger project, I learnt how bigger and more challenging projects and tasks can easily be achieved with little strain. References C., G., & Robbert, P. (2001). Studying Effectively. Stanfrod University. Heike, C., & Helen, D. (2013). International Students and Scholars in the United States: Coming from Abroad. Palgrave Macmillan. Michael, K. (2010). Organizational Socialization: Joining and Leaving Organizations. Polity. Rosemary, W. (2007). Factors Influencing Acculturative Stress Among International Students in the United States. ProQuest. Susan, M. R. (2008). 101 Ways to Make Studying Easier and Faster for College Students: What Every Students Needs to Know Explained Simply. Atlantic Publishing Company. Weiten. (2008). Psychology: Themes and Variations. Cengage Learning. White, H. (2004). Networking for Business Success. WritersPrintShop. Read More