The Importance of Skills of M.B.A. Students - Assignment Example

Reflection on Skills development I am Abdulaziz. I am pursuing Bachelor in Business Administration in Leeds Metropolitan This part of report aims to reflect the skills that I have improved while pursuing the course. Primarily, reflection on my skill involves making the right plans while learning and being able to put into practice especially the ones that need improvement. I focused on the areas that I need to improve with the help of my tutor and external entity such as my writing skill, team work skills or my ability to blend with different kinds of people and act as a team player; and my skills in Information Technology. Throughout the course, I gathered profound evidences to support my ideas by discussing my identified career and academic aspirations. Career focus: Constant learning is important in order to determine the right path for a successful career. Learning with good understanding is essential for an active growth in knowledge (John Bransford, 2000, p12). I joined Leeds Metropolitan University to pursue my degree in Bachelor in Business Management. The career focus is to learn more about managing a business and gain expertise on the said field. I always had the ambition of being successful in this field since my childhood days because I wanted to help my father in his company and be able to contribute for its success. Fortunately, education sent me to be an assistant manager in my father’s company (Alemtiaz) for 5 years. (See Appendix A for my CV, Experience Letter and business card) As an assistant manager, it gave me the opportunity to learn from the actual experiences of the field such as planning, directing and other. However, those experiences are not enough for me to handle complex tasks to apply in a growing company. Working in my father’s company requires extensive knowledge about business management so my father and I decided that I should pursue a business degree. I consulted various literatures such as the book of Peterson (2008) to help me decide on what degree to take; thus, I ended up taking Bachelor in Business Management. Management studies play a significant role in almost all industries today. Expertise learnt from the actual scenarios are not enough and it has to integrate with good leadership, good operation management, strategic implementation and other. With that in mind, choosing the right program is a must so I decided to take Bachelor in Business Management at Leeds Metropolitan University. The course allows the students to expand further skills in handling work complexities, enhance and give weight-age to my profile, gain knowledge in terms of marketing, sales, strategies, implementation and other. Strength: Written and Speaking Communication skill Team Player Weakness: CRM Skills justification and Analysis The following skills need further improvement. Written communication I have chosen the written communication skills because of the following reasons: o I have ardent interest to pursue MBA in United Kingdom and I need to be equipped with an excellent writing skills to effectively write academic papers such as business reports, analytical essays, marketing plans, dissertations and other. o Another reason is to improve my skills in writing emails because it will allow me to establish a good rapport with other companies. We all know that emails are now an effective way to communicate with other businesses worldwide so it will be better if my writing skills will improve to make me more credible. o Personally, I would like to improve this skill to easily communicate with my friends internationally and nationally as well; effective use of language will build greater relationships. Effectiveness of the PDP process, learning style, on written communication PDP process or the Performance Development Planning is identifying the goals that will benefit an organization or a company through developing the skills. Since communication is important in the success of a business, PDP process highlights the development of communication skills. Significantly, this process introduced me to the following skills: Grammar, Business articles, and written skills development. Reading business articles interests me a lot so I took the chance of reading such kind of literature from various sources. Matter of fact, I have worked through the 6th chapter of Cameron book. The book includes a wide-ranging content and contains exercises that are indeed sensible. Answering those exercises helps me evaluate my learning level with the guidance of my tutor. I view criticisms and opinions of my tutor and other peer reviewers as a challenge and a room for improvement. So far, I may say that I have managed written communication well as to how my tutor responded on some book exercises that I completed. Particularly, for business articles, I made it to a point that my writing skills will be improved by testing my writing ability on reviewing some articles with the assistance of my tutor. I used facebook as a way to communicate with my tutor. I reviewed 10 business articles from different sources and have it rated by my tutor with the following standards; poor, good, very good or excellent. Accordingly, PDP process in this scenario was very effective because I was able to enhance my writing skills and got a positive feedback from my tutor. Although those articles are peer reviewed already, I was able to improve some weak parts of the articles. Apparently, this process identified my performance in terms of improving my writing skills in general. I took advantage of the social networking site such as facebook to interact with my tutor because it is convenient and fun to use. I believe that learning must be fun and enjoyable. Reviewing business articles had been my way if learning and improving my writing skills which turned out well. Thus, constant responses of my tutor helped me consider important points to improve further articles to be read and reviewed. To get more assistance with my written skills development, I joined an online English Town Course via englishtown.com (www.englishtown.com/online/home.aspx). It is a famous online education for improving written communication skills. I chose this site because they assign a tutor to each student and tutors are very competent and professional. They make sure that students will learn from the lessons. For the lessons, I was given home tasks with online exams and the assessments were based on the tasks given. Each task will be given feedback and reviewed points to be used as a source for future assignments. It was great because I was not only learning, but also was able to determine my weaknesses and know how to improve those. In addition to, as a part of improving my communication skills, I joined the conversation classes in the English town website. The conversation class was essential because it assisted me in terms of improving my communication skill through expanding my vocabulary, pronunciation, proper usage of accent. These criteria are vital and needs to consider especially in written or through a conversational way (Donnellon, 1996). I joined and worked hard on this to be able to have a good interaction with the international students, faculties, further career and assisting my father’s company related work. I will greatly benefit in this skill because of the globalised standard of doing business. It means meeting new people from different countries and with different cultures (Chatman and Barsade, 1995). The conversation class is like a virtual class room where people interact online with the faculties as well. I found this class interesting because it encouraged me to learn well through conversation with the faculties. We have our privacy so you will not be ashamed of committing mistakes and it added self-confidence on my part. Feedbacks are given right after the class so it made me improve my skill in a constant manner. I made sure that each feedback given by my tutors are taken positively in way that will allow me to improve my skill for the next classes. (Please see Appendix for the feedback) This learning style was effective in improving written communication upon my observation of the improvements that I made compared to the previous status few months back. Practise makes perfect indeed and my personal improvements were made through constant learning and the guidance of my tutors. I always consider the PDP process and set goals that will improve the required skills. Self-motivation also helps when everything seemed to be dull so I always thought that I must enjoy while learning. Team work skills I have chosen the team work skills because of the following reasons: My Father’s Company [Alemtiaz] was running as an independent establishment but 2 years back, it merged with the company of my uncle and became limited; It is now working as a Partnership. Hence, a larger company means having bigger responsibilities such as the overall work, financial management, sales and other. All areas now need to be handled in a greater scope and complexities started to arise. The whole team had the difficulties of adjusting to a bigger task so to help my father and the other employees, I chose team work skills to be developed and improved. Aside from what I mentioned above, there were times that I had to work within a team of different cultures so I had to conform to their nationalities. Thus, I have to improve my ability to blend with different kinds of people and manage the team accordingly. Effectiveness of the PDP process, learning style, on Team Work Team work plays significant importance for modern development of business. According to Meredith Beblin (1993, P1) “… Teamwork is one of the most efficient ways we know of accomplishing complex tasks and missions”. A team player is important in every organization to make sure that operations in the business will do well and run smoothly. Team work skills must be enhanced in accord to the needs of the situation so flexibility must be developed as well. While working on PDP process and the skill for the team work, the book of Meredith Beblin (1993) “Team Role at Work” served as my main reference. The 3 key developments that need to be addressed are the following: A Good Chairperson, Co-ordinate well and be more effective in making decisions My goal is to improve my skills as “A Good Chairperson”. The PDP process in developing the skill is based on the module where in I had to work with a team in a Consultancy Project (CP) to enhance the skill of being “A Good Chairperson”. Chapter 16th of Cameron book helped me in working with the CP and the team. I always aimed at being a good chairperson and develop a good attitude, proper use of people skill, be a team player, be able to analyze and understand team members and listening skills (Beblin, 1993). As the leader, I took advantage of managing the team well. In fact, I made a questionnaire for my team (See Appendix 5) to evaluate whether I have improvements on being a good chairperson or none. I used ‘Monster website’ as a reference which is a site that provides good resources in different areas. I tested myself and took an online exam about the team work skills. The assessment helped me determine my improvements as a team player in the previous activities that I had. Another skill to improve is my co-ordinate skill. As such, it needs to improve a good co-ordination with the team. Coordination is the act of working together as one for a specific goal. I chose coordination skill to be improved because I need to coordinate with my father in managing the company. I have to develop this skill to be able to work well with the employees/ managers and build a good working relationship with each other. The PDP process made sure that I improved through a real time case and hence, I thought of integrating the learning process in working in my father’s company with the business environment. As an application, I arranged a meeting in my father’s company during the holidays in Saudi Arabia. The meeting took minutes and was documented as a reference. (See Appendix) The book of Alan Barker (2002) “How to Manage Meetings”, served as my reference in this case. I learned and used some parts of the book such as preparing for the meeting (p. 33), opening the meeting (p.55), managing the agenda (p.56), and closing the meeting (p. 69), also after the meeting: follow up the actions (p. 121). This book is effective in handling meetings so well by making sure that I am organized enough to handle the activities for the meeting. I have managed the learning well by working constantly with my father and employee of the company in terms of co-ordination. Through this, it assisted me mostly in interacting with the sales team, suppliers, and clients effectively. The evidences are the Feedback from the managers of the company and by working with some employees of my father’s company. (See Appendix) The Belbin report of this year and the previous year proves that my co-ordinate skills were improved. My previous score was 0 and is now 80%. It is certain that my level of improvement is relatively high and satisfactory. On the other hand, to be more effective in making decisions, I referred to the chapter 10th of Cameron book in order to understand various activities. The activities and exercises assisted me in making more effective decisions. I also referred to the book of R. Meredith Belbin (1997), “Management Teams” while working on making effective decision skills. According to Belbin (1997, pp. 52-57), an effective way of communication with the team members is possessing good leadership qualities. Thus, I learned that those qualities are useful and applicable in working with the CP team. Working with the CP team opened up the opportunity to make decisions with the help of the whole team. Beblin report for this year shows that I have improved in maximizing the resources of the team which depicts my efficiency as a decision maker. It also shows that I have improved the team work skills but I still have to improve on making firm decisions and not hesitate on what was thought. Generally, I have managed learning these skills in terms of managing time and the activities. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) I have chosen CRM due to the following reasons: My father’s company is expanding after the merge; clients and sales as well. It is essential that all the sales and clients of my father’s company are treated well and tracked accordingly. We have to establish a good rapport with the customers to develop brand loyalty and position the image of the company positively. Due to a hectic schedule, it is difficult to assist each customer manually. Therefore, CRM based skills approach makes sense to improve the overall client management of the company. CRM has been chosen since software with effective process is essential nowadays and it is strongly needed in the company of my father. As one of the key person in the company, I wanted to learn more about CRM and propose a strategy for a sales/client process for the benefit of all. Effectiveness of the PDP process, learning style, on CRM Customer Relationship Management is an important aspect of managing a business because it establishes a good working relationship with the clients and sales prospects. It can be done through different ways and one it through the CRM IT strategy. Information technology is vital because it automates the business operations and makes things easier and more convenient (Wood, 2002). The 3 aspects are the following: Understanding the customer relationship management Learning the CRM IT Strategies Working With CRM Understanding the customer relationship management The PDP for this is identified by working through the required understanding of CRM. The PDP process is achieved through the use of books, internet and other sources. I have learned CRM by learning first about basic of CRM and then later identified IT strategies for this. Since CRM was quite new to me, I made sure that I learned through a step by step basis but sometimes the basic information are difficult to understand. So I put a lot of effort to understand CRM and practised the theories as an IT Analyst. Learning the CRM IT Strategies This part of skill improvement through the PDP process is learning CRM with consistent practise in terms of theory in relation with the CRM IT strategy. It is good for a beginner and a new learner for CRM. I learned through various books about the CRM IT strategies such as how they are applied in companies like identifying CRM IT strategy for the company, applying the CRM IT strategy, integrating the CRM strategy in the current organization process etc. My understanding of the strategies that I learned is presented in the following pages. (Please see Appendix of CRM) Working With CRM Working with CRM was quite challenging since CRM was new to me. The learning needs to be practical so I asked my father to implement CRM IT strategy in the company. I was able to apply what I have learned about CRM in my father’s company and identified a way on how to improve business processes through the use of advanced technology to communicate with the clients such as sending emails (Hagel III and Brown, 2001). It is helpful in increasing sales and informing the clients about the updates of the company. In addition to, I have worked in a case study where implementation of CRM IT strategy was evaluated together with a proposal. I prepared a sample report on how to implement the strategy and have it sent to my father for further review. Fortunately, my father approved the proposal and decided to implement the CRM in the near future. Effectiveness of the preparation for academic success, career The learning process is effective in terms of written communication, Team work and Learning CRM IT Strategies. All 3 skills are very important in achieving the goals and be successful in its application. I have improved on written skills based on the feedback of the tutor, peer reviewer and self- assessment. It made me confident in writing good reports, sending emails and working with my father for the benefit of the company. Also, pursuing MBA in the future will be easier for me because I will not have difficulties adhering to what the courses require in writing academic papers (Arora and Stoner, 1992). As part of the continued learning process, I have to constantly practice writing to be more concise and bring out the best in me. I have improved as a good team player and this will assist me in academic and future career success. Working with the CP project helped me to be an effective team player. As I plan to do MBA, I know that the team work skill will help me to be more competent in working with discussion groups. As someone equipped with this kind of skill, I am now ready to help my father manage the company and work with the other employees as well. I always wanted to learn new things and develop it to be applied in the real scenario, such as the CRM. I have learned basic CRM though but I still need to learn more and profoundly understand the real nature of the subject. Basically, I need more practice on CRM IT strategy because it will assist me on performing well in MBA and in my father’s company. Expertise on this will make me skilled enough to expand the business of my father and develop a brand loyalty with the customers (McNeilly and Ranney, 1995). To conclude, this report reflected the skills that I have developed throughout the learning process; written communication, team work skills and CRM. I look forward to improve my skills through the application of the theories that I have learned and discover more skills that will develop through time. Difficulties and downfalls may have been experienced but it paid a great dividend and directed my academic and career path in a positive way. Bibliography: Arora, R., & Stoner, C. (1992). The importance of skills of M.B.A. students seeking marketing positions: An employers’ perspective. Journal of Marketing Education, 14, 2-9 Barker, Alan. (2002 ), “How to manage Meetings”, The Sunday Times, PP: 147 Beblin, Meredith. (1993), “ Team Role at Work ” Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, p. 1. Belbin, R. Meredith. (1997), “Management Teams”, Belbin, PP 171 Bransford, John. (2000), “How people learn: brain, mind, experience, and school”, National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Learning, PP 374 Cameron, S. (2009). THE BUSINESS STUDENTS HANDBOOK. ESSEX: Pearson Education Limited. Chatman, J.A. & Barsade, S. Personality, organizational culture, and cooperation: Evidence from a business simulation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1995, 40, 423-43. Donnellon, A. (1996). Team talk: The power of language in team dynamics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Hagel III, J. and J. Brown (2001) ‘Your Next IT Strategy’ , Harvard Business Review October. McNeilly, K. M., & Ranney, F. J. (1995). Improving writing skills in sales management courses: The use of memo-writing exercises. Journal of Marketing Education, 19, 31-44. Peterson (2008), “Petersons MBA Programs 2009”, Edition: 14, PP 9-12 Wood, B. (2002) Customer Relationship Management Integration Trends. Gartner Group Research Note COM-17-7374, September Read More