Self-Managed Learning - Essay Example

Running header: Personal development Student’s name: Instructor’s name Subject code: Date of submission SELF MANAGED LEARNING Self-managed learning refers to an approach in learning whereby an individual undertakes with his own effort and strength to see to it that they take full responsibility of their own learning. In other words, this refers to learning where an individual is not forced or compelled to learn. By fully taking responsibility of their learning process, they are motivated from within themselves and work to their level best to see to it that they get whatever goal they have set to achieve. It is a trait that is at times described as an adult trait. As such, adults are said to be self-managed in their learning process. This is unlike the case with children who have to be pushed to learn and forced to undertake the tasks (Sangster 2000). They are described as lacking the sense of self or internal drive. Self-managed people are characterized by having little or low levels of supervision from the tutors or the people in the leadership or higher positions. In order to see to it that the self-managed learning process is successful, some principles have to be put into full use. They include a proven fact that people learn best from experience which may either be their own life experience or the experience of other people. It has been stated that experience is the best teacher. As such, experience gives people a chance to relate their current positions and situations with the experience they got from earlier times and from what other people went through. Experience gives people who are in the process of learning to have an upper edge in dealing with certain conditions and circumstances. It makes people to be sure of the best strategies to employ in case of a question that may arise and hence they are able to deal with the circumstances at hand. Self-learning hence is dependent on the past experiences that individuals have with some situations. Another principle that guides the self-managed learning process is the fact that different people learn different things differently. The way different people perceive and understand things varies depending on their background and also on their educational status (Cunningham, 1992). As such they way set goals and objectives of a company are and are understood varies from one person to another. Very educated people understand things in a more civilized manner as compared to less educated people. This hence affects the self-managed learning process and how effective it is to an individual. Another principle on which self-managed learning process is dependent on is the fact that different people have different learning needs. As such the needs vary from one person to another. The benefits that are thereby derived and the satisfaction that is derived from the learning process vary from one person to another due to the difference in their types of needs. Another principle that is also applicable in the case of learning process that the best learning occurs when we feel completely in charge of it and when we have the responsibility in ourselves of embarking in the learning process. It is easier to cope with and also to understand something that one feels that he has full control of. As such, the process of learning is influenced by the level of control that one feels and that one has in the learning topic and subject. Another fact that cannot be ignored is that people cannot be forced to learn. Self-managed learning is characterized by beingself-driven and the absence of the use of force in its execution. By being forced to an individual, it ceases being self-driven and self-managed learning process. It should therefore be the role of the management to see to it that they encourage the own learning processes of the employees. This is due to the fact that will feel encouraged to perform even better in their tasks. This can be done through several strategies. They include; a. The encouraging of the learners to set aside what they really need so as to see to it that there is development of their own learning techniques. b. The changing of the perceptions that the employees have on learning. This is in order to see to it that the best has been gotten from their learning process. Through this, the best will be gotten from the employees. c. Availing the needed training so as to see to it that the employees learn the skills that are needed to see to it that they develop individual responsiveness and the ability for them to take responsibility for the things which they do (Revans, 2002). Individual drive makes the employees to get the best they can from own learning process. d. The management can also ensure that it has provided favorable support environment and a right atmosphere for the betterment of the skills of the employees. Through this, the learning process will be faster and even more efficient. The benefits that businesses derive from putting in place and in the promotion of own learning are many and beneficial to them. The first aspect is that the management is able to resume maximum control of the workplace. The relationship between the management and the employees is also improved. Through the improvement of the relationships, the quality of work and communication in the business premise is greatly improved. Through communication, goal attainment in a company will be enhanced to great levels. This will help also in the improvement of the ideas, the skills and the experiences that are held by the employees. Research has proved that employees who are involved in proper business communications are more motivated to perform even better in their activities. They undertake their tasks with more vigor and also with more enthusiasm and excitement. This is due to the fact that they feel appreciated and recognized in the business and in the management cycle. Through the development of self-managed learning, the individual is usually able to develop himself as a person (Rogers, 2007). Development of a person occurs in such ways as in his morale to undertake tasks and activities, his skills and competencies in the undertaking of a certain task, his degrees and courage in self-expression and also an improvement in the self-confidence of individuals. Through this, there emerges a general improvement in the quality of the work performed by an individual employee. Through the betterment of the individual skills of the employees, they are also able to match the professional standards that are set for them. Goal attainment of a firm also becomes easy and attainable. There are many needs that necessitate the employees urge to be self-developed. They include the need to be established as an individual, the need to be recognized, the need to be involved in the decision making processes of the firm and most importantly the need to be appreciated for their role. The organizations should therefore strive to their level best to see to it that all the employees are able to develop themselves and also their skills. This should be facilitated by initiating and developing long term objectives which are in line with this. They include making changes to the organization culture of a work place and seeing to it that it is in line with development strategies of the employees. There should also be developed a need recognition and satisfaction mechanism whereby the needs of the employees are made known at an earlystage and dealt with. Example include the putting in place of suggestion boxes to receive the grievances and suggestions of the employees and working to see to it that they have all been addressed. There should also be an introduction of motivational sessions in order to increase the levels of motivation and the morale of the employees. This helps in raising their levels of performance. It will also help in developing the levels and standards of the employee need identification and satisfaction. A well-defined plan must hence be formulated to make this possible. This should see to it that all the parties to this have been well incorporated and involved in the formulation of the plan. Through involvement, the chances of occurrence of plan related conflicts are reduced. The plan should hence be an all-inclusive one. The plan should be a simple one and also easy to understand by all the parties to it. Through ensuring of own learning which should be encompassed in the development plan, the business will be able to attain its set goals. It will be easy due to some factors which are made possible by the existence of self-managed learning processes amongthe employees. Some of the problems that may occur as a result of the setting of the plans is that time needed for adequate learning process may be absent. As such adequate time needs to be provided for the employees to be able to personally develop themselves and to also improve their self-managed learning. At times, some employee development plans do not include giving a chance to the individual development of the employee learning skills which come from within themselves. As such, this need to be included so as to see to it that it is included and above all the levels are improved. The market environment is subject to massive changes. Some of these changes are caused by changes in the levels of technology (Donaldson, 1993). As such, the businesses should align themselves in the most possible ways possible so as not to be submerged and overtaken by this changes. They should be up to date when it comes to the levels of technology a workplace. Through regular improvement of the personal skills of the individuals, this raises their competitive advantage in the market which is for the better of the business in mention. There are however some problems which arise in the businesses as a result of improper dialogue occurring. Such problems can result to the failure of the business and as such need to be addressed as soon as they are detected. The lack of proper communication of the goals of a business is one reason that can result to conflicts in the work place. As such, timely communication of the goals and objectives of the business to all the concerned stakeholders is crucial and a matter which should not be ignored in any way. Time wastage is also an issue which can result to the failure of any business. Therefore it is crucial for any business to ensure that they is a tight time schedule in place. This is because the presence of a time schedule gives the people a sense of direction in their activities. They also know the maximum amount of time that they need to spend on a particular task. The putting to maximum use such time has many far reaching benefits to a business. They should hence all strive to see to it that it is in place and that it is strictly followed to the letter. Examples of effective time management strategies are the availing of time tables. This will guide peopleon what they should be doing at a particular period of time. It reduces delays that might occur in the business as a result of the absence of a time table. Another strategy that might be crucial in this is the production units per period of time method (Rowlands, 2003). This is a method whereby the staff and the management of a business know the actual number of units which they should produce per unit of time for example and hour. If they exceed this time in producing a similar number of units, they will be seen as being slow in their operations. If they produce more products inthis time on the other hand, they will be termed as being fast in their production process. This however should be subject to much scrutiny as increase in the number of units in a certain period of time may raise questions as in regards to the quality of the output produced. Self-managed learning can hence be termed as a process which is vital for business growth and success. It should hence be encouraged in the workplace. REFERENCES Sangster C2000, Planning and Organizing Personal Development,London, Rutledge. Cunningham, I1992, "Self-managed learning", The Journal of Management Education and Learning, Sage, London. Rogers, C2007, On Becoming a Person, Constable, London. Rowlands, S2003, The Enquiring Tutor, Falmer Press, London. Donaldson, M1993, The Human Mind, Penguin, London. Revans, R2002, Action Learning, Chartwell Bratt, London. Read More