Learning as a Long and Tedious Process - Research Paper Example

Integration of Personal and Professional Skills It has been a long journey at Arizona The entire learning experience is interesting and challenging at the same time. It has been through hard work, perseverance and patient that I have finally reached the end. This paper addresses some of the aspects that I have learnt during my stay at the university. I will begin by outlining and explaining the skills that I have developed and some that I have strengthened while at the university. I will also explain how those skills that I have acquired through learning will help me in improving my career. The higher education provides so many opportunities to us students and therefore I will also examine some of those opportunities that are availed to us. It has been a long journey and I have also gained a lot from education and I will take this chance to provide reason to others as to why they should follow in my footsteps. In conclusion, learning is not a process that ends when one leaves school; I will be explaining what I will be doing in order to maintain a lifelong learning attitude. Learning is a long and tedious process that requires hard work and determination in order to succeed. Many people have talked about learning and how to succeed. It all begins with the individual’s inner drive to want to succeed. The individual then through motivation from within and the external environment tries to find ways that will make them succeed in learning. I am one such person that has had the inner drive until this last minute. I have engaged with my professors and my fellow students in finding the best ways to learn and succeed in life. The professors at this university have greatly contributed to my success up to this point in time. There are basic skills that I have acquired during this course and there are a few others that I have improved on. The first basic skill that I acquired is team work. I have learnt that a person does not exist alone and therefore he/she needs to mingle with people and find out how they do things so that you can borrow ideas from them or improve on what you already have. Team work is very important especially at the university. Most of the students are left on their own to conduct research and find solutions to problems that exist in the real world. An individual working on his/ or her own may find this work overwhelming especially when given many tasks that have strict deadlines. If such an individual and another formed a group to discuss the work, it will be very easy for them to complete the work. This is because they share ideas and lessen the burden of having to brainstorm for ideas for a long time. Secondly team work is good because tasks get to be delegated to group members and thus they are completed easily and in good time. Team work is especially important for any profession because most of the time you are dealing with people and many tasks that need generation of ideas. An individual will generate very few ideas as compared to a group. Organizations prosper because of varied ideas that people bring on board and therefore working in a team is a basic skill that will give me an edge over others who want to work as individuals (West, 2004). The second skill I have developed is the art of communication. Communication is an integral part of everyday interactions. It is important to learn how to pass across a message well and in the right format to enable understanding. Good communication skills cannot be overemphasized because any professional without these basic skills is domed. These skills include the art of oral communication and written communication. Oral communication is important so that you are able to communicate with fellow employees at the work place, issue orders and instructions, for purposes of presentations and making speeches. I have learnt all this skills which are basic importance. Written communication is also very important as it helps in the writing of reports, memos, executing various managerial decisions such as passing instructions through memos and so on (Mary Ellen Guffey, 2010). Without a good command of English and grammar it is difficult to engage in any meaningful written communication. The third skill I have developed is the ability to use technology in solving day to day problems. Technology is part and parcel of our lives today. It is widely used in organizations from the basic tasks of cutting and punching papers in the office to the complex processes involved in the production of goods and services. I have learnt how to use computers in doing basic office work such as in creating documents, I have also used projectors in making presentations in class. Technology has helped me in discussion groups especially on the school online boards. I have also learnt how to use technology to do my research especially over the internet. Research is important both at school and at the work place and the internet has made it easy for any person anywhere to conduct research. In the process of learning I have also acquired managerial skills that are so essential in my profession. Managers play an essential role in the success of the organization and therefore learning how to manage people and resources is an essential skill for all managers. Managerial work involves planning, organizing, supervising and controlling both people and resources. To be a good manager one need to develop good analytical skills, good decision making skills, good interpersonal communication skills and many others. I have acquired all this skills which are going to make me a better manager in any organization or company that I will work for (Witzel, 2004). I have improved on some skills and at the same time strengthened them. Some of these skills include the ability to conduct research especially in the library and over the internet. Organizations want information every day and it is important that you get the information that will help the organization solve a given problem. This skill is of great importance to professionals in the business field as it will help in areas such as market research. Another skill that I have also improved on is the ability to make informed decisions. Most of the time, we are faced with problems at the work place that will either make or break the organization. These problems require a thoughtful and detailed analysis of events and factors before coming to a conclusion on which is the most viable solution. I have learnt the essential process that must be followed in order to make decisions and this is of great importance to me. Another skill I have improved on is the ability to lead others. All managers need to be good leaders in order to make the organization to prosper. The above mentioned skills are very important to me because I will use them in very many different ways. First of all I am going to use the team work skills that I have acquired to work with my fellow employees at the work place. It will help me in generating of new ideas that are essential during the initiation of a new project. Team work will also help me to beat deadlines because I can easily share work with fellow employees whom we are working together and thus completing the work in good time. Secondly I will use technology to improve on my career such that it will help me in achieving efficiency and increasing my productivity. I will use it in making my presentations to the organizations board; I will also use it in creating both organizational and personal documents. Technology will help me be effective as it automates most of the work therefore minimizing time wastage. It will also help me in sending of documents especially when am in a remote place and information is needed at the office. It will be simple to send an email to issue instructions or orders to people when I am far away (Gottschalk, 2007). Thirdly communication skills will be of great importance to me as they will help me propagate my ideas to fellow employees, present my work to the management and in the daily interactions with my clients and customers. Communication will help me improve my career as it will enable me to create and maintain good relations with employees, management and customers. This is very important as in business if you do not maintain relationship with customers you lose them and thus start making loses. Written communication skills will help me in the writing of business proposals that may grant me that dream client or organization (Mary Ellen Guffey, 2010). Poor written communication skills discourage other people from associating with you as you are looked upon as not able to pass information effectively to people and thus you may under communicate or use words that are not appropriate for a particular situation. Article 26 of the Universal declaration of Human rights views education as a basic human right (United Nations, 1948). Every person is supposed to get basic education and this should be provided by the government to its citizens. Higher education is also very important in the society as it provides many opportunities to people. The first opportunity is to get education and training. Basic education majorly gives a citizen the basic skills of reading and writing which are essential in the normal day to day interactions. Higher education on the other hand gives the citizens an opportunity to learn and gain skills in a given special field. They train people who work in organizations and in companies. Basic education cannot help someone in addressing complex problems that occur in organizations therefore this brings in the aspect of higher education (Kent Hill, 2005). The second opportunity provided by the higher education is the ability to develop their intellectual capability. People who attend universities are known to think in a particular direction. Their quality of thinking is different from the high school graduates. This is because they engage in research and other simulated events that make them to think and analyze situations critically and thus are able to provide solutions that are viable to a given problem (Kent Hill, 2005). Developing the intellect requires research, engaging with scholarly work to find out what people have said before a bout a given topic or thing. This develops an individual into a person who is able to critically think about issues borrowing ideas of other people. This is an opportunity that the higher education has provided to citizens. The third opportunity provided by higher education is that of earning a better income and thereby improving their living standards. University graduates earn a little higher than diploma or certificate holders. This is because the training is more intensive and comprehensive as compared to the other two. Therefore when people are able to earn a good income they improve their living standards at the same time contributing to the economy and the society as a whole (Kent Hill, 2005). There are so many things that I have gained from my education journey and which I would be willing to share with others and encourage them to follow in my footsteps. The first thing I have gained is intellectual knowledge and skills. Through comprehensive reading and research I have added to my knowledge at the same time improving my analytical skills. At the university you are exposed to many problems and real events and situations that happen in day to day interactions. You are required to interpret them and offer solutions. An individual will fail to provide a good solution because they have not build their intellect to be able to analyze the different solutions and how they will impact on a given event or situation. I have also gained social skills that are important in everyday interactions. Social skills include the ability to communicate effectively with others, the ability to solve conflicts that may arise and the ability to relate well with others. By working in teams and in discussion groups I have been able to gain these skills that are very essential to me. Social skills will especially help me when it comes to dealing with employees at the managerial level. Knowing how to talk to people makes someone be respected and appreciated by others; this results in peace and good interpersonal relations that are essential to the smooth operation of the organization. I have gained professional skills that are very important in the development of my career. These skills include the ability to plan, communicate, manage, organize, supervise and control resources. I have knowledge of accounting, economics, management, leadership, marketing, quantitative skills, legal issues, and production theory and concepts. All these are important for my career. Looking at the above mentioned knowledge and skills that I have gained anyone would see that my education journey is worth following. The social skills are very important for daily interactions and this gives a person an edge over others who do not have them. Improving the intellect helps someone think critically of issues and offer solutions that are original and working. In order to venture into any career one needs the professional skills associated with that career and I have been able to acquire that. I would have not gained these if I did not go for higher education and thus I encourage others to follow my footsteps because I have seen the benefits. Many people after coming out of the university or graduating do not want to go back to books again. This is bad because their skills deteriorate and thereby making them unable to perform other tasks which they could have easily done. In order to maintain a lifelong learning attitude I will make sure that I have a library and a study room at my place that will be stocked with books in my field and others. This will enable me to be up to date with current events and practices ( Poitiers, 2003). I will also go for further learning if my skills begin to deteriorate. This will always make me read after graduating which will help me in the future. References Poitiers. (2003, February 14). Schooling, lifelong learning and the future:Selected Insights from OECD Analyses. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from OECD Organization: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/11/56/2498958.pdf Gottschalk, P. (2007). Business dynamics in information technology . Hershey,PA: Idea Group Inc. Kent Hill, D. H. (2005, October). The value of higher education: Individual and societal Benefits (with special Consideration for the State of Arizona). Retrieved October 5, 2011, from Arizona State University: http://wpcarey.asu.edu/seid/upload/Value%20Full%20Report_final_october%202005a.pdf Mary Ellen Guffey, R. A. (2010). Essentials of Business Communication. Toronto: Cengage Learning. United Nations. (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from United Nations: http://www.wunrn.com/reference/pdf/univ_dec_hum_right.pdf West, M. A. (2004). Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research . Malden, MA: BPS Blackwell. Witzel, M. (2004). Management: The basics . New York: Routledge. Read More