My learning style was changed when I first attended
the Management Policy (Strategic Management) class of Benjamin
that I aimed to study by myself. I did not worry about the grade because what I
only wanted is to the finish my MBA and earn points in my educational
evaluation for migrating abroad. Interestingly, I thought the first meeting was
so formal until he introduced the curriculum, expectations and a humor on how
to strategize or “stragedized.” As I attended the lectures every Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays, I observed that Dr. Benjamin teaching processes is
different from my previous professors. That means we did not need follow a
textbook step-by-step. He encouraged us to read more on additional readings,
learn from played videos and be updated in current events and be inclined with
more efficient learning using mobile technology. (So, I started downloading
UDEMY and watching Bright Side video clips on You Tube and I now am planning to
download a Trivia application in my mobile).
As
I watch the video from UDEMY, I learned that it is possible to teach in videos
and get this as an income generating activity. Now, I am also dreaming that
maybe in the future I will also be teaching an interesting topic and sell my
video online. To be successful, I should learn the habit of continuous
learning. I rememeber the Zen Story of the Tea Cup. That in life in order learn, we must empty
our cup and have more rooms for new ideas to learn. I become conscious now that as working
professional in our own field, we should keep growing and never stop on
learning new things as it will be a way to our success.
Stragtegist - Dr. Benjamin mentioned
many times in this class, Consider others
better than yourself. This is
humbling lesson for myself. Most of the
time at home, I am a person of “all knowing”.
I really wanted to respect my husband.
it sometimes, I tend to assume that my time, money, energy, thoughts and
my opinions are more valuable than my husband’s. In order for me to gain a happy relationship,
with my husband, I should always consider him better than myself. Besides, he
is the “haligi ng tahanan” (The wooden pillar of the Home) and I should not be
the “anay” (termite).
Effective Delegation - Giving the authority to
someone to do a part of my job. Before I
enrolled in MBA class I have a lot of time doing my part time job. Now that I am studying, I no longer have
time to accommodate more tasks. But
clients keep coming and asking me to do visa processing for them. I cannot say no to clients and I asked my friend
if she can spare her time to help me in the encoding. I delegated my work to have more time in learning
like attending my MBA subjects.
The other idea that strike me in this class was
when we discussed about building a team.
According to Stephen – the lecturer in the downloaded video. People with right skills, knowledge and who
care about what they are doing. As a start-up
business owner of a travel agency, I already started choosing my team. At first my friend volunteered do the encoding
and visa delivering them to the visa office.
But she has another work to do, so there were some delays of the
passport delivered. So, what I did is to
look for another person to do those jobs.
This time, I hired two individuals, one encoding the forms and one
delivering passports. I chose a more
skilled person who can help my, my friend who is working as an administrative assistant,
while the messenger is our messenger the office who lives in Pasay. He can deliver the passport before 8am. The visa office opens at 7am. At least he is doing his part time job for me
before his works starts at 8am. I have
learned that in choosing my team mates in my future company, I should make a
policy that the people with right skills and knowledge will care for the job,
should be hired for me to attain my goal ang my vison for my company. Even if friendship will be sacrificed, I can
replace an friend employee who is not performing well.
Clear vision Shaping the future. “Strategy is
about shaping the future.” My personal weakness is time management and
organizational skills. As a visual learner I do not have an accurate since of
time management since I only see the final product. For example, when leaving
to go on vacation I never factor in the time it takes to reach my destination
but I focus on the direction of where I am traveling to. Time management
affects every learner in one way or another. Research suggest that visual
learners should practice keeping time or using a timer when working. Being cautious
of the time will help visual learners to take their time and see each component
as an important piece of the puzzle. Organizational skills are key for any
educator, as for me and my organizational skills I call it “organized chaos”. I
can visually place things where I see fit and can easily located them at my
convenience, but others might view it as messy or cluttered space. As a visual
learner my goal this school year is to stay organized as possible when it comes
to student assignments and teacher paper work. Being aware of my strengths and
weakness will help me better facilitate my work and meet the needs of my future
clients.
Another learning on this class is to be able to
make a management policy. Just after Labor Day, May 2, 2018, I was “politically”
challenged in the class during our debate on Contractualization. The evening
before our class, I watched the news on GMA TV and the reporter discussed some
of its effects. Luckily, I was able to relate on the opposing topic on the
sensitive issue of contractualization. I only knew about the economic effects to
driver away foreign investors. It was
only after Dr Benjamin discussed that I fully understand why ending the “endo”
on Filipino workers is not good for the economy, taxation and businesses’ law
of supply. I remember his example, for
instance in the law of supply, a production company might hire contractual
workers during the peak production season like December. Why? Because during this time, a lot of
people will be making their orders and have to be delivered swiftly. However,
the demand deliveries will not be that high for the rest of the year.
Therefore, it will make more sense to hire contractual workers only during the
peak season. Otherwise, the company may find itself employing and compensating
unproductive staff during idle stretches of the year. So, as future leader in
my own company, I should see to it that I need to weigh things before making
decisions specially in making policies.
A chapter that covered, “Culture influences the
decisions of managers”, made me realize that learning the culture or changing
the culture is a responsibility for managers. Understanding an organization is
a skill to be learned. Strategic
management means the change and change have to correspond with business
culture.
Strategic planning will help me determine which
activities I am doing are important and which ones aren't. If I will try to
determine that for my business, I should first have to figure out where I want
to go; What's my Vision? What am I hoping to achieve in my business, long term?
And then think: What do I do on a daily basis that's going to get me there? In
other words: What is my mission? Why do I exist? and then identify objectives
that will help me move towards my mission and vision. If there's an activity
that in one way or another doesn't move me closer to my objectives, mission or
vision, then consider my reasoning for doing it at all. That might fall under
the not important+ urgent/not urgent category. It seems simple to do that on an
individual basis, but now think if that message and methodology spread
throughout my organization, how much faster would it move towards its goals and
targets? By taking the time to identify the key priorities, and removing what I
would call distractions, I will be able to achieve my goals faster.
Generally,
strategic management has the ability to use information technology and other
data. In this process, strategic
thinking ability requires looking for facts. This will help an organization to
strategize, to achieve the high level and the most productive organizational
performance. Data drives decisions. I’ve learned that decision-making as a
leader is both an art and a science. While it’s critical to gather hard data
and input from those around you whenever possible, there’s never a perfect
answer. Knowing when to make a call, and when to bring more people and data
into the discussion, is an art.
Part of a strategic management lesson is enhanced
with leadership training. Effective leadership skills are an invaluable asset
to all aspects of a manager’s career and an absolute must for effective
implementation and execution of any strategy. It is not easy to step back and
observe own’s leadership style and effectiveness in a day-to-day work.
Leadership exercises and executive leadership coaching will help me gain new
perspectives and get the "feel" for my leadership skills in a safe
and supportive environment.
LEAN management - The core idea is to maximize
value while minimizing waste. It was discussed in class that one pillar of Lean
management is the 5S. The key components
of the 5S philosophy are safety and good housekeeping practices. Safety is an
integral part of the sort, set in order and shine segment of any 5S project.
Standardize and sustain refers to methods used to ensure that safety and good
housekeeping is maintained. Check sheets can be used to build good habits in
these areas and to ensure good housekeeping is maintained in all areas. This
lesson convinced me that I should be implementing this simple 5S at home and in
my workplace to reduce waste and optimize productivity and to achieve more consistent
operational results.
Learning to present an idea is I think
the most interesting lesson for me in this subject. I can use this in my
leadership skill, in collaborating with my colleagues and management, and
presenting my products to clients. It is also beneficial to my social life as
well as in my journey to complete my MBA.
Absolutely, I have had so much fun challenging
myself, pushing my brain to the limit preparing two reports, a speech in class
and this management journals and I have met some incredible people. What I
underestimated was, hopefully the relationships we have built over the Summer
in this class will still be there.
