Deliberate Practice Theory And Performance: Recommendations For Improving Presentation Skills

Recommendations to Ricardo on how to improve his presentation skills

Discuss about the Deliberate Practice Theory and Performance.

Deliberate practice can be defined as a particular type of practice done with a purpose and is conducted systematically. Deliberate practice needs keen attention and is carried out with the specific objective of improving performance. Research has indicated that expertise is not only achieved by the talents one has and the hours used in practice but instead, what matters a lot is the type of practice one carries out (HYLLEGARD, RANDY). There are five steps in deliberate practice that need to be followed for one to achieve excellence in mastery of any skill as discussed below.

Goal identification and perseverance Goal setting is the most important source of motivation when combined together with practice. One is also required to persevere to continue achieving .This is because, most times people like setting goals on things that can be easily mastered but deliberate practice emphasizes on one getting out of his or her comfort zone .According to researchers, setting of goals enables one to achieve about 33 percent of the deliberate practice. It is good that even before one starts doing something, there must a picture in the mind of the final product i.e. how will it b like at the end of the practice? (Bipp, Tanja, and Ad Kleingeld)

Feedback is the second aspect in deliberate practice. One is advised to seek feedback from others or even one can get feedback by watching recordings during practice because it is always hard to get reasonable feedback from you when engaged in the practice. Feedback helps one to acknowledge mistakes and find out solutions without blaming or criticizing then do the practice using the correct ways obtained after evaluating the feedback. Repetition For a good mastery of any action or skill, one is required to make a lot of repetitions .After learning about a skill or a move; it is advisable to repeat until one feels fully confident and comfortable about it. Maintained and repeated practices necessary in learning of more cognitive related actions Approach used One is required to use different ways to do the same thing to ensure that he or she does not lose interest in the practice. There is nothing that is more destructive to learning than being bored with the task. By changing approach, it is possible to do the same thing while still maintaining the interest in it. (Panero, N. S.) Focus That is, breaking the practice exercises into manageable parts. One should not try learning all complex skills at once. It is good to break them into shorter portions and practice them differently

Deliberate practice helps many people on how to carry out effective, fruitful practice. It changes people’s mentality that practice is meant for improvement rather than viewing it as something that comes along with fun and fulfillment (Anders Ericsson, K.). If not enjoyed, practice will end up being a mindless, boring repetition which does not involve the brain and this may result in people repeating the same mistakes without any change. Deliberate practice brings a meaningful practice with desirable results if it is done correctly. To improve his presentation skills through deliberate practice, Ricardo should do the following; the first recommendation is about the ideal length of time to practice. The duration taken in practice is very important in that too long time taken may end up being unproductive. The shorter he time spent the better in terms of mastery o the presentation skills (HYLLEGARD, RANDY). Taking 10-15 minutes is quite productive and motivating because one can learn a lot by practicing a short presentation. Too long time in presentation makes practice demotivating and boring. The second way to achieve excellent presentation through practice is by keeping a learning journal. The reason for this is because deliberate practice deals with setting specific practice objectives and then working hard to achieve them (Allotey, Janette). The journal will keep the record of what worked, what helped and lessons learnt in the practice. The little changes noted down will keep you on the move and motivated hence improve the presentation skills. It has been noted that people who keep records improve faster than those who just try to record them in their memories. The last recommendation for Ricardo is that he should be familiar or in other words know the problem he is working on rather than generalizing. This is because human brain works better when one knows the problem needed to be solved .For instance if one needs to improve vocal variety when speaking, then he or she could practice speaking softer or louder or sit back and think of ways to stretch his or her voice or even practice in a noisy place so as to have the voice stretched. In short, Ricardo should view the practice as an experiment rather than a rehearsal

Article Review

The article reviewed is about human resource management and performance published by University of Cyprus on 4^th October 2006

The main purpose of the article is to find the relationship or the importance of human resource management (HRM) to the organizational performance (Mitchell, Rebecca et al.).  It intends to find the human resource management practices that contribute to development of organization competitive advantage. Human capital is vital in a nations effort to serve the public sector .However, methods used by the past scholars  to link the relationship between human resource management and organizational performance are criticized in the article .The paper claims that the methods are weak in their explanations. The article tries to suggest techniques based on Kohonen’s self organizational maps (SOMs), to examine the relationship between human resource management and competitive advantage of the organization performance. Researchers have tried to find out which techniques should be embraced but the exact answer has not been arrived at. Some propos grouping of the human resource practices for effective competitive advantage for instance combinations of development, compensation and planning .In other words, the compound advantages.

The study links human resource management and performance using SOMs among private and pubic sectors in the European Union (Brewster, Chris). Ironically, article unlike other early research findings proposes that planning as a function of human resource management does not carry much importance. The reason could be may be human resource management has got no great relationship with organizational performance among the European Union nations. In summary, the article explains that as much as different clusters and models have been used to describe the change in human resource in European Union, the articles suggests that future researchers should consider factors like culture and politics influence on human resource which entirely influence organizational performance.

The human resource models in both private sector and public sectors are the same. This is true because in most cases, the goals of both the private sector and the public sector are involved in offering the same products or services even if they use different methods to deliver, the end product is more less the same (Sweta, Dr). The reason is that as much as the tasks carried out in the private sector differ from those in the public sector, the basic training received by the employee is common. A slight difference may be noted due to organization culture. The article also proposes that training, communication and development are important functions of the human resource management, This is true because performance is enhanced through training and the development of the employees as stated in chapter one of the lesson. Communication, development and training motivate the employee because he or she owns the organization thus puts all the effort to ensure good performance in the organization. Communication enables employees to receive feedback on their performance thus make the required adjustments or if the performances are good, they maintain it. ("Diagnostics of development of organizational and managerial competencies of the engineers using the self-organizing kohonen maps")

My opinion on the findings on the article

I disagree on the article’s idea that planning is not important. This is not true since planning is the backbone of any human resource management that comes before other functions. Effective managers know that a bigger portion of their time should be dedicated to planning. To a human resource manager, planning refers to the determination of a program concerning human resource that will guide in the achievement of the goals of the organization. The revelation in the article that human resource vary in different regions is true because different regions have different political, cultural (Gabriel, Kung'u Kamau) and social systems. The human resource set up will automatically vary from one region to another. The article holds that the only thing that causes difference in the human resource-performance relation is the geographical location and not organizational context. This is not true because different organizations have different cultures and structures that makes their human resource management-performance relations unique for example in the class notes, the is the aspect of reward systems. Organization with good reward systems motivate their employees more than those who don’t have hence will perform better than those without these systems.

Conclusion

In conclusion, human resource management and organization’s performance have  a strong positive correlation. Therefore, human resource managers should se strategies that ensure that the organizational human resource is well trained, developed and motivated to work hard in ensuring that the organization achieves its goals. (Hogler, Raymond L.)

References

HYLLEGARD, RANDY. "Deliberate practice theory: relevance, effort, and inherent enjoyment of music practice

". Perceptual And Motor Skills, vol 107, no. 6, 2008, p. 439. SAGE Publications, doi:10.2466/pms.107.6.439-448.

Lombardo, Michael P., and Robert O. Deaner. "You Can't Teach Speed: Sprinters Falsify The Deliberate Practice Model Of Expertise". SSRN Electronic Journal, Elsevier BV, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2277977.

Bipp, Tanja, and Ad Kleingeld. "Goal?Setting In Practice". Personnel Review, vol 40, no. 3, 2011, pp. 306-323. Emerald, doi:10.1108/00483481111118630.

Anders Ericsson, K. "Deliberate Practice And Acquisition Of Expert Performance: A General Overview". Academic Emergency Medicine, vol 15, no. 11, 2008, pp. 988-994. Wiley-Blackwell, doi:10.1111/j.1553-2712.2008.00227.x

Panero, N. S. "Progressive Mastery Through Deliberate Practice: A Promising Approach For Improving Writing". Improving Schools, vol 19, no. 3, 2016, pp. 229-245. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1177/1365480216643209.

Allotey, Janette. "Presentation Skills Patsy Mccarthy And Caroline Hatcher Presentation Skills Sage 228 £39.99 (Hardback) £13.99 (Paperback) 076194091X (Hardback 0761940928 (Paperback) 076194091X 0761940928". Learning Disability Practice, vol 6, no. 9, 2003, pp. 26-26. RCN Publishing Ltd., doi:10.7748/ldp.6.9.26.s21.

Mitchell, Rebecca et al. "The Effect Of Strategic Human Resource Management On Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role Of High-Performance Human Resource Practices". Human Resource Management, vol 52, no. 6, 2013, pp. 899-921. Wiley-Blackwell, doi:10.1002/hrm.21587.

Brewster, Chris. "European Perspectives On Human Resource Management". Human Resource Management Review, vol 14, no. 4, 2004, pp. 365-382. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2004.10.001

Hogler, Raymond L. "Transforming Employment Relationships: Implications For Human Resource Management". Human Resource Management Review, vol 6, no. 1, 1996, pp. 75-88. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/s1053-4822(96)90005-4

"DIAGNOSTICS OF DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND MANAGERIAL COMPETENCIES OF THE ENGINEERS USING THE SELF-ORGANIZING KOHONEN MAPS". Automation And Control In Technical Systems, no. 4.2, 2013, Science And Innovation Center, doi:10.12731/2306-1561-2013-4-2

Sweta, Dr. "Role Of Human Resource Management In Job Satisfaction Of Employees: A Comparative Analysis In Public & Private Sector". International Journal Of Social Sciences And Management, vol 2, no. 3, 2015, Nepal Journals Online (JOL), doi:10.3126/ijssm.v2i3.12751.

Gabriel, Kung'u Kamau. "Organizational Development, Organizational Culture And Organizational Change". SSRN Electronic Journal, Elsevier BV, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2686104