Question:
This report states the different stages of my learning process at APIC College where I pursued a management degree. It starts by giving a brief introduction about my past and then moves on to elaborate the skills and expertise I had possessed before joining the college.
Was successful in completing mine under graduation which was concerning public administration. During my undergraduate course the subjects that I had to go through ranged from sociology, law, political science, public policy, etc. Apart from the technical knowledge I was able to develop soft skills regarding managing my work and adhering to strict deadlines. I was also entrusted to work in a group environment which was a learning experience for me since those were first days of my working in a team. All these new opportunities shape my character which I feel helped me to achieve whatever I have done till today.
I also worked for some time which helped me in understanding the importance of strategic planning and budgeting. These qualities are much curtailed for any work that I pursue in the future and would give me a hand in establishing my professional life on firm footing.
Then I decide to join APIC College for a management degree since while working I understood that although having knowledge in a particular field and developing expertise to become a specialist is necessary there is also an explicit demand in the job market which expects every candidate to manage complex situations, collaborate with multiple stakeholders and have an analytical view about any topic or issue. All these prompted me to pursue a career in the management domain. The initial few days were quite hectic as I was still acclimatising with the new environment and trying to develop support systems for me in the institute. I had joined the institute with few expectations in mind which can collate as follows:
- As there would be students from diverse backgrounds, my aim was to develop an excellent cultural and social rapport with them
- Managerial and technical competencies which are of utmost importance to excel in any job were on my priority list
- After completion of the course, my wish was to join employment in the marketing or finance industry
My aim would be to correctly implement whatever knowledge I was able to gather while studying in the college in real life scenarios so that I can gain from my Management degree. With this aim, I had pursued the course in APIC college and how was able to increase the learning outcomes from the different sections of the course have been detailed in the following discussion.
Socio-cultural and personal competencies – As per my aim and target I had classified the socio-cultural and political skills into separate buckets which were attitude, commitment, creativity & innovation, cultural empathy, leadership, learning and self-direction. In all these aspects I also thought of creating three benchmarks for me to achieve which included a set target, my performance in meeting this goal while how my peers fared in those attributes throughout the semester. I made an attempt to graphically represent these characteristics before and after the work which shows stark improvement in my competency level. A tabular commentary on each of such attribute has been given below:
Competency |
Level Achieved |
Evidence |
Generic |
Informed |
During the first semester, numerous project works had to be done, and there were several reworks also instructed by the mentor. I was always sincere in listening to such advisers together with my team. This procedure helped me in judging my competencies and set targets accordingly. Working in a group environment has been particularly helpful since it initiated a sense of collaboration and cooperation among all the members. I had been a significant contributor in the group task and was able to submit a successful project. |
Leadership |
Informed |
Leadership is a quality which has become quintessential for any managerial function. While working for the team, I had the opportunity to lead them in several instances. I was involved in distributing the work among my team members and also monitored each one's progress together with keeping up my work. |
Commitment |
Informed |
Performing in any group requires commitment. I understood the importance of engagement when you take up a task or is responsible for it. This attribute was developed in me because of the numerous projects that I had to do while working for my team. |
Attitude |
Informed |
Attitude is something which is developed slowly and through considerable efforts. Attitude to perform and that too accurately is essential to perform in a highly competitive environment. I have moulded myself in an attitude which is humble and collaborative while I work in a team. I believe this will help me to go a long way while working on further projects in future. |
Self-direction |
Informed |
Self-direction is an attribute which is developed when one finds satisfaction in the work that he or she does. I was lucky enough to get formal education and then join a management course which involved expertise on a whole lot of subjects. I understood this to be my proper calling, and I decided to make a career in the management field of finance or marketing. This is the self-direction that I achieved while working in teams for dedicated projects. |
Cultural empathy |
Informed |
As I collaborated with a diverse set of people from different backgrounds, it was necessary for me to understand different cultures and react accordingly while working in the team. The projects that were given to us helped me to bond together with the students from different cultures or geographies. I am indebted to the opportunities provided to me through the projects to develop a sense of cultural empathy within me. |
Creativity & Innovation |
Informed |
As my wish is to join the marketing industry in future, it is crucial for me to develop a penchant for creativity and innovation. Creativity and innovation go hand in hand in such work environment, and I was able to trigger myself to think in different lines while working for the projects given to us as part of the course. It had gone a long way in helping me to have a creative bent of mind. |
I had followed a similar methodology as already explained to gauge my managerial and technical skill on operations management. I had chosen my subjects in this domain after making a thorough analysis of my existing skills and the subjects I had already studied. Again I classified the skill sets based on several attributes which are operations design which involves execution and improvement, principles of operations management and standards, laws or regulations that are prevalent. I tried to represent the skill sets in a graphical format on the target set by me, whatever I achieved and what my peers had made. An explanation of the level of competency achieved in each of the aspects is tabulated below:
Competency |
Level Achieved |
Evidence |
Operations design, execution and improvement |
Informed |
As I worked on the projects, I understood how important it is to maintain quality and other operational based risks for any organisation. I undertook a thorough analysis of the different aspects of executive management committed by the various groups which enabled me to understand and compare the approaches of several institutes. This helped develop the skill of operations design execution. |
Principles of Operation Management |
Informed |
As I went through solving numerous cases related to maintenance management my knowledge about organisational structures and how they influence the functioning of a company were cleared. |
Standards, Laws and Regulation |
Informed |
Due diligence and adhering to the stipulated requirements is a must while operating a business in a country. The central regulators keep a close eye on the organisations for their compliance with the regulatory requirements. |
Another favourite aspect of my study in the APIC course was the marketing and business communication. It had a unique attraction for me since I was interested in pursuing a marketing job after finishing my studies. Similar to the strategy followed in the previous two cases my motive was to judge the competency level in this subject through benchmarking a target and how far I was able to achieve that goal. Peer comparison was also made since it provides a good feedback about the efficacy of my learning. The attributes related to marketing and business communication were separated into buckets namely effective communication and efficient marketing. A graphical representation of my competencies reveals that although I had faired quite well in increasing my skill level but still it was lagging behind my peers. The skills developed in these two aspects have been interpreted graphically as follows:
Competency |
Level Achieved |
Evidence |
Effective communication |
Informed |
As I participated in a lot of projects I had to undergo interaction with my peers and also my mentors. These enhanced my skills of business communication, and I was able to gather my thoughts to speak coherently and logically. Apart from this while submitting reports or presentation, it was also helpful in developing a thorough understanding of the communication process. |
Effective Marketing |
Informed |
During the project as I was learning through my first semester, it had provided me with ample opportunity to showcase my marketing capabilities which I had implemented in my projects. While it was learning on the job, I would say that my previous work experience had also helped me in honing the marketing skills. |
Financial analysis is another aspect of business studies which is critical to establish a candidate ready for the job purpose. I had adopted a technique of graphical representation to showcase my progress in these specific skill sets. I had made a benchmark reference in the charts with my performance compared with the fulfilment of the peers. The various attributes of financial management which were judged by me are financial planning & management, financial analysis and other principles of financial management. As can be observed from the graphs that I made a significant improvement in my financial skills but I still lagged behind my peers who achieved greater success in the semester. A tabular commentary on the different attributes of financial management is as follows:
Competency |
Level Achieved |
Evidence |
Financial Analysis |
Informed |
As I worked my way through various projects while studying the course, I was subjected to the financial analysis of the different organisation. I was supposed to make a thorough analysis of the financial position of several companies and compare them. |
Financial Planning& Management |
Informed |
While working on the different projects, I was involved in the financing, budgeting and financial control analysis of several organisations which helped me in every possible way to create a bent of mind which was necessary as a financial analyst. |
Principles of financial management |
Informed |
I was supposed to take part in several projects which had finance as the primary theme and delved deep upon different aspects of funding. Starting from NPV calculation for the projects at hand to preparing daily P&L reports for the various transactions were some of the requirements which I had fulfilled. Taking an active participation in such jobs enabled me to develop my financial analysis skills. |
Conclusion:
This report states the different stages of my learning process at APIC College where I pursued a management degree. It starts by giving a brief introduction about my past and then moves on to elaborate the skills and expertise I had possessed before joining the college. Then the work moves on classifying the different aspects of the subjects and studies I had undertaken in this course. My learning was mostly centred on my aspirations as I was able to find self-direction in this course. I had worked on several projects which had helped me in honing the skills required for a successful career in the management domain. This work explains in detail about the specific skills I have developed being a part of the course and resorts to charts or graphical representations to benchmark my learning process. Finally, this report should be viewed as a reflective essay about a candidate who has gained in managerial and technical expertise by taking a course in the APIC College.
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