Learning Journal

LEARNING JOURNAL Learning Style Learning is a life-long process (Tschang and Senta, 2001) which could either be formal, informal or incidental (Marsick and Watkins, 1990) i.e. conscious or unconscious. To improve one’s skills or level of competence, learning must exist beyond the boundaries of the classroom. One has to embark upon informal learning which for simplicity I will define as “a personal conscious effort to improve one’s self”. To understand myself better, I need to consciously reflect upon myself (Cottrell, 2003) and reflection can only take place when I am consciously aware that I am learning (Marsick and Watkins, 1990). In the bid to have a better understanding of myself, I need to know how I perceive, interpret, and respond to information (Whetten and Cameron, 2002). According to the Kolb’s learning style model I have a Convergent learning style as my highest scores were in Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Active Experimentation (AE) (Appendix 1). The model suggests that I am very practical, prefer technical tasks and excel in problems that have one correct answer (Kolb, Boyatzis & Mainemellis, 2000 cited in Whetten and Cameron, 2002).

However, the latter trait for me is a demerit of my learning style

(Convergent). Business decisions don’t have a one-solution-fix-all answer. Business issues are reliant on other factors like market or economy which can be volatile and difficult to predict accurately. As such I will have to develop myself to be more flexible and open to other possible answers other than a single answer to problems. The Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic (VAK) (Appendix 7) (Cottrell, 2003) and Honey and Mumford (Appendix 8) learning styles buttressed the results from Kolb’s. Honey and Mumford learning style showed that I am a pragmatic learner while VAK learning style showed that I prefer to learn using my eyes or visual imagination and I learn best where physical sensation (like movement, touch or feeling) is possible (Cottrell, 2003). As a pragmatist, I like to have a go, to try out to see if what I am learning works (Reece and Walker, 2007). I like a link between theory and practice but dislike any learning that has no obvious benefit, no guidelines or apparent purpose (Scales, 2008).

This is also

revealed in my personality style test (Jung Typology test) which revealed that I usually seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions (INFJ personality) (Humanmetrics, 2008). 1

The tests together truly revealed to a large extent my personality and learning style. Therefore, I have resolved to work on the areas that the tests show that I am weak since doing so will make me to be more effective (Pickworth et. al., 2000). I would try and add an EP (Extraversion and Perceiving) to my personality style so that I could find and explore new possibilities and new and exciting challenges (Nicolson et. al., 2006). I would also ensure that I maximize my strengths to be able to effectively cope (especially in the short-term) with the pace and load of course work that I have. Criticism The learning styles used are not exact in themselves, they only try to show ones preferred learning style. One is advised not to depend solely on one learning style. One will be more effective by expanding one’s range of learning styles and experience (Scales, 2008). No single theory of learning or learning style “is definitive or provides the exact answer to how people learn” (Scales, 2008). Honey and Mumford in their learning style model described four different kinds of learning styles but Swailes and Senior (cited in Sadler-Smith, 2001) argued that they are only three. They stated that what Honey and Mumford divided into two learning styles (Reflector and Theorist) were merely only one learning style (i.e. Reflector/Theorist).

In a similar tone, DeCiantis and Kirton ( cited

Sadler-Smith, 2001) were also quoted to have challenged Kolb’s, stating that he tried to encapsulate into a single measure three unrelated aspects of cognition (style, level and process). The LSI chart is said to not be free from bias towards one of the four quadrants (Whetten and Cameron, 2002). It is also critiqued to be more of a process than a learning style with the argument that they are stages in a learning process and an individual could excel in all four stages of the process (Sadler-Smith, 2001).

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SKILLS CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT I have decided to choose one personal skill (Time Management), one interpersonal skill (Communication skill) and one group skill (Team work). These skills were chosen on the grounds of their relevance in helping me build a high level of competence in my future career. I intend to be a Marketing Management consultant. This demands that I work with people, make presentations, and give consultations to businesses.

The

challenge of balancing work and family in the face of limited time and the inevitability of having to work with various people from diverse cultures and languages has also made me to really seek to learn more about these skills.

The challenges of my course –

working with groups, the assignment deadline pressures, and the amount of workload I am laboured with has revealed the importance of the chosen skills if I will be both efficient and effective in my career within the limits of my available time and personal skills. TIME MANAGEMENT Experience & Reflection My work seemed to be ever increasing. Lectures, seminars, tutorials and assignments seemed to go on without end. However, as my workload grew, my time remained the same. I tried not to give thought to how much I needed to accomplish before my deadline dates. Inevitably, during lectures as our tutors kept chipping in issues related to the assignments and emphasizing on the consequence of not meeting the deadlines, I was forced to ponder upon the possibility of meeting the deadlines. I felt pressured because I had too much to do in too little time (Van Eerde, 2003) and this made me feel stressed and out of control (Whetton and Cameron, 2002). The stress made me panic and resulted in migraine which was the evidence that if stress was not managed it would have a debilitating effect on me (Whetten and Cameron, 2002; Kearns and Gardiner, 2007). The major cause of an increasing workload was procrastination. I focused too much on my group assignment and postponed other individual assignments. By the time I got through the group assignment, other course work had accumulated and now I had begun to panic because the time I had left seemed not enough.

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Critical Analysis My previous experiences with shifts in deadlines made me understand that time can never be enough as our work seems to spread out over the amount of time available for it (John Adair, 1987). The challenge I therefore had was not expanding time but rather managing it. Brian Tracy’s “Law of Time Pressure” says there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things (Tracy, 2002). Reflecting upon how I spent my time using time management matrix (Appendix 2) I found out that I had no defining line between what was important or urgent and I often allow people to make this definition for me (Whetten and Cameron, 2002). My cultural background which tends to place more emphasis on people than time (Caproni, 2005) made it difficult for me to cut short endless conversations.

It was rude to cut short a

conversation. My time orientation also wasn’t helping. I had a monochronic time orientation as I prefer to focus on one thing at a time (Nonis et. al., 2005). My timeorientation coupled with a habitual act of procrastination made the load I had to carry later overburdening. Planning Ahead Effective management of time has been said to be a requirement for effective performance in the work-place (Lashley and Best, 2003) and it is a skill I need to start developing now while still at school. In addressing procrastination, I need to have a clear purpose (aim and objective for things), plan and prioritize according to my defined purpose, avoid interruptions and distractions (either from objects, events or people around me), and organise myself (Kearns and Gardiner, 2007). To overcome feeling of guilt, I need to learn how to employ tactics such as tactics of negative or positive politeness (Morand, 1996) to use to refuse to give people my time when necessary and to be able to save the face of the person involved. Groups are inevitable both at school and at work, I need to ensure and encourage that our meetings have an agenda and we always set a time limit for our meetings. I need to learn to delegate work effectively to avoid role strain and eventually stress.

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Communication skill Experience and Reflection Upon my arrival at Hull, I was housed with colleagues whose first languages were not English (a Chinese and a French housemate). Every time I spoke with them they usually reply me either by a nod or a smile. At first, I never knew there was a problem until I observed that whenever I needed them to reply my statement they usually don’t. This scenario was also evidenced in my group meetings and also in my seminar classes. My group meetings have presented different forms of communication problems. Sometimes we argue for hours only to find out in the end that we were either saying the same thing or one person didn’t understand what the other was saying maybe because of his/her choice of words. The worst scenario I experienced was a solution presented by a member which was ingenious but out of context with what we had to do. The member didn’t clarify what she needed to do and I myself, as the group leader never asked if I was understood. Sometimes, maybe due to cultural background, some members won’t ask for clarity while some just dominates and don’t give room for others to either ask or make suggestions. Our major challenge was cultural and language differences. For example, smiling was a way of showing control in the midst of pressure in my culture, but surprisingly, my French colleague sees it as a sign of unseriousness. Critical Analysis From my group experience, I have learnt that communication can be both verbal and non-verbal (like the use of signs, facial expressions, and body language) (Rogers, 2003; Baguley, 1994). The implication of this is that what I say has to be consistent with my non-verbal communication otherwise it will send the wrong message to people. Ensuring synchrony between this two nonetheless doesn’t automatically mean that the right message will be understood. The person receiving the message may still misinterpret the message maybe due to cultural differences, language differences, intellectual differences, semantic distortion, unclarified assumptions, among others (Weihrich and Koontz, 2005). These reasons are considered as noise (Warner, 1996), i.e. barriers in the communication process which hinders effective communication. De Fleur’s model of communication says noise, can occur at any point in the communication process (Warner, 1996).

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Communication is a two-way process (Cottrell, 2008; Lee-Froschheiser, 2008) and as such one must allow for feedback from the other party, taking into consideration the possibility of noise. Understanding which is an important part of communication (LeeFroschheiser, 2008) should therefore be emphasized and ensured that is achieved. The implication of this in verbal communication (as one of the most common forms of communication) is that one needs to listen for feedback to ensure one is been understood. One needs to leave allowance for others and listen rather than “talking at” others which should not be the goal of communication. Talking at other means I am only listening to myself and not leaving room for responses from others (Cottrell, 2008). I need to learn to listen not for hearing sake but rather to absorb or decode what I hear (Baguley, 1994), understand the message (Caproni, 2005), the situation and other people (Cottrell, 2003). I should not be engrossed with what I intend to deliver but also take into account who I was delivering it to (Warner, 1996). In communicating through new channels such as VoiPs (Yahoo messenger or Skype) or emails, these channels should still not become the centre stage. What message goes through them and the response we receive should rather be the emphasis (Quirke, 2008) and we should see that understanding is still our number one priority. The forming stage of a team/group presents the greatest challenge to effective communication because it is said to be characterised of ambiguity and confusion (Tuckman, 1965 cited in Arnold et. al., 2005). The task is yet unclear at this team development stage and therefore the possibility of getting things wrong exists. However, if one needs to give a negative feedback to a member of the team and still ensure that effective communication is achieved, one needs to use a choice of language that will not in any way threaten the other member’s autonomy or ego-driven need (Campbell, 2006 cited in Downing, 2008). Planning Ahead Having reflected on the loop holes in my communication effectiveness, I have resolved to pay more attention to listening and to improve my ability to provide negative feedback. However, since language is one very vital part of communication either verbally (talking) or non-verbally (writing), I need to learn how to effectively translate my ideas into words (to be spoken or written). I need to learn about the power of words and how to employ them (e.g. motivation) to achieve effective communication. 6

Newstrom and Davis (cited in Weihrich and Koontz, 2005) proposed ten techniques which I will use to develop this skill. The first and last of this technique which are important but difficult is to “stop talking.” I need to learn that silence also have its importance (Cottrell, 2003) and should allow time for it. TEAM WORKING Experience and Reflection Among the transferable skills that students are expected to take out of school is the ability to work in groups and to interact satisfactorily with others in pursuit of a goal (Barnett, 1992). My first concern as a group leader and a member of my team was “equality”. I wanted everybody to feel like a part of the team. Most often I had to suppress my own ideas or suggestions to allow other members’ ideas to be aired to foster a sense of equality. I thought this would make me to be acceptable by all members but I was wrong. However, since we all generated ideas, we had the difficulty of deciding which idea to use. Everybody was trying to protect and establish their own ideas. People were emotional about it irrespective of how practical their idea was. It seemed people had a mentality that their ideas were a measurement of how intelligent they were. As a result they focused so much on ensuring it was their idea that was eventually used. On one occasion, one of the group members had to leave in anger and I had to plead over the phone to get her back just because her idea was not reflected in our final report. Gender and cultural differences played the most significant part in how we interacted and confronted the task we needed to accomplish as a team. Critical Analysis A team has been defined as “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable" (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993 cited in Levi and Slem, 1995). My prior experience working in a committee in a NGO helped to manage the team to a certain level. The team moved quickly through the forming stage but had difficulty in progressing through the storming stage (Appendix 3). Tuckman (1965) (cited in Arnold et. al. 2005) recognizes that this stage can be a difficult stage and frustration may set in when there seems to be no progress.

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Belbin (1993) (cited in Clifford and Sohal, 1998) suggested that teams cannot be successfully established without some understanding of "team role theory" i.e. “the tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way” (Blenkinsop and Maddison, 2007). If we were armed with such understanding, we were expected to have been able to deal with the conflicts of the storming phase. For team effectiveness we needed to have the necessary skills for accomplishing the task on one hand and on the other we needed the social/emotional skill necessary to maintain team processes (Prichard and Stanton, 1999). My team’s weakness in the latter skill made it difficult to progress at the storming stage because we couldn’t handle our personal differences. Ingroups (Groups within groups) (Chmiel 2003) developed due to the relations-oriented diversity of the team, a consequence of lacking social /emotional skills. If a team’s diversity is well-managed, teams generate more ideas effectively than any individual can do alone. As members of a team, efforts should be made to develop how to work together to achieve the team’s goal (Bateman and Snell, 2002).

Team

cohesiveness and ability of members to satisfy their own needs while working effectively with other team members are essentials to team development (Nadler, 1998 cited in Northouse, 2007). Planning Ahead In any opportunity I have to work in a team, right from onset I need to understand the social complexity of the team. I will try and see how we could first discuss the possible hindrances so that collectively we could work to overcome them, ensure integration, and get through forming to performing stage quickly. As Belbin suggested, we will try and assess each other’s preferred role using his “nine team roles” model (Appendix 4) and encourage each member to appreciate the characteristics and strengths of others (Arnould et. al., 2005). This act of identifying and understanding team roles in advance has been said to be a crucial factor to the success of workgroup interactions (LoBue, 2002; Willer et. al., 1997). In a culturally diverse team like the one I had in class, I need to learn about the cultural differences of others so as to avoid perceptual distortion and the tendency to rely on stereotypes and to improve communication (Mitchell, 1986 cited in Saphiere, 1996). In terms of leadership, when I am made to be the leader of a team, I will ensure that the leadership responsibility is shared. Shared leadership results in improved team 8

effectiveness, group productivity, and performance (Wood and Fields, 2007). I will ensure that like the Japanese team work approach emphasizes, I allow for consensus decision-making in order to create a sense of shared responsibility in the team (Levi and Slem, 1995) so as to avoid any individual feeling betrayed or cheated. This will also help reduce social loafing as every member will feel a sense of belonging seeing that their idea is valued and necessary.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY REFERENCES 1. Baguley, Phil, (1994), Effective communication for modern business, England, McGraw-Hill Book Company Europe. 2. Barnett, Ronald, (1992), Learning to Effect, Buckingham, Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press. 3. Bateman, T. S. & Snell, S. A., (2002), Management, Competing in the New Era, 5th edn, New York, McGraw-Hill. 4. Blenkinsop, N. & Maddison, A., (2007), ‘Team roles and team performance in defence acquisition’, Journal of Management Development, 26, no. 7: 667-682 5. Chmiel, Nik, (2003), Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology, A European Perspective, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing. 6. Clifford, G. P. & Sohal, A. S., (1998), ‘Developing self-directed work teams’, Management Decision, 36, no. 2: 77 7. Campbell, Kim S., (2006), cited in Downing, Joe, (2008), ‘Book review’, Journal of Business Communication, 45, no. 4, (October ): 503-507 8. Caproni, P. J., (2005), Managament Skills for Everyday Life, 2nd edn, New Jersey, Pearson Education Inc. 9. Cottrell, Stella, (2003), Skills for Success, The Personal Development Planning Handbook, New York, Palgrave Macmillan. 10. Cottrell, Strella, (2008), The Study Skills Handbook, 3rd edn, New York, Palgrave Macmillan. 11. DeCiantis & Kirton cited in Sadler-Smith, Eugene, (2001), ‘Does the Learning Styles Questionnaire Measure Style or Process? A Reply to Swailes and Senior (1999)’, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, no. 3, (Sept): 207 – 214 12. Froschheiser, Lee, (2008), ‘Communication, communication, communication the most important key to success...”, SuperVision, 69, no.10, (Oct.): 9 10

13. Humanmetrics, ‘Jung Typology Test’, , accessed 20/11/08 14. John, Adair, (1987), How to Manage your Time, Guildford, Talbot Adair. 15. Katzenbach and Smith, (1993) cited in Levi, D. & Slem, C., (1995), ‘Industrial Ergonomics Team work in research and development organizations: The characteristics of successful teams’, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 16: 29-42, 16. Kearns, H. & Gardiner, M., ‘Is it time well spent? The relationship between time management behaviours, perceived effectiveness and work-related morale and distress in a university context’, Higher Education Research and Development, 26, no. 2, (June): 235 – 247. 17. Kolb, Boyatzis & Mainemellis (2000) cited in Whetten, A. & Cameron, S., (2002), Developing Management Skills, 5th edn, New Jersey, Pearson Prentice Hall. 18. Lashley, C. & Best, W., (2003), 12 Steps to Study Success, London, Continuum. 19. LoBue, Robert, (2002), ‘Problem solving for small workgroups’, Journal of Workplace Learning, 14, 7/8: 286 - 297 Marsick, V. J. & Watkins, K. E., (1990), Informal and incidental learning in the workplace, London, Routledge 20. Mitchell, 1986 cited in Saphiere, Dianne, (1996), ‘Productive behaviours of global business teams’, International Journal of Intercultural Relation, 20, no. 2: 221 – 259 21. Morand, D. A., (1996), ‘Dominance, Deference, and Egalitarianism in Organizational Interaction: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Power and Politeness’, Organization Science, 7, no. 5, (Sept – Oct.): 544 – 556 22. Nadler (1998) cited in Northouse, Peter, (2007), Leadership, Theory and Practice, 4th edn, London, Sage Publications Inc. 23. Nicolson, P., Bayne, R., & Owen, J., (2006), Applied Psychology for Social Workers, 3rd edn, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

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24. Nonis, S. A., Teng, J. K. and Ford, C. W., (2005), ‘A cross-cultural investigation of time management practices and job outcomes’, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29: 409 – 428. 25. Peter Scales, (2008), Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector, Maidenhead, Open University Press. 26. Pickworth, G. E. & Schoeman, W. J. ‘The psychometric properties of the Learning Style Inventory and the Learning Style Questionnaire: Two normative measures of learning styles’, South African Journal of Psychology, 30, no. 2, (Jun): 44 – 52. 27. Prichard, J. S. & Stanton, N. A., (1999), ‘Testing Belbin's team role theory of effective groups’, The Journal of Management Development, 18, no. 8: 652 28. Quirke, Bill, ‘Are you Ready to meet the Challenge’, Strategic Communication Management, 12, no. 5, (Aug./Sept.) 29. Reece, I. & Walker, S., (2007), Teaching, Training and Learning, a practical guide, 6th ed. Revised, 2007, Sunderland, Business Education Publishers Limited 30. Sadler-Smith, Eugene, (2001), ‘Does the Learning Styles Questionnaire Measure Style or Process? A Reply to Swailes and Senior (1999)’, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, no. 3, (Sept): 207 – 214 31. Swailes and Senior cited in Sadler-Smith, Eugene, (2001), ‘Does the Learning Styles Questionnaire Measure Style or Process? A Reply to Swailes and Senior (1999)’, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, no. 3, (Sept): 207 – 214 32. Tracy, Brian, (2002), The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, U. S. A., Berrett-Koehler. 33. Tschang, T. F. & Senta, T. D., (2001), Access To Knowledge, New Information Technologies and the Emergence of the Virtual University, Amsterdam, Pergamon

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34. Tuckman (1965) cited in Arnold, J., Silvester, J., & Patterson, F., (2005), Work Psychology, Understanding Human Behaviour in the Workplace, 4th edn, New York, Financial Times/Prentice Hall. 35. Van Eerde, Wendelien, (2003), ‘Procrastination at work and time management training’, The Journal of Psychology, 137, no. 2: 421 – 434 36. Warner, Tony, (1996), Communication Skills for Information Systems, London, Pitman Publisher. 37. Weihrich, H. & Koontz, H., (2005), Management, A Global Perspective, 11th edn, New York, McGraw-Hill. 38. Wendy, R. S., (2003), Social Psychology, Experimental and Critical Approaches, Philadelphia, Maidenhead: Open University Press. 39. Whetten, A. & Cameron, S., (2002), Developing Management Skills, 5th edn, New Willer, D., Lovaglia, M. J. & Markovsky B., ‘Power and influence: A theoretical bridge, Social Forces, 76, no. 2 (Dec.): 571 – 603 40. Wood, M. S., Fields, D., (2007), ‘Exploring the impact of shared leadership on management team member job outcomes’, Baltic Journal of Management, 2, no. 3: 251-272

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APPENDIX Appendix 1: Kolb’s LSI Scoring chart (Lecture notes)

Accommodating

36

Converging

Diverging

26

22

Assimilating 36

Appendix 2: Tiime Matrix (Whetten & Cameron, 2002, pg 112)

Appendix 3: Tuckman, Bruce (1965) Team Development Model (http://www.businessballs.com)

Appendix 4: Belbin’s Nine Team role and description (http://www.businessballs.com)

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APPENDIX 5: SHANNON AND WEAVER’S MODEL ((Warner, Tony, 1996)

Appendix 6: STANTON’S COMMUNICATION MODEL (1982) ((Warner, Tony,, 1996)

Appendix 7: Vak Learning Styles (http://www.businessballs.com)

Appendix 8: Kolb’s Learning Style and Honey and Mumford’s Typology of Learners (http://www.businessballs.com)

Appendix 9: Kolb’s Learning Style and Honey and Mumford’s Typology of Learners