Professional development for strategic managers - Essay Example

? Professional development for strategic managers: Acknowledgement of preferred learning style, skills assessment and personal development plan Professional development for strategic managers TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Executive summary………………………………………………………………. 2. Assessment of personal and professional skills………………………………….. 3. Skills auditing and personal development plan...................................................... 4. Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 5. References.............................................................................................................. APPENDIX Professional development for strategic managers LIST OF FIGURES 1. Figure 1: Skills Audit associated with strategic leadership and career planning....... 2. Figure 2: Personal Development Plan……………………………………………… Professional development for strategic managers 1. Executive summary Understanding how to achieve an effective skill set and knowledge base for attaining the role of strategic management requires an honest self-assessment of current talents and weaknesses related to this domain of business. An individual must, of course, sustain all of the mandated academic talents associated with the entire business value chain, including fundamental knowledge of strategic planning, implementation, control and evaluation. Further, the individual seeking the role of strategic manager must identify with cultural issues, the external environment related to stakeholders/shareholders and consumer demand, as well as the fundamental skills that are provided by sociological and psychological curricula. Outside of these academics-based learnings are more complex understandings of the self as it relates to emotional intelligence, motivational factors that drive goal attainment and learning, as well as having a practical understanding of personality constructs and learning style. There are countless theorists that can describe the systems view of the strategic management process, however transposing theory to practical application in the real-world business environment requires a talented blend of knowledge and self-understanding. The report highlights literature regarding specific aspects of achieving success in the role of strategic manager, supplemented by a forthright self-analysis of skills development and capabilities in order to determine strengths versus weaknesses in priority aspects of skills associated with strategic theory and application. The student created a pre-set list of criteria, based on consultation with considerable secondary resource studies, that would be most critical for an honest self-assessment. In order to fully measure areas requiring development, the student needed to examine the structural, interpersonal, cultural and adaptive behaviours needed to become a successful strategic manager and leader. The assessment, in order to create a realistic and priority personal development plan, required consultation with theorists and case studies involving change management, developing and evaluating quality control systems, the psycho-social elements of management and interpersonal relationship development, as well as various literature on effective teaching and learning as these are fundamental in being a strategic practitioner. Besides the student’s many personal strengths in multiple areas, the following were identified as requiring re-assessment and development to attain success in the strategic career role. These include: The ability to teach others in team-focused environments Effective promotion of change leadership philosophy Teaching others to assess and analyse qualitative and quantitative research data Improvement of knowledge regarding cultural diversity principles Advanced development needs in psycho-social learnings for leadership improvement Outside of the more structural and systems view of strategic management, the student identified that more complex dynamics of strategic leadership required development which makes up the foundation of the proposed personal development plan (PDP). The report highlights the rationale behind these findings related to skills development needs along with an explanation of how this determination was accomplished based on identified learning styles assessments. 2. Assessment of personal and professional skills Various respected and thorough inventory testing procedures were utilised in order to measure and assess the existing personal and professional skills maintained by the student to achieve the goal of strategic manager and business owner. The researcher consulted with Kolb’s experiential learning theory to recognise the cyclical patterns of thought and action that occur during the entire learning process. One of the more generic evaluation tools utilised is the Learning Styles Inventory, a trusted learning styles template used by contemporary universities and other higher learning centres to determine whether the student learns through auditory, visual or tactile structures. Upon completing this assessment, the student had a tendency to lean strongly toward tactile learning, which is learning through real world practice and application. Theoretical information under tactile learning is best assessed when written down and examined thoroughly and where the learner gains knowledge through direct experiential scenarios that are interactive and hands-on. The student supported the data achieved through completing two different Learning Styles Inventory related to auditory, visual and tactile learning through emergent historical assessment of how the student has achieved top notch academic performance during undergraduate and post-graduate studies. Experiential learning involves a “direct encounter with the phenomena being studied rather than merely thinking about the encounter, or only considering the possibility of doing something about it” (Borzak 1981, p.34). Experiential learning was highly relevant to the student during self-assessment of skills auditing as tangible application of conceptual or theoretical learning requires the student to become an interactive part of the cyclical learning process. Experiential learning is about the tangible application of knowledge, skills and emotions and having the ability to relate these to immediate and relevant situations (Brookfield 1983). After assessing the most relevant learning style based on the data achieved through evaluation of testing measures, a redundant pattern of behaviour and action emerged: The student maintains a strong inclination for hands-on application of theoretically-based learning with less focus on abstract conceptual thinking or the need for intensive interpersonal relationship interventions throughout the learning process. Kolb’s model of experiential learning indicates that a student will either be divergent, convergent, assimilating or accommodating depending on the intrinsic or extrinsic factors that serve as catalysts for effective comprehension and learning (Kolb, Boyatzis and Mainemelis 1999). The results of this evaluation tool did not indicate that the student maintained an inclination for interpersonal relationships in the learning process, usually associated with divergence characteristics. Instead, the majority of positive learning and comprehension was found to be associated with convergence, where the learner appreciates the realistic application of concepts and theories with situations occurring within the practical environment. The student maintains desire for decision-making, problem-solving, and utilising technical expertise to find solutions rather than dealing with issues related to human relationships, common to converging learners (Kolb, et al.). After honest and forthright assessment, the student realised that converging learning styles are highly appropriate to satisfying the intrinsic motivators that drive performance in learning and as it is associated to how the student handles problems and solutions in lifestyle and academics. The results of Kolb’s Experiential Learning assessments highly supports the notion that the student is more technically-inclined, prefers the ability to problem solve and plan to reach solutions, and demands interactivity in learning without the disruption of emotionally-based problems or those caused by the social environment. Multiple scenarios in academic study, as one example, in the student’s history have illustrated that interpersonal issues often serve as learning distractions. The tactile learning tendencies, along with convergent philosophy to gain comprehension, have illustrated significant strengths related to the strategic management curriculum as such a manager must have powerful planning tendencies that can objectively view real-world scenarios and create practical solutions associated with systems and organisational structure. Strategic management requires an individual to proactively examine risk, weigh potential consequences for decision-making, and then further develop systems-thinking methodologies related to operational components of the business with a strong technical aptitude. Furthermore, an individual in the strategic management domain must have the capacity to carry out various feasibility studies and quantitative research methodology for market assessment that requires a technically-minded individual. The skills auditing process indicated many strengths associated with convergent and tactile learning processes. However, a forthright assessment requires the student to be honest about deficiencies that could impact success in the role of strategist in business. Because divergent learning that involves interpersonal development was weak, this could potentially impact the softer side of strategic leadership as it relates to psycho-social relationships and organisational culture. Very, Lubatkin, Calori and Veiga (1997) offer that cultural development within the organisation is highly attractive to investors as human capital development and motivated employees loyal to the organisational mission often lead to productivity gains and business efficiency. Since the student did not maintain a leaning toward human relationships in learning and the student is very intrinsically motivated rather than motivated by external connections in the environment, these skills required re-assessment to improve psycho-social programming for cultural development and leadership as opposed to technical management principles. It is responsible for the student to recognise where deficiencies lie in interpersonal relationship development since so much of strategic management is dependent on human capital, human motivation and creating an attractive business structure related to culture and diversity. Jarvis (1995) indicates that adult learners are not motivated by the external environment and must rely on intrinsic values and principles in order to effectively comprehend learning materials and theories. In many senses, the role of strategist in the contemporary business environment is unitary, meaning self-directed and autonomous especially as it relates to technical problem-solving, quality control evaluation, and policy formation. These are executive-level roles in which there is considerable power distance as a matter of structure and responsibilities, thus there should not be significant reliance on the psycho-social environment when it comes to these factors of higher-tiered management and strategic philosophy. Thus, it should again be reinforced that these characteristics are significant strengths in the role of strategic manager as they will provide the intrinsic motivation to satisfy the curriculum of technical problem-solving and systems process diagramming and planning for structural design. “People with a Converging style like to experiment with new ideas, to simulate, and to work with practical applications” (Squires 1993, p.21). These are some of the most fundamental concepts of strategist in a workplace environment where risk must be assessed, where analyses of complicated financial information and quantitative research must be addressed, and where operational adjustments must be made against quality control systems and productivity guidelines. Unlike the other three types of learning in experiential theory, converging, in the mind of the student based on knowledge associated with strategic theory, will provide the most long-term gains for success in this role. The main personal and professional development characteristics requiring growth relate to the psycho-social environment. The model of learning styles proposed by Honey and Mumford (1982) describes a modified model of learning developed against Kolb’s learning theories. It assesses four learning styles: reflector, theorist, pragmatist and activist. It is not necessary for the sake of this self-assessment to identify the specific characteristics of each learning style as the report is being submitted to a competent and knowledgeable audience. Self-assessments and evaluations occurring against Honey and Mumford’s model of learning identified strong inclination toward pragmatist and theorist thinking, again supporting the other two learning styles inventories offered by Kolb and the notion of tactile, auditory and visual learning styles. The pragmatist is a problem-solver, strongly drawn toward creating practical and multiple problem-solving solutions who “delight in asking a series of ‘what if?’ questions” as part of the problem-solving process (Honey and Mumford, p.41). The profile most fitting the student was theorist-pragmatist “is translated into a fully guaranteed solution that takes into account every conceivable potentiality for failure in order to ensure against it” (Honey and Mumford, p.43). The learnings of preferred style associated with the Honey and Mumford model clearly support a practical, grounded, analytical and technical learner and thinker, something which is critical for attaining success in role of strategist. In the role of strategic manager, the individual must be able to assess multiple potential outcomes in various situations across the entire value chain and then apply realistic and grounded systems and processes to achieve strategic intention and ambitions. To the student, it took these three varieties of assessments to fully come to understanding about the potency of student strengths that would apply the most value to the role of business strategist. Unlike the activist-pragmatist profile, where technical thinking and practical applications meet with a more flexible rubber band fix type of methodology in solution generation, the student is fully grounded in theoretical assessment and with the ability to apply theory to realism in order to maximise organisational structure and strategic development. This will be monumentally important in developing quality assurance tools, conducting statistically-based market research, analysing financial figures for cost and profit evaluation, and for building proper operational systems for productivity gains. As the role of strategist requires practical implementation of policy, infrastructure and operations, all of these preferred learning profile results will be tremendous advantages as a strategic manager. Teece, Pisano and Shuen (1997, p.512) recognise that strategic management requires what is referred to as dynamic capabilities which are “the ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments". The pragmatist-theorist profile, along with convergent tactile attributes, will be superior in all dimensions of strategic management. The only fundamental weakness in this particular definition of strategic management is the notion of rapidly changing environments, which generally requires the ability to promote a change philosophy and then utilise teachings to ensure that the culture is unified in meeting change objectives. Because of a deficiency (however moderate) in psycho-social development, the student realised that some dimensions of leadership in the role of strategist required assessment and improvement in order to successfully meet all criteria of what constitutes a successful strategist. The purpose of the skills audit is to develop a realistic, timeline-oriented and practical personal development plan that is justified by the learning styles evaluation tools and through candid and open self-assessment. Having identified the key personal and professional needs for fulfilling a successful role as business strategic manager, the following section highlights the skills audit conducted to reach these conclusions and a personal development plan that highlights moderate deficiencies needed to create a more rounded individual that can handle management and leadership needs in dynamic organisations. 3. Skills auditing and personal development plan Figure 1 illustrates the skills audit which took place based on learning inventory results and exploration of strengths versus weaknesses in multiple dimensions that will be relevant (by varying degrees) in the role of strategic manager and strategic leader in the practical environment. The student consulted with various secondary and primary literature sources to identify with the basic and complex tasks of strategic management, including control, implementation, evaluation, market characteristics, organisational culture, sociology and psychology, and emotional intelligence to determine what specific skills would be required in all dimensions of strategic management. The skills audit in Figure 1 considers all of these needs and applies them to existing learning styles identified through the inventory evaluations aforementioned. Figure 1: Skills Audit associated with strategic leadership and career planning Understanding the skills needed for strategic management, learning and cultural development THE SPECIFIC SKILLS AREA RELATED TO PRACTICE I DO THIS WELL OK, BUT I NEED MORE PRACTICE I CAN’T DO THIS WELL PRIORITY OF THIS SPECIFIC SKILL 1 = very important, 2 = quite important, 3 = not important LEARNING AND ORGANISATION I effectively understand the principles of time management x 1 I know how to prioritize tasks according to level of importance x 1 I am able to complete deadlines x 1 I maintain knowledge of what drives effective learning x 2 DEVELOPING CULTURAL COMPETENCY I Understand the fundamental concepts of sociology and psychology x 1 I recognise diversity profiles of different ethnic and cultural groups for effective relationship development x 1 I effectively understand the dynamics of organisational culture x 2 I actively explore cultural similarities and disparities within the organisational context x 2 PERSONAL RESPONSE TO CHANGE I am flexible when change occurs in the educational and organisational context x 2 I can effectively promote change within others through persuasive or other tactics x 1 I function well in workplace context situations when change is present x 2 SPOKEN COMMUNICATION I am an eloquent verbal speaker x 2 I am confident in public speaking and presentation x 1 I work well in a team environment x 1 I maintain active listening skills for empathic understanding for others’ needs x 1 WORKING WITH FACTS AND FIGURES I can perform complex calculations in mathematics and strategic modelling x 1 I can interpret graphical information and various diagrammes and illustrations x 2 I have the ability to teach others practical assessment skills on facts and figures analyses x 1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES I understand the fundamental principles of market research and consumer research x 1 I understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative research methodology x 2 I am able to effectively analyse survey results and questionnaire data x 2 I can teach others to effectively analyse survey results and questionnaire data x 2 STRESS MANAGEMENT I know the catalysts of stress x 2 I can effectively cope with stress in difficult or unpredictable situations x 2 I know when to take a proverbial step back and assess whether the situation requires a stress response x 1 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING I am well-versed in my short-range and long-term goals and ambitions x 1 I have the emotional intelligence needed to successfully manage large groups of individuals in the organisational environment x 1 I recognise my weaknesses and how to achieve growth in these areas x 1 I am able to assess my interpersonal, management and leadership skills and recognise deficiencies in style and structure x 2 STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT AND STRUCTURING I recognize the fundamental steps of strategic planning x 1 I put considerable emphasis on history and emergent analysis x 2 I can explore multiple solutions and determine through predictive modelling how to establish best practice x 1 I understand the principles of market research and consumer lifestyle concepts x 1 STRATEGIC AND QUALITY INSIGHTS I understand the fundamentals of quality control, evaluation and assessment tools x 1 I recognise the concepts of value chain management and supply chain bargaining, pricing and lean philosophy x 1 I understand the software systems (i.e. BRP, Oracle) that provide support for enterprise-wide operations management x 2 I have practical knowledge of risk management and risk aversion practices in business management x 1 Modified Skills Audit Template Source: University of Salford (2011). http://intranet.chssc.salford.ac.uk/ As identified by the skills audit, the student came to recognise deficiencies in the ability to teach others concepts that are, by personality and preferred learning style, intrinsically motivated and thereby self-directed and self-assessed. This is connected to lack of divergent learning preferences and the demands for hands-on tactile learning to illustrate some minor deficiencies in the sociological and psychological elements of strategic leadership needed for organisational culture development and leadership principles. There are many fundamental theorists and researchers that recognise that concepts of social belonging, self-esteem development, motivation and relationship development are required in order to gain employee support for change and for attaining long-term goals and corporate objectives. Therefore, this is the justification for inclusion of teaching as it pertains to coaching and mentoring activities describing their inclusion in the skills audit process. The student identified five fundamental needs that required development, each of them inter-related to psycho-social knowledge and gaining flexibility about working in teams and with diverse cultures in the organisational context. Figure 2 illustrates the findings and development plan based on these findings associated with moderate deficiencies in learning style and personality that need adjustment to handle the more complex emotional needs of employees and build a stable, unified organisational culture. Figure 2: Personal Development Plan Identification of needs in learning – Primary weaknesses identified through forthright skills assessment Specific Skills Area Specific PDP Objective 1. Teaching others with practical application of various teaching styles and applications – This is fundamentally weak due to personality constructs and also convergent learning style tendencies Explore academic knowledge sources associated with teaching styles and how to effectively perform knowledge transfer. Reference texts, journals, teacher testimonials, and other secondary research sources. Duration: Six months to one year so as to facilitate the important teaching of subordinates in key areas of management and leadership. 2. Change management principles – Weak application versus theoretical understanding requiring growth and the development of change champion philosophy Explore concepts of change management from a real-life case study review of organizations that have change situations and how they dealt with resistance, teaching and persuasion. Duration: Six months to one year so as to be equipped with more teaching and coaching skills in the event of uncertain changes occurring as a result of strategic intention alterations. 3. Develop more fundamental knowledge in cultural diversity and working with individuals with different collectivist, masculinity, or uncertainty avoidance profiles Create informal interview templates with current business leaders and/or employees from different international regions to identify real-life concerns about issues identified in Schwartz and Hofstede related to culture Duration: Ongoing – should be a discipline that occurs post graduation through the establishment of strategic structure in self-managed businesses and franchises 4. Reacquaint self with psychological and sociological theory for success in interpersonal relationship development These, according to much research literature, are highly important in the role of strategic manager and leader. Many research studies and theorists identify that people have fundamental needs that must be addressed to instill motivation, loyalty, and productivity. Additional academic instruction is required in relation to sociological theory and advanced psychology. Duration: One year to two years to ensure a well-developed portfolio of knowledge for better practical application of people development needed for team methodology and individual employee management systems and processes. Will also assist in developing effective reward systems post-franchise development. 5. Teamwork development capabilities After an honest self-assessment, the student realized a minor deficiency in teamworking that is borne of personality and learning styles preferences. Being able to work in team environments is critical to successful franchise development and teaching. Need to speak with other professional franchisors to uncover how teamworking can be better implemented as a recurring strategy. Duration: Ongoing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009) conducted a study regarding the attributes of adult learners to determine most effective teaching methods that would enable more motivation in learners. The study identified that positive learning occurs when adult learners are granted autonomous situations, shown respect, and when they are goal directed with a clearly illustrated sense of purpose. These are some of the foundational concepts in strategic management and in generic business management philosophy when it comes to cultural development and inspiring others through transformational management design principles. The identified personal development plan (PDP) highlights a need to refresh academic-based knowledge in sociology and psychology and also change management practices in the real-world environment to determine effective ways to set a mission and vision and then gain support from the organisational staff and subordinates. The goal is to be able to champion change as there is much discussion in contemporary business about the importance of charismatic leadership and promoting corporate social responsibility internally to show a focus on people and leadership development. Based on the learning profiles that strongly lean toward practicality and less reliance on human support, being able to teach effectively change concepts and processes requires adjustment and enhancement. It is fundamentally important to maintain the skills required to promote human capital development, thus consultation with change champions in the real-world will assist in franchise support (which is a goal of the student) and to ensure lack of resistance to change. To the student, based on preferences for independent and intrinsic-based learning demands, concerning oneself with the complexities of irrational human behaviour can be distracting and cause stress responses, however moderate. The emotional needs related to social belonging can, in some instances, be delegated to junior management, thus removing them from the role of strategist. However, since mission and vision and goal reinforcements tend to stem from the highest levels of authority in top-down hierarchies, it is unrealistic to believe that these personal traits will not be demanded in the real-world business environment. This is the justification behind locating psychological and sociological models of human development, teaching and social dynamics to gain new perspectives on leadership talents needed in the role of strategist as they will ultimately be utilised when attempting to gain support and compliance in ever-changing environments that require operational systems redevelopment. Concepts of tolerance for social needs and how strategic managers in the real-world have adapted to these concerns, especially relevant for the pragmatist converger, are crucial to leading people toward strategic change imperatives. Realistically, the student would prefer working in a proverbial vacuum as strategist as it fits personality dynamics and those characteristics uncovered through the various inventories conducted to measure strengths in learning. This is unrealistic in the practical role of strategist as has been defined over and over again ranging from undergraduate to post-graduate studies on the organisational environment. It is not only relevant for the internal environment, but also relationship development with external stakeholders associated with supply chain, customers, and other various contractual negotiations that occur at strategist level. According to Michael Porter (2012) in some environments suppliers have high bargaining power and control when supply options have little substitutes or alternatives for the organisation. This requires psycho-social skills development to ensure that bargaining is productive and fitting of various human behavioural profiles and does not, unfortunately, occur in this proverbial vacuum of self-directed strategic management philosophy. This, among many other scenarios involving stakeholders and shareholders, as well as the operational environment and consumer markets, requires a more balanced approach to pragmatism and relationship focus in order to achieve genuine strategic results or effective negotiation. Conflict management, as one outcome, would be enhanced by the proposed personal development plan spotlighted in the report. Professionally, strategic managers are also concerned with fundamental operational components such as product life cycle management, which is recognising when products are in growth, maturity and eventual decline based on fluctuating consumer demand or competitive innovation launches. Komninos (2002) offers that it is sometimes difficult to recognise the signals of product declines until sales volumes reflect an issue. The strategist must maintain the skills necessary to effectively interact and assess the consumer environment to recognise not only trends, but complicated lifestyle and value dispositions that affect sales of product and services. A strategist working independently and with preferences for vacuum philosophy would not have the skills needed to work interactively with customers to determine social and psychological characteristics related to product positioning or market development. Therefore, this too acts as the justification for the different skills areas needing development that have been highlighted in the proposed PDP. It is not only the psycho-social attributes of internal organisational populations, but external market stockholder characteristics that will eventually and inevitably seep into the role of strategist and risk assessor. The student needs to re-familiarise with elements of broader social dynamics against trusted psychographic marketing principles in order to effectively work with changing market characteristics and assessments of brand or service delivery concepts. Since the majority of operational components are strongly linked to the values and lifestyles of customers, this will enhance marketing and sales prowess by examining the concepts of psychology and sociology from an advanced lens. Diversity principles as it relates to consumer demand, rather than consulting with macro- and micro-level theories, would be exceptionally valuable considering the pragmatic, tactile and convergent attributes that strongly characterise the student. Pragmatism and associated learning preferences tend to reduce flexibility and can create a philosophy of management that is rigid in thinking and practical to the point of stern management policy and systems design establishment without recognition of broader inter-dependencies between divisions in the business. Therefore, reacquaintance with teamworking concepts will be highly valuable with the ultimate goal of franchisor and leader that will be required to gain talent support for marketing, advertising, process management, and other important issues related to supply and value chain enhancements that will require direct intervention with franchisees to ensure compliance and understanding. The lessons associated with effective teaching styles development will be a quality resource for improving these capabilities within the student as a success factor for long-term goal attainment in the business world. 4. Conclusion The student believes that the skills audit process was well-founded based on the principles of learning preferences offered by Kolb, Honey and Mumford, and other respected theorists to determine personality-based and cognitive-based learning styles that best fit the student profile. The development of the skills audit template illustrates the most imperative personal and professional skills needed to achieve success in the role of strategic manager, taking into consideration the entire value chain and interpersonal relationship development. The fundamentals of time management, emotional maturity, emotional intelligence, and understanding the self and what drives motivation are well-understood concepts that have occurred through experience, age and even academic learnings provided by instructors throughout the student’s academic career. It is clearly the more dynamic and complex attributes of strategic leadership, outside of technical skills and evaluator skills, that require acknowledgement and development in order to be considered a quality strategic manager. 5. References Borzak, L. (ed.) (1981) Field Study. A source book for experiential learning, Beverley Hills: Sage Publications. Brookfield, S (1990). The Skillful Teacher, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Centers for Disease Control. (2009) Effective Teaching Strategies. (accessed August 1, 2012 at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/93106127/Effective-Teaching-Strategies-(PDF)) Honey, P and Mumford, A (1982) The Manual Of Learning Styles. Maidenhead: Peter Honey. Jarvis, P. (1995) Adult and Continuing Education. Theory and practice, (2nd. edn.), London: Routledge. Lovett, T. (ed.) (1988) Radical Approaches to Adult Education: a reader, Beckenham: Croom Helm Kolb, D.A., Boyatzis, R.E. and Mainemelis, C. (1999), Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions, Weatherhead School of Management. (accessed August 1, 2012 at http://www.d.umn.edu/~kgilbert/educ5165-731/Readings/experiential-learning-theory.pdf Komninos, I. (2002), Product life cycle management, Urban and Regional Innovation Research Unit, p.8. (accessed August 1, 2012 at http://www.urenio.org/tools/en/Product_Life_Cycle_Management.pdf) Porter, M. (2012), Analysing Air Asia in Business Competition Era, Feng Chia University, p.11 (accessed August 2, 2012 at http://www.scribd.com/doc/32169487/air-asia) Squires, G. (1993) 'Education for adults' in M. Thorpe, R. Edwards and A. Hanson (eds.) Culture and Processes of Adult Learning, London: Routledge. Teece, D. J.; Pisano, G.; Shuen, A. (1997), Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management, Strategic Management Journal, 18 (7), pp. 509–533. Very, P., Lubatkin, M., Calori, R., and Veiga, J. (1997), Relative standing and the performance of recently acquired European firms, Strategic Management Journal, 18(8). Appendix A: Auditory, Tactile and Visual Learning Learning Styles Inventory This exercise is intended to help you understand how you learn best and to help with ideas about approaching coursework based on those strengths. To better understand how you prefer to learn and process information, print out this page and place a check in the appropriate space after each statement below. Often Sometimes Seldom 1. I can remember best about a subject by listening to a lecture that includes information, explanations and discussion.        2. I prefer to see information written on a chalkboard and supplemented by visual aids and assigned readings.        3. I like to write things down or to take notes for visual review.       4. I prefer to use posters, models, or actual practice and other activities in class.       5. I require explanations of diagrams, graphs, or visual directions.       6. I enjoy working with my hands or making things.          7. I am skillful with and enjoy developing and making graphs and charts.       8. I can tell if sounds match when presented with pairs of sounds.       9. I can remember best by writing things down several times.       10. I can easily understand and follow directions on a map.       11. I do best in academic subjects by listening to lectures and tapes.       12. I play with coins or keys in my pocket.       13. I learn to spell better by repeating words out loud than by writing the words on paper.       14. I can understand a news article better by reading about it in the newspaper than by listening to a report about it on the radio.       15. I chew gum or snack while studying.       16. I think the best way to remember something is to picture it in your head.       17. I learn the spelling of words by "finger spelling" them.       18. I would rather listen to a good lecture or speech than read about the same material in a textbook.       19. I am good at working and solving jigsaw puzzles and mazes.       20. I grip objects in my hands during learning periods.       21. I prefer listening to the news on the radio rather than reading about it in the newspaper.       22. I prefer obtaining information about an interesting subject by reading about it.       23. I feel very comfortable touching others, hugging, handshaking, etc.       24. I follow oral directions better than written ones.       Scoring Procedures DIRECTIONS :  Place the point value on the line next to the corresponding item below. Add the points in each column to obtain the preference score under each heading. OFTEN = 5 points SOMETIMES = 3 points SELDOM = 1 point VISUAL AUDITORY TACTILE NO.               PTS. NO.               PTS. NO.               PTS. 2                 ____ 1                 ____ 4                 ____ 3                 ____ 5                 ____ 6                 ____ 7                 ____ 8                 ____ 9                 ____ 10                ____ 11                ____ 12                ____ 14                ____ 13                ____ 15                ____ 16                ____ 18                ____ 17                ____ 19               ____ 21                ____ 20                ____ 22               ____ 24                 ____ 23                ____ VPS =          ____ APS =           ____ TPS =           ____ VPS = Visual Preference Score APS = Auditory Preference Score TPS = Tactile Preference Score If you are a VISUAL learner, by all means be sure that you look at all study materials. Use charts, maps, filmstrips, notes, videos, and flash cards. Practice visualizing or picturing words and concepts in your head. Write out everything for frequent and quick visual review. If you are an AUDITORY learner, you may wish to use tapes. Tape lectures to help fill in gaps in your notes. But do listen and take notes - and review your notes frequently. Sit in the lecture hall or classroom where you can hear well. After you have read something, summarize it and recite it aloud. Talk to other students about class material. If you are a TACTILE learner, trace words as you are saying them. Facts that must be learned should be written several times. Keep a supply of scratch paper on hand for this purpose. Taking and keeping lecture notes is very important. Make study sheets. Associate class material with real-world things or occurrences. When appropriate, practice role playing. Source: Brandeis University. (2012). http://www.brandeis.edu/acserv/web/worksheets/Learning%20Style%20Inventory%20worksheet%20web%20resource.doc Read More