Compensation and Benefits Critical Reflection of Learning Reflection - Essay Example

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION (A Reflection Paper on Kolbs LSI) of (affiliation) COMPENSATION ANDBENEFITS ADMINISTRATIONPeople are different from one another, and each individual person is unique in many and varied ways. No two persons can be alike, and in this sense, each individual exhibits his unique personality and character traits. This variety in people is also manifested in their learning styles, in how each person assimilates knowledge and learns new things and ways of doing things.

This is the main topic of this brief paper, in which there are basically four styles by which people can learn by processing information: concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualization (AC), and active experimentation (AE). A person may exhibit a combination of these four basic learning styles (known as the learning style inventory or LSI) based on theory developed by American psychologist David A. Kolb; his theory is that people learn best by way of experience but this experiential learning can vary, depending on each individuals preferences.

This concept of learning styles has broad practical applications in real life situations, such as the formulation of teaching principles for higher education and adult classes (Kolb, 1984, p. 184). Kolbs cycle of learning theory has a high degree of reliability and validity based on test results of several subjects based on research studies done, in terms of its predictability. Based on this learning styles inventory which consists of four learning processes, I found out that I have a preference for the AC (score of 20 out of a possible 20) as primary, and in the RO (12 out of 20) as secondary learning styles (the two highest scores, with AE at 11 and CE at 7 only).

The results mean I am more of the abstract conceptualization type of a learner, using both reason and logic to arrive at a rational evaluation of matters being discussed through systematic analysis. This fits in nicely with the second learning style which is the RO, which relies on impartial observations to make a judgment, based largely on being an objective observer (Kolb, 1985, p. 68). In this regard, what I learned the most from this course is the topic of employee benefits as discussed in Chapter 1 (Introducing Employee Benefits) because I found the topic interesting.

The rise in administration of employee benefits has a long history that goes back to the Industrial Revolution, when people shifted from mostly agricultural to industrial production, and in wealth creation produced a new economic class, the entrepreneurs and capitalists. In the early days, this social, political and economic hierarchy resulted in the exploitation of labor (no minimum wage, no maximum number of working hours, child labor, the sweat-shop working conditions, no labor unions, etc.), producing a strong backlash against unfair and unjust factory working conditions to the detriment of workers.

Employers today are more enlightened and give their employees a slew of benefits mostly due to legislation to prevent labor exploitation, as progressive socialism using safety nets. I am therefore an assimilator in terms of ideas about overall benefits administration.Big corporations, especially the multinationals, hire professionals to manage, implement and execute their benefit and compensation schemes as part of their overall corporate strategy. It means they need to align their practices with competitive forces in an open market economy in order to attract and retain talent, crucial to their eventual corporate success.

People today view employee benefits as an entitlement, as part of a larger social contract of employment; it implies firms have to honor their promises and commitments when hiring people and as they progress throughout their careers over the long term. This means unionism has produced benefits for the workforce although this had been eroded in the last few years from adverse economic conditions, in which capitalists have gained supremacy over labor unions in terms of collective bargaining agreements.

Legislation has protected most social safety nets (Martocchio, 2003, p. 14). ReferencesKolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Kolb, D. A. (1985). Learning style inventory. Boston, MA: McBer and Company. Martocchio, J. J. (2003). Employee benefits: A primer for human resource professionals. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Publications.