Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................... 2
Introduction................................................................................................................... 2
Learning Issues and Learning
Styles to Solves Issues (LO 4.1, 4,2)........................ 2
Time Management Strategies
(LO 4.3)....................................................................... 5
Self Learning Style and
Methodologies to Encourage Lifelong Learning (LO 1.2, 1.3) 8
References.................................................................................................................... 9
Executive Summary
The section one of this
report identifies the various learning issues in the accounting and finance
industry and proposes learning styles that can be used to solve these issues
using models such as VARK. The section two of the report identifies the various
time management strategies that are available to improve the performance and
recommends various tactics to be followed to manage the time effectively. The
Final section identifies the self-learning styles and makes recommendation to
improve the learning on a lifetime basis.
Introduction
Many people face issues in
terms learning when they try to achieve their personal development goals. There
are various learning styles that can be used to solve these issues in learning.
Time management is also seen as important element in the personal development
and right strategies should be chosen to properly execute time management in
organization. Life long learning is another challenge where many stop the
learning process when they become mature and this report identifies ways in
which lifelong learning can be executed.
Learning Issues and Learning Styles to Solves Issues (LO 4.1, 4,2)
ABC Limited is a firm that
specializes in accounting outsourcing, financial consulting and audit
activities. They engage in business with several clients and they provide
various consultancy services to these clients. The job undertaken for clients
varies from one to another depending on the nature of the business process.
Therefore, it is essential for the consultancy team to understand the business
process prior to the engagement in the consultancy activity. However, the
problem encountered is that the team finds it difficult to understand the
business process due to failures in the learning style leading to many problems
within the company as they can not deliver the jobs as promised without
understanding client’s business process. This task is aimed discussing learning
styles in order to solve this problem.
One of the learning styles
that can be used to solve this problem is the VARK Model and it is comprised of
four main elements namely visual learning, auditory learning, reading/writing
and kinesthetic learning. (Fleming, 2012) The application of these VARK factors
to problem the business issue can be explained as follows. The visual learning
represented by the letter V in the model indicates that the learning can be
created through visual aids that would facilitate the effective learning. For example,
the problem with understanding the business process can be solved using the
visual aids that would aid the consultants and analyst to understand the
company better. In most of the company, there are ready made visual aids
available and some of these material include company videos and company deck
which are used to project the business process of the company while providing
an overall introduction to the company. This process would be highly suitable
for the middle level mangers that need to understand the process to make
decisions. The next element in the VARK model is the auditory learning process
where the audio aids can be used to solve the problem through providing
learning through listening. The application of this method happens when
representatives from the company listens to client’s that are expressed at one
to one meetings or group discussions where the employees are able to understand
the business process of the client through listening to information
disseminated. This methodology is highly appropriate for higher level
management (Strategic level) who do not have more time to sacrifice on watching
videos or physically visiting client’s premises where they can gather this type
of learning through joining an audio call with client’s representatives. The
next learning method of the VARK model is reading and writing where the reading
and writing is aided to create learning to solve problems. In order to solve
the problem that is encountered in terms of understanding client’s business process,
the analyst team (tactical level managers) can use techniques such as reading
and writing to get an understanding of the business process. They can identify
the activities in the business process, make notes of those and there after
convert it is visual learning through developing flowcharts. Similarly, the
junior analyst team also can engage in practices such as reading newspaper
articles about the company and reading the company profile in order to get a
better understanding of the business process of the client. Kinesthetic
learning that is indicated by the letter K in VARK Model of learning styles is
focused on stimulating the real world phenomenon to give a better understanding
of the reality to solve issues. This is seen as one of the most practical tools
in solving business problems as the solutions are stimulated for the learner
making the learning process very easy. In order to understand the business
process of clients, it is recommended for the company to implement the
kinesthetic learning at all levels of the organization as it allows the company
to understand the business process of the client through stimulation. This
learning avoids wrong learning/information for a great extent, which is highly
essential in terms of providing consultancy for its clients. Further, this
method also makes sure that people with learning disabilities are able to gab
the essence with less effort facilitating faster learning process.
Nevertheless, it is essential for the company to balance between the four
learning styles that were explained above in order to understand client’s
business better. Hence, it is recommended to use a system that combines all
four types of learning. However, the
focus should be placed to save time of the senior management in the learning
process while providing in depth understanding to the tactical level staff who
effectively engages in the ground work of consultancy assignments.
Time Management Strategies (LO 4.3)
Time management is an
essential element of the personal development as a professional as
professionals need to carry out huge pile of work within the limited time in
order to achieve stated deadlines for the task. Hence, this report proposes
various time management strategies that can be used to manage the time to achieve
the best possible results.
Out of the time management
strategies, the main strategy is to determine the application of the time
management matrix that is given below:
Source: Mind Tools (2013)
The time management matrix is
developed based on two aspects namely the urgency and the importance. Based on
these two axes, the time management matrix is developed identifying four
different types of situations namely important goals, critical activities,
distraction and interruptions. Based on these situations, the time management
strategies are developed and out of all four situations, the important goal
category is the best category to be operating. The important goals category
identifies the important, yet not urgent activities and a person should try to
manage time with more activities being placed in this situation. In this
situation, the task is identified to be important but since there is no
urgency, the person can take time and focus on the work in order to deliver
better results. Hence, this time management matrix recommends users to place
more emphasis on the important goal activities by operating within that
category. Apart from operating in the important goal category of the time
matrix, there are also other simple time management strategies, which can be
used for effective time management in the process of personal development.
Scheduling tasks is one of
the most crucial and effective time management strategies where it is
recommended to identify tasks, measure the time allocation and schedule those
task in order to have a schedule for a given time period. When there is a
schedule noted down, there is a less probability that a person would miss out
on performing a certain activity. Therefore, it ensures that the all required
tasks are performed on time without any delay while being in the times
allocated. Scheduling the tasks also gives an indication of how much of time is
allocated for each activity and therefore, the person is aware of such
limitations and thereby s/he tries to be within the limit by improving the
productivity. In other words, it allows the person to focus on value adding
activities rather than wasting time on non-value adding activities, which
increases the productivity further contributing to better time management.
Similarly, having a schedule allows the person to know what activities should
be done within a day and it sets a benchmark to be achieved. Once a benchmark
is set for performance, there is a high tendency that such tasks would be
achieved rather than performing without measurements. Further, at the end of
the day, the s/he is able to have look at the activities that were actually
performed and compare those with the activities that were actually planned for
the day. This provides the opportunity to evaluate the actual performance
against the planned performance giving an indication about the areas that needs
to be improved in terms of time management.
Apart from this strategy, it
is also recommended for people to have an allowance for interruptions that can
be caused the normal activity schedule. There is also a tendency to have
disruptions during the process and it is highly unlikely that these disruptions
can be completely eliminated. Therefore, it is essential for the person to
think about such possible interruptions in advance and thereby allocate
sometime for such activities just in case if they materialize. This avoids the
chances of interruptions actually disrupting the existing schedule of the
person, which was developed as explained in the strategy two. If there are no
such interruptions, the allowance will have a positive impact on the
productivity and achieving goals for the day. However, if there are no such
allowances and an interruption materializes, it could impact rest of the
schedule that was preplanned making the whole time management a failure.
Therefore, it is advised to have allowances for interruptions and minimize the
impact on the day-to-day schedule of the person.
Self Learning Style and Methodologies to Encourage Lifelong Learning (LO 1.2, 1.3)
Different people use
different learning styles in learning the knowledge that they require in their
day-to-day lives. These learning styles could vary from a person-to-person
depending on the nature of the person and there are various means to identify
the learning styles of people. Through such analysis I identified that I am a
visual learner as explained in the VARK Model and it was discovered through the
questionnaire that was set to evaluate the learning styles in the VARK Model.
This is an in built questionnaire that is available in the website of the VARK
model which is developed by the developers of the VARK Model. It rates the user’s
learning preferences based on various hypothetical occasions and thereby it
allows the person to identify their learning style which is the highest ranked
option in the questionnaire. Apart from
this evaluation, I have always noticed that I tend to understand certain
matters better when there are visual aids present. For example, when
understanding financial performance of companies, I prefer to see graphs and
diagrams instead of numbers which can be seen as visual learning as it utilizes
visual aids to create knowledge. Further, I tend to understand the essence of a
vocal presentation when the presentation is accompanied by a set of Microsoft
PowerPoint slides, which are also seen as a part of visual aids leading to
visual learning style. Hence, it is confirmed that I prefer to use the visual
learning style over other methods such as vocal, write/read and kinesthetic
approach.
People can understand their
learning preferences based on their experience in terms of learning. From their
own experience they can provide judgment in terms of most preferred learning
method out of vocal, write/read and kinesthetic approach. However, in order to
follow the formalized approach, people can also participate in questionnaire
based surveys that are available online as well as offline which are used by
many users to evaluate their learning style. The theorists who introduced those
learning styles developed most of these questionnaires and therefore, those
questionnaires are identified to be authentic. Further, people also can hire
consultants who are specialized in learning styles in order to understand their
learning style. However, hiring a consultant for a such task could be extremely
costly and therefore, it is advised to refrain from such activities unless
there is a direct benefit associated to the cost involved.
Life long learning in the
personal and professional context is highly essential as the continuous
learners seem to be in better ranks in terms of the professional life as well
as the personal life. Life long learning can be encouraged by educating the
learner about the importance of the learning process and the advantages that
can be gathered through continuous learning. Further, learning also can be
encouraged through rewards such as best learner in the organization or leaning
of the month sort of awards within an organization as such competitions could
motivate people to gather and store knowledge in their memory. Examples of
successful life ling learners can also be shared among people who will be
encouraged by the success stories that are achieved through the continuous
learning.
In the life long learning,
the self-managed learning is identified to one of the most effective approaches
to learning due to various reasons. The major reason for the success of such
practice is that the person is aware of his/her strengths more than
facilitators and thereby they are in a better position to control the learning.
Since it is a learning that is managed by themselves, it gives the happiness,
satisfaction for the user which further motivate the user to keep on learning.
References
Fleming, N . (2012). VARK has
just passed the 5 million mark for meaningful use (not just hits.) by
respondents since 2007. . Available:
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp. Last accessed 12th July 2013.
Mind Tools . (2013 ). The
Urgent/Important Matrix Using Time Effectively, not Just Efficiently. Available:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_91.htm. Last accessed 12th July
2013.
