MSc Management Personal Effectiveness Assignment Sample 2023

Introduction 

The fundamental purpose of the report is to illustrate the concept of personal effectiveness and why attributes of personal effectiveness hold great importance in an individual’s personal and professional life. On a broader note, it might be stated that all global leaders have acquired relevant personal effectiveness skills that have led them to attain the pinnacle of success and hence, for students or aspiring leaders it is significantly more important to learn about personal effectiveness (Bird, 2017).

It is perceived that the skills of personal effectiveness will lead individuals to obtain a significant amount of success in their personal and professional life. In the context of this given report, the personal effectiveness skills of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will be discussed to evaluate how Zuckerberg has aligned the individual’s effectiveness skills to achieve such success.

In the first task of the report, the given case study will be reviewed to assess the skills of Mark Zuckerberg by relying on one of the most significant theories of personal effectiveness to determine how the individual is perceived as a leader. The 2nd task of the report is going to be a reflection section meaning that my learning styles will be evaluated, which I will discuss by taking the test of Honey and Mumford’s learning style.

The 3rd task of the report will discuss different effective strategies that could be adopted by an individual to enhance their learning style and the same will be compared to decide which one is the most suitable.

Task 1: Case study review 

1) The skills and behaviours of Mark Zuckerberg and how the individual uses the given skills

The skills and behaviours of Mark Zuckerberg will be discussed in this section by taking cues from the given case study and the framework of the CMI code of conducts will be applied to evaluate how the said skills are used to leave a significantly positive impact on the individual’s employability.

Ruthless 

The case study states that Mark Zuckerberg tends to be significantly ruthless and prevents from being a ‘people-pleaser’ when a scenario demands so to ensure that the individual’s best interest always lies with the betterment of all the business Mark Zuckerberg has ownership over.

On a broader note, the CMI code of conduct also mentions that to become the most competent and skilled professional individual a person is required to be extremely transparent and truthful in every communication (Managers.org.uk. 2022). That further indicates that the individual is transparent in everything concerning what needs to be done rather than not communicating effectively with the workforce as that might have made all the business operations significantly challenging to execute efficiently (Cui, 2021).

Problem-solving

Apart from being transparent and ruthless when it is required, the case study has always mentioned that Mark Zuckerberg is also an extremely efficient problem-solver. It further needs to be mentioned that Mark Zuckerberg is never known to leave a single problem without re-considering it multiple times and that shows how efficient the individual is at the job (Visone, 2018).

Figure 1: Different stages of problem-solving

(Source: Visone, 2018)

For example, it often happens that Facebook or other ventures owned by Mark Zuckerberg run into several technical implications. In such cases, it never happens that the individual is not involved in the process of solving the problem along with the entire workforce to solve the problem by perhaps working twice as hard until the problem gets solved.

The CMI code of conduct also states that a competent leader or manager has such professionalism that the individual will always toward the betterment of the organisation by attempting to mitigate and solve every problem with utmost efficiency and that is another aspect of personal effectiveness attributes that make Mark Zuckerberg a great leader (Kumar and Sharma, 2017).

Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is another aspect that makes an individual a great leader, meaning a person who is significantly more equipped to provide job satisfaction to the individual’s employees will get to create a more successful business venture by providing an amiable work environment to the workforce. On a broader note, it is also highlighted within the CMI code of conduct for professional individuals that they are required to treat others including their employees with a similar amount of dignity and respect (Bhavya and Satyavathi, 2017).

On that note, it might be implied that Mark Zuckerberg does that efficiently within the workplace in which the staff are treated with extreme respect hence, the individual has been referred to as a great boss in the case study. It needs to be further mentioned that the individual prefers to include everyone in the decision-making process, which further leads the people to feel valued and thereby, acquire significantly more job satisfaction (Taheri et al., 2020).

2) The benefits and limitations of the given skills 

The skills and behaviour portrayed by Mark Zuckerberg have already been discussed and it is safe to say that most of the skills that the individual has have been extremely beneficial to run a thriving business as a leader. On a broader note, all the skills such as providing job satisfaction to employees, problem-solving and ruthlessness are some of the most significant aspects to ensure that the individual is successful in being a leader that everyone might prefer to follow (Iqbal et al., 2017).

However, it also needs to be demonstrated that some of the skills acquired by the individual have their limitations and that also needs to be taken into consideration. For instance, it might be implied that the attribute of ruthlessness might lead to making transparency prevalent in communication or enable to get all the necessary work executed in the required scenarios.

However, sometimes this given skill might also become a significant negative aspect for the business since too much ruthlessness might create internal conflicts within the organisation and make the workforce unsatisfied to stay committed to the given organisation which could be a potential reason for bringing significant disruption to business operations.

Apart from the discussed skill, the other attributes of Mark Zuckerberg that have also been discussed are extremely significant and also quite effective when it comes to creating a great work environment and retaining the workforce by providing them significant job satisfaction.

Task 2: Learning style evaluation

1) Identification of two learning styles

I have given the test of Honey and Mumford’s learning style evaluation and I have found that my interest matches two major learning styles theoretical, pragmatic, and activist and reflector styles. I find that I am more of a theorist, and my learning style is more suited to the theorist system I have found giving the test (Refer to Appendix 1).

I may say thus that I have this framework of applicability that I often prefer to know and understand the theory behind the different activities, which is suitable for better analysis. Different research papers signify the learning styles and the application of the different models that justify the learning style that has been pursued in the research process (Viloria et al., 2019).

The specific system of learning style has the application of the different models mostly, as I may recall, and all of these have been embedded into the theoretical column of judging the experiences with models. The theorist system of learning from experience has been studied by the research papers, and the use of Honey and Mumford’s test model for evaluation of the learning style has gained popularity thus (Yousef, 2018).

As far as I have evaluated my method, I have found out that I am more of a reflective person because my learning style is of reflector learning style and I usually prefer to learn with careful reflection. This learning style has the characteristic of analysing the self, putting out such questions that often seek to express and explain inner doubts.

Reflector style of learning has been studied among the different other learning systems, and it has been found that the reflector learning style has a separate study based on research papers usually (Alonso et al., 2021).

The reflector is suited to me better because I find that I tend to self analyse different puzzling questions or take on feedback from my work associates, or from a large number of people that includes self-guidance and coaching. In this regard, I may find it helpful to discuss the learning style by applying for the test of Honey and Mumford’s as there is a research study that remote working or remote learning needs a suitable learning style evaluation (Costa et al., 2020).

Figure 2: Honey and Mumford’s learning style

(Source: Costa et al., 2020)

2) Strengths and limitations of the identified learning styles

The strengths of the theorist’s learning style are the reflection on the model to justify the real experiences as I may say and I also find that the reflector model is more suitable for better self-analysis. This is indeed a strength to me because without applying reality and fitting it into a model, or exploring the model application, I may not find practical applicability.

I may thus also say that the weakness of the theorist learning style has unrealistic and forced application of models, not attending to the realist or intuitive point of view. The strengths of the reflector learning style according to me are self-reflection, and self-monitoring, while the weaknesses of it are no regard for the application of the learning style into contingent situations, and less analysis of strategies.

3) Personal experience that justifies the learning style

My own experience regarding the theorist learning style had been that I was appointed as an intern in the sales department of a firm, where I had been utilising the theorist style by analysing all the negative situations through statistical models. Another experience of mine I may share is being the reflector person, where I had been in charge of the logistics department associate, and I reflected on my deficiencies by understanding my issues.

Task 3: Strategies for improvement of learning style comparison

1) Identification of two methods for skill improvements

The weakness in me that I have faced is to slowly learn and not apply myself to the practice field owing to my having the theorist learning style, which avoids the practical application of the experiences. It rather has a deficiency of being a real tool to judge and test myself and is too much dependent on statistical analysis rather. There are different sets of models according to the young people attending to evaluate the learning style efficiently, as there is a direct deficiency in the most suitable models to be prescribed (Bajaj and Sharma, 2018).

The first method that I may describe in terms of the improvement of the theorist learning style is to first take the step for better analysis to know which steps are applicable in real life and which situations are valid to be put to test by theoretical models. The learning style sometimes becomes more experiential or demands the space for exploring different conceptual frameworks that may be not much suitable as have been found (Kolb and Kolb, 2017).

Another method that I found suitable for the management of the theorist style of learning is to let the person be much more practical and applicable in a different setting or atmosphere, or act than applying theories. Moreover, I have found that my being a theorist needs considerable attention to amend my error in deriving conclusions if the reality matches with the model, which I need to change.

Some different psychological traits and abilities make a person more inclined towards following a particular learning style, as I may say and affirm. The research studies have explored this system of learning style, by defining the different psychological traits and thus have defined the improvement in the perceiving capacities (Labib et al., 2017).

This second method may be applied to the management of the reflector style, where I always tend to become over-analysing and always reflect on my deficiencies, which delays the work and creates several psychological complexities in me.

I thus may say that the method of being is more practical and being contemplative thinking in certain specific hours is a better process of not being excessively reflective. The study of the research identification and analysis, the differentiation and the task of finding out the best suitable learning style has been explored vastly (Brooks, 2020).

I thus have found from reading the research studies that the method of constant observation may be substituted by the method of journaling or acquiring secondary knowledge from external sources rather than always designing self-observation (Oliveira et al., 2020).

2) Similarities and differences observed between the two methods

Table 1: Table implying the similarities and differences observed

(Source: Self-created)

3) Effectiveness of the methods described

I found that this method may be used to improve the reflector learning style by working that the method of self-analysis is suitable only for certain situations that have the indeed for, and hence, much more effective. The method of using a more intuitive perspective and hence following up a different set of an experiential system rather than concluding from statistical data has been proven to be effective, which may be useful for me as I find.          

Conclusion

Finally, it may be concluded that the skills acquired by Mark Zuckerberg have aligned with the CMI code of conduct of ethical and professional behaviour and therefore, it has been proven that the individual is an extremely efficient leader for managing a workforce successfully.The application of models or theoretical frameworks had assisted me mostly, as I may recall from my own experience which I have described above.

I may thus say that according to my own experience, I have analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the learning styles I have by giving a test of the Honey and Mumford model of self-learning assessment. I have been into the rational analysis of the different scopes of activities and I have found that my learning styles of mine are subjected to further improvements.

To this, I may say that the team have made me conclude that I have a theorists and reflector style of learning, with my intention towards being a reflector more than a theorist. Although there are various advantages of the learning style, I have found that the self-observation and noticing of different actions are not always valid and may be changed according to the situations that may be imposed on me.

From my theorist style of learning, I have found a limitation of always using the style of learning to suit the specific challenges of such human experiences that may not be confined within a particular spectrum of observations or have a resultant deficiency.

References

Alonso-Martín, P., Cruz-Díaz, R., Granado-Alcón, C., Lago-Urbano, R. and Martínez-García, C., 2021. Variability of higher education students’ learning styles depending on gender, course, degree and institutional context. Sustainability, 13(4), p.1659.

Bajaj, R. and Sharma, V., 2018. Smart Education with artificial intelligence based determination of learning styles. Procedia computer science, 132, pp.834-842.

Bhavya, R.N. and Satyavathi, R., 2017. Employee job satisfaction. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research (IJEMR), 7(5), pp.85-94.

Bird, A., 2017. Mapping the content domain of global leadership competencies. In Global leadership (pp. 119-142). Routledge.

Brooks, J., 2020. Unravelling learning styles. Dental Nursing, 16(11), pp.540-545.

Costa, R.D., Souza, G.F., Valentim, R.A. and Castro, T.B., 2020. The theory of learning styles applied to distance learning. Cognitive Systems Research, 64, pp.134-145.

Cui, Y., 2021. The role of emotional intelligence in workplace transparency and open communication. Aggression and Violent Behavior, p.101602.

Iqbal, S., Guohao, L. and Akhtar, S., 2017. Effects of job organizational culture, benefits, salary on job satisfaction ultimately affecting employee retention. Review of Public Administration and Management, 5(3), pp.1-7.

Kolb, A.Y. and Kolb, D.A., 2017. Experiential learning theory as a guide for experiential educators in higher education. Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), pp.7-44.

Kumar, V. and Sharma, R.R.K., 2017. Relating management problem-solving styles of leaders to TQM focus: an empirical study. The TQM Journal.

Labib, A.E., Canós, J.H. and Penadés, M.C., 2017. On the way to learning style models integration: a Learner’s Characteristics Ontology. Computers in Human Behavior, 73, pp.433-445.

Managers.org.uk. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.managers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/code-of-conduct.pdf> [Accessed 19 September 2022].

Oliveira, A., Teixeira, M.M. and Neto, C.D.S.S., 2020, May. Recommendation of Educational Content to Improve Student Performance: An Approach based on Learning Styles. In CSEDU (2) (pp. 359-365).

Taheri, R.H., Miah, M.S. and Kamaruzzaman, M., 2020. Impact of working environment on job satisfaction. European Journal of Business and Management Research, 5(6).

Viloria, A., Gonzalez, I.R.P. and Lezama, O.B.P., 2019. Learning style preferences of college students using big data. Procedia Computer Science, 160, pp.461-466.

Visone, J.D., 2018. The Development of Problem-Solving Skills for Aspiring Educational Leaders. Journal of Leadership Education, 17(4).

Yousef, D.A., 2018. Learning style preferences of undergraduate students: The case of the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, the United Arab Emirates. Education+ Training.

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