My artifacts demonstrating mastery of this outcome
My Reflection on meeting
this outcome
The
Strategic Management outcome demonstrated that I had developed a
mastery of concepts around developing a strategic vision and executing a
strategic plan within an organization. The Strategic Management course
was, in my opinion, the most challenging course of the program. In
addition to the advanced subject matter, this course had an additional
participation component. One of the course requirements was to take
part in the Business Strategy Game. This involved working with a team of
classmates in an advanced online business simulation meant to provide
the experience of developing and executing a strategic plan for a shoe
company. The team was responsible for making financial and operational
decisions with the goal of delivering the highest overall investor
satisfaction. My team did not come in first place in the simulation, but
did turn in excellent financial results including:
- Grew company from $250MM in annual revenue to $493MM (97% increase)
- Stock price increased from $30 a share to $191 (630% increase)
- Earnings per share increased from $2.50 to $11.92 (476% increase)
- Maintained a solid A+ credit rating
- Overall market share increased from 20% to 24.5%.
- Met or exceed investor expectations every year except for 1
The
Ethics in the Global Marketplace outcome demonstrated my understanding
of the importance of ethical behavior by corporations and individuals
competing in a global business environment. This paper examined 2
separate situations, namely the fall of Enron and the housing collapse
of 2008, entailing extreme lapses in ethical behavior and the wide
ranging impact those lapses had on the lives of company employees,
clients and the global economy at large. The paper further explored the
topic of corporate greed and how it fueled the choices made by business
leaders who acted in their own self interest with little or no regard
for the negative impact their choices would have on others. This course
allowed me to explore some areas that I have been personally passionate
about over the past several years, primarily the corruption and
malfeasance that seems to run rampant in the corporate and financial
sectors of the corporate world. This course provided me with some
additional tools and a different lens with which to view these topics as
I continue to research and watch the effects of these events unfold.
The
Quality and Statistical Analysis learning outcome demonstrated my
ability to apply concepts related to quality management in a
manufacturing environment. This project required me to complete a case
study involving a faulty process that was causing significant delay and
rework in a parts manufacturing business. In the case study, I utilized
quality management tools like cause and effect diagrams, force field
analysis and as-is and to-be process mapping to identify root cause and
present a recommendation for improving the process and the quality
output of the facility. This project also demonstrated strong
communication skills in creating a presentation suitable for explaining
the issue and the recommended process improvements to senior level
management.
The
Business Law learning outcome allowed me to demonstrate my
understanding of the concepts in this course by writing a paper
highlighting my key learnings. The concepts that resonated with me most
in this course were the complexity of the law, the criticality of
attention to detail (especially to those with a fiduciary
responsibility) and the growing importance of the internet and
e-discovery to the legal system today. Each of these topics represented
an area for me that was either something of a blind spot or simply an
area that I had not given sufficient examination to prior to this
course. In the paper I discussed the fact that I have a large number of
people in my family who are or have been in law enforcement and how that
instilled in me from an early age a love and respect for the law. This
course built on that love and exposed aspects of it that had not been
clear to me before.
My Future Learning Goals
related to this outcome
Each
of these artifacts represent a portion of what I have learned in the
course of this MBA program. It would be impossible to fully represent
everything that I learned over the course of the past 15 months. Much of
what I have learned cannot be simply represented in a paper or a
presentation. Things like how to work together with a virtual team, how
to think critically and examine a problem from multiple angles and how
to distill an issue down to it's root cause so it can be clearly
communicated to business leaders and stakeholders are a few of the more
abstract concepts that I am taking with me. Each of these artifacts are
examples of how I translated the course concepts into a physical
deliverable, much as I am expected to in my career. The concepts that I
learned in classes like Business Law, Quality Management, Marketing, etc
are all things that I can apply in my current role or could conceivably
apply in a future role. More importantly though, the artifacts included
here display that I am capable of adapting to new learning
environments, absorbing and processing complex material and translating
that into real business scenarios. I believe that learning is a lifelong
process for those who are open to it. My participation in this MBA
program was motivated in part by a desire to advance my career
professionally, but on another more personal level, it was truly out of a
desire to increase my knowledge and to become a more rounded person and
to continue the process of learning. I plan to take the concepts I have
learned and look for opportunities in my future personal and
professional endeavors to build and strengthen these skills.
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