I. Introduction
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Introduction
My name is Travis Crafton. I am an
IT project manager for GE Energy, a division of General Electric. My
educational journey has been something a long and winding road. I attended
various community colleges in my home state of Kansas and also spent a semester
at Emporia State University. 6 months and one wedding engagement later, it
became clear that commuting from Wichita to Emporia was not a sustainable path
to my undergraduate degree. I returned to Wichita and began to work full time
with the intention of saving some money and returning to school “later”.
As is often this case with later, it
took longer to arrive than I had planned. After a break of 3 years, I enrolled
at Tabor College and earned my undergraduate degree in Management and
Organizational development. Not wanting to lose momentum I immediately enrolled
at Baker University to begin working on my MBA. It wasn’t long before I began
to feel the effects of pressure at work and the strain of trying to balance
life at home with a growing family. I decided that I wasn’t able to commit
fully to continuing my education at that point and decided once again to take a
break and finish “later”.
In this case, later meant a break of
about 2 years before I enrolled again, this time at Southwestern College. I
completed 4 courses in the MBA program at Southwestern before I hit a major
roadblock. Along re-embarking on my MBA, I had also recently started a new job.
With the new job came new projects and unfortunately a fair amount of travel. I
found that I was unable to effectively manage the workload between school, work
and travel and once again, I felt that I had to step away from my schooling and
come back to it, yes…later.
8 years, 2 kids, a new job and a cross-country
relocation later I began to feel that the time was right for me to finish what
I started. Even though I knew that it would be difficult and that I would face
all of the same pressures that I had faced before, I felt that I owed it myself
professionally to make this commitment and earn my graduate degree for the
advantage it would give me in my career. I felt that I owed it to my children
to set an example of a man who keeps his commitments and isn’t afraid of hard
work and sacrifice. Finally, I felt that I owed it to myself personally as a
person who values learning and the ability to think critically above almost
anything else. I knew that there would be no better time than now.
In the end, the MBA program at
Southwestern was as challenging, at times even difficult, as I expected it to
be. I struggled to find the time for my assignments. I sacrificed time with my
family and I put many of the more enjoyable aspects of life on hold in pursuit
of this degree. I now have the opportunity to look back on the past 15 months
and reflect on what I have learned and how I have grown through this challenge.
This portfolio will illustrate that growth by exploring my understanding of key
business concepts, the legal and ethical implications of a global business
environment, how I have developed advanced communication skills both verbal and
written and finally, my commitment to becoming a lifetime learner.
Outcome #1 - Possess breadth and depth of understanding of key business concepts and theories.
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.
Outcome #2 - Be recognized by their current employers as excellent employees who contribute to their organizations and are candidates for advancement in their field.
My artifacts demonstrating this outcome
My Reflection on meeting
this outcome
The first artifact presented is my professional resume. This document provides details on the professional and technical skills I have acquired throughout my career as well as my professional and educational history
The second artifact is excerpts from my most recent internal performance review. This document contains direct feedback from my business leadership with regard to my performance against my stated goals, how I delivered on my project and operational commitments as well as my managers assessment of my strengths and development needs.
The final artifact contains several examples of professional feedback received from various business leaders. The first 2 items are blog posts from the CIO of my organization, mentioning my team and I for our recent efforts on a high profile project. The project was a top business priority and required a significant "above and beyond" effort in terms of effort and personal sacrifice of time. The 3rd item is an email from one of my business leaders praising a recent presentation that I prepared and delivered to a senior leadership steering committee. The final item is the welcome letter for an internal leadership development program that I was recommended to by my management. GE offers professional development training on a selective basis to employees that are high performers and show potential for future leadership opportunities.
My Future Learning Goals
related to this outcome
My future goals for continuing to advance in my career are not based on attaining a certain level of seniority within a company, but rather on establishing myself in an environment where I can be challenged creatively and intellectually and distinguish myself as a valuable asset to my organization. At my current company, General Electric, it is typical for people to change roles about every 2-3 years. It is not uncommon for people to work for many different businesses, functions and technical skill sets throughout their careers at GE. While the requirements for each job may vary, there are certain things that are constant. Leaders at GE are expected to deliver on their commitments and to do so with integrity. This is true at all levels of the organization. So while I may advance to a more senior level of management at some point in my career, that is not the sole reason for continuing my education at the graduate level. Rather, I see the tools and abilities that I have gained from my MBA as enablers for me to better execute in whatever role I take on, including the one I am in now. I will leverage my improved business acumen to excel in my current responsibilities and also look for opportunities to that will challenge me to grow and stretch as a leader.
Outcome #3 - Exhibit an understanding and appreciation of the legal and ethical implications of conducting business in a global environment.
My artifacts demonstrating this outcome
My Reflection on meeting this outcome
The
first artifact presented demonstrates my understanding of key concepts
related to ethics and the global marketplace. This project focused
specifically on the issue of greed and the role that it played in the
two of the most significant financial crises of the last century, the
collapse of Enron and the financial crisis sparked by the sub-prime
mortgage meltdown. The thesis of this paper was that the leadership of
both Enron and the key financial institutions behind the sub-prime
mortgage disaster were operating from an ethical framework of
consequentialism, essentially behaving as if their personal wealth and
corporate financial results outweighed any legal or ethical boundaries
set before them.
The second artifact presented is a critique of an article that discussed a study of the prevailing attitudes of business students around the world with regard to unethical behavior. One of the key findings of this study was that in certain cultures, including cultures where governmental and corporate corruption was more prevalent, students had an increased tolerance for unethical behavior when it resulted in personal gain. The implication here is that the cultural values of a society can create an environment that fosters future leaders that place a low value on ethical behavior.“The sub-prime mortgage crisis is a classic case of corporations and individuals operating from a consequentialistic point of view. From the observers point of view, the greed and dishonesty at the root of this crisis is staggering. People with years of banking and financial experience ignored their better instincts and were blinded by their desire for profits. There was no regard paid to those who would be left holding the bag when the inevitable crash occurred. There was no concern for the lives that would be destroyed. An entire industry essentially ignored its fiduciary duty, and perhaps worse, it’s humanity, all in the name of profit. The banking industry became (or perhaps was revealed as) a mindless, relentless money-sucking machine that very nearly destroyed an entire global economy (Crafton, 2010).”
The final artifact is my team project from the Strategic Management course. In this project, the team was responsible for managing a growing shoe company through a period of years. One of the priorities for my team was to ensure that our company placed a high premium on ethics and social responsibility. For my team, this meant ensuring that all of our employees underwent ethics training, that we were environmentally responsible and that our employees were treated well in all of our global operations. For our efforts, we were given the corporate citizenship award 3 out of the 4 years it was awarded during the simulation. This was reflective of the teams belief that ethical behavior should be paramount when making operational decisions even if that comes at a higher cost financially.“The findings of this study seem to bear out what many would likely say is plain old common sense: corruption breeds corruption. Environmental, cultural and social factors are key in developing a personal worldview and moral center. In societies where corruption is accepted or promoted, it is only natural to expect that those types of attitudes would be prevalent in the attitudes and behaviors of the people. If anything, this study illustrates the need for business ethics to continue as a key component in the education of tomorrow’s corporate citizens (Crafton, 2010)”
My Future Learning Goals related to this outcome
I found the course material and the discussions related to ethics and legal concerns to be extraordinarily compelling and very valuable. In contrast to some topics that may be a bit more abstract, the legal and ethical implications of conducting business in a global marketplace are broadly relevant in the day to day responsibilities of my job. I work for a large, multinational corporation and I interact with people around the world on a daily basis. Understanding the nuances of culture and the ways that can affect how people work and the decisions that they make is critically important. The over-arching theme that I found in my coursework, however is that regardless of culture, a prevailing global ethic must be established in order for a global marketplace to operate effectively. As I take the concepts that were presented in this MBA program with me in my career I believe it is important that I always be vigilant for areas of ethical concern. This is one area that I must always continue to develop and be open to future learning. There are a multitude of scenarios that I could find myself in that would require me to recall the key concepts presented here and apply them effectively to protect both myself and my company.
I found the course material and the discussions related to ethics and legal concerns to be extraordinarily compelling and very valuable. In contrast to some topics that may be a bit more abstract, the legal and ethical implications of conducting business in a global marketplace are broadly relevant in the day to day responsibilities of my job. I work for a large, multinational corporation and I interact with people around the world on a daily basis. Understanding the nuances of culture and the ways that can affect how people work and the decisions that they make is critically important. The over-arching theme that I found in my coursework, however is that regardless of culture, a prevailing global ethic must be established in order for a global marketplace to operate effectively. As I take the concepts that were presented in this MBA program with me in my career I believe it is important that I always be vigilant for areas of ethical concern. This is one area that I must always continue to develop and be open to future learning. There are a multitude of scenarios that I could find myself in that would require me to recall the key concepts presented here and apply them effectively to protect both myself and my company.
Outcome #4 -Exhibit poise and confidence in verbal, interpersonal and written communication.
My artifacts demonstrating this outcome
Artifact #1 -
Artifact #2 -
Artifact #3
My reflections on meeting this
outcome
Artifact 1
is a video taken of me introducing the headlining artist at a concert that I
promoted for my church. This was an event that I planned and promoted as part
of a larger initiative to host and sponsor more live music events that I am
trying to implement in my church organization. I wrote and delivered the
introduction and acted as the emcee for the event which drew around 50 people.
I received a great deal of positive feedback for the introduction including a
thank you card (presented above) from the church leadership specifically
mentioning my introduction.
Artifact 2
is an email that I received from one of my business leaders commending me on a
presentation that I prepared and delivered to a management steering committee
regarding a recent project that I had been involved in. This communication was
sent to my direct management as well as several other business leaders and my
peers.
Artifact 3
is a paper that I prepared for my business law class as well as the feedback I
received from my instructor. This paper required me to analyze several
scenarios involving key business law concepts and then to distill those
concepts and communicate them clearly and concisely, much like I would if I
were writing a brief or report for management. My instructor commented that
this was probably the best paper he had ever had for that assignment.
My Future Learning Goals related to
this outcome
I believe that excellent verbal and written communication skills are one of the most important tools that a person can develop. The benefits of being able to effectively communicate your thoughts to others is key to anyone who wants to achieve any level of success professionally or personally for that matter. It is of very little value for a person to be able to recognize and develop a vision or be filled with exciting, creative ideas if they are not equipped to communicate that vision or those ideas to potential stakeholders or others who could be help them execute on it. My own career demands that I continually hone my presentation and writing skills as I am frequently called on to present updates to senior business leaders on the status of various projects and initiatives. I have taken training courses on presentation skills and am currently enrolled in a leadership development program at my company that will place a strong emphasis on effective communication. I will continue to focus on this as an area of continuous improvement as I grow in my career
I believe that excellent verbal and written communication skills are one of the most important tools that a person can develop. The benefits of being able to effectively communicate your thoughts to others is key to anyone who wants to achieve any level of success professionally or personally for that matter. It is of very little value for a person to be able to recognize and develop a vision or be filled with exciting, creative ideas if they are not equipped to communicate that vision or those ideas to potential stakeholders or others who could be help them execute on it. My own career demands that I continually hone my presentation and writing skills as I am frequently called on to present updates to senior business leaders on the status of various projects and initiatives. I have taken training courses on presentation skills and am currently enrolled in a leadership development program at my company that will place a strong emphasis on effective communication. I will continue to focus on this as an area of continuous improvement as I grow in my career
Outcome #5 - Demonstrate that they have been and will continue to be a life long learner
My artifacts demonstrating this outcome
Artifact #1 - My resume
Artifact #2 - MBA entrance essay
Artifact #3 - Unofficial graduate program transcript
My Reflection on meeting this outcome
Artifact #1 is my professional resume. This
document demonstrates that throughout my career, I have made learning a priority. This is seen in
the section detailing the various training courses I have taken and educational
opportunities I have pursued. Some of the courses I have taken include Six
Sigma Green Belt training, Building Essential Leadership Skills and
Presentation Skills as well as technical training in Oracle and Sabrix Tax
Automation. The career path detailed in my resume also shows that I have
continually looked for opportunities to challenge myself and to grow
professionally. This is evident by
my steady progression over time from entry level career positions to more advanced levels of technical and
fiscal responsibility including management of contract resources and budget.
Artifact #2 is my MBA
entrance essay. In this essay, I present the reasons why I was a good candidate
for acceptance into the Southwestern College MBA program. One of the key
reasons I wrote about is the fact that I place a premium on the intrinsic value
of higher education. I believe this document is a good representation of my
commitment to learning as it details the many challenges that I knew I would
face by going back to school at that point in my life.
Artifact #3 is my unofficial
transcript from Southwestern College. This document shows the courses I have
completed and my grades for each class. I believe that it also demonstrates my
commitment to educational excellence by virtue of the fact that I earned an A
or a B in all of my classes but one. My grades represent not only that I have
achieved proficiency in a broad range of subjects but also that I invested the
significant time and energy necessary to complete these courses. This would not
be possible (or at the very least would be much more difficult) without a
strong commitment to learning.
My Future Learning Goals related to this outcome
Certainly there are
professional advantages to possessing a graduate level education. I can easily
apply the concepts and tools that I obtained during the MBA program to my
career and this will likely result in some level of career advancement for me
at some point. In all honesty though, my reasons for deciding to return to
school were more personal than that. Before I began this program last year, an
graduate degree for me represented unfinished business. It was a challenge that
I had begun to face at a point in my past but had left incomplete. This was not
the example that I wanted to set for my children and it was not consistent with
the ideals that I have tried to live up to in my own life. I want my children
to understand that education is not just about grades and credit hours. It is
about the challenge and the effort and the value that a full and well rounded
education brings to a person's life. By finishing my MBA, I am doing more than
just telling them that education is important. I am showing them through my
example. The success I have achieved in this program is the result of much hard
work and personal sacrifice and it represents one of my proudest achievements
in life.
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