Learning Contract and Action Plan - Assignment Example

Learning Contract and Action Plan Customer’s Name: Customer’s Course: Tutor’s Name: 6th December, 2011. Learning Contract/Action Plan Learning Need My learning need is developing supervisory skills in handling staff stress. I expect that, by the end of course, I will have developed supervisory skills needed in any manager in the smooth running of any organization. I therefore want to learn the importance of supervisory skills in management, the application of supervisory skills and why they are necessary in management especially in handling staffs stress (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1986). The role the supervisor plays in handling staff stress will also come in handy in my personal development of supervisory skills in handling staff stress. I also need to develop supervisory skills as I am aiming to be a manager of an organization and having these skills will help me to me be more prepared in my career path. However, I will consult with my tutor to further advice me on my choice of managerial skill that I have chosen and whether it goes hand in hand with my learning need, that is what I want to study, what I could learn and what I should become skilled at with my choice of supervisory skill. Rationale behind Choosing Supervisory Skills The workplace is no longer a place where employees are alert and feel relaxed with the harsh economic times. When employees experience stress, they are unable to channel their physical energy and emotions into achieving organizational objectives (Swanson, 1995). Therefore, when stressed employees, cannot be productive in their work. This leaves managers with the dilemma of handling staff stress for them to be productive in realizing organizational objectives and hence the need for skills that involves handling of staff stress. In this era, when, more stress is to be expected as economic times becomes harsher and more challenges arises, many employees are failing to deal with their personal stress and thus bring it to the office. On the other hand, the manager has to know how to handle such issues as the staff stress may not necessarily be stress that is work related. Therefore, organization’s supervisors need to learn how to effectively deal with such situations and thus my justification that supervisory skills are vital to all managers. I feel that this skill will become more useful to managers in the days to come as people have to deal with many things at once, for instance, employees having three jobs at a go in order to earn a living. My learning needs also stems from the fact that the success of an organization is largely dependent on the employees who are the backbone of any organization and therefore managers need to be aware of how to handle these employees. In this era of diversity, an organization workforce is made up of employees from different backgrounds and therefore managing them may pose a challenge to any manager (Swanson, 1995). Having the supervisory skills that are required in a manager will therefore enhance the overall management of an organization as the manager is the person who is entrusted with the overall performance of the organization. Therefore, the way the manager delegates work in an organization becomes a determinant in the organization achievement of its set objectives. In addition, as a manager, the working environment is the starting point which one can access whether he/she is a good manager or not. This is effectively done through the way a manager will handle various issues in the organization for instance handling of staff stress. If a manager is able to handle such issues and settle disputes among employees that may arise as a result of staff stress, then the manager is said to be a good manager and this is assessed through success or failure of handling issues. Therefore, developing supervisory skills will be important in self assessing my skills in the workplace of whether I can be a good manager capable of influencing others in the workplace. Besides, being a competence manager in handling staff is a basic ingredient in the success of an organization. Apart from having to deal with a diverse workforce, supervisory skills in handling staff stress also encompasses other crucial issues in an organization for instance, leadership, communication between junior employees and senior employees, relationships between managers and their juniors among others and hence the skill that I have chosen is a broad spectrum of other skills in management. In a way, by learning supervisory skills, other areas in management are to be tackled. For instance, for a supervisor to effectively deal with issues relating to staff stress, the supervisor must be able to communicate with the employees and also must have good relations with the employees. Learning Objectives To analyze the role a manager plays in handling staff stress and conflicts in the work place To critically analyze the various methods that a manager uses in solving staff stress To identify various skills that a supervisor must possess and steps that a manager should take or avoid in handling staff stress. Resources and Strategies for Learning I intend to use many resources in order to achieve my stated objectives. Examples of the resources that I am going to use include; books that cover my area of interest, journals and reports. I also intend to make use of my tutor in achieving the objectives. At first, I will attend my lessons and therefore in the first weeks of learning, my tutor will be my resource material. In addition, I will ask my tutor to recommend to me books, journals and reports which will be appropriate for my learning. Following my tutor’s advice, I will then embark on a search of the recommended materials (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 1986). I believe, online assess of materials is the most appropriate method for me as I have access to the internet and it also helps in eliminating time wastage through manual search of materials in the library. I will then develop a set of key words to help me identify the materials that I require. Examples of keywords that are going to help me in my online search for materials include, managers as supervisors, managers in handling staff stress, necessary skills in supervisors, the dos and don’ts for supervisors when handling staff stress among other key words. The priorities in my search for materials will be managerial skills and resources related to how managers solve staff stress. In resource and learning strategies, I will try to stay within the relevant content and not to digress to resources which are not relevant to my skill development. Expected Outcomes During this stage, I will work with my tutor to decide the basis of my assessment that is the evidence that I am to produce to indicate that I have met the above mentioned or stated objectives. I will discuss with my teacher the best methods to use in order to demonstrate or show that I have acquired supervisory skills in handling staff stress. Criteria for Assessment This stage will basically comprise of the appropriate standards that I am to apply to determine the quality of the completed work. For managerial skills in supervisory skills, I will prepare a presentation on my learning contract and action plan to my tutor within two weeks commencement of the course. The presentation will take two minutes and it is supposed to cover; choice of the managerial skill, the rationale behind the managerial skills or why I have chosen the particular managerial skill, the objectives/aims to be achieved in learning the managerial skill and the action plan of the steps that I will take in achieving the desired objectives. This will be my first presentation and therefore the teacher will also approve and pinpoint the common mistakes I will have made in the initial step. In this stage, I also expect that I would have made progress to the extent that I can show conclusive evidence that I have met the specific objectives that I intended to achieve in this assessment. In addition, I believe that to fully conclude that I have finally achieved the desired objectives, actual demonstration of the skill would be practical and observable evidence that learning has taken place and there has been personal development in the chosen managerial skill. Use of demonstrations is based on the notion that the narrative account and mere descriptions of the chosen skill will not be enough in assessing whether the managerial skill has been achieved (Eaker, Dufor, & Dufour, 2002). Therefore, I will demonstrate that I have attained supervisory skills through supervising a group of students who will be a representative sample of employees in an organization. My tutor will have the pleasure of choosing the students whom I am to supervise to demonstrate that I have acquired the necessary skills in managing staff stress. In addition, the students will be drawn from different grades all in the effort of avoiding biasness. I give my tutor the onus of selecting the students in order to inject objectivity in the assessment for if I am the one to choose the students I will choose my friends and thus subjectivity and the tutor may fail to properly access whether I have gained the skills. The skills demonstration will take the form of role play and will last for only 10 minutes. I will undertake an individual assignment report on supervisory skills. The report will be 3000 words and will mostly involve detailing how I learned or acquired the supervisory skills. I will need to be able to show that I have developed and acquired the supervisory skills; in handling staff stress. I will also take a test that I will undertake regarding supervisory skills in handling staff stress. Reviewing the contract After preparation and much consultation with my tutor, I will present the final product of the learning contract to the tutor. This will be in line with ensuring that the learning contract matches match the original intentions of learning or assessments of the managerial skill (Starko, 1986). After presenting the learning contact to my tutor, it will be the first time that my tutor will be reviewing the completed learning contract and therefore, my tutor and I will have to negotiate on the terms of the contract. After everything is clear, my tutor and I will both sign the contract to make it binding on both parties that I am to undertake the activities listed in the contract and within the specified time limit. Actual Carrying out of the Learning Contract The final step will be the actual carrying out of the contract but room for changes will be accommodated by my tutor and I since learning is a continuous process that keeps on changing and new ideas are born every day (Knowles, 1980). Action Plan Week Activity 1 Research on the managerial skill to be learn. Identification of the learning need. Statement of objectives 2 Consultation with the tutor Tutor to review the learning need, the stated objectives Give the rationale as to the choice of the managerial skill Changes from the tutor at this stage are welcome 3 Consult with the tutor on resource materials relevant for the supervisory skill Devise ways of gathering the materials needed Devise the best strategy of learning 4 Identification of the expected outcomes after learning the managerial skill A discussion between my tutor and I of the expected outcomes of learning 5 Achieving the stated objectives Choosing the assessment criteria for achieving the stated objectives 6 Assessment of the learning objective Will involve presentations and a written report on supervisory managerial skill in handling staff stress Exam on supervisory skills in handling staff 7 Final Review of the learning contract 8 Making amendments to the contract Signing of the learning contract 9 Actual assessment and awarding of marks References Eaker, R., Dufor, R., & Dufour, R. (2002). Getting Started: Recruiting Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities. Bloomington, Indiana. Solution Tree. Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., and Holubec, E.J. (1986). Circles of learning: cooperation in the classroom (rev. ed.), Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co. Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy. Englewood Cliffs. Cambridge. Starko, A.J. (1986). It’s About Time In-service Strategies for Curriculum Compacting. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press. 1-888-518-8004 Swanson, R. A. 1995. Human Resources Development: Performance in Key. Human Resources Development Quarterly. 6 (2): 207 – 13. Read More