Introduction
The modern business environment is very volatile and complex therefore demanding more attention and dedication from entrepreneurs and business executives. If business individuals lack the necessary management skills then their business efforts are most likely to fail because businesses demand that managers make the right decisions in order for them to survive in time of emergency and even in the normal course of business (Baruch, 2004, 114).
The Next Generation Management module is a module that will enable those interested in management to understand how to manage not only their own business ventures and organizations and also impart sense of social responsibility through attending various lecture, workshops, seminars, and conferences around Dublin. Contemporary management of organizations is not simple and therefore this is why this module will concentrate ensuring that attendees gain skills on:
Personal and Career Development: Competence assessment, planning and development, which is important in ensuring that managers have the ability to attain skills that will assist them to have the necessary skills in both the short run and long run such skills include better decision making capability, better leadership ability, and in turn managers will be able to base their decisions on logic through critical thinking.
Furthermore managers who undergo personal development programs are able to portray self confidence communicate better and even end up being creative due to the flexible approach that they have to tackling organizational issues.
The Next Generation module will also help managers gain ability to appreciate the need of operating with a Global and a societal approach by attending lecturers from renown Nobel Laureate, Dr Chu the discussion made clear that the physical environment was part and parcel of the business environment and therefore needed to be taken care of because if it disintegrates that the economy and human economic activities will also fail.
Additionally, discussions from this part of the model enable students of management appreciate the role of creativity and innovation together with the important role which both agriculture, ethics and Greenpeace plays in the environment.
Research is a crucial part of Next Generation management module because research is able to assist managers gain the right information that will guide their decision making and logical thinking process. Discussions unveiled on the importance of carrying out systematic research and avoiding plagiarism because plagiarism can often affect the outcome of a research and compromise its quality.
Research is an important part of today’s business environment and therefore it is important to gather and analyze data properly so that the information obtained can be considered useful and assist in decision making( Kourdi 2009, 114). The discussions on research did shed light on Digital media and communication which has become an integral part of organizational and inter-organizational communication.
Managers are therefore required to embrace the emerging communication trends that individuals in the business world are adopting today because they can determine whether an organization performs better or even fails. The acquisition of the right skill set and through continuous learning is crucial for those who intend to become good managers since it helps them realize and even surpass their potential.
With more high-tech devices, mobile technology and software it is necessary for managers to attend various seminars and tutorials and implement continuous learning techniques that will allow them to embrace the latest communication and software trends for the benefit of their organization especially when dealing with consumers (Solomon & Askegaard, 2002, p.44)
Overall Reflection
Managers in any functional area of an organization are expected to run organizations on behalf of the shareholders and produce the expected results it is therefore necessary that managers gather the necessary knowledge from various avenues in order for them to get the necessary skills to help them carry out their functions more successfully and efficiently.
The Next Generation Management gives managers the opportunity by which they can learn more and become better managers through attending a series lecture, workshops, seminars, mini-conferences that aim to encourage, the need to sustain personal development, social responsibility, research skills and communication skills which are an essential part of today’s organizations (Trott 2008, 78).
This module is therefore very important not only for businesses, organizations and managers as individuals but also can be influential in the country’s economy, which aims to increase the output of individuals who are directly linked to the economy of the country.
The economy and the business environment are subject to highly complex variables and all managers including marketing managers should be ready to solve business problems as they present themselves.
It is therefore necessary for entrepreneurs and leaders to have the necessary management skills so that complex business situations can be solved and situations which often present themselves as problems can be turned into opportunities (Kourdi 2009, 4). By applying leadership skills organizational managers can come across as more effective and make better decisions because their analytical and logical skills can be easily improved as a result of attending discussions of this model.
This module furthermore insists on the importance and priority that should be attached to creativity and innovation at both the individual and society level. Many individuals who haven’t been exposed to teachings of this model may be tempted to ignore the importance of innovation in today’s society.
The Next Generation Management gives the learner the opportunity to expand their mindset to look at the business and economy as part of the globe and the entire global society and therefore initiate solutions that are not only solutions to the problems of the county of Ireland but are also a solution for the entire globe.
When managers operate with global approach they are most likely to make decisions that are more ethical and moral. Today’s business environment is full of scandals and irresponsibility and thus managers are required to put their foot down and make decisions that not only correlate to their interests but also to the interests of the community.
This module enables managers weigh benefits accrued in the short run and compare them to benefits that will be accrued in the long run and factor them in their decision making in order to increase positive outcome. Managers need to discover that business success doesn’t come easy and if they desire to be successful they are required to become very creative and innovative.
Creativity is becoming the backbone of the world’s greatest organizations and the largest economies. Managers are therefore required not only to use their abilities but also gather the views of various subordinates and together work towards developing creative approaches of doing business and reinventing the economy.
The Next Generation module also enabled us understand the importance of taking care of the environment and ensuring that the country remains agriculturally stable in order to ensure that the future of Ireland is secured because food stability is important to the economy of any country.
The destruction of the environment will therefore have a negative toll on the business environment and thus managers should not remain ignorant or arrogant to the environment hence they should struggle to maintain the environment one on one or through environmental organizations such as Greenspan.
This module provided a platform which made it clear that research should take center stage in improving not only the economy but also businesses. Managers are supposed to carry out research more frequently and vigorously and information gathered from research should be clearly analyzed using packages such as SPSS can be used to assist in the process of decision making.
Managers usually require a lot of facts so that their ability to make carry out analysis and solve problems can be made easier. There are many dangers of plagiarizing work and therefore it is necessary for managers to carry out independent qualitative and quantitative research so that their research can unveil new findings that can help them and their organization carry out innovative changes.
It is thus necessary to use all research tools in order to ensure that the findings of research can turn out to be very useful even when presented to other peers and those who the information as useful. The Next Generation Management gave us the opportunity to appreciate the development in media and communication techniques that are used in today’s commercial environment.
Technological environment have led to many inventions which managers can use to carry out their functions more easily and companies can even collect data from their consumers more easily through socials sites and mobile applications and use this in shaping organizational strategy. Marketing managers for example, can improve on organizational marketing strategy and even increase organizational revenue streams by embracing the role played by technology in the media (Trott, 2008, 103-113).
The introduction of the internet in the business environment is very important to the managers since the managers can use internet search engines to maximize business opportunities for themselves and their organizations, and it is therefore necessary for managers to take technology serious because it is a key success ingredient in today’s business environment.
Enterprise Resource planning is an important part of today’s organizations because it assists organizations to minimize losses and wastage of resources and therefore organizations should also adopt technologies that will allow them to plan on how to optimize the use of their resources.
In conclusion the Next Generation Management module has opened my eyes to the world of strategic management practices, making it clear that success of today’s commercial enterprises depends on how well managers are able to make financial, marketing, human resource and other organizational decisions by adopting innovative techniques.
Personal & Career Development
Good management is necessary for the continued existence and success of commercial organizations; this is because commercial organization and even non commercial organizations usually find themselves in ambiguous situations that require managers to use their skills and talents to direct the organization out of dilemmas.
For managers to successfully plan, staff, control, organize and direct the organization it is necessary that these managers obtain the necessary set of skills that will proof usefully in ensuring that the day to day and long run operations of the organization are carried out smoothly.
Organizations are driven by strategic goals which are enshrined in the mission and vision of the company and it is therefore important to ensure that organizational staff and especially management have their talents and skills fully developed to competently deal with ambiguous situations (Baruch 2004, 44).
While an organizations mission is mostly a vehicle of taking the organization into the future it mainly operates with a short term day to day operation and the vision is usually long-term managers are therefore need to have their personal skills developed for them to make the necessary career decisions effectively.
Most of these skills were developed in a series of seminars and workshops that required managers to go out on their own talk. For example Deloitte conference, assess the value of an idea, CV writing workshop, Bobby Kerr-motivation, coaching speech, Paddy Power – motivation, coaching speech, Attendance of Chinese classes- for personal development, Be involved in tutoring of IT for elderly people, and Improving Yourself-esteem – seminar/workshop.
It is hence clear that managers require their organizations to put in place training and development schedules that will assist their managers require the necessary long-term and short-term skills to effectively carry out their organization responsibilities in today’s turbulent business environment. The following are the most important skills that those who were part of the management module were required to acquire.
The Next Generation Management module required that managers attend lectures, workshops, seminars, mini-conferences and individual development of personal development plan speeches Dublin. The following are some of the necessary shorter skills that managers were able to develop during this Next Generation Management module which were scheduled to take place in a timeframe of 12 months:
Self confidence
Managers are required to operate with a high level of confidence this is because other subordinates look up to them. Hence, if managers do not portray self confidence then subordinates may be forced to doubt his leadership and decision making abilities and this is will therefore affect the organization (Baruch, 2004, 32).
Managers are therefore required to dress, talk and even carry themselves in such a way that portrays that they are highly confident. Managers are required to have a positive image and positive thoughts of hope and possibility and transfer this to subordinates ands clients while interacting in the normal course of business.
Communication
Communication is a key part of business and is therefore vital that managers use communication techniques that will ensure all stakeholders are informed in the right time and the right information is given to them. Managers are therefore required to develop skills that will allow them to pass messages with the right tone, mimics, gestures and pronunciation (Corfield 2009, 5).
Managers are also required to have the appropriate presentation skills that will enable the managers carry out oral presentations with high effectiveness not only in official meetings but also social events.
Adaptability
The business environment is volatile and ever changing and it is therefore necessary that managers have the necessary skills that will allow them to be highly flexible especially when organizational changes take place.
Managers are therefore required to be highly radical and use environmental scanning techniques and create the necessary support systems that will enable the organization embrace change. Dynamic managers are more likely to create organizations that smoothly embrace strategic change that is necessary for better performance of the organization.
Creativity/Innovative thinking
It is often the task of managers to make sure that fresh ideas are consistently developed in commercial organizations. A dynamic environment requires new ideas frequently and thus managers are required to be trained to tap into their imagination in order to develop new ideas (Trott, 2008, p.7). Managers are thus encouraged to continuously research read and even attend seminars that will develop their innovative skills.
Self Management
Manager are required to have the necessary skills to prioritize and efficiently allocate resources where they are needed and therefore they need to develop their self management skills. Managers are required to plan in advance and schedule activities within a timeframe and see to it that these events occur as planned.
The Next Generation Management module which was scheduled took place in a timeframe of 12 months also ensured that manager’s personal and career development assisted manager’s gain the following skills.
Leadership
Managers are supposed to be leaders and be able to influence the behavior of individuals and inspire them to follow the strategic goals of an organization in order to achieve the mission and vision. Managers with up to date leadership skills are able to set goals prioritize and also operate with well defined action plans.
Leaders set an image for the organization and trend for subordinates by ensuring that they have a positive attitude, properly research and have the knowledge and assist subordinates to grasp the fact and process, and this was the aim of the Next Generation Management module.
Teamwork
Managers are required to have the ability to bring subordinates’ together and build relationships through cooperation and mutual respect for the benefit of the organization (Whetton & Camerson 2007, 88). Managers are able to do this by constantly attending seminars, tutorials and social events in order to gain team building skills.
Decision making
Managers are often required to make quick decisions when need arises and hence it in good that managers have the ability to analyze situations with wisdom and make acceptable justifiable solutions that are backed by fact and reason (Beeson 2009, 54). Managers build such capacity through tutorials, seminars and focus on continuous research.
Analytical and Problem solving techniques
Manages are required to use logic and reason in order to ensure that they can effectively resolve difficult matters that are problematic. It is thus very important that managers develop the right potential to handle problematic situations and emerge out of them by using logic and facts to solve problems (Whetton & Camerson, 2007, p.18). Managers are able to acquire this skill through continuous learning and research, concentration and also by attending the right seminars and tutorials.
Global and Societal Awareness
Nobel Laureate Lecture
The Next Generation Management module demanded that we attend seminars and tutorials to assist us as students of contemporary management to get an in-depth experience of why it is necessary for manager’s, businessmen and entrepreneurs to have societal awareness while carrying out their duties.
In one of our lectures at a seminar, the Nobel Laureate Dr Chu and other numerous speakers made it clear that it is important for students of business to know that business activities are usually accompanied by physical impact, because business activities usually depend a lot on the environment for most of its activities to be successful.
Dr Chu made it clear that the operations of businesses and commercial enterprises normally cause climate and environmental changes. He furthermore made it clear that the issue of energy has caused big debate and it is now the high time that researchers encourage industries to use renewable energy sources and re-evaluate energy policies so as to save the planet from further depletion.
The speaker insisted that the downturn and destruction of the environment would most likely lead to the demise of the economy and it is thus necessary to nature the environment and replenish it using technologies that will transform the environment in order for human economic activities to take place.
University of Enterprise: Delivering Ireland’s Next Class of Successful Entrepreneurs.
The future of the economy and of the corporate world definitely depends on how well today’s young entrepreneurs are natured and brought up in order for them to become the best business elite in the future. Modern entrepreneurs are therefore required to be shaped in order for them to become highly dynamic and environmentally conscious.
If the upcoming entrepreneurs are arrogant and ignore the important role the environment plays making their ventures a success then there will be faced with an economic downturn thus entrepreneurs should operate with practices which do not pollute or degrade the environment.
It is thus necessary to prepare entrepreneurs so that they can acquire the necessary knowledge and also have the ability to apply it in the real world (Trott, 2008, p.33). Lectures at the workshop also made it clear those entrepreneurs who continuously learn and take education serious are more likely succeed.
The Long Debate (Inventorium)
This discussion made it clear Creativity and imagination is a key cornerstone of today’s turbulent business environment laying emphasis that the greatest organizations are continuously searching for new creative avenues of doing business and therefore this is why they excel as compared to their counterparts (Trott, 2008, p.16).
The lecturers made it clear that an economy which considers itself as superior and smart must continuously apply more effort towards ensuring that their greatest minds are always working on the next big thing. Ireland is a country of vision and thus has put its best minds towards bringing innovative practices into the country’s economy.
Additionally it is also important for the entire society to create mechanisms for sustaining development but at the same time self-development should not be ignored because it is important to the success of entrepreneurs and organizations. The speaker insisted that if one is expected to be outstanding, it is a must that he/she operates with a mentality that will give his or her venture the stability to be highly creative so that he can use novellus ideas to outshine other competitors.
Climate Change and agriculture
The discussion centered on the importance of agriculture on the economy keeping in mind that one of the most important elements of an economy is the ability of a country to have enough food to feeds it citizens in order for it to move towards industrialization. The current global economy is growing at a faster pace and the environment is becoming depleted due to the careless nature of corporations therefore threatening agricultural activities.
The discussion also revealed that the effects of pollution and deforestation are having a negative effect on the temperatures, rainfall and the quality of the soil therefore having a negative impact on agriculture. If the current trend continues together with effects of population explosion then it is more likely that the global economy and entrepreneurial efforts will also be affected and therefore innovative methods like green houses must be introduced in order to increase food production.
Personal Ethics
The discussion made it clear that ethics provide a basis by which individuals are able to determine what is right or wrong. Ethics are governed by moral values and what may be morally ethical in Ireland may not be necessarily ethical in any other part of the world.
The discussion further revealed that what is lawful is not necessarily ethical and that individuals are normally torn between loyalty and the truth or even sometimes on maters to do with personal interest verses community interest therefore affecting their decisions. It is therefore true to conclude ethics is strictly personal and thus individuals must evaluate the possible consequences of their actions/decisions and if the results are have more harm that good to the society abandon them.
The business environment is for example involved with decisions that aim to increase benefit of the organization but it is necessary that managers and entrepreneurs apply ethical principles while making business decisions. Managers and entrepreneurs’ should apply wisdom and not only look at a short-term view but also take a long-term approach while making business decisions.
Greenpeace
This discussion was based around the numerous numbers of non governmental organizations that have dedicated their efforts towards restoring the sanctity of the environment that has come about as the result of human activity. The discussion revealed that Greenpeace is a non governmental organization that funds its activities using donations, the organization aims to restore flora and fauna and make earth a better place by reducing environment destruction.
Entrepreneurs and business executives are aware of the toll that their business activities have on the environment and therefore it is important for them to use their corporate social responsibility arm by donating and funding activities of such bodies with the aim of having the environment restored.
The advantage of having such organizations around is that these organizations promote responsible behavior by adjusting the attitudes of human beings who are responsible of exploiting natural resources. The organization has hence achieved a lot through its operations which spread in over 40 countries in the world, making it a very important part of the global society.
Research
Research skills are important for today’s managers, the business environment is highly volatile and organizations are faced with problems and thereby managers and employees need to have the ability to carry out research in order to assist management to make important decisions based on factual findings (McGivern, 2006, p123).
It is thus necessary for individuals to adhere to ethics and ensure that any research that they carry out is not plagiarized. Every research is unique in its own way and it is hence necessary to carry out research diligently and base the findings and recommendations based on the findings of the research (Hogan, Dolan, & Donnellly, 2009, p.16).
Discussions in the Next Generation Management module made it clear that if a researcher carries out research and for what ever reasons decides to replicate findings by borrowing from the works of another researcher it will be necessary that the researcher acknowledge all sources where he/she borrowed from.
Plagiarism is not only illegal but it can also be misleading in some instances and thereby compromise any strategic decisions that managers make especially in commercial organizations. It is therefore necessary for researchers to be highly disciplined and carry out their literature review properly by consulting and acknowledging the various sources of their information.
Once researcher has gathered the necessary data it then becomes their responsibility to interpret and arrange the data in such a way that it will serve the main objective of their research. The researcher must find the most suitable way to analyze their data so that it can make sense to the audience which it was intended for (Kourdi, 2009, p.38).
Many researchers conduct their research so that they can provide useful information that can be used by not only other peers but also by those in the business environment in order to assist managers in their decision making process. This is therefore the main reason which always drives researchers to carry out research in order to have them published and reviewed by their peers.
When a particular writer’s research is highly appreciated and commended by peers then a researcher feels a sense of pride and therefore will continue to expound on his research by carrying out other works. Strategic decisions especially branding and product decisions made by marketing managers are not guess work but rather they are based on academic foundations that are normally obtained from various peer reviews and published sources.
If this published work and peer reviews were absent then it would make it hard to know which research findings were more correct and therefore justifiable, this fact would make it quite hard for business managers to carry out decision making because they would simply doubt the facts that were presented in front of them. Peer review enables various researches which are published undergo vigorous scrutiny and therefore ascertain the validity of their contributing to the various disciplines they claim to have authority over.
SPSS is a software package that enables individuals carrying out research quantify their findings and make the most suitable conclusions hence, making useful information out of the data (Burrell, and Morgan, 1979, p.13) The discussion of the Next Generation Management module made it clear that this software is very important in the field of social sciences.
When researchers want to carry out social researches and even analyze demographic data this package becomes a very important part of their research due to its ability to accept quantitative data and summarize it in the form of graphs, pie charts and even pictographs (McGivern, 2006, p 43).
Marketing activities of such organizations usually require a lot of research that requires demographic analysis and thus manager’s end up using this package to make the necessary deductions that are crucial in formulating marketing strategy (Burrell, & Morgan,1979, p.98).
It thus becomes clear that in the absence of this package then managers would be subjected to a more tiresome ways of analyzing data that is collected using questionnaires. It is thus necessary for managers who intend to become good researchers to quickly learn and frequently use this package in order to have more factual information that is good for decision making within the organization.
The Next Generation Module discussion also made it clear that the research process can only be successful if the right techniques are used by managers to construct the moist appropriate questionnaires. Faulty questionnaires will most likely compromise the entire research process and it is therefore important for a manager/researcher to clearly define the purpose of his research and thus generate questionnaire questions that are specific and appropriate for the research at hand (Burns & Burns, 2008,p.63-67).
If the questionnaire is compromised then the findings will most likely also be compromised and such events will in turn the decisions which managers make in the long run. Dublin buss is able to accurately construct its questionnaires in order to gather satisfaction data from its customers and use this information to justify any strategic changes (Solomon & Askegaard, 2002, p.17).
Digital Skills, Media & Communication
The need for individuals within the business community and the economy to communicate is very important and plays a big role in determining the success or failure of the organizations which they run, it thus has become very necessary that individuals within the business industry to dedicate resources and adopt the use of web technologies such as CSS3 & HTML5 in order to maximize the potential of their business ventures.
Web technologies are thus very essential because they enable companies and organizations develop websites that are a very important part of communication and business considering the web is sometimes necessary for financial transactions and exchange of goods and services to occur (Hoffman & Novak, 2000).
Managers within functional areas of I.T and marketing should make sure that the individuals who are responsible for using web technologies have the necessary programming skills that enable them program and develop websites efficiently by getting rid of redundant coding technologies.
The Discussion by Mike Schroepfer, Facebook VP of engineering, enabled the participants understand that computer science developments play a very big role towards defining the level of innovation among many industries and especially businesses.
Computer science enables managers develop the necessary innovations that are necessary in project management and also plays a big role towards ensuring that people around the world are connected to each other therefore enabling a lot of opportunities to be realized (Payne & Peck, 2003, p.87).
Business managers and marketers especially should ensure while using such technologies that the parameters are customized in such a way that the end consumers find it suitable for their use. As much as individuals usually resist change, it is the duty of managers to work hand in hand with the society to help them embrace change that will result to more positive outcome.
As much as consumers and majority of businesses are embracing the digital age that has most of its activities going on over the internet, managers are thus expected to have the necessary minimum skills that will enable them embrace the digital world that has become inseparable for businesses ( Kourdi, 2009. P.188-190). Majority of business activities and especially marketing activities have forced marketing managers to formulate digital strategies that will enable them carry their business activities on the net.
Web 2.0 technologies has taken the concept of social marketing to another height thereby pushing a lot of consumer traffic to the net and therefore companies are even distributing, promoting and marketing their products using viral marketing techniques. Blogging sites have now become a part of the social revolution on the internet thus demanding managers to develop strategies that will enable their products and brands gain good images and ratings in the social media of the internet.
A while back, mobile phones were just used for communication by marketers and managers, thanks to the numerous mobile phone applications that run on smartphones such as IPhone and Android enabled hand sets consumers have a direct link to the worldwide web and business products just on the click of a button.
With these facts unveiled managers are supposed to get rid of mobile any obstacles that hinder the enhancement of doing business between organizations by developing programs and applications that will make it easy and more convenient for consumers to conduct business with their mobiles. Numerous businesses around the world are increasing their business potential and realizing many revenue streams as a result of embracing and integrating the use of mobile applications into their business models.
Search optimization technology is very important as far as using web applications is concerned and a company’s website may simply have low traffic and low transactions if the wrong approach was used by developers and I.T specialists in order to set up a website (Windham, 2001, p.145).
Website developers thus have no option but to work hand in hand with all functional managers in order to ensure that the right key words are used while developing websites so that when consumers/clientele go online their websites are more likely to have more chances of being accessed by consumers who wish to purchase products or access company information.
I.T department plays a very big role in ensuring that organizations communicate with the entire world and it is therefore up to them to adopt the latest technologies such as cloud computing technology in order to take their organizations into the next level and make it more easier for customers to use the web to interact with the organization (Hoffman & Novak, 2000).
If organizations fail to use technology to store appropriate consumers data and manage organizational resources then it will become hard for this organizations to maximize their business opportunities. As technologies become obsolete and as new technologies become more usable the I.T experts are required to ensure that the transition between technologies is smooth and doesn’t affect the organization negatively.
Software used within organizations is used in order to help organizations manage resources and run operations with a high degree of efficiency. Many organizations are adopting the use of Enterprise Resource Planning Technology with the aim that the software will assist the organization through its managers prevent the wastage of resource through optimizing the use of resources within the organization.
The introduction of such software enables organization plan its sales and revenue streams at a high and also reduce any unnecessary cost thereby saving organizations from unnecessary loses.
The role of software in business cannot be ignored and if the level of software innovation within Ireland decreases, so will the performance of organization and the economy.
It is thus necessary for stakeholders to invest in the future of the Irish software industry and ensure that innovation is sustained because if they fail to do this then the growth of the Irish economy and other related industries will also be compromised.
The development of new software is vital towards sustain sales and competitive intelligence of many industries and thus continuous and consistent research should be carried out in order to make sure the Irish software industry stays ahead within the markets needs.
References
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